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Ill. Policy Institute CEO John Tillman Rebuts Critiques of His Op Ed

October 29, 2011 by

On Friday I wrote a piece expressing my dismay at an op ed written by John Tillman, CEO of the excellent Illinois Policy Institute. In his piece he claimed there was common ground between the “Occupy” folks and the Tea Party. I wholly disagreed with that. Mr. Tillman has written a follow up that he wanted to make sure readers saw.

To frame the discussion, here is Mr. Tillman’s original op ed in the Chicago Tribune and here is my friday critique of that op ed.– Warner Todd Huston

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The Persuadable Middle is Listening to Occupy; Why the Tea Party Should Start, Too

-By John Tillman, Ill. Policy Institute

Last week, the Chicago Tribune published a commentary piece I wrote about the Occupy Wall Street protestors in Chicago. They’ve been camped out near my office for the past few weeks, and I decided to engage them in conversation on my way home one night.

The media has likened the Occupy Wall Street protestors to the tea party, making the case that these protestors are the left’s version of the small government movement that has swept the nation.

Let me be clear: The Occupy Wall Street protestors and the folks who hold tea party rallies are not the same, and I do not believe there is any real opportunity for a union between the two groups. But what I learned that night is that these movements both are rooted in the idea that this country is moving in the wrong direction.
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Ill. Policy Institute CEO John Tillman Rebuts Critiques of His Op Ed”

Americans For Prosperity - Budget - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - GOP - Government - Liberals - Pensions - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Republicans - Scott Walker - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Wisc.: Walker’s Union Reforms Are Working! (A Lesson for Illinois)

October 28, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Governor Scott Walker was the worst devil the unions could imagine. They targeted him and Wisconsin’s Republicans mercilessly earlier this year. Fortunately, the unions and their Democrat handmaidens lost most of these battles.

But now some results are being seem from the efforts to curtail the un-democratic, unearned power of Wisconsin’s government employee unions. A new effort by the MacIver Institute and Americans for Prosperity is showing the world where these policies have succeeded in making things better in Wisconsin.

This is a lesson for Illinois and every other blue state. We can fix our problems, too. But it means defeating entrenched, un-American union power and their bought and paid for Democrats.
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Wisc.: Walker’s Union Reforms Are Working! (A Lesson for Illinois)”

Anti-Americanism - Banks - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Chicago - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Jan Schakowsky - Liberals - President - Socialism - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Occupy Chicago Wants to ‘Collapse American Government’

October 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Retired Palatine teacher, Roger Fraser, who makes nearly $8,000 a month in pension benefits off the backs of the Illinois Taxpayer, says that he wants to “collapse American government.”

These people want to “collapse” this country. They want to destroy it and remake it as an alien, communist abomination.

This is why there should be no sympathy for these Occupy-Whatever idiots. They are not Americans. They hate America. Unlike the Tea Party movement, these Occupy people are anti-American to the core.

Remember, these are the sort of people that Democrats like President Obama and Representative Jan Schakowsky are falling all over themselves to support.
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Occupy Chicago Wants to ‘Collapse American Government’”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Banks - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Liberals - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Another Stupid Liberal Assumption Dies: Top 1% NOT Made Solely of Bankers

October 26, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the favorite memes of these Occupy-Whatever events is that the “top 1%” is made up of those evil, rich bankers and Wall Street tycoons. This, they feel is why they need to “occupy Wall Street” in the first place, right? Wrong again.

Like most left-wing memes, this one is also horribly wrong. It turns out that it should have been Occupy a hospital instead of occupy Wall Street because it turns out that bankers and denizens of Wall Street barely represent a blip on the radar of the “1%.”

A report on CNN Money notes that the finance sector only makes up 14% of the folks that sit in that top 1% of the nation’s wealthy.

It turns out that medical professionals clock in at 15.7%, while lawyers represent 8.4%.
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Another Stupid Liberal Assumption Dies: Top 1% NOT Made Solely of Bankers”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Liberals - PCism - Russia - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

Former Soviet Citizen Schools Idiots at Occupy Wall Street

October 26, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Morons at Occupy Wall Street have no clue what socialism is. But they advocate it.

Here we have a video of a man that was actually born in the USSR and suffered under that oppressive, socialist system confronting the clueless idiots of Occupy-Whatever.

This is the fantasy land that these Occupy idiots live in. It’s a land where even when confronted with someone that actually lived under the system these Occupy fools want to implement, when confronted with a guy that suffered the violence, and oppression that is socialism, well, they can only resort to name calling and unsubstantiated, illogical claims.
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Former Soviet Citizen Schools Idiots at Occupy Wall Street”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Liberals - Ohio - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union’s Battle Against Ohio Heats Up

October 25, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On November 8, Ohioans will go to the polls to vote on a series of ballot initiatives, among them Issue 2.

A yes vote will support Governor Kasich’s collective bargaining reform (SB 5) to become law. A no vote would return power to the bloated, thieving unions to do hat they have always done: steal from the taxpayers. (I wonder if you can tell which side I am on, here? Ha, ha)

Unions have rolled into Ohio with millions of dollars for anti-issue 2 advertising, donations to politicians, and the usual corrupt bargaining behind the scenes that unions generally employ. Sadly, it looks like their big money has persuaded too many Ohioans to back the unions as polling shows Issue 2 is losing with voters.
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Union’s Battle Against Ohio Heats Up”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Organizers Work 1 Day As Teachers, Get $100K+ in State Pensions

October 24, 2011 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Two union organizers that represent the Illinois Federation of Teachers were able to secure millions in state pensions by working one day as a teacher here in Illinois. This outrageous abuse of the state pension system is exactly why government unions should not be allowed to exist.

The Chicago Tribune has the story of Steven Preckwinkle and David Piccioli who took advantage of a loophole to enrich themselves off the backs of the taxpayers written into law just for them by pliant Democrat politicians.

The crony legislation enabled the unionistas to quickly get state teaching certificates, work one day as a substitute teacher, then count their years as union operatives to qualify them for pension benefits from the state.
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Union Organizers Work 1 Day As Teachers, Get $100K+ in State Pensions”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Socialism - Taxes - Terrorism - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Occupy Chicago Sign: ‘Dear Rich Straight White Dudes, F**K Off’

October 24, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like the rest of the large cities in the US, Chicago is currently suffering with small pockets of Occupy protesters and their ever-present signs. And like every other big city these signs are often misspelled, sometimes profane, commonly anti-capitalist, occasionally anti-Semitic, almost always anti-American, not to mention merely ignorant of the facts. But one thing that is the same in every protest, at least in the media reportage of same, is that the worst of the signs go unseen by the general American news consumer.

Chicago blogger John Ruberry took his trusty camera downtown to the Windy City and captured some pretty representative signs the like of which were similar signs seen at Tea Party events would have made the nightly news programs for their outrageous messages.

For instance, there’s the one I note in the headline of this piece.

Now imagine if a Tea Party sign said something like, “Dear Gay Blacks, F**k Off.” The media would have lost its tiny hive mind over such a blatantly ignorant sign. It’s been two years of Tea Party protests and there’ve been few signs as blatant as the dozens seen at many of these Occupy-Whatever events.
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Occupy Chicago Sign: ‘Dear Rich Straight White Dudes, F**K Off’”

California - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Larry Sand - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions

Teachers Unions: On the Road to Extinction?

October 23, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Online learning is the wave of the future, but teachers unions still have a Paleocene mentality

In his extraordinary book Special Interest, Terry Moe writes about the massive power of the teachers unions. After much gloom and doom, in the final chapter of the book, he manages to convey some hope about the future. Emerging technology-based education, he asserts, is the “long-term trend…, and the unions cannot stop it from happening.” Online teachers from different states and countries will be much harder for the unions to corral and control.

However, according to a post on hotair.com by Tina Korbe, the University of California chapter of the American Federation of Teachers hasn’t gotten the message yet. University of California schools, which are in dire financial straits, have begun using online education programs as a way to save money. As a result, some lecturers’ jobs could be done away with. However, their union is using its collective bargaining power to ensure that every job, no matter how unnecessary, will be saved.

“… the California lecturers, who make up nearly half of the system’s undergraduate teaching teachers, believe they have used … bargaining power to score a rare coup. The University of California last week tentatively agreed to a deal with UC-AFT that included a new provision barring the system and its campuses from creating online courses or programs that would result in ‘a change to a term or condition of employment’ of any lecturer without first dealing with the union.”

In other words, the union is determined to keep all its dues-paying members on the payroll whether they are needed or not, whether we can afford them or not. The fact that there are some excellent online classes and that their use would save the beleaguered taxpayers of California bushels

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Communism - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Hate Crimes - Jobs - Liberals - Socialism - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Suspected Terror Supporter Attacks Jews at Occupy Chicago

October 22, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chicago’s RebelPundit came across some of those nice Occupy Chicago folks wishing good thoughts for all the kind participants at the protest… they kindly wished that Israel be destroyed.

Worse, one of the guys these Occupy-Whatevers allowed to speak is a suspected funder of Middle Eastern terrorists.

Just like the left, eh? Haters, racists, and anti-Semites galore.

Note also that a Chicago TV station was filming the event. Note also that said film was never aired in Chicago.

The “news,” you see, don’t want to discredit the Occupy-Whatevers as much as they can avoid it.
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Suspected Terror Supporter Attacks Jews at Occupy Chicago”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Liberals - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Occupy Wall Streeters: Communists, Anti-Capitalists And now Rapists?

October 20, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We know that the Occupy Wall Streeters are extremists in nature and far outside the American norm. We know they are communists, they hate capitalism, they are against the U.S. Constitution, American history and character, and believe in all sorts of wacky, fringe stuff. But thanks to Occupy Cleveland, we now see that they are rapists, too.

Nice, eh?

A young female student attending the Occupy Cleveland protests told police that she was raped by a male protester who was assigned to the same pop-up tent as she by the idiots in charge of the Occupy event.
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Occupy Wall Streeters: Communists, Anti-Capitalists And now Rapists?”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Chicago - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Hate Crimes - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Society/Culture - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Lisa Fithian: Teaching Radicalism to Chicago Teachers Union

October 18, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Violent, union thug comes to Chicago to fake teacher “arrests”

When people ask me, “What do you do?” I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible.
— Lisa Fithian

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) trained under radical street organizer, and leader of the anti-capitalist #occupy movement, Lisa Fithian, to stage a protest march in Chicago on 10/10/11.

During this event, more than 20+ members of the CTU were arrested.

THE NYT MAGAZINE SAYS THIS ABOUT FITHIAN
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Lisa Fithian: Teaching Radicalism to Chicago Teachers Union”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Socialism - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Occupy Wall Street’s Essential Hypocrisy

October 17, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

There are a few major reasons that this Occupy-Whatever “movement” is as hollow as a Halloween pumpkin. One is that they are employing the sort of rhetoric with their “we are the 99%” claim that they complained about from Tea Partiers and two that some of their spokesmen are not what they claim to be.

A particular hypocrisy from these leftists has been repeatedly seen over the last two years when Tea Partiers would say what “America wants” or couched their rhetoric in terms of the country as a whole should do as if all real Americans wanted what the Tea Party was working for. Liberals would immediately scold the Tea Partiers saying that Tea Party folks do not represent the left so they shouldn’t act as if “Americans” wanted what the Tea Party wanted.

Yet, here come these leftists to claim that they represent “99% of America”! Sorry, Occupiers, but you do not represent me or anyone I side with, so don’t claim you represent “99% of America.” In fact, you don’t even represent half the voting base as liberals consistently poll at less than 20% of the Democrat Party these days.

Heck, you Occupiers don’t even represent 99% of your own side of the aisle!
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Occupy Wall Street’s Essential Hypocrisy”

Business - California - Capitalism - Economy/Finances - Larry Sand - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions

Steve Jobs vs. Wall St. Whiners and Teachers Unions

October 17, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Steve Jobs knew how to create wealth. The parasitic Wall Street protesters and teachers unions want to destroy it

There are many theories as to who is orchestrating the “Occupy Wall Street” protests – known in some circles as “Kamp Alinsky” and “Kamp Kvetch” – in lower Manhattan and elsewhere throughout our country. George Soros? President Obama? Could they possibly be spontaneous?

No matter. The protesters and their message of social justice, socialism and general hatred of all things corporate will not affect the great majority of Americans. The average Joe and Jill are just trying to pay their bills, raise a family and live a decent life. Hence the Wall Street rabble, a motley combination of bored teenagers, old guard lefties and hard core partiers, many armed with iPhones, digital cameras and many other luxuries produced by corporations, are badly missing the mark. As usual, the protesters’ signs tell the story – none more so than the one that says, “A job is a right. Capitalism doesn’t work.” Could any serious types associate with this fringe mentality?

Enter Michael Mulgrew – the United Federation of Teachers president. Speaking “truth to power,” his tax-the-rich talk at a Wall St. rally fit right in with the angry mob that thinks wealth is evil and that if A has more money than B, A owes B some of it. It’s the mentality that thinks that there is no moral difference between Bernie Madoff and Bill Gates.
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Steve Jobs vs. Wall St. Whiners and Teachers Unions”

Anti-Americanism - Boston - Budget - Communism - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Liberals - Socialism - Warner Todd Huston

Occupy Boston Ruins Food Bank Fundraiser, Conservatives Step in With $3,700 Fund Drive

October 15, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Greater Boston Food Bank intended to have a fundraising event in Boston’s Dewey Square over the weekend of the 14th of October. It was to be called the “Greenway Mobile Food Fest” and was supposed to help raise funds to feed the poor and needy. But due to the tantrums being thrown by the Occupy Boston protestors the event had to be canceled.

Despite the selfishness of these pointless, clueless protesters, though, conservative bloggers stepped in and raised over $3,000 for the food bank. An important question is, where is the media on this story? Isn’t this a perfect sort of human-interest story that media types usually love?

The media should love this. It’s got clueless, uninformed, cretins hurting an organization that helps feed the needy. It has a more caring group rising to the challenge to help replace those lost donations. Perfect story, right?

Ah, except that it is conservatives in the role of good guy and the Old Media can’t have that, now can they?
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Occupy Boston Ruins Food Bank Fundraiser, Conservatives Step in With $3,700 Fund Drive”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Scott Walker - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Labor Unions Support Wisconsin Agitators

October 12, 2011 by 1 Comment

Until now many of the often-illegal antics perpetuated by several individual Wisconsin-based protesters appeared to be random acts committed by disillusioned agitators. But the MacIver News Service has learned that these acts have been highly orchestrated and perpetuated by an organization whose members are told to deny their involvement in the group. A group, we’ve discovered, which is financed by thousands of dollars from Big Labor.

With that funding comes clout. They have shared the stage with Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. They’ve hosted prominent Democratic legislative speakers such as Representative Cory Mason and Minority Leader Peter Barca, a rumored potential candidate for governor.

These protesters have played a key role in many of the most visible events in and around the State Capitol since February. This week, their organization was listed alongside the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and United Wisconsin as key organizers behind the efforts to recall Governor Scott Walker.

And they’re currently organizing and participating in many of the ‘Occupy’ protests in Washington, DC, New York and Wisconsin.

Bill Osmulski reports in this MacIver News Investigation.

http://maciverinstitute.com/

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Pat Quinn - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Bad News For Illinois Teachers: Illinois is Broke and You Might Not Get Your Pension!

October 12, 2011 by

The unions and the Democrats are lying to you, teachers.

In Illinois we have a $140 billion retirement pension deficit for teachers, folks. Don’t let the unions lie to you all the way until you decide to retire only to find out you lost everything.

And you police, firemen, and other state employees… don’t think you are better off than the teachers. You aren’t.

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Remy’s Occupy Wall Street Protest Song (Making Fun While Having Fun)

October 9, 2011 by 1 Comment

Hilarious, but with a message…

As the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads like a, well, financial contagion through global markets, intergalactic Internet sensation Remy and Reason.tv give the movement its anthem.

Written and performed by Remy and produced by Meredith Bragg from Reason.tv.

Adam Andrzejewski - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - For The Good Of Illinois - Franklin Deleno Roosevelt - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Abuse: Union Leaders Pull Down Millions in Public Pensions in Illinois

October 9, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Andrew Thomason of the Illinois Statehouse News agency has a pair of stores on the criminal syndicate that is unions in the Land of Lincoln this week that have to be seen to be believed. In fact, these stories and the ones like them we’ve seen for the past several months in Illinois are proof positive that unions should be illegal for government employees.

In one story, Thomason reports the tale of Michael Johnson, a corrupt teacher out to milk the taxpayers dry by collecting $209,379.43 in pension benefits while at the same time also collected $324,785 from a separate Illinois pension fund. And so far this crook has already collected $1.1 million of our tax dollars on top of the $198,105 a year he makes for “part-time work” for the school district.

This is called double dipping. Johnson was able to do this because he worked at one job in Illinois education, “retired” from it, then took a second job in the same field. This means he gets two pensions to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, likely totaling up to millions by the time he dies. All paid for by the taxpayers of Illinois.
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Abuse: Union Leaders Pull Down Millions in Public Pensions in Illinois”

Budget - Business - Children - Civil Rights Act - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Georgia - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Finger-Waving, Child-Like Protestors Refuse to Allow Left-Wing Congressman to Address Crowd

October 8, 2011 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the funniest thing I have ever…

This is the funniest thing I’ve ever….

Seen in my life.

Seen in my life.

A bunch of child-like protesters in Atlanta, Georgia refused left-wing Congressman John Lewis — a civil rights icon to many — to be allowed to address the crowd this weekend. The whole scene is reminiscent of the worst, hackneyed, new agie-styled preschool program devised for 5-year-olds by one of the most idiotic leftists imaginable. But it makes for hilarious video entertainment.

Apparently these people decided that their “assembly” would employ pure democracy. But if there was ever a more annoying way to do it, I’ve never seen it.

A scraggly, bearded, hippie wannabe playing the part of the crowd’s conscience spoke to those gathered over a megaphone system. He would say a few words and the crowd would, like five-year-olds in a preschool class, repeat his words verbatim.

It went something like this:

Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy: “We have someone here…”
Dirty, Ground-Sitting Hippie Crowd in Unison: “We have someone here…”
Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy: “Who would like to address the assembly…”
Dirty, Ground-Sitting Hippie Crowd in Unison: “Who would like to address the assembly…”

So, Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy explains to the crowd that they don’t “use clapping” in their “assembly” because clapping can “prevent someone else who is addressing the assembly from being heard.” So, to “signal approval” the crowd is instructed to raise their hands and wiggle their fingers. I swear I saw this on Barney the Dinosaur show.
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Finger-Waving, Child-Like Protestors Refuse to Allow Left-Wing Congressman to Address Crowd”

Business - Capitalism - Card Check - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - NLRB - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Republicans - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

New Bill Introduced to Roll Back Obama’s Anti-Business NLRB Rules

October 8, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline (R, Minn.) is tired of sitting around doing nothing while Obama ramps up his extremely anti-business, anti-jobs regulatory regime. So Kline has introduced a new bill to roll back some of these harsh rules.

Since he became president Obama has been using his power to create regulations to push his pro-big labor, anti-business ideology. Obama knows he cannot get Congress to implement these anti-jobs regulations, so he has been quietly changing rules using his Dept. of Labor, the NLRB, and the EPA to hamper business and increasingly institute big government control over all our lives.
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New Bill Introduced to Roll Back Obama’s Anti-Business NLRB Rules”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions In for Anti-American, Anti-Capitalist ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protests

October 6, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like the Unions are now endorsing the unwashed masses infesting… er, investing Wall Street.

CNN has the story…

Wall Street Protests Grow After Unions’ Endorsement

Wall Street protests swelled Wednesday to their largest numbers yet, after local unions pledged support to a third week of demonstrations against income inequality, corporate greed, corruption and a list of other social ills.

Thousands meandered from lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park — considered a rallying point for the largely leaderless group — to Foley Square near City Hall.

The crowd then looped back to the park, punctuating a 19-day protest that promotes a wide, if not ambiguous, range of messages.

Causes range from social awareness to radical change in America’s financial and political systems, while other participants appeared content to simply get caught up in the spirit of demonstration.

Still, while the fledgling movement has struggled in its definition, demonstrators appear steadfast in their general criticism of the country’s wealthiest 1% and its purported influence….

These fools really don’t even have much of a point to these protests. They have a mish-mash of stale, socialist/communist/anti-American blather and boilerplate left-wing nonsense, but no coherent purpose.

But that unions have joined them is more proof of how un-American unions have become.
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Unions In for Anti-American, Anti-Capitalist ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protests”

Andy Stern - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Liberals - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Former SEIU Boss Andy Stern Becomes Albatross

October 1, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The board of directors at the bio-warfare company SIGA likely thought they had made the hire of the century last year when they took on former Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern. In fact, for a while, Stern, one of Obama’s most frequent White House visitors and close confidantes, seemed to bring the company good fortune.

In Stern’s first six months the company’s shares doubled in worth especially after it was awarded a humungous government contract worth up to $2.8 billion of our tax dollars.
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Former SEIU Boss Andy Stern Becomes Albatross”

Anti-Americanism - California - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Government - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions

Cherry Picking Facts + Bad Polling = Demagoguery

September 27, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Teacher union boss cherry picks from a biased poll and ends up with the pits.

Cherry picking is a phrase that has become quite popular these days. The term simply refers to advancing a certain point of view by using only data which supports that POV and omitting any contradictory or mitigating information.

A recent illustration of this phenomenon is on display in an article written by NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. The ironically titled Back-to-School Reality Check is, in fact, quite short on reality. The article, primarily a pep talk for teachers, uses a recent Phi Beta Kappa/Gallup poll as its motivating source. Early on, Van Roekel tells us,

“73 percent (of the poll’s respondents) said teachers should have flexibility in the classroom.”

I’m all for that. But what the union boss leaves out is that for teachers to have more flexibility they would need to tear up the telephone book-size union contract that dictates every little move a teacher makes.
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Cherry Picking Facts + Bad Polling = Demagoguery”

Business - Campaign Finance - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Detroit - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Jobs - Liberals - UAW - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

The UAW’s Waning Days?

September 25, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reuters has a very interesting article detailing the fall of the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the modern era. It is a long article, but if you are interested in the way the UAW intends to keep itself relevant to the auto industry on into the future, it is worth the read.

It is also a good article if you want a glimpse of the possible end to the UAW. Its deep financial troubles, its steady loss of members and plants to represent, and its powerlessness to spread its cancer to other auto makers in the south is an ominous warning that the UAW might be headed for the dust bin of history.

Let’s not start popping champagne corks yet, though. We should not count the UAW out, of course, as it is still very powerful. But things are not looking good for the once supremely powerful union.
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The UAW’s Waning Days?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Jobs - Liberals - NLRB - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

President Obama’s NLRB & Their Summer Assault On American Jobs

September 22, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama pretends that he wants to cut regulations and make it easier for businesses to make jobs. Unfortunately, what he says and what he does with his powers to regulate are two very, very different things.

From the Workforce Fairness Institute:
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President Obama’s NLRB & Their Summer Assault On American Jobs”

Budget - Chicago - Cook County - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - GOP - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Chicago: Union Members Collect Millions in Tax $$ With Sweetheart Pension Deal

September 22, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now this is the sort of corruption we are used to seeing in Illinois, eh? This week the Chicago Tribune and WGN TV has found up to 23 retired union operatives that are collecting millions in taxpayer dollars because they had pals in government tweak the state’s pensions laws to favor them.

These former government workers that were government union members got pliant politicians to alter the pensions laws to say that their pension remuneration would be calculated not on the lower pay they received when they retired from government, but from the much higher salary they received when they worked as union operatives. These folks worked as union bosses at the same time as working on the clock for government.

The “luck” of former union boss and Dept. of Streets and Sanitation worker Thomas Villanova is a typical example. Villanova last worked full-time for the city in 1989 and made $40,000-a-year. But he was also a union big wig making $198,000 annually upon his retirement in 2008 at age 56. His city pension, it appears, was calculated on the union salary of $198,000 instead of his real salary of $40,000 — itself obviously a no-show job in the first place.

Villanova stands to make millions off the taxpayers.
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Chicago: Union Members Collect Millions in Tax $$ With Sweetheart Pension Deal”

Children - Education - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Launch of Choice Media — Education News Service

September 22, 2011 by

ChoiceMedia.tv to Serve as Nation’s ‘Education Reform Homepage’

NEW YORK, NY, September 19, 2011 — Choice Media launches today, a non-profit news service devoted to covering all facets of K-12 education quality and reform.

“Education remains the most under-reported facet of American life by the traditional news media,” said Bob Bowdon, founder of Choice Media. “The coverage it does receive is often shallow and scandal-focused, with too little attention paid to the intractable systemic failures of a broken education model. Choice Media will attempt to reddress this imbalance.”
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Launch of Choice Media — Education News Service”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - Regulation - Right To Work - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Intimidation: Obama’s Dept. of Labor To Supply Replacement Worker’s Names AND Addresses to Union Thugs

September 20, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

“Since 1975,” a study of union violence says, there has been “more than 9,000 reports of union violence.” With that in mind, wouldn’t it scare you if you were told that your name and address would be made public knowledge if you were hired as a temporary or replacement worker during a union strike? If you had any sense you sure would.

Well, now that is exactly what the Obama administration wants to do. Obama’s Department of Labor wants to make a new rule that businesses must disclose the names and addresses of individuals that are hired during strikes to replace unionized workers, whether permanently or temporarily.

With the long, long history of murder, property damage, beatings, and general harassment that unions have engaged in since unions came to this nation, the idea of having a worker’s name and address released to these union thugs so that unions can create hit lists of employees to attack is unconscionable.

Obama plans to put the property, family, and the very lives of thousands of workers in danger just so he can again give a big payoff to Big Labor.
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Intimidation: Obama’s Dept. of Labor To Supply Replacement Worker’s Names AND Addresses to Union Thugs”