Gov. Scott Walker wins union-backed Wisconsin recall election

Walker wins 53%-46%, more than his 2010 victory over the same #sshat.  The spin from the left and the MSM (pardon the redundancy) is predictable: Don’t read anything into it, it doesn’t mean anything, all the people voting against Walker proves that his divisive style of politics doesn’t work (as opposed to all the people who voted for him proving that his style of politics does work), etc.

This poor, melodramatic sap thinks a state election’s outcome means the death of America, or something.  Savor the rich, delicious moonbat sorrow, my friends:

NJ teachers union executive on why poor kids shouldn’t get vouchers: “Life’s not always fair”

Get over it, you poor b#stards!  From Joisey:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called Wednesday for a state teachers union chief to resign, after the union boss said in an interview that “life’s not always fair” while arguing against vouchers to send poor students to private schools. 

Christie, who has clashed repeatedly with the union over his education proposals, called the remark “outrageous” at a town hall meeting. 

The call from the governor was the latest fallout for New Jersey Education Association Executive Director Vincent Giordano, whose own salary tops $300,000.

Giordano made the comment on the local “New Jersey Capitol Report” program over the weekend. During the interview, he was challenged by the host on why low-income families should not have the same options as other families when their child is in a failing school. 

“Those parents should have exactly the same options and they do. We don’t say that you can’t take your kid out of the public school. We would argue not and we would say ‘let’s work more closely and more harmoniously,'” Giordano said. 

When told some families cannot afford to finance the shift to private school without government help, Giordano said: “Well, you know, life’s not always fair and I’m sorry about that.”

Now that he’s got his $300k+ in salary, screw the kids, right?

This isn’t about whether you think vouchers are a good idea or not.  This is about a highly paid leftist union tool telling poor families that he’d rather they suffer the indignities of a substandard education than have alternatives to the government schools to which they are zoned.  And of course, the predictable “throw more money at it” reply got regurgitated.

Obama lets his communist leanings show loudly and clearly

One of the things I’ve detested about the left and the MSM (pardon the redundancy) since BHO decided to run for president was their insistence that their boy was a “centrist” or “center-left” guy.  He was raised by an anti-American Muslim father (for a while) and an anti-American socialist mother, indoctrinated with anti-American propaganda at his madrassas and in college by Marxist professors, associated with the New Party (communist, Google it), bombarded with anti-American socialist vitriol in Jeremiah Wright’s church for over two decades, palling around with anti-American left-wing terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, and best buds with his most frequent White House visitor Andy Stern (former SEIU chief).

Yet the left would have us believe that despite incubating in such an anti-American leftist cesspool, BHO was immune to all of the effects one would expect from someone with such a background.  If you lie with dogs, you get fleas…unless you’re Obama, in which case you’re immune from fleas.

Last week, Stern wrote a column telling Americans that our capitalist model was a failure and needed to be shaped to match the Chicom model.  Stern was one of many union bosses who have openly espoused communist…er, “pro-worker”…sentiments.  When you listen to their rhetoric, it sounds exactly like something you would have heard from Lenin, Chavez, Castro, et al.  It’s official: unions are nothing more than commie front groups.  Period.  The science is settled.

Oh, but I forgot: Just because ObaMao is best buds with Stern, Hoffa, et al, does NOT mean he shares their communist sensibilities.  To think otherwise is crazy.  I mean, aside from a rare moment of honesty with Joe the Plumber, when has BHO ever advocated anything other than a capitalist model?

Now.  The answer to the prior question is now.  In Kansas, no less.  Here’s what he had to say about capitalism:

“It’s a simple theory — one that speaks to our rugged individualism and healthy skepticism of too much government. It fits well on a bumper sticker. Here’s the problem: It doesn’t work,” Obama said of supply-side economics, drawing extended applause. “It’s never worked.”

Oh, sure, some would argue that he wasn’t talking about capitalism per se, but of supply-side economics.  Folks, that is a distinction without a difference.  As Ace rightly notes:

He says “trickle-down economics” rather than capitalism, but “trickle-down economics” is merely an argument in favor of capitalism. There is no such thing as “trickle-down economics.” There is capitalism, and the argued advantage of it, which is the trickling down of created wealth.
…
…But Europe is probably going to plunge into something in between a recession or a depression, and may erupt in violence and political disorder.

And Europe is Obama’s lodestar. That’s where he wants to take us. To the extent we haven’t gotten there yet, it’s because Americans are soft, lazy bitter clingers who hate other sorts of people (and their politico-economic systems).

So Europe’s 60 or 70 year history with socialism is about to end in violent upheavals and misery… and here’s this ignoramus saying that it’s capitalism which is the proven failure.

As an intemperate interjection, might I note that if, by “never worked”, the organizer-in-chief means “increased government revenues every time”, then yeah, “never worked.”  If, by “never worked”, he means the creation of 16 million new jobs, then he’s right…”never worked”.

But that’s not what he means.  Those aren’t benefits…not to the people he seeks to please.  No, by “never worked”, he means “it has never taken more money from the producers and funded the non-producers’ chosen lifestyles of lethargy and dependence in perpetuity.”  That’s what he means.  See, when 16 million new jobs were created, you had to be handicapped or lazy to not get a job, because they were everywhere.  Every time supply side economics has been tried, the economy has picked back up, jobs have been created, and revenues to the government have increased as a result of more people working and paying income taxes (and not on public dependence).  But to ObaMao, public dependence is a feature, NOT a bug!

The son of a motherless goat is a commie.  He’s had it pounded into his head since he was a fetus (that, luckily for him, escaped medical procedures that he endorses, to the point of infanticide).  No amount of results will shake his belief that it is communism, and not capitalism, that has failed every time.  He just knows it will be different this time…it’s got to be!  (Sidebar: I know that communism and socialism aren’t exactly the same thing. But the differences are not great, so as far as I’m concerned, for the sake of B.O.’s leftist leanings, they’re the same thing.)

For the sake of the republic, this #sshat must be removed from office in next year’s election.  This country cannot survive eight years of Obamunism.

Pelosi: Boeing plant in SC should unionize or shut down

Can you believe those crazy Republicans are anti-jobs?  The nerve of them.  Anywho, from Granny Botox:

In an interview late last week, House Minority Leaeder Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told CNBC that Boeing should either unionize its production facilities in South Carolina, or shut them down entirely.

“Do you think it’s right that Boeing has to close down that plant in South Carolina because it’s non union?” asked host Maria Bartiromo. Pelosi’s reply: “Yes.”

The minority leader quickly added that she would rather it simply unionize and stay open. But barring unionization, by Pelosi’s reasoning, it should simply shut down.

Apparently, the only jobs worth creating are union jobs.  Never mind that S.C. workers chose differently when given a chance:

Pelosi may or may not know that workers at the South Carolina plant in question voted resoundingly (199-68) to decertify their union two years ago. Government policies that would close the plant for being a non-union shop would simply be punishing those workers for exercising their right to determine union representation for themselves.

Yeah, well what do they know about their own factory, right?  San Fran Nan is much more in tune with SC working conditions than the workers actually there, huh?

#sshat.

Thoughts on “Occupy Wall Street”

1.  Remember when Speaker Botox said that the Tea Party movement wasn’t spontaneous or grassroots?  She’s now saying, of course, that the moonbat-o-thon on Wall Street and elsewhere is definitely spontaneous.  If, by “spontaneous”, she means “bought and paid for by unions“, then yeah…”spontaneous”.

2.  Anyone else find the humor in the irony?  A bunch of losers who are spending their time with “occupation” instead of spending their time either at an occupation or looking for an occupation?  😆

3.  The common phrase among these unemployable miscreants is “We are the 99%!”  Really?  99% of the nation doesn’t bathe, doesn’t want a job, and wants the government to take care of them for the rest of their lives because they’re too stupid and lazy to take care of themselves?  I’m dubious, to say the least.

4.  You want to see a dressing-down of one of these loons (albeit a well-dressed, though thoroughly dishonest, loon), on national TV?  Answer: Of COURSE you do!  Then enjoy!

5.  Just a bunch of average Joes and Janes, right?  Yeah, right:

Just your typical 99 percenter, right?

Wisconsin union-curbing bill destroys school district. Wait, did I say “destroy”?

I meant “saved”, and not in the Obamaspeak “saved or created” context.  Details:

“This is a disaster,” said Mark Miller, the Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader, in February after Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposed a budget bill that would curtail the collective bargaining powers of some public employees. Miller predicted catastrophe if the bill were to become law — a charge repeated thousands of times by his fellow Democrats, union officials, and protesters in the streets.

What disastrous consequences have occurred?

The Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin near Appleton, has about 4,200 students and about 400 employees. It has struggled in recent times and this year faced a deficit of $400,000. But after the law went into effect, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, school officials put in place new policies they estimate will turn that $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. And it’s all because of the very provisions that union leaders predicted would be disastrous.

In the past, teachers and other staff at Kaukauna were required to pay 10 percent of the cost of their health insurance coverage and none of their pension costs. Now, they’ll pay 12.6 percent of the cost of their coverage (still well below rates in much of the private sector) and also contribute 5.8 percent of salary to their pensions. The changes will save the school board an estimated $1.2 million this year, according to board President Todd Arnoldussen.

Why, it’s as if the government worker unions were wrong in their dire predictions or something!

Exit question: Why do Wisconsin unions hate school children?

Wisconsin supreme court overturns liberal judicial activist’s ruling, reinstates collective bargaining limitation law

Not only did the WI supreme court overturn the leftist judicial activist hack’s ruling, the court (a) made the law effective immediately and (b) rhetorically backhanded this wench across her maw.

Check out Legal Insurrection‘s rundown of what happened.  It’s not long, but it is clear.  Summary:

WI legislature passes budget repair bill, which includes the limitations on public employee unions’ collective bargaining.  WI Democrats accuse the legislature of violating the Open Meetings Law in passing the budget repair bill.  WI Dems find a sympathetic judge in Maryann Sumi, who issues a Temporary Restraining Order and decrees that the bill (and not the law) cannot move forward due to the violation of the Open Meetings Law.

The state supreme court is appalled, on two fronts: (1) that a judge “exceeded its jurisdiction, invaded the legislature’s constitutional powers under Article IV, Section 1 and Section 17 of the Wisconsin Constitution, and erred in enjoining the publication and further implementation of the Act” (the court’s words, not mine); and (2) that a judge would outright ignore a prior state supreme court ruling (Goodland v. Zimmerman) that a court cannot rule a bill unconstitutional.  Courts can only rule on laws, not on bills that have yet to become law.  Quote the supreme court:

There is no such thing known to the law as an unconstitutional bill. A court cannot deal with the question of constitutionality until a law has been duly enacted and some person has been deprived of his constitutional rights by its operation.

Goodland v. Zimmerman was the case that affirmed such a prohibition of ruling on the constitutionality of bills.  Judge Sumi ignored that ruling, saying basically that “Yeah, but that ruling was done before the Open Meetings Law, so it’s not valid anymore.”  The WI supreme court said “Lady, you’re on some heavy doses of LSD if that’s what you think.”

Here’s where the supreme court really pops Judge Sumi in her kisser:

¶6 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that all orders and judgments of the Dane County Circuit Court in Case No. 2011CV1244 are vacated and declared to be void ab initio. State ex rel. Nader v. Circuit Court for Dane Cnty., No. 2004AP2559-W, unpublished order (Wis. S. Ct. Sept. 30, 2004) (wherein this court vacated the prior orders of the circuit court in the same case).

¶7 This court has granted the petition for an original action because one of the courts that we are charged with supervising has usurped the legislative power which the Wisconsin Constitution grants exclusively to the legislature. …

Ace summarizes what void ab initio means:

Generally, when a higher court calls bullsh#t on a lower one, it’s called a remand, a declaration that the lower court got it wrong, and to try again.

Commenters are telling me the court ruled here ab initio, which (context clues, it’s been forever since I did anything law-oriented) means it’s expunged from memory altogether as being improperly entertained from the start, which means there is no remand to the lower court to try again. The higher court has said “Not only did you get this wrong, you got it so wrong we don’t trust you with another bite at the apple, so we’re directing your decision from here. It’s over. Done. Finished. Kaput.”

Ouch!  That’s gonna leave a mark!

Chalk up a victory to the rule of law.

Sick! Wisconsin union thugs disrupt Special Olympics event to protest against governor

If you ever had any doubts as to how shameless and worthless unions are, let me put those doubts to rest once and for all:

In front of the Capitol today, protesters dressed as zombies stood between Governor Scott Walker and the group of Special Olympics participants he was honoring.

Quite aside from the unbelievable rudeness, how can the protesters be so blind about their own public relations?

Video clip:

What a bunch of sick, vile vermin!

Government employee union holds protest…at the wrong site

Hey, SEIU: GPS.  Google it.

Excerpt:

When union workers and environmental activists picked a Hastings-area site to protest inaction on a Marcellus Shale severance tax, they made one mistake.

Marcellus activity isn’t occurring within miles of it.

Service Employees International Union officials issued an apology Monday, saying they mistakenly set up their protest Thursday – and a makeshift tollbooth asking the industry to pay its fair share – next to a surface well property that has been around for years and isn’t set up for shale drilling.

“There is no Marcellus Shale drilling on that property, and we’ve contacted the property owners and apologized. It was a mistake, and there was no malice intended even when we thought it was a Marcellus well,” said Neil Bhaerman, a SEIU Healthcare spokesman. “It was an honest mistake that we are going to take extra care to ensure never happens again.”

Notes Ed:

Just remember, the same people who couldn’t find an actual Marcellus shale site with both hands and a map will be the same people expected to administer ObamaCare.

Scary, no?  Hey, wasn’t it the deposed former Senate Dem leader Tom Dasshole who once said “You don’t professionalize unless you federalize”?  Yeah, I’m thinking “No!”

Rightwing nutjobs looking to kill public employee union bargaining rights in…Massachusetts?

And by “rightwing nutjobs”, I clearly mean “a blue state with a blue House, blue Senate, and blue governor”…aka Taxachusetts!  Details:

The 111-to-42 vote followed tougher measures to broadly eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states. But unlike those efforts, the push in Massachusetts was led by Democrats who have traditionally stood with labor to oppose any reduction in workers’ rights.Unions fought hard to stop the bill, launching a radio ad that assailed the plan and warning legislators that if they voted for the measure, they could lose their union backing in the next election. After the vote, labor leaders accused House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and other Democrats of turning their backs on public employees.

“It’s pretty stunning,’’ said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to in their campaigns. The same Democrats who tell us over and over again that they’re with us, that they believe in collective bargaining, that they believe in unions. . . . It’s a done deal for our relationship with the people inside that chamber.’’

Huh.  It’s as if the taxpayers don’t want to be sodomized by government employee unions or something!

FL looking to end unions’ auto-deduction of dues from member paychecks

The left is squealing like a pig over this.  Excerpt:

In a blow to public employee unions, the Republican-controlled Florida House passed a bill Friday that would ban payroll deductions of dues and require labor organizations to get individual members’ OK before using their payments for political purposes.

What?!? You mean that unions won’t be able to use members’ money for political purposes without their consent anymore? Why, that’s outrageous! Surely the Constitution states somewhere that unions should be allowed to take a Christian member’s dues and fund pro-abortion candidates.

Continuing:

Republicans insisted in floor debate that the bill’s intent is not to harm unions but to empower public employees by giving them more control over how their dues are spent and to separate government from politics.

“We don’t need to be involved in the collections of union dues, which then can be used for partisan political activity,” said Rep. Chris Dorworth, a Lake Mary Republican who sponsored the bill. “It affords members of labor unions the right to determine whether or not they want to be part of the political agenda of the union.”

As of today, a union (such as the Florida Education Association, the state version of the NEA teachers union) can use the dues of a conservative member to bankroll the campaign of a leftwing nutjob, against the will of the conservative member. The proposed House bill will end that practice.

Apparently, the talking points memo has been circulated (note the phraseology of the statements):

“The lawmakers who voted for this bill have signaled their desire to use the power of government to single out and attack the hard-working men and women who serve Florida in public employment,” said Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union. “It’s simply un-American.”
…
“This isn’t just about elections,” Templin added. “This is about keeping working people out of the (legislative) process because if there’s not a strong organization with the resources necessary, the Chamber of Commerce and the other special-interest groups are the only ones here.”
…
“Please don’t put lipstick on this elephant,” said Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa. “This bill is about one thing. It’s about silencing the voices of working men and women.”

How quaint: “working”.  Because apparently, the only “workers” in the state are union members, right?  No one else “works” in the state of FL, do they?

UPDATED: Police and firefighter union thugs try to extort WI businesses

UPDATES BELOW.

Need another reason why government employees should have NO collective “bargaining” rights?  Look no further:

Wow. Here is another reason public unions should not be allowed to collectively bargain with politicians running a local or state government. Union leadership – including those from law enforcement and firefighters – have sent letters out to local businesses demanding they publicly oppose the efforts of Wisconsin’s legislature and governor or face the consequences.

Not only are they suggesting they publicly oppose the fiscal-sanity measures in Wisconsin, they are flat out telling them they will publicly boycott businesses who do not proactively do so. From James Taranto’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday.

In the letter to Wisconsin businessmen, however, we see why so-called collective bargaining is particularly corrupting to the police. Although the letter explicitly threatens only an economic boycott, when it is written on behalf of the police–of those on whom all citizens depend to protect their safety–it invariably raises the prospect of another kind of boycott. Can a businessman who declines this heavy-handed “request” be confident that the police will do their job if he is the victim of a crime–particularly if the crime itself is in retaliation for his refusal to support “the dedicated public employees who serve our communities”?

SteveM shows an excerpt of one of those letters from the government union thugs to area businesses (emphasis added):

The undersigned groups would like your company to publicly oppose Governor Walker’s efforts to virtually eliminate collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin. While we appreciate that you may need some time to consider this request, we ask for your response by March 17. In the event that you do not respond to this request by that date, we will assume that you stand with Governor Walker and against the teachers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters, and other dedicated public employees who serve our communities.

Cops to businesses who might support Walker:  Man, it sure would be a “shame” if you called 911 because you needed assistance and we “just so happened” to get delayed in responding to your call…wouldn’t it?

Firefighters to businesses who might support Walker: Man, wouldn’t it just suck to see your business go up in flames and it “just so happened” to take us too long to respond to the blaze?

B#stards.

UPDATE (03/18/2011 – 07:35 EST):  Seems that actual WI cops (the rank-and-file) are throwing the author of the extortion letter under the police cruiser.  The author of the extortion letter is James Palmer, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Officers Association (WPPA). As Steven Spingola points out, Palmer isn’t a cop, nor has he ever been one…he’s a lawyer! As such, real cops are distancing themselves from Palmer and are publicly trashing the guy.

WI Democrat fleebagger: Fining us won’t bring us back! WI GOP: Fine, then we’ll pass the union-busting bill without you being here!

The set-up:

Democrats said the fines would have no effect on bringing them back to the state.

“They’ve messed with our staffs,” said Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton). “They’ve taken away our parking spaces. They’ve extorted our paychecks. They’ve sent the State Patrol after us. And now they’ve fined us $100 a day.

“I don’t know what more they need to do to get the point that it’s not working.”

Thanks for proving our point, jackwagon.  You leave us no choice:

Two Democratic state senators said they think Republicans plan to pass parts of Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal that take away collective bargaining rights from public workers without them.

Senate Republican leaders weren’t saying why they hastily created a conference committee that’s meeting later Wednesday night.

A source confirmed to WISC-TV that Republican senators intend to remove fiscal portions of the budget bill in order to pass it without Democratic senators.

See, there needs to be at least one Democrat present for budget-related bills to be voted upon, but what if you strip out the public employees union collective bargaining part of the bill (and into a separate bill) that sent these miscreant Dem cowards on the lam in the first place?  Answer: Moonbat rage!  😆

By the way, you ever get the feeling that irony is lost on these schmucks?  From one of the fleebaggers, Democrat Chris Larson:

What Republicans did was an affront to democracy. Never shall a voter doubt which party stands for the working class, and which for the rich.

Refusing to do your taxpayer-funded job, a job that requires voting on stuff, is not an “affront to democracy”, but actually showing up and voting on a bill is?  Got it.  Thanks for the clarification.

Nice to see the GOP grow a pair and hobble the fleebaggers.

WI state senate leader rips Dem fleebaggers a new one

You can sop up the snark and condescension with a biscuit and go into a diabetic coma…it’s that sweet!  😆  Here’s a letter from the state senate leader, Republican Scott Fitzgerald, to his minority leader counterpart, Democrat Mark Miller, on Miller’s request to meet along the WI and IL border.  Keep in mind that the fleebaggers are hiding in IL to avoid doing their jobs in WI, all as a payoff to the unions that are bankrupting the state.  All emphasis below is mine.

March 7, 2011

Sen. Mark Miller

Parts Unknown, IL

Dear Senator Miller,

Thank you for your hand-delivered letter with an offer to meet, in Illinois, about the business and future direction of Wisconsin.

Let’s set aside how bizarre that is for a moment.

As you know, this legislation is designed to finally balance the state budget, prevent layoffs and create jobs in the real world. There are hundreds of thousands of unemployed or underemployed Wisconsinites, and at least 1,500 more whose jobs are in the balance because of your media stunt. We all deserve better than this.

In the meantime, members of your caucus have been meeting with the governor’s staff, talking to the media, trying to find a way back to Madison, and contradicting your message in public. In case you don’t remember, you were present yourself at one of those meetings with the governor’s staff. Your grasp of reality, and control of your caucus as minority leader, continues to amaze me.

As you know, your opportunity to compromise and amend the bill was on the floor of the state Senate. As you know, you forfeited that right and opportunity when you decided to flee the state instead of doing your job.

Your stubbornness in trying to ignore the last election and protect the broken status quo is truly shameful. While we wait for you and your colleagues to finally show up, Senate Republicans continue to stand ready to do the job we were elected to do, here in Wisconsin. I hope you are enjoying your vacation, and your vacation from reality.

Sincerely,

Scott Fitzgerald

Senate Majority Leader

CC: Governor Scott Walker

Awesomely McAwesome, drenched in Awesome sauce!  Or, as NRO puts it, “Best Letter Ever”!

Barone: Public unions are simply taxpayers funding the DNC

Well-put and unassailable logic…which, of course, means the left will reject it.  Excerpt:

The most important factual problem with Dionne’s argument is that he doesn’t mention where the money public employee unions contribute to Democrats comes from. Let me refer him to these words from my Examiner column last Wednesday:

Taxpayers, present and future, . . . are the source of every penny of dues paid to public employee unions, who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats. In effect, public employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party.

My question to E. J. Dionne: What’s the public policy argument for taxpayer funding of one of two major political parties?

If public employee unions are donating all of their money to Democrats, and if my taxpayer dues are funding public employees who belong to said unions, why in the h3ll am I to be expected to fund a party that I feel is destroying my country?

WI governor calls out Obama on hypocrisy over union benefits

Wanna see how draconian the federal public employees union is?

It will no doubt surprise you to learn that President Obama, the great patron of the working man, also happens to be the great CEO of one of the least union-friendly shop floors in the nation.

This is, after all, the president who has berated Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees, calling the very idea an “assault on unions.” This is also the president who has sicced his political arm, Organizing for America, on Madison, allowing the group to fill buses and plan rallies. Ah, but it’s easy to throw rocks when you live in a stone (White) house.

Fact: President Obama is the boss of a civil work force that numbers up to two million (excluding postal workers and uniformed military). Fact: Those federal workers cannot bargain for wages or benefits. Fact: Washington, D.C. is, in the purest sense, a “right to work zone.” Federal employees are not compelled to join a union, nor to pay union dues. Fact: Neither Mr. Obama, nor the prior Democratic majority, ever acted to give their union chums a better federal deal.

Scott Walker, eat your heart out.

What WI is proposing is to remove collective bargaining power for WI public employees’ benefits, not their wages…they would still be free to collectively bargain for those.  Plus, WI is proposing an increase in WI public employees’ contributions to their own health care, a contribution level that is still worlds lower than that of federal employees unions.

In other words, WI isn’t being so cold as to ask their employees to emulate the federal employees union.  Yet B.O. is asking the governor to stop villifying state employees?

So, Oba-Mao is being a hypocrite.  No big shocker there, right?  Well, how about a little red meat from WI Governor Scott Walker?

Gov. Scott Walker on Monday afternoon responded to comments President Barack Obama made earlier in the day about the protests in Madison:

Walker’s office issued this statement:

“I’m sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I’m sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.

“Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.

“I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.”

Heh.  😆

Union boss Trumka: Raise taxes to create tons of jobs

And to think that people perceive the unions that are bankrupting this country as being functional illiterates when it comes to economics!  Excerpt:

What’s the best way to get Americans back to work?

Raise taxes, according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.  Specifically, he wants to raise the federal gas tax as a means to fund infrastructure spending.  “We need a dedicated source of revenue to create infrastructure in this country,” he tells Aaron Task in the accompanying clip.  

“We need to create jobs.  The best way to do that is through infrastructure development.”  Simply maintaining the existing infrastructure in this country will cost $2.2 trillion over five years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.  That doesn’t include Obama’s objective of high-speed rails and green energy projects.

Trumka didn’t say specifically how much he would raise the gas tax, but mentioned he’s shown the President a $256 billion plan to improve infrastructure.  If every billion spent on infrastructure creates 35,000 jobs, as he claims, this package would create close to 9 million jobs over the next five years. 

By that “logic” (and I use that word loosely), all we need to do is jack gas taxes northward of $10/gal and we’ll be swimming in new jobs!  Because those taxes pay for themselves, mind you.

Moron.

Irony, WI teachers union edition

NYT: Tea Party protests bad, union protests good

You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear the New York Times is less interested in reporting and more interested in agenda-driving, even if they look hypocritical in the process.  If I didn’t know any better, that is.  From Jonathan Tobin:

In 2009 and 2010 the New York Times covered protests against the Obama administration’s stimulus spending bill and health care plan as the barely legal revolt of an unwashed and uncivil band of reactionaries determined not only to halt what the paper considered progress but also to thwart democracy. But anyone looking at the Times’ front page article on Saturday describing protests against the effort by Wisconsin’s newly elected governor and legislature to balance the state’s books got a very different view of a protest movement.

According to the Times, the activities of the Wisconsin public sector unions — whose expensive benefits have put their state on the brink of bankruptcy — are nothing less than the moral equivalent of the demonstrations in Tunisia that brought down an authoritarian dictatorship. As the headline “Wisconsin Leads the Way as Workers Fight Cuts” indicates, the whole focus of the piece is an effort to portray the unions and their Democratic allies as revolutionaries who are on the cutting edge of a movement that will, in effect, reverse the verdict of last year’s election.

Read the whole thing.  It’s short, but he lays out the indictment against the Old Gray Hag quite nicely, including a video link contrasting liberal rhetoric vs. reality.

As for the NYT: Nope…no liberal media bias!

WI Dems may shoot themselves in the foot over union measure

Most of you are probably aware of the situation in Wisconsin: the Dems were roundly defeated in an erstwhile blue state, and they are ignoring the election results with a hyperdefiance.

The WI House passed a bill to remove collective barganing from public employee unions (since public unions are crippling the state’s budget), and the newly elected governor has stated that he will sign this bill once the Senate acts on it.  The WI Senate requires 20 members to be present to pass budgetary laws, and while all 19 Republicans are present, none of the 14 Democrats are.  They fled the state, refusing to do the taxpayer-funded jobs to which they were elected, in a display of cowardice and arrogance stunning only in its proportion.

It was rumored that the Senate would bring up the issue in a separate non-budgetary bill (which wouldn’t require a single Democrat to be there), a “nuclear option” of sorts.  Bad news: that was just a rumor.  Good news: Republicans will vote on other bills that Democrats hate and won’t be there to demagogue or flip Republicans to their side.  Details:

Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said today the Senate will not break out proposed collective bargaining changes from the governor’s budget repair bill so Republicans can approve them with just their 19 members present.
…
Republicans have been unable to approve the budget repair bill because they need 20 members present for a quorum on fiscal matters. Some Dems have questioned whether Republicans would break out the collective bargaining changes from the bill to go around the Senate Dems’ current boycott during a scheduled floor session tomorrow.

Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said such a move would not happen, but Republicans plan to move ahead with regular Senate business. In addition to tomorrow’s calendar, that could mean public hearings on other legislation, and possibly a floor vote on a voter ID bill that Democrats don’t like.

“Just because they don’t want to participate, you cant shut down the people’s work,” Fitzgerald said.

While I wish the GOP would grow a pair and take down the public unions in the separate measure, I’ll take porking the Dems up the chute on other issues.  Anything to make the left’s life miserable is good news for citizens of WI, no?

Nationally, unions are taking a beating in public opinion polls on this issue.  Then again, union contempt for the public which they purport to serve is already apparent.

Chicago government school union member: “Give up the bucks!”

Comforting to know this genius is “teaching” somebody’s kids.

Sometimes, words aren’t even necessary…so the video will do:

NJ Gov. Chris Christie recalls conversation with teachers union head

My man-crush on the fat guy continues.  Enjoy!

Relax, wingnuts, those NV machines serviced by SEIU thugs are A-OK, assures the Dem Secretary of State

Who’s up for a game of “Name That Party”?  You know, that’s where the MSM just so happens to omit the party affiliation when it might inconvenience their narrative.  Details:

Secretary of State Ross Miller said today there have been no complaints filed with his office about suspicious voter activity despite email rumors and media accounts that at least some electronic voting machines are pre-programmed to support U.S. Senate candidate Harry Reid, D-NV.

Read the whole story.  See if you can find the party affiliation of NV Sec of State Miller.  I’m guessing that if people knew he is a Democrat, they might want a more objective reassurance than him telling us these auto-votes for fellow Democrat Harry Reid aren’t really happening.  Questioning a Dem Sec of State?  The MSM isn’t going to have any of that nonsense!

Nope…no liberal media bias!

UPDATED: Voting machines malfunction in NV and NC, and the malfunctions just so happen to benefit Democrats

UPDATES BELOW.

I’m not a conspiracy theory guy.  But man, in light of Democrats stealing elections in SD in 2002, WA in 2004, and MN in 2008, is it unreasonable to think they’re up to no good in the middle of the big red tsunami of 2010?

From NV:

Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County’s electronic voting machines.

Voter Joyce Ferrara said when they went to vote for Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid’s name was already checked.

Ferrara said she wasn’t alone in her voting experience. She said her husband and several others voting at the same time all had the same thing happen.

“Something’s not right,” Ferrara said. “One person that’s a fluke. Two, that’s strange. But several within a five minute period of time — that’s wrong.”

From NC:

A Craven County voter says he had a near miss at the polls on Thursday when an electronic voting machine completed his straight-party ticket for the opposite of what he intended.

Sam Laughinghouse of New Bern said he pushed the button to vote Republican in all races, but the voting machine screen displayed a ballot with all Democrats checked. He cleared the screen and tried again with the same result, he said. Then he asked for and received help from election staff.

“They pushed it twice and the same thing happened,” Laughinghouse said. “That was four times in a row. The fifth time they pushed it and the Republicans came up and I voted.”

Malfunctions happen.  But dude, they both benefit the Democrats?  Seriously?

UPDATE (10/26/2010 – 10:30 pm EST):  Well, well, well!  The NV voting machine technicians are…I swear I’m not making this up…SEIU workers!  Who in the blue Hell thought that was a good idea?

Taxpayer-funded union trashes the people who pay their salaries

Morons.

If you can’t beat them, insult and attack them…
 
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) released this “teabagger” election ad this week. They hope that by smearing all of those limited government protesters with an offensive sexual innuendo these patriots will stay home on election day.
 
And, of course, they don’t care that these vile ads are playing on the internet and are heard on the radio so your children can learn how to be mean and rude, too. 

By “teabaggers”, they mean “taxpayers”, you know.  Apparently, the irony of them sliming the people who fund their bloated salaries and pensions is totally lost on them.  Unions are about as useful as boobs on a boar.

Union boss: We need to force socialism on America!

Well, his buddy B.O. is certainly trying.  But you don’t normally see this kind of telegraphing one’s intentions, do you?

From the AFL-CIO blog, violence-promoting labor chief Richard Trumka urged his fellow leftists to seize back power from the Tea Party movement and take back “control of the national conversation.”

Gloves off:

With the economy continuing to stagger and job creation not moving quickly, “working people are justifiably angry and frustrated” as they approach the Nov. 2 elections, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

 

…In the short term, said Trumka, the labor movement has to “recapture the moment and take control of the national conversation.” Building for the future, we need to fundamentally restructure our economy and re-establish popular control over the private corporations which have distorted our economy and hijacked our government. That’s a long-term job, but one we should start now.

Sorry, pal, but we’re taking the trash out in five weeks.  And if your portly behind wants to sit in my garbage can, I’ll me more than happy to gorilla press you out to the dumpster, Humpty.

Chris Christie rips into another teachers union mouthpiece

My man-crush on the Round Mound of Smackdown grows bigger than his waistline!

Here’s the latest clip, embedded below.  It’s 9:30 long, so if that’s too long for you (what, you got ADHD or something?), watch the first 1:55 and the last couple of minutes for the juiciest parts.

Union thugs at SEIU not too good at spelling

There’s an expression that says “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’!”  Apparently, there’s no “I” in “American”, either:

The irony?  These guys were holding a Beck counter-rally with Dept. of Education employees!  😆

Yoonyuns iz dum!

It’s official: Obama sucks at running car companies

Considering that ObaMao hasn’t ever run so much as a lemonade stand, this comes as no real surprise:

President Obama’s auto task force pressed General Motors and Chrysler to close scores of dealerships without adequately considering the jobs that would be lost or having a firm idea of the cost savings that would be achieved, an audit of the process has concluded.

The report by Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program of the Treasury Department, said both carmakers needed to shut down some underperforming dealerships. But it questioned whether the cuts should have been made so quickly, particularly during a recession. The report, released on Sunday, estimated that tens of thousands of jobs were lost as a result.

“It is not at all clear that the greatly accelerated pace of the dealership closings during one of the most severe economic downturns in our nation’s history was either necessary for the sake of the companies’ economic survival or prudent for the sake of the nation’s economic recovery,” the report said.

What kind of authority figures did President Kicking-Businesses’-#ss appoint?  These kinds:

Barack Obama put Steve Rattner in charge of running his auto bailout program, a man who had just as much experience in the auto industry as Obama did: he drove a few cars.  Rattner had to make a quick exit after just a few months when it became known that he was the target of a federal probe into questionable activities regarding the New York pension fund — and his replacement had just as much experience in the auto industry as Rattner did.

What was the main entry on Ron Bloom’s resume?  He was a union negotiator.

Wow.  It’s as if the government doesn’t know anything about business and stuff!

The teachers union’s destruction of capital…and education

Here’s the chart from Big Government:

In other words, over the last 40 years, spending per pupil from K-12 has increased 400% in inflation-adjusted dollars…yet educational performance hasn’t even budged!

The money has been going to fund the bloated, wasteful, useless educational bureaucracy (teachers unions and their pet causes), and most certainly not to the kids.  I doubt kids are stupider or that they’re being bombarded with more information to learn that they can’t keep up.  No, our money is being stolen by government at the behest of their NEA allies for stuff like this:

Former Niles Township school superintendent Neil Codell is projected to receive $26,661,604 in retirement checks from the Illinois teacher pension plan.

Whee.

He also gets free health care, term life insurance, and a $500-a-month stipend for an automobile.  (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? – Ed.)

In all, 100 school administrators will split $887,925,790 in pension checks in their retirement years.

The pension fund is only 60% funded — with an unfunded liability — debt — of $30 billion.

Nice work, if you can get it.  By the way, any guesses as to where the $30 billion will come from?  Answer (that you already knew): You and me.