Another Real Cost of the Unions

Posted in Education Labor Unions Political Cartoon SEIU State Public Unions with No Comments

More:

Public Unions Threaten Democracy, Financial Viability of States and Quality of Education

In the following editorial, Michelle Malkin spells out some of the relevant issues regarding the public union strike in Wisconsin. With her trademark incisiveness and cynicism she noted that:

“… the so-called progressives truly believe that bringing American union workers into the 21st century in line with the rest of the work force is tantamount to dictatorship.”

and

“… the so-called progressives truly believe that by walking off their jobs and out of their classrooms, they are "putting children first."”

Clearly, there are a lot more issues in play than most have discussed. For example, how can the public unions even defend their exorbitant and ever escalating salaries and compensation packages which substantially exceed that which their taxpaying benefactors are receiving when their students’ test scores continue to plummet further year after year?

Another issue which Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker hasn’t really articulated is that the legislation that he is defending will do away with tenure of teachers (which is what the union is fighting) and base their employment on merit.

What a novel idea! Keep the good teachers and get rid of the bad ones. Hmm.

Right now the union contract reads that the last teacher hired is the first one fired so that many energetic, educated, and enthusiastic younger teachers who may relate well to the students and their parents are axed instead of some of the old dead wood, teachers far past their prime who shouldn’t be teaching any longer but who have been granted tenure.

In Wisconsin, It's The Unions Vs. Democracy
Michelle Malkin 02/18/2011

Welcome to the reckoning. We have met the fiscal apocalypse, and it is smack dab in the middle of the heartland.

As Wisconsin goes, so goes the nation. Let us pray it does not go the way of the decrepit welfare states of the European Union.

The lowdown: State government workers in the Badger State pay piddling amounts for generous taxpayer-subsidized health benefits.

Faced with a $3.6 billion budget hole and a state constitutional ban on running a deficit, new GOP Gov. Scott Walker wants public unions to pony up a little more.

He has proposed raising the public employee share of health insurance premiums from less than 5% to 12.4%. He is also pushing for state workers to cover half of their pension contributions.

To spare taxpayers the soaring costs of byzantine union-negotiated work rules, he would rein in Big Labor's collective bargaining power to cover only wages unless approved at the ballot box.

As the free-market MacIver Institute in Wisconsin points out, the benefits concessions Walker is asking public union workers to make would still maintain their health insurance contribution rates at the second-lowest among Midwest states for family coverage.

Moreover, a new analysis by benefits think tank HCTrends shows that the new rate "would also be less than the employee contributions required at 85 percent of large Milwaukee-area employers."

Obama Speaks Up

This modest call for shared sacrifice has triggered the wrath of the White House-Big Labor-Michael Moore axis. On Thursday, President Obama lamented the "assault on unions."

AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union bosses dubbed Walker the "Mubarak of the Midwest," while their minions toted posters of Walker's face superimposed on Hitler's.

Moore goaded thousands of striking union protesters to "shut down" the "new Cairo" while the state's Democratic legislators bailed on floor debate over the union reform package.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan spurned the opportunity to condemn thousands of Wisconsin public school teachers for lying about being "sick" and shutting down at least eight school districts across the state to attend Capitol protests (many of whom dragged their students on a social justice field trip with them).

Instead, Duncan defended teachers for "doing probably the most important work in society." Only striking government teachers could win federal praise for not doing their jobs.

Yes, the so-called progressives truly believe that bringing American union workers into the 21st century in line with the rest of the work force is tantamount to dictatorship.

Yes, the so-called progressives truly believe that by walking off their jobs and out of their classrooms, they are "putting children first."

If ever there was proof that public unions no longer work in the public interest, this is it.

Big Labor dragoons workers into exclusive representation agreements, forces them to pay compulsory dues that fatten Democratic political coffers and then has the chutzpah to cast itself as an Egyptian-style "freedom" and "human rights" movement.

Meanwhile, union leaders elsewhere are quietly forcing their low-wage members to share the sacrifice in order to preserve teetering health funds.

In New York state, Skidmore College campus janitors, dining service workers and other maintenance employees received late notice from the SEIU that 4.15% of their gross earnings will now be deducted from their paychecks to cover the cost of the health plan provided through the behemoth 1199 SEIU Greater New York Benefit Fund. (If the name sounds familiar, it's because this is one of several privileged SEIU affiliates that has received an ObamaCare waiver.)

These workers are forced to join the union in order to preserve their jobs, and unlike non-union workers, they are locked into a single health plan.

The SEIU has now decreed that they must pay new fees to include spouses on their plans and has hiked employee co-pays for doctor visits and prescription drugs.

What's necessary for New York union workers is necessary for Wisconsin union workers — and for the rest of the protected union-worker class in bankrupt and near-bankrupt states across America.

The "persuasion of power" so ruthlessly and recklessly exercised by the SEIU and its thuggish allies must be broken by the moral courage of fiscal discipline.

It's now or never.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/563689/201102181848/In-Wisconsin-Its-The-Unions-Vs-Democracy.aspx

Posted in Democrat Gov. Scott Walker Government spending Labor Unions SEIU State Public Unions with No Comments

More:

Obama’s Allegiance Is To The Unions and Not To The American People

In his first 2 years as “president”, Obama has revealed himself not to be the leader of all Americans but instead of only certain select groups. We have seen his racist ideologies and proclivities through myriad examples (Reverend Jeremiah Wright; 10 year membership in black liberation theology, racist, anti-American Trinity United Church of Christ; National of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan; Attorney General Eric Holder and the culture of racism (black rights trump white rights) at the Dept. of Justice; the Cambridge police incident; etc.)

His pro-union stance has been quite evident even before the election. It has only solidified with their assistance in electing him “president”. The vehemence of this position and the extents that he goes to support and protect them are … indefensible. To wit: his illegal arrogation of assets from GM to the unions instead of secured holders in violation of constitutional law.

In Wisconsin now as well as elsewhere, he is insinuating himself in local situations, siding with the unions and against the state’s taxpayers and citizens. His words and actions are unwarranted, divisive and destructive.

None of this is a surprise which is why the sooner that he is gone, the better it is for the average hardworking American.

Obama: I will 'paint the nation purple with SEIU'
Andrew Thomas

After viewing the video below we can now say with certainty which side President Obama is on concerning the Wisconsin public union protests. Mr. Obama is not a public union supporter, he is their national leader. This is rapidly becoming a nationwide manufactured "crisis", as orchestrated by SEIU and Obama's Organizing for America. Is this what he meant when he said he would make us a nation of purple states?

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/02/obama_i_will_paint_the_nation.html

Posted in Anti-American Black nationalism Dept. of Justice Labor Unions Leadership Obama Racism Reverse Racism SEIU Videos with No Comments

More:

The Scope and Magnitude of Voter Fraud Perpetrated By Liberals Is Dangerous and Outrageous

The magnitude and scope of voter fraud perpetrated by liberal and far left groups is nothing short of astounding – and brazen. Not only is it illegal, but it also effectively abridges and endangers our freedoms, rights, opportunities and abilities to accumulate wealth.

George Soros, ACORN and SEIU are intimately involved in these rigged elections both directly and through proxies. Democrats and the news media marginalize the severity of the problem and even speciously turn it around, blaming conservatives and Republicans for much of it. Their modus operandi is the Chicago/Alinsky way – ad hominem attacks and deflecting the blame.

We must be vigilant this election regarding voter fraud and rigging the results. If we want to take our country back, we must educate ourselves in the truths and deceptions and be ready to act on them to effect the desired results.

A drive to protect vote fraud
By Michelle Malkin   October 27, 2010

Faced with multiple reports of early-voting irregularities and election shenanigans across the country, left-wing groups are playing dumb, deaf and blind.

More cunningly, these organizations are seeking to marginalize complaints about election integrity by casting citizen-watchdog efforts as racist "scare tactics." Echoing President Obama's message to the Democratic faithful on the campaign trail, they are accusing political opponents of suppressing the votes of minorities and the poor. Yesterday, The New York Times quoted a liberal voting-rights advocate, Wendy R. Weiser, wringing her hands over individual Americans taking clean elections seriously:

"Private efforts to police the polls create a real risk of vote suppression, regardless of their intent," said Weiser.

Weiser also turned up in a similar story minimizing voter fraud that was published yesterday by National Public Radio.

The NPR report asserted that "most election experts" believe that fears of voter fraud are "overblown." Overblown?

* In North Carolina and Nevada, early voters have encountered ballot-machine glitches that favor Democrats in hotly contested races.

* In Troy, NY, and Daytona Beach, Fla., police investigations into suspected absentee-ballot fraud by elected government officials are underway.

* In Harris County, Texas, the voter registrar admitted that 20 percent of voter-registration forms submitted by liberal activist Houston Votes had problems. Election whistleblowers there are now being investigated by the Obama Justice Department and have been slapped with an ethics complaint by the Texas Democratic Party and a left-wing group called Texans for Public Justice.

* In Yuma County, Ariz., election officials denied any fraud associated with thousands of requests for "permanent early voter list" status submitted en masse by open-borders group Mi Familia Vota (a social-justice satellite of the Service Employees International Union). But election officials admitted that some 6,000 out of 14,000 requests fielded by the Yuma County Recorder's Office "were reviewed and rejected, under Arizona law, either due to the fact the request was a duplicate or the requestor was not eligible to vote in this election or within the jurisdiction."

Liberals shrugged their shoulders at reports of illegal-alien canvassers trolling for votes in Washington state. Never mind the radical goals spelled out by SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer and Mi Familia Vota founder Eliseo Medina, who views illegal-alien amnesty as a powerful Democratic recruitment tool to capture millions of new progressive voters.

And for the last two years, Democratic leaders have had nothing to say about the militant New Black Panther Party goons who took it upon themselves to police a Philadelphia voting booth in 2008 wielding billy clubs and shouting anti-white slurs to suppress votes. Now, they're treating citizen election monitors as if they are the jack-booted thugs.

Silence dissent. Criminalize watchdogs. Whitewash fraud. These are the signature tactics of the left. On Nov. 2,
Americans get their chance to say: Enough.

NEW YORK POST is a registered trademark of NYP Holdings, Inc.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/drive_to_protect_vote_fraud_Z6vlzwpFes7OujbgUfV9nK

Posted in ACORN Democrat Far Left George Soros SEIU with No Comments

More:

Far Left Finanacing of Widespread Voter Fraud

Most people just assume that the constitutional tenet of one person – one vote is a given. In an honest and idealistic world this should be true. Unfortunately, this is far from reality and many elections are being significantly influenced or bought/stolen by well financed and orchestrated schemes that largely seem to arise from the far left.

Who are these groups and individuals that seek to manipulate elections to facilitate the victory of their far left candidates? Generally they are well known names like George Soros, SEIU and ACORN.

Where is the FBI and Dept. of Justice? Aren’t they supposed to help protect our rights?

As evidenced by the egregious dismissal of charges against the New Black Panther Party by the Dept. of Justice and its inherent bias against Whites, they are clearly not executing their responsibilities under the Obama Administration.

After the elections in November, among the big issues that must be investigated is voter fraud and the groups and individuals that are involved. Serious efforts must be made to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law otherwise our Democracy will be even in more jeopardy.

Tea Party Vs. SEIU
Investor’s Business Daily   09/28/2010

Electoral Process: The price of liberty is indeed eternal vigilance, especially at the ballot box. A group of Texans who decided to get involved in local elections uncovers massive vote fraud connected to a powerful union.

Being an election judge or poll watcher is often a thankless task and one of those things that many voters have no particular interest in doing. The job is often left to party hacks and other foxes willing to guard the henhouse. Yet they are the ones who rock the cradle of democracy.

Perhaps concerned about the election shenanigans of recent years involving Acorn and bogus registrations, Black Panthers intimidating voters with nightsticks and suspicious recounts that go on and on until a desired result is achieved, as in Minnesota, Catherine Engelbrecht and 50 other Houston neighbors decided to get involved.

They volunteered to work at Houston polling places in the 2008 election cycle. "What we saw shocked us," Engelbrecht said. "There was no one checking IDs, judges would vote for people that asked for help. It was fraud, and we watched like deer in the headlights."

Seeing that it wasn't quite the way their old civics class textbooks said it would be, they decided to form a group, "True The Vote," which would do what governments were unable or unwilling to do: ensure that voters are alive, eligible, who they say they are and cast their ballots only once. "It was a true Tea Party moment," Engelbrecht recalls.

She and her associates collected publicly available polling data to prove that the fraudulent voting they saw was real, rampant and organized. "The first thing we started to do was look at houses with more than six voters in them," she said, because those were houses most likely to have fraudulent voters attached to them.

They found that most voting districts had about 2,400 of such residences if they were primarily Democratic, only 1,800 if they were Republican. When they came to one with 2,400 houses, they dug deeper with the help of 30 donated computers and countless hours of volunteer work.

One woman was found to have registered six times in one day. There were 1,597 registrations that named the same person with a variety of signatures. One person turned in more registrations in one day than was physically possible.

"Vacant lots had several voters registered on them. An eight-bed halfway house had more than 40 voters registered at its address," according to Engelbrecht. "We then decided to look at who was registering the voters."

It turned out most of the fraudulent registrations were done by a group called Houston Votes, headed by Sean Castle, who also works for the Service Employees International Union. Only 1,793 of the 25,000 registrations the group submitted appeared to be good.

Harris County voter registrar Leo Vasquez has taken True The Votes' work and the results of his own investigation to the Texas secretary of state's office and the Harris County district attorney.

"The integrity of the voting rolls in Harris County, Texas, appears to be under an organized and systematic assault by the group operating under the name Houston Votes," Vasquez said.

Voter rolls are under assault nationwide by the group formerly known as Acorn, the SEIU, and others. The Secretary of State Project is a group founded and funded by George Soros and dedicated to electing people like Minnesota's Mark Ritchie to control the election machinery. It was Ritchie's suspect recounting process that put comedian Al Franken in the U.S. Senate.

"It's not the votes that count, it's who counts the votes" is a quote most commonly attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. It could be the motto of MoveOn.org, Acorn and the SEIU.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/548730/201009281855/Tea-Party-Vs-SEIU.aspx

Posted in ACORN George Soros SEIU moveon.org with No Comments

More:

A Threat To Our Freedoms: Socialist and Far Left Radical Groups

The following video documents the far Left's answer to Glenn Beck's 9/28/10 "Restoring Honor" rally on the Capitol Mall. Approximately 400 various special interest groups including La Raza radicals, SEIU union thugs and just proud socialist gathered to let their feelings known.

Their total numbers were only a small fraction of those seen for Glenn Beck’s rally. However, we must not be complacent as there will be an intense struggle to recapture the principles of hard work and earning one’s living (and keeping it), righteousness and integrity along with a limited government.

We must all vote on November 2nd to save our country and continue spreading this information to those who are not informed or disinformed.

Posted in Ideology Progressives SEIU Socialism Videos with No Comments

More:

 Print This Post