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Election Season 2014

And it has brought us to this trainwreck called ObamaCare and we have bankrupted our kids and grandkids!

We are now headed into the 2014 Election Season and common sense and conservatism are on the rise. Please stand-up and be counted!

Reading Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election is a great place to start!

The Founding Father's Real Reason for the Second Amendment

And remember the words of Thomas Jefferson "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." See Video of Suzanna Gratia-Hupp’s Congressional Testimony: What the Second Amendment is REALLY For, below (u-tube HERE).

The Leaders Are Here... Palin, Cruz, Lee, Paul, Chaffetz....

T'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Can You Really Still Believe That None of These People Would Have Done a Better Job???

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Showing posts with label Wisconsin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wisconsin. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Optimism for a Change

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By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – The Noisy Room

My husband and I woke up this morning at 6 AM to the happy news of Mitt Romney’s VP choice – Paul Ryan. Seriously – we were so happy we were laughing and crying. Optimism for a change.

Wielding an economic sword, with a military backdrop and the shield of faith, Romney and Ryan will wipe the progressive floor with action, devotion and truth. Time for the Snoopy Dance! Ryan is the Tea Party pick and with a devout mindset, the line between the light and the dark has been drawn and sides are now chosen. I choose the light.

Can you imagine the gnashing of teeth on the left with a humble Mormon and a devout Catholic saying the kinds of things Reagan used to say and meaning it? Furthermore, can you imagine a debate between the intellectual leader of the conservative movement and the progressive… what would you call him? The progressive jester? Fool? Dunce? Incompetent nitwit? So many choices, so many idiots.

Yes, it’s the clean team versus the dirty duo. Can you imagine what would have happened if Reagan and Kennedy had managed to run on the same ticket? Instead in 2008, we got Sith Lord Palpatine and Jar-Jar Binks pushing debt, doubt and despair.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan – America’s Comeback Team. Optimism for a change.

Full speech: Romney at Nauticus

Here is Mitt Romney’s Speech in Norfolk, Virginia (highlighting is my emphasis):

Ladies and gentlemen:

It’s great to be back in Virginia and here in Norfolk. Your city’s beauty is only matched by its proud heritage as a defender of freedom. Today we take another step forward in helping restore the promise of America. As we move forward in this campaign and on to help lead the nation to better days, it is an honor to announce my running mate and the next Vice President of the United States: Paul Ryan.

Paul Ryan is a leader.

His leadership begins with character and values. And Paul is a man of tremendous character, shaped in large part by his early life.

Paul’s father died when he was in high school. That forced him to grow up earlier than any young man should. But Paul did, with the help of his devoted mother, his brothers and sister, and a supportive community. And as he did, he internalized the virtues and hard-working ethic of the Midwest.

Paul Ryan works in Washington – but his beliefs remain firmly rooted in Janesville, Wisconsin. He is a person of great steadiness, whose integrity is unquestioned and whose word is good.

Paul’s upbringing is obvious in how he has conducted himself throughout his life, including his leadership in Washington.

In a city that is far too often characterized by pettiness and personal attacks, Paul Ryan is a shining exception. He does not demonize his opponents. He understands that honorable people can have honest differences. And he appeals to the better angels of our nature. There are a lot of people in the other party who might disagree with Paul Ryan; I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t respect his character and judgment.

Paul is in public life for all the right reasons – not to advance his personal ambitions but to advance the ideals of freedom and justice; and to increase opportunity and prosperity to people of every class and faith, every age and ethnic background. A faithful Catholic, Paul believes in the worth and dignity of every human life.

With energy and vision, Paul Ryan has become an intellectual leader of the Republican Party. He understands the fiscal challenges facing America: our exploding deficits and crushing debt – and the fiscal catastrophe that awaits us if we don’t change course.

Paul Ryan combines a profound sense of responsibility for what we owe the next generation with an unbounded optimism in America’s future and an understanding of all the wonderful things the American people can do.

Paul also combines firm principles with a practical concern for getting things done. He has never been content to simply curse the darkness; he would rather light candles. And throughout his legislative career he’s shown the ability to work with members of both parties to find common ground on some of the hardest issues confronting the American people.

Paul and I are beginning on a journey that will take us to every corner of America. We are offering a positive, governing agenda that will lead to economic growth, to widespread and shared prosperity, and that will improve the lives of our fellow citizens. Our Plan to Strengthen The Middle Class will get America back to work and get our country back on track.

We offer solutions that are bold, specific, and achievable. We offer our commitment to help create 12 million new jobs and to bring better take home pay to middle class families.

To strengthen the middle class, we will provide our workers and our children with the skills to succeed. We’ll cut the deficit, have trade that works for America, and champion small business. And finally, we will unleash our energy resources to achieve North American energy independence.

We will help care for those who cannot care for themselves, and we will return work to welfare. As poverty has risen to historic and tragic levels, with nearly one out of six Americans now having fallen into poverty, we will act to bring these families into the middle class. Unlike the current president who has cut Medicare funding by $700 billion, we will preserve and protect Medicare and Social Security. Under the current president, healthcare has only become more expensive. We will reform healthcare so that more Americans have access to affordable healthcare, and we will get that started by repealing and replacing Obamacare.

And at a time when the President’s campaign is taking American politics to new lows, we are going to do things differently. We are going to talk about aspirations and American ideals; about bringing people together to solve the urgent problems facing our nation. And when that message wins in America, it will be a victory for every American.

Today is a good day for America. And there are better days ahead. Join me in welcoming the next Vice President of the United States – Paul Ryan.

It should be noted that Romney accidentally called Ryan the next President of the United States, but graciously came back up, said he goofed and welcomed his running mate in true Presidential fashion. When was the last time we had a real leader admit he goofed and not just for political grandstanding?

The Tea Party’s favored son, Paul Ryan, will save America from the fiscal cliff looming ahead of us. You know the one Obama wanted to push us over while framing Republicans for his own dastardly deed – it’s called projection. Romney/Ryan will rebuild the middle class, slash the debt and right the American ship. Instead of Obama’s “You didn’t build that!,” Romney and Ryan in one voice tell us that: “If you have a small business, you did build that!” They’ll also restore us to constitutional principles and consent of the governed, not ruling by the elite.clip_image002

On to Paul Ryan’s remarks (highlighting is my emphasis – I dare you not to smile):

Thank you Governor Romney, Ann. I am deeply honored and excited to join you as your running mate.

Mitt Romney is a leader with the skills, the background and the character that our country needs at a crucial time in its history. Following four years of failed leadership, the hopes of our country, which have inspired the world, are growing dim; and they need someone to revive them. Governor Romney is the man for this moment; and he and I share one commitment: we will restore the dreams and greatness of this country.

I want you to meet my family. My wife Janna, our daughter Liza, and our sons, Charlie and Sam.

I am surrounded by the people I love, and I have been asked by Governor Romney to serve the country I love.

Janesville, Wisconsin is where I was born and raised, and I never really left it. It’s our home now.

For the last 14 years, I have proudly represented Wisconsin in Congress. There, I have focused on solving the problems that confront our country, and turning ideas into action; and action into solutions.

I am committed, in heart and mind, to putting that experience to work in a Romney Administration. This is a crucial moment in the life of our nation; and it is absolutely vital that we select the right man to lead America back to prosperity and greatness.

That man is standing next to me. His name is Mitt Romney. And he will be the next president of the United States.

My dad died when I was young. He was a good and decent man. I still remember a couple of things he would say that have really stuck with me. “Son you are either part of the problem or part of the solution.”

Regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem,…and Mitt Romney is the solution.

The other thing my dad would say is that every generation of Americans leaves their children better off. That’s the American legacy.

Sadly, for the first time in our history, we are on a path which will undo that legacy. That is why we need new leadership to become part of the solution – new leadership to restore prosperity, economic growth, and jobs.

It is our duty to save the American Dream for our children, and theirs.

And I believe there is no person in America who is better prepared – because of his experience; because of the principles he holds; and because of his achievements and excellence in so many different arenas – to lead America at this point in its history.

Let me say a word about the man Mitt Romney will replace. No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult situation. And, in his first 2 years, with his party in complete control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda. But that didn’t make things better.

In fact, we find ourselves in a nation facing debt, doubt and despair.

This is the worst economic recovery in 70 years. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for more than three years, the longest run since the Great Depression. Families are hurting.

We have the largest deficits and the biggest federal government since WWII.

Nearly 1 out of 6 Americans are in poverty–the worst rate in a generation. Moms and dads are struggling to make ends meet.

Household incomes have dropped by more than $4,000 over the past four years.

Whatever the explanations, whatever the excuses, this is a record of failure.

President Obama, and too many like him in Washington, have refused to make difficult decisions because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation. We might have been able to get away with that before, but not now. We’re in a different, and dangerous, moment. We’re running out of time — and we can’t afford 4 more years of this.

Politicians from both parties have made empty promises which will soon become broken promises–with painful consequences–if we fail to act now.

I represent a part of America that includes inner cities, rural areas, suburbs and factory towns. Over the years I have seen and heard from a lot from families, from those running small businesses, and from people who are in need. But what I have heard lately troubles me the most. There is something different in their voice and in their words. What I hear from them are diminished dreams, lowered expectations, uncertain futures.

I hear some people say that this is just “the new normal.” High unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal. It’s the result of misguided policies. And next January, our economy will begin a comeback with the Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class that will lead to more jobs and more take home pay for working Americans.

America is on the wrong track; but Mitt Romney and I will take the right steps, in the right time, to get us back on the right track!

I believe my record of getting things done in Congress will be a very helpful complement to Governor Romney’s executive and private sector success outside Washington. I have worked closely with Republicans as well as Democrats to advance an agenda of economic growth, fiscal discipline, and job creation.

I’m proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience, that if you have a small business—you did build that.

At Bain Capital, he launched new businesses and he turned around failing ones – companies like Staples, Bright Horizons and Sports Authority, just to name a few. Mitt Romney created jobs and showed he knows how a free economy works.

At the Olympics, he took a failing enterprise and made it the pride of our entire nation.

As governor of Massachusetts, he worked with Democrats and Republicans to balance budgets with no tax increases, lower unemployment, increase income and improve people’s lives.

In all of these things, Mitt Romney has shown himself to be a man of achievement, excellence and integrity.

Janna and I tell Liza, Charlie and Sam that America is a place where, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead.

We Americans look at one another’s success with pride, not resentment, because we know, as more Americans work hard, take risks, and succeed, more people will prosper, our communities will benefit, and individual lives will be improved and uplifted.

But America is more than just a place…it’s an idea. It’s the only country founded on an ideas. Our rights come from nature and God, not government. We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes.

This idea is founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination and government by consent of the governed.

This idea is under assault. So, we have a critical decision to make as a nation.

We are on an unsustainable path that is robbing America of our freedom and security. It doesn’t have to be this way.

The commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this:

We won’t duck the tough issues…we will lead!

We won’t blame others…we will take responsibility!

We won’t replace our founding principles…we will reapply them!

We will honor you, our fellow citizens, by giving you the right and opportunity to make the choice:

What kind of country do we want to have?

What kind of people do we want to be?

We can turn this thing around. Real solutions can be delivered. But, it will take leadership. And the courage to tell you the truth.

Mitt Romney is this kind of leader. I’m excited for what lies ahead and I’m thrilled to be a part of America’s Comeback Team. And together, we will unite America and get this done.

Thank you.

Video - Ryan eviscerates Obama on Obamacare in 6 minutes:

We won’t blame others, we will take responsibility… Wow. Imagine that… The adults have returned to our hallowed halls and somebody is going to get an ass whupping. Good times. And Romney and Ryan have the courage and conviction to tell the truth. We will be that shining city on a hill once more – I know it.

What do you want to bet Obama and Biden have never sat down and prayed together? I don’t know that Romney and Ryan have prayed together, but I have no trouble envisioning that. Obama and Biden? Not so much.

We have the comeback team. We have optimism for a change.

Paul Ryan: “This is our generation’s defining moment” 

Romney-Ryan is the right team for this moment!!

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Romney to Announce VP Pick – Insider Says Paul Ryan Will Be Vice Presidential Running Mate

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Democrats Beginning to Admit that Obama Could Lose… Was Last Week Obama’s Kick-Off to an Inglorious Demise?

As I was working away at my desk with ‘The Five’ playing in the background, died in the wool liberal Democrat Bob Beckel, the youngest deputy assistant secretary of state ever, for the Carter administration and the campaign manager for Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign just freely admitted that Obama is losing in the polls right now between 5 and 7 points.

The Democrat desperation is showing from all sides.  The decisive loss in Wisconsin was  perhaps the beginning of the true panic. Then there have been the consistent torpedoes being thrown at Obama by former President Clinton; the devastating jobs numbers combined with ever closer looks at the ‘real’ job loses and manipulation of the figures that have been fed to the public by the Obama administration; the recent vetting of Obama that should have but didn’t happen in 2008 and the ‘failure’ of almost every attempted ‘created diversion’ by the Obama campaign... including their latest media blitz. 

Diane Macedo from the Fox Business network appeared on Huckabee over the weekend, along with Charlie Gasparino.  She said that the White House continues to repeat the 4.3 million jobs created number as fact, but to get to that number they only count jobs lost and created since 2010.  They have completely taken the millions of jobs lost in 2009 under President Obama out of the equation. In reality they have only created 55,000 net jobs.

We are also now losing thousands of baby-boomers monthly from the job market as they are retiring in droves.  These jobs and people are also not being portrayed accurately in the job number calculations just like other people who have stopped looking for work, no longer qualify for unemployment or have taken low-paying or part-time jobs so are underemployed.

In actuality, unemployment, if calculated correctly using all the figures, is somewhere at an average of between 14% and 16% across the country (Donald Trump said in an interview with Greta Van Susteran that it was more like 21 to 22%) and whichever set of numbers you choose they do not include the underemployed.

Then add to this Obama’s latest so-called ‘gaffe’ where he said that the private job market is doing just fine but the government sector needs help. Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman, said this was not a gaffe but a look into Obama’s ideology and the beginning of a push for another bailout. Additionally there is the new focus on classified security information having been allegedly ‘purposely’ leaked from the White House to make Obama look good and to up his numbers (They have upward of 13 sources who have come forward.)  Plus there is a renewed cry for information, truth (and for heads to roll) on the Fast and Furious front.  Many now believe that both Eric Holder and President Obama knew/know about both. McCain says Eric Holder has no credibility to oversee the leaks investigation. Most who have followed Fast and Furious and understand the connections within the White House circle (the Chicago Team) would agree.

For a brilliant guy President Obama sure says a lot of stupid things. Obama’s latest gaffe was so bad that even Candy Crowley was hammering David Axelrod on it. Obama claimed that the private sector was doing just fine and basically he already fixed that - it was just state & local governments that are struggling. Hear Crowley go after Axelrod and check out Glenn’s dismantling of Obama’s contention HERE.

As reported early last Wednesday morning on Breitbart, the media had obviously conspired with the Obama campaign over the Memorial Day holiday to start last week off with a well-organized media blitz meant to knock Romney off message and to aid and abet the Obama campaign's desire to define the former Massachusetts governor as an extremist. And we all saw this play out as the corrupted MSM blew up a wildly hypocritical narrative around Romney's ties to Donald Trump.

Well, I have good news… According to Byron York, Romney's refused to take the bait.

Mitt Romney's refusal to repudiate Donald Trump sent a signal, both to Democrats and the voting public: With the nation's future at stake in this November's election, Romney will not accommodate calls that he disown supporters who make ill-considered, unpopular, or sometimes outrageous statements on matters not fundamental to the campaign.

Romney aides believe that cooperating with Democrats and media figures who are demanding a Trump disavowal would most certainly lead to more calls for more disavowals of other figures in the future -- leaving Romney spending as much time apologizing for his supporters as campaigning for president. Team Romney views it as a silly and one-sided game designed to distract voters from the central issue of the race, which they remain convinced will be President Obama's handling of the economy.

By one-sided, they mean not only that Obama has not disavowed SuperPAC contributor Bill Maher for a number of Maher's statements that were particularly insulting to Republican women. They also mean the press, with, as Team Romney see it, questionable associations of its own. Has David Gregory, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," repudiated his colleague Al Sharpton, the MSNBC host with a decades-long record of incendiary statements and actions? ...

Another reason Romney is wary of such concessions is that John McCain tried them, and they didn't do him any good.

Romney also raised more money last month than any other politician has ever done.  He raised more money last month than President Obama. Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee reported they raised a combined $76.8 million in May, about $17 million more than President Obama and Democrats collected (who were previously considered an unbeatable fundraising machine).

On Wednesday, President Obama took another break from Washington by flying to California for a series of five fundraisers, including a gay-rights gala in Beverly Hills. (Remember that one… where Obama lowered himself and the dignity of his office to tell an off-colored sex joke about his wife?) But on Thursday, fundraising statistics released by both campaigns showed that GOP nominee Mitt Romney had surpassed President Obama for the first time in May, out-raising the president’s campaign $76 million to $60 million.

“We got beat,” said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina

Obama has nearly taken employment back to the 1950s… and that is not a good thing; only 58.6 percent of all Americans are employed — 1 percentage point higher than in 1956… under 59 percent of Americans employed for 33 consecutive months and counting.  The most startling figures that Team Obama consistently take out of the equation are exactly that, how few people are actually working compared to the population and the pool of available workers, for they don’t count all those that have dropped off the unemployment rolls and those that are underemployed.  Amazingly the highest unemployment is among blacks, Latinos, teens and recent grads (who are back living with their parents, have no work or are underemployed and have student loan payments) yet they seem to be the last to see that the Obama hope and change promise was all an illusion.

Stuart Stevens, who is Mitt Romney’s chief strategist, is also a novelist and memoirist, and last week he offered up a couple of bon mots (witticism or good words) that help frame the challenge President Barack Obama faces as the economy sputters.

“They think this campaign is ‘Travels with Charley’, Stevens says. “We think it’s more The Grapes of Wrath.’” 

“Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition)” is John Steinbeck’s gentle quasi-memoir of traveling across the country in 1960 with his poodle.“The Grapes of Wrath,” for those Americans who slept through eighth-grade English, is his searing novel of the migrant Joad family in the Depression.

Stevens insists that this election will have everything to do with the economy and nothing to do with how Romney treated his dog, and his second quip reflects the same analysis in a more positive context.

“They think the election is about eHarmony.com,” he says, referring to the dating website devoted to measuring compatibility. “We think it’s about Monster.com,”the job-finder site.

The photo below is a good snap shot of last week and where the Obama campaign finds itself.  Obama is chattering on repeating the same mantra that hasn’t worked.  His chief campaign advisor, David Axelrod, looks and sounds pained.  The ever loyal MSM or ‘lamestream’ media is looking a bit deflated these days.  And the main focus of the Obama campaign is dirty tricks, created diversions, and walk backs. From hope and change to smear and fear…

President Obama capped off his inglorious week by holding a hastily called news conference at the White House on Friday in an attempt to shift focus from the Wisconsin loss as some in the Democratic Party blamed Pres. Obama for staying out of the Wisconsin fight and essentially abandoning them... plus no doubt wanting to spin the bad job numbers.

It turned out poorly for him.

During his discussion of the economy, President remarked that the “private sector’s doing fine.” Within an hour, Governor Romney and other GOP leaders were ridiculing the president for his comment and preparing campaign videos to exploit the gaffe.

As the President walked out of that press conference Friday, a reporter called out to him for his reaction to the Wisconsin recall election. The president just kept walking.  But before he reached the door, another reporter shouted a final question, asking Mr. Obama if he’d enjoyed the pie that his self-appointed ‘Health Czar wife’ had purchased for him… reminding the room that giving up pie, large sodas and fast food is for the little people who need to be led.  At least Marie Antoinette was willing to let them eat cake!

Ask Marion~

State of the Union

Friday, June 8, 2012

The Eye-Popping Wisconsin Story You Didn’t Read

The recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was a critical bellwether. A Walker loss would have guaranteed more ruinous, out-of-control government spending, where unions and their vested interests dictate terms through violence, thuggery and deceit. But the Wisconsin electorate rejected that path, handing Walker a resounding victory. This will embolden leaders in other states to tackle similar problems head on.

Governor Walker deserves our heartfelt thanks for his steadfast determination to do the right thing. But you will never know just how difficult this was if you get your news from the “mainstream” liberal media. While shamelessly championing the Democrats’ cause, they completely ignored the unprecedented, outrageous campaign of hate and lies promoted by those same Democrats and their public employee union allies. This shameless, naked, self-serving attempted power grab is a story in-and-of itself.

News reports of the union-orchestrated, DNC-backed, month-long occupation of the Wisconsin state capital last year were ubiquitous. This was followed by a flurry of recall efforts last summer and this winter against 16 senators (8 Republicans and 8 Democrats) – every senator that was eligible for recall - as well as Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. This recall was unprecedented. There have been only three times in history when more than one legislator has been recalled over any single issue.

What is less known is that the recall effort against Governor Walker – indeed, the entire attack – was far from spontaneous. Within days of his election the left began contemplating a recall, and it began in earnest in February of 2011, before his controversial budget bill was even passed. The left had him in its sights from day one.

Following the announcement of Governor Walker’s “Budget Repair Bill,” last February, unions went on a rampage. Beginning around February 15, 2011, protesters began massing around the state Capitol building in Madison.

On February 17th, all fourteen state senate Democrats fled the state to prevent a quorum for voting on the bill. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka addressed the growing crowd the following day. By the 20th protesters were occupying the capitol building.

They were enthusiastically supported by the national news media, which compared Wisconsin protests to Egypt. ABC’s Christiane Amanpour said, “Populist frustration is boiling over this week, as we’ve said, not just in the Middle East, but in the middle of this country as well.” On NBC, Brian Williams exclaimed, “From the Mideast to the American Midwest tonight, people are rising up. Citizens’ uprisings are changing the world.” Ed Schultz broadcast live from the Capitol on February 17th.

An editor of the leftwing Buffalo Beast contacted Walker by phone, impersonating billionaire Walker supporter David Koch, who Walker had never spoken with before. He recorded and broadcast the call. The Society of Professional Journalists called it “underhanded and unethical... grossly inappropriate.”

Death Threats and AWOL Mediascott-walker-death-threat

The occupation of the Capital building made front page news for weeks running, but the mass media somehow missed all the protesters’ outrageous, disgraceful behavior and thug tactics:

  • Early childhood teacher Katherine Windels pled guilty in December 2011 to making death threats to Governor Walker and Republican senators following passage of the Budget Repair bill. E-mails made statements like: “Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your families will also be killed… This woman obviously had problems, but the tone set by the unions and their Democrat allies did nothing to discourage such behavior. The media silence was deafening.
  • A suspect in Maine was arrested after sending letters to that state’s Republican U.S. senators suggesting that Walker should be killed and that all Republican governors resign. How do we know this? One blogger, Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit.
  • Dozens of emails suggested Walker or legislators should be shot or hanged, watch their backs, look over their shoulders or resign. One man tweeted that he prayed an anvil would fall from the sky onto Walker. How do we know this? Hoft again.
  • Police found 41 rounds of live ammunition near three separate entrances to the capitol building in early March. How do we know this? Fox News… in Memphis.
  • A union agitator posted a photo of Governor Walker’s son, asking, “What’s it like having the most hated dad in Wisconsin? This kid knows.” How do we know this? The agitator's Facebook.
  • The same agitator poured beer on state Rep. Robin Voss at a local restaurant. Five days earlier he had accompanied another agitator, who followed Vos, screaming at him and warning Vos that he had “five days to respond.” How do we know this? The agitator’s own Youtube video.
  • Union members disrupted a Special Olympics award ceremony. Made up as zombies, they stood between the governor and award recipients, preventing them from receiving the awards. How do we know this? Gateway Pundit's Hoft, again.
  • 2,000 union protesters demonstrated a Walker fundraiser; took pictures of attendees’ license plates. How do we know this? That’s right, yet again.
  • Meanwhile at a leftwing “Fighting Bob” La Follette festival, celebrating Wisconsin’s famous “progressive,” one of the speakers said “If you’re going to pour beer on a Republican, you have to drink it first.”

Urinating on your opponents… All in good fun for the Democrats of course, but what would Ed Schultz say if the tables were turned? The New York Times?

Joining in the dignified celebration, fellow speakers included Democratic Congresswoman and US Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s Mike McCabe, former Congressman David Obey, US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and others. A good time was had by all.

Do these people have no shame? That's a rhetorical question, of course.

Wisconsin’s firefighter’s union refused to participate in a 9-11 float depicting firefighters raising the flag on the World Trade Center grounds. The float’s creator was a union supporter of Scott Walker.

Peshtigo High School chorus teacher Rob Schneider resigned after sending the following e-mail to Republican state Rep. John Nygren:

“(Expletive) you!!! I pray that a semi-truck will run you over you piece of (expletive) (expletive)! If there is a God that (expletive) Governor Walker will be riding with you when the truck hits your sorry (expletive)!!!!!!!!!! Stop (expletive) sending me your (expletive)!!! You are a waste of human space!!!!”

On March 3rd, protesters were ordered out of the Capitol building. On March 9th, Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature passed the bill using a procedural move to bypass the still AWOL Democrat state senators. Spending bills require a quorum to be voted on, but by removing all spending elements, state legislators were able to quickly pass the measure without the missing Democrats.

One Democrat state senator supposedly “drove 80 miles per hour” in a failed attempt to return to the capital in time to impact the vote. On March 10th the bill was signed into law. Protesters remained around the capitol in dwindling numbers until June.

Crimes Committed in Police Absence

Hundreds of police were required around the clock when protesters occupied the capitol building, and the community was endangered as a result. One detective testified in court that he was unable to apprehend two robbery suspects because he was required to be at the capitol. The two have since been arrested for a murder that might have otherwise been prevented.

After hearing an early estimate of $7.5 million to clean up from the month-long protest, liberals were furious that anyone could beef when the maintenance cost was later estimated to be about $200,000. Total costs, including police overtime, actually exceeded $8 million. Media outrage over that? Crickets.

Lt. Governor's Incredible Story

In its abdication of honest journalism, the media has completely overlooked another story as well, the election and recall of Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. Kleefisch was a former news anchor who quit in 2004 to be a stay-at-home mom to her two children. Increasingly fed up with Wisconsin’s dysfunctional government, she announced her candidacy for Lieutenant Governor by webcam from her kitchen table in January of 2010.

Kleefisch was diagnosed with colon cancer in the middle of her campaign, underwent surgery, won her campaign, and went on to get chemotherapy just as the recall was beginning. Despite this amazing tale of courage and determination, or perhaps because of it, the Left's attacks on Kleefisch were unprecedented in their vile viciousness. One Leftist radio host said on air,

I’m Rebecca Kleefisch. I perform fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorse me and that’s how I became lieutenant governor.

He then went on to accuse her of “pulling trains…” Where was the media on that one? NOW?

Weaponized Recalls

According to Wisconsin law, since 1967, governors and their lieutenants run on the same ticket but there is no similar provision for recalls. Kleefisch said, “No one at that point in American history had weaponized the recall function. And that’s what we’re looking at in Wisconsin now – non-stop recalls.”

So what was this nonstop protest, endless recalls and vicious invective all about, mass executions of innocents, as was happening in the streets of Iran at the same time? Were the police shooting protesters, as they were in Egypt? Or worse, did the governor purchase a yacht with union pension funds?

Self-Serving War Against Responsible Government

Governor Walker’s modest “Budget Repair Bill” now known as Act 10, proposed that union members contribute a mere 12.6 percent to their health care premiums (they were paying between 4 and 6 percent), and 5.8 percent toward pensions, where they had previously contributed nothing. He also proposed curbs on some collective bargaining rights.

These modest changes – accomplished without raising taxes – reduced a projected 3.6 billion structural deficit inherited from the prior administration to a surplus of approximately $89 million now. Local governments and school districts were able to save over $220 million within a few months after the bill’s passage.

In passing the bill, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald stated:

“Before the election, the Democrats promised ‘adult leadership’ in Madison. Then a month and a half into session, the Senate Democrats fled the state instead of doing their job. ‘In doing so, they have tarnished the very institution of the Wisconsin state Senate. This is unacceptable.

“This afternoon, following a week and a half of line-by-line negotiation, Sen. Miller sent me a letter that offered three options: 1) keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 2) take [the Democrats’] counter-offer, which would keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 3) or stop talking altogether.

“With that letter, I realized that we’re dealing with someone who is stalling indefinitely, and doesn’t have a plan or an intention to return. His idea of compromise is ‘give me everything I want,’ and the only negotiating he’s doing is through the media.

“Enough is enough.

“The people of Wisconsin elected us to do a job. They elected us to stand up to the broken status quo, stop the constant expansion of government, balance the budget, create jobs and improve the economy. The longer the Democrats keep up this childish stunt, the longer the majority can’t act on our agenda.

The union protest against the Repair Bill was presented as a spontaneous reaction, but the Walker recall effort began over one year ago. A group called United Wisconsin initiated the recall a few days after Walker first proposed the Bill. One website, recallscottwalker.com, started in November 2010, within days of his election. None of what has happened in Wisconsin has been even remotely “spontaneous.” Governor Walker was in their sights from the beginning.

When the recall began in earnest, United Wisconsin was joined by a nationwide constellation of union, radical left and Democrat organizations. This group reflects an emerging labor/radical left/Democrat syndicate – encouraged by a sympathetic press – and behaved like one. Using the vote swamping method pioneered by ACORN, labor and democrat activists collected a claimed 1 million recall petitions in two months. These were submitted by the January 17, 2012 deadline.

Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB), is responsible for verifying the recall effort. Led by Democrat Kevin Kennedy, the GAB flatly refused to validate the petitions. They announced in a press conference that they would accept any petition with a valid address, even if signed by Adolf Hitler. They added “we will not strike them unless challenged.”

The process allowed 10 days to review petitions. A Dane County (Madison) judge extended that to thirty days at the request of the Walker administration, but denied further extensions. The thirty day window to review petitions began on January 28.

TRUE THE VOTE Comes to the Rescue

Two citizen groups, We the People of the Republic and Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, took up the challenge and created an organization for that purpose titled Verify the Recall (VTR). At that point there were 22 days remaining to evaluate the 1 million petitions United Wisconsin claimed to have submitted. The response is a story all to itself.

To facilitate this effort, VTR contacted Catherine Engelbrecht’s True the Vote. TTV created an online program for inputting and verifying petitions using a triple blind procedure. Volunteers would be able to input data from a computer anywhere in the U.S. By February 27th, the last day for challenging petitions, TTV had recruited 14,000 volunteers nationwide. They had entered and analyzed 92 percent of the records submitted.

VTR identified 819,233 discreet records, not the 1 million claimed by United Wisconsin. Of these, only 534,685, 65 percent, could be verified as legitimate. TTV continued to analyze the data past the due date, attempting to review all petitions. On March 21, they had analyzed 97 percent, a total of 860,155 complete records with 584,489 validated. More than the 540,208 needed, barely, but with a tremendous error rate. A total of 17,000 volunteers had participated.

As with ACORN’s now-famous voter registration drives, there were many blatantly bogus “Donald Duck” petitions, duplicates and incomplete records. One Democrat activist, Mark Demet, signed the names of family members and neighbors, including one neighbor’s dead husband, without their knowledge or consent. Demet was charged with seven counts of felony ID theft and two counts of vote fraud, with a potential 49 year prison sentence.

Despite GAB’s earlier insistence that private citizens verify recall petitions, they refused to examine or even acknowledge VTR’s efforts. Ultimately, the GAB certified all but 30,000 of the most egregious cases. Except to discredit VTR, the media largely ignored this story.

Verify the Recall published a searchable database on the recall petitions. Its revelations included:

  • 571 petition signers owe a total of $17 million in back taxes.
  • 20,000 felons signed the petition, including 11 murderers, 203 rapists, 53 child pornographers, 3,207 thieves, 1,526 for battery, 357 hit and run, and many others.
  • 29 Wisconsin judges signed the recall petition, including Dane County Judge David Flanagan, who later placed a restraining order on a voter ID law passed by Walker and the Republican legislature.
  • Deputy DA Lovell Johnson Jr, 19 attorneys and dozens of other DA employees signed. Some had been working on a heavily criticized “secret” John Doe investigation of Governor Walker at the time.
  • NBC affiliate WTMJ issued a public apology that several of its news staff and editors had signed the Walker recall petition.
  • 25 Gannett News journalists signed the petition, some in violation of the company’s code of ethical conduct. Gannett also apologized.
  • 32 Post-Crescent journalists signed the petition, including six directly involved in reporting about the recall.
  • School board members, four University of Wisconsin regents and the university’s chief spokesman also signed. The spokesman alone apologized.

Richard Niess, the same judge who had limited the petition review to thirty days also ordered a permanent injunction against the Walker voter ID law in March. The state will appeal.

True the Vote has also been on the ground in Wisconsin to train volunteer poll-watchers. This is a critical function that is being provided nationwide only by True the Vote. GOP are you listening? Perhaps the most critical function an activist can engage in this year, you should sign up. If you can't do that, support True the Vote, which has become one of the most effective grassroots groups out there today.

The press has made much of Walker’s “advantage” in recall campaign funds, but unions have spent over $14 million on Walker opponents in this effort. This does not include the rent-a-protester demonstrations, in which they bussed in people from out of state and held the capitol building hostage for almost a month.

Union Thugs Unrepentant - After All, They Are Thugs

The largest union contributor was Wisconsin’s main teacher’s union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC). They have spent $4.4 million on the recall effort so far.

Last year WEAC fought the dismissal of two public school science teachers fired for viewing and emailing porn from their work computers. Legal battles cost the district over $500,000 defending an open-and-shut administrative decision, a stark demonstration of the union’s priorities and attitudes.

Total spending on the Walker recall could reach $80 million. Walker claims unions alone could spend as much as $60 million. Walker campaigned on reducing out-of-control spending, won on that basis and kept his word. He shouldn’t have to be raising a penny.

It is interesting to note that Wisconsin’s famous Congressman and later governor, “Fighting Bob” La Follette, was the author of one of the first pro-public-employee union laws passed by Congress (in 1912). It negated an executive order preventing employees from soliciting “…an increase of pay, or to influence or to attempt to influence in their own interest any legislation whatever, either before Congress or its Committees,”[1]

The passage of this law informed creation of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) five years later, the first union to legally represent federal workers. La Follette’s law began the slow slide toward full acceptance of public employee unions. Significantly, Wisconsin was also the first state to allow collective bargaining by public unions. Perhaps Governor Walker was sent by the gods to set things right.

Walker’s challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, won the Democrat primary, although another Democrat, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk received most backing from the major public employee unions. This may have been part of a deliberate deception, however. Barrett had distanced himself somewhat from unions, although he promised to repeal Act 10.

Here’s the rub. Did the unions really care which Democrat is elected? Barrett may have quibbled with them at the margins during his term as mayor, but would a Governor Barrett dare threaten the union/democrat franchise in Wisconsin?

When pigs fly.

AFL-CIO’s top thug, Richard Trumka appeared on C-SPAN before the Democrat primary to address this question, “After the [primary] election they’ll come together and they’ll take out, I think we’ll take out Scott Walker…" An interesting choice of words for a man whose union thugs murdered a non-union employee, Eddie York, during a United Mine Worker strike. As he said at the time, "I'm saying if you strike a match and put your finger in, common sense tells you you're going to burn your finger."

Trumka didn’t seem worried about challenges to union supremacy from other states either: “Would you like to take this fight on?” he asked the interviewer. “A year after you were in office would you like to be in the fight of your life, spending $25, $35 million to hold on to a seat you were supposed to have for four years and you lose a majority in the Senate? Would that embolden you? Not if you were sane and rational it wouldn’t.”

I wonder what he is saying now.

Despite massive vote fraud from the Democrats, including bussing people from out of state to abuse the same-day voting process allowed in Wisconsin, Walker won a resounding victory. This will return sanity to state budgeting in Wisconsin and demonstrate that public employee unions cannot continue to dictate outrageous terms of compensation through intimidation and thuggery. A loss would have legitimized the unions’ mob rule, Occupy tactics, and encouraged America’s own “Arab Spring,” the nationwide revolution that communists, anarchists and professional agitators have been contemplating for a year.

Say a prayer of thanks to God today for Scott Walker and our nation.

=============================

[1] Executive Order #163.

James Simpson
James Simpson is a former Office of Management and Budget (White House budget office) economist and budget analyst. He is currently a businessman and freelance writer. Best known for his exposé on the Cloward Piven Strategy of manufactured crisis, his writings have been published in American Thinker, The New Media Journal, Washington Times, FrontPage Magazine, Whistleblower, DefenseWatch, Soldier of Fortune and others. His blog is Truth and Consequences. Email James.

Right Side News  - h/t to TPN

Walker and America Win… Unions and Team Obama Lose Handily – Updated

As Goes Wisconsin Goes the USA – Obama Descends on San Francisco with Maoist Media in Tow

Obama and Dems in denial about life after Wisconsin smackdown

Walker's win bolsters tea party, weakens Democrats

Charles Krauthammer: What Wisconsin Means

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Watcher’s Council Nomination – On, Wisconsin Edition

JoshuaPundit on Jun 06 2012


Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

This week’s contest is dedicated to Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, of course. And humbly, to the memory of Torpedo Squadron 8 and the men of Pont Du Hoc, who helped turn the tide.

Council News:

This week, Right Truth, Pirates Cove and Ask Marion took advantage of my generous offer of linkage and earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week…

Council Submissions

Honorable Mentions
Non-Council Submissions

Enjoy! And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Walker and America Win… Unions and Team Obama Lose Handily

The results are in…

The Democrats fueled by the unions recalled Republican Scott Walker and his lieutenant governor, not of wrong doing, but for doing what he/they said they would do if elected in 2010.

Scott Walker

Real Clear Politics:

WAUKESHA, Wis. - Sixty million dollars in campaign spending and 15 months of protests later, Wisconsin voters decided Tuesday that Republican Gov. Scott Walker should keep his job after all. With over 60 percent of the precincts reporting, he held a 15-point lead over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, 57 percent to 42 percent, and was projected to win by the major news networks.

The victory was the culmination of a heated recall election that began in the corridors of the state capitol and then transformed into a national test of the conservative grassroots and the power of organized labor. Walker's win deals a blow to the latter and energizes the former.

The special election turnout reached presidential levels, yet President Obama did not even visit the state as the recall campaign played out. As the race looked more and more like it would go to Governor Walker and many Democrats called for at least a quick Wisconsin stopover to show some support for Mayor Tom Barrett, the best Obama could muster was a tweet on the last night of the campaign.

The Democrat strategists and pundits and the unions will try to minimize the significance of this victory but in reality it was a significant victory for Scott Walker, Wisconsin, the GOP and America.  It is also the beginning of the decline of the power of private sector unions’ perhaps unions in general, and a huge disappointment for Team Obama.

Based on some skewed exit polls the outcome of this election was gagged to be tight.  Many thought it would be a very late night before the outcome could be called.  Instead, as Sarah Palin said, it will be a late night in Chicago at Team Obama headquarters, where they are no doubt much more worried than they will ever admit.

The Blaze:

Scott Walker Defeats Tom Barrett in Wisconsin Recall Election

MADISON — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker beat back a recall challenge Tuesday, winning both the right to finish his term and a voter endorsement of his strategy to curb state spending, which included the explosive measure that eliminated union rights for most public workers.

The rising Republican star becomes the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall attempt with his defeat of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and the union leaders who rallied for months against his agenda.

In his acceptance speech, Walker focused on growth, healing and working together.

Add tonight’s results to a little help Romney has received this week from Bill Clinton… and the Romney Campaign should be energized.

Wis. County-By-County Election Map Shows How Dominating Walker’s Victory Was

Wisconsin County by County Election Map Shows Dominate Walker Win

Progressives in WI may indeed have something to cry about. - (Via HuffPo)

Related:

Washington Post: Why Walker won the Wisconsin recall election

National Review: What It's Like on the Ground

Forbes: Walker's Victory Spells Doom for Public Sector Unions

Walker: "It Is Time to Put Our Differences Aside"

Marc Thiessen: Vice President Walker?

AFL-CIO: Time to Work Together to Forge a New Path Forward

Protesters: This is the End of Democracy 

NewsMax: Governor Scott Walker Wins Wisconsin Recall Fight

WND: Walker Wins, Will Stay in Office

Coulter: The Recall Heard Round the World

WND: Media humiliated over election coverage

MSNBC coverage of the election - Sadness, shock, disappointment, anger are all words that could describe the “forward” leaning hosts of MSNBC last night. It was a rough night for liberal hosts. Glenn, Pat and Stu however had a wonderful evening. It was the one time conservatives could watch MSNBC - not for the content, but the comedy.

The Blaze Fact Checks ‘Weeping Voter’: His Claims Are… This is the end of democracy!

Glenn played the audio on radio this morning.
Howard Dean Echoes Weepy Walker Protester:
"The beginning of the undermining of American democracy." Hmmm….

The Blaze Fact Checks ‘Weeping Voter’: His Claims Are…

After Wisconsin Exit Polls, White House Must Wonder If All the Polling is Wrong

Flashback: Scathing New Ad Uses Maddow and Michael Moore to Remind How Important Recall Election Was

June 5th, 2012 was also primary day for CA, MT, SD, NJ and NM

A Growing Trend? Voters in Major Calif. Cities Approve Public Pension Reform

Palin: Wisconsin Results Mean 'Obama's Goose is Cooked'

Priebus: Obama ‘Left Democrats at the Altar in Wisconsin’

June 5th, 2012 was also primary day for CA, MT, SD, NJ and NM.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Meet Your Next President

Written by Jim Funkhouser Apr 18, 2011

Sarah-Palin-Wisconsin

Sarah Palin

Yesterday, after a short political sabbatical, I cautiously dipped my toe back into the boiling porridge that now passes for public discourse. Drudge is always first, and it was there that I discovered that Palin had finally made it official: She’s running.

Was there ever a doubt? Talk about anti-climatic.

The big question in my mind was always this: Can she win? Her speech in Wisconsin answered that question for me. Sarah Barracuda’s reemergence finds her in full campaign mode and she is startlingly better than ever before. I know how Chris Matthews feels now.

Could Pawlenty, Gingrich, or Romney have generated the energy and sense of urgency that Palin so effortlessly brought forth? The mind struggles to animate them with such authenticity, and the reason might be obvious: There is always the nagging doubt that they are true believers.

It’s easy for Sarah because she believes everything she says. Her sound conservative agenda is not a political design, it’s an expression of core values, and the passion that issues forth is so genuine that it never occurs to a single person in the audience, on the left or the right, that she is anything other than what she appears to be.

Palin is kryptonite to the Loony-Left and the RINO-right precisely because they all know that she is serious. Does the Left fear Gingrich? Hardly. Any chance that Romney will roll back the welfare state? Puh-lease. Is Tea-Paw (Pawlenty) going to ride into the Beltway and run rough-shod over the Statists? He would struggle to find a Veep with less gravitas. They will all be ignored… until they are nominated.

To gauge the threat measure the heat, and Palin has be hotly scrutinized more than any other politician in history. Her travails with the punditry, mainstream media, and the establishment at every level seems to be remarkably unbalanced… until you calculate two things.

1. Her influence. Romney could release a thousand page theses tomorrow that rivals the Federalist Papers and it would be trumped if Palin tweeted about Michelle’s garden. Is that fair? Nope. But it’s reality. When Sarah speaks, people listen, and everyone knows it.

2. Her spine. Fight like a girl nailed it. The uber-Mama Grizzly is the real deal. Boehner cries because he thinks his navel is the center of the universe. A mother with a child that has Down’s-syndrome knows that politics doesn’t even make the top ten when you list reasons to get emotional. She won’t cry when she’s being sworn in, trust me.

Sarah’s courage is her defining attribute. She has endured a withering assault and is stronger than ever because she has faced it without blinking. The Primary Season may hold surprises, but Palin has already been battle-tested like no other politician in history and I doubt that anyone will be pulling a secret rough-draft Alaskan version of Romney-care out of her closet anytime soon.

America doesn’t need a Republican version of Obama solutionism, it needs a female version of Ronald Reagan conservatism. She will be the default Republican choice for that reason alone. Her flaws are not flaws of character or ideology, and in the end people don’t choose a candidate because they think that Lexington and Concord are in New Hampshire, or that America has 57 States. People choose because they trust.

De Tocqueville knew it was true about America, and I know it’s true about Palin. Sarah is great because Sarah is good. We’ve tried everything else, let’s try honest government again… this time in heels.

The Tea Party Tribune

SarahPac Launches new site: http://www.sarahpac.com/

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Michigan Teacher Threatens Tea Party's Children: Posted on CraigsList

Michigan Teacher Threatens Tea Party's Children

This is a message from a Teacher to all the Tea Bags here in Michigan. It was posted on Craigslist yesterday, during school hours.

Little tea bags (capitol)

Date: 2011-03-11, 10:46AM EST Reply to: comm-vzqqj-2259517268@craigslist.org

So you Tea Bags want to take away my hard earned blue ribbon bennies. Well guess what you scum sucking Tea Bags, I got your kids all day long in my classroom and with just a few slick questions I know who the little tea bags are! And you think you'll have the last laugh HA-Ha-Ha

Location: capitol it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 2259517268

Copyright © 2011 craigslist, inc.terms of useprivacy policyfeedback forum

This reminded me a bit of the Wisconsin Teacher’s Union consistently pushing the idea of their great concern for their students being the reason they weren’t in the classroom but rather out in the street protesting during school hours… and then we find out that 2/3 of 8th graders in Wisconsin could not pass their proficiency tests… and can’t sufficiently read.

Andrew Klavan: Behold! Your Public Sector Unions at Work

Video:  Andrew Klavan: Behold! Your Public Sector Unions at Work

h/t to Rose and Hello Michigan Blog

Monday, February 28, 2011

Must-Read - Unions vs. Right to Work

The Op-Ed page of the Wall Street Journal has been a bastion of common sense in a world of ridiculously biased print news media. In fact, other than the Washington Times, there is no other national newspaper that contains a shred of the sort of common sense we regularly find on the WSJ's Editorial Page.

Obviously, the same cannot be said for the rest of that newspaper, but at least it's partially good, like Fox News Channel has Glenn Beck, and despite Shep and the rest of the biased, hardcore leftists (and confused 'Progressives' like Bill O'Reilly) working at FNC, Glenn (and sometimes Hannity and Megyn Kelly) is NOT part of the problem; he (and sometimes they) are definitely part of the solution!

Anyway, this Op-Ed discussion unions and the right to work is excellent, as one might expect when one considers the source; I love the subtitle of this article: "Collective Bargaining on a Broad Scale Is More Similar to an Antitrust Violation Than to a Civil Liberty." That is so true! Also, this is a pretty short, but sweet article; great for a short break at work. I think you'll enjoy it:

Unions vs. the Right to Work

Collective Bargaining on a Broad Scale Is More Similar to an Antitrust Violation Than to a Civil Liberty.

By ROBERT BARRO | FEBRUARY 28, 2011

How ironic that Wisconsin has become ground zero for the battle between taxpayers and public- employee labor unions. Wisconsin was the first state to allow collective bargaining for government workers (in 1959), following a tradition where it was the first to introduce a personal income tax (in 1911, before the introduction of the current form of individual income tax in 1913 by the federal government).

Labor unions like to portray collective bargaining as a basic civil liberty, akin to the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and religion. For a teachers union, collective bargaining means that suppliers of teacher services to all public school systems in a state—or even across states—can collude with regard to acceptable wages, benefits and working conditions. An analogy for business would be for all providers of airline transportation to assemble to fix ticket prices, capacity and so on. From this perspective, collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty.

In fact, labor unions were subject to U.S. antitrust laws in the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which was first applied in 1894 to the American Railway Union. However, organized labor managed to obtain exemption from federal antitrust laws in subsequent legislation, notably the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
Remarkably, labor unions are not only immune from antitrust laws but can also negotiate a "union shop," which requires nonunion employees to join the union or pay nearly equivalent dues. Somehow, despite many attempts, organized labor has lacked the political power to repeal the key portion of the 1947 Taft Hartley Act that allowed states to pass right-to-work laws, which now prohibit the union shop in 22 states. From the standpoint of civil liberties, the individual right to work—without being forced to join a union or pay dues—has a much better claim than collective bargaining. (Not to mention that "right to work" has a much more pleasant, liberal sound than "collective bargaining.") The push for right-to-work laws, which haven't been enacted anywhere but Oklahoma over the last 20 years, seems about to take off.

The current pushback against labor-union power stems from the collision between overly generous benefits for public employees— notably for pensions and health care—and the fiscal crises of state and local governments. Teachers and other public-employee unions went too far in convincing weak or complicit state and local governments to agree to obligations, particularly defined-benefit pension plans, that created excessive burdens on taxpayers.

In recognition of this fiscal reality, even the unions and their Democratic allies in Wisconsin have agreed to Gov. Scott Walker's proposed cutbacks of benefits, as long as he drops the restrictions on collective bargaining. The problem is that this "compromise" leaves intact the structure of strong public-employee unions that helped to create the unsustainable fiscal situation; after all, the next governor may have less fiscal discipline. A long-run solution requires a change in structure, for example, by restricting collective bargaining for public employees and, to go further, by introducing a right-to-work law.

There is evidence that right-to-work laws—or, more broadly, the pro-business policies offered by right-to-work states—matter for economic growth. In research published in 2000, economist Thomas Holmes of the University of Minnesota compared counties close to the border between states with and without right-to-work laws (thereby holding constant an array of factors related to geography and climate). He found that the cumulative growth of employment in manufacturing (the traditional area of union strength prior to the rise of public-employee unions) in the right-to-work states was 26 percentage points greater than that in the non-right-to-work states.

Beyond Wisconsin, a key issue is which states are likely to be the next political battlegrounds on labor issues. In fact, one can interpret the extreme reactions by union demonstrators and absent Democratic legislators in Wisconsin not so much as attempts to influence that state—which may be a lost cause—but rather to deter politicians in other states from taking similar actions. This strategy may be working in Michigan, where Gov. Rick Snyder recently asserted that he would not "pick fights" with labor unions.

In general, the most likely arenas are states in which the governor and both houses of the state legislature are Republican (often because of the 2010 elections), and in which substantial rights for collective bargaining by public employees currently exist. This group includes Indiana, which has recently been as active as Wisconsin on labor issues; ironically, Indiana enacted a right-to-work law in 1957 but repealed it in 1965. Otherwise, my tentative list includes Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maine, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska (with a nominally nonpartisan legislature), Kansas, Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The national fiscal crisis and recession that began in 2008 had many ill effects, including the ongoing crises of pension and health-care obligations in many states. But at least one positive consequence is that the required return to fiscal discipline has caused reexamination of the growth in economic and political power of public-employee unions. Hopefully, embattled politicians like Gov. Walker in Wisconsin will maintain their resolve and achieve a more sensible long-term structure for the taxpayers in their states.

Mr. Barro is a professor of economics at Harvard and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

h/t to Jared Law at the 912 Project

Related: 

Organized in Wisconsin  -  You Will Want to Read These!