Showing posts with label Unions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unions. Show all posts

Republicans Holds Four of Six Contested Seats in Wisconsin Recall Elections

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Republicans Holds Four of Six Contested Seats in Wisconsin Recall Elections


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https://kimberlyinkeldavis.blogspot.com/2011/08/republicans-holds-four-of-six-contested.html


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Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

    I've forgotten now, but I'm sure I got a few NEA e-mails on this. Here's the website.

    These people are angry and stupid, and dangerous combination. Video c/o Glenn Reynolds:

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Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action


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Los Angeles Times Shills for Communists on Business Section Front Page

    That's longtime local communist and union activist Paul Krehbiel at the photo, where he's featured at the front page of the Los Angeles Times' business section: "Learning how to be a union activist." He's wearing a militant clenched-fist solidarity shirt, red, with the slogan, "Stand With Wisconsin."

    Los Angeles Times Communists

    Krehbiel is the author of a memoir, Shades of Justice, and his biography states:
    Since 2003, he has been active in the campaign to end the war in Iraq, working with the Coalition for World Peace, US Labor Against the War, and the Iraq Moratorium.
    Coalition for World Peace is one of the many groups closely aligned with the World Workers Party (WWP), a Marxist-Leninist apparatus that backed Moscow's invasion of Hungary in 1956 and the Soviet army's brutal suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968. The Coalition for World Peace is listed as an active affiliated group at the homepage of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ). Here's this at the UFPJ at Discover the Networks:
    UFPJ was officially created on October 25, 2002 in the Washington, DC offices of People For the American Way. Its initial membership consisted of approximately 70 organizations. Prior to UFPJ's founding, the anti-war movement had earned a reputation as a hodgepodge of radical elements. All the large-scale peace demonstrations to that point had been held under the auspices of International ANSWER, an organization aligned with the Marxist-Leninist Workers World Party; Global Exchange, headed by the longtime pro-Castro communist Medea Benjamin; and Not In Our Name, a project organized by Ramsey Clark and fellow leaders of the Revolutionary Communist Party. United For Peace and Justice was created explicitly to put a milder face on the anti-war movement, although from its inception UFPJ shared with the aforementioned groups a passionate hatred for the United States and for capitalism.

    The Co-Chair and principal leader of UFPJ is Leslie Cagan, an original founder of the Committees of Correspondence (a remnant organization created by the American Communist Party upon going out of business) and a strong supporter of Fidel Castro since the 1960s; Cagan proudly aligns her politics with those of Communist Cuba.

    The breadth of UFPJ's agendas extends well beyond anti-war activism. Passionately anti-American, this group condemns virtually every aspect of U.S. foreign policy and domestic life. It impugns America's "daily assaults and attacks on poor and working people, on women, people of color, lesbians/gays and other sexual minorities, the disabled, and so many others." It asserts that "the government treats all immigrants as potential terrorist threats until proven innocent, in violation of the Constitution," thereby "expanding the scope and depth of racial injustice within the U.S." ...

    UFPJ has campaigned against American support for Israel's construction of an anti-terrorist security fence in the West Bank, which it describes as an illegal "apartheid wall" that violates the civil and human rights of Palestinians.
    UFPJ is a signatory to the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a hardline anti-Zionist (anti-Semitic) organization that attacks Israel as an "apartheid state."

    And back over at the CFWP homepage, we see that Krehbiel's group was a leading organizer for the March 21, "Mass March and Rally in L.A.," and the link there takes us to the announcement at the ANSWER Coalition's page, "List of March 21 Organizing & Transportation Centers." (More on ANSWER here.)

    The Times article gushes about the workshop Kreibiel was offering at Pasadena City College, where young students attending "munched on the free chocolate chip cookies and potato chips they were provided..." (Right. Free, of course.) The article notes a couple of times how organized labor is trying to match the energy and effectiveness of the tea parties, and quotes a Teamsters union hack agitating to take back the streets: "Those are our streets, that's where we need to be."

    And buried on page B4 we find this bland acknowledgement and evasion:
    The Troublemakers School in Pasadena and five others like it held this year across the country were organized by Labor Notes, a Detroit nonprofit funded by membership dues and course fees, as well as donations from pro-labor individuals. There's no question this group leans heavily left: One student carried pamphlets about a meeting for anarchists.
    Leans left? You think?

    Here's the Labor Notes' manifesto from its 1993 conference, hosted at the Encyclopedia of Trotskyism Online (Marxist.org).

    The bottom line is that we see yet again another mainstream media outfit reporting rapturously on the organizing activities of hardline communist cadres. It'd be nice if the tea parties got a fraction of such fawning reporting by the nation's media establishment.

    Typical.

    Linked at The Rhetorican, "Oxymoronic Juxtaposition of the Week." Thanks!

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Los Angeles Times Shills for Communists on Business Section Front Page


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New York Minority Parents Protest National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT)

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New York Minority Parents Protest National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT)


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NLRB Announces Proposed Changes to Speed Up Union Elections

    At WSJ, "Plan to Ease Way for Unions":
    The National Labor Relations Board Tuesday proposed the most sweeping changes to the federal rules governing union organizing elections since 1947, giving a boost to unions that have long called for the agency to give employers less time to fight representation votes.

    The NLRB's proposals would likely compress the time between a formal call for a vote by workers on whether to join a union, and the election itself. It is the latest in a series of actions by the board and other agencies controlled by Obama administration appointees that respond to labor leaders' calls for more union friendly federal labor policies.

    The rules governing organizing are the focus of a power struggle between unions and employers after decades of declining union membership. Only 6.9% of private sector workers belonged to unions in 2010, and just 11.9% of all U.S. workers, according to the Labor Department. In 1983, unions represented 20.1% of all workers.

    "This is another not so cleverly disguised effort to restrict the ability of employers to express their views during an election campaign," said Randy Johnson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's senior vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits.

    Some companies say cutting the lead time before an election would make it harder for them to build a case for opposing a union, because union campaigns often begin months earlier without an employer's knowledge.

    Unions praised the proposal, although Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, called the board's step a "modest" one that doesn't address "many of the fundamental problems with our labor laws."
    Modest. Right. Trumka's a thug.

    This will be an extremely significant change if approved. See Peter Kirsanow, "Major Changes to NLRB Rules Announced Today":
    This is a very big deal. Union representation of the private-sector workforce has fallen from 35 percent 50 years ago to just 6.9 percent today. Implementation of the NLRB’s proposed rule changes would significantly increase the latter percentage. Here’s why:

    The proposed rules would substantially shorten the time period between the filing of a petition for a union-representation election and the actual conduct of the election. Right now, initial elections normally are conducted within 38–40 days of the filing of a petition by the union. Since the typical employer is completely oblivious to the fact that a union has been organizing his workforce for the last 6–8 months, the filing of the representation petition is usually the first time the employer becomes aware of the unionization campaign. The employer then uses the 38–40 days between the filing of the petition and the election to make his case to his employees.

    That’s not much time for the employer to get his message out. Indeed, in 2009 and 2010 unions won approximately 68 percent of elections (this does not include the number of petitions withdrawn by unions). Yet the “quickie election” rules proposed by the NLRB will shorten the time frame to a mere 10 –20 days. Make absolutely no mistake: That’s not enough time for even the largest and most sophisticated employers to counter what the union has been telling employees while organizing them for the last 6–8 months. The union win rate will far exceed 68 percent. In fact, it’s likely that many employers will choose to not even go through the expense of an election that he’s sure to lose, but will simply voluntarily recognize the union upon a showing of authorization cards.
    These people suck. Freakin' commies.

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NLRB Announces Proposed Changes to Speed Up Union Elections


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Jerry Brown's Budget Soap Opera

    At Wall Street Journal, "As Sacramento Turns":

    'All My Children" may be off the air, but the soap opera is still running in Sacramento. In the latest installment, Governor Jerry Brown divorced his fellow Democrats by vetoing their budget. Democrats and unions are furious and plotting revenge, while both sides blame the evil Republicans for refusing to sanction a referendum that would give voters a chance to endorse a tax increase.

    Where's Susan Lucci when you need her?

    Mr. Brown deserves credit for vetoing the Democratic budget that reverted to Sacramento form to close a $9.6 billion deficit, deferring several billion dollars of bills into the future, borrowing from special funds, and raising the state's sales tax and vehicle registration fee without the constitutionally required supermajority vote. Even the Democratic treasurer warned that the state couldn't finance its short-term debt with such a risky plan, and Mr. Brown cashiered it.

    Democrats are now blasting him for suggesting that an "all cuts" budget is the only alternative if Republicans won't agree to allow a vote on a five-year extension of what was supposed to be a temporary income tax surcharge, among other tax hikes. Democrats are frustrated because they expected Republicans to cave months ago. But Republicans have shown laudable discipline, and they know that their relevance in state politics hinges on extracting concessions from employee unions that will reduce the future cost of government.

    Mr. Brown needs at least two GOP votes in each chamber to put the tax increases on the ballot. And Republican lawmakers have said for months that they're willing to do so in return for modest pension and regulatory reforms and a hard spending cap.
    More at the link.

    Unions are basically killing any deal, even one that includes GOP concessions to Jerry Brown tax increases.

    RELATED: At Instapundit, "SHOCKER: Companies Leaving California In Record Numbers."

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Jerry Brown's Budget Soap Opera


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Wisconsin Vindication

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Wisconsin Vindication


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Are Unions Connected to Terrorism?

    At Washington Post, "Activists cry foul over FBI probe."

    CHICAGO — FBI agents took box after box of address books, family calendars, artwork and personal letters in their 10-hour raid in September of the century-old house shared by Stephanie Weiner and her husband.

    The agents seemed keenly interested in Weiner’s home-based business, the Revolutionary Lemonade Stand, which sells silkscreened baby outfits and other clothes with socialist slogans, phrases like “Help Wanted: Revolutionaries.”

    The search was part of a mysterious, ongoing nationwide terrorism investigation with an unusual target: prominent peace activists and politically active labor organizers.

    The probe — involving subpoenas to 23 people and raids of seven homes last fall — has triggered a high-powered protest against the Department of Justice and, in the process, could create some political discomfort for President Obama with his union supporters as he gears up for his reelection campaign.
    More at that link above.

    At the video, former FBI agent Brian Weidner suggests any funding U.S. "peace" groups provide to "humanitarian" organizations could be funneled to terrorism.

    And here's this, from Red State:
    All along, the activists have claimed they have no ties to terrorism, despite the appearance that the investigation is into possible ties to the communist Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), “a revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization in the United States” that is seeking to end America’s free-enterprise system.

    The Freedom Road Socialist Organization has links (literally) to both the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [background here] and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) [background here], two groups on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

    Another of those being investigated is Hatem Abudayyeh who, according to his bio, is the Executive Director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII), is a founding Advisory Board member of the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), and sits on the National Coordinating Committee of the United States Palestine Community Network (USPCN).

    Now, with possible indictments looming, some of the individuals being investigated are attempting to strike back.
    Several activists and their lawyers said they believe indictments could come anytime, so they have turned their organizing skills toward a counteroffensive, decrying the inquiry as a threat to their First Amendment rights. All 23 of the activists invoked their right not to testify before a grand jury, defying U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office is spearheading the investigation. A spokesman for Fitzgerald declined to comment.

    The activists have formed the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, organized phone banks to flood Attorney General Eric Holder’s office and the White House with protest calls, solicited letters from unions and faith-based groups and sent delegations to Capitol Hill.

    “I am so disgusted when I see that so many union people have been targeted in this,” said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, which represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, including four members who are possible targets.
    On May 17th, according to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression’s website, another activist’s home was raided in Los Angeles and the activist, Carlos Montes, was detained and questioned about the Midwest activists, as well as the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

    On June 16th, the Committee is planning a “Day of Action in Solidarity with Carlos Montes.”

    On the actvists’ website, there is a timeline of events that includes actions the activists have taken to counter the investigation into their activities, as well as the list of Democrat politicians the group has enlisted to support them.

    By the looks of it, with indictments possibly being issued soon, there will likely be much more coming out in the coming weeks and months ahead.
    Check Red State for all the links to the activist organizations. There's a protest scheduled today in Alhambra. Kinda early though, so I don't know if I'll make it.

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Are Unions Connected to Terrorism?


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You Just Can't Get Good Goons Nowadays

    Via Glenn Reynolds, although Kenny Gladney might quibble on the efficacy of union beatings, historical comparisons aside.

    At Washington Examiner, "Sunday Reflection: Hard to get good goons these days":

    So the public employee unions have been on the defensive across the nation, and they've been losing battles in state capitols from Wisconsin, to Ohio, to Tennessee.

    Although there have been some violent incidents and death threats, overall, despite the talk from many right-leaning pundits about "union goons," the actual danger posed by the union members appears to have been very small by labor-historical standards. Apparently, you just can't get good goons nowadays.

    And that makes sense. In the old days of the labor movement, the unionized industries were, you know, actual industries, involving miners, steelworkers and the like. And those are trades that foster exactly the qualities you need in good goons.

    Why? Because they're very dangerous activities that put a premium on teamwork. (Even in totalitarian countries, people know that it's dangerous to get the miners upset.)

    Those kinds of work foster a mind-set that's not entirely different from what you find in successful combat troops: team spirit, the sense that you have to rely on your peers to cover your back, and you'd better do the same for them. (Also, in those lines of work it's easy for those suspected of shaky loyalty to have "accidents.")

    When people who are used to dealing with cave-ins, or ladles of molten metal, hit the streets, they're putting those traits to work in an environment that's probably less dangerous than the one they work in every day. That makes them pretty formidable.

    In fact, it made them so formidable that they were able to put together unions solid enough to send the industries they depended on overseas, where labor was more tractable, because the bosses weren't willing to face the headache of trying to get rid of the unions, and couldn't afford to pay the wages the unions, with their toughness, had managed to extract.

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You Just Can't Get Good Goons Nowadays


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Communists and SEIU March in Los Angeles on May Day 2011

    RACIST REPSAC = CASPER dropped in for a drive-by comment at Lawyers, Guns and Murder on Saturday, and he again offered up a variant of his pathetic delusion that there are no communists allied with the Democratic Party in contemporary American politics. Read the verbatim comment here. But to be clear: All Democrats are not socialists or communists. But old school Democrats of the Joseph Lieberman mold are a dying breed. And the Democrat hardline base is clearly populated by a large number of people either formally allied with socialist and communist organizations, or willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with them at protests and rallies and job actions, whatever. We saw this most powerfully at last year's "One Nation" rally in D.C., and earlier this year in Wisconsin. And we have yet another example from May Day in Los Angeles last week. Zombie has an entry on this, "SEIU drops mask, goes full commie." And following the links takes us to Ringo's blog, "Unions and Communists March Side By Side at May Day Rally - Los Angeles, Ca 5/1/2011."

    Be sure to check the entire post. Ringo says he's never seen so many communist flags in his entire life. And he's got this video below as well, of the ANSWER contingent --- the ubiquitous neo-Stalinist organization involved in everything from antiwar protests to anti-Prop 8 demonstrations to the anti-SB 1070 marches in Arizona:

    So, again, Democrats are not necessarily communists. But the Democrat Party base, made up of self-styled "progressives," are neo-Marxist collectivists who advocate statist redistributionism and social justice. As I've written previously:
    In any case, progressives today are not social and economic reformers, or those who're directed toward modernization and social improvement. They're totalitarian ideologues working for the idealized utopia that always historically ends in the terror and the gulag.
    The evidence is all around. It's a matter of objective fact. Those like RACIST = REPSAC = CASPER who weasel out of truth recognition are the ideological and intellectual Luddites of the day. Paul Kengor wrote on the Democrat-socialist alliance after the "One Nation" rally last year, "Progressives and Communists: Out of the Closet -- Together":
    A close look at the Saturday "One Nation" rally in Washington reveals something quite telling. It was a major gathering of the "progressive" left, highly billed, vigorously promoted. And it happened to include -- in fact, it warmly accepted -- the endorsement of Communist Party USA.

    Expectedly, a bunch of the rally's endorsers carried the word "progress" or "progressive" in their title, from People’s Organization for Progress to Progressive Democrats of America. More still unhesitatingly describe themselves as progressive, from racial eugenicist Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood to Norman Lear's heirs at People for the American Way, plus the usual suspects from the "social justice" Religious Left.

    And then, too, there was CPUSA.

    Why is this so remarkable? It's remarkable because historically, communist involvement at these rallies has been meticulously concealed, hidden from progressives, with the communists using the progressives as props -- as dupes. That the two sides here, on Saturday, happily accepted one another, proudly uniting, shows how far to the left progressives have moved, not to mention their unflagging confidence under the ascendancy of Obama-Pelosi-Reid.
    Once more, the majority of rank-and-file Democrats --- who political scientists identify as members of the "party-in-the-electorate" --- are not communists. But the loudest, most activist segments of the Democrat coalition, most importantly SEIU, seen at May Day in Los Angeles, are now clearly aligned with the Communist Party in a coalition of "No Enemies on the Left." According to watchdog website Open Secrets:
    During the 2010 election cycle, SEIU spent nearly $15.8 million on advertisements and other communications known as independent expenditures that overtly advocated for or against federal political candidates, with Democrats benefiting from almost all of them.
    I do not believe RACIST REPSAC = CASPER is a communist. He may be an anti-Semite, in addition to being a racist, and he's definitely a progressive. But that doesn't matter much to the foregoing analysis. The post shows conclusively the infiltration of the Democrat Party by the long-term ideological enemies of the United States. It's fact. That said, facts to not penetrate the world of blind hatred of RACIST REPSAC = CASPER, so this is just for the record, once again. But be warned: Pathetic RACIST REPSAC = CASPER, unfortunately, is potentially even more dangerous than those hoisting banners on the street, for he works in the Alinsky mold of destroying American greatness from within. You gotta watch out for these people. They'd kill you if they get the chance.

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Communists and SEIU March in Los Angeles on May Day 2011


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May Day! — Democrat-Socialists Rally Around Unions

    Of course.

    It's May Day, the "International Day of the Worker."

    And right on cue, at Los Angeles Times, "California Democrats rally around unions":
    Framing the union battles taking place across the nation as a fundamental attack on working Americans, Democratic leaders on Saturday accused Republicans of scapegoating public employees for political gain.

    "They are intent on dismantling the very economic ladder that lifted our middle class and made California the richest and greatest state in the greatest nation in the world," Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris told thousands of delegates and supporters gathered at the Democrats' annual convention in Sacramento.

    As cities, counties and states struggle to balance budgets, public employee unions have come under fire from critics arguing that their benefits, especially their pensions, are overly generous. Some of the most notable battles are in Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker sought to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers, and Ohio, where an anti-union measure is the subject of a proposed voter referendum.

    Several speakers tied the Wisconsin controversy to Costa Mesa. A budget shortfall in the Orange County city led officials to issue layoff notices to much of its workforce and to push to privatize many city services.

    Orange County Employees Assn. General Manager Nick Berardino described Costa Mesa as "ground zero for working men and women in California" and said the actions there "represent a direct threat to the Democratic Party and democracy itself."
    Right.

    Because for socialists "democracy" is always defined in terms of economic redistribution. Like as found at University of Missouri's labor studies seminar, which featured Tony Pecinovsky, Communist Party USA, who indicates:

    In my opinion... I think in the opinion of the Communist Party, politics is all about nuance. Just like there’s different trends and tenedencies within the labor movement, the Democratic Party is very much the same. It’s not one hegemonic whole. There’s different perspectives and points of views within a spectrum, right? And so we tend to focus on and help those candidates who as Don said, share our values.
    "Don" would be Don Giljum, who was fired by the university for advocating violence.

    This are what Democrats are all about.

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May Day! — Democrat-Socialists Rally Around Unions


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May Day! — Police Prepare for Communist Open-Borders Rally in Los Angeles

    At Los Angeles Times:
    This year's May Day rally is expected to draw fewer immigrant rights activists to downtown Los Angeles than in past years, but police said they would be prepared for any problems that might occur.

    Marchers will assemble at 10 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Broadway and Olympic Boulevard and walk north on Broadway toward City Hall, officials said. The march will conclude with a rally on Broadway between First and Temple streets near City Hall.

    Organizers said the demonstration could draw more than 50,000 people, but permits sought for the march estimate a crowd of about 10,000.

    Whatever the turnout, police said, they would be ready with a significant deployment of officers.

    "We are going to have a large enough deployment to handle anything," said LAPD Deputy Chief Jose Perez. "Our posture will be consistent with what we've had the last two years. We want to keep a lid on anything, but, ideally, we are going to maintain a low profile and facilitate allowing everybody to express their 1st Amendment views in a peaceful and organized manner."

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May Day! — Police Prepare for Communist Open-Borders Rally in Los Angeles


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University of Missouri Fires Communist Labor Studies Professor Don Giljum: Democrat-Media-Complex Decries 'Shirley Sherroding' of Radical Academics

    At CBS St. Louis, "Union Official, College Lecturer Don Giljum Resigns After AFL-CIO Pressure, UM-KC Won’t Rehire Next Semester." And Big Government, "Labor Notes: Union Official, College Lecturer Don Giljum Resigns After AFL-CIO Pressure, UM-KC Won’t Rehire Next Semester."

    The university's obviously embarrassed. The dude was fired for teaching violence in the classroom, for making statements personally advocating violence against capitalists:
    I can’t really honestly say that I’ve never wished, or have never been in a position where I haven’t wished real harm on somebody, or inflicted any pain and suffering on some people that, you know, didn’t ask for it,” Giljum said, “It certainly has it’s place.

    And now this is all over the news.

    Right on cue, the progressive-left's meme is the "Shirly Sherroding" of radical academics. The claims are that the videos were selectively edited and that students' privacy rights were violated. See USA Today, "Career-ending videos of professors are unfairly edited, university officials say"; Chronicle of Higher Education, "Videos 'Ripped' From Online-Course Footage Bring Threats to Instructors"; and especially, Inside Higher Ed, "The Shirley Sherrods of Academe?"

    So far co-instructor Judy Ancel, the Director of the Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has not been relieved. And she's making aggressive attempts to refute the video evidence. From the Inside Higher Ed piece:
    Ancel, the other instructor, said in an interview that she works on annual contracts and that the university has not taken any action against her. She also released a statement in which she explained the context behind some of the quotes shown in the video.

    For example, she noted that one of her quotes in the Breitbart video is: "violence is a tactic and it's to be used when it's the appropriate tactic." Here is what she said really happened: "After students had watched a film on the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King, they were discussing nonviolence. I said, 'One guy in the film ... said 'violence is a tactic, and it’s to be used when it’s the appropriate tactic.' " In this instance, she said, "Breitbart’s editing has literally put words in my mouth that were not mine, and they never were mine."

    Both Ancel and Giljum said that a course about the history of the labor movement would of necessity discuss violence. Ancel said in her statement: "Any examination of labor’s past would be incomplete without discussion of violence (which for the most part was directed at workers), and analysis of its roots. At no time did my co-instructor, Don Giljum, nor I advocate violence."
    Insurgent Visuals, the media production team that produced the clips from Ancel and Giljum's classes, rejects allegations of selective editing, and specifically rebuts Ancel's denials:
    Ancel cannot deny that she and Giljum were discussing violent tactics–and, in Giljum’s case, recalling his personal experience in using fear and intimidation.

    So she, and the university, have resorted to a red herring–the false claim that students’ “right to privacy” was violated.

    None of the individual students in any of the videos was identified. Furthermore, Ancel herself encouraged students to share the course materials widely, saying in one lecture:
    all labor education materials are uncopyrighted, and to be shared. We do not believe, for the most part, in intellectual property rights. That’s one of the principles of labor education. We share.
    This is not an “attack on the rights of working people and on anything that is public,” as Ancel wants Missouri taxpayers to believe. This is about the promotion of violence as a political tactic in labor disputes in a public university classroom.

    The fundamental context–which Ancel distorts–is that she and Giljum discussed violence–and militancy, and intimidation, and law-breaking–in the course of teaching impressionable students how to get results through union organizing.

    If, at times, they stated that “the tactics have changed,” at other times they seemed to condone those tactics–with Ancel, for example, stating that “there are some people whose definition of terrorism is just an army without a defense budget.”

    At one point, Ancel stated: “the struggle for public employee unionism cost lives”–real lives, because people “had to fight for it.”

    No doubt she partially meant the lives of those who suffered to win labor rights in America, a large number. But let there be no doubt that labor violence cost lives among those who resisted, for whatever reason–those innocents who were the casualties in the battles she supported.
    More on this later.

    Andrew Breitbart will be on Bill Maher's tonight: "HBO 'Real Time' Maher hosts Breitbart, Waters, Patrick Friday night, expect fireworks."

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University of Missouri Fires Communist Labor Studies Professor Don Giljum: Democrat-Media-Complex Decries 'Shirley Sherroding' of Radical Academics


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California Teachers Association to Reimburse Transportation and Housing for Hundreds of Volunteers for 'Week of Emergency' Protests in Sacramento

    Figures.

    This is where union dues are going, for a Madison-style occupation of the California State Capitol from May 9 through May 13. And that's gotta be pushing costs into the $100s of thousands. Three hundred "volunteer" occupiers will be funded each day (at least), for a week's worth of activities. See my earlier report on the background: "California Teachers Union Plans 'State of Emergency Week'."

    And the CTA page is here. There's a sign-up box with an e-mail form as well.

    Photobucket

    These CTA thugs are closely aligned with the National Education Association, which is noted there as well at the screencap. See also Michelle's entry, "Another thug union puts self-preservation over children."

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California Teachers Association to Reimburse Transportation and Housing for Hundreds of Volunteers for 'Week of Emergency' Protests in Sacramento


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Voters Support Benefit Rollback for Public Workers in California

    Jammie had yesterday's headline of the day, "Shock Poll: Extremist Teabagger Californians Want Givebacks From Public Employees."

    See Los Angeles Times, "California voters want public employees to help ease state's financial troubles":
    California voters want government employees to give up some retirement benefits to help ease the state's financial problems, favoring a cap on pensions and a later age for collecting them, according to a new poll.

    Voter support for rolling back benefits available to few outside the public sector comes as Gov. Jerry Brown and Republicans in the Legislature haggle over changes to the pension system as part of state budget negotiations. Such benefits have been a flashpoint of national debate this year, and the poll shows that Californians are among those who perceive public retirement plans to be too costly.

    Voters appear ready to embrace changes not just for future hires but also for current employees who have been promised the benefits under contract.

    Seventy percent of respondents said they supported a cap on pensions for current and future public employees. Nearly as many, 68%, approved of raising the amount of money government workers should be required to contribute to their retirement. Increasing the age at which government employees may collect pensions was favored by 52%.

    Although pension costs today account for just a fraction of the state budget, they are putting local governments under considerable financial strain, and analysts say effects on the state may not be far off.

    "It's pretty clear that there's broad support for making changes in the area of pensions," said Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who co-directed the bipartisan poll for The Times and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
    RTWT at the link above.

    I've been making this argument at my college, especially during last year's negotiations over contract renewal. And earlier today I e-mailed this story to the college community, and one of my colleagues wrote back, saying: "I don't think the union leadership reads the newspapers."

    Ouch.

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Voters Support Benefit Rollback for Public Workers in California


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California Teachers Union Plans 'State of Emergency Week'

    It's embarrassing, but this is my union.

    I just got the word that a mass protest is planned next month at Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles on Friday the 13th, naturally. It's the culmination of the union's State of Emergency Week, May 9-13.

    Allyshia Finley had a report earlier, at Wall Street Journal, "When Unions Get Desperate" (via The Last Refuge):

    There haven't been any major earthquakes or wildfires in California recently, but teachers apparently think that the potential budget cuts to education merit a "State of Emergency Week."

    The California Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers union, is planning a week of activities in May. The goal is to pressure Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and the state legislature to raise taxes rather than cut education spending.

    Earlier this week the union posted a 10-page list of potential activities on its website, CAstateofemergency.com. Ideas included stalking legislators for a day; boycotting corporations like Microsoft that advocate for education reform; attempting to close down major roads; dyeing their hair red; holding night-time vigils with coffins and black arm-bands; picketing companies; and withdrawing funds from banks that "are not paying their fair share of taxes." They also planned to work with Ben & Jerry's to create a "labor-union flavored ice cream."

    Apparently, the union didn't realize that documents posted to the Internet are available for public consumption. Once the CTA heard that the list was bouncing around blogs, it was removed. Soon, a new three-page list appeared that omits many of their more ludicrous and heavy-handed ideas but still includes plans to use students as props. Instead of bullying and boycotting businesses, the union now intends to meet with local chambers of commerce and to "focus [their protests] on how much money has gone to bail out Wall Street and big corporations."
    These people aren't too smart.

    More at the link above.

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California Teachers Union Plans 'State of Emergency Week'


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Jerry Brown's Sweetheart Deal For Corrections Union Members Could Lead to Massive Payouts, in $100s of Millions, When Prison Guards Retire

    This is extraordinary.

    No other interest group in California politics is getting this kind of deal. See LAT, "New contra for California prison guards lifts cap on saved vacation":

    Deep in the 200-page contract that Gov. Jerry Brown recently approved for state prison guards is a provision that could generate a cash windfall to the officers when they retire.

    The guards, who are among Brown's largest political benefactors, would be able to save an unlimited number of vacation days under their new deal. When they leave state service, those days could be exchanged for cash at their final pay rate, which would probably be higher than when they earned the time off.

    The governor is extending this benefit only to members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., a union that spent nearly $2 million to help him win election last year.

    Removing the decades-old limit on accrued vacation — now 80 days for most state employees — would be a "huge liability" for taxpayers, said Nick Schroeder of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Schroeder said he had not determined the cost of lifting the cap, but his analysis of the deal showed the average corrections union member has accumulated nearly 19 weeks of leave time to date. All of that time off has "a current cash value of over $600 million," he said.

    The deal also would give the members 18 more days off over the life of the two-year contract, according to Schroeder, bringing the typical prison guard's time off to more than eight weeks in the first year.

    Also in the proposed contract is a change in a provision that encouraged corrections officers to remain physically fit. In the past, they could get up to $130 extra each month if they met certain fitness standards. In the new contract, they would be eligible for the money if they simply go to the doctor for an annual physical, Schroeder said.
    Hmm ...

    No exercise recommendations. Prison guards as fat cats, literally.

    More at the link.

    California's going down, and I thought Schwarzenegger was bad. This is ridiculous. People in the private sector just don't get sweetheart deals like this. Brown campaigned on reform and reinventing government, but this might as well be news from today's Party Congress in Cuba. Propping up the old guard and delaying any meaningful Perestroika.

    Trumka-Obama-Moonbeam Democrats.

    Lord have mercy.

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Jerry Brown's Sweetheart Deal For Corrections Union Members Could Lead to Massive Payouts, in $100s of Millions, When Prison Guards Retire


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Tricia Willoughby Speaks to Madison Tea Party Rally

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Tricia Willoughby Speaks to Madison Tea Party Rally


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Protesters Booed the National Anthem at Sarah Palin Rally in Madison?

    Freedom Eden has a roundup featuring this video:

    But Althouse disagrees, specifying exactly what was happening, "Did the anti-Tea Party protesters boo the national anthem at the Madison rally yesterday?:
    I'm seeing some assertions about this on blogs and in YouTube videos, and it's wrong if not unfair and deceptive ...

    Meade and I have observed some of the most raucous rallies at the Capitol over the last 2 months, and the national anthem was sung many times, by the protesters themselves, and we witnessed respect for the anthem. In fact, you could go into the rotunda and start singing the anthem and people would go silent and even sing along with real feeling. They might have resented having to switch to solemnity when they were into raucousness, but they knew very well that they had to at least look like they respected the anthem.
    Ann says that protesters yesterday were just successful in drowning out everything, and no doubt, especially with hate-addled progressives equipped with vuvuzelas:

    Ann wants to be fair, and it helps of course to have been there. That said, Gateway Pundit has this: "TrumkaObama Thugs Scream, Curse, Beat Drums, Blow Whistles & Make Obscene Gestures During Palin’s Wisconsin Speech" (via Memeorandum).

    This what democracy looks, or so they say.

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Protesters Booed the National Anthem at Sarah Palin Rally in Madison?


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Animalistic Progressives

    At Althouse, "How animalistic, frenzied, loud, rude, and desperate was the Wisconsin Capitol today?"
    Andrew Breitbart confronts an angry union mob in Wisconsin," Says Instapundit, quoting Breitbart, who goes on about how ugly the "mob" was today at the Capitol:
    [T]he defeats that the union’s leadership have suffered in that time have plunged these losers into an even more animalistic state of frenzy. Still stinging from last week’s election reaffirmation of Gov. Scott Walker’s policy of requiring public sector unions to face some of the economic realities that the rest of us have to deal with, the counter protesters both homegrown and bussed in them were louder, ruder and more desperate than ever....
    Whoa!
    Speaking of animalistic, here's VOM. Looks like it's filmed in Huntington Beach, but as it's 1976, who the heck knows?

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Animalistic Progressives


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