Workers Deserve Better Than a Big Labor Lackey
January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Jobs, News, President, Publius Contributor, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Heritage Foundation, Unions | No Comments
Today may well turn out to be a major turning point in the history of the labor movement, and not because Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) will face questions at her Secretary of Labor confirmation hearings in the Senate. No, the bigger story is the voice vote conference call Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern has scheduled for 2 pm today. If things go the way Stern plans, the SEIU board will approve the forced break up of the third largest SEIU affiliate in the country, SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW). The UHW’s sin? Their leader, Sal Rosselli, has been a big critic of Stern’s leadership. The Los Angeles Times reports:
NY Rep. Eric Massa, From Fuel Cell to Fool Sell
January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Global Warming, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Science, Society/Culture, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
The newly sworn-in Democratic Representative from New York’s 29th District, Eric Massa, has apparently made a fuel of himself… and of those that elected him. And the amusing thing is he did it on the way to his swearing in ceremony. No waiting to actually take office for Massa. No, this man thinks BIG!
With great fanfare from local and regional media, Massa announced that he would drive a GM Hydrogen fuel cell car to Washington to “highlight new industries” and green fuel technologies. It was supposed to be a feels good move to garner the new Congressman some face time on TV and the golly-gee-wows of the country.
Then reality came a’knockin.’
LATimes Prints Hamas Terrorist’s Op Ed
January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Islam, Islamofascism, Israel, Media Bias, Military, News, Publius Contributor, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Amazingly, on January 6, the L. A. Times gave ample space to a Hamas terrorist to “explain” how the current Gaza action is all Israel’s fault. Mousa Abu Marzook the purported “deputy of the political bureau of Hamas,” the group called an “Islamic Resistance Movement,” shamefacedly claims that Israel’s actions shattered “any incentive by Palestinian leaders to enforce the moratorium on rocket fire.”
First of all, these Palestinian “leaders” have for the last seven years now expended little effort to stop the incessant rocket fire into Israel to which he so blithely refers. So I don’t know who this Marzook fellow is trying to kid? I suppose he’s trying to kid the L.A.Times and it seems they have fallen for it.
The truce thus shattered, any incentive by Palestinian leaders to enforce the moratorium on rocket fire was gone. Any extension of the agreement or improvement of its implementation at that point would have required Israel to engage Hamas, to agree to additional trust-building measures and negotiation with our movement — a political impossibility for Israel, with its own elections only weeks away.
Israel has been trying to engage in “trust-building” with the various and sundry Palestinian groups for decades. It is the Palestinians that have steadfastly maintained that Israel has no right to even exist. How is it that “trust-building” can occur when one side simply wants the other dead?
SEIU Prez DID Meet With Corrupt Ill. Governor
January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
When States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced the investigation of the pay-to-play scandal centered around Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich there came to light a meeting between Blago and a top officer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). There was no indication of what the meeting was about and at fist no one knew who the SEIU representative was.
Later it came out that Blago met with Tom Balanoff, president of the Ill. chapter of the SEIU. This was blown off as of little importance ever since. However, now it has been learned that the president of the SEIU, Andy Stern himself, also met with Blago during the period of time that Blago was trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat.
The Good Old Days
January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Congress, Dan Scott, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments
-By Dan Scott
The more we hear Obama and Pelosi talk of government stimulus projects to jump start the economy, it seems they are attempting to recreate the conditions of the Great Depression for their own political gain. It should be noted that the outcome of the Great Depression in political terms was the Democrat Party holding control of the House and Senate for nearly 50 years until 1994 when the Contract With America brought on end to their hegemony. The public was finally fed up with the never ending spend thrift ways of a Democrat controlled Congress. Actually, it’s uncanny how the Democrats are playing their cards to faithfully reproduce FDR’s policies. History tells us that FDR was popular for the very fact that he by the public view seemed to be doing something constructive upholding the line “we must doing something”, even if what he was doing was in reality self defeating by robbing the economy of investment capital through taxes and borrowing. For appearances sake, digging ditches and the like were visible to all and thus gave the false impression people were working. A recession is in the Democrat’s political best interest, it doesn’t matter who gets hurt in the process.
Socialism when viewed in the context of history always it seems focuses upon keeping people working. The Chinese, the Russians and others always kept people busy with some task as though going through the motions was an all important end in itself. Unemployment was abolished under the Communist system since everyone worked for the state as they defined success in terms of full employment and factory production output, not GDP, profit, efficiency or the quality of the goods and services. In other words, their system was focused on maintaining the status quo, not increasing the standard of living or wealth creation. John Maynard Keyes was heard to say, we can employ one group of people to dig holes and another group to fill them up to give them spending money in their pockets. (sound vaguely familiar?) While few rational people will disagree that work in and of itself is good for character and a person’s self worth, work must have tangible results to have any meaningful effect in this regard. Which brings us to the fatal flaw of the Democrat’s stimulus plan, it’s definition of success. Modern day Democrats are only a little more sophisticated than those of the 1930s in that their proposed make work jobs program will build something overpriced that may be useful like road improvement (repair) projects, mass transit, school modernization, etc. Their definition of success like the Communists and Socialists is the appearance of full employment and maintaining the status quo to keep up with the cost of living, not increasing the standard of living via wealth creation as reflected in rising GDP, profit, efficiency or the quality of goods and services. Every job in the private sector exists for one primary purpose, wealth creation - profit. Every job in the government sector goes to one primary purpose, consumption - a zero net gain, if it were not so then Cuba, where virtually everyone works for the government, would be the richest country on earth, it’s not even close.
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Reform Our Schools Mr. President Elect
January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Israel Teitelbaum, News, President, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety | No Comments
-By Israel Teitelbaum
Honorable President-elect Barack Obama:
In nominating Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education, you stressed the need for school reform. In accepting the nomination, Duncan said, “Whether it’s fighting poverty, strengthening our economy, or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It is the civil rights issue of our generation, and it is the one sure path to a more equal, fair and just society.”
Denial of parental choice in education is in fact the greatest government-sanctioned violation of civil rights in today’s America, and society suffers in multiple ways. As with any system gone awry, just follow the money. The only way to fix this misguided system is to return control to parents, where it rightfully belongs. Our top-down system, where the provider holds the purse rather than the customer, is like shopping with no money, with the understanding that the store will provide for your needs.