Disgusted citizens picket v. oppressive gov't-union strikers ... The tables were turned on striking city workers Monday when angry residents carrying protest signs picketed their union hall in the 1500 block of Parent Avenue. The neighbours, incensed at the growing mounds of garbage along the sidewalk outside union HQ, vowed to be back again today, despite copies of a no-trespassing order waved in their faces by CUPE Local 543 president Jean Fox. "It's a public sidewalk," said one of the pickets, a nearby resident who would only give her first name Lisa. "We supported the strike for 12 weeks, but enough is enough -- the stench and rats and flies, it's ridiculous," she said. (canada.com)
Sen. Smalley endorses Job-Killer Act ... Hours after he was seated, Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, let it be known that he would be sign on as a co-sponsor to the Employee Free Choice Act, the labor-backed provision that would allow unions to more easily organize, as his first legislative activity. "I just became a cosponsor of my first bill in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act," the Minnesota Democrat declared at a gathering at the AFL-CIO on Tuesday evening. Despite taking a backseat in terms of media attention, EFCA remains very much a hotly-debated measure within the halls of Congress. And while Franken's vote will likely boost Democratic efforts on health care and judicial nominations (he is poised to sit on the HELP and Judiciary Committees) it could be on labor matters where his voice is most felt. (alternet.org)
Typical SEIU labor-state protest leads to arrests ... California Highway Patrol officers cited fifteen protesters, most of them in wheelchairs, for blocking the hallway outside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Capitol office Tuesday in protest of proposed cuts to health and social service programs. The demonstrators were cited for trespassing and failure to disperse after they refused to leave when the building closed about 6:45 p.m. They were allowed to leave the Capitol without being taken to jail. The protest, called People's Day of Reckoning, began about 1 p.m. Organizers said the event drew about 120 people at its height, but had dwindled to about 30 people before the arrests were made. Bail for those arrested will be paid by SEIU, Local 6434, said organizer Evan LeVang. (sacbee.com)
Authorities call for additional waste, fraud, abuse ... The United States should be planning for a possible second round of fiscal stimulus to further prop up the economy after the $787 billion rescue package launched in February, an adviser to President Barack Obama said. "We should be planning on a contingency basis for a second round of stimulus," Laura D'Andrea Tyson, a member of the panel advising President Barack Obama on tackling the economic crisis. said on Tuesday. (newsmax.com)
Our leftwing President offered a long laundry list ... President Obama requested ideas from the public to fix the economy: Stop telling Americans that 95 percent of taxpayers will receive a tax cut. Over 40 percent of Americans pay no federal tax. You will be sending them an E.I.C. welfare check courtesy of those who actually pay federal income taxes. Stop nationalizing the banks through bailouts; let them fail. You want to control the banks so you can determine how loans are made and to whom. Stop trying to unionize all of America. Card check eliminates the secret ballot and encourages intimidation. Stop promoting windmills and solar panels as our replacement energy sources. They are not a viable, dependable, cost-effective replacement energy source for oil and coal. Stop the cap-and-trade legislation. This is a stealth tax on businesses and consumers that will result in much higher costs for everything and, at a minimum, a 70 percent increase in electricity costs. Stop monetizing our debt. Stop the treasury from printing so many dollars with nothing to back them that it will eventually cause hyperinflation. The Fed policies and the Treasury are the government entities that have always created our economic problems. Stop spreading the wealth around. As you would describe it, you are taking America's wealth and redistributing it to the rightful owners. Why are you against capitalism? Stop running the government as though you were still a "community activist" representing ACORN. At best ACORN is an arm of the Democratic Party. At worst we may never know because Charlie Rangel is blocking an investigation. Stop nationalizing Chrysler and GM. Stop converting deferred shares to common shares so you will have majority voting rights. You want majority ownership of the car companies (government and UAW) so you can force them to make cars Americans do not want. The government and UAW know nothing about running a car company or any other business. Stop your collectivism agenda. Americans have individual rights and responsibility to succeed or fail based on their individual effort and merit. Stop the Social Security lockbox scam. Social Security has a funding problem due to the fact the government has taken the money, spent it and left worthless IOUs in place of excess Social Security money. Stop trying to nominate a Supreme Court judge who has "empathy and understanding." This is just a cover for an activist judge legislating from the bench. Stop trying to close Guantanamo, symbolism over security. Americans don't want you to release Muslim terrorists in the United States and put them on welfare. Stop trying to nationalize health care. Most Americans neither want, need, or can afford national health care. Stop you anti-American/Marxist/Socialist/Fascist agenda, your out of control spending and your inevitable stealth taxation on everything Americans hope for. The change you envision is not what Americans hoped for. Stop misleading and lying to America. President Reagan said it best: "Government cannot solve your problem. Government is the problem." (baxterbulletin.com)Bonus links:
• Summary of Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals'
• More Saul Alinsky stories: here
• 'Rules for Radicals' at amazon.com
Young Cons smack down Obamanistas ... What began as a spring-semester lark has turned into a bit of celebrity for two Dartmouth College sophomores. Josh Riddle and David Rufful call themselves the Young Conservatives. Since penning and filming their music video "The Young Con Anthem," in the spring, they've become accidental celebrities. As of July 1, their video has been downloaded more than 436,000 times, and they have 6,470 Facebook friends. Part of the appeal probably is the irony of two white guys in suits rapping on an Ivy League campus. However, Mr. Rufful says many are following the duo (www.theyoungcons.com) because they inject the Grand Old Party ideals with new energy. (washingtontimes.com)Related video: Young Con Anthem
MSM blacks out tea ... If you were out of touch with the world for the Fourth of July and wanted to catch up on Tea Party events in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, or anywhere else in Texas for that matter, good luck. Tea Parties, those grassroots rallies against profligate spending and collectivist political policies, took place from border to border and coast to coast to coast throughout the country on America's birthday. Some 40 or so Independence Day demonstrations were scheduled in Texas alone. But you'd barely be aware of it from the local media. Four days after the Fourth you can poke and prod Google into giving up the goods with keywords like "Tea Party" and "tax protest" and "Texas" only to come up short and stout on information. (examiner.com)
Tea Party triggers Obama scandal ... Obama donor and supporter forces cancellation of Atlanta tea party. There are four things President Obama cannot do without: Teleprompters, his PDA, Air Force One and being liked. In response to the April 15 TEA (Taxed Enough Already) parties, he engaged in infantile and cynical mimicry. By so doing, he demonstrated visceral behavior affirming his obsession with being liked by mocking those who don’t like his policies. There he stood at yet another well-scripted town meeting, the champion of “openly debating the issues.” He was slightly hunched over, his thumb and forefinger clenched as if he were holding a teabag. The act was not only childish, but bitter and acidic for any politician (see the YouTube video below). What happened? Just prior to July 4th the locations of planned TEA parties comprised so many red dots on a Google map of the U.S., it looks like a World Health Organization “flu contagion progression chart.” But the red dot and plans for the Atlanta TEA party, which attracted 20,000 on April 15, no longer appear on that map. In the eyes of Obama supporters a TEA party that’s gaining momentum is dangerous. They may have believed that this year’s gathering would attract many more people than did the April 15th rally. So, a philanthropist to left wing candidates (Obama) and causes (Obama’s inauguration) managed to deprive the group of its planned venue only days before the protest was to take place. That left the group unable to find a new site in time to protest in union with other TEA parties. And the way he did it is what gave birth to scandal. (examiner.com)
Union-backed, tax-funded fraud group bites and scratches for Social Justice ... After Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block negotiated agreements with ACORN, the group's attention shifted to Liberty Tax, said the company's founder and CEO, John Hewitt. Harrassment in the ACORN campaign began with threatening letters and culminated with protests aimed against corporate offices throughout the country. Hewitt recalled meeting Wade Rathke, ACORN's founder and then its chief organizer. "He was like a hippie right out of the 1960s," Hewitt said. Liberty Tax agreed to make changes to give customers a better understanding of the mortgages they were receiving, but refused to go any further, Hewitt said. "All of sudden, four bus loads of homeless people pull up in front of our headquarters here in Virginia Beach," he said. "They came pouring into the building like a Mongolian horde. There was screaming and fighting. One employee was bitten and another was scratched. They both had to go to the emergency room." (washingtonexaminer.com)
ACORN - SEIU: Muscling Together ... It’s officially called the “Muscle for Money” program within the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) where it was started, and unofficially by the same name among activists of Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN). ACORN is under investigation in at least 14 states over voter registration fraud allegations stemming from the 2008 presidential campaign. The group endorsed President Barack Obama, despite federal laws barring partisan political activities by tax-exempt groups. Muscle for Money includes multiple techniques for creating highly aggressive, organized efforts both to pressure businesses and officials to support the activists’ agenda or to discredit and intimidate opponents of their agenda, according to present and former ACORN members. SEIU has funded Muscle for Money activities in the past and continues to finance corporate shakedown efforts across the country as part of this program. SEIU locals 100 and 880 have been identified as allied organizations on ACORN’s web site. (sfexaminer.com)
Justice wears blinders for ACORN ... More than 50 years ago, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) committed itself "to upholding the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, including some of the most vulnerable members of our society." "Relative lack of wealth" literally defines the most vulnerable segment of American society according to Zena Crenshaw-Logal, Executive Director of a good government advocate known as POPULAR (Power Over Poverty Under Laws of America Restored). Shortly after his election, POPULAR accordingly hastened President Obama to foster a Justice Department that is conspicuously pro-average American. And today, POPULAR teamed with the ACORN 8 L.L.C. (ACORN 8) in submitting their first joint complaint to the Criminal Section of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. "We will continually submit compelling evidence of various conspiracies against rights and deprivations of rights under color of law and publicize the DOJ's response," says attorney Michael McCray, national spokesperson for the ACORN 8. (news.yahoo.com)A brief history of union-backed, tax-funded fraud ... 1970 – Former SDS member Wade Rathke forms ACORN in Little Rock, Ark. 1977 - After intense lobbying from ACORN members, Congress passes the Community Reinvestment Act to increase lending in “underserved” communities. The law also gives leverage to non-profits like ACORN by allowing them to derail bank mergers. 1990 – Illinois state regulators hold the first-ever public hearing to consider a thrift merger challenged by ACORN. 1992 - Project VOTE is launched. Barack Obama is hired by ACORN to run its voter registration project. 1993 – ACORN is given $55 million by 14 big banks to set up an 11-city lending program to comply with CRA. 1995 - A team of Chicago attorneys, including Obama, win a lawsuit on behalf of ACORN that forces the State of Illinois to implement the federal “motor voter” law. Meanwhile, ACORN sues the State of California to exempt its own employees from the state minimum wage, arguing that if it has to pay higher salaries, it won’t be able to hire as many people. 1996 – ACORN volunteers in Chicago work on Obama’s state senate campaign and picket Mayor Richard Daley as he welcomes delegates to the Democratic National Convention. 1997 - ACORN activists in Arkansas block the drive-through lanes of Pulaski Bank & Trust while pressuring banks nationwide to ignore bad credit histories and low incomes when underwriting mortgages. 1998 ACORN activists disrupt Federal Reserve hearings on Citicorp/Travelers merger even though Citigroup promised to provide home loans to illegal immigrants in California 2000 – ACORN volunteers work on Obama’s failed bid for Congress and the group endorses the Senate candidacy of Hillary Clinton. A Senate subcommittee estimates that CRA directed $9.5 billion to non-profit housing groups like ACORN. (washingtonexaminer.com)
U.S. honors constitutional rights for terrorists ... At a Senate hearing Tuesday on the use of military commissions to prosecute terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay, some members of the Armed Services Committee took offense at the Obama administration’s view that the detainees should have the same legal protections under the Constitution as U.S. citizens. (cnsnews.com)
The United States of ACORN ... Democrat Al Franken's emergence as the victor of the marathon Minnesota election battle has triggered growing complaints from those who blame former Sen. Norm Coleman's defeat on the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN). Matthew Vadum, senior editor for the Capital Research Center think tank, stops just short of saying ACORN grabbed the election away from Coleman -- although he doesn't rule out that possibility. He points out that ACORN registers voters who are expected to vote Democratic in overwhelming numbers, based on demographics. In the year leading up to the election, ACORN tallied 43,000 new registrations in Minnesota. That was likely a decisive factor in a contest decided by 312 votes out of nearly 3 million ballots cast. (newsmax.com)International Collectivism
Honduras plagued by shortage of journalists ... Why are the world's political leaders so intent on returning deposed Honduras President Manuel Zelaya to power? When the onetime businessman-turned- politician sought to change the constitution to permit him to serve a second term as president, the Supreme Court said no, the attorney general said no, Parliament said no, the army said no, and Zelaya's own party said no -- and they combined to kick him out. That may not be the way we do it in our democracy, but it seems more democratic than what Zelaya was trying to do. The puzzle is why the U. S. and Canada are so concerned. No one relishes a return to Latin American coups d'etat as a means of changing government, but clearly Zelaya is at odds with the pillars that support Honduras -- not usually thought of as one of the world's rogue states. Prior to being bounced, polls showed Zelaya's popularity hovering about 25%, with the country's murder rate at around 12 per day, mostly drug related. Not bad for a country of 7.6 million people. Journalists critical of his rule have turned up murdered. (owensoundsuntimes.com)
Obama takes on Latin America oppressors ... Obama and the Democrats have placed open Marxists and Socialists into the top jobs in most of the federal government's agencies. The next step is to pack the judiciary with people who don't believe in the individual but the group, the core of Marxism is collectivism and state ownership of key industries that can be used to control the population. ... When the lawful government of Honduras removed their president who was attempting to override the constitution and become a Honduran Hugo Chávez, what was the reaction of Obama and Clinton? Obama immediately demanded that the unlawful Hugo Chávez look-alike be returned to power. (suburbanchicagonews.com)
Chávez preps move against Panama ... Ricardo Martinelli, backed by an unprecedented 60% election victory, was sworn for a five-year term in Panama City on July 1st, becoming the 5th democratically elected president since the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega was ended by a U.S. military invasion in 1989. The new president, with a reputation as a fighting political conservative, wasted no time in letting his Latin American neighbors know where Panama now stands. Said he: “Panamá has to be a leader of freedom and justice, not only here in our home, but in our region and our continent. As president, I will do everything within my power to advance the ideals of a free economy, defying the ideological pendulum in Latin America." (baumanblog.sovereignsociety.com)
