



Bonus links:

• More Saul Alinsky stories: here
• 'Rules for Radicals' at amazon.com
Individual liberty anywhere is a threat to the Progressive-Collectivist Cause everywhere.
The good citizens of Charlotte, NC are probably still feeling euphoric over besting Cleveland, Minneapolis and St Louis as the chosen city for the 2012 DNC Convention. However, as the giddiness subsides and people begin to take stock of what they just bit off, it may serve them well to check the fine print of the contract(s) they’ve obligated themselves to. If they do, they may find that being a host isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, especially if your guests turn around and leave your house a mess.(full story from laborunionreport in redstate.com)What many North Carolinians are about to find out real soon is this: If you want to play with the Chicago Democrats, y’all are going to have to play by their rules and be expected to pay a hefty price for them too. This includes their union rules.
In fact, just as Charlotte’s Democrat Mayor Foxx could have told Michelle Obama, if you want good barbecue in Charlotte, you’ve got to truck it in—So too are North Carolinians about to learn that Democrats want unions at the DNC’s 2012 convention. And, in order to entice them to support the DNC Convention going to non-union North Carolina, there may have been a little Chicago-style side deal going on to bring unions in from out of state.Oh yeah. You didn’t think just because unions are fighting turf wars with each other in the three other states, they were going to let Charlotte get off completely union-free, did you?
Can Republicans oppose “right to work“? Absolutely. Here’s some proof from Jefferson County, Mo.(from blog.aflcio.org)The Jefferson County Republican Central Committee recently unanimously approved a resolution condemning “right to work” proposals being pushed by a handful of state senators, notably Missouri Senate President Pro-Tem Rob Mayer.
So called “right-to-work” bills are “divisive and are not the way our state should go,” said Committee Chairman Janet Engelbach, whose husband George is a member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 36.
Engelbach said the committee sent copies of the resolution to Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, as well as to Republican leaders in the Missouri Senate, House of Representatives and the Missouri Republican State Committee.Other lawmakers in Missouri and around the country who are pushing for “right-to-work” legislation should heed the actions of the Jefferson County Republican Central Committee–if not for for the well-being of workers in their communities, then for their own job security.
As former Missouri Sen. Kit Bond said in 1978, the last “right to work” campaign in Missouri was “a disaster.” It wiped out every single Republican from top to bottom.
“Friend of labor” is one title no one would ever expect to see attached to Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma. But the National Right to Work Committee insists he deserves it.(from journalgazette.net)
Mark Mix, president of the Virginia-based organization, sent a letter to Indiana Right to Work supporters, urging them to contact Bosma.“It now appears that in the Indiana General Assembly, Big Labor is no longer the only foe you and I have to worry about in our fight to pass the Indiana Right to Work bill,” Mix writes. “It is clear that (Bosma) has been pulling strings behind the scenes to stop Right to Work by refusing to allow either hearings or an up-or-down vote.”Mix’s appeal includes four pre-printed postcards urging Bosma to allow HB 1028 to proceed.
According to Mix, it’s no secret that the Indianapolis Republican has ambitions of running for statewide office, so he is “trying to boost his future political prospects with a misguided attempt to somehow appease Big Labor!”In the speaker’s defense, he’s not the only state official reluctant to wade into a bruising battle over the noxious right-to-work legislation. Gov. Mitch Daniels said in December that such a bill could derail progress on other items on his agenda.
Back in October of 2010 the Summer County, Tennessee School Board decertified the Sumner County Education Association (SCEA), the union for county teachers, because it no longer satisfied the law by counting as members fifty percent plus one of the total number of employees requiring a teaching certificate. This, school board officials said, means that the SCEA can no longer engage in collective bargaining for teachers.(from WTH in publiusforum.com)
The school board has used this opportunity to immediately begin rewriting the relationship between teachers and schools.Naturally, the union is running straight to what is usually the last bastion of mindless obeisance to union obstructionism, the courts, and is suing to force the school board to accede to union demands regardless of the law.
But there might be even better news in Tennessee on this subject. Tennessee State Representative Debra Young Maggart has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for any school board to have to negotiate with a teachers union at all HB 0130 would eliminate collective bargaining for teachers in the state.Of course unionists are going crazy over this one claiming that the rep hates teachers and kids! But Maggart insists it isn’t an anti-teacher bill.
“This is not an anti-teacher bill,” Maggart said. “It is an anti-collective bargaining bill. And I think that this bill serves the best interest for our teachers, our students and our school systems across the state.”Let’s hope this bill passes. If you are in Tennessee you should urge your reps to support it. And if it does pass it should serve as a model for other states to emulate. It will be a giant step toward taking back control of our schools as well as a strike for fiscal responsibility.
'Fundamentally transforming the U.S.A.' | You would think that they'd be saying 'Thank you'. |
In an unprecedented and controversial move, the White House has launched a new program at the Department of Labor which will refer workers who have complaints about their bosses to a toll free number at the American Bar Association, where they can get a lawyer to work on their case on a contingency fee basis.(from brutallyhonest.org)In the mean-time, we have people like John McCain saying this sort of thing about this radical President:
"I think it's pretty clear that the president has really pivoted to a much more centrist position, which I think makes it much more for us easier to work with him."McCain is an idiot. Anyone who believes that Obama has pivoted to a much more centrist position is an idiot.
God help this country.
"An International Dialogue in Egypt(from webcommentary.com)"September 25, 2011 to September 30, 2011That's the Wade Rathke who founded ACORN in 1970, served as its Chief Organizer until 2008, still heads ACORN International and still publishes Social Policy (with Francis Fox Piven of Cloward-Piven strategy notoriety still on the editorial advisory board).
"Our fall 2011 International Dialogue will be located in Egypt where we will meet with labor and community organizers and other activists in Cairo. There are exciting changes and developments that are currently taking place in Egypt with elections coming soon to determine leadership transitions in what has been an autocratic regime, now challenged by the Muslim Brotherhood and succession and democracy issues. The trip is still in the planning stages, and we will post updates as soon as we have them.
"We plan to travel with approximately 15-20 participants, and we will strive to have a mix of both community and labor organizers/leaders from a variety of community organizations and unions. We look for participants to meet in Cairo, pay their own travel and visa costs in addition to a program fee. The Organizers Forum will pay for food, lodging, and ground transportation. And, yes, though we are only planning to spend time in one city on this dialogue, we will see the Pyramids!
"If you are interested in applying to attend this dialogue, we invite you to apply by sending an email of interest to Wade Rathke chair@organizersforum.org Organizers' Forum. Please respond as early as possible and certainly no later than July 1 because there are a limited number of spaces."
In addition to Rathke, the Board of Directors of the Organizers' Forum includes Drummond Pike of the Tides Foundation and an SEIU representative. Originally, the SEIU representative was former SEIU head and most frequent Obama White House visitor Andy Stern. See www.organizersforum.org/index.php?id=462.
What were what Rathke described last October as "exciting changes and developments that are currently taking place in Egypt" and what (if anything) did the CIA know about them?