Al Jazeera Sends Lobbyists to Capitol Hill

February 16, 2013 | Filed Under Al-Jazeera, Cable, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Journalism, Lobbyists, Media, Media Bias, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

After buying Current TV, Al Gore’s struggling cable TV network, Al Jazeera has now hired a lobbying firm to push its interests in Washington D.C.

The Muslim-owned TV network hired the firm of DLA Piper to ply the halls of Congress pushing its issues on our elected officials.

The official filing by DLA Piper says that the firm will be providing “informational communications regarding client’s cable television channel.”

One of the firm’s lobbyists is Mark Paoletta, a former chief counsel for oversight and investigations for the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

DLA Piper is an international firm with offices in 30 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Current TV was purchased in December by Al Jazeera America Holdings, a U.S. subsidiary of the Qatar-based TV network.
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The Machine: The Truth Behind Teachers Unions

September 10, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Chicago, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Progressives, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Here is a great video showing why teachers unions — and public employee unions in general — should be illegal.

The Machine: The Truth Behind Teachers Unions

For the first time in 25 years, the Chicago Teachers’ Union is planning to strike on Monday.

That’s because the machine that runs the K-12 education system isn’t designed to produce better schools. It’s designed to produce more money for unions and more donations for politicians. We’re spending more money on education but not getting better results for our children and now america’s public education system is failing.

Our kids deserve better.

For decades, teachers’ unions have been among our nation’s largest political donors. As Reason Foundation’s Lisa Snell has noted, the National Education Association (NEA) alone spent $40 million on the 2010 election cycle (source: http://reason.org/news/printer/big-education-and-big-labor-electio). As the country’s largest teachers union, the NEA is only one cog in the infernal machine that robs parents of their tax dollars and students of their futures.

Students, teachers, parents, and hardworking Americans are all victims of this political machine–a system that takes money out of taxpayers’ wallets and gives it to union bosses, who put it in the pockets of politicians.

“The Machine” is 4:30 minutes.
Video produced by the Moving Picture Institute in partnership with ReasonTV.

Tax Supported NPR Hires Lobbyists to get More Tax Money

July 24, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Journalism, Liberals, Lobbyists, Media, Media Bias, NPR, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

This may sound like a contradiction, but tax-supported National Public Radio is hiring more lobbyists to help get more tax dollars sent its way.

In what many see as a parasitic relationship, NPR is using tax dollars to hire the big lobbying firm of Navigators Global charging them with the duty of keeping the spigot of federal funds open in the face of the spending cuts being talked about in Washington.

NPR feels the need to look out after its interests as House Republicans are advancing a spending bill through committee that would defund the public broadcasting service.
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Big Labor Pays Big Bucks For Occupy D.C.

November 23, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Nanny State, Public Employees Unions, Socialism, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A nurses union spent big cash to “Occupy Washington DC.”

On November 3rd, 2011, the National Nurses United Union, allied with the AFL-CIO, payed for the expenses of more than 1000+ members to march with Occupy DC and ask the President to raise taxes. Both public and private hospitals must have gone short staffed as the nurses hailed from all over the country and were very clear who brought them there.

My favorite part was the militant, anti-American nurse that said her union refuses to deal fairly with employers and prefers to use their big money to get the federal government to “force” employers to do what unions want them to do.

We don’t believe in trying to work with management in a hospital to make change cuz they won’t do it, they won’t do what’s right. So, we lobby for legislative change to force them to do it.

What could be a more un-American attitude than this? Our founders didn’t intend government to an interventionist force that would lord over the business sector and “force it” to do things that unions what employers to do.

Unions are authoritarian, anti-democratic, big government monsters that really do need to be cut down to size.
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Obama Broken Promises: From ‘No Lobbyists in My Campaign,’ to Hiring Financial Services Lobbyist

October 25, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Campaign Finance, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, President, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama made a big show in 2008 of attacking evil Washington lobbyists. He campaigned on “change we could believe in” and aimed one of those things to believe in at eliminating lobbyists from Washington. But, it’s just another lie from Obama, in the end.

Obama cruised into office with the claim that he’d have “the strictest ethics rules” against lobbyists of any president ever. Naturally, almost immediately he began to waive these “rules” to allow lobbyists into his administration.

This week, quite contrary to his loud proclamations against lobbyists, we saw that yet another lobbyist join Obama.
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Soros Funded MoveOn.Org Lies About Hacking Fox News Ticker

June 13, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Free Trade, Liberals, Lobbyists, Media Bias, MoveOn.org, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

What’s the best way to counter what you think are the lies coming from your opponents? Is it to make up lies of your own? Apparently MoveOn.org thinks so. On June 9, MoveOn admitted using lies, subterfuge and fraud to “counter” what they maintain is the wrong-headed thinking of Fox News. I guess to a left-winger, lies are just the ticket to get people to trust them! In fact, this whole story is just downright silly as MoveOn.org not only perpetrated a fraud, they made a big production of it all in the process.

Not long ago an emailer calling himself “Babi Gumm” began to inform various news sites and bloggers that he had “hacked into the Fox News ticker on 6th Avenue in New York.”

This “Babi Gumm” claimed that he had replaced the Fox ticker message with his own anti-capitalist message one screaming to America that “we are being lied to” by “Right wingers” who are “destroying the middle class and trying to kill our unions.” His supposed ticker hack also told viewers that “the country is not broke.”
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Fleebagging TV: Democrat Walks Off TV Show

May 26, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Fox News, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Lobbyists, Media, Medicare, Nanny State, Socialism, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Here we have a whiner Democrat that can’t take the heat of a TV cable show… and hasn’t two neurons to rub together. You know… a typical Democrat.

I love how Ed Morrissey explained how Democrats like this twerp work…

Step 1: Declare that the Republican plan will kill people
Step 2: Denounce demagoguery
Step 3: Offer no plans of your own
Step 4: Feign offense when challenged on strategy
And finally…
Step 5: Walk off in a huff without doing anything, Fleebagger Style

Liberalism really is a mental disease.

Union Thugs Protest The Wrong Place!

May 25, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Government, Liberals, Lobbyists, Oil, Pennsylvania, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I guess that getting the correct information when arranging a smear campaign and protest is not necessary when you are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Who needs to be in the right when you are an important, powerful, politically connected union, eh? The seriousness of the charge and the effort to “raise awareness” is far more important than targeting the right people to smear, right?

It seems that the SEIU decided to picket against Marcellus Shale drilling, sometimes called hydrofracking, and the severance tax associated with it. So the government employee union picked a site in Hastings, Pennsylvania to highlight this subject and to shame the company that owns the property into siding with them.

Only one tiny, little problem. There is no Marcellus Shale drilling going on at the site they descended upon with their protests. And there never has been. It turns out the SEIU got the wrong place.
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Tenn. Voters To Get Chance to Say Abortion Not A ‘Protected Right’

May 23, 2011 | Filed Under Abortion, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Lobbyists, Nanny State, Rights, Roe v. Wade, Tennessee, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

This could shape up as a major battle between supporters of infanticide and pro-lifers in 2014. Pro-abortion forces will likely flood the Volunteer State with out-of-state money to defeat a referendum that may appear on the 2014 ballot allowing citizens to decide whether or not their state constitution really does have a special right protecting abortion.

This referendum is aimed at over turning a 2000 state court decision that read all sorts of “rights” into the Tennessee Constitution that had for 200 years never appeared there. The decision erased several state laws restricting abortion under the assumption that the state constitution had even stronger protections for abortion that does the U.S. Constitution.

The referendum will read as follows:
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Dueling Union Bills in DC

March 10, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, DOL, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jim DeMint, Liberals, Lobbyists, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Republicans, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Washington D.C. | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

First Congressional Democrats offered a national forced unionzation bill, and now Republicans have countered by putting forth a national worker’s freedom bill. With the luck breaking against unions in Wisconsin and the issue in an uproar in Ohio and Indiana it is now surprise that Congress has come to loggerheads with the same issue.

On Tuesday eight Republicans introduced the National Right to Work Act. Senator Jim DeMint says that he hopes it will, “reduce workplace discrimination by protecting the free choice of individuals to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities.”

Unions are less than 8 percent of the work force at this point yet those states that have more union members than others are doing less well. DeMint says that having unions is part of the problem.
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Wisconsin State Senators Hide in IL to Prevent Voting

February 18, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Chicago, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Lobbyists, NEA, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, Taxes, Tea Party, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

From the Chicago Tea Party…

Stand with Governor Scott Walker This Saturday in Wisconsin

What is happening in Wisconsin right now could prove to be a turning point in the fight against big government. Democrat State Senators in the state of Wisconsin have decided that the public sector unions are more important than representative democracy and the consent of the people. The voters in Wisconsin elected a Republican Governor, U.S. Senator and state legislature in November, but the Democrats don’t appear to think elections matter. The public sector unions are proving they are only interested in one thing: power.

Increasingly all over the country, Democrats and the unions are trying to create mayhem and disorder in hopes that hardworking taxpayers will just give up. But we’re not going to give up. We need to stand with Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin.
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Great: One of the Most Violent Union Thugs Now Appearing With Thug Teachers in Wisconsin

February 18, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Education, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Nanny State, Republicans, Richard Trumka, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Uncategorized, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has decided to flock to the side of thug Wisconsin teachers on Friday. This should not be much of a surprise. Trumka understands that this battle could serve to galvanize anti-union sympathies all across the country, and rightfully so. With the hate and “violent rhetoric” being employed by these thug teachers with very little legitimate provocation these teachers are quickly proving that they aren’t sympathetic figures. In any case, Trumka hopes to turn the sliding sympathies back in his favor.

It should also not surprise anyone that Trumka, one of the most vile, violent thugs in upper echelons of uniondom, has flocked to the side of unionistas that have employed some of the most vile rhetoric and characterizations of their enemy, the people of Wisconsin.
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These Hatemongers Are in Control of Our Children!

February 18, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Republicans, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In Wisconsin teachers are calling everyone that opposes them a Nazi, they are creating signs with crosshairs over the faces of their political enemies, like the grown-ups they are they are calling political foes “dicks,” calling Republicans “terrorists,” and saying that they “hate people.” And why all this vitriol from the Party whose president wants more “civility” in politics? Why because they are being asked to pay a few dollars more into their own healthcare each month, what else?

Doug Ross has a compilation of some 15 of the most egregious signs being toted around by the union thugs in Wisconsin.

Here are a few of them:

Check out Ross’s post for more.

These public employee unions need to be eliminated. They are entirely undemocratic and antithetical to good government.
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Tennessee County School Board Fires Teachers Union

February 5, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Republicans, Right To Work, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Tennessee, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now this is more like it. 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.

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.
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Obama Tells Labor, I’m On Your Side

December 21, 2010 | Filed Under AFL-CIO, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Campaign Finance, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Lobbyists, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

They gave him hundreds of millions of dollars for his campaign for president and for that Barack Obama has given Big Labor many, many payoffs, sweetheart deals, and regulatory favors. And this week he met in the White House with members of Big Labor and told them that he was sill on their side.

Even with all the paybacks and special favors that Obama has given to the unions in the fist half of his presidency, Big Labor is suspicious of his fealty and unhappy with his apparently insufficient level of kowtowing. And I have to say, the way labor representatives were treated in this particular White House visit does send a subtle message that Big Labor is not quite the hale fellow well met that it once was.

But don’t be fooled by the artifice.
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Waste: Feds Gave ACORN Half a Million for ‘Fire Prevention’

December 7, 2010 | Filed Under ACORN, Budget, Congress, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Lobbyists, President, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Jonathan Strong of the Daily Caller has another sad tale of massive government waste involving the criminal group ACORN.

Everybody knows about ACORN, the dead, but not really dead activist group charged with all sorts of improprieties and illegalities, the most significant of which is voter fraud, including registering Mickey Mouse to vote.

But how did ACORN, a “grassroots reform” group, get grant money reserved mostly for local fire departments to do “fire prevention” work?

Now That He’s Won, Reid’s Paying Back Unions

November 30, 2010 | Filed Under 9/11, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Harry Reid, Labor Law, Law, Liberals, Lobbyists, Nevada, Police, Security/Safety, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Harry Reid survived his brush with electoral death winning yet another term as Nevada’s Senator. Reid knows what side of his bread is buttered, too. Big Labor gave him millions in campaign donations and Reid knows who he owes — or rather who owns him. Now that he’s fairly won he’s promising his patrons in Big Labor that he intends to push one of their favorite laws.

Reid has said that one of his first priorities will be to push a cloture vote on the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (S.3992) that he ramrodded earlier this year.

This act is focused on the unionization of the nation’s police, firemen and other first responders. It would replace with federal rules all state laws on collective bargaining between state and local governments and their first responder unions and would greatly empower unions to dictate pay scales and benefits on a national level.
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Video: CEI’s Vincent Vernuccio on Where Union Dues Go

November 20, 2010 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Public Employees Unions, Right To Work, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Vincent Vernuccio of the Competitive Enterprise Institute appeared on Fox Business Channel’s “Follow the Money” show and talked a little bit about where the dues that union members pay goes.

Fox Business only gave a snippet of the video that CEI made so here is the full video.

Net Neutrality: Free Press Loses a Schtick Contest

October 28, 2010 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, FCC, Free Trade, Google, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Lobbyists, Net Neutrality, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently Comm Daily (subscription required) reported that an FCC decision on net neutrality was unlikely before its January meeting. While uninteresting in itself the one remarkable line in the story had to be this quote from a senior FCC official:

“While they are busy handing out waffles and making posters, we are focused on creating jobs and protecting consumers.”

The FCC official was referring to Free Press, the group that has been relentlessly attacking the FCC and many Democrats for not jumping off the cliff for net neutrality.

As far as can be determined, this is the first time the FCC has ever called out Free Press for its buffoonery. And it’s about time, too. This may be a sign that the FCC has realized that the far left will never stop attacking them – Free Press’s business model depends on staying to the Left of whatever the FCC does — so it’s pointless to try to make them happy.

Who is Free Press? Taking a look at its Flickr photo stream shows why nobody, Republicans or Democrats, actually take Free Press seriously.
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Uncle Sam Funds ACORN Poll Workers, but Tea Party Group Investigated

October 21, 2010 | Filed Under ACORN, Anita MonCrief, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, DOJ, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Lobbyists, President, Uncategorized, Unions | Comments Off

- By Anita MonCrief

What happens when citizens decide to stand up and ensure the integrity of elections? In the age of Obama, they are investigated by the Department of Justice.

From the Washington Examiner Washington Examiner:

“Obama’s Department of Justice has suddenly turned on a dime, becoming the great pro-active protector of voters’ rights:

‘Poll watchers in Harris County, Texas — where a Tea Party group launched an aggressive anti-voter fraud effort — were accused of “hovering over” voters, ‘getting into election workers’ faces’ and blocking or disrupting lines of voters who were waiting to cast their ballots as early voting got underway yesterday.

Now, TPMMuckraker has learned, the Justice Department has interviewed witnesses about the alleged intimidation and is gathering information about the so-called anti-voter fraud effort….

Terry O’Rourke, the first assistant in the Harris County Attorney’s office, told TPMMuckraker that there have been allegations of poll watchers talking to voters, which they are not allowed to do, as well as hovering over voters as they are waiting to vote. He said the complaints came from Kashmere Gardens, Moody Park, Sunnyside and other predominantly minority neighborhoods of the county.’

…Obama’s politicized Justice Department has already lost all credibility when it comes to even-handed administration of justice on this matter. They let the Black Panthers off with one wrist-slap and two complete dismissals after their flagrant voter intimidation was caught on tape. Now they’re worried about poll watchers “talking to voters,” at a time when local Texas officials are preventing people from voting if they are wearing Gadsden Flag pins?”

An interesting fact about this so-called investigation is that the group, True to Vote, had already contacted the DOJ regarding the extreme irregularities related to the voter registration drives in the state. (Click image to enlarge)
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Obama Rules That SEIUs Law Breaking is OK By Him

October 19, 2010 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Labor Law, Liberals, Lobbyists, President, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

With a recent Federal Election Commission decision Obama’s government has ruled in favor of the SEIU’s illegal kickback scheme and decided that such law breaking it is A’OK as far as he is concerned.

Ostensibly, FEC law states that unions cannot require member locals to pay a specific amount of money into a union’s political action committee (PAC) fund. PAC contributions by the locals are supposed to be voluntary and not forced by rules from the main HQ. This year, however, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has handed down rules from its Washington HQ that locals must send $25,000 each to the SEIU political PAC or face a “fine” of $37,500 from the main office in DC. This clearly violates FEC rules.
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Anti-American George Soros and Unions Attempting to Put Power of CA Redistricting in Their Own Hands

October 18, 2010 | Filed Under California, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Lobbyists, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Bloomberg News is reporting that Charles Munger, Jr., son of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Charles Munger, has thrown his fortune behind an effort to defeat a campaign funded by unions and the anti-American billionaire George Soros to put redistricting powers back into the hands of politicians bought and paid for by union money.

Munger and his wife have spent some $10.5 million on a plan to continue the creation of a commission composed of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four non-partisan members who are to have the power to affect the redistricting required by Congress as a result of Census statistics.
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Vadum: A Reminder, ACORN Funding NOT Permanently Cut Off

September 29, 2010 | Filed Under ACORN, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Lobbyists, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 6 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Matthew Vadum, ever vigilant on the evils perpetrated by ACORN, reminds us that the criminal community organizer has not had its federal funding cut off permanently. The temporary cut off is soon to expire and Vadum reports that there doesn’t seem to be anyone in Congress taking up a reinstatement of the ban.

In his Sept. 28 piece at the American Spectator, Vadum says that many people are confused about the funding ban imagining it was permanent.

This confusion about ACORN can probably be blamed in part on the quirks of parliamentary procedure and the complexity of the appropriations process. The legal language prohibiting the funding is contained in spending legislation that covers only the federal government’s current fiscal year which ends this Sept. 30.

The current funding ban is due to run out soon.

So is Congress making to fix this lack of attention on ACORN?
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Rep. Roskam on The ‘Pledge To America’ (Answers to Earmarks Question)

September 28, 2010 | Filed Under Barney Frank, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Earmarks, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Nancy Pelosi, Peter Roskam, President, Regulation, Republicans, Stimulus, Taxes, Unemployment, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week the House Republicans issued their update of the 1994 “Contract With America.” They have labeled it the “Pledge To America,” and it was launched to a standing ovation from House Republicans. On Friday I spoke to Representative Peter Roskam (R, Ill.) and asked a few questions about this new effort.

Roskam said that the preamble of the pledge, “which is really, I think, moving,” was met with a standing ovation when it was presented to all the Hose Republicans and the representative was pleased that the National Review said that the new pledge was bolder than the original 1994 contract.

Click to download document

He also threw out a little taunt to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi saying, “our members are game on and ready to go… if the Speaker wants to mock this stuff then the best way for her to deal with it is to call us out, which of course she won’t.”
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SEIU Union Hack Admits that Local TV Stations Help ‘Get Our Message Across’

September 22, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Lobbyists, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a gem of a report wherein a union operative admits on tape that he and his union pals intend to launch a big campaign against Wisconsin’s GOP Gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker. That news isn’t much of a surprise, of course, but what is a surprise is that this union hack admitted on tape that Milwaukee’s local TV stations and local politicians are both sympathetic to and assisting in the union’s getting its message out.

The tape features the voice of John-David Morgan, an operative for the Service Employees International Union Local 1 (SEIU), on Sept. 10 near the Y-Not II tavern on E. Lyon St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Morgan was recorded by a Walker campaign staffer on his cell Phone who then turned it over the Bice at the Journal-Sentinel.

The union hack admitted on tape that he is working with County Board members — such as Supervisor John Weishan — to get the goods on Walker. “I’ve got county supervisors to do this stuff so, you know, it’s not just the labor union,” Morgan said.
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Heartland Institute’s 26th Anniversary Benefit Dinner

September 17, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Energy, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Lobbyists, Taxes, The Heartland Institute, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last night I had the pleasure to attend the 26th anniversary dinner for the Chicago-based Heartland Institute held in the resplendent Grand Ball Room of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago.

The Heartland Institute is one of the premiere think tanks in the country and has some great resources on the fallacies of Global Warming, free markets, healthcare, technology, taxes and education among others. If you are a blogger Heartland’s work on all sorts of conservative issues is a gold mine of information that can help you intelligently elucidate your points. If you are just an interested citizen, you should also check out Heartland’s great work. And the legislative work the institute has done these many years has been highly important for the conservative, free market side of the aisle. Please do check out Heartland’s extensive website and do donate if you can to help keep it all going.

In any case, the night started with some socializing, a well stocked open bar, and the opportunity to bid on all sorts of interesting auction items.

During the socializing I had the opportunity to talk to Steve Kim, the Republican candidate for Illinois Attorney General and Ed Rutledge the candidate for Lt. Governor from the Libertarian Party.
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Obama Panders to Union Thugs on Labor Day And Whines A Bit, Too

September 6, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, President, Public Employees Unions, Unemployment, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama dutifully went to Wisconsin today under orders from his union patrons to make a big show of his support for union thugs on Labor Day.

The bought and paid for president gave his remarks (text of prepared remarks) as expected but there was a little wrinkle this time. Apparently the poor widdle president is upset at his critics. He whined to his union patrons that his critics “talk about me like a dog.” President Obama, I, for one, would never insult dogs like that.

Obama: They talk about me like a dog

(CNN) – Those following President Obama’s prepared remarks during a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Monday were thrown a bit of a curveball when it came to a description of his critics:

“Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time and they’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That’s not in my prepared remarks, but it’s true,” he told a crowd largely consisting of union members.

The line was a rare departure from a president who normally sticks close to the text of his speech and may forecast a more aggressive tone on the part of Obama as the midterms approach.

The address is the first of two speeches this week in which Obama will try and frame his administration’s response to the recession, less than two months ahead of midterm elections where Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are on the ropes.

Net Neutrality Update

September 3, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, FCC, Google, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Lobbyists, Net Neutrality, Taxes, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you are as worried as I am about the left’s effort to force ever larger amounts of big government onto our lives, then you should be looking into the issue of Net Neutrality. To that end a few times a week I’ll be posting some links and info about Net Neutrality to help you all get your feet wet on this important issue.

Here are just a few of the latest articles on Net Neutrality for your information:

Most Important Net Neutrality story today: F.C.C. Seeks More Input on Wireless Internet Rules, The New York Times

The FCC is requesting more comment time in order to get past the midterm elections and put their decision phase into the lame duck Congressional session. It is likely that this calculation was made in order to allow the FCC to grab control of the Internet without much resistance from a less active and less powerful Congress.

As Ed Morrissey says of this move, “Well, isn’t that … convenient? Pushing a renewed power grab until after the midterms leaves Genachowski with a lame-duck Congress that may not feel particularly motivated to reassert its own authority as it did earlier with Genachowski. It also gives Genachowski a small but valuable window in which to push through potentially radioactive policies while Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid control Capitol Hill and hope a Republican House forgets about it in their haste to undo ObamaCare and conduct investigations into White House conduct.”

Folks, we need to contact those congressmen on the Internet Subcommittee in the House of Representatives. CLICK HERE to find out what congressmen are members of this committee.

Some Other Articles of Interest:

Network Neutrality is Engaged in the California Senate Race, by Seton Motley

The Pro-Network Neutrality ‘Coalition’ is Collapsing, by Seton Motley

The Public is Learning the Truth about Net Neutrality, by Seton Motley

Net Neutrality – Casting A Wide Regulatory Net To Neuter Us All – Part I, by Van Harvey

Tech at Night: Net Neutrality DOOM, by Neil Stevens

Here are a few anti-Net Neutrality organizations and Web Resources that are worth looking in on occasionally:

StopNetRegulation.org
The Technology Liberation Front
The Progress and Freedom Foundation
-Multimedia pages with some great videos and podcasts
MediaFreedom.org
Tech at Night, Neil Stevens of RedState
Tech Daily Dose, National Journal
Tech Meme
The Hill’s Hillicon Valley Blog
Politico’s Morning Tech Blog
Scott Cleland’s Precursor Bog

Here are some industry websites that follow Internet regulations:

We hope that you will post our articles and press releases. We also hope that our emailings will interest you enough to join the fight and write a few blog posts about Net Neutrality.

At stake is no less our freedom to blog not to mention the innovation of a free market.

Feel free to drop me a line at igcolonel@hotmail.com and do let me know if you are interested in helping to get the free market, conservative narrative on Net Neutrality out to your readers. This issue is vitally important for the freedom and success of our Internet.

This effort is in association with the United States Internet Industry Association (USIIA).

Report: Pollak for Congress Luncheon raises $150,000 for Campaign (Ill, 9th District)

September 2, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Israel, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Military, Paul Ryan, President, Republicans, Stimulus, Taxes, Uncategorized, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

400 supporters packed the Four Seasons Hotel in beautiful downtown Chicago, Illinois to attend a luncheon for Joel Pollak who is running for Congress from the 9th Congressional District. Pollak’s special guest was Representative Paul Ryan (R, Wis), he of the famous “Roadmap for America’s Future.”

It is encouraging to see so many come out for a Republican candidate in so blue an area as Obama’s home town, Chicago. A wide range of supporters showed from all walks of life.
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Calif. Unions Already Spent $14 Million In Elections

September 2, 2010 | Filed Under California, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Lobbyists, Public Employees Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The L.A. Times recently reported that in California unions have already spent $14 million to defeat Republicans in California’s coming elections. This is what any Republican has to face anywhere in the country, though not always at such a high spending rate.

The fact is that when Republicans run for office they face not only the campaign coffers of their Democrat opponent, but they also face the millions of dollars that public employee unions and other far left-wing advocacy groups will spend against them. Rarely do Republicans find much support from high-spending outside forces in anywhere near the same numbers that Democrats command.

While many of Californian’s Democrats have yet to put much of their campaign cash into the race, unions have more than made up for that lack of spending.
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