Union Thug Attacks Young Boy Scout

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, SEIU, Society/Culture, State Government, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

**UPDATE** 11/20/09

17-year-old Kevin Anderson wanted to add another Eagle Scout badge to his well-earned collection and so spent some 200 hours over several weeks to clear a walking path along the river in east Allentown park in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Little did young Mr. Anderson know it but he was about to prove once again that unions have a pernicious influence on governments everywhere. After Kevin’s good deed the city’s public employees union went gunning for the poor kid with threats and gyrations meant to shake down the city and scare off any citizen that might dare to imagine that they could perform any act of charity or community service for their fellows without the union getting its piece of the action.

In his best Sopranos impression, the thug president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Nicky Balzano began to issue his threats.

“We’ll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails,” Balzano ominously warned the City Council.
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Another Trade Show Dumps Chicago Over Union Ripoffs

November 13, 2009 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another trade show is leaving Chicago this time for Atlanta, Georgia. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society meeting which has been held in Chicago’s McCormick Convention Center for quite some time is leaving the city due to the high costs that unions force upon its exhibitors.

In October we posted that the Plastics Industry Trade Association is also contemplating fleeing Chicago for southern hospitality for the same reason.

The HIMSS reports that 2009 attendance in Chicago’s McCormick Center was down by 5 percent compared to 2008. Attendance also dropped from 29,100 in 2008 to 27,500 this year. Additionally, HIMSS reports that they lost exhibitors over 2008, as well.
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Reason TV Takes on the FedEx/UPS Fight

November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The best one-liner? “It tells us who the real villain is here… a federal government that is big enough and powerful enough that it can absolutely, positively guarantee that it can crush any business over night.”

Of course, we talked about this FedEx/UPS argument last June.

Women Becoming Majority of Union Workers

November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press had an interesting article reporting that women are fast becoming the majority of union members and will be the majority in 10 years if current trends continue.

As it stand now, women make up 45 percent of union members today, up from 35 percent in 1983. Apparently white men now only make up 38 percent of the union workforce, down from almost 52 percent in ‘83.

The AP notes that this preponderance of women is changing the goals of union negotiators.

“When you have a majority of women in the labor movement, issues like work-family balance, paid sick days and paid parental leave become more important,” said John Schmitt, an economist at the left-leaning think tank and one of the authors of the report.

And what has caused this change? The growth of public, government unions. At this point, the AP reports, that 49 percent of all union members are now working for local, state, and federal workers in public employees unions. 61 percent of public employees are female.
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A Victory Against Obama’s Unionism in New Hampshire

November 11, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Society/Culture, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a victory for free labor, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has cancelled its solicitation for bids to build a new Jobs Corps Center in the state of New Hampshire. Why is it a victory? Because initial plans to receive bids would have discriminated against non-union construction companies per President Obama’s orders. Over 80% of all construction companies are non-union.

Executive Order 13502, signed early in Obama’s term, was applied to the New Hampshire construction project and instituted what is known as a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). A PLA is a way to force all companies working on a construction project to agree to union rules, dues, pensions and payments whether they are union shops and their employees are union members or not.

In effect, a PLA turns every employee and company working on a PLA enforced project into a unionized force. Naturally, this drives up costs, lengthens deadlines, and forces employees to fork over dues money even if they don’t belong to a union.
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How NY23 Revealed the Republicans’ ACORN Problem

November 2, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Anita MonCrief, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, House of Representatives, Liberals, Republicans, SEIU, Society/Culture, Unions | No Comments

-By Anita MonCrief

As the nation watches the events in New York’s 23rd Congressional district unfold, an appropriate title for this story would be “How to squander money and alienate your base.” After the Saturday withdrawal of Republican Dede Scozzfava, the GOP is reeling from a massive insurgency by its conservative base. Of course, the story got stranger as Erik Erickson of Redstate reports

“Dede Scozzafava is throwing her support to the Democrat, Bill Owens.

“She and her husband are working with union activists to drive the vote up for the Democrat.

“The Republican Party spent $900,000.00 to help her and this is how she repays them.

“And Pete Sessions, Chairman of the NRCC, and Guy Harrison, Executive Director of the NRCC, still have their jobs and are failing to take responsibility for this disaster, instead blaming conservatives.”

In the GOP there are still some are shaking their heads and wondering what went wrong. The GOP nominated a “moderate” and if she happened to have big labor and ACORN ties, then so be it. For once, the elephant in the room was not the GOP but this blatant, illogical and damaging alliance it had formed with Scozzafava. As the Wall Street journal reports, this relationship would eventually set off a national chain of events:

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ACORN’s Defenders Not Remaining Silent

October 31, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, SEIU, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

As we at SayNoToACORN.com are fighting to help inform you about what you can do to impress upon our local and federal officials to distance themselves from ACORN, the other side — those that support the actions of ACORN — are also organizing. This fact proves that we cannot just sit idly by and hope that things go our way. We must act to make sure our politicians listen to us and defund this criminal organization. We must speak because our opponents definitely are.

Once again, Byron York reports on this story and he finds a webpage trying to cajole our lawmakers into increasing ACORN’s federal funding instead of eliminating it. York finds a site called defoxamerica.com that serves to both attack Fox News and advocate for increased funding for ACORN.

With Congress getting ready to pass a continuing resolution that might — or might not — extend the ban on federal funds for ACORN, there’s a new campaign urging lawmakers to restore federal funding for the community organizing group. The website DeFOX America, which is devoted both to attacking Fox News and defending ACORN, is asking readers to sign a petition urging Congress “to stand up to [Fox's] McCarthyite tactics by voting against any unconstitutional legislation that singles out specific organizations. This includes the continuing resolution that cuts off Federal support to the national anti-poverty group ACORN.”

This webpage is being funded by an extremist, left-wing Hollywood filmmaker named Robert Greenwald.
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Right To Work Prez Calls Out Newt’s Hypocrisy

October 31, 2009 | Filed Under Conservatives, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Liberals, Republicans, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

National Right to Work President Mark Mix is calling on Newt Gingrich to rescind his endorsement of Dede Scozzafava, the liberal candidate chosen by New York’s GOP powermen for the special election for the 23rd District Congressional seat. The reason? Scozzafava is a supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act and Newt has said he isn’t.

Liberal Republican Scozzafava has announced her support of the EFCA and its card check feature, a bill that will give unions a free hand to intimidate workers during the election period for voting on union representation. On the other hand, Newt Gingrich is in such opposition to card check that he once sponsored a petition against the EFCA.

Back in March, Gingrich created a video for American Solutions decrying card check and informing the viewers that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost with card check. Newt strongly supported the American Solution petition drive titled Freedom Not Fear drive.
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Durkin and Connelly move to overturn Quinn’s EO 09-15

October 28, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Republicans, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois Review has some great news on the Gov. Quinn/ACORN/SEIU front. As we’ve discussed many times here, Gov. Quinn authored Executive Order 9-15 that tried to unionize in-home healthcare workers that get a stipend from the state to care for their own family members. I’ve been working with Americans for Tax Reform to sponsor an investigation into the millions of state dollars that end up with the unions and ACORN. Our effort can be seen at SayNoToACORN.com.

It looks like several state pols have finally taken notice of Gov. Quinn’s stealth sop to unions and ACORN and are sponsoring a resolution to begin the process to stop it. Illinois Review takes it from here….
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The EFCA Rap

October 27, 2009 | Filed Under Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, SEIU, Socialism, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

OK, it’s funny… but with a message! I love it.

A Reminder About What Teacher’s Unions Do in California

October 26, 2009 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Larry Sand gave a little talk at a local tea party in Antelope Valley, California event wherein he reminded us all of the political use of state teachers union dues and how that money supports an agenda that is essentially so anti-American.

The California Teachers Union, for instance, supported with its member’s dues money SB 1322 which was a bill that would put communists in the classroom! Arnold sensibly vetoed that bill, but the Teachers union (CTA) donated money to float this proposition.

Sand lays out a whole series of things that the CTA supports with member’s union dues all of which should set your blood to boil.

This isn’t just a California problem, though. This sort of abuse of union dues goes on in the teachers unions of every state.

Chgo. Police Union Members Throw Fund Raiser for Officer Involved in Fatal DUI

October 25, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Crime, Illinois, State Government, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chicago Police Detective Joe Frugoli was charged with Drunk Driving in an April accident that killed two people. Despite that, Chicago Police union members are throwing a fund raiser at their union facilities for Frugoli’s criminal defense fund despite that they found him at three times the legal limit during the accident.

Police said Frugoli’s blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit when his Lexus SUV struck a car that had pulled over on the Dan Ryan Expressway north of 18th Street. The car exploded into flames and killed Andrew Cazares, 23, and Fausto Manzera, 21.

The Union’s president said that the union itself was not the sponsor of the fundraiser and that it was just planned by some members who “have a right” to use the facilities.

One would think that the union would be smart enough to tell its members that a fundraiser for a criminal cop responsible for the deaths of several young people through his negligence is not such a good idea, especially at union facilities. It casts way too much color of authority and support by the union on behalf of this criminal cop.

Not to begrudge his friends from donating money to him to help him out with his defense fund, but to hold this soiree? That is a step too far. After all, I am not an anti-cop sort of fellow, but this? This is just a little gauche, don’t you think?
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Union Threatens Blog Against Using Union’s Name

October 21, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Free Speech, Liberals, Rights, Socialism, Society/Culture, The Law, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an interesting take on what is or isn’t legal, a union is threatening a critical blog for using the union’s name in its blog title. The American Federation of Teachers had its lawyers send a cease and desist letter to the operators of a blog called AFTexposed.com.

Now right off the top, this is an idiotic attempt to use legal threats on a blog. Imagine if this proscription became a legal precedent! Imagine a movie reviewer not being able to use a movie title in an article critical of the movie. Imagine a TV news station not being able to use the name of an organization it is investigating. Obviously this is more union thuggery on display, attempting to use the threat of law to stop people from criticizing them.
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Illinois Rep. Biggert Introduces Defund ACORN Bill

October 20, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Liberals, SEIU, Society/Culture, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R, Hinsdale, IL) introduced legislation last week intended to prevent misuse of federal housing counseling funds.

“It’s abundantly clear that ACORN and its affiliates cannot be trusted as a federally certified entity,” said Biggert, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. “Given the group’s clear links to illegal and inappropriate activities, how can we knowingly give them federal certification to divert precious resources from legitimate housing counselors working overtime to help struggling homeowners?”

For years federal funds have flowed into ACORN’s coffers for services given to low-income home buyers across the country. These services are intended to counsel low-income buyers on how to go about the mortgage process, to inform them of subsides and government services, and to assist the purchase.
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Union Plans Voted Down by Home Healthcare Workers

October 20, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Anti-Americanism, Business, Chicago, Communism, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, Jobs, Liberals, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

If CBS News has it right, the majority of in-home healthcare workers in Illinois voted not to join a union despite the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Governor Quinn’s best efforts to force the issue.

Earlier in the year, Governor Quinn signed Executive Order 09-15 that gave away the private information of every in-home healthcare worker in the state to several unions so that they might begin a campaign to cajole these workers into joining a union by calling them on the phone and visiting them at their homes.

In-home healthcare workers receive a stipend from the state in order to help them care for developmentally disabled or medically at risk family members.
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Even SEIU Says ACORN is Toxic

October 17, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Chicago, Cook County, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, SEIU, Society/Culture, State Government, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an amusing case of the pot calling the kettle, Anna Burger, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told Representative Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) that the SEIU had dumped ACORN during a Sept. 30 hearing conducted by the House Financial Services Committee. Apparently Mrs. Burger felt that ACORN was too toxic for the SEIU to associate with.

Certainly it is quite amazing that the SEIU has taken the step to dump ACORN as a vendor. Groups such as SEIU rarely reassess associations preferring to stubbornly stick to their guns in most cases.

During the hearing, Rep. McHenry mentioned to Mrs. Burger that the U.S. Census Bureau, the IRS, and even Bank of America had cut ties with ACORN because of the community organizer’s declining credibility and apparent criminal activities. Burger replied, “SEIU has also cut all ties to ACORN.”
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How This Reluctant Whistleblower Decided to Tell All

October 16, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Barack Obama, Government, Corruption, President, Unions | No Comments

-By Anita MonCrief

In May of 2008 I was working at a respected non-profit and learning the ropes of the corporate nonprofit world. At ACORN you never knew what you would find. I once walked into a lobby and saw a man on his knees talking to DC local ACORN about the “man” and something about Bush. My new position was definitely not grassroots. Everything was efficient, clean and well run. I was making a nice salary and loved the mission of the nonprofit. I had been there a few months and the only problem was that I felt that I was in the wrong place. As primaries raged on I felt a disquieting sense of something passing me by. At the time I was trying to reconcile myself with my choices in life but a part of me was still living in fear of who I had been and who I really was.

That May I decided to go back to my grassroots background and experience this monumental change that everyone predicted was on the horizon. I started out as a Hillary Clinton supporter as I have mentioned in radio interviews. I wanted to really delve into the feeling that seemed to permeate through the liberal community as the 2008 presidential election approached. Everyone sensed that we were on the cusp of something life changing. It became harder and harder for me to sit by, so I joined another grassroots, progressive organization with labor roots. I was sitting at my desk one July day I when got the email alert about the ACORN embezzlement scandal. I followed a myriad of nonprofit dailies and was surprised but not shocked to see the story. ACORN had tons of stories like these floating around, it was part of ACORN lore.

I often wonder if I would have contacted New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom if I had stayed at my previous post with the international nonprofit, but somehow I think that making the choice to leave made this one easier. I was a union member with great benefits, a salary in the mid-forties and what I felt was a front row seat to change. I debated with myself about contacting the reporter who wrote the story. Part of me wanted to let sleeping dogs lie and not talk about what I knew about ACORN. I remembered doing the research on voter fraud allegations from 2004 and knew what happened to ACORN employees who decided to speak out, and I felt that I would definitely be retaliated against and labeled disgruntled. I weighed all of these options and decided that if I stayed quiet that it would be for selfish reasons, and that is not why I came to DC.

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Brave Mom Fights Forced Unionization and Gov. Quinn

October 15, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Communism, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Speech, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Health, Illinois, Journalism, Liberals, Socialism, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

We’ve been reporting to you of the outrageous under-the-radar actions of Governor Pat Quinn and his Executive Order 9-15. This EO both handed the private information of Illinois citizens to unions and set up a payoff for his union supporters by automatically unionizing hundreds of Illinois home healthcare workers whether they want to be unionized or not.

Well, one mother is fighting back. Pam Harris serves as the primary care specialist for her developmentally disabled son and in so doing receives some helpful funds from the state for that purpose. When she found out that Quinn’s EO gave her personal information to several unions she was concerned. And when she later found out that she would have to pay dues to a union even if she didn’t want to join one she became incensed.

In a report on our local Fox affiliate, Harris said, “When my doorbell rings at eleven thirty Sunday morning and there’s two people in purple shirts, one from California, one from Virginia– nice enough young people– nice enough, but that’s an invasion of my privacy.”

Harris is sure that no union will benefit her.
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Railroad Union Chief Solicits Bribes from Lawyer, Gets Arrested

October 14, 2009 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Eddie Rodzwicz (don’t ask me to pronounce that one) is sure to claim he was railroaded. Like a good union thug he’ll likely try to blame everyone else. But whatever Ed claims about the charges filed against him it seems he’s run off the rails. It’s charges of bribe taking and soliciting bribes being pressed against Rodzwicz we are told.

It seems that this union criminal got up a full head of steam and chugged forward toward his troubles by contacting an attorney that was supposed to be taken off the union approved vender list because of the lawyer’s ethical problems and asking for a $20,000 bribe to surreptitiously leave the lawyer on the list despite the ruling against the lawyer. That way, if the lawyer would remit the $20,000 bribe, the union chief gets some tender in his box and the lawyer can keep getting union business.

Unfortunately for the bribe engineer the lawyer contacted the feds to let them know that the union boss was the little engine that could… take a bribe or two.

Did I mention that Ed Rodzwicz is the chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen?
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Obama’s Pledge to Help SEIU ‘Turn The Nation Purple’

October 13, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, SEIU, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you want to know how “connected” the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is to the White House, a video of then candidate Obama’s appearance at an SEIU campaign rally event is revealing. Obama revealed his intimate connection to the SEIU (from even before he ran for office) and promised to “turn the nation purple,” in an allusion to the SEIU’s corporate color scheme.

This is how close President Obama is to the SEIU and how engaged SEIU Local 880 is in politics in Illinois.

Join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.
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"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776




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