Photo of the Day - Always Use Spell Check, Even for Small Signs

Amercan?  Hmm, is that any different than the American Dream? 

NPA and SEIU at the home of BofA's Gregory Baer

SEIU describes this as peaceful and lawful. They don't understand why the neighbors were upset nor why the 14 year old boy that was inside this house alone was scared. See SEIU's description of this letter here.

SEIU's Answer To Nina Easton

On Sunday, when hundreds of taxpayers went to Bank of America lobbyist Greg Baer's home to ask him to stop foreclosing on their neighborhoods, we received a mixed welcome. Some folks actually came out and applauded us, giving us thumbs up as we went past. Most people just stood and watched. Baer himself tried to blend in with the crowd until a neighbor pointed him out and he stormed away.

But there was one woman that everyone remembers. She came running outside while Mark Freeman was preparing to tell how Bank of America is trying to kick him and his family out of their home. The bank jacked his payments up until he could no longer afford them - then foreclosed on him. As he was getting ready to talk, a woman came storming across her lawn, screaming at us to shut up and go away - telling us we had no business being there.

That woman was Nina Easton, Washington editor of Fortune magazine. The next day, she got on the phone with Stephen Lerner, head of SEIU's banking reform project, and ranted some more. And, today, she's continuing her rant in an article for Fortune magazine and CNN Money.

Ms. Easton paints a terrifying picture of a "mob" with pitchforks and torches outside her window. The problem is, her story doesn't quite mesh with the facts. More on that in a minute.

The really interesting question here is: why is Ms. Easton so angry? And why has she decided to use her position as a member of the media to air her own personal rant at the people who showed up to share their foreclosure stories?

Nina Easton's husband's firm has Business Roundtable as a client, a special interest group that counts giant banks like Bank of America as members.

One Google search clears it up pretty quickly. Her husband is Russell Schriefer, Republican strategist and consultant to several big corporate interest groups. In fact, her husband's client list includes the Business Roundtable, a special interest group that counts Bank of America and other Wall Street banks among its members.

Ms. Easton's husband used to be a corporate lobbyist himself, before he started his own consulting firm for Republican politicians and corporate interest groups like the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce. Now, according to his website, he helps garner positive media for "a wide range of corporate clients including Fortune 500 companies and national associations."

And with his wife's Bank of America apologist piece today, he can chalk up another victory for his clients.

So, it's becoming clearer why Nina Easton decided to use her position as editor to write a personal rant. Her family profits off Bank of America's success. The next question is, why would any self-respecting news outlet choose to run it?

That's what we're trying to figure out now. We have a call in with her managing editor but, so far, have gotten no response. See update above.

Even if you ignore the obvious personal bias, the article is rife with hyperbole and distortion.

Ms. Easton uses her article to criticize the police for their "belated" response time and says they were too scared to arrest us. The truth is, the police actually followed us to the event to help keep the peace. They were on the scene when we were. The reason they didn't make any arrests is because nobody did anything illegal. In fact, the police went on record as saying it was a "very peaceful" event.

She also seems to suggest that we shouldn't have tried to talk to Baer because he is a "lifelong Democrat." This is ridiculous. The foreclosure crisis has nothing to do with political party and everything to do with banks and their lobbyists using their influence ($$$) with politicians of all stripes to keep things the way they are.

That's why we were there and why people will continue to stand up to the banks and their lobbyists, who continue to do everything they can to keep Wall Street profiting at Main Street's expense.

If Nina Easton really wants to see "personal intimidation," she should head outside her posh neighborhood and follow along next time Bank of America forecloses on a family. Unlike us, they won't be there just to talk to them. They'll be there to take away their home.

This picture is from their website - doesn't this look like trespassing to you?

Read Nina Easton's article here

Nina Easton on SEIU's Protest of Private Home

Nina Easton was not some reporter who was invited to cover the protest.  She was minding her business, in her own home, putting her young child down for a nap.  She lives across the street from the house that was surrounded by these thugs.  14 buses of people showed up at a private home to do nothing more than to intimidate this man.  Instead, a 14 year old boy was home alone, he became so terrified that he locked himself in the bathroom.  He didn't know if these people were going to break into his home and hurt him.  People say that what is happening in Greece can't happen here, oh yes it can.  This is beginning.  This is not activism, this is purely intimidation.  Sadly, the police decided that they couldn't do anything about because it may incite them.  We are all to quickly becoming a nation that willfully ignores the law. 

Power Play by Nina Easton



What's really behind SEIU's Bank of America protests?


By Nina Easton May 19, 2010: 6:15 AM ET










(FORTUNE) -- Every journalist loves a peaceful protest-whether it makes news, shakes up a political season, or holds out the possibility of altering history. Then there are the ones that show up on your curb--literally.






Last Sunday, on a peaceful, sun-crisp afternoon, our toddler finally napping upstairs, my front yard exploded with 500 screaming, placard-waving strangers on a mission to intimidate my neighbor, Greg Baer. Baer is deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), a senior executive based in Washington, D.C. And that -- in the minds of the organizers at the politically influential Service Employees International Union and a Chicago outfit called National Political Action -- makes his family fair game.






Waving signs denouncing bank "greed," hordes of invaders poured out of 14 school buses, up Baer's steps, and onto his front porch. As bullhorns rattled with stories of debtor calls and foreclosed homes, Baer's teenage son Jack -- alone in the house -- locked himself in the bathroom. "When are they going to leave?" Jack pleaded when I called to check on him.






Baer, on his way home from a Little League game, parked his car around the corner, called the police, and made a quick calculation to leave his younger son behind while he tried to rescue his increasingly distressed teen. He made his way through a din of barked demands and insults from the activists who proudly "outed" him, and slipped through his front door.






"Excuse me," Baer told his accusers, "I need to get into the house. I have a child who is alone in there and frightened."






When is a protest not a protest?


Now this event would accurately be called a "protest" if it were taking place at, say, a bank or the U.S. Capitol. But when hundreds of loud and angry strangers are descending on your family, your children, and your home, a more apt description of this assemblage would be "mob." Intimidation was the whole point of this exercise, and it worked-even on the police. A trio of officers who belatedly answered our calls confessed a fear that arrests might "incite" these trespassers.






What's interesting is that SEIU, the nation's second largest union, craves respectability. Just-retired president Andy Stern is an Obama friend and regular White House visitor. He sits on the President's Fiscal Responsibility Commission. He hobnobs with those greedy Wall Street CEOs -- executives much higher-ranking than my neighbor Baer -- at Davos. His union spent $70 million getting Democrats elected in 2008.






In the business community, though, SEIU has a reputation for strong-arm tactics against management, prompting some companies to file suit.






Now those strong-arm tactics, stirred by supposedly free-floating (as opposed to organized) populist rage, have come to the neighborhood curb. Last year it was AIG executives -- with protestors met by security guard outside. Now it's any executive -- and they're on the front stoop. After Baer's house, the 14 buses left to descend on the nearby residence of Peter Scher, a government relations executive at JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500).






Targeting homes and families seems to put SEIU in the ranks of (now jailed) radical animal-rights activists and the Kansas anti-gay fundamentalists harassing the grieving parents of a dead 20-year-old soldier at his funeral (the Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the latter). But that's not a conversation that SEIU officials want to have.






When I asked Stephen Lerner, SEIU's point-person on Wall Street reform, about these tactics, he accused me of getting "emotional." Lerner was more comfortable sticking to his talking points: "Millions of people are losing their homes, and they have gone to the banks, which are turning a deaf ear."






Okay, fine, then why not continue SEIU protests at bank offices and shareholder meetings-as the union has been doing for more than a year? Lerner insists, "People in powerful corporations seem to think they can insulate themselves from the damage they are doing."






Other reasons why SEIU might protest


Bank of America officials dispute Lerner's assertion about the "damage they are doing," citing the success of workout programs to help distressed homeowners, praise received from community groups, the bank's support of financial reform legislation, and the little-noticed fact that Bank of America exited the subprime lending business in 2001.






SEIU has said it wants to organize bank tellers and call centers -- and its critics point out that a great way to worsen employee morale, thereby making workers more susceptible to union calls, is to batter a bank's image through protest. (SEIU officials say their anti-Wall Street campaign has nothing to do with their organizing efforts.) Complicating this picture is the fact that BofA is the union's lender of choice -- and SEIU, suffering financially, owes the bank nearly $4 million in interest and fees. Bank of America declined comment on the loans.





But SEIU's intentions, and BofA's lender record, are ripe subjects to debate in Congress, on air, at shareholder hearings. Not in Greg Baer's front yard.






Why the media wasn't invited


Sunday's onslaught wasn't designed for mainstream media consumption. There were no reporters from organizations like the Washington Post, no local camera crews who might have aired criticism of this private-home invasion. With the media covering the conservative Tea Party protesters, the behavior of individual activists has drawn withering scrutiny.






Instead, a friendly Huffington Post blogger showed up, narrowcasting coverage to the union's leftist base. The rest of the message these protesters brought was personal-aimed at frightening Baer and his family, not influencing a broader public.






Of course, HuffPost readers responding to the coverage assumed that Baer was an evil former Bush official. He's not. A lifelong Democrat, Baer worked for the Clinton Treasury Department, and his wife, Shirley Sagawa, author of the book The American Way to Change and a former adviser to Hillary Clinton, is a prominent national service advocate.






In the 1990s, the Baers' former bosses, Bill and Hillary Clinton, denounced the "politics of personal destruction." Today politicians and their voters of all stripes grieve the ugly bitterness that permeates our policy debates. Now, with populist rage providing a useful cover, it appears we've crossed into a new era: The politics of personal intimidation.

What The SEIU Really Thinks of It's Membership

This is the executive vice president of the SEIU talking about his membership.  This was done in public, it makes one wonder what he says about them in private. 

And they call Beck a hate monger. 

The video seems to skip a little bit, sorry about that.

And why is amnesty so important?  The below video will clear that right up.

Another Day, Another Radical - Craig Becker, Union Official

Here is yet another radical that is up for nomination to high level position. Craig Becker is up for a position on the Nation Labor Relations Board, a part of the Department of Labor. This board oversees secret ballot elections and resolves issues of unfair labor issues. This board has a great deal of power over how unions are administrated in businesses all across the country. Mr. Becker is the former attorney for both the AFL-CIO and the SEIU. In his own words unions are:


“formed to escape the evils of individualism and individual competition”


He goes on to say unions:


“their actions necessarily involve coercion”


“‘Employees' only choice, explained Mr. Becker, should be over which set of union officials get ‘exclusive’ power to negotiate their wages, benefits, and work rules.”


He supports home visits during the voting process, and allowing outside attributors to force contracts on workers without an up or down vote. His feelings about unions is that we should have only the choice to what union we join, if we refuse he should be able to pick that union for us.


Becker helped force tens of thousands of workers into state dictated unions. For example, Los Angeles SEIU Local 6434’s 2007 LM-2 report revealed that almost 63,000 people rejected membership in the union but are still forced to pay dues.


I happen to live in a right to work state, so I cannot be forced to join a union nor can I be forced to pay dues. That is not the case in some states, especially in the Northeast. If Mr. Becker has his way the laws of the northeast will be imposed all across the country.






His nomination was voted out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee yesterday. He will be coming up for an up and down vote on the senate floor. Please contact your senators regarding this nomination.

Conservative Girl Adventure Update

Several weeks ago I went to breakfast fundraiser for Barbara Comstock with Newt Gingrich as the guest speaker. One of the things that Newt mentioned during his talk was about how the unions and special interest groups would start taking an interest in the Virginia elections.

Well, here we go:

They are coming for Bob McDonnell - a staunch conservative candidate for governor.
In Virginia, our laws are very liberal about how much money you can give; it is umlimited actually. But, the disclosure laws are very strict. I went online and checked. The unions are starting to bring it in; SEIU from New York and New Jersey. Why New York and New Jersey are so interested in Virginia is beyond me.




Dear M,

Join us on Facebook and Twitter today!

We’re a little perplexed… Isn’t Bob McDonnell the gubernatorial candidate who:
Wrote that feminism is “detrimental to society”?

Claimed that the government paying for childcare erodes family values by pushing women into the workforce?

Deemed birth control for married couples “illogical”?

Sponsored over 40 anti-choice bills in his 17-year career?

And yet, Bob McDonnell has launched an aggressive campaign to turn out “Women for McDonnell.” And on Facebook alone, they’re already 945 strong!That’s why we’re asking you to ensure your voice is heard when it comes to protecting women’s reproductive health.

Please join NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia on Facebook and Twitter today. We’re launching an aggressive campaign against Bob McDonnell and his decades-long history of harming women’s health and equality. And by joining us on Facebook and Twitter today, you can ensure that your voice is heard.

Help us reach 945 fans, and share our Facebook page with a friend, or two, or ten! With only 49 days left until the election, we have thousands of pro-choice voters in Virginia to educate. Growing our reach on Facebook and Twitter is the first step. Joins us, and help defeat Bob McDonnell. Thank you for protecting choice!

Tarina and the NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Team

If you are a facebook user, feel free to join the cause and make NARAL even more angry.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=63145262879&ref=ts

Moran/Dean Townhall Part 2

I realize that this is a bit late, but a busy schedule of late has kept me from posting these.

With the latest news today of the president making an appearance in our schools across the country, I thought that these two scans are an interesting addition to the debate.

These are just two of the many handouts that I received at the Moran/Dean town hall.

When I was given the hand-out of the email, I was thinking to myself that this could have easily have been faked. I received this right on arrival. Once I started looking around I realized that more than half the people there had on blue shirts and pre-printed signs that said "Thank You" (for what I am not sure) and health care reform now signs.

The little buckslip that is also above is interesting not due to the content, but due to the small codes along the bottom of the piece. In what seems like a lifetime ago, I did direct mail fund-raising. So, I know printing. This buckslip has a version/plate change code along the bottom. As well as the recycled paper code is a union shop label. For those that don't know, union printing shops are relatively hard to find. A very small percentage of shops are unionized.

The version code is of particular interest because it shows that they are printing these for town halls around the country. This is proof of a very well organized effort to fill up the town hall meetings with pro Obama-care people.

In the case of my particular town hall the union members came from Front Royal. Front Royal is more than 100 miles from where I live in Fairfax County, Virginia. The town hall took place at a high school in Reston, VA.

At one point before the people were allowed into the school for the meeting, we (being the people against Obama-care) were surrounded by these union people while they were shouting "no astro-turf". Now, the local people who showed up for this meeting came with home-made signs and we were just wearing our work clothes for the most part. Yet, we get called astro-turf.

I and a fellow 9-12er spoke to a few people who were in the unions. There were at least two different unions there. Shocker!! SEIU was well represented. There was also an elevator union that I have never heard of before.

When asked what they thought of the bill: "No problem, it wouldn't affect them"

Do you think the bill is fair? "That is the way it is".

So I guess when it doesn't affect you, it doesn't matter what it does to the rest of the country. The sad fact of the matter is they are in for a big surprise. This is only a Trojan horse to a single-payer system that will affect them. I wonder if they will regret showing up at these meetings then?

This is also the infamous meeting that Howard Dean admitted that tort reform isn't included in the bill due to the fact that they (the dems) are unwilling to take on the trial lawyer lobby. Even he knows that tort reform needs to be done in order to lower costs.

For those who are interested, my senator, Mark Warner will be hosting a town hall on September 3 at 7 pm that will be streamed live on his website:

http://warner.senate.gov/

If you look carefully, you may just see me there!!

Change we can believe in?

This is an article from The Los Angeles Times. Not exactly a bastion of right wing thinking.
And Guess What? The union SEIU that is referred to in the article, is closely related to guess who? ACORN.

U.S. threatens to rescind stimulus money over wage cuts
The Obama administration threatens to rescind billions in stimulus money if Gov. Schwarzenegger and lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers.
By Evan Halper May 8, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- The Obama administration is threatening to rescind billions of dollars in federal stimulus money if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers approved in February as part of the budget.Schwarzenegger's office was advised this week by federal health officials that the wage reduction, which will save California $74 million, violates provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Failure to revoke the scheduled wage cut before it takes effect July 1 could cost California $6.8 billion in stimulus money, according to state officials.


The news comes as state lawmakers are already facing a severe cash crisis, with the state at risk of running out of money in July. The wages at issue involve workers who care for some 440,000 low-income disabled and elderly Californians. The workers, who collectively contribute millions of dollars in dues each month to the influential Service Employees International Union and the United Domestic Workers, will see the state's contribution to their wages cut from a maximum of $12.10 per hour to a maximum of $10.10. The SEIU said in a statement that it had asked the Obama administration for the ruling.
The cut was highly contentious during last winter's budget talks. Republican lawmakers insisted that the rapidly growing, multibillion-dollar state program, In Home Supportive Services, be scaled back significantly.Democrats fought major reductions in the program, which they say is a cost-effective alternative to nursing-home care, but ultimately compromised.Reversing the wage cut would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, meaning Republican support would be needed. Schwarzenegger on Wednesday sent U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius a letter urging the federal government to reconsider. "Neither the Legislature nor I make decisions to reduce wages or benefits lightly, but only as a last resort in response to an unprecedented fiscal crisis," Schwarzenegger wrote