Conservatives, Occuppiers, & Union Thugs; Oh, My

So the occupiers have nothing better to do Friday afternoon and they have decided to get together with their union thug buddies to converge at The Marriott Wardman Hotel to "protest" this year's CPAC. One can hope they will behave better than they did three months ago at the AFP gathering at the Washington Convention Center.

They have set up a facebook page to help organize this little field trip for themselves. I feel no need to link to that, but I suppose if you search you can find it if you are so inclined.

The first of two demonstrations will be noon on Friday and the second planned for the Reagan dinner Friday night.

Oh, darn, noon on Friday is when Ann Coulter will be speaking. Oh, well I guess I will have to forgo that.

I say Bring.It.On

CPAC will have a much younger crowd then the AFP conference had. Wardman will also provide much better security for the attendees.

If you happen to be in the DC area on Friday at lunchtime, come on down to the Wardham. The smell might be bad, but the sight of them will be worth the price of admission.

Yeah, The Right Is Over-reacting about Unions

It is high time that the department of Justice get involved and stop the union bullying and violence.  They are out of control. 

Wisconsin Tax Payers 4 - Unions 2 GOP Holds Wisconsin Senate

The ridiculous and tax payer funds wasting recall elections for the GOP was held last night in Wisconsin. The GOP will hold the senate. The democrats needed four seats to pick up the majority. Four of the six sitting GOP senators held onto their seats. Most by very wide margins as well. The dems did pick up two seats; districts 18 and 32. District 32 went heavily for the democrat; she won by 10 points.




In such a small election getting out the vote was of vital importance. We all know that unions are really good at getting out the vote, there can be no doubt about that. So the smack down that had last night takes on an even greater significance.


Of course they cried foul:

A state Democratic Party spokesman accused a Republican official Tuesday night of tampering with votes in the tight 8th Senate District recall race.


With 10 of 11 Waukesha County wards still out -- including all of those in Menomonee Falls -- party spokesman Graeme Zielinski said, "We believe the election in this contest has been tampered with by Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus.


"She’s sitting on votes. We believe that right now, there are severe irregularities in Waukesha County once again. We believe the very fate of the Wisconsin Senate hangs in the balance and is in the hands of a woman who has already shown extreme incompetence.”


“We believe there’s dirty tricks afoot.”


Democrats are demanding an investigation or at least an explanation, Zielinski said, and he added the party’s legal team is looking into it

Ms. Pasch had initially refused to concede, but did eventually call Senator Darling to wish her well on her victory. The Wisconsin democrats have also back-tracked on their allegations of voter fraud saying it was done in the heat of the moment. Of course it was.


The unions poured money heavily into these races and were hoping to turn the senate back into the hands of the very party that will continue to let them eat at the trough at tax payer expense. Luckily for the Wisconsin taxpayers that did not happen.


The democrats could even end up in a worse position as the recalls for the democrats is next week. The Republicans are favored to win at least two of those races as it stands today. But we will have to wait until next Tuesday night to see what happens. It seems to me that Wisconsin spent all that money to end up in with exactly the same republican/democrat split it had on election day of last year. What a useful way to for a state with huge budget problems to use its limited funds. Way to go unions. You showed your true faces, you could care less about government funds unless of course they are giving you what you want. The taxpayers are pushing back.


Yet one more defeat and embarrassment for the Obama white house this week.


Full election results here

Remember That Emailed Death Threat to WI Lawmakers? Unions Various and Sundry

The news came that an arrest has been made to the e-mailed death threat that was sent to republican lawmakers in the Wisconsin legislator.  Sadly, not only is she young (26), but she is teacher.  Not just a teacher, but an early education teacher.  Don't remember this story? 

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records.


We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn’t leave it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the message to you since you are so “high” on Koch and have decided that you are now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a demorcratic process

If you and your goonies feel that it’s necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families and themselves then We Will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) you

What is really sad is sad fact that she more than likely will not lose her credentials and will be allowed to continue to be around very young children.  She is working with pre-school aged children.  This woman has no business being around young children.  On top of the fact that she is obviously deranged, she isn't too bright to think she wouldn't be caught.  Hasn't she ever heard of IP addresses? 


H/T to Underground Conservative and Another Black Conservative. 

You can also click over to Nice Deb and read some stories on how the unions are using thug like tactics in order to get local businesses to support their viewpoints.  Although it seems that there is a blow back going on. 

What liberals refuse to see when it comes to unions is that they are not interested in helping the "average working person" they only care about power and money. 

The unions are trying to boycott Koch's businesses, but are finding out that the Koch's actually have a good working relationships with unions in the private sector.  Conservative objections to unions have to do with how they hold taxpayer hostages with their demands.  It has nothing to do with the workers themselves. 

A number of organizations are advocating a boycott of the products that come from companies owned by the Koch family. This is problematic for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it could potentially hurt the wrong people.


The Koch brothers own Georgia Pacific. It is an American consumer goods company that makes everyday products like facial tissue, napkins, paper towels, paper cups and the like. Their plants are great examples of American advanced manufacturing. Incidentally, GP makes most of its products here in America. The company’s workforce is highly unionized. In fact, 80 percent of its mills are under contract with one or more labor union. It is not inaccurate to say that these are among the best-paid manufacturing jobs in America.

Read the whole post here, it was written by the man who does the bargaining for paper workers.  There is no reliable connection to the Koch brothers and Gov. Walker of Wisconsin.  Their PAC gave him a minuscule part of the money he raised (less than 1%) for his election bid, and they have never met.  Yet, the unions are pushing unsuspecting people into boycotting Georgia Pacific products that will only end up hurting the very workers they say they are trying to protect.  People who are some of the most highly paid manufacturing workers in the country.   Yeah, boycott that company.  You will cause layoffs for people who have nothing to do with what is going on in Wisconsin and make no difference to the bank account of the Koch's.  Good idea.  Even this man goes a long way in verifying the story that the Koch brothers are not at all what they are being made out to be.  The left just may have to find another boogey man.  What the record shows is that the Koch's businesses follow the law and believe in compliance with the law.  As American citizens they have the right to exercise their rights and get involved in the political process.  Their PAC is something that is not directly tied to their businesses.  It is a personal venture that they have every legal right to do.  The political process in only a very small part of the charitiable works that they involve themselves with.  The vast majority of their money goes to medical research, hospitials, and the arts. 

This presents a dilemma and a paradox. While the Koch brothers are credited with advocating an agenda and groups that are clearly hostile to labor and labor’s agenda, the brothers’ company in practice and in general has positive and productive collective bargaining relationships with its unions

And let us not forget that if you have the audacity to follow the law and get rid of illegal workers this is what the left will do to you:

Tea Party Express Going to Bat For Judge Prosser

The unions are spending a small fortune to get Prosser out of his position.  The Tea Party decided to hit back. 

Some of My Favorite Tweets of Aftermath of Wisconsin Union Vote

Breaking: WI Unions seek to add "Blankies" to nxt bargaining agreemnt in case Big Labor's mouth pried loose of government teat.



When liberals start calling for the repeal of ObamaCare, I'll start taking their 'BUT POLLS SHOW PEOPLE STAND W/THE UNIONS!!!1' seriously.



RT @diggrbiii Remember when the Tea Partiers stormed the Capitol & started breaking stuff after ObamaCare passed? Yeah, me neither. #tcot



Dear #wiunions: Now you know what Obamacare tasted like.



You know what the situation in Wisconsin needs? #cowboypoetry



#WI has one of the highest tax rates in the country #blameKochs #p2 #twisters #tcot #wiunion



My fav. part of tonight? Michael Moore talking about "pure grassroots" with images of preprinted union signs on the screen
 
I am not a #wiunion member, I am a #witaxpayer & my money is paying 4 the union teachers salary. Go back to work. Same 4 you #fleebaggers



Irony: Koch brothers make products, employ people. Soros manipulates currency. Which one is the left *supposed* to hate? #tcot #p2



8231v: Something bothers me about people who try to use violence and intimitation to make us give them Govt money" #tcot #obama #unions



Nothing says democracy like hiding in another state cowering because of union threats #TCOT #P2 #gop



Shocked that media isn't reporting the angry white crowd breaking things in Wisconsin as #teaparty.



#wiunion now chanting #UNION POWER Finally they speak the TRUTH #twisters #wi #tcot #p2



#Liberals are PRO-choice, except when it comes to FORCED #Unions #twisters #wiunion #wi #inunion #ohunion #meunion #tcot



But, this has to be my personal favorite:

RT @shoq: DEAR AMERICAN PROGRESSIVES: #WI was your 9/11

Thats right.  This was like 9/11.  Seriously Shoq?  What exactly was 9/11/01 then?  No one died today.  No family is left without a loved one today.  Our sense of security was not shattered today.  Dude - you have real problems if you think this was like 9/11. 

Guess Who is Cleaning the Trash in WI? Tea Partiers To Clean Capitol Grounds

The grounds of the Wisconsin Capitol are a mess.  The Tea Party has gathered volunteers to go tomorrow and clean up the mess. 

Aren't the people on the left supposed to the greenies? 

Freedom Works Employee Attacked by Union Thugs - UPDATES

I am trying to remember when the last time a tea party protester attacked a union member.  Oh, yeah it hasn't happened. 

The union thugs decided to protest outside of the office of Freedom Works this afternoon and Tabitha and several other employees went outside with their cameras.  You can see for yourself what happened. 

Luckily, Tabitha is perfectly fine.  I tweeted her a little earlier and I will be dropping off some cupcakes to their offices tomorrow, because after all chocolate can cure almost anything. Since she is fine and was not hurt, we can almost laugh about it.  But that is this time.  What will happen next time?  In Boston a tea party protester was attacked by the union thugs.  How far are these people willing to go to keep the gravy train on the tracks?  Hang onto your hats ladies and gents, it is going to be a bumpy ride. 





UPDATES;

I stopped by the Freedom Works offices this afternoon to see Tabitha.  She is perfectly fine and was as cheerful as she always is.  She has decided to press charges and the local police have a copy of the video.  At this point it is up the police to identify the man in question, and he may not be local.  The people who were protesting came on buses so heavens only knows where he is from. 

The Tolerant Left Pictorial

Seriously, is there anything that they won't blame on Sarah Palin?

Again, these are the people who are teaching our kids? 

Lovely.

At least they are getting to the true heart of the matter now.

Some Ironies of the Union Protests in Wisconsin

The left is always talking about "fairness" yet the teachers are taking notes from doctors saying they are sick when they are not.  If they are too sick to go to work why are they standing out in the cold? 

Doctors are putting their hard earned licenses on the line in order to give fake notes to people who want them to pay for their pensions and health insurance.

The left are carrying signs that are talking about violent rape of conservative women and Fox News reporters.  I thought it was the tea party that are the violent ones? 

The president feels that he needs to get involved in state budget issues when his last budget does nothing to lower the debt of the federal budget.

The teachers feel the need to tell their students only one side of what is going on with the state budget issues.  I thought it was their job to teach the kids to think critically? 

If the legislators in Wisconsin have said they may be out of state for "weeks".  If they make enough to stay on the lam for that long, I am thinking they are overpaid. 

Why was it that when Obama was elected with big majorities the Republicans were told that they "won", but the legislators in Wisconsin think it is ok to behave like spoiled children? 

Have the teachers not figured out that they will still be paying less for benefits and pensions than the average person does? 

Collective bargaining is not a right.  Where exactly in the constitution does it say they have that "right"? 

Teachers have said they are doing this for the kids, why then are the schools being closed down? 

Are the students still going to be agreeing with the teachers when they are still in school in late June? 

The school systems in Wisconsin are rated at C-.  The tax payers should be paying for the majority of their benefits when they are barely average?

The average salary and benefits packages for the teachers in WI is six figures.  I looked up the rent for a two bedroom luxury apartment in Green Bay, it is $820 per month. 

Elections have consequences.  The Governor campaigned on these issues, the people of Wisconsin voted him.  Apparently they are OK with what he is trying to do. 

Why is that the unions are busing in people from other areas of the country, but are still calling The Tea Party astro-turf? 

Chris Christie for President

This is the commonsense talk that this country needs.  There are just no words for how much I love this man.  I know the people living in New Jersey don't want to share, but we need to get ourselves some of this. 

Chris "Two Stones" Christie on School Choice

Chris Christie, the new Governor of New Jersey, is willing to speak truth to power, and everyone else for that matter.  That is the reason that Cliff over at Another Black Conservative has nicknamed him "Two Stones".  Cliff is lucky enough to be reaping the benefits that will come from Christie's policies.  He is a no nonsense guy who is cutting the budget and doing his very best to improve the horrific and failing school systems that keep inner city children in clutches of public assistance. 

Unions should not have more say in our children's education than parents do. 

Oh, Cliff is not willing to share the governor with the rest of us in 12.  Although I guess with New Jersey's out of control tax and spend policies, who can blame him? 

Christie speaks in Washington DC, calling Newark schools 'absolutely disgraceful'

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.