A December 2015 Gary’s Sales invoice issued to ‘UAW c/o [UAW Official A]’ for a $13,046.91 purchase that included an order for 12 boxes of Ashton Double Magnum cigars at $268.00 per box (totaling $3,216) and 12 boxes of Ashton Monarch Tubos cigars at $274.50 a box (totaling $3,294),” was among the purchases listed in court documents. The documents listed another $13,000 purchase invoiced to Pearson from the same store the following year, part of an alleged $60,000 on cigar- and tobacco-related purchases between 2014 and 2018.
The Times detailed how a “master account” was billed for over-the-top dinners, including one at LG’s Prime Steakhouse that ran over $6,500.
Poetic Justice: Judge Slams NLRB for Not Bargaining in Good Faith with Its Own Union. This reminds us of a Teamsters local we used to deal with. All the people who worked in the office were non-union and they pitched a fit when they tried to unionize. Amazing.
“They told me if I voted for John McCain, special interests would run the country. And they were right.”
“They told me if I voted for John McCain, special interests would run the country. And they were right.”
President Obama condemned the January 2010 Citizens United decision, saying “the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics.” Nothing but a smokescreen to distract attention from the tsunami of special interest money on which his side surfs. Psychologists call such hypocriscy “projection” but we prefer the old-fashioned term “lying.”
Powerline reveals the inconvenient truth:
Antony Davies of Duquesne has prepared a series of charts that summarize special interest political contributions from 1989 to 2009, based on data from Open Secrets. This chart is the most revealing; it shows that the overwhelming majority of special interest money goes to Democrats, and that unions dwarf everyone else. It’s actually even worse than the chart shows at first glance, since teachers’ unions are listed separately and account for another $50 million, virtually all of it given to Democrats.
Sure, condemn opponents for doing something you do ten times as much. Sounds pretty “Democratic” to us.
CLICK IMAGE to enlarge it you can read it.
By the way, what exactly is “special interest money”? Apparently it’s any money that doesn’t go to the Democrats.
…it is time to revisit the privileged status that unions are given under the antitrust laws. If we repeal Section 6 of the Clayton Act, unions will be on a level playing field with the rest of us.
The chattering class has always told us special interests are screwing us. For once, they were right about something.
Eight Wisconsin doctors wrote fraudulent “sick notes” for perfectly healthy protesters at the anti-Scott Walker rallies in Madison are being investigated.
Eight Wisconsin doctors are feeling a little sick to their stomachs today. They wrote fraudulent “sick notes” for perfectly healthy protesters at the anti-Scott Walker rallies in Madison and now they’re being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Regularion and Licensing and the state’s Medical Examining Board.
…DRL identified 11 people who were asked to provide an explanation to the department about their activities at the Capitol. Based on the complaints and the information received by DRL, a screening panel consisting of three members of the MEB has decided to open investigations on eight individuals. Investigations were not opened as to the other three individuals because the panel concluded no violations had occurred.
Despite the fact that some of the eight were captured breaking the law on video and handing out sick notes willy nilly, the two medical boards will now go through the motions of determining if any laws were broken. After the investigation is complete, the panel will recommend what kind of disciplinary action should be taken.
Please allow us to make a prediction: Slap on the wrist.
The National Treasury Employees Union called passage of the republican Path to Prosperity resolution a “mistake for America.”
House Republicans passed a common sense bill on Friday. In light of the trainload of fiscal disaster racing down the tracks toward us, they voted to freeze federal employees pay for three years and to allow 10% of the federal workforce to wither away through attrition.
Typical federal worker
As you might imagine, it makes a lot more sense to us than it does to federal workers.
Federal News Radio has the details:
The House passed a fiscal year 2012 bill today that freezes federal pay for three years and cuts the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition.
The budget plan by House Republicans – called the Path to Prosperity – also requires federal employees to pay for half of the defined benefit they receive at retirement.
The GOP plan proposes a plan that promises $6 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade compared with the budget President Obama unveiled in February.
The final vote in the House was 235-193.
The National Treasury Employees Union called passage of the resolution a “mistake for America.”
“Apart from the broad social changes the resolution seeks to make, its anti-federal employee provisions would result in federal agencies having great difficulty not only in retaining the highly-skilled, dedicated employees they now have, but in recruiting new talent to the government,” said NTEU President Colleen Kelley in a statement.
Colleen, honey, you seem to miss one very important point: We don’t need to recruit any more of that great talent to the government. We need to cut it to the bone.
The same bone you’re using on the American taxpayers.
The Department of Education pays about 1,500 teachers for time they spend on union activities — and pays other teachers to replace them in the classroom.
To paraphrase Rod Serling, “You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Teachers’ Union Zone!”
Take an apple to the union thug
The New York Post says things just don’t add up:
The Department of Education pays about 1,500 teachers for time they spend on union activities — and pays other teachers to replace them in the classroom.
It’s a sweetheart deal that costs taxpayers an extra $9 million a year to pay fill-ins for instructors who are sprung — at full pay — to carry out responsibilities for the United Federation of Teachers.
With Mayor Bloomberg calling for thousands of teacher layoffs to balance the 2012 budget, critics say it’s time to halt the extravagant benefit.
Why the hell does the Department of Education pay for union reps to do union business? Isn’t that an expense any reasonable person would say should be paid by the union?
Oh, wait. That’s the answer. The words reasonable and union should never be used in the same sentence.
Protesters dressed as dairy cows marched in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday.
Protesters dressed as dairy cows marched in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday.
Years ago, the Editor used to drop in unannounced at his friendly competitor’s office. One day one of the competitor’s employees approached the Editor in the hallway and angrily said, “Know what’s wrong with this place? Too many milkers, not enough cows.”
And that, friends, is the problem with socialism as unwittingly demonstrated by the protesters in Madison.
In this clip, the Republican Governor makes it clear that Democrat leader Mark Miller’s offer to stage negotiations at the Wisconsin-Illinois state border is, perhaps, the dumbest idea of the year.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker does not sound like a man who’s about back down.
In this clip, the Republican Governor makes it clear that Democrat leader Mark Miller’s offer to stage negotiations at the Wisconsin-Illinois state border is, perhaps, the dumbest idea of the year.
We’re trying to picture how the negotiations would take place. Maybe Walker standing on one side of the border and Walker on the other? Passing papers back and forth? Maybe an intermediary handing offers from one side of the border to the other?
Are government employees overpaid? If you listen to the union goons, the answer is a resounding no. If you take even a cursory glance at this chart, the answer is an even more resounding yes.
Are government employees overpaid? If you listen to the union goons, the answer is a resounding no. If you take even a cursory glance at this chart, the answer is an even more resounding yes.
Daniel J. Mitchell has an interesting analysis that will help you pick a side in the dispute:
..the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and this “JOLTS” data includes a measure of how often workers voluntarily leave job, and we can examine this data for different parts of the workforce.
Every labor economist, right or left, will agree that higher “quit rates” are much more likely in sectors that are underpaid and lower levels are much more likely in sectors where compensation is generous.
Not surprisingly, this data shows state and local bureaucrats are living on Easy Street. As the chart illustrates, private sector workers are more than three times as likely to quit their jobs.
If we were betting men, we’d bet that private sector workers are also three times as likely to be fired from their jobs. At least three times as likely. Maybe more like ten times.
Here we thought those Wisconsin Republicans were trying to keep the state from bankruptcy. But it turns out those dastardly sons of bitches are actually trying to kill liberals by taking away their chemo.
Well, you learn something every day. Here we thought those Wisconsin Republicans were trying to keep the state from bankruptcy. But it turns out those dastardly sons of bitches are actually trying to kill liberals by taking away their chemo.
She may be right, because she definitely appears to be under the influence of some chemicals.
Silly us. We thought it was an accepted fact that Barack Obama and the Democrat Party are in the pocket of the labor unions. But, no, it turns out that the mere mention of that corrupt relationship is now racist, too.
It’s a damn good thing we have the Liberal Racism Army out there defining, alphabetizing and categorizing everything that now qualifies as racism, because it would be absolutely impossible to keep track of them all otherwise.
Silly us. We thought it was an accepted fact that Barack Obama and the Democrat Party are in the pocket of the labor unions. But, no, it turns out that the mere mention of that corrupt relationship is now racist, too. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell said so.
“The Republican party is saying that the president of the United States has bosses, that the union bosses this president around, the unions boss him around. Does that sound to you like they are consciously or subconsciously deliver the racist message that of course, of course a black man can’t be the real boss.”
Yes, of course, Lawrence, it’s racism. But then, what isn’t?
The Milwaukee school district is out of money, yet two years ago it had spent $786,000 on Viagra for unionized teachers.
The Milwaukee school district is out of money, but it’s difficult to feel sorry for them. Especially when you understand how they’ve caved in to frivolous teachers’ union demands over the past few years.
Let's just hope we don't hear any Milwaukee teachers utter the phrase, "It's for the children."
SayAnythingBlog.com has the details:
Two years ago, the Milwaukee school district decided that it was more interested in enhancing teacher performance in the classroom than the bedroom.
The district cut Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs like Cialis and Levitra from its health insurance plan, hoping to save $786,000 a year.
Officials said too many teachers were using the expensive drugs for recreation, swelling their insurance rates. An estimated 1,000 of the 10,000 school’s staff, which includes employees, dependents and retirees, were using the drugs.
Now, teachers are fighting to get the benefit back with a lawsuit. The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) argues that the new policy discriminates unfairly against men and “creates barriers” to receiving necessary medical treatment.
Denver, February 22: Union activists attempt to prove their patriotism by chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.” The problem: They’re doing it right in front of a big ol’ Mexican flag.
The scene: A rally in support of Wisconsin’s public employee unions held in Denver on February 22. Union activists attempt to prove their patriotism by chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.”
The problem: They’re doing it right in front of a big ol’ Mexican flag.
Why can’t Johnny read? Because his friggin’ teacher can’t read. Someone should make this moron stay after school and write the word “are” one thousand times.
Why can’t Johnny read? Because his friggin’ teacher can’t read. Someone should make this moron stay after school and write the word “are” one thousand times. Unfortunately, the three R’s have now become reading, ‘riting, and retirement funding.
A Faux News reporter interviewing a Wisconsin union thug who mocks Fox News and Glenn Beck for reporting the crazy – absolutely crazy – story that socialists, communist and other leftist thugs are all involved in the Madison protests.
What cut ups. What cards. What wacky, crazy guys. This clip shows the hilarious juxtaposition of a Faux News reporter interviewing a Wisconsin union thug who mocks Fox News and Glenn Beck for reporting the crazy – absolutely crazy – story that socialists, communist and other leftist thugs are all involved in the Madison protests.
Unfortunately, his argument loses some impact when a band of socialists march by.
Until we saw this report we didn’t even know that corporations had anything to do with the dispute in Wisconsin. We thought it was the state versus the public employee unions.
You learn something every time you watch CNN. For example, until we saw this report we didn’t even know that corporations had anything to do with the dispute in Wisconsin. We thought it was the state versus the public employee unions.
So we’d like to thank CNN’s Carol Costello for informing us that it’s really the corporations that stand to win here. Because, you know, we wouldn’t want them to win. We’d much rather have the blood-sucking union thugs win so that the rest of us can work until we drop to pay for their rich pensions and lavish lifestyles.
CNN, the Most Trusted Name In News. Not to mention the most trust name in propaganda.
It turns out that it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was absolutely Reaganesque, especially when it came to public employee unions.
In the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency we were told that he was the reincarnation of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Time magazine even ran the cover below in which Obama’s face was Photoshopped onto FDR’s body.
The Obama-is-FDR story line isn't working as well as the left had hoped
Then the American people rejected the Obama agenda in the 2010 elections, so the Democrats cooked up a new tale for public consumption: Obama is Reaganesque. He was photographed carrying a Reagan bio. The media called his State of the Union address “absolutely Reaganesque.”
Now it turns out that it was Roosevelt who was absolutely Reaganesque, especially when it came to public employee unions.
RealClearPolitics.com lets FDR explain it in his own words:
Roosevelt’s reign certainly was the bright dawn of modern unionism. The legal and administrative paths that led to 35% of the nation’s workforce eventually unionizing by a mid-1950s peak were laid by Roosevelt.
But only for the private sector. Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.
“The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, “I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place” in the public sector. “A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government.”
So FDR, reviled by conservatives as the father of socialist America, sounds a lot more conservative, a lot more like Ronald Reagan than Barack Obama does.
In Egypt you had ordinary citizens attempting to overthrow a despot. In Wisconsin you have union goons attempting to overthrow a democratically-elected governor doing what he was just elected to do.
In Egypt you had ordinary citizens attempting to overthrow a despot. In Wisconsin you have union goons attempting to overthrow a democratically-elected governor doing what he was just elected to do.
Was there really any question which side Obama would come down on in each case?
Nevertheless, it’s shocking to see ABC News attack President Obama:
“The President was quicker and more forceful of his denouncement of Gov. Scott Walker than he was of denouncing Hosni Mubarak,” [ABC Senior Political Correspondent Jon] Karl said. “Madison, Wisconsin – the state of Wisconsin — this is arguably ground zero for the 2012 presidential campaign. Look, this is a state if President Obama loses, he’s almost certainly going to not win re-election,” Karl explained.
This is no mystery. Obviously, President Obama was slower to attack Mubarak because he feels a certain respect for a man who is able to hold power for 30 years against the will of his people.
You’ve probably seen the news that 733 companies or unions and 2,189,636 workers have been exempted from ObamaCare. We wondered how one gets one of those coveted exemptions.
You’ve probably seen the news that 733 companies or unions and 2,189,636 workers have been exempted from ObamaCare. We wondered how one gets one of those coveted exemptions.
The Sieben Polk law firm got an ObamaCare exemption. And we're positive that it had absolutely nothing to do with Michael Sieben's $20,000 Obama Victory Fund contribution
Well, this story from EconomicCollapse.net clears it all up:
… So, how does one obtain an exemption to Obamacare? Is it all based upon the stated criteria, or are there other factors left unwritten? A cynic might conclude there could be some political favors being handed out, when you see the number of unions in the list.
If you browse through the list, you’ll find the names quite interesting. On one hand, there are huge groups like the 19,000 workers belonging to the “Communications Workers of America, Local 1180 Security Benefits Fund.” But on the other hand, there are some small companies like the Sieben Polk Law, a firm of personal injury lawyers in Minnesota …
Not that I would suspect anything out of the ordinary, but I thought I’d look more closely at Sieben Polk, just for the heck of it, since it seems like such a small company to be on this list. Just the curious blogger that I am, looking through public information.
In my searching of the web, one of the first things Google showed me was a political contributions page for partner Michael Sieben. I pulled it up, and golly, It showed that he donated over $20,000 to the Obama Victory Fund.
But I don’t know why I really even bothered to mention this insignificant, and I’m certain, unrelated tidbit. I’m sure the Sieben Polk Law firm has a good reason to have an approved exemption from the landmark healthcare program passed into law by the president to whose 2008 campaign fund partner Michael Sieben donated $20,000.
If you’ve never visited EconomicCollapse.net, give it a try. It has lots of information that will either piss you off or scare you to death. Or both.
Here’s Christie talking about police salaries, pensions and layoffs during a town hall meeting in Middletown, New Jersey. He faces down an angry cop and tells him what’s what.
Save your comments. We know that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s no social conservative. But the way we look at it, nothing social conservatives care about will matter if the country goes bankrupt.
We say keep the house from burning down, then worry about whether the firemen trampled your shrubs.
Here’s Christie talking about police salaries, pensions and layoffs during a town hall meeting in Middletown, New Jersey. He faces down an angry cop and tells him what’s what.
Is there another politician in this country with the balls to take on his harshest critics face-to-face?
These are desperate days in union organizing halls across the fruited plain. Union membership is going down faster than Barney Frank on Fire Island. So the union goons have come up with something new: Join us or we’ll tell everyone you’re a human rights violator.
These are desperate days in union organizing halls across the fruited plain. Union membership is going down faster than Barney Frank on Fire Island.
So the union goons have come up with something new: Join us or we’ll tell everyone you’re a human rights violator.
The United Auto Workers: Kickin' ass against human rights violators everywhere
Autoblog has the overwrought details:
United Auto Workers president Bob King wants to reverse the UAW’s eroding course, and one of the best ways to strengthen its position is through increased membership. The Detroit News reports that King and company are looking to bring the power of one to the nearest transplant automaker producing vehicles in the U.S. King says that he wants foreign automakers to know that the UAW has learned from past mistakes and that the rank and file is not “the evil empire.” Good to know, right? Well…
After King informed the transplants that the dark side has no power over the UAW, he then went on to tell automaker management at Toyota and Honda that efforts to block the right to fair bargaining will be branded “human rights violators.”
So there you have it. According to the geniuses at the United Auto Workers, Toyota and Honda have now joined the Nazis and the Khmer Rouge in the ranks of human rights violators.
Far be it from us to doubt the wisdom of the UAW, but we think this one’s going to be tougher to sell than a Prius without a tax credit.
