Free Republic

California lawmakers don’t simply like labor unions. They love them. So much, in fact, that they recently eliminated Labor History Week from the state law books and replaced it with Labor History Month, with the first scheduled for this May. That means starting tomorrow, Californians (particularly school children) will be getting a steady diet of pro-labor propaganda, displaying the history of the union movement in only the most flattering light. That’s where EAGnews comes in. We believe it’s necessary to balance that stream of happy history with the rest of the story. So starting Wednesday (which ironically is the socialist...

Far and wide, Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. For a summer sport like baseball, that signifies that it is coming to an end. Even though there is a month left, and we’ve played a lot of baseball, it seems like it just started. Still, with a month left, there is a lot to be decided.

U.S. motorists hit the road in large numbers this Labor Day weekend, undeterred by gas prices that are the highest ever heading into the holiday in part due to Hurricane Isaac, which forced the closure of oil refineries on the Gulf Coast. The average price of regular gas nationally was $3.83 per gallon on Friday, 21 cents higher than a year ago, according to AAA. And the price on Monday will likely easily beat the Labor Day record of $3.68 set in 2008, the non-profit automobile association said. The weekend is one of the busiest on American roads. In Overland...

On the first Monday of September, America honors working stiffs by taking a paid day off. But does Labor Day celebrate an enterprise that God intended to be a punishment? In a recent New York Times essay on the frenetic hustle of modern life, humorist and author Tim Kreider took the Puritans and their infamous work ethic to task. They had turned toil into a virtue, he argued, whereas God had invented it to chastise the disobedient Adam and Eve. In an interview, Kreider explained that he was referring to Genesis, in which God tells Adam “by the sweat of...

    Happy Labor Day! September 3, 2012        HISTORY Labor Day is a national legal holiday that is over 100 years old. Over the years, it has evolved from a purely labor union celebration into a general "last fling of summer" festival. It grew out of a celebration and parade in honor of the working class by the Knights of Labor in 1882 in New York. In 1884, the Knights held a large parade in New York City celebrating the working class. The parade was held on the first Monday in September. The Knights passed a...

Labor Day was originally set aside to reflect upon contributions the labor movement has made to keep our nation strong and prosperous. This year, however, Americans should focus on how far the labor movement has moved away from its roots. Unions that once served to protect their employee-members have since transformed into personal piggy banks for the Democratic Party. During the 2010 election alone, 93 percent of the hundreds of millions of invested in politics by unions went to support Democratic candidates, even though 42 percent of union households voted for GOP candidates. Many Americans were outraged by ex-Solyndra CEO...

On this Labor Day weekend we take a break from our "jobs" to honor work and workers. It is a unique secular holiday with profound Christian potential. Most of us will have a day off during which we will gather for late summer cookouts and celebrations. It is a time that we get to sleep in a bit later than usual and relax from what is so often a frenzied pace in our contemporary pattern of life. For many parents, Labor Day weekend marks a transition from the hectic pace of the summer to the new hectic pace of the...

A Republican candidate for Vigo County office claims he was booted from Terre Haute’s Labor Day Parade because of his party affiliation. Caleb Fleschner, a Republican candidate running for Vigo County commissioner, said Friday afternoon politics are to blame for his removal from the parade line-up. But Charles Toth, head of the Wabash Valley Central Labor Council AFL-CIO’s parade committee, said political affiliation had nothing to do with the rejection. Toth did say, however, that the organization does reserve the right to determine who participates in its event.

<p>Workers at a Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Tennessee have opted to trade a paid Labor Day holiday for the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr.</p> <p>A 5-year contract approved by members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union at the Shelbyville, Tenn., plant last November includes the change to accommodate Muslim workers.</p>

Once, it was a Labor Day tradition for Democrats to go to Cadillac Square in Detroit to launch their campaigns in that forge and furnace of American democracy, the greatest industrial center on earth. Democrats may still honor the tradition. But Detroit is not what she was, not remotely. And neither is America. Not so long ago, we made all the shoes and clothes we wore, the motorcycles and cars we drove, the radios we listened to, the TV sets we watched, the home and office calculators and computers we used. No more. Much of what we buy is no...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is issuing an open letter to Congress and the White House calling for measures designed to increase employment, including greater oil drilling, quick road and bridge construction and temporary corporate tax breaks.

Today at a labor rally in Detroit, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. declared war on the Tea Party and rallied the crowd to “take the son’s of b#$%$$ out.” He implored the President to use his vast resources and that the unions were Mr. Obama’s “army” and that they were “ready to march”. It is unclear if Mr. Hoffa was calling for violence against those that believe in free market labor or the Tea Party, but using the standard much of the press applies to the Tea Party one could only assume that Mr. Hoffa was calling for armed resistance...

(CBS News) DETROIT - President Barack Obama called for an end to "Washington games" and for Congressional Republicans to support initiatives to promote job creation benefiting the middle class. Speaking to a Labor Day rally in Detroit, a city he said had been "to heck and back," Mr. Obama challenged Congressional Republicans to put the country ahead of party. In a preview of his speech Thursday to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama proposed boosting construction and infrastructure projects - and included some finger-wagging at critics. "We have more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty...

If you still have a good job, you certainly have something to celebrate on Labor Day 2011. So far you have survived the decline of the U.S. economy. But your day may be coming soon. This weekend, there will be millions of Americans that will not be doing any celebrating. They are not enjoying a break from their jobs because they don't have any jobs. In fact, it seems kind of heartless for the rest of us to be celebrating while so many of our countrymen are destitute. What are we celebrating on Labor Day 2011? The lack of jobs...

President Barack Obama is celebrating Labor Day in Detroit, previewing his ideas for job creation and economic growth at a rally with thousands of supportive labor union members. Obama's speech at an annual event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO was serving as a dress rehearsal for the jobs address he'll deliver to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night.

The DUmmies are going into Labor--Labor Day, that is--with noble visions of Joe Hill and Jimmy Hoffa and Norma Rae dancing in their heads. Workers of the world, unite! Solidarity forever! Yes, the DUmmies go all Wobbly on Labor Day. Never mind that in recent decades Big Labor, along with Big Government, have probably COST Americans jobs, driving businesses overseas or out of business. No, one must cling to one's romantic notions. So, several threads in our DUFU today, a couple started by DUmmie Taverner and one by DUmmie nadinbrzezinski: This THREAD, "Time for a Labor Movement NOW!" and...

    Happy Labor Day! September 5, 2011        HISTORY Labor Day is a national legal holiday that is over 100 years old. Over the years, it has evolved from a purely labor union celebration into a general "last fling of summer" festival. It grew out of a celebration and parade in honor of the working class by the Knights of Labor in 1882 in New York. In 1884, the Knights held a large parade in New York City celebrating the working class. The parade was held on the first Monday in September. The Knights passed a...

The mayor of a Wisconsin town said on Tuesday a local labor council would have to reimburse the city up to $2,000 for a Labor Day parade if organizers exclude Republican lawmakers from attending. The move in Wausau, Wisconsin, came after a county labor official said last week that Republican politicians were not welcome at the event due to their party's stance against collective bargaining when state lawmakers voted to curtail it earlier this year. Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple told Reuters on Tuesday that the decision to exclude elected Republicans "flies in the face of public policy." "This is not...

In previous years, Republicans have worked the parade route, but this year they will not be allowed to take part. The parade is organized by local unions, which said Wisconsin Republicans "have openly attacked worker's rights." Wisconsin politics — which hasn't been pretty of late — has made its way into a local Labor Day parade. The organizers of the Wausau Labor Day parade announced they would not let Republican lawmakers take part in the Sept. 5 display. The parade is organized by 30 local unions. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: In a statement, [Randy Radtke, president of the council,] added...

Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple: "The banning of a political party from participation at any event co-sponsored by the City is against public policy and not in the best interest of all the citizens of the City of Wausau. And therefore, we encourage the event organizer to invite all interested parties, or reimburse the city for other costs."

For 45 years watching The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon was what millions of families did on Labor Day. The Telethon was to Labor Day what fireworks were to the 4th of July and a turkey dinner to Thanksgiving. This year the Muscular Dystrophy Association has decided to replace this holiday tradition with a television show on Labor Day Eve. The 6-hour program will still be called a telethon, but Jerry Lewis won't be there and it won't be live for most viewers unless MDA has different programs for each time zone. The program will start at 6 P.M. local...

Organizers of Wausau's Labor Day parade say Republican lawmakers aren't welcome in this year's event. The Marathon County Central Labor Council sponsors the September 5th parade. The council includes about 30 local unions from the Marathon County area. Council president Randy Radtke says they choose not to invite elected officials who have "openly attacked worker's rights" or did nothing to intervene.

WAUSAU (WAOW) -- Newsline 9 has learned Rep. Sean Duffy has been told he is not allowed in this year's Labor Day parade in Wausau. Duffy's office received that news earlier this week from parade organizers. His office was also told no Republicans will be allowed this year. The parade is sponsored by the Marathon County Labor Council. A Wausau city spokeswoman said the city does not contribute any money to the parade. Duffy's chief of staff, Brandon Moody, released a statement to Newsline 9: "Having walked in this parade in past years, Congressman Duffy was hoping that for a...

I can't wait to see Robert Gibbs walk this one back tomorrow. Surely, some able reporter will ask him to explain in more detail exactly who President Obama was referring to and what comment met the bar for "talk about me like a dog." Video is here.

Well, well, I see that the USA Labor Secretary Hilda Solis who was interviewed early this morning by CBS News Harry Smith for this early morning presentation of the CBS Early Edition show for Labor Day. This brief interview in which Ms. Solis was asked in regards to the unemployment issue and in a special way, to the long-termed unemployed or underemployed. She goes into details about President Barak Obama’s plans to help those who are in the two above groups. Well I have an idea that I could pass along. If “businesses are the engines of growth”, using these...

Here's what state workers see when they look at their jobs on this Labor Day:Their boss routinely blasts their job security. They've endured a 15 percent cut in hours and pay, and now their employer wants them to kick in more for their benefits. The state budget situation is so bad that their next boss – whoever that is – will have to consider laying them off.It's not exactly what Vincent Johnston envisioned when he signed up for state service. "I took a pay cut to work for the state because of the certainty," said Johnston, a 27-year-old employee at...

Samuel Gompers, one of the first labor leaders in this country, said that Labor Day was a time to pledge ourselves to an even greater effort in the coming year. Samuel Gompers knew that the key to a prosperous future is to have faith in it, and that's why for him, Labor Day stood for a celebration of tomorrow's promise and possibilities. Today, as we set our minds to a new season of work, we begin what I hope will be a new age of the American worker, an age in which all of us again are free to prosper....

September 6, 2010Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Cor 5:1-8Brothers and sisters:It is widely reported that there is immorality among you,and immorality of a kind not found even among pagans–a man living with his father's wife.And you are inflated with pride.Should you not rather have been sorrowful?The one who did this deed should be expelled from your midst.I, for my part, although absent in body but present in spirit,have already, as if present,pronounced judgment on the one who has committed this deed,in the name of our Lord Jesus:when you have gathered together and I...

Jan. 20, 2009, was supposed to be the start of a new post-partisan political climate in Washington. To some journalists, that day was confirmation that a message had been sent that the people’s government had “declared independence” from special interests. New President Barack Obama had said months earlier that was what was wrong with Washington, and announced his intention to change it. It’s now been one year, seven months and 12 days, and the “special interests” have been sent packing from Washington, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, not at all – if you define Big Labor as a special...

Why are you President Barak Obama still living in denial when it comes to the issue of JOBS? Just in time for Labor Day, 2010, the USA Department of Labor come out with the job stats for the month of August, the percentage is at 9.6 % unemployed. It is because more of those without work are just are starting to look again. This also does not bode well for the Democrats, 60 days before a very major mid-terms.

Some early church fathers co-opted pagan holidays and turned them into Christian celebrations. Labor Day is ripe for a Christian takeover. A day that had its origins in the early struggles of the labor union movement is now little more than the last long weekend of summer vacation, a final time to fire up the grill before the fall grind starts up again. But celebrating the human capacity to work is an occasion to recover one of Christianity's most important, yet nearly forgotten teachings; namely, the doctrine of vocation. Vocation is nothing less than the theology of the Christian life....

President Obama on Monday announced his selection of Ron Bloom as senior counselor for manufacturing policy. Speaking at an AFL-CIO picnic in Cincinnati, the president introduced Bloom, who has been a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner as part of the auto industry task force since February. Bloom, a Harvard Business School graduate, previously advised the United Steelworkers union and worked as an investment banker. "As my new point person on manufacturing, he's going to help us craft the policies that will create the next generation of great manufacturing jobs and ensure American competitiveness in the 21st century,"...

In a speech to the AFL-CIO, the president accuses critics and special interests of using scare tactics and spreading 'lies' in healthcare debate. Reporting from Cincinnati - In a combative Labor Day speech, President Obama said that the healthcare debate had gone on too long and accused opponents of spreading "lies" meant to persuade Americans that his proposed overhaul would cruelly deny care to the elderly. The president, speaking at an AFL-CIO picnic, said that "special interests" were determined to "scare the heck out of people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KonFRhqbj2I Very hard to watch.

    Happy Labor Day! September 7, 2009        HISTORY Labor Day is a national legal holiday that is over 100 years old. Over the years, it has evolved from a purely labor union celebration into a general "last fling of summer" festival. It grew out of a celebration and parade in honor of the working class by the Knights of Labor in 1882 in New York. In 1884, the Knights held a large parade in New York City celebrating the working class. The parade was held on the first Monday in September. The Knights passed a...

Here is video showing the sights and sounds of the Tea Party Express arriving in President Barack Obama's own backyard, New Lenox, Illinois, which is not far from Chicago. An enormous crowd of 10,000 people showed up today, as the Express continues to make its way to Washington D.C. on September 12. . . . (VIDEO)

Obama credits Unions with creating modern benefits like paid leave and minimum wage . The facts are that unions had nothing to do with the federal laws that created both. In fact Unions opposed the passage of federal laws that provided such benefits. At a federal level FMLA passed in 1993 provides provides for only 12 weeks of unpaid family leave to workers that work at a business with 50 or more employees. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Family_Leave. At the time of the law's passage about 30% of workers nationwide received such benefits, and today about the same number do so. FMLA did not...

Conservative movement traveling toward Washington, D.C.Conservative roadshow The Tea Party Express rolled into suburban New Lenox this Labor Day, drawing an expectation-breaking crowd of thousands who decried President Barack Obama, his health care initiative and stimulus spending. Organizers said they expected 200-400 people to attend the rally, but were blown away when a crowd -- which some claimed was north of 10,000 -- gathered with American flags and signs denouncing big government. New Lenox's Chief of Police, Bob Sterba, guessed the crowd was likely around 8,000 strong. A precise count was not available. Sterba said that one event organizer even...

Tea Party Patriots gathered to protest various Obama policies today as President Obama gave a speech to union members at Riverbend/ Coney Island in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nearly 200 people gathered along Kellogg Ave. as Obama came and went today. Enclosed find photos by timestax.

Under a rainy sky, Vice President Joe Biden appeared at today's annual Pittsburgh Labor Day parade, joined by U.S. Sen Arlen Specter and Jack Shea, president of the Allegheny County Labor Council. Mr. Biden joked that the parade organizers would never invite him back, noting that his appearance last year was also weather-challenged -- then with the threat to the Gulf Coast of Hurricane Gustav, which prompted him to cancel his visit. While noting that "people are hurting" across the country, he boasted of the effects of the administration's economic stimulus package. Mr. Biden praised Mr. Specter's role in supporting...

CINCINNATI -- President Barack Obama shifted into campaign mode Monday, declaring that the time for debate on health care is over and vowing to move fast to enact a sweeping overhaul of the system this year. Speaking at a boisterous Labor Day rally of AFL-CIO members, Mr. Obama led the first "fired up, ready to go" chant of his presidency, reaching back to a hallmark of his presidential campaign. He recounted a low moment from his quest for the White House to try to seize control of a health-care debate that strayed from his grasp this summer. "Every debate at...

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 27, 2009 – Fire up the barbies, and the flat screen TVs and join comedy legend Jerry Lewis for his 44th annual Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon this Labor Day weekend, Sept. 6-7. “I’m determined to keep fighting for a cure for muscular dystrophy because my kids deserve to live long and healthy lives,” said Lewis, MDA’s national chairman and Telethon star.

Real, as in, the people who are actually out of work: the recently unemployed. the ones who have given up, and the marginally employed … folks who work just a part time job just so they can eat. Not good.

Happy Labor Day, hope you got the day off because chances are, you've really earned it. Productivity, the amount of output per hours worked is at a six-year high in America--it was up 6.6% in the second quarter and shows no signs of abating. It's the direct result of all the cost-cutting that brought the pleasant earnings news and helped fuel the summer's low-volume stock rally. Profits are up because companies have cut jobs, and for those who remain employed, wages have fallen. Sometimes productivity comes from technology, and sometimes it comes from clever new management techniques that help people...

Hello Cincinnati. Hello Ohio. I can't think of a better place to be on Labor Day than at America's biggest Labor Day picnic-with the workers and families of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO. First, give a big round of applause to Charlie. Charlie reminds us that in these tough times, America's working men and women are ready to roll up their sleeves and get back to work.

Many of us join Secretary Gates in condemning the Associated Press for its heartless and selfish decision to turn its back on the wishes of a grieving family in order to exploit the tragic death of a true American hero. Lance Corporal Joshua 'Bernie' Bernard was a selfless young American who sacrificed everything for our freedom. Shame on the AP for purposely adding to the grieving family's pain. Ignoring the family's wishes by publishing a sacred image of their loved one proved a despicable and heartless act by the AP. The family said they didn't want the photo published. AP,...

Barack Obama declared Monday that modern benefits like paid leave, minimum wage and Social Security "all bear the union label," as he appealed to unions to help him win the health care fight in Congress. "It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history. So, even if you're not a union member, every American owes something to America's labor movement," said Obama, whose run for the presidency was energized in no small part by unions. Obama asserted that "our recovery plan is working," but repeated that he won't be satisfied until jobs are much more plentiful. Shortly...

Coal entrepreneur Don Blankenship put on a shindig at a reclaimed strip-mine site near Holden, West Virginia, for a Labor day picnic for 100,000 of his closest friends. Sean Hannity is there, so I suppose he will yak about it on his show tomorrow. Hank Williams Jr. is the main draw. Ted Nugent is the emcee. Nugent gave ‘em hell and told the crowd to fight back: “We have the perfect president for a nation that doesn’t care.�