Free Republic

WASHINGTON--The Service Employees International Union announced Wednesday it will endorse President Barack Obama in 2012--an early, but entirely expected endorsement from a union bankrolling Democratic-allied SuperPacs. The endorsement comes before the Republicans even have a nominee, but at least there is no charade about where they stand. "President Obama shares our vision of a nation that invests in good jobs here at home; where everyone pays their fair share; where access to quality, affordable health care is preserved; and where there is a pathway to citizenship for every immigrant worker," said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry. "It's a vision...

Robert Haynes and his wife, Patricia, take care of their cerebral palsy-stricken son and daughter in their Macomb Township home. Taxpayers help out with monthly checks to the Haynes family. The checks, which are sent by the state, allow them to keep their son and daughter at home instead of having them institutionalized. But some of the taxpayer dollars that are supposed to go to the Haynes family are being siphoned off. The state takes a $30 monthly deduction from the checks and sends it to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This deduction is the result of the forced...

If you have not yet heard, last night police evicted Occupiers at Occupy Wall St (NY) from the park at which they were peacefully protesting, dumping thousands of dollars worth of donated goods in the trash. It is now time for all people to join solidarity with the movement, stand up against corporate greed and for all of us in the 99%. On November 17 and 19th, Local 1000, in conjunction with Occupy Sacramento, nurses, teachers, students and the faith community will be hosting two events in solidarity—they will be part of National Day of Action, with hundreds of cities...

There's Something Fishy About The White House's $433 Million Investment In A Smallpox Vaccine Becket Adams, The Blaze Nov. 15, 2011, 12:21[Editor's note: smallpox is indeed a horrifying and terrible disease; this cannot be overstated. It is not the intent of this article to mitigate the very real and terrible nature of the disease. The point of this article is to question the White Houses’ intentions in this deal.] Several critics believe that the Obama administration’s $433 million investment in the new ST-246 smallpox vaccine reeks of scandal. How could a multimillion dollar investment in an antiviral pill that could...

Should people be forced to be part of a union just for receiving checks to look after their own story? Fox Business Network interviews Robert and Patricia Haynes, who discuss the Michigan law that forces them to join a union because they care for their kids with cerebral palsy.

The scourge of smallpox has been all but eradicated for decades, with the only live samples of the source bacteria locked away in laboratories in the US and Russia. Nonetheless, the US maintains a large stockpile of proven smallpox vaccines just in case anyone gets access to the disease, and can quickly distribute it to the American population and prevent an epidemic, even after exposure. There is no reason to spend another dollar developing a new smallpox vaccine — and yet that is exactly what the Obama administration did, and in a most peculiar manner: Over the last year, the...

David Williams of The Los Angeles Times has uncovered a $433 million dollar government contract to purchase a smallpox anti-viral drug that may, or may not, be necessary in the case of a bioterrorist attack. For that matter, we are not even sure if the drug will work. ST-246, a pill to be manufactured by Siga Technologies, Inc., would come into play as a second level of defense in the event of a smallpox attack. Currently, the nation has stockpiled some $1 billion in smallpox vaccines, enough to inoculate the entire U.S. population and treat those who have contracted the...

The last time I checked, didn’t the Left call this sort of thing ‘crony capitalism?’ Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work. Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world’s richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor. As you probably know, smallpox was eradicated in the wild decades ago: mostly because it was a genuinely terrifying threat...

.........American Bridge is typical of the new reality. It was founded in November 2010, after the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case opened the door to "SuperPACs," political action committees that are able to raise unlimited amounts of anonymous money to craft attack and advocacy ads during campaigns. The fledgling Democratic research organization now has 15 trackers nationwide filming GOP candidates for Congress and the White House and 25 researchers in Washington poring over this footage and pushing it out to the public. "The fastest way to disseminate information is through social media, such as Twitter and Facebook,"...

In the face of mounting charges of anti-Semitism at Occupy sites nationwide, several so-called Jewish groups have been attempting to spin the protest movement as Jew-friendly, as even representing Jewish ideals. Most prominent among those groups is the Jewish Funds for Justice, or JFFJ, which is funded by billionaire George Soros. A slew of other Soros-funded progressive groups are also behind the drive to deny Occupy contains significant anti-Semitic elements. KleinOnline found JFFJ is led by individuals associated with communist and socialist groups; the children of Soviet spies; and a U.S. socialist organization that seeks to infiltrate the Democratic Party....

If you're a parent who accepts Medicaid payments from the State of Michigan to help support your mentally-disabled adult children, you qualify as a state employee for the purposes of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). They can now claim and receive a portion of your Medicaid in the form of union dues. Robert and Patricia Haynes live in Michigan with their two adult children, who have cerebral palsy. The state government provides the family with insurance through Medicaid, but also treats them as caregivers. For the SEIU, this makes them public employees and thus members of the union, which...

BOSTON–Chanting “hands off” and “no cuts,” hundreds of seniors rallied here to warn Congress’s deficit-cutting supercommittee to stay away from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. “When you get older, you need help, not cuts,” said Steve Ciardi, a former pipe fitter who has multiple sclerosis and was in a wheelchair being pushed by his wife, Patty. “That is what the country is about – helping people,” she said. AARP Massachusetts, the SEIU and AFL-CIO labor unions, and several senior activist groups are organizing the event, which kicked off this morning with a rally at the historic Wang Theatre in downtown...

A Los Angeles city fire captain is on leave after for allegedly falsifying his timecard after auditors found he was paid $50,000 in vacation time last year, according to a report Wednesday. Capt. Eric Vasquez was paid nearly $77,000 above his base salary of $108,000 — the equivalent of nearly 23 weeks of pay — in vacation, overtime and bonus pay, according to payroll information obtained by the Daily News under the California Public Records Act. The alleged falsification by Vasquez, a 17-year LAFD veteran whose duties involved supervising time sheet data entry — including his own — were discovered...

Michigan's “forced unionization” is not only taking money away from home health care workers, it's taking dollars out of the pockets of parents of the afflicted as well. … Robert Haynes and his wife, Patricia, take care of their cerebral palsy-stricken son and daughter in their Macomb Township home. Taxpayers help out with monthly checks to the Haynes family. The checks, which are sent by the state, allow them to keep their son and daughter at home instead of having them institutionalized. But some of the taxpayer dollars that are supposed to go to the Haynes family are being siphoned...

MOBILE, Alabama -- A former Citronelle police officer violated the law when he kept a pair of handguns he took from motorists during his 11-year tenure on the force, a federal jury here decided this afternoon. The jury convicted Bill Eugene Newburn guilty of 2 counts of possession of a stolen firearm. Under a preliminary calculation of advisory guidelines in his case, he faces at least a year and 9 months in prison and as much as 2 years and 3 months behind bars. U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose scheduled his sentencing hearing for Feb. 10. Police Chief Shane Stringer...

The MQCCC was created in 2005. The council kept a registry of home care providers, but its main function was to be the so-called government “employer” for some 45,000 private home care aides. Through this arrangement, these independent contractors were compelled to become dues-paying members of SEIU Healthcare Michigan. The union has had a collective bargaining agreement with the MQCCC since 2006, collecting $6 million in annual dues from Medicaid subsidies paid to the home care providers. The council effectively runs the program for SEIU and passes the union dues from the state to the union. The Mackinac Center recently...

A recurring theme from the current administration is that to be pro-organized labor is to be pro-worker. Concurrently, the administration has consistently refuted that it is using class warfare as a theme. A comment from Vice President Biden in March 2011 summed it up when he stated, "We don't see the value of collective bargaining; we see the absolute positive necessity of collective bargaining. Let's get something straight: the only people who have the capacity -- organizational capacity and muscle -- to keep, as they say, the barbarians from the gate, is organized labor. And make no mistake about it:...

The fate of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, an entity ostensibly tasked with keeping a list of the state’s private home health providers, may have seemed sealed in May when state lawmakers axed its funding from the 2012 budget. Yet even without state funding, this unusual government entity continues to exist past its Sept. 30 expiration date — and collect dues for a government-sector union. “The union dues are still being withheld and are being sent to the MQC3,” according to Angela Minicuci, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Community Health, in an email sent to the...

Seattle police said Friday they were uncertain whether a detective was on duty when he was arrested for drunken driving after a traffic accident Thursday in Mukilteo. John Fox, a 23-year-veteran of the Seattle Police Department, was charged Friday with driving under the influence (DUI). He pleaded not guilty during a brief appearance in Everett District Court on Friday afternoon. Fox, 46, of Everett, refused to take a breathalyzer test to measure his blood-alcohol level, making him subject to a one-year suspension of his driver's license. Mukilteo police punched his license Thursday to make it unusable. Fox, who was convicted...

Employees of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) have defrauded that organization of over $1 billion over the last seven years. In as many as 500 cases, LIRR employees falsely claimed disability benefits to supplement their pensions, employing a sophisticated scheme involving special “facilitators” and doctors operating “disability mills.” Eleven defendants have been named so far, including a former president of the railroad union; each has been charged with conspiracy to commit health-care fraud and mail fraud. There were three doctors who participated in this scheme, and in return they received cash payments between $800 and $1,200 — along with millions...