Free Republic

SEIU and National People's Action "grassroots" protest at bankers' homes.

Thousands of teachers and other union workers descended on the state Capitol on Wednesday and chanted "raise my taxes" to try to pressure politicians to avoid major budget cuts. The vibe was the exact opposite of what you'd find at a tea party rally. But the loud chants barely resonated inside the Capitol, where lawmakers are trying to exit Springfield in a couple of weeks without voting for a tax increase that could jeopardize their re-election chances in little more than six months. "If you try to leave town without doing your job, we're going to chase you," warned union...

When Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement, President Obama promised he would appoint someone like Stevens, who "knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens." In the world of politics, that phrase is self-explanatory. In the cultural arena, it's murkier. When it comes to First Amendment cases on broadcast indecency, who is the "powerful interest" and who was the "ordinary citizen"? The roles are now reversed. The president can't use that analogy because the powerful interests are now in Hollywood, facing the millions of regular Americans...

The Democrat-media complex has been pushing the idea that patriotic nonviolent resistance and opposition to ObamaCare and President Obama’s drive to turn America into a full-blown socialist state somehow constitutes “hate.” Leftists keep trying to invent new incidents supposedly showing how their political adversaries in the Tea Party movement are sinister racists. They claim –in the absence of proof– that black Democratic lawmakers were called the N-word as they walked to the U.S. Capitol building to vote on ObamaCare. They claim –in the absence of proof– that an anti-gay epithet was hurled at Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), an openly gay...

Dan Winslow, counsel for the Scott Brown for U.S. Senate campaign, will hold a media availability to announce the filing of a criminal complaint against the Massachusetts Democratic Party regarding a recent mailing paid for and sent by the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

it’s Jan. 14, almost halfway through the month that usually serves as bookends to presidential years. Usually around this time, members of Congress return groggily from the holiday recess and then settle into their seats for the president’s State of the Union address at the end of the month. But almost halfway through January, the White House says it still has no date for the prime-time speech on the Hill. In principle, setting the timing is the job of congressional leaders, who technically have to invite the president to come speak (they've never not invited him, and he’s never declined...

They’ve dumped nearly a $1 million of rank-and-file dues into Martha Antoinette Coakley’s coffers. They “pulled out all the stops” before the primary and they’ll be throwing all their ground troops into the Bay State over the weekend. We know how the SEIU thugs operate. I told you in Culture of Corruption about Andy Stern’s organizational motto: “[W]e prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn’t work we use the persuasion of power.” They’ll go after Boy Scouts. And baby-sitters. And home health-care providers. They raided their treasury to pour $60-$80 million into Obama and the Democrats’...

Big Labor got some big love from President Obama and congressional Democrats yesterday after they agreed to exempt union workers from the whopping “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health-care plans until 2018. The sweetheart deal, hammered out behind closed doors, will save union employees at least $60 billion over the years involved, while others won't be as lucky -- they'll have to cough up almost $90 billion. The 40 percent excise tax on what have come to be called "Cadillac" health-care plans would exempt collective-bargaining contracts covering government employees and other union members until Jan. 1, 2018. In another major concession...

There is a feeling that permeates throughout the law enforcement community that organized crime gangs are getting a free ride during the Obama Administration. While most of the focus of federal law enforcement is on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber crime, federal police agencies must still contend with more traditional anti-crime operations including emerging organized crime gangs. "I may sound cynical, but I believe because [President Barack Obama] is from Chicago -- a city noted for it's history of organized crime -- he may be used to what's known as 'the Chicago way' and the casual relationship between organized crime and...

U.S. President Barack Obama visits a Northern Virginia Home Depot to discuss home improvements and energy savings in Alexandria, Virginia December 15, 2009.

"Members of the Health Access protest group stage a crime scene-like 'body pile-up' as part of their campaign against what they say is the poor state of US Healthcare in Los Angeles"

As right-wing protesters dominated the news this summer, it would have seemed the perfect opportunity for Obama's much-touted organizers to drown out the conservatives with some coordinated agitation of their own. But they barely made a ripple. Where were they? And how could such a formidable grassroots operation-having just put Obama in office-fall quiet so quickly?

Hundreds of union members and organizers descended on the streets of downtown Chicago Monday morning to picket the offices of Goldman Sachs Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. The group, which included supporters from community group National People's Action and the Service Employees International Union, has organized the protests to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Bankers Association. The group is demanding that "banks end their over-reliance on greed and profits and commit to using their taxpayer bailouts and backstops to help America's economy recover," said a news release from the Service Employees International Union.

SEIU Shows Softer Side With Lawn Signs in Sacramento Area By Jon Ortiz Sep. 19, 2009 California's biggest state employee union has tried the fist. Now it's extending the hand. Service Employees International Union Local 1000 has planted nearly 15,000 lawn signs in the Sacramento region aimed at building public support for the 95,000 state workers it represents. The campaign is a courteous counterpoint to the angry rallies, aggressive ad campaigns and strike threats the union has employed in the last few months as it unsuccessfully pushed Republican legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to ratify the local's stalled labor contract....

Here is video of an ObamaCare Organizer telling Pro-ObamaCare supporters how to shout down anyone at a Town Hall Meeting who begins to ask a question or make a statement opposing ObamaCare. He tells them to stand up and start shouting "Health Care Now, Health Care Now" to silence the questioner. This was "recorded on August 31, 2009 outside Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) town hall meeting in Skokie, IL." For people who claim they are "not organized" but true grassroots activists, they look awfully "Astroturf" here to me. . . . . (Watch Video)

1. “I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking.” -- President Obama at an August 6 at a rally in Virginia 2. “They’re carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care.” -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an August 5 interview 3. “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have...

NY Congressman Tim Bishop tried to pack his town hall with unions on the ‘take’ for nationalized healthcare. The people of his district erupt in open rebellion when one of the union goons tries to speak! Union members, many from outside the district, were snuck into the hall beforehand in an effort to stack the deck with a friendly audience. The last straw came when one of the union leaders from outside the district was asked to speak. The citizens erupted in open revolt which almost led to violence from the union goons.

A local union leader was booed out of Rep. Tim Bishop's town hall meeting last night in New York.Like they tried to do here in St. Louis, union members, many from outside the district, were snuck into the hall in an effort to stack the deck with a friendly audience. There are reports that as many as three busloads were brought in.Things boiled over when Mr. Mitchell, head of the Long Island Federation of Labor, steps up to the podium and announces that he in fact does not reside within the borders of NY's First Congressional District.

Via Gateway Pundit, although I’m certain there’s an alternative explanation. Maybe the leader of the Long Island Federation of Labor couldn’t make it to the town-hall forum in his own district, or perhaps his Representative was busy hiding, like many House Democrats this August. His attempt to pander to the actual constituents of Rep. Tim Bishop results in catcalls and a full minute of disruption. Jim also reports that the Magical Mystery Bus Tour continued for this meeting, with unions sending three busloads of people to the event. Even so, the angry constituents shout them down fairly effectively … or...