Free Republic

Invest 10 minutes in a calm rational Reagan like speech on what the Wisconsin Governor ran on, why he is doing what he is doing, and how 5 million or more Wisconsinites lives are going to be impacted positively by his goal of bringing jobs back to Wisconsin or negatively if the vitiolic crowd wins.

As you'll recall, last May the SEIU seized on a brilliant new tactic for protests. It seems that if you disagree with someone's business decisions its now fair game to show up at the guy's house and scare the wits out of his children. (Or at least that's what happened last May when the SEIU staged a protest at a Bank of America executive's house.) Well, now Wal-Mart has announced they are building stores in metro D.C. Wal-mart is non-union (that's why goods there are so gosh darn affordable), so obviously the local unions are not happy about this development....

The Tuscon massacre ghouls who are now trying to criminalize conservatism have forced our hand. They need to be reminded. You need to be reminded. Confront them. Don’t be cowed into silence. And don’t let the media whitewash the sins of the hypocritical Left in their naked attempt to suppress the law-abiding, constitutionally-protected, peaceful, vigorous political speech of the Right.They want to play tu quo que in the middle of a national tragedy? They asked for it. They got it. ***The progressive climate of hate: A comprehensive illustrated primer in 8 parts:I. PALIN HATEII. BUSH HATEIII. MISC. TEA PARTY/GOP/ANTI-TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE...

FLEMINGTON, N.J. — Ever since Marie Corfield’s confrontation with Gov. Chris Christie this fall over the state’s education cuts became a YouTube classic, she has received a stream of vituperative e-mails and Facebook postings. “People I don’t even know are calling me horrible names,” said Ms. Corfield, an art teacher who had pleaded the case of struggling teachers. “The mantra is that the problem is the unions, the unions, the unions.” Across the nation, a rising irritation with public employee unions is palpable, as a wounded economy has blown gaping holes in state, city and town budgets, and revealed that...

2010 might be remembered as the year that the edifice of public sector unions began to crumble. Before the 1960s, government workers were generally not allowed to unionize. After all, they work for a monopoly that has no profit margin and thus no reason to oppose their ever expanding benefits at the People's expense. In fact, as Democrats have found, they are much better off giving these unions everything they want in return for lockstep support for the Democrats in money, volunteers and votes. What changed in 2010? First, it became clear that those states that were pro-public union were...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says lawmakers of both parties need to start working together now that Republicans have reduced the Democrats' dominance in the chamber.Reid said on NBC's "Today" show that he planned to speak Wednesday with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on ways to "build a consensus and move this country along."Senate Democrats lost at least six seats on Election Day, but narrowly held their majority.

America Prepares to Get Angry at Jon StewartBy Elspeth Reeve | October 26, 2010 11:38am Jon Stewart has begun his tour of the nation's capital with a taping of The Daily Show before a "very, very policy-oriented" audience in Washington, The Washington Post's Dan Zak reports. ("We're not used to people nodding, like, 'Oh, I worked on that bill,' " Stewart said.) Stewart and Stephen Colbert's many young fans are packing their bags and arranging for sofas to crash on as they ready to head into D.C. for the comedians' pro-satire Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. But not everyone's...

As the Unions begin their annual push to get the rank and file to the polls we now have evidence that Union Leaders are now telling their members they need to stand by Obama by voting to keep Congress in the hands of Democrats. After all, even Jesus Christ Himself could not do a better job than Obama has.  At least that's what  AFL-CIO official Herb Johnson has been telling the rank and file in Kansas City Mo. That's right. In an interview with an AP reporter, Mr Johnson actually equated Obama with Jesus Christ by saying Jesus could not...

Delaware County chipped in $34 million to build a soccer-only stadium in Chester for a privately owned team that couldn't even work in Chester or Delco into its name. The Delco Union. Probably not appropriate especially for the point about to be made. The Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City is under fire by conventioneers for the union-inspired, loanshark price structure to set up exhibits, even for work that could reasonably be done by the exhibitor himself. To use a laptop for an audiovisual display requires the involvement of a stagehand at $37 per hour. To use it to register...

To mark Labor Day 2010, President Obama will join hands with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in Milwaukee and pose as champions of the working class. Bad move. Trumka's organizing record is a shameful reminder of the union movement's violent and corrupt foundations. The new Obama/AFL-CIO power alliance — underwritten with $40 million in hard-earned worker dues — is a midterm shotgun marriage of Beltway brass knuckles and Big Labor brawn. Trumka warmed up his rhetorical muscles this past week with full-frontal attacks on former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He indignantly accused her of "getting close to calling for...

SEIU Stands Up for “Amercan” Dream at Al Sharpton’s Counter-Freedom Rally Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, August 30, 2010, 10:03 AM The local SEIU turned out at Al Sharpton’s counter-freedom rally in Washington DC on Saturday that attracted a few thousand supporters. They brought their own banner. Via The Blast: Nice work, guys. Try spell check next time before you print the banner.

The rally attracted only 3,000 supporters. I wonder why?? Maybe the organizers should use spell-check next time.

New rules expected from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are causing massive heartburn for Big Labor and fueling a new backroom push in Congress for a taxpayer bailout of underwater union pensions. With nine Republican co-sponsors of the House bill, Big Labor is pushing for passage during a lame duck session after the November elections. ........ A bill introduced by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.), and a bill from Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) in the House, would for the first time put taxpayers on the hook for these underwater union pension plans. ........ Moody’s Investors Service estimates a whopping $167...

Workers in the federal government now earn, on average, double what private-sector workers make, according to a USA Today study released Aug. 10. "Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation," the paper said. "Public employee unions say the compensation gap reflects the increasingly high level of skill and education required for most federal jobs and the government contracting out lower-paid jobs to the private sector in recent years." The report was based on numbers from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. The federal pay and benefits also...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lambasted House Republicans on Monday for opposing a $26 billion package of aid to states while supporting an extension of President George W. Bush's tax cuts. Pelosi said the state aid legislation — which would prevent teacher layoffs, among other goals — would save American jobs without adding to the deficit. She contrasted that with the tax cuts, which are not paid for with equivalent spending cuts. "Congressional Republicans want to saddle future generations with nearly $700 billion in debt to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest few, while opposing a fully paid-for jobs bill that...

The AFL-CIO plans to spend more than $50 million over the next 90 days to help Democrats in congressional and gubernatorial races in 20-23 states. Its top target states are California, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Trumka's comments kicked off a three-day training session for AFL-CIO state political directors and staffers who will coordinate the federation's massive get-out-the-vote effort leading up to the Nov. 2 elections. Obama will address the federation's executive council on Wednesday.

Abortion isn't very funny, as comedian Jimmy Kimmel is learning... ...the youth pro-life activist group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust was holding a Face the Truth event...on Hollywood Boulevard... ...showing the public the reality of abortion via large graphic photos of aborted babies. While the pro-life protest was under way, a film crew showed up to tape a stunt across the street for "Jimmy Kimmel Live"... ...the crew quickly became aggravated by the gory aborted baby-photos and turned two of the hot spotlights on Survivor Ryan Bueler. ...a cameramen states several times he has turned the spotlight on Bueler and...

Violence erupted at a King of Prussia construction site Wednesday, and today, police are seeking the public's help to apprehend some bat-wielding assailants. --snip-- The victims said they were blocked by numerous union protesters from entering the construction site, and so they drove to the mall area to await police assistance. A short time later, a black sedan pulled up and several men exited with baseball bats, ran up to the two trucks and repeatedly slammed the bats into the windows. As the workers exited the trucks, at least two were then physically assaulted with the baseball bats

Three hundred travelers started the summer with an airplane nightmare they will not soon forget. Hundreds of Newark-bound passengers sat for four hours on a tarmac in a stifling cabin after bad weather diverted their flight from London in Connecticut and union regulations grounded it there. To make matters worse, passengers said, the plane's generators shut down for the second time, leaving them with no air conditioning and sweltering temperatures that reached 100 degrees. Some people on the inauspicious Virgin Atlantic flight fainted from the heat

In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer. Even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists. The legal justification for arresting the "shooter" rests on existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws, with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland are among the 12 states in which...