Free Republic

Robert Reich says striking low-wage workers need collective action and bargaining, but our other panelists are skeptical of union power.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fast-food workers and their supporters beat drums, blew whistles and chanted slogans Thursday on picket lines in dozens of U.S. cities, marking the largest protests yet in their quest for higher wages. The nationwide day of demonstrations came after similar actions organized by unions and community groups over the past several months. Workers are calling for the right to unionize without interference from employers and for pay of $15 an hour. That's more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $15,000 a year for full-time employees. Thursday's walkouts and protests reached about...

Move would allow Obama administration to institute policies that would better integrate communities The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a new plan to change U.S. neighborhoods it says are racially imbalanced or are too tilted toward rich or poor, arguing the country's housing policies have not been effective at creating the kind of integrated communities the agency had hoped for. The proposed federal rule, called "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing," is currently under a 60-day public comment period. Though details of how the policy would specifically work are unclear, the rule says HUD would provide states, local governments...

GLOBAL JIHAD: The trio: Obama, Jeremiah Wright, Farrakhan, visit Libya together, meet with Gaddafi, receive praise, and $5 million. Finally, the truth about why Obama’s was silent for so long about the unrest in Libya, (especially in comparison to Egypt) and his kid-glove treatment of Gaddafi is exposed. We now know why the Obama Administration could not even bring themselves to mention Gaddafi by name and perhaps why Obama refuses to use the U.S. Navy, stranding Americans on a ferry in a Tripoli port on the coast of Libya. Rev. Jeremiah Wright even went so far as to warn Obama...

Mark Williams, the tea party leader who wrote a blog post this week calling the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) racist, has been "expelled" from the National Tea Party Federation. Williams wrote the blog post on Thursday in response to the NAACP's Tuesday declaration accusing the tea party movement of tolerating racist elements in its midst (see The Upshot's rundown on the week of attacks and counterattacks here). It was written as an imaginary letter to President Abraham Lincoln and accused the NAACP of being racist for using the word "colored" in its name. When some...

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama today circumvented the Senate confirmation process by granting a recess appointment to Dr. Donald Berwick to be director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid. Berwick, a professor at Harvard Medical School and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (a think tank), has expressed his disdain for free-market medicine and his “love” for Great Britain’s government-run health-care system, while advocating health-care rationing and using the health-care system to redistribute wealth. [SNIP] Berwick is known for his staunch defense of Great Britain’s government-run National Health System...

WASHINGTON – A second Republican senator RINO signaled Wednesday she's open to voting for sweeping health care legislation this year, putting President Barack Obama closer to [ The Death of the US Republic,] a historic achievement that has eluded generations of Democratic leaders. But Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told The Associated Press that the bill approved Tuesday by the Finance Committee needs substantial improvements to make coverage more affordable, contain costs, and protect Medicare. Nevertheless, she joined her Maine GOP colleague Sen. Olympia Snowe in endorsing the goal of far-reaching changes.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A busload of activists — outnumbered 2-to-1 by reporters and photographers — are paying visits to the homes of American International Group Inc. executives in Connecticut to protest tens of millions in bonuses awarded by the company. About 40 protesters parked at a cul-de-sac Saturday afternoon and walked to the Fairfield home of Douglas Polling. They were met on the curb by two security guards, and one activist read a letter detailing the financial struggles that many Connecticut residents have faced. The group then left the note in Polling's mailbox.