Kyle is vice president of Education Action Group Foundation, a non-partisan non-profit organization with the goal of promoting sensible education reform and exposing those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. EAG was formed in June of 2007.
He has written columns that have appeared in the Detroit News (including several co-written by author and commentator Dick Morris), Detroit Free Press, Traverse City Record-Eagle, Miami Herald and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, among several others.
He has also appeared on Fox News’ “Glenn Beck Program” regarding his investigation of teachers' union ally ACORN. Kyle is the editor of ACORNcracked.com and has appeared on NPR's "All Things Considered," WJR’s “Frank Beckmann Show,” WABC's “Bob Grant Show,” as well as Dom Giordano's radio show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has given dozens on interviews on talk radio programs coast to coast.
Kyle is also the editor of NEAexposed.com and AFTexposed.com.
Born and raised in West Michigan, Kyle graduated from Michigan State University in 2001.
While Kyle likes talking politics, he especially likes to talk about his family, as well as his favorite music. Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Johnny Cash are at the top of the list. He recently attended his 20th Bob Dylan show.
Kyle's personal website is kyleolson.org.
He and his wife have two young sons and live in western Michigan.
Kyle Olson
President Obama Proves Glenn Beck’s ‘Fundamental Transformation’ Argument
by Kyle OlsonSomebody nominate Bret Baier for a Pulitzer! There has never been a more revealing interview with Candidate or President Obama and after yesterday, there likely won’t be one again.
The president found his conversation with Baier “frustrating” because it focused too much on “process” for his taste. The irony is, if Obama’s Democratic colleagues supported his health care take-over, process wouldn’t be an issue. They don’t and thus it is. So it is important because it shows the leadership will change the rules in order to get what they want.
But the president proved Glenn Beck’s argument that the fundamental transformation of America has begun.
“We’re not transforming one-sixth of the economy all in one fell swoop,” Obama told Baier.
This implies that what is being bandied about is only the beginning, not the end. And that pattern of thought has emerged from Washington with similar statements from Sens. Tom Harkin and Sherrod Brown.
It is likely what persuaded Rep. Dennis Kucinich to flip from a ‘no’ to a ‘yes.’
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Ohio Senator Acknowledges Any Health Reform Bill Will Lead to Public Option
by Kyle OlsonWhen President Obama hit the campaign trail in an attempt to sway Dennis Kucinich (yes, he’s reaching so low in the barrel, he’s trying to convince Dennis Kucinich), the administration began its full-court press on its allies.
As has been said here and elsewhere a zillion times: the American people don’t want what the Democrats are offering. But an acknowledgement by Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown on the Rachel Maddow Show gives an even better reason to oppose the legislation: it’s simply a wedge in the door to a “public option.” From a Monday appearance:
MADDOW: Should we not expect the public option anytime soon?
BROWN: No. Just—Rachel, you know history. I‘ve seen your show enough to know that you understand sort of how progressive—the progressive movements worked. When we passed, what, Social Security was passed in the ‘30s. It wasn‘t all that great at the time. When Medicare was passed, it was good, but not great.
… That‘s what happens here. This—you can bet that a lot of us are going to introduce a public option bill.
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Braceletgate Update: Left, White House Actually React to Silly ‘Doubtful’ Theory
by Kyle OlsonOn Monday, I floated a theory about the purple bracelet Robert Gibbs was wearing on a couple Sunday talk shows. I wondered if it had any connection to a similar purple bracelet SEIU heavy Andy Stern had worn at some point.
The silly theory, which I called “doubtful,” solicited a reaction that surprised even me. Besides Robert Gibbs himself tweeting about it, I scored the lefty trifecta: MediaMatters, DailyKos and a blogger for Salon.com all responded.
A rash of hysterical e-mails also came through. Consider this gem:
Really Mr. Olson, REALLY? While I’m aware you wingnuts are not the brightest bulbs around, and the fact you are associated with the huge steaming pile of moron known as Breitbart indicates you are quite possibly mentally retarded…
Or this:
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Robert Gibbs’ and Andy Stern’s Purple Bracelets a Mark of Clintonesque Solidarity?
by Kyle OlsonI thought it was odd that Robert Gibbs was wearing a purple bracelet (and a purple tie) during his appearance on “Fox News Sunday” and CBS’ “Face The Nation.” SEIU president Andy Stern, the top visitor to the White House, wore a similar, if not the same, purple bracelet at one point, too. And in virtually every photo of Stern, he’s wearing SEIU’s purple color.
The bracelet is kind of a signal to tell Stern that the administration has it under control and ObamaCare will be delivered. Just a few more Democrats need to be shown the Chicago way.
Am I making too much out of nothing? Maybe. Who knows.
I do know the presidential administration Gibbs serves is doing whatever it can to deliver health care reform to Andy Stern and SEIU.
After all, that’s pretty much the only lot that wants it at this point. Even members of the president’s own party don’t want it, which is requiring them to twist arms in a way that would make Stern proud.
And this reminded me of another time a signal was being sent by the White House some time back.
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ACORN Cracked, Run Out of State Under RICO Act in Ohio
by Kyle OlsonThe wounded ACORN snake continues writhing. This time, the group has been barred from the entire state of Ohio, a swing state where the organization was very active in the last presidential election.
So active, in fact, it received an “Unsung Hero” award from the Communist Party USA for its “critical but generally unrecognized role of organized labor and grassroots voter registration efforts in winning Ohio for Barack Obama,” according to a document on ACORNcracked.com.
But now, ACORN has reached a settlement under the Ohio Corrupt Activities Act, similar to the federal RICO Act – the same law that’s used to prosecute mobsters and drug kingpins. Under the settlement, ACORN, along with Project Vote, agreed “to file a certificate permanently surrendering its business license in Ohio by June 1,” according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The next part of the settlement was critical: it bars ACORN from simply changing its name and moving back into the state. From the Dispatch:
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Heads Up Talk Radio: The President’s Foot Soldiers Have Your Number
by Kyle OlsonNewsmax first reported that Organizing for America, the community organizing outfit under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee, has launched a plan to inundate talk radio shows with callers. The action will occur when a particular radio show is discussing ObamaCare.
This is an extension of OFA’s and Health Care for America Now’s campaign to flood last summer’s town hall meetings with union members and left-wing activists supporting Obama’s government takeover of health care.
The intent then, just as it is now, was to drown out average taxpayers showing up to voice their concerns or vent their frustrations. The intent is also to run out the clock on real debate and take a vote on health reform with as little resistance as possible.
HCAN and ACORN were busing non-constituents, some from as far as 200 miles away, to fill the seats and skew the crowd. It was to give the false impression that constituents really wanted ObamaCare.
But the result was even worse. HCAN and union members, particularly SEIU, were filling the seats which would have otherwise been occupied by the average person just getting out of work.
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Fact Check: Politician Massa Said He’d Vote for Single Payer
by Kyle OlsonThe controversy surrounding the accusations and resignation of Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) is a bit bizarre. When he lashed out at the administration, and particularly chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, it was viewed as a peek beneath the veil of Washington inside baseball.
It’s a veil few have the stomach to look beneath. Regardless, Massa’s comments were seized upon as proof of what has been said all along about the administrations tactics to do anything necessary to pass ObamaCare.
Is Massa telling the truth? I don’t know. It seems plausible. It certainly seems to fit the matrix of what the administration has done in the past to twist arms and pressure members of Congress to pass its bill.
But I do know Massa took heat last summer when his meeting with a group of liberal bloggers was recorded and put on YouTube.
Massa: So what happens at my town hall meetings, frankly, is important, because I’m in one of the most right-wing, Republican districts in the country. And I’m not asking you guys to go back to wherever and send people to me, this is a generic statement about ‘what can I do?’ Well, that’s one thing we can do.
Blogger: So if we got your meetings to 60/40 and there was single payer in a bill, you’d vote for it?
Massa: Oh absolutely, I’d vote for single payer.
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Crack-pot Detroit Socialist Explains His, Unions’ Agenda for Soviet States of America
by Kyle OlsonMilitant socialists were out in full force Thursday, March 4th, for a “Day of Action to Defend Public Education.” The nationwide event was organized by fringe, left-wing groups like Michigan’s “By Any Means Necessary,” Ohio-organized “Community Organizing Center for Mother Earth,” Los Angeles-based “County Peace and Freedom Party,” the “League for the Revolutionary Party” of New York, and North Carolina’s “Destroy Industry.”
In Detroit, a chap representing the Che Guevara-loving, Mumia Abu-Jamal-supporting “FIST Youth” educated a crowd of about two dozen about the virtues of socialism. He also lectured on the Soviet Union, its roots and the glory days when the “people’s council” made all of the important decisions.
Strangely, that’s not the Soviet Union I learned about in public school. I was taught about a ruthless nation that annihilated the United States. I learned about a Soviet Union that starved its people and constructed drab buildings while its leaders lived the high life. (Well, that last part I had to find out on my own.)
But that’s enough of my take on the socialist rally in Detroit. You can enjoy the history lesson for yourself.
I respect this guy - he represents the strain of socialism that lays it all out for America to ponder. That’s more than I can say for our current leaders, who couch their true beliefss in poll-tested phrases and flowery language.
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ACORN’s Machinations Are Lipstick on a Pig
by Kyle OlsonBoy, ACORN is good. They’re so good the White House should give them a call and seek some political tips. Er…given the recently-unearthed video of the president yearning for ACORN’s endorsement, something tells me that’s not necessary.
The evolution of ACORN, summarized by Matthew Vadum, is not surprising but is impressive. Even Al Capone wasn’t this successful at morphing his organization into a new beast.
But interestingly, that’s not exactly what’s happening. ACORN is simply adding to and remodeling what it has already created. The gang is splitting up to do the same work, likely with the same funders – radical foundations and individuals…oh, and the American taxpayers.
But rest assured, no lessons have been learned, nothing will really change. The same people are involved. So no one expects there to be much difference. New box, same crappy product. The radical left is simply painting a little lipstick on the pig and hoping American will fall in love with it all over again.
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Nation’s Schools Should Follow Rhode Island Superintendent Gallo’s Example
by Kyle OlsonThe Education Action Group Foundation will support Central Falls, Rhode Island school Superintendent Frances Gallo with a billboard dedicated to this public school patriot, smack dab in the middle of downtown Central Falls.
Gallo’s recent decision to push past teachers union obstruction and do what’s best for the district’s struggling high school students is a prime example of the bold actions needed to turn around the nation’s failing schools.
Gallo recommended firing all 74 Central Falls High School teachers after the local teachers union refused to sign off on long overdue reforms needed to save the chronically failing school, which has been on the state’s list of underperforming schools for seven years. Less than half of Central Falls High School’s students graduate and only seven percent are proficient in math, state data shows.
Gallo offered to pay teachers $30 an hour for some of the additional duties, and expected them to kick in a bit of their own time to improve instruction.
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Las Vegas Mayor Fights Back and Snubs Obama
by Kyle OlsonLook at the bright side, Mr. President: It’s just one less leader you need to bow to.
On two occasions, President Obama has made off-handed swipes at Las Vegas, and both times Mayor Oscar Goodman defended his city.
Most recently, Obama, with a straight face, was discussing making wise financial decisions (because he’s been so prudent with our money) and told a crowd in New Hampshire:
“When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”
So when the customary invitation came from the White House to kiss the ring of the visiting president at the airport (Obama was in Las Vegas Thursday, presumably to bail some water out of the sinking S.S. Harry Reid), Goodman fought back. He declined the invitation.
Kudos to Mayor Goodman for standing up for his constituents and not tolerating the president’s attacks on his city – as humorous as they were meant to be.
“We are hurting, we have people in foreclosures, we have people having a hard time feeding their families and we can’t stand to have a flippant statement made,” said Mayor Goodman.
“I haven’t heard an apology, I haven’t heard a response, all I do is get invitations,” Goodman went on to say.
I doubt you’ll get an apology from this administration, Mayor Goodman.
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Meet Captain Obvious: Joe Biden
by Kyle OlsonYesterday, Vice President Joe Biden visited CBS’ “Early Show” for a “wide-ranging interview” during which he said, “We understand why people are angry…We get it.”
Um, no you don’t. Because if you did, Mr. Vice President, we wouldn’t keep hearing stories about the executive branch seeking ways to act unilaterally on domestic issues it can’t seem to get passed in the lopsided, Democrat-controlled Congress.
And we wouldn’t keep reading about SEIU and other bankrollers of the Obama campaign demanding swifter action on agenda items that are in their interest.
Vice Captain Obvious also had this observation: “Washington right now is broken.” Help me out, Joe. Your party controls 59 seats in the Senate. You have a huge majority in the House. Yet Washington is “broken?” Under whom is it broken, Joe?
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Teachers Unions Spends Dues on Left-Wing Causes AND Ally of Robert Mugabe
by Kyle OlsonCourtesy of Victor Skinner, writing on NEAexposed.com:
A recent study of contributions made by the nation’s two largest teachers unions reveals that both shelled out millions in 2008-09, with a good chunk going to radical and scandal-ridden organizations.
The study, posted online by the Education Intelligence Agency, is further proof that the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers are out of step with their members, which union officials claim are evenly split between Democrat, Republican and Independent parties.
This is what the EIA found:
The AFT gave $46,894 to the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). That organization’s members gave tax evasion advice to pimps and prostitutes, encouraged struggling homeowners to walk away from their mortgages, and championed radical causes like softer immigration regulations and a government takeover of health care.
The AFT’s interest in government-run healthcare is also apparent in its $407,208 donation to the Economic Policy Institute, a union-funded progressive think tank that advocates for the expansion of unionized government jobs, and generally promotes organized labor’s interests.
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Join Me In Co-Sponsoring The Alan Grayson Is a Gasbag Act
by Kyle OlsonTo the people of Orlando: your long Florida nightmare may soon be over. Congressman Alan Grayson is up for re-election this year.
But in the mean time, he’s continuing his gasbaggery. He’s taking up President Obama’s mantle of intimidating the Supreme Court and has introduced several bills so political free speech can once again be squelched.
Grayson has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at restricting political speech, according to the George Soros-funded Secretary of State Project. But first, a bit about that group.
SOS was formed to elect Secretaries of State around the country that will be tolerant of ACORN-style voter registration and Election Day shenanigans. The Minnesota recount debacle – and seating of Al Franken – came courtesy of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, an SOS Project recruit.
So now the Soros-funded SOS Project is pushing Grayson’s package of bills. The interpretations of them come courtesy of SOS, not me:
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Frances Fox Piven: ACORN-style Mass Movement May Deepen Foreclosure Crisis, Forcing Government & Banks to Address Homeownership Rights
by Kyle OlsonThe original Cloward-Piven Strategy, born in a 1966 article in The Nation magazine, was to overwhelm the welfare system by flooding the rolls with new recipients. The government would not be able to keep up (this was a time when a government could actually go bankrupt), the system would crash and a Democratic presidential administration would be “forced” to implement a “guaranteed annual income” for Americans.
Fast forward to the 21st Century. America’s in the midst of a home foreclosure crisis.
Piven’s new strategy? Force the government and banks to deal with the problem by convincing approximately two million people to refuse to leave their homes. ACORN has been implementing this strategy with its Home Defenders program.
Is it possible ACORN sting man James O’Keefe could have spoiled the implementation of this new strategy? The O’Keefe-Giles videos surfaced at precisely the right time to disrupt the Home Defenders scheme.
The organization was rocked by the major scandal and knocked on its heels politically and financially.
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Frances Fox Piven: Thomas Jefferson Would Be ‘Stunned’ at America Today (But Not For the Reason You Think)
by Kyle OlsonFrances Fox Piven, honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, can arguably be considered the mother of ACORN. At least, her ideas and theories set ACORN, and its parent, the National Welfare Rights Organization, onto a path of creating and manipulating crisis situations to further their agenda of a more equal “distribution of wealth” in America. In other words, socialism.
It’s a path, I believe, that runs contrary to our country’s original intent. But Piven doesn’t think so. In her book, “Challenging Authority,” she quoted both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
What I found most bizarre was the apparent disconnect in Piven’s mind between individual rights and property rights, particularly the idea of acquiring as much wealth as one wishes without fear of government encroachment. It’s impossible to believe that Jefferson, Adams and the other founders – most of them very successful entrepreneurs – could have envisioned or approved of a massive national government that siphons property and economic rights from private citizens.
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Frances Fox Piven: Glenn Beck Seeks ‘Foreign, Dark-Skinned, Intellectual’ Scapegoats
by Kyle OlsonThroughout much of 2009, Glenn Beck extensively covered the “Cloward-Piven Strategy” that was first brought into the public domain in a May 1966 article in The Nation magazine. In the article, Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, two Columbia professors, developed a strategy by which the welfare system could be overwhelmed with demand, broken, and replaced with a “guaranteed annual income.”
Beck has successfully made the argument that the Cloward-Piven Strategy was a blueprint for success at overwhelming that system. Don’t think it worked? Ask the leaders of New York City. The strategy worked so well, the mass rush for welfare benefits bankrupted the city in the 1970s.
So as Beck has brought new light to this strategy, no one has asked Frances Fox Piven’s opinion. Until now.
Piven dismisses Beck’s opinion as “silly.” But she also went a step farther.
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Sorry, Wade: James O’Keefe’s Actions Don’t Excuse ACORN
by Kyle Olson
ACORN founder Wade Rathke has been gloating on his blog about the recent arrest of James O’Keefe in Rathke’s hometown of New Orleans.
Andrew Breitbrat and his www.biggovernment.com site stopped pretending that James O’Keefe, bungler-in-charge, was not his boy, and realized that he needed to stop shouting and start ‘splaining.
Breitbrat? Zing! How adult of you, Wade.
Similarly, current ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis issued a statement upon the news:
The recent arrest of James O’Keefe, is further evidence of his disregard for the law in pursuit of his extremist agenda. From the day that O’Keefe’s undercover “sting” videos came out, ACORN leadership pledged accountability for its own staff while pointing out that the videos had been shot illegally and edited deceptively in order to undermine the work of an organization that has empowered working families for four decades.
It’s as if O’Keefe’s problem somehow is vindication for the corrupt web of organizations she oversees.
Bad news, Bertha: it’s not.
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Forget Gutting Tax Breaks; Obama Should Reverse Bailout of Government Motors
by Kyle Olson
Every time I hear a politician say he’s going to end tax breaks for companies that export jobs overseas, I just laugh. It’s transparent pandering to the UAW and other labor unions and a great talking point, but the Democrats have just never gotten around to enacting it. President Obama trotted out that old horse again in Wednesday’s State of the Union speech:
We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities and give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy efficient, which supports clean energy jobs. And to encourage these and other businesses to stay within our borders, it’s time to finally slash the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs in the United States of America.
But as a Michigander, it’s even more humorous knowing that the federal government has bailed out a Michigan-based company, General Motors, that has increasingly been “shipping jobs overseas.” According to a May 2009 Washington Post article, GM has been doing that with a vengeance.
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Crime-Tolerating Left Pounces on Apparent New Orleans Stunt
by Kyle OlsonLet me first say, if what is being reported in the media is accurate, a dumb prank was attempted in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu by James O’Keefe and his comrades.
There should be zero tolerance for crime, regardless of who does it. If O’Keefe is guilty of what the FBI is alleging, he should be held accountable. The Left believes that now, but where were they six months ago?
It’s interesting to observe, and personally experience, the hypocritical way the Left is treating this situation. Consider two unsolicited e-mails I received Monday night from a few liberal wackos with too much time on their hands. Here’s the first, which was accompanied by the subject line, “Republicans are As—-es!”:
Hey as—-e, why don’t you talk about the son of a bitch who broke into Senator Landrieu’s office in LA? Yeah, scumbags like you don’t care about the law.
The other, titled, “James O’Keefe is going to jail! YOU FAILED!”:
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