SEIU’s Shameless Abuse of Olympic Games Tragedy

In the wake of yesterday’s terrible tragedy outside of Vancouver at the Whistler Sliding Center, where Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili sadly lost his life, safety is on the minds of many.  Only hours before the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the 21-year old lost control of his sled at 88mph and was catapulted over the track wall into a steel support column.  All throughout the week, coaches, commentators, and even other Olympians have questioned the safety of the track, as nearly a dozen other athletes have also crashed during practice runs, including a Romanian women’s slider who was knocked unconscious and defending Olympic luge champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy.

The President of the World Luge Federation said the track is too fast and thinks it is a planning mistake, while Australian luger Hannah Campbell-Pegg questioned whether athletes were being treated as “crash test dummies“.  The shocking footage of the accident was replayed all throughout the day and evening yesterday, leaving horrified viewers focused on discussion about the safety of the track.

But in all of this shock, horror and sadness over the tragic death of an athlete in his prime and the dangers of the track on which he lost his young life, what has the SEIU focused on?

Food safety. (Translated =  unionizing)

Reports of the horrible accident in Vancouver began surfacing in the press as early as 12:30 pm EST  Friday.  Yet, the SEIU still felt their unionization Food Safety concerns were so paramount that they went ahead and issued a press release anyway, after 5:00 pm EST:

“PRESS RELEASE:  Healthcare Union Raises Concerns Over Safety Of Food to be Served to Olympic Athletes at Vancouver Olympics“

“Sodexo is providing catering services for athletes during this key moment in their sporting careers, and we’re concerned about the food they will be providing,” charged the SEIU in Friday’s press release.

It’s not as though the SEIU could not have known about the tragedy  – the story had been broadcast all over the news for at least five hours before SEIU pushed out its attack.  If they didn’t know, then they’re even more disconnected from reality than we thought they were.

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Tags: ACORN, Andy Stern, Canada, corporate campaign, food safety
Posted Feb 13th 2010 at 11:57 am in Big Labor, Media Criticism | 74722102 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/libertychick/2010/02/13/seius-shameless-abuse-of-olympic-games-tragedy/SEIU%27s+Shameless+Abuse+of+Olympic+Games+Tragedy2010-02-13+19%3A57%3A57Liberty+Chick

U.K. Cancer Death Rate Is 38% Higher Than In U.S.

As the Congress prepared to vote to let us enter the world of waits for doctors, waits for specialists, waits for testing and waits for surgery, radiation and chemo, we should pause to consider the relative records of the private medical care system in the United States with the socialized system in the U.K.

In 2008, Britain had a cancer death rate 0.25% while the United States had a rate of only 0.18%.  The UK cancer death rate was 38% higher than in the United States.

The Guardian, the UK’s left wing daily, estimated that “up to 10,000 people” are dying each year of cancer “because their condition is diagnosed too late, according to research by the government’s director of cancer services.”  While many people die because of late detection due to their own negligence, there is no reason to believe this self-neglect is more common in the UK than in the US. (more…)

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Tags: Canada, cancer, cancer survivability, Congress, ObamaCare
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 at 11:06 am in Congress, Politics | 39950231 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmorris/2009/12/02/u-k-cancer-death-rate-is-38-higher-than-in-u-s/U.K.+Cancer+Death+Rate+Is+38%25+Higher+Than+In+U.S.2009-12-02+18%3A06%3A43Dick+Morris

The Party of “No Ideas” Vs The Party of Failed Ideas – The Fight Between Conservatives and the Media on Health Reform

A friend of mine on Facebook recently wrote the following about an article on the life of the late Irving Kristol:

“Once upon a time, not too many years ago, the Republican Party was the party of ideas. Would even its staunchest supporters say so today? I think not. The sole substance of the Republican Party today is opposition to whatever the Democrats are for, period.”

Were it true, it would be damning.  Thankfully it’s not.

My friend, a former White House high-ranking employee in both the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations, grew angry, very angry, about the direction of the Republican Party under President Bush 43, something upon which I agree with him.  But, unlike him, I prefer to stay and fight for what’s right within the party I agree with most, not abandon it. He grew so angry that he voted for Obama in 2008.  Now, I don’t claim to know how any human being works internally, but I don’t understand how someone who claims to be a conservative could make that sort of switch. Simply because your side didn’t live up to their ideals doesn’t mean, to my mind, that  you switch to the side that advocates explicitly the opposite point of view.

But that’s neither here nor there. My friend, and everyone else, is free to vote for whomever they want, for whatever reason they want.  What I take issue with his the common mantra of the Left, echoed by my friend, that Republicans are out of ideas and Democrats are a fountain new ones.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Bruce Bartlett, Canada, Ed Schutz, Facebook
Posted Oct 6th 2009 at 6:00 am in Congress, Featured Story, Healthcare, Politics | 1264660 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dhunter/2009/10/06/the-party-of-no-ideas-vs-the-party-of-failed-ideas-the-fight-between-conservatives-and-the-media-on-health-reform/The+Party+of+%E2%80%9CNo+Ideas%E2%80%9D+Vs+The+Party+of+Failed+Ideas+-+The+Fight+Between+Conservatives+and+the+Media+on+Health+Reform2009-10-06+13%3A00%3A38Derek+Hunter