So much for the unions caring about their members like ‘family.’  I guess in the teachers’ union ‘family’ when times are tight the whole family doesn’t sacrifice, the youngest two kids are just kicked to the curb to fend for themselves.

Can they stop using the term ‘union brothers and sisters,’ now?

[MILWAUKEE] The Milwaukee teachers’ union wants area businesses to donate $94 million to solve the district’s financial problems, hoping that will save some of the 519 jobs to be lost on Friday.

Milwaukee Public Schools announced the layoffs on Wednesday.  Dr. Gregory Thornton, MPS superintendent, said at least 200 teachers’ jobs could be saved if the union would have agreed to a 5.8 percent pension contribution from its members.

“We will move into a new school year with a big loss of a lot of talent and a lot of strong educators,” Thornton said.

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From the Associated Press:

Riot police fired tear gas at youths hurling rocks near the Greek finance ministry Tuesday, trying to quell the anger unleashed by a general strike as parliament debated new cost-cutting measures.

The latest austerity measures must pass in two parliamentary votes Wednesday and Thursday if Greece is to receive bailout funds from the EU and the IMF to stave off a possible default in July. If the votes don’t pass, Greece could become the first eurozone nation to default on its debts, sending shock waves through the global economy.

The clashes with police came at the start of a two-day strike called by unions furious that the new euro28 billion ($40 billion) austerity program will slap taxes on minimum wage earners and other struggling Greeks. The measures come on top of other spending cuts and tax hikes that have sent Greek unemployment soaring to over 16 percent.

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Labor unions and leftist activists are expected to once again descend upon the Captiol in Madison, WI on Tuesday. They plan to protest Governor Scott Walker’s first 2-year budget proposal, which seeks to cap entitlement programs and make cuts in education while expanding school voucher programs, in an attempt to close a $3 billion budget deficit. Republicans also expect to add the collective bargaining provisions that were passed in March, unless the State Supreme Court issues a ruling before then.

Opponents of Walker’s proposal view their side as an issue of human rights and a statement against corporations, and have not surprisingly ratcheted up the rhetoric. On its website announcing Tuesday’s protest, the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO posted:

Debate will be limited, democracy will be circumvented and the balance will greatly tip in favor of ramming through an anti-worker, anti-family, anti-community agenda. Come bear witness to this denial of democracy… Please take part in democracy and bear witness to the extreme attack on the people of Wisconsin. Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, June 14, as we continue to stand strong against a budget that guts public schools, attacks health care, raises taxes on workers and seniors, and jeopardizes public services like police and fire. All while handing over $300 million a year in tax breaks to the rich.

Oh, the drama….

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Even the most avid circus goers tire of the big top, apparently.

Saturday, various labor and left wing organizations attempted to hold another massive protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

The lackluster May Day rallies in Milwaukee and Madison were filled with pleas to head to Madison on May 14th to show Scott Walker that the fight isn’t over. Liberal radio hosts plugged the event. Lefty bloggers posted about it. Labor unions sent out emails and robo calls to their members. Madison coffehouses, bookstores and telephone poles were littered with brochures about the rally. People were bused in from across the state.

Yawn.

It appears “We’re not going away!” isn’t as catchy as “We skipped out of work, to show we deserve our pay.”

When the allure of shutting down schools or shutting down the legislature are missing, so are a hundred thousand protesters it seems. Now, 7-10,000 is still a crowd, but in Madison, Wisconsin the left can get that many out to protest an appearance by the rare conservative speaker on campus.

The changes to the public employee union’s collective bargaining power remain held up in court. But Act 10 has been signed into law. It’s done. It is just going to take some time to get past the liberal judges in Dane County.

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My name is Philip Christofanelli. I was a student in the University of Missouri’s “Introduction to Labor Studies” course.  The class was taught simultaneously by Professor Don Giljum of University of Missouri-Saint Louis (UMSL) and Professor Judy Ancel of University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) through the use of a live video feed that linked the two classrooms. The class met every other Saturday for seven hours, including breaks. All of the classes were recorded and put on the class website.

Class slide by Prof. Judy Ancel instructing students on how to "re-frame" messages for "State Battles" against right-to-work legislation in Missouri and elsewhere

Since that time, an organization known as Insurgent Visuals has released videos of the class, which have gained considerable media attention.  To be clear, I am not Insurgent Visuals, nor am I associated with them.  I did not edit any videos or put them online. I did, however, download the original videos off of the class website and give them out in their entirety to a number of my friends in order to obtain other opinions on the propriety of what occurred in the class, and of the steps I should take moving forward.

In this post, I will try to describe, with careful attention to context and accuracy, what occurred in these public classrooms over the course of the semester.  I believe that any reasonable person who takes the time to read this post in full will come to the same conclusion that I did: Professors Giljum and Ancel used a public university class to promote their own radical political opinions and organizations, and to train students and union members in negotiating tactics that are apparently illegal, and profoundly unethical.  Their behavior was highly unprofessional and inappropriate, and the University of Missouri should simply admit that fact and take steps to ensure that classes are not taught in that way ever again.

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Wisconsin is the birthplace of American public-sector unionism. In the 1930s the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) first organized in Madison. How ironic then that Wisconsin may also be the burial ground for public-sector unionism. Governor Scott Walker and the state legislature confront implacable and intractable union opposition as they struggle to bring Wisconsin’s finances under control. The Badger State has become ground zero in the battle between unions intent on expanding their health and pension plans and state governments determined to avoid bankruptcy.

In 1932, a small group of Wisconsin state workers organized in depression-stricken Madison to “promote, defend and enhance the civil service system,” and to spread the gospel of civil service throughout the country. Their creation, the Wisconsin State Employees Union/Council 24, was soon rechristened the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and in 1936 it received a charter from the American Federation of Labor (AFL):  Public-sector unionism was born.

Times are not as tough these days as they were back in the 1930s, but Wisconsin in 2011 is nonetheless in dire fiscal shape, facing an immediate $136 million deficit and a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall over the next two years. (Wisconsin has a lot of company: forty-four states and the District of Columbia face shortfalls of $125 billion for fiscal year 2012, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.)  Simply put, the costs of governing Wisconsin are unsustainable, and one of the primary reasons, according to Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, is the cost of state employee health plans, which have risen 90 percent since 2002.Page 2 Labor (more…)

I’ve been following the institutional left for years.  While I’m often disgusted, yet always entertained, by most of the radical left’s behavior on camera, I’m never surprised by much.  Until this.

I have to say, when I first got wind of this video yesterday, I laughed.  A LOT.  I thought it was a joke.

The RoaringLiberal and the Gaa Gaa Guy in the video made their bizarre appearance at a Tea Party rally in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, where Andrew Breitbart and Sarah Palin were featured speakers.  A number of counter-protesters showed up at the rally to heckle and scream at the speakers from the periphery of the crowd.  Some adorned t-shirts, others held Kochsucker signs, rang bells and blew whistles; in an effort to drown out Palin’s speech, most booed repeatedly and chanted “Go Home”.  (By now, you may have already seen Andrew Breitbart’s response to those counter-protesters).

These two protesters, however…they stood out.  I think you can see why.

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When Sarah Palin was telling an audience last month that Republicans have the fighting instinct of sheep she wasn’t talking about Andrew Breitbart. Today in Wisconsin Andrew addressed the thousands of tea party patriots who came out in the cold to hold a rally for freedom, personal responsibility, and fiscal conservatism.

During his introduction of Sarah Palin, Andrew took on the vile Trumpka-Obama leftists who came out to taunt the tea partiers. Andrew told them that they could, “Go to hell! Go to hell!” for having the audacity to lecture the tea party about civility after the death threats and thuggery displayed in Wisconsin last month.
Andrew was in rare form.

More… Invisible Dude added this:

Andrew would make a good press secretary for President Palin……
just sayin’

Agreed.

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UPDATE: Oh look, the MSM’s already making thing’s up. See here.

If Sarah Palin’s not running for president, what a terrible waste that would be of the single best stump speech I’ve heard since, well, Palin’s ’08 convention speech, which just happened to be the single most electrifying political moment of my adult life. A thrill didn’t just run up my leg that night, it ran up everything in me that’s American, and today in Madison, WI, it happened again. Surrounded by an obnoxiously hostile, astro-turfed, pro-union crowd that tried and failed to drown out her message with obnoxiously hostile astro-turfed noise, the former Alaskan Governor took the fight directly to the growing pile of Obama’s failures in the most effective way we’ve heard yet from a potential GOP challenger.

If you want to know why Obama’s Palace Guards in the MSM are determined to destroy this woman and all of popular culture has risen up to help, press PLAY. If you want to know why the GOP Establishment had better start looking over their collective shoulders, press PLAY.

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You see what else she did there? Exactly what she did as a reform-minded governor in Alaska. She called the GOP Establishment out for everything they’re doing wrong, appealed to reasonable rank-and-file union members disgusted by their leadership, and reaffirmed her own proud union credentials. Better yet, she also launched the kind of tight, sharp, and articulate attack on President Obama’s failed presidency that likely has the White House — and their media allies — loosening their ties, clearing their throats, and looking for any word she might have mispronounced as an excuse to drown out her appealing message with the furtherance of a cruel “stupid” narrative they’ve been failing at for two-plus years.

I’ll ask again: How can someone so “dumb” be so right about everything?

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Before we get started, here’s a quick and important rundown of the hopelessly biased, corrupt-to-the-core media world in which we presently live…

A few dopes, most of them likely Leftist plants and Larouchers, show up at Tea Party rallies with a few dumb signs and it’s a national news story for months. No one from the Tea Party yells the N-word at a Capitol Hill ObamaCare protest and yet there’s a week-long media storm saying someone did — and nary a peep once it’s proved they didn’t. Someone commits a heinous mass murder in Tucson and the entire MSM Complex spends days blaming Sarah Palin because the suspected shooter never saw some campaign maps she was supposedly associated with once upon a time.

And yet, this can happen in Wisconsin and the national media all but ignores it and the local media all but says “you reap what you sow.” Oh, wait — that’s exactly what they said. And finally, this can happen to a Black man at the hands of union thugs and our precious media willfully looks the other way.

Tomorrow, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin will speak at a Tea Party rally in Madison, Wisconsin. Unless you’ve been asleep for the past few months, you know that right now Madison is Ground Zero in the ongoing political battle to take our country back from corrupt public unions and the Democratic politicians corrupted by them. This battle represents the very heart of what the Tea Party is about, where the national spotlight should be, and yet I don’t see a long line of political types heading to my home state to take advantage of that spotlight.

Palin’s going, though, and so is the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund. And this is exactly where we should be going, and not just because this is where the heart of the fight for our country currently is, but also to make very clear to pro-union types that we will not be intimidated by their thuggishness.

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Never acknowledge conservative victories as legitimate.

Never concede defeat in legislative votes. There is always a cloud.

Litigate everything.

Rely on Dane County judges whenever possible.

Elections only matter if liberals win.

Shut down schools, bring legislative process to a halt, tie up the courts, extort  businesses, try to overturn elections … and then say “this is what democracy looks like.”

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As the Wisconsin Supreme Court race looks to be decided by just a matter of a few hundred votes, questions naturally arise about potential improprieties that may have been conducted in an effort to “get out the vote.” One such instance occurred in Madison where two taxi cab companies decided to offer free rides as part of a “Democracy in Motion” effort to “support our community by helping people get to the polls.”

The cab companies Union Cab Coop and Badger Cab offered free rides to the polls by request in the Dane County communities of:

• Middleton (Kloppenburg: 68%)
• Monona (Kloppenburg: 75%)
• Shorewood (Kloppenburg: 84%)
• City of Madison (Kloppenburg: 82%)
• Blooming Grove (Kloppenburg: 74%)
• Burke (Kloppenburg: 60%)
• Maple Bluff (Kloppenburg: 59%)
• Fitchberg (Kloppenburg: 68%)

Seems rather benign on the surface, but when one considers the areas in which these cabs served, they voted for the JoAnne Kloppenburg to the tune of 79%.

According to Union Cab Coop, they brought 102 people to the polls yesterday. When Media Trackers contacted Badger Cab they had not compiled the exact numbers but estimates were that they brought “around 50 people” to the polls.

Despite this “non-partisan” facade, Union Cab Coop has posted on their website a series of statements that reveal that there may have been more than meets the eye for these friendly free rides.

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If you’ve been following the Wisconsin fracas over these past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that the Left’s enemy du jour has become the American businessmen Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries. As an American company, Koch Industries employs over 50,000 Americans.  In total, the number of American jobs that indirectly supported Koch Industries is over 200,000. In Wisconsin, Koch Industries provides nearly 3,000 jobs directly and 11,000 jobs indirectly. More importantly, many of those jobs are good-paying union jobs. So, why all the hate?

The Koch brothers have recently come under fire from the institutional Left due, primarily, to a more than 40-year commitment to economic freedom. In part, the Koch brothers’ advocacy for freedom may stem from their father, Fred C. Koch, who developed a hatred of Communism when he saw the effects of it first-hand, working in Russia during the 1930s.

“Virtually every engineer he worked with [there] was purged,” Charles Koch once explained of his father.

Given the desire of many on the Left, many of whom were protesting in Madison these last few weeks, to ‘fundamentally transform‘ America’s economy, the Koch brothers’ opposition to a nation bankrupting itself (as well as their support of Scott Walkers’ efforts to rein in union power in Wisconsin) represents a direct threat to the Left’s agenda. As a result, some of the more extremist groups on the Left are pushing a boycott of Koch Industries and its companies’ products.

Due to the sheer number of jobs that directly or indirectly benefit from Koch Industries, the Left’s undertaking to topple the Koch brothers and their companies may have the negative consequence of actually hurting those the Left purports to want to help—namely union workers. This has a top official with the United Steelworkers concerned.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) – About 700 people rallied Sunday in support of Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his anti-union plan to balance the budget—a demonstration meant to counter three weeks of large anti-Walker protests in and around the state Capitol.

The rally was the culmination of a 10-stop bus tour sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity that started Thursday in Kenosha. It took place at the Aliant Energy Center in Madison, which is a couple of miles from the Capitol, where thousands of pro-union demonstrators rallied Saturday and Sunday.

Hundreds of pro-union counter-protesters lined up outside the arena entrance and parking lot carrying placards and chanting “Shame!” at the Walker supporters. The governor’s backers held their own signs with messages such as “I Stand with Walker” and “Dems Serve Unions not ‘The People.’”

Matt Seaholm, the state director of Americans for Prosperity, said the purpose of the bus tour and rallies was to show that Walker still has support among those who voted him into office in November.

“We’ve got to continue the push!” he said at the rally to loud cheers. “It’s not going to end anytime soon.” (more…)

In order to get new union contracts signed, of course. From Fox6 News:

Before protesters stormed the capitol, the mayor of the city of Madison tried to pull a fast one. The governor’s budget repair bill was on the fast track, and Madison Mayor Dave Ciesliewicz was racing against the clock to pass new union contracts first.

E-mails obtained by the FOX6 Investigators show that the mayor enlisted the help of State Senator Mark Miller. They both tried to convince the Secretary of State to hold up the bill by taking the maximum 10 days allowed by law before publishing the bill.

They were trying to buy some time so they could ratify new contracts to protect workers from benefit cuts. Citizens for Responsible Government Rep. Chris Kliesmet says, “This suggests, and this is a harsh word, collusion. There is collusion between some politicians and public sector employee unions. Period.”

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“If there are doctors and teachers doing that sort of thing, abusing the system, that’s outrageous.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Governor, you are absolutely correct. Sadly, it’s not a question of “if”, but rather, HOW MANY?

Dr. Adam B. is one of twelve Wisconsin doctors who have been accused of or have admitted to such actions. How do I know? Not only did he sign his name and medical license number to a form which allowed me to miss the work week of 2/21 to 2/25, he even helped me come up with a sickness and explained why I wouldn’t get in trouble. There was one problem: I used a false name, birth date and willingly acknowledged I wasn’t sick. He didn’t care about the truth, however. He had a political agenda.

I am not an investigative journalist in the mold of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. It’s just not my thing. I don’t even own a camera…

So how did I end up on the corner of Mifflin and Hamilton playing the role of an elementary school custodian looking to join the “sick” teachers in protest?

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Spotted in the wild, south of the Illinois-Wisconsin border!

More details coming.

UPDATE: Is this Chris Larson?

UPDATE: We are receiving reports that the police were called out against the Illinois Tea Party members who found the Wisconsin Democrats in a local hotel. From a Tea Party member on the ground in Illinois:

Subject: OUTCOME OF THE CONFRONTATION WITH FLEEING DEMS

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Illinois Tea Party board member Doc got the Heritage Suites in Harvard, and found the fleeing senators in the lobby of the motel. He said that they were laughing like school children. News cameras were there.

Doc confronted the senators, saying, “Do you know any reason why you shouldn’t be recalled for your failure to fulfill the duties of your office?” and the like. They asked him who he was. When he identified himself as a member of Northern IL Tea Party the mood changed. The hotel clerk asked him if he was a paying guest. He/she said, if he wasn’t he would have to leave.

Doc asked if this was still America. The clerk called the police. Three cars pulled up. Doc went outside and said, “I guess I’m the guy you’re looking for.” They said they had to go into the lobby to pick up the complaint against him.

Doc was interviewed by a reporter outside the hotel. The reporter asked for his name, and Doc said, “It’s “Doc” — if they’re going to try to arrest me, that’s all you need.” Then he drove away.

Mary Alger, Coordinator of McHenry County Tea Party was outside the lobby with her sign, “We’re the Tea Party. They’re the Flee Party.” She was interviewed.

UPDATE: Jim Hoft has more pictures

One of the tactics of the Progressive Left is to ridicule their targets. Frequently, the vehicle of that ridicule is the label of ’stupid’ or ‘moron’ or ‘idiot’.

This tactic is on full display in Madison, as sign after sign mocks Governor Walker for not completing college.

Why is the Progressive Left allowed to assert that the lowly uneducated masses of non-degree holders are not fit for office? The implication is that if you do not have a college degree, you are only fit to be governed. That is a very snobbish meme.

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Shortly after the Green Bay Packers turned the nation’s attention to the Midwestern state, Wisconsin once again has garnered the nation’s attention.   At stake this time is not a trophy, but a prized retirement package promised to public employees.  Throngs of protesters have taken to Madison, Wisconsin to either show their support or disdain for Governor Scott Walker’s plan to require public employees to pay 5.8 percent (the national average is roughly 12 percent) of their salary as a contribution to their pension.

The looming issue of funding public pensions is not unique to Wisconsin.  Governor Walker’s stand, however, has focused the nation’s attention largely because he is the first Republican leader to propose legitimate legislation designed to address the problem head on.  The debate in Wisconsin is a precursor to one that will be seen New York, California, Illinois, and dozens of other states.  Unfunded liabilities stemming from decades of generous retirement packages for public employees has finally reached the breaking point.  Without reform, state fiscal collapse is inevitable.  Often lost in the debate is a simple explanation of what exactly the problem is with the system today.  Fortunately, a pertinent example helps shed light on the financial precariousness of the situation in Wisconsin, and more importantly, the nation at large.

My mother worked as a public employee when she was a teacher’s aide in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  She was employed by the state for five years, from 1981-1986.  However, she worked only part-time, so was never credited for a full year of employment by the state for each year she worked.  Instead, she received only partial credit each year.  Fortunately for her, Wisconsin and two other states (Minnesota and South Dakota) allow for full vesting for public teachers after only three years of employment.  Using a deduction for her part-time status, Wisconsin determined her creditable service amounted to 3.07 years.  Had she worked three weeks less during her last year, she would be entitled to nothing.  As luck would have it, she fully vested, and is entitled to receive a monthly check from the state of Wisconsin for the rest of her life. (more…)

This is what Democracy Democratic Socialism looks like!

Pt. 1 – Hitler Hitler Hitler (Note to Progressives – Hitler was a Socialist)

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