Big Labor and the Rabid Outbreak of Progressive Incivility and Violence

Michelle's got another excellent update on union thuggery, "Hate-a-rama: The vulgar, racist, sexist, homophobic rage of the Left."

My new syndicated column today does the reporting the Tea Party-bashing national media won’t do on the rabid outbreak of progressive incivility and violence at Big Labor protests across the country. On Saturday, the grievance convergence will descend on all 50 state capitols spearheaded by the smear merchants of MoveOn.org — who will stoke further hatred and class warfare against America’s taxpayers, job creators, and wealth producers:

On Saturday, February 26, at noon local time, we are organizing rallies in front of every statehouse and in every major city to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin. We demand an end to the attacks on worker’s rights and public services across the country. We demand investment, to create decent jobs for the millions of people who desperately want to work. And we demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share.

We are all Wisconsin. We are all Americans.

Yeah, except for all of us “Koch whores” and “garbage pail kids” and “bad Jews” who defend the American Dream against insatiable entitlement-mongers who claim a “right” to our money.

I second John Hinderaker: “No retreat, no surrender.”

On the Wisconsin front, the Assembly early this morning passed GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s budget/union repair bill. Troopers are still searching for the Fleebagger State Senators. One of them, Democratic state sen. Joe Erpenbach, who is in Chicago (natch), said all 14 senators remained outside of Wisconsin. “It’s not so much the Democrats holding things up,” Erpenbach he told the AP. “It’s really a matter of Gov. Walker holding things up.” Deflecting blame, delaying reform. Like I said the other day, there are no adults left in the Democrat Party. They’re stuck in their Huggies pull-ups crying all the way.

Video of the mob at the Madison capitol building after the Assembly vote this morning:

RTWT at the link.

RELATED: At Founding Bloggers, "A Warning to Tea Party Patriots Everywhere," and Midnight Blue, "Blogging While Female – Protest Safety Tips."

Canadian Expert Says Pedophilia a Sexual Orientation Just Like Heterosexuality or Homosexuality

Good news for Alex Knepper and his enablers, from Professor Hubert Van Gijseghem of the University of Montreal. See Brian Lilley, "'Experts' Running the Asylum in Canada" (via Blazing Cat Fur):

I was shocked a few weeks ago to show up to listen to the Commons Justice Committee debate a bill on tougher sentences for sexual predators who target children. At that hearing, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association said Bill C-54, also known as the Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act, was too tough because it had mandatory minimum sentences.

The bill seeks to raise some existing mandatory minimums from 14 days to 90 days while others would go up to one year for people who sexually abuse children. Of course, the lawyers think any minimum sentence is wrong for their clients because it ties the hands of judges, and politicians, they say, shouldn’t do that.

Funny, I don’t hear them arguing against maximum sentences using the same arguments.

Of course, the criminal lawyers are not the only ones arguing against a bill that targets pedophiles and perverts. There’s the opposition parties, all three of them.

But what really shocked me was the Universite de Montreal professor, Dr. Hubert Van Gijseghem, who showed up to tell MPs pedophilia was a sexual orientation just like heterosexuality or homosexuality.

Leave it to the experts.

Normal, everyday Canadians wouldn’t reward thugs who take land by force or say perverts are just like everyone else. Nor would most Canadians let convicted terrorists ordered deported spend more than 20 years appealing to the courts.

But that’s what the expert class would have us do.

RELATED: "The Liar Alex Knepper Wasn’t Fired for Criticizing Ann Coulter, He Was Fired for Being An Intemperate, Unmanageable, Perverted, Impulsive, Narcissistic Child."

Wisconsin Assembly Passes Governor Walker Budget

At Hot Air, "WI Assembly passes budget-repair bill," and Los Angeles Times, "Wisconsin Assembly approves controversial collective-bargaining measure."

In a late-night vote that caught Wisconsin Assembly Democrats by surprise, Republicans pass Gov. Scott Walker's plan, which would strip most government workers of collective-bargaining rights. The measure's fate remains uncertain as Senate Democrats remain out of state to forestall a vote.

I guess it's the end of the world, "OMG! These People Are Nuts!.. Leftist Protester Wails About Losing Chemo Benefits After GOP Assembly Vote" (via Memeorandum):

Yep, the end of the world. Althouse has more, "UW professor retires after only 21 years to "protect" herself from "depressing and threatening" clauses in Gov. Walker's bill."

The 9 Most Annoying Sky-is-Falling Clichès in American Foreign Policy

From Michael Lind, at Foreign Policy, "So Long, Chicken Little." It was hard to decide, but I'm sampling "4. The rain forests are about to disappear":

This is yet another case of exaggeration in defense of a good cause. Remember the 1980s, when it seemed the Amazon rain forest wasn't long for this world -- and that humanity was threatened as atmospheric oxygen levels correspondingly declined? The World Wildlife Fund's Thomas Lovejoy in 1980 predicted 50 percent deforestation in Latin America by 2000. And Al Gore famously claimed in Earth in the Balance that rain forests "are disappearing from the face of the earth at the rate of one and a half acres a second, night and day, every day, all year round."

But as the New York Times reported in 2009, "new 'secondary' forests are emerging in Latin America, Asia and other tropical regions at such a fast pace that the trend has set off a serious debate about whether saving primeval rain forest -- an iconic environmental cause -- may be less urgent than once thought." For every acre of rain forest chopped down annually, more than 50 acres are growing back on previously ravaged tropical land, according to one estimate. Meanwhile, thanks to advanced agricultural technology that permits more food to be grown on fewer acres, Northern Hemisphere countries like the United States, Canada, and the nations of Europe are being regreened rapidly, as former farmland returns to forest.

Assemblymember Donald Wagner's 'Taxpayers Caucus' Stands Firm for Tea Party Principles in Sacramento

I met Assemblyman Wagner a couple of times last year during the tea party events in the O.C. He's replaced Chuck DeVore in the legislature, and he's wasting no time in laying down a bedrock conservative agenda for the assembly session. I recall at the Republican Central Committee meeting I attended, in January 2010, local big shots were tripping over each other to see who'd be the most genuine anti-tax crusader. The O.C.'s still pretty conservative, in an overwhelming Blue State, so it was refreshing. And so is the news from Sacramento on Wagner's new "Taxpayers Caucus." See the Los Angeles Times, "California GOP group takes hard-line stance against tax hikes":

More than two-thirds of the Republicans in the Legislature took a hard-line stance Wednesday against Gov. Jerry Brown's budget plan, forming a new group and pledging to block the governor's efforts to let voters extend tax hikes.

The unusual effort highlighted the deep partisan divisions in the statehouse as Brown and lawmakers race to pass a state spending plan. So far, 22 of the 27 GOP Assembly members and eight of the 15 GOP state senators have signed on to the new "taxpayers caucus."

At a news conference on the Capitol steps, Assemblyman Donald Wagner (R-Irvine), a co-chairman of the caucus, said the message to Brown was clear: "You're not getting Republicans to go for tax increases."

Brown has proposed deep cuts in state services and wants to ask voters to agree to extend for five years billions of dollars in sales, income and car taxes. The governor needs at least four GOP votes, two in the Assembly and two in the state Senate, to place a tax measure on the ballot.

Conservatives are already branding the group's nonmembers as potential GOP traitors. The two chairmen of the caucus, Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) and Wagner, went on the popular John and Ken radio show Wednesday as the conservative KFI-AM (640) duo posted phone numbers and photos of the non-signers and rallied listeners.

"You're going to see very intensified grassroots efforts" turning up the heat on nonmembers, said Jon Fleischman, an influential GOP blogger who attended Wednesday's news conference.

This is going to be interesting, especially since California is the nation's budget basket case. And Jerry Brown's playing for keeps on this. See the breaking update, "Gov. Jerry Brown tells legislators he will push for a $25-billion cut in California's budget unless voters OK tax extension."

RELATED: Check this column from progressive George Skelton, who makes the comparison between California and Wisconsin, "The pension haves vs. the have-nots":

A statewide poll in December by Democratic pollster Jim Moore found that 62% of likely voters — including 54% of Democrats — considered "the escalating cost to taxpayers" of public employee pensions to be a "very serious" issue.

In a January 2010 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, 70% of likely voters — including 61% of Democrats —favored changing government retirement benefits from pensions to 401(k)-type plans.

The legislative analyst has suggested that the state consider adopting a "hybrid" retirement program that would include less generous "defined benefit" pensions combined with a "defined contribution" 401(k).

"In defined contribution programs," the analyst continued, pointing out something private-sector workers already are painfully aware of, "if the investment returns don't materialize, that risk is placed on the employee, not on the employer or the taxpayer."

Actually, free enterprise employees should be rooting for government workers in hopes that at least some retirement security can be retained in America.

Actually, that's the wrong takeaway here. Those "free enterprise employees" are also the taxpayers financing the public-sector. If the system's truly unsustainable, what matters most is economic growth creating a rising tide that lifts all boats and fattens investment portfolios. But like I said, it's going to interesting how things turn out.

Democrats Need a Reality Check

From the House Republican Conference:

RELATED: At Gallup, "Issues Divide Republicans' Views of Potential 2012 Contenders" (via Memeorandum and Riehl World View).

Anti-Union Letter From a Conservative Public School Teacher

At Michelle's:

Hello Michelle,

I wanted to share some of my own thoughts and frustrations with being a teacher in public education. Unfortunately, I am unable to do this openly for fear of reprisal from the very union that is supposedly in place to protect me.

Let me begin by saying that there are a lot of good teachers in my district and throughout the country whose top priority is the education of students. Sadly from my own experiences in the day to day life of being an educator there are an awful lot of teachers who are focused on anything but education.

As events have unfolded in Wisconsin, I have been reflecting on my nearly 10 years in public education. My parents were both teachers and I greatly admired the work they did with their own students. I began with that same passion for teaching that they instilled in me, but am finding it more and more difficult to keep that flame alive.

The hold that unions have over the public educational system is nothing short of toxic. Year after year, I have a lot of money taken out of my paychecks for union dues. What do I get for my money? I am bombarded with emails and flyers “urging” us to vote for candidates that coincidentally always have the letter (D) after them. I get to be lectured to by union reps about the evil Republican candidates are and why they know what is best for me.

Now I am being hit with email after email “urging” me to stand with the teachers of Wisconsin. One teacher who is very tight with our union replied to our district making fun of Republicans directly. You might ask why I don’t forward this to human resources, but the repercussions would be brutal.

The truth is that any teacher who does not hold down the talking points of the unions, DNC or Obama White House needs to keep quiet to keep their job. The vitriol I heard over the Bush years was deafening but acceptable and expected. I can hardly remember a week that went by where teachers, sometimes in front of students, were not making fun of Republicans. I’ve personally been the subject of much ridicule and scorn from fellow teachers and will continue to be as long as I am in public education. I believe in what I am doing in my own classroom by focusing on educating students, but as time goes by it is becoming more and more likely that I will leave education all together. Not because of students, but because of the unions and the teachers that support them.

Frustrated in Minnesota

'I'll F**k You in the Ass, You Faggot'

Man, I gotta start doing video reports!

This is gold.

At Michelle's, "Video: Rhode Island union supporter to cameraman – “I’ll f**k you in the ass, you faggot”" (via Memeorandum):

At AFSCME’s “solidarity” rally in Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday, a cameraman was accosted by a fuming pro-union protester. The cameraman had his back to the goon, who appears to accost him unprovoked. The goon screams:

“I’ll f**k you in the ass, you faggot!”

His shouting escalates and other union supporters try to intervene as he threatened the cameraman, but he continues to foam at the mouth.

The “solidarity” mob finally starts chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, union-busting’s got to go” to drown out the goon’s snit fit. He yells that he will “follow you out of here.”

The eruption starts at 7:32 in this video.

Man, these guys are goons.

But hey, REPSAC = CASPER's down with that! He's a union lovin' guy!

RELATED: At Founding Bloggers, "OUTRAGE: Tea Party Thug Assaults Camera Man, Shouts Homophobic Slurs! ALL CAUGHT ON TAPE!"

No Questions Allowed: Islamic Terrorism and the Suppression of Speech on America's Campuses

Following up on last night's post, "Israeli Apartheid Week, Students for Justice in Palestine, UCLA, February 23, 2011."

This really hits home with me, considering my experience dealing with UCLA's Muslim student thugs. See John Guandolo, at Big Peace, "University of Central Florida Stifles Discussion of Terrorism and Muslim Brotherhood." And the clip features ACT! for America's Randy McDaniels, who is forcibly removed from the panel discussion for asking a pointed question. At the video's summary, McDaniel's indicates that Muslims in attendance coordinated to suppress any tough questions of Islam and forced critical participants to leave:

The MSA toes closely to the model. At UCLA yesterday, the moment I posed some tough questions, Hamzah Baig became extremely uncomfortable, then hostile. The police were called eventually, and I stood away until they were gone.

More from Ben Howe at Red State, "University of Central Florida Hosts Terrorists & Forcibly Removes Their Detractors."

RELATED: Speaking of free speech, UC Irvine's MSA is getting a lot of sympathy from the New York Times, "Charges Against Muslim Students Prompt Debate Over Free Speech":

For years, Jewish and Israeli advocacy groups have said that the Muslim Student Union has fostered a hostile environment on campus. In 2007, the Office of Civil Rights of the federal Department of Education examined complaints from the Zionist Organization of America that the university was not doing enough to respond to the problem. The investigation cleared the campus administration of any wrongdoing. In 2009, the same organization complained that an event sponsored by the Muslim Student Union was used to raise money for an organization that helps Hamas, the Islamic militant group, in Gaza. The university asked the F.B.I. to investigate, but no charges were ever filed.

Much of the controversy on campus centers on Palestinian Awareness Week, which the Muslim Student Union has sponsored each spring. In the past, the week has included bloody Israeli flags and speeches delivered under signs that read “Holocaust in the Holy Land” and “Israel — the Fourth Reich.”

Many students came to dread the events, which some began to refer to as “hate week.” A few students have said they felt uncomfortable walking across campus wearing a Star of David or any other overtly Jewish symbol during the week. Some have had loud shouting matches, while others have chosen to stay home and avoid campus altogether.

By last winter, it seemed that the talk had been toned down and that much of the discomfort for Jewish students had subsided. But students said they caught wind of plans to interrupt Mr. Oren’s speech. The students who were arrested said that the protest had not been a Muslim Student Union activity, but an investigation by university officials concluded that that the group had coordinated the protest in an effort to shut down the event.

Similar outbursts have occurred during speeches by Israeli officials on other college campuses. But it appears that none prompted disciplinary actions from either the college or law enforcement officials.

But read the whole thing. After Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas filed criminal charges against the MSA's "Irvine 11," an outcry arose around the university alleging the MSA's free speech rights had been violated:

Reem Salahi, a lawyer who represented the students in their administrative hearings, said that the decision to suspend the Muslim group was “very harsh” and that prosecutors were acting in a “very selective manner.”

“It’s not only the punishment, but the vilifying of these students that’s concerning,” Ms. Salahi said. “Whether it was rude or disrespectful is not the issue, the issue is that they were trying to air their grievances in a peaceful way.”

Always the victims. Here's a radical Islamist faction that shut down the Israeli Ambassador, and when faced with the consequences we get pathetic pleading to the airing "grievances in a peaceful way." I guess that's more of the new tone of progressive politics. As long as you aren't wearing a suicide vest, no amount of thuggery will excuse you from claims of being victimized.

'I Am ... Shaken Up By the Level of Sheer Hatred I Experienced Today...'

That's Tabitha Hale, from her report yesterday on the union thugs who showed up at her place of work, "Union Thuggery Descends On FreedomWorks":

Basically, it’s ridiculous. I’m a 5′1 female in a dress, and he was standing up on a garden wall above me in the courtyard. He hardly felt threatened. I was stunned, because generally protesters are there to, you know, get their message out. They don’t normally shy away from the camera.

I’m very much okay, and very appreciative of the support from my fellow bloggers and activists today. I am, however, shaken up by the level of sheer hatred I experienced today. The look of fury on his face in the close up is appalling. I had not exchanged a word with him. He didn’t know who I was. He didn’t even know my name, what I do. He had probably surmised that I was with FreedomWorks and that was enough.

This just can’t be tolerated anymore. It’s one thing to be called a violent teabagger. It’s another to be called a violent teabagger while you’re being assaulted. They’ve been comparing themselves to the Egyptians ousting Mubarak. Looks like they’re not too far off, given that they share the tendency to assault women with cameras.

Word.

More from Red State, "Union Thugs: This Time It’s Personal…" And Glenn Reynolds has a roundup. Plus, at Da Tech Guy's, "If the goal of Unions is provocation..."

Elsewhere, Demon TBogg slurs Tabitha Hale as a "pudgy FreedomWorks Warrior For Freedom," and says she had it coming. As do the freaks at Wonkette.

Stay classy, progs.

Photo Credit: Looking at the Left, "Racism and Incivility Aimed at Tea Party in Denver."

Israeli Apartheid Week, Students for Justice in Palestine, UCLA, February 23, 2011

The recent crackdown against the Muslim Students Association at UC Irvine has obviously influenced the planning for this week's events at UCLA. The "Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA" is simply another name for the university's Muslim Students Association (MSA). Last year, MSA shouted down Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at UCI, and the university administration subsequently suspended the organization until August 31st, 2011. Plus, at UC San Diego, David Horowitz smacked down local MSA activist Jumanah Imad Albahri, who endorsed a new Holocaust for Jews in Israel. So, in an apparent effort to avoid scrutiny, the latest events at UCLA are called "Palestine Awareness Week," and the MSA is calling itself "Students for Justice in Palestine." But the Apartheid Wall hasn't had a makeover, as far as I can tell. Despite a number posters claiming "non-violent resistance," this Islamist militant with the Kalashnikov and keffiyeh belies the Muslim students' allegedly peaceful motives:

And of course, the "arch" over the wall's center opening announces the real purpose of the events, BDS: "Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: A Strategy for Israel’s Destruction."

UCLA's Daily Bruin has the background, "UCLA students hope to educate campus about human rights issues with Palestine Awareness Week." And on Facebook, Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA (SJP at UCLA).

When I first arrived I looked around and noticed two opposing groups in the immediate area. The most conspicuous were the Muslim students, although I first went over and said hello to the young folks from Bruins for Israel:

They were just hanging out, enjoying themselves. And they didn't mind being photographed at all:

It was the exact opposite with the Students for Justice in Palestine. I said hello to a couple of the young ladies, and I asked if I could speak with their lead organizer. I was pointed in the direction of a burly young man named Hamzah Baig. I introduced myself and asked if he'd take questions. He asked "Who's this for"? And I told him I was a blogger with David Horowitz's NewsReal Blog. That didn't seem to phase him at first, so the interview started out pretty casually. I asked him what the goals were for Palestinian Awareness Week. He said that the group wanted to stop Israeli settlements of Palestinian lands and to "end the occupation." Then I asked, "what occupation"? And he said "the West Bank." Okay, I thought, hmm, how about a couple of more challenging questions? So I said "Does your group support terrorism against Israelis?" And Baig practically choked on his Arafat scarf. He told me he wanted to be quoted precisely, and then enunciated very slowly, "our group provides no support for terrorism whatsoever." And I said, oh yeah? What about Hamas? Do you support them? He said, "yeah, sure." And I said, but Hamas is a known terrorist organization. I then mentioned David Horowitz's confrontation with Jumanah Imad Albahri at UC San Diego. And I noted that she wouldn't denounce Hamas and called for the extermination of the Jews. But by this time Baig was getting uptight. He said that "our group has nothing to do with the MSA at UC San Diego. They're totally separate for us." And I said, but aren't you guys MSA here at UCLA? And he said, "yeah, sure, were MSA, but we're separate." I said fine, "will you renounce Hamas right now, will your reject Hamas"? He said "we support Hamas programs of education, food and medicine." "What about terrorism"?, I said. And he again hestitated to respond. I thanked him and asked him if I could take his picture, but he refused. By now he was getting hostile at the questioning and wanted to be away from me. I said, "Why"? "This is a public event, at a public university --- why don't you want to be photographed"? And he just waved me away with his arms and said "no pictures."

I walked around a bit and took a picture of one of the Palestinian women, but then a few minutes later she ran back up to me and said, "I'm uncomfortable that you took my picture. I'm uncomfortable with that." I asked her why, but she just repeated that line, and then Baig came over and gave her the crossed-throat sign not to talk to me, again warning me not take pictures. He walked away for a while and I took a picture from a distance anyway:

I won't post the young woman's picture although she's featured at the group's Facebook page, at 8 seconds at the Palestinian Awareness Week 2010-11 video. That said, I continued to take pictures of the information table, arguing that this was a public event. I suggested to Baig that he was trying to suppress honest reporting about his organization. He alleged: "You are harassing my people." I told him he was harassing me and trying to suppress the truth. He obviously wasn't pleased at the attention to his pro-terror racket:

Arafat scarves were on sale for $10.00:

In any case, here's some photos from the wall. I was pressed for time. I had to head back to the O.C., so I wasn't able to examine the display as closely as I'd have liked. What I did notice wasn't surprising at all. It's all anti-Israel propaganda, completely one-sided, with a few sops to human rights thrown in. The Israeli Apartheid Wall is designed to influence young minds with little knowlege of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Seeing these pictures, it's a 10-to-1 bet that the uninitiated would be horrified at the "brutality," but since there's absolutely no context, it's worthless:

Again, my photography wasn't as organized as I'd like. But I did dwell on this panel featuring American Rachel Corrie, who was killed in 2003:

Corrie's a martyr to the global anti-Israel jihad, but common sense tells you not to lie down in front of a bulldozer. See, "The Case Against Rachel Corrie," and "Rachel Corrie, Again."

And here's the big Hamas panel. So much for "peaceful resistance":

Democratically-elected social workers, but of course the Students for Justice in Palestine weren't handing out copies of the Hamas Charter:

And notice Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin, founder of Hamas, assassinated by Israel, and obviously a martyr to global jihad. But according to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Yassin was the dominant authority of the Hamas leadership, which was directly involved in planning, orchestrating and launching terror attacks carried out by the organization. In this capacity, Yassin personally gave his approval for the launching of Qassam rockets against Israeli cities, as well as for the numerous Hamas terrorist bombings and suicide operations. In his public appearances and interviews, Yassin called repeatedly for a continuation of the 'armed struggle' against Israel, and for an intensification of the terrorist campaign against its citizens. The successful operation against Yassin constitutes a significant blow to a central pillar of the Hamas terrorist organization, and a major setback to its terrorist infrastructure.

That data wasn't included at the Students for Justice in Palestine information table.

And these panels must be especially repellent to Jews, "ZIONISM IS NOT JUDAISM":

A couple more photos before I head back home: And note that in all my 25 years as an undergrad, as a graduate student, and a professor, I can't ever recall this prominent of a scriptural banner on the grounds of any campus. This is along the main walk up from the Apartheid Wall. A passage from the Koran (and notice the sponsoring group in the bottom-left corner, "Muslim Union at UCLA"):

About to head out, here's the group of Muslim students. The women are wearing head coverings and red "Free Palestine/End the Occupation" shirts:

This sweet young lady said she was majoring in communications and was thinking about Jewish studies:

Looking back at the wall, on my way to the parking structure:

More later ...

Union Thug Strikes Tabitha Hale of Freedom Works

The guy's from the Communications Workers of America. This clip shows just how vicious these goons are, especially at the slow-mo replay:

Freedom Works sponsored the Blog Bash CPAC on February 11, and Tabitha Hale organized bloggers' row at the convention. This is more personal than the routine union beatings we've seen these last few years. See Michelle's post for all the details, "Video: CWA union thug strikes young female FreedomWorks activist" (via Memeorandum).

More at The Other McCain, "Thugs for Social Justice: Union Goon Gets Rough With Tabitha Hale on Video."

Anniversary of The Communist Manifesto

The anniversary was Monday, as we're reminded by this very impressive entry at Wolf Howling, "Marx & The Communist Manifesto, From Feb. 21, 1848 To Today."

And this is especially timely, considering the surge of class struggle that's gripping the country right now. As I've demonstrated to the point of exhaustion, progressives are communists. More about that from Wolf Howling:

Even as Europe moves away from socialism, Obama is trying to drive the U.S. towards the failed European economic model. Obama has set us on the road to nationalizing one sixth of our economy with Obamacare. Our government is today the majority owner of GM and Chrysler. Obama nationalized the student loan industry, ostensibly for greater efficiency. Moreover, Obama is insinuating the government deeply into our economy with a tsunami of new regulations, particularly in the areas of the environment and finance. Then there was the recent power grab to regulate the internet. Obama is ideologically committed to punishing the rich through taxes and redistributing their wealth for the 'greater good' of society. And lastly, Obama is showing a penchant for crony capitalism, picking winners and losers in the marketplace. If that is not incremental economic socialism, then nothing is.

It is not just Obama that is infected with the Marxist philosophy - it pervades the entire left wing in the U.S. The left in America today is not a monolith, but rather a mosaic of pigeon holed permanent victim groups - a toxin directly derived from Marx's oppressed / oppressor analytical framework. It is the maintenance of these 'oppressed' permanent victim groups - be they minority groups, gays, women, or public sector employees - that is the raison d'etre of the modern Democrat party. And indeed, the central financial foundation of the Democrats is taxpayer money laundered through public sector unions, the essential building block of Marx's march toward a communist utopia. This is not to say that a majority of Democrats are agitating to establish full blown socialism in America today. But it is to say that to understand our modern left and their trajectory, the first step is to read Marx. Step two is to study history in order to understand what will happen to our nation if they are allowed to pull our nation along that trajectory.

Word.

Actually, if folks are familiar with Mark Steyn's writings, I'm not quite so optimist that Europeans have completely abandoned the Marxist utopia. Germany, of course, has been especially impressive during the current phase of economic history, although Britain and France don't strike me as stoking the fires of laissez-faire capitalism. Statism and public control remain rampant. This is especially true in the Scandinavian countries, but recall that in "Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, government spending accounts for between 72 and 78 per cent of the economy." American leftists cream over such prospects, which is why Obama was touted as their savior See, "American Europeanization."

More later — the stalking communist asshats are keeping me busy!

Fleebaggers: The New Cut-and-Run Democrats

That's Michelle's latest column.

Yeah, it's gotten so bad that the progressive-socialists are now resorting to pranks and trickery in an attempt to carry the day. I'm still shaking my head at how the Kochs are so "evil," but by now it's clear that Marx's struggle against capital has fully taken hold of today's Democrat-progressive left. See Michelle, "The Howard Stern-ing of the Wisconsin Showdown." The full audio of the prank call to Governor Walker is at Memeorandum. And here's this, from ABC News, "Wisconsin Governor Pranked by Reporter Posing as Billionaire Conservative Activist":

An alt-news reporter posing as billionaire conservative activist David Koch recorded a 20-minute phone conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during which Walker reveals his strategy for breaking Democratic and union opposition to his budget.

The governor's critics said the immediate access granted to "Koch" and the length of their conversation illustrates a damning tie between outside influences and what they see as an orchestrated effort to bust unions.

The governor's office confirmed Wednesday that the voice on the tape, first posted online at BuffaloBeast.com, was Walker. But a spokesman said the call showed the governor's "appreciation for an commitment to civil discourse" and repairing the state budget.

While Walker's comments closely tracked what he has said publicly -- expressing refusal to compromise or negotiate with Democrats -- they shed new light on the tactics he has considered to discredit his opponents and move the budget process forward.

RTWT.

Obama Recruits Army of Communist Community Organizers to Carry His 'Movement Forward For Years to Come'

The story's at Los Angeles Times (via Memeorandum and Weasel Zippers):

The community organizer who became president has launched a massive pre-reelection year campaign to assemble and train an army of new community organizers to carry Obama's "movement forward for years to come."

Strengthening "our democracy" presumably has something to do with reelecting the revered leader in 2012.

However, the recruiting message says nothing about politics or election campaigns and strangely talks in military terms of "a grassroots program that aims to put boots on the ground and help foster a new generation of leaders -- not just to help win elections but to strengthen our democracy in communities across the country."

The message about what it calls the "Summer Organizing Fellowship" adds: "Effective organizing doesn't happen in a vacuum. It takes commitment, time, and hard work to build a movement around a cause." It does not specify what the "cause" is, other than promoting Obama and his agenda.

News of the community organizer drive went out in an e-mail to millions of supporters and past donors Tuesday night by the ongoing arm of the Obama campaign, Organizing for America.

It appealed for workers of all ages to volunteer to undergo professional organizational training this summer for stationing in communities all over the nation to drive President Obama's social and political agenda.

The cadres "will be assigned to a specific community," the message informs, "where they'll work to organize supporters street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood."

Their job will involve recruiting additional Obama workers, running Obama-related events, knocking on doors to talk of Obama "and lay new groundwork to carry this movement forward for years to come."

"In the end," the Obama campaign appeal says of the community organizer corps, "their work will take our grassroots power to an impressive new level."

Right.

We're already seeing how "their work" is playing out in Madison. See Matthew Vadum, "The Battle for Wisconsin is the Battle for the Future of America."

RELATED: From Ed Morrissey, "Dem Congressman tells unions that they “need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody”."

'The Mystery Shit-Talker is Dana Loesch'

Ha!

That's Amanda Marcotte taking "umberage" at Dana Loesch. I was there, by the way, and it was the freakin' best, "CPAC’s Brightest Shining Stars":

Dana Loesch, Editor in Chief of Big Journalism and radio talk show host, gave a wonderful speech about the new media and truth-telling. The greatest moment of her speech was when she went off topic and officially earned herself a target on the dart-wall of the femisogynists by declaring how hypocritical they are by declaring they are for women’s independence while at the same time demanding that Uncle Sam act like a sugar daddy and pay for their abortions and their birth control and any other goodie they “need.” This immediately sent Amanda Marcotte (the feminist messiah in question) into hateful diatribe further proving that all progressive feminists are out of their minds.)

The mystery shit-talker is Dana Loesch. I had to look her up. Unsurprisingly, she works for the Big Lie factory. It is true that we at Pandagon are not friendly to professional liars.

Don’t think the Republicans’ move to get America’s vaginas back to cherished 50s-era restrictions will end with banning abortion and restricting contraception. After that’s done, the next step is moving us back to the god-fearing age when women wore thick pads and belts. Proper ladies know that menstruation is god’s reminder that we’re evil, and should be dealt with in a way that maximizes discomfort and humiliation.

And they wonder why we think leftism is a mental disorder?

RTWT at the link.

And visit Dana Loesch at Big Journalism.

Mitt Romney — 'Believe in America'

An update to my previous entry, "RomneyCare Could Crash Romney's 2012 Ambitions." (And at Memeorandum.)

From the Romney PAC:

"I don't apologize for America because I believe in America! We believe in freedom, in opportunity. We believe in free enterprise and capitalism. We believe in the American dream. And we believe that the principles that made America the leader of the world today are the very principles that will keep America the leader of the world tomorrow. These last two years have not been the best of times. But while we've lost a couple of years, we have not lost our way." -Governor Romney, CPAC 2011

And speaking of CPAC, Skye has her concluding post, "CPAC Experience Wrap Up."

RomneyCare Could Crash Romney's 2012 Ambitions

I like Mitt Romney personally, but he fires up few people on the right, or at least among the conservatives I've talked to. So I wonder how this is going to play out? At Politico, "Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care law could flatline his 2012 ambitions" (via Memeorandum and The Fix):

Mitt Romney doesn't really want to talk about “RomneyCare,” the universal health care plan he signed into law as Massachusetts governor.

But the topic is already bubbling up in early primary states — offering a stark warning that his presidential run is likely to be haunted by unfavorable and potentially crippling comparisons between Romney's plan and President Barack Obama's sweeping national health care overhaul

The issue poses such a danger to Romney in the primaries that some Republicans think he’ll need to make a major speech to address the issue, while others are suggesting that third-party anti-Romney groups may unleash waves of negative ads in key states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina — and Florida. Romney himself barely mentioned health care in his speech at the recent CPAC gathering, almost a tacit acknowledgment of the pitfalls it presents.

"For anyone that's following the candidates, it's the No. 1 issue that I hear from conservatives who say, 'I really like Mitt Romney, but…,' and the but is about ObamaCare," said Kevin Smith, a veteran New Hampshire Republican operative who heads the socially conservative Cornerstone Action.

Whenever I mentioned I was going to CPAC, folks asked me who was speaking. And when I said "Mitt Romney," it was almost always like, "Blah, I don't like Romney very much. I like Sarah Palin." I don't dislike Romney myself, and I wouldn't be unhappy if he won the nomination, although Palin's also my first pick. In any case, check The Hill, "Survey: Romney, Huckabee in striking distance of Obama."

Communist REPSAC = CASPER Takes Umbrage?

Actually, no one's taken "umberage" at anything, since there's no such thing as "umberage." In fact, REPSAC = CASPER obviously stayed up all night writing yet another obsessive screed and blew off editing this nonsense. One passage is worth quoting here:

"As I said before, Donald and his friends are not showing these communist groups getting widespread support for their ideology ..."

Actually, I've been documenting progressive-socialist influence in American politics for years. It's threatening to people, which is why leftists continue their attempts to shut me down and destroy my livelihood. Comes with the territory. As for this notion of "not showing widespread support for their ideology," well, Americans elected Barack Obama with 53 percent of the vote, and as Stanley Kurtz has written:

The pattern of misdirection upon which President Obama’s political career has been built has its roots in the socialist background of community organizing. ACORN, Reverend Wright, and Bill Ayers were all routes into that hidden socialist world, and that is why Obama has had to obscure the truth about these and other elements of his past. More important, the president’s socialist past is still very much alive in the governing philosophy and long-term political strategy of the Obama administration.

That's how it works. Progressives from the president on down work in stealth mode with nefarious groups coordinating at different levels with hardline communist and revolutionary organizations. Again, nothing I could write would sink through REPSAC = CASPER's blinkers of hate and demonology, but the facts remain. Kurtz is probably the foremost expert on Barack Obama's longstanding socialists ties. The DEMOCRAT-PROGRESSIVE-MEDIA-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX worked overtime to subvert the truth before the 2008 election, but over and over again the president's own statements have proved otherwise. Indeed, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in his latest book, To Save America, warned that the "Democrats are trying to impose a secular-socialist machine rejected by most Americans." Stalking slimebag REPSAC = CASPER is in denial. Depending on the source, today there's roughly 80 socialist members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. REPSAC = CASPER ridicules these numbers as a WND conspiracy, but in 2002, when the party's infiltration was still growing, the Communist Party U.S.A. was pretty impressed:

Although this Caucus is not large enough to control the Congressional agenda or even to break into the media, the existence of this group of 57 members of Congress, which includes 20 members of the Congressional Black Caucus and six members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, provides an important lever that can be used to advance workers' issues and move the debate to the left in every Congressional District in the country.

EARTH to REPSAC = CASPER: These are REAL communists. These are REAL communists of the STALINIST variety. These REAL communists were financed by Moscow until Mikhail Gorbachev cut the cord in the 1980s. These REAL communists are thrilled at the growth of socialist influence in the United States Congress. So don't lie, REPSAC = CASPER. You are a communist. And you are a lying sleazeball stalker with absolutely no respect for truth or reason. I've called you out. My friends have called you out. Time to put it to bed: RETIRE AMERICAN NIHILIST!!

Teachers Speak Out Against Unions

My union sent me this today:

I'll issue a complaint with the leadership tomorrow. As I've noted a couple of times now, public unions are thugs, and they don't represent me with their far-left progressive politics. I pay over $1000 a year in dues, and the political opt-out is a measly figure, obviously not representative of how employee dues are being used to support socialist policies. And like everywhere else, my college is going through the same stuff, including pressures to increase employee contributions for health coverage. More on that later. Michelle's got the must-read post on this, "Rank-and-file teachers speak truth to prog power."

“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” – Thomas Jefferson

Since my days as a columnist for the Seattle Times, I’ve profiled courageous public school educators who have challenged the compulsory dues racket of their teachers’ unions. Here’s my 1999 column on how public school teachers in Washington state challenged their union over their political dues power grab. Here are your rights as a union worker. Here is a backgrounder on the permissible use of forced dues. As I wrote on Labor Day last year, free speech not only means the freedom to voice your political views, but also the freedom from being forced to pay for someone else’s. U.S. Supreme Court precedent established by the D.C.-based National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation guarantees the right to full financial disclosure from a union and a right to challenge the figures in court if they disagree.

On Sean Hannity’s Fox News television show last night, one of those brave teachers from the state of Ohio exposed how her union siphoned off her dues ($700 a year) to attack her husband, a GOP state legislative candidate whom the left-wing Ohio Education Association opposed:

Read it all.

And I Ran, I Ran So Far Away...

Michelle Malkin and Verum Serum were cracking me up earlier today with #Demthemesongs on Twitter.

Michelle suggested Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran":

I've been slow on keeping up with the news out of Madison, although I should have a serious update shortly. Meanwhile, at NYT, "Thousands Gather to Protest Bill in Ohio." And at Althouse, "At the Wisconsin Capitol today." Check Memeorandum as well.

More later ...

Sights and Sounds in Madison

From Founding Bloggers (via Instapundit), who note that Ann Althouse is at 1:20 minutes at the clip, seen interviewing note-writing doctors:

For anyone who wasn’t paying attention, Ann began exposing the color of these protests at least 2 days before we appeared on the scene. Her work is a standing example of how an honest individual with a blog and a camera can do the work some mainstream outlets refuse to do. And it’s not even her day job!

And Althouse continues to blog the protests, thank goodness.

RELATED: Ed Morrissey on public opinion and Wisconsin, "First WI poll shows Walker losing ground, but …" (via Memeorandum). Also, at Gateway Pundit, "America’s Governor Scott Walker: Teachers Union Wised Up that Public Is Not On Their Side (Video)."

Unions and 'Public-Sector Thugs'

I got a comment last night from M. Bouffant:

Hey, "public-sector thug," when Gov. Brown starts cutting your salary & benefits, are you going to take it?

Say, why not volunteer to give a few dollars back to cut that deficit right now? Or would that be too "collectivist?"

I've had a couple of other comments of this sort as well. Folks like this aren't regular readers here, or else they'd already have noticed my position on public unions: "'Have You or Anyone Close to You Belonged to a Union?'" I've never had issues with unions. It's progressives I have issues with, and I work with these clowns. Mostly selfish and dumb, I called out some folks at my college for their pampered privilege. At one point, of course, a third of the American labor force was unionized, and millions of God-fearing workers have benefited from collective bargaining. My good friend Reliapundit commented at the post:

DD, GREETINGS!

one of my gramps was a founding member of local 3 of the ibew.

he was a member in good standing his whole life.

65 years in the union.

marched with them every labor day.

the union was good to him.

but, he would have made more money if he had put his dues into an ira/401k and been in his own business.

his widow would have been better off. his daughters.

and his grandchildren.

the unions have outlived their need in the usa.

and another thing:

government workers should not be allowed to unionize.

fdr opposed it for good reason.

walker is right.

and christie, too.

we need to rein in afscme and the seiu.

we need to break the union-democrat party axis.

the axis of taxes.

we need to do it now.

G-d Bless You and the USA!

The "axis of taxes." I like that!

Anyway, this is a pretty common meme on the left, that conservatives are somehow hypocrites if they work in government but nevertheless oppose the idiotic public-sector thugs. Demon-blogger TBogg is endlessly smearing Glenn Reynolds for allegedly blogging Atlas Shrugs --- "going Galt" --- from the cushy confines at the University of Tennessee. No doubt hate and worthless ridicule gets these folks up in the morning. Sad.

In any case, New York Times has a related piece this morning, "Bonds in Wisconsin Begin to Fray":

JANESVILLE, Wis. — Rich Hahan worked at the General Motors plant here until it closed about two years ago. He moved to Detroit to take another G.M. job while his wife and children stayed here, but then the automaker cut more jobs. So Mr. Hahan, 50, found himself back in Janesville, collecting unemployment for a time, and watching as the city’s industrial base seemed to crumble away.

Among the top five employers here are the county, the schools and the city. And that was enough to make Mr. Hahan, a union man from a union town, a supporter of Gov. Scott Walker’s sweeping proposal to cut the benefits and collective-bargaining rights of public workers in Wisconsin, a plan that has set off a firestorm of debate and protests at the state Capitol. He says he still believes in unions, but thinks those in the public sector lead to wasteful spending because of what he sees as lavish benefits and endless negotiations.

“Something needs to be done,” he said, “and quickly.”

Across Wisconsin, residents like Mr. Hahan have fumed in recent years as tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have vanished, and as some of the state’s best-known corporations have pressured workers to accept benefit cuts.

Wisconsin’s financial problems are not as dire as those of many other states. But a simmering resentment over those lost jobs and lost benefits in private industry — combined with the state’s history of highly polarized politics — may explain why Wisconsin, once a pioneer in supporting organized labor, has set off a debate that is spreading to other states over public workers, unions and budget woes.

More at the link (via Memeorandum).

Unions. Shooting themselves in the foot while progressives blame the evil Koch billionaires. Sounds like a movie, or something.

This is What Democracy Democratic Socialism Looks Like!

The Founding Bloggers have been busy!

See, "This is What Democracy Democratic Socialism Looks Like! PART 1."

And cruise around at the blog for the updates.

And here's this regarding the video, "If Public Sector Unions Have To Contribute More To Their Retirement, All The Jews Are Going To Die!!!":

Heritage has posted a video from the Wisconsin union protests in Madison.

The basic message of the protesters: If public sector unions have to collect their own dues and members have contribute more to their own retirement and health care benefits, Jews are going to die. This is not an exaggeration either. That is their message.

Try and follow their logic: If the union is forced to collect its own dues, and the members are forced to contribute more to their own health care and retirement, then the unions will collapse. If the public sector unions collapse, it means we are repeating the playbook of Socialist Nazi Germany – ergo, the Jews are next.

Great stuff.

RTWT at the link.

Maoists in Madison?

From Matthew Vadum, at NewsReal Blog:

Former Obama White House propagandist Anita Dunn must be super duper proud. Some of her people are on the ground in Madison, Wisconsin, trying to thwart the democratically expressed will of the people of Wisconsin who demand that their state return to fiscal sanity. (More on the union goons versus Tea Party supporters in Madison here.) Dunn is the former Obama functionary who professed her admiration for Mao Zedong — then claimed it was all one big joke.

Hardy har har.

Those Maoists are funny little people — until they gain real political power. Like when the self-described “communist” and “rowdy black nationalist” Van Jones managed to find his way into the Obama White House as the administration’s green jobs czar. Now he spreads a Maoist message of anti-American hate and bigotry from his George Soros-funded perch at the leftist public relations firm known as the Center for American Progress.

More at the link.

'A Liberal Progressive Blogging Troll Accused Donald Douglas of Making Things Up, and Denied That Any Communists Were Present'

That's the Lonely Con, "Preparing for Revolution." And she adds:

As if the video above isn’t proof enough.

Well, to be accurate the video was proof only that a "pair" of communists were on hand, but it's true that REPSAC = CASPER is so blinkered by hate he literally can't think. The place was crawling with commies, as I showed at my response. And what's funny, is that the camera at the initial video focused down at the table the activists had set up. It featured Marx and Engels' The Communist Manifesto front and center (the handbook for the proletarian revolution, calling on "workers of the world" to unite), but REPSAC = CASPER nevertheless argued that since you never hear them say they're for revolution my post was a lie. Actually, I think they were selling Girl Scout cookies as well, but I didn't mention it at the post. Not enough evidence, but I'm convinced the lady was a Scout leader, she was so wholesome and all-American.

The picture pretty much sums things up, via The People's Cube:

Anyway, Bartender Cabbie's been commenting over there, calling out REPSAC = CASPER for his crazed obssession. Stalking blogs are criminal, plain and simple. This one is actually demonic.

RELATED: Some anti-communist blogging at Romantic Poet, "Socialist/Marxist Public Employees Call for Revolution in Wisconsin; Obama Shows Whose Side He is On…"

Lila Rose on Glenn Beck's

I watched this last week. Enjoy Lila Grace Rose for a little respite from the progressive evil, via Trevor Loudon, "Beck With Lila Rose and the Deadly Legacy of Margaret Sanger":

And check Live Action here.

How Did Richard Dreyfuss End Up Not Being Involved in This?

Asks Doug Powers, "Bill Clinton and George HW Bush Chair New ‘National Institute for Civil Discourse’."

Folks'll have read the whole thing at the link above. The "Jaws" star was at CPAC promoting his new civic engagement gig, "The Dreyfuss Initiative." He's seen here being interviewed by Duane Lester of All American Blogger: "All American Interviews: Richard Dreyfuss, Actor and Activist."

Progressives Complicit with Evil

Continuing along with theme, here's Keith Davies of the Walid Shoebat Foundation, "Complicit with Evil":

As Egypt and the rest of the Arab world descends into chaos we in America are either intellectually ill equipped to comprehend the problem or we are part of the problem and those that do comprehend the problem do not control the strings of power to act in a way to solve or improve the situation.

On our University campuses over the last 50 years we have seen them become places filled with ideological leftists who plan to “transform” America into a panacea of socialist Marxist practices. The result of two or three generations of churning out left wing ideologues it seems that enough students who now are regular voters over the age of 40, along with left wing leaders coming from the same ranks have grabbed the reins of power. Despite this America is still a center right country but you would never know it based on our media and power structure in Washington.

The fruits of this progressive agenda is translating into the weakest imaginable foreign policy of the Middle East and it is not as complicated as all of us “non experts” think it is. It is nice to see Glenn Beck win over some Americans who now are returning to their American heritage and other conservative media folks who are rallying to unseat a president who knows how to speak like a conservative but who acts like a far left winger in terms of his actions. However, the majority of people in America are still not paying attention to the issues despite the evidence, which shows that disaster is around the corner on many fronts.

RTWT.

It's just more "imaginary communism," I guess.

RELATED: At Blazing Cat Fur, "The New Normal In Canada: Politicians Attend Mosque That Condones Death to Apostates, Beating Your Wife."