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."

Presidents Day

I mentioned on Lincoln's birthday that the Washington Mall was "my favorite place to be in the whole United States." And I was excited to walk the mall and visit Lincoln's Memorial on the eve of his birthday. Tomorrow is Washington's birthday, and while today is the federal holiday, technically the country today celebrates our first president, and not all 44 of them. Popular culture conflated the day to include both Washington and Lincoln and political correctness rejected presidential greatness all together for historical relativism. See, Jennifer Braceras, at Boston Herald, "Presidents Day Watered Down: Not All Deserving of Such a High Honor":

In our universities, deconstructionists have taught two generations of students to reject American exceptionalism in favor of a view of America as oppressor. Rather than teach our country’s story as one of progress, these academics teach our history as a series of unfortunate events. In their view, people act only out of self-interest; heroism is a myth.

Over time, these pernicious ideas have infected the American consciousness:

Today, our leaders apologize to dictators for America’s alleged sins (see, for example, President Obama’s speech in Cairo in 2009); our historians study the past with a prurient interest in private scandal rather than public work; and our elementary schools refuse to teach students about our Founding Fathers.

Indeed, although some Massachusetts school children learn about colonial life and society, very few study Massachusetts patriots John Adams or Paul Revere or attempt to understand how these men changed the course of history.

Even fewer learn to honor Washington or Lincoln. Sadly, students today are more likely to lament that Washington owned slaves than to admire him for his humility in rejecting monarchy or a lifetime presidency. Likewise, they are more likely to describe Lincoln as a racist manic-depressive than as the “Great Emancipator” who saved our country from disintegration.

Readers will recall that I walked the Mall from Congress to the Lincoln Memorial. I stopped at the Washington Monument to reflect. This next photo is extra special. My son and I sat on this side of the monument in 2007. One can see the White House when backed up to the wall. Congress is to the east in the distance. I love it up there:

One more photo before heading back over to catch a cab back to the hotel:

Malpractice in Madison: Doctor Debacle Showcases Pathologies of the Progressive Left

That's Bill Hemmer's interview with Josiah Cantrall, who did some nice hidden-camera work with the derelict doctors in Wisconsin:

And from Doctor Zero, a guy you can trust (and I don't think he's a real doctor), "The Madison Doctor Debacle: The Pathologies of the Left Converge":

The case of the fake doctor notes is a convergence of everything that is sick and dysfunctional in liberal culture. Medical ethics went out the window in the name of politics, which corrupt everything they touch. The Left has been telling us health care and medical insurance are topics so complex that government must handle them on behalf of a hapless population… but introduce the demands of political expedience, and all that “complexity” dissolves in an instant. Trial lawyers have made millions by suing doctors, driving up health care costs and corrupting the very practice of medicine itself, by requiring “defensive medicine” that has nothing to do with science… but as soon as unions and the Democrat Party decided a show of force was needed in Madison, you had physicians marching around with hand-lettered signs that said “I’M A DOCTOR – NEED A NOTE?”

RTWT.

VIDEO HAT TIP: Gateway Pundit.

RELATED: At Althouse, "'Medical school ethics courses are...increasingly emphasizing 'social justice' over traditional notions of ethics — or the individual patient’s welfare'."

"But 'social justice' is frequently just a euphemism for a socialist political agenda of leftist politics, redistribution of wealth, and heavy state controls over the marketplace."

Says Paul Hsieh (via Instapundit) in the context of explaining those Wisconsin doctors writing excuses for protesters — and tweaking our anxieties about Obamacare.

The Wisconsin protests have shown how some doctors are seemingly willing to subvert their professional integrity to serve the political ends of government special interest groups. Under ObamaCare, when similarly trained doctors have to choose between practicing in their patient’s medical interests or in the political interests of their government paymasters, which side will they choose? And will you want this new breed of doctor taking care of you when you’re sick?

Interesting questions, but to be fair, the doctors handing out the notes were helping individuals, not burdening the individuals for the sake of the greater good.

Right. ObamaCare is burdensome, but fake work passes in Madison are helpful.

Excellent post, in any case.

See also, by Richard Pollock, "Why Obama and the Dems Blundered in Wisconsin" (via Memeorandum).

International Anarchists, Socialists and Marxists Taking Over Wisconsin

Well, no response yet from REPSAC = CASPER. Maybe the guy's actually got a job, and not with the public-sector thugs! Fact is, government employees are off today in honor of Presidents Day. It's hard out there in the government gravy-train hood. But it's even harder for hate-addled smear-merchant stalkers. As the protests continue, the full scope of the anarcho-progressive-socialist axis is emerging. For example, here's Noam Chomsky on communist Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! What's especially interesting is the question from Ryan Adserias, a grad student at the University of Wisconsin. He mentions that teaching assistants walked out, and that "undergraduates are walking out of class to show solidarity." The socialist giveaway is the guy's Arafat keffiyeh, which is now the universal fashion item for the neo-communist left's struggle against Israel and the United States:

See also, the Blaze, "Beginning of a Democracy Uprising in the U.S: Noam Chomsky Hopes Wisconsin Protest Will Be Just Like Egypt."

And while RepRascist3 remains in eternal denial, the Blaze nevertheless has more on the anarchists and progressive revolutionaries in Madison: "Blaze Exclusive: International Anarchists, Socialists and Marxists (Not Average Union Workers) Have a Substance-Fueled Rave While Taking Over Wisconsin State Capitol."

RELATED: From Ann Althouse, "Highlights of the last 8 days of following the Wisconsin protests here on the Althouse blog," and Gateway Pundit, "Republican Turncoats May Sabotage Governor Walker’s Budget Cut Plans …Updated With Contact Info …Update: WI GOP Senators to Stand With Walker." (Via Memeorandum.)

Muammar Gaddafi Flees Tripoli — Regime's Grip on Power Crumbles Amid Mounting Pressure

At London's Daily Mail, "On the run: Gaddafi flees Tripoli as protesters set the Libyan parliament building alight."

And at New York Times, "Qaddafi’s Grip on Power Seems to Ebb as Forces Retreat":

The 40-year-rule of Libyan strongman Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi appeared to teeter Monday as his security forces retreated to a few buildings in the Libyan capital of Tripoli where fires burned unchecked, senior government officials and diplomats announced defections, and the country’s second-largest city remained under the control of rebels.

Security forces loyal to Mr. Qaddafi defended a handful of strategic locations, including the state television headquarters and the presidential palace, witnesses reported from Tripoli. Fires from the previous night’s rioting burned at many intersections, most stores were shuttered, and long lines were forming for a chance to buy bread or gas.

In a sign of growing cracks within the government, several senior officials — including members of the the Libyan mission to the United Nations — announced their resignations. And protesters in Benghazi, the city where the revolt began, issued a list of demands calling for a secular interim government led by the army in cooperation with a council of Libyan tribes.

Security forces loyal to Mr. Qaddafi waved green flags as they rallied in Tripoli’s central Green Square Monday under the protection of a handful of police, these witnesses said. But they constituted one of the few visible signs of government authority around the capital.

Tripoli descended into chaos in less than 24 hours as a six day old revolt suddenly spread from Benghazi across the country and into the capital on Sunday. The revolt shaking Libya is the latest and most violent turn in the rebellion across the Arab world that seemed unthinkable just two months ago.

In a rambling, disjointed address delivered about 1 a.m. on Monday, Mr. Qaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, played down the uprising sweeping the country, which witnesses and rights activists say has left more than 220 people dead and hundreds wounded from gunfire by security forces. He repeated several times that “Libya is not Tunisia or Egypt” — the neighbors to the east and west that both overthrew their veteran autocrats in the space of the last six weeks.

The United States condemned the Qaddafi government’s lethal use of force.

Also at BBC, "Libya protests: Col Gaddafi under mounting pressure," and Hot Air, "Protestors holding Libya’s second-largest city?" (via Memeorandum).

REPSAC = CASPER: Deranged Stalking Asshat Denies Revolutionary Communists in Madison

I was rolling at CPAC last week with Skye at Midnight Blue. She told me the story of how James Casper, a.k.a. Repsac3, used to stalk her all over the Internet, tracing her online locations from comments at YouTube videos and so forth. That is beyond creepy, no doubt. But I was totally busting up when she said "That guy Casper spells his name backwards to make Repsac." And I'm laughing right now, because for all these years commenters here and about have widely suspected Repsac's moniker to represent perfectly the slithering snake slime that is James Casper. To deal with this freak is to develop cringe-inducing paroxysms simply at the thought of this radical reptile spawning more of his hate sacs of ovoviviparous* evil.

I haven't had a chance to share the story, but it turns out that Repsac3 (also known as RepRacist3 for his white supremacist eliminationism) has been trolling around the blog, and claims to have caught some big lie about the Trotskyite revolutionaries in Madison: "Donald Wets Himself In Fear of 'Cooooomunists!!!'"

As so often happens, Donald Douglas is lying, and hoping his readership is too stupid to notice...

And what was the lie? Well, the lady at the video is from the Trotskyite International Socialist Organization, and she says "I'm a public employee and so are a lot of our members." If Repsac's gonna call me out as a liar that'd be nice if he'd provide a transcript of the video. I said earlier that all of her "members" were up every morning organizing for the dictatorship of the proletariat, because, well, that's what Marxist-Leninists and Trotyskyites do. And that's called inference. Hello. But asshat RepRacist3 doesn't stop there. He goes on to deny that there were any communists in Madison beyond this "pair" of revolutionaries. Okay, well, sure. Progressives are postmodern deniers of truth and reason, but even this display of willful ignorance is quite something. The MacIver Institute made a number of Madison videos with communist activists from around the country. I thought posting one was enough, but since I have occasion, this one's worth it as well:

In some ways this one's even better. Indeed, Robert Stacy McCain wrote it up, "VIDEO: Chicago Commies in Wisconsin":

Bob Avakian’s RCP is the leading Maoist group in the U.S. RCP spinoffs include Refuse & Resist and Not in Our Name, which were important presences in the Bush-era anti-war protests.

One of my pet peeves about mainstream media coverage of those protests was how they blithely ignored the involvement of Marxist organizations, including International A.N.S.W.E.R., a front for the Workers World Party, a bizarre Trotskyite splinter group.

Every time there was a major left-wing protest in D.C., these commie groups would be out in force, and the media never reported it, whereas any time there’s a Tea Party event nowadays, the media squawk ”Koch money! Koch money!” like a fucking parrot.

Word. I think I'll sign up McCain for David Horowitz's NewsReal Blog! And if that ain't enough, perhaps the slithering slime CASPER = REPSAC might check out Trevor Loudon's report, "Communists Converge on Madison":

Every communist and socialist group in the U.S. Midwest is sending cadre to beautiful Madison, Wisconsin, in protest at Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill.

Well, yeah.

In addition to the International Socialist Organization and the Chicago Maoist contingents, the neo-Stalinist ANSWER cadres were out in force, "Eyewitness report from Wisconsin." And also in solidarity is none other than the Communist Party of the USA, "The fightback fire is being lit down below." And from the International Committee of the Fourth International, another Trotskyite offshoot, "The struggle of Wisconsin workers enters a new stage." There's even an statement from some obscure local cell, the Socialist Party of Wisconsin, "Statement on Walker’s Attack on Workers." There's more, but no need to keep linking. Lots of commies are down with the Wisconsin Dems. Seriously. The woman in the video at top says she found the events in Egypt "inspirational" --- that is, inspirational for a new American revolution. Indeed, even Jesse Jackson made similar statements!

And with that, let's go back to RepRacist3:

Let's be clear. There are communists here in America. And yes, there are some Socialists, like the pair in the propaganda video. There are probably a few Stalinists, even. Their numbers are pretty small -- (The video shows only two socialists. Given the number of folks protesting in Madison, that ought to tell you something right off the bat. If there really were "Socialist Public Employees Call[ing] for Revolution in Wisconsin," you can be sure that Donald and his fellow union-busters would've showed you as many as possible, being as vehement as possible. They came up with two twenty-somethings handing out flyers and newspapers and talking about the rights of workers.) -- and for the most part, they're discussing ideas, not committing (or even contemplating) violent "Stalin-like" acts of any kind.

I'm being indulgent, since it's frankly not going to make much difference to someone who refuses to acknowledge objective reality. I guess there's some epic comedy value in this, at any rate. RepRacist3 made the exact same argument after last year's "One Nation" rally, which saw dozens of individual socialist organizations participating: "Progressives March on Washington for 'One Nation Working Together' — Thousands Rally in Support of Socialist Agenda." And from Looking at the Left, "Democrats, Union Workers, and Communists Rally Together in Washington":

The lines between the Democratic Party, labor unions, socialist and communist organizations, were blurred at the One Nation Working Together rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday. Organized by One Nation Working Together, which is headed by the cream of the Democratic National Committee, the rally was a sort of coming out moment for the radical leftist base of the Democratic Party.

Exactly.

I've been blogging about the Democrat Party's progressive-socialist base for years. I had a series on this back in 2008, six months before Barack Obama was elected, which has been substantiated by events: "No Enemies on the Left? Progressives for Barack Obama." And checking the links you'll see REPSAC = CASPER flailing away in denial that long ago. It's pretty sad. At least a half-dozen books have been written since Obama took office, outlining the hardline socialist contingents that have propelled this regime to power. Gallup did a poll of ideology last year and found a majority of Democrats evincing a positive view socialism. And a Pew survey at the same time found 43 percent of Americans under 30 supporting socialism, which was equal to those with a favorable view of capitalism. These young folks identifying with socialism are among the same youth cohorts that activated the college-level OFA groups that wedged the Democrats into office in 2008.

So, let's be clear: Today's Democrat Party base includes a large segment of communists and socialist-progressives. There were roughly 80 socialists serving as Democrats in the 111th Congress. The State of Wisconsin is one of most progressive states in American history, and thus it's no surprise that militant factions positioned Madison for a showdown against capital. So, again, I'm not going quibble with REPSAC = CASPER, who was widely ridiculed on bloggers' row at CPAC. He's crazy, frankly, and dangerous. And he's distorting what I said about the International Socialist Organization and he's lying about the absence of communists in America. They're all around. And if it weren't for bloggers like myself and others willing to expose these domestic enemies for what they are, the forces of leftist totalitarianism would be making even greater inroads. Conservatives will continue to have their work cut out for them, and I'll keep fighting these demons, despite the repeated attempts of idiots like RepRacist3 et al. to shut down this blog.

* I had the wrong reptilian terminology there. In Repsac's world that me makes me a congenital liar, so this addendeum sets the record straight.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi Raises Danger of Islamist Regime in Egypt

I saw this the other day at New York Times, "After Long Exile, Sunni Cleric Takes Role in Egypt." Folks will want to read it all, although this passage is telling:

An intellectual inspiration to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Sheik Qaradawi was jailed in Egypt three times for his ties to the group and spent most of his life abroad.

Otherwise, the Times paints al-Qaradawi as largely moderate, with his extremism toward Israel and the U.S. painted as legitimate resistance. But William Jacobson's having none of it, "NY Times Whitewashes Return of Anti-Semitic Egyptian Cleric." And linked there is MEMRI's coverage of al-Qaradawi's speech Friday:

In a special mention of the Palestinian issue, Al-Qaradhawi asked the Egyptian army to open wide the Rafah crossing and to pray for the re-conquest of Jerusalem by the Muslims, so that he and the Muslims could pray in security at Al-Aqsa Mosque. This part of his sermon was cheered and applauded by the crowd.

This is exactly what the Israeli government feared, and possible developments like this were discounted by the most euphoric advocates of regime change. William has more on that, "The Yuppie Revolution In Egypt Is Over, The Islamist Revolution Has Begun" (via Memeorandum). Check the discussion there. What's especially interesting is how Google's executive Wael Ghonim, who was widely feted by the press during the protests, was shuffled to the sidelines Friday by al-Qaradawi's security.

Blazing Cat Fur has this video, which is chilling:

And events seem to be proving Barry Rubin prophetic. See, "Egypt Gets its Khomeini":

Up until now, the Egyptian revolution generally, and the Brotherhood in particular, has lacked a charismatic thinker, someone who could really mobilize the masses. Qaradawi is that man.

Friday, February 18 may be a turning point in Egyptian history. On that day Yusuf al-Qaradawi spoke to a giant cheering crowd in Tahrir Square.

He praised the army – to ward off it’s repression and to encourage it to support a transformation of the country.

He preached caution and patience, working with the army.

And he also lavished praise on the pro-Islamist chairman of the committee to write the new constitution, which may not be a good sign at all.

There is one easily missed word in his speech that is the most significant. That word is “hypocrites.” In the Islamist lexicon, hypocrites means Muslims who do not practice “true” Islam according to the radicals. To take Egypt out of the hands of “hypocrites” is to put it onto the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood – or at least similarly minded people – which, contrary to the best and the brightest policy makers, intelligence analysts, experts and journalists, is not a moderate organization.

History may show that while president Jimmy Carter may have “lost” Iran, one of his successors may have helped give away Egypt. Is that alarmist? I hope so.

Watch and see.

As so often happens, Israel will be left to pay the bill ...

Yep. Chilling.

More at the link.

RELATED: At Power Line, "Bad Vibrations From Cairo."

'Have You or Anyone Close to You Belonged to a Union?'

That's Ezra Klein's "Weekend question":

Almost forgot! Have you or anyone close to you belonged to a union? How did that change your impressions of organized labor in general?

Well, I'll tell ya, Ezra, not only do I belong to a union, but my local faculty association is affiliated with the NEA, which has been flooding my college inbox with crap like this: "Workers are Under Attack: Stand with Educators Fighting for Their Rights!"

Workers across the nation are under attack as governors and state legislatures seek to decimate collective bargaining rights and slash pensions and health care benefits. Wisconsin Governor Walker wants to silence educator voices. He has refused to negotiate with educators, who have repeatedly, publicly stated their willingness to sacrifice for the good of the state and the future of their students. For educators, this fight is not about pay and benefits – it is about the right to be heard.

At the statehouse and online, public school supporters are sending a message that cannot be ignored. As tens of thousands march in solidarity in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and Idaho, countless others prepare to fight in other states.

Well, where to begin, Ezra?

Let's start with how does this "change my impressions" of organized labor? That's easy: I'm embarrassed. "Workers" aren't under attack. Perhaps teachers are, to be specific, and that's only if one accepts the NEA's martial language; but as many commentators have pointed out, teachers --- as part of the larger public-sector unionized labor force --- are extremely well-compensated relative to those in the private sector. See, "Wisconsin and the crisis of public sector pay":

Public employees earn more than their private-sector counterparts. This is true from Washington on down. Federal employees earn an average of $120,000 in pay and benefits, double the private sector average. The disparity is less at the state level, but in Wisconsin the average full-time state employee earns over $70,000 in pay and benefits, about $15,000 more than the average private-sector employee.

More at the link (especially the discussion of public-sector retirement systems).

But staying with Ezra's query, not only are public-sector unions an embarrassment, they're a moral cancer on our society. Just look at the lies evident at that NEA newsletter above. Gov. Walker is not "refusing to negotiate" with educators. In fact, repeatedly over the past few days he's been demanding that labor's Democrat representatives in the state legislature return to the Capitol to perform their duty to the people. Indeed, we're to the point that it's the Democrat-progressives who are risking the livelihoods of state workers. See, "In Wisconsin Budget Protest, Demonstrators Vow to Stay in Capitol While Democrats Refuse to Return." And of course, some officials --- like fleebagger Wisconsin State Senator Jon Erpenbach --- are in bed with organized labor, especially the Wisconsin Education Association Council and the state's AFL-CIO affiliates. This is thug politics in Madison. The voters sent a message to the state government and the Democrat-Labor axis has repudiated it. Not only that, as we've seen over and over, Wisconsin teachers couldn't care less about students. They've abandoned them and many have wrongfully obtained fraudulent doctor's notes so that they don't lose their pay. It's like a Third World kleptocracy, and all backed by the Democratic National Committee and the Obama SEIU-OFA jackboots:

And these creeps are now planning a nationwide shakedown tour. Oh joy. The SEIU will be in Sacramento this week to badger the governor and the state legislature. And while Wisconsin's in the news today, what happens in California will also have dramatic national implications. The Wall Street Journal has a report, "Public-Pension Fight Surfaces in California." The state needs to close a $26.6 billion budget deficit, and yet another governor has proposed sending an initiative to the voters to approve tax increases. These folks just don't get it. Schwarzenegger tried the same thing repeatedly, only to fall flat on his face. The state lays out $6 billion in annual pension expenditures, but organized labor says that pensions shouldn't be on the table:

Several big unions argue that the time isn't right for a pension overhaul, including some that helped block efforts along those lines by former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They worry that union members would have to pay significantly higher costs to fund their pensions, among other things.

Governor Brown wants to increase public employees' contributions and extend retirement age eligibility. Will big labor's street thugs be protesting in Sacramento with Governor Brown-as-Hitler paraphernalia? I'm not holding my breath, given that Gov. Walker's a Republican. Besides, my money's on Gov. Brown caving to the Democrats' neo-communist "solidarity" constituency.

And that brings me back to Ezra Klein. My local faculty union just finished contract negotiations. I work with a number of wonderful people, but among the union as a whole, the degree of pampered privilege and selfishness was stunning. Professors Velvet Pearson, Janét Hund, and Mike Zugates published a letter to the editor at the Long Beach Press-Telegram in December, "LBCC Shortcomings":

Student success was once an LBCC priority, but the new priority is to fund huge increases in bureaucratic bloat. Students have been turned away because course offerings have been reduced by 12 percent. Part-time teachers have been laid off and full-time teachers have been furloughed, which amounts to a pay cut.

Folks can read the whole thing. The college administration does indeed often behave like royalty, but the faculty union could make little headway, since while resisting administration's efforts to increase employee benefit contributions, workers in the larger Long Beach community were facing double-digit unemployment and teachers at Long Beach Unified were sustaining mass layoffs. After some of my union members Photoshopped College President Eloy Oakley with an ugly caricature (he was lampooned as a liar with reference to former Bill Clinton's Lewinsky scandal), I e-mailed my colleagues a copy of The New Yorker's, "State of the Unions," with this quotation highlighted:

The hostility to labor is most obvious in the attacks on public-sector workers as what Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s former governor, calls “exploiters”—cosseted, overpaid bureaucrats whose gold-plated pension and health plans are busting state budgets

It goes without saying that I'm persona non grata at union organizing meetings. I embody the exact ideological opposite of many of the top union activists who fancy themselves at the barricades of the '60s-era social transformations.

In any case, Matthew Yglesias responded to Ezra Klein, and he admits he hasn't got the foggiest idea of what it's like to be a union member on the front lines of the budgetary battles:

I’m generally speaking an out-of-touch pointy headed elite, but as it happens throughout my life my father has been a union member.

Isn't that swell. His dad was in the writers' guild no less, part of the AFL-CIO it seems. Labor battles are a vicarious experience for the left's dumbest blogger, quite unlike Ann Althouse, who's been on the ground in Madison, and who has indicated that she's liable to lose $10,000 in annual income should Gov. Walker's budget be approved:

It really is odd that Wisconsin became ground zero, because we didn’t have the budget disaster that was going on conspicuously in some of the other states. I’m really trying to understand this. Why Wisconsin? A distinctive thing about us is how good our public employees’ benefits are. The cut we — I’m one of them — are being asked to take is severe. (I’m looking at a loss of more than $10,000 a year, myself.) But it’s hard to complain and appear sympathetic, because we’re only being asked to go from paying 0.2 percent of our salary into our pension fund to 5.8 percent, which probably looks astoundingly low to outsiders. We’re being asked to pay more for our health insurance, but the coverage is extremely good, and the annual hit will be about $2,500 ...

"Only being asked ..."

Exactly. These are moderate reforms, which would restore more fiscal accountabilty to the teacher sector in Wisconsin.

So, Ezra, I'd say unions pretty much blow chunks. They're mostly sleazy neo-commies who couldn't give a Flying V for the public good, and in the case of Wisconsin teachers, the children they've been hired to serve.

RELATED: Poor Freddie de Boer, he wants us to feel sorry for him: "What's Before Us."

Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Maschek, Iraq War Hero, Heckled at Columbia Over ROTC

I got the heads up on this first from Dana at CSPT, "The students at Columbia University have an absolute right to express their opinions ... and so do I: some of them are worth less than the remnants of dinner I flushed down the toilet this morning."

Dana's reporting on this from New York Post, "Hero's unwelcome: Wounded Iraq vet jeered at Columbia

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

"Racist!" some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

"It doesn't matter how you feel about the war. It doesn't matter how you feel about fighting," said Maschek. "There are bad men out there plotting to kill you."

I'm speechless, really. I don't know --- and I can't identify with --- some of my fellow Americans anymore.

See the additional commentary at Black Five, "Columbia University brings shame and dishonor to the Ivy League." And at JammieWearingFool, "Classy: Columbia Douchebags Heckle Wheelchair-Bound Purple Heart Iraq War Vet." (Via Memeorandum.)

'Walker Pneumonia'

RightKlik offers a hilarious take on Wisconsin, at Left Coast Rebel, "ObamaQuacks for America." It's a great story. More at Founding Bloggers, "BREAKING: Andrew Breitbart Contracts “Walker Pneumonia” In Madison, Wisconsin!" (via Memeorandum):

Plus, Dana Loesch hammers Karoli at Crooks and Liars (who yesterday I suggested was in the running for the left's dumbest blogger): "Crooks and Liars Blogger Concocts Another Whopper."

Also, at Pundit & Pundette, "'The Left is reacting with all the grace of an alcoholic denied the bottle'." And following the links, Old Linkmaster Smith is in the game: "Troglo for Senate."

RELATED: Robert Costa at National Review, "Walker: ‘We are willing to take this as long as it takes’."

Wisconsin Protests: 'A Massive Onslaught Against Democracy'

There's a lot of things I hope to blog about today, but Wisconsin's so compelling it's hard to resist. My good friend Dave Mangan has "Thoughts on the Wisconsin Protests," where he notes:

This is a massive onslaught against democracy by a self-absorbed and decaying collection of elites in the coastal states who want to halt GOP gains illegally and by violent means, if necessary.

And don't miss Ed Morrissey's epic roundup, "Pictorial: Protest Saturday in Wisconsin." In the dozens of tea parties I've attended, I can't recall seeing such repulsive signs:

Of course the payoff will be the Democrats' utter destruction from the fallout. The Hill has this, for example, "DNC chairman: Wisconsin governor waging war on public workers" (via Memeorandum):

RICHMOND, Va. -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine laid into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) Saturday night, telling a crowd of Democratic activists that what's happening in that state amounts to a declaration of war on public workers.

Speaking at the Virginia Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, Kaine said the ongoing budget battle and wide scale protests in Wisconsin reveal the true priorities of GOP governors across the country.

"Governors and others in state houses across this country on the Republican side have decided what they want to do is wage a war against their own employees," Kaine said Saturday night. "Against public employees who are teaching our kids, who are caring for our parents in nursing homes, who are patrolling our neighborhoods."

Through Organizing for America, the DNC's campaign arm, the national committee has been helping support some of the ongoing protests in Wisconsin, offering transportation to rallies and promoting the efforts through phone banking and other outreach.

For the life of me, I'm trying to figure out the upside on this.

Michelle reports that the SEIU has a national thuggery tour planned for next week: "Get ready: SEIU’s Purple Army nationwide protest schedule; teachers’ unions pressure members to show “solidarity”." Showing solidarity? As in Trotskyite international solidarity, no doubt. Thankfully, bloggers are providing on-the-ground reporting that's bypassing Democrat-Media-Industrial-Complex coverage. Althouse, of course, has more incredible blogging, and definitely click through for the picture here: "'Walker — can I 'modestly' kick you in the nuts'." TrogloPundit has great coverage as well: "Madison, Wisconsin, duelling protests: the picture dump." Plus, Little Miss Attila has the roundup of bloggers on hand: "More News from the Front Lines in Madison."

I'll have more later. Meanwhile, check POWIP for some analysis, "Some Recent Historical Context for Wisconsin-Union Dispute." And The Other McCain, "The Real Deal in Madison" and Pejman Yousefzadeh, "Everyone Should Have Seen This Coming."

UPDATES at MEMEORANDUM as well.

Added: At Gateway Pundit, "NY Times Shows Photo of MASSIVE RALLY in Wisconsin… It Was a Tea Party Shot."