To strengthen union numbers, change the focus; Obama administration protects jobs for illegals over citizens; Let the US Days of Rage Begin 9/17/2011; Is Barack Obama eligible?; Gospel calls on individuals to help the poor, not government; US mosques raise funds for Hezbollah; Dem fundraiser arrested; Natarajan Venkataram sorry he stole millions from funds to id trade center remains; Obama trying to avert confrontation with Palestine at UN; Michelle's food oasis not panning out;

Happy Labor Day to all!   Work hard to keep America the land of the free..............
 
The Daily Caller writes about declining numbers of union members: To reverse their decline, unions have turned to the political process. Their top priority was the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act,” which would abolish secret ballots in union organizing elections. That would have let union organizers know precisely who did and who did not support them — enabling them to pressure holdouts to change their minds. Fortunately, Congress declined to go along.
Now the union movement is attempting to accomplish the same goal through regulation. Obama’s appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are radically rewriting labor regulations to facilitate union organizing.
The NLRB filed charges against Boeing for opening a new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. It also gave the green light for the formation of “micro-unions,” which represent small groups of a business’s workers. The NLRB will soon implement snap elections that will take place as soon as 10 days after organizing drives begin, giving management little time to make its case.

Unions should instead focus on providing workers with the tools they need for a competitive economy. Unions could provide job training, skill certification, career networking opportunities, and financial and retirement advice. They could help workers start up their own businesses and become their own bosses.
Such a union movement, creating value for workers, would not need the government to boost its membership. Unions would grow as workers saw the benefits they provided. That would be something everyone could celebrate come Labor Day.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/04/how-unions-can-reverse-their-decline/#ixzz1X4rp8YjZ

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The New York Post writes: How badly have interest-group politics distorted Obama administration economic policy? Well, the Labor Department is now zealously protecting the workplace rights of illegal aliens even as it shuts down avenues for people to come to America and work legally.
You see, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has to serve both the liberals’ ideological fixation on illegals and labor unions’ hostility to any competition.
So there she was at a signing ceremony last Monday, declaring, “No matter how you got here or how long you plan to stay, you have certain rights. You have the right to be safe and in a healthy workplace and the right to a legal wage... [This is part of] our shared commitment to protect the labor rights of migrant workers.”

Questioned later about whether she meant to include illegal workers, she was adamant. “I protect all workers here in this country,” she told a Daily Caller reporter. “I have a vested interest in protecting all workers that work here in the US -- period.”
The terrible irony about Solis’ support for workers here illegally is her department’s distaste for legal workers.
Almost Solis’ first act on becoming labor secretary in 2009 was to stop the streamlining of the visa-application process for temporary agricultural workers (visa category H2-A). Farmers who depend on seasonal migrant workers were livid: Solis’ change has (quite predictably) skyrocketed the cost -- in both time and money -- of getting an already-limited number of legal migrant workers.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/boosting_only_illegal_labor_bmGaUvREgO3dxKMC3tAM2I#ixzz1X4tNzlbV

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Human Events reports: Sept. 17, 2011: Day 1 of Anarchists' Attempt to Ignite America

A “flash point” in law enforcement terms is “a point at which someone or something bursts suddenly into action or being.”  One such point sits just ahead on the horizon in America, with various leftists and anarchists preparing to mobilize all their reserves for a burst into action beginning on and around Sept. 17.

The goal appears to be to bring the Arab Spring and European-style mob action stateside.  While various websites related to the events call for “peaceful” protests against government and business, the website names contain words such as “rage” and “revolution.” http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45958

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vision to America reports: A new poll of Republican voters in the early primary state of South Carolina suggests the question of Barack Obama’s eligibility is no fringe issue, as 65 percent of those polled question whether the current occupant of the Oval Office was even born in the U.S.  http://visiontoamerica.org/3805/astounding-percentage-in-early-primary-state-question-obama-eligibility/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vision to America writes: The Gospel narratives do not call on the Roman Empire to help the poor except by limiting the State’s power (Luke 3:13–14; Matt. 22:21). Jesus makes it clear that it’s individuals at the local level who are to help the poor:
The local administration of charity is crucial. It ensures that funds go to those who are truly needy, rather than to professional paupers. The charitable aspects of the tithe did not mean simply a handout to everyone who lined up. Charity is to be dispensed by responsible leaders of the covenant community who are in daily contact with the needs of the people. The general principle still holds: those who won’t work don’t eat. Those who attempt to live by a welfare ethic are quickly exposed in a locally-administered program, and will be unable to get away with “mooching.” Even in charity, God’s law teaches responsibility. http://visiontoamerica.org/3790/taxing-the-rich-hurts-the-poor/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patriot Update opines: Allegations that mosques now are raising funds for Hezbollah come from Sam Bazzi, director of the Islamic Counterterrorism Institute and others.
He reports he’s been in mosques and has seen how the fund raising works.
“They are contributing to Hezbollah indirectly because every Shi’a Muslim has to pay a 20 percent yearly tax on their savings. This goes basically to the clerics as a donation,” he said.
“They (the clerics) send the money to Lebanon to their bank accounts and when they go to Lebanon in the summer on vacation, they take that money and give it to Hezbollah,” he said. “That’s customary; they all do it. In fact they do more than that. The clerics also give donations that are not mandatory in the religious law.” http://patriotupdate.com/11756/investigators-warn-terror-support-comes-from-inside-u-s
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orange County Register reveals: A prominent Democratic campaign treasurer who works for federal, state and O.C. lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Loretta Sanchez and state legislators Lou Correa and Jose Solorio has been arrested by the FBI on suspicion of mail fraud, The Orange County Register has learned. http://www.ocregister.com/news/durkee-315349-campaign-county.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New York Daily News writes: Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks, ex-city worker Natarajan Venkataram says he’s sorry he stole millions of dollars meant for identifying the remains of trade center victims.
He’s just not sorry enough to turn over $400,000 sitting in his bank account in India.

The city medical examiner’s office got millions of dollars from the feds to help identify the remains of nearly 3,000 victims.

Venkataram, then a manager dealing with the medical examiner’s computer system, and his girlfriend, Rosa Abreu, siphoned off millions via shell companies and fake contract bids.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/09/04/2011-09-04_city_worker_jailed_for_stealing_10m_from_fund_to_identify_911_remains_still

_hold.html#ixzz1X4oU7FPi

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lexis Nexis reports: The Obama administration has begun a last-ditch diplomatic campaign to avert a confrontation this month over a Palestinian plan to seek recognition as a state at the United Nations, but it may already be too late, according to senior American officials and foreign diplomats.

The administration has privately made it clear to Mr. Abbas that it will veto any request that comes before the U.N. Security Council to make a Palestinian state a new member outright. But the United States alone does not have enough support to block a vote by the General Assembly to elevate the current status of the Palestinians' nonvoting observer ''entity'' to that of an nonvoting observer state. http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=25102&docId=l:1492175491&isRss=true&Em=4

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Chicago Tribune reports on the effectiveness of Michelle Obama's great idea to bring fresh foods to all inner city neighborhoods, even fighting for our taxpayer dollars to pay for them:  Maywood Market opened with great fanfare, billed as an oasis amid a "food desert" in this west suburb, where fresh fruits and vegetables were hard to find. Despite the hopes of community leaders and health advocates, one item remains in short supply more than a year later — shoppers pushing carts brimming with food. (Snip) The study found that easy access to supermarkets wasn't linked to greater consumption of healthful foods such as produce, low-fat foods or lean meats and whole grains.

On a recent day, the well-stocked aisles were virtually empty, the only sound was the soft hum of the refrigeration system.

With about 75 percent of its population African-American and 20 percent Latino, Maywood is a microcosm for the food desert problem playing out in urban areas across the country. The local market is struggling to find customers even as first lady Michelle Obama and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, among others, have tried to draw attention to the issue. http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-maywood-market-20110905,0,2594013,full.story
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------