Michigan Education Association Creates "Job Action" Efforts; School Budgets Only 5% Lower; Union Compares Michigan Powers for Emergency Managers Slavery; W. Bloomfield Teachers got 173% Raise in 11 Years, and 40% Still Don't Show Up For Work; Can We Talk About Unions (my column); Restraining Order on Wisconsin; Joe Biden Shocks; Huffington Writers Bargain for Rights; Brazil Not in Love With Obama

Conservatives protesting......

From Michigan Capitol Confidential: The president of the Michigan Education Association, Iris Salters, said Thursday that a letter she sent out asking members to give the MEA the authority to initiate a “job action” was not calling for a strike. The letter states that on March 11, the MEA board of directors voted unanimously in favor of several actions the MEA would be taking to “ratchet up our efforts” around the “ongoing legislative crisis.”
The letter from Salters goes on to state: “Let me be clear on what this vote means. It authorizes MEA to engage in significant activities — up to and including a work stoppage — that will increase the pressure on our legislators.”
The Michigan Employment Relations Commission is responsible for determining if a strike takes place. If teachers are found to have participated in an illegal strike, state law states they would lose pay for the day and the local union would be fined $5,000.  http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14762
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And more: “The executive budget lowers school district revenue by less than five percent,” Hohman wrote in an e-mail. “At that level, it’s not likely that you’ll see a lot of districts go into state receivership. These bills actually do the opposite of taking over schools — they encourage districts to fix their own problems. School districts spend most of their money on unionized employees. The power to rework union contracts is a powerful incentive for union officials to come to the negotiating table so as to stave off financial emergencies.”
As to the impact of the per-pupil cut, Van Beek has examined the issue in a report on common school funding myths, released in December.
“Michigan taxpayers transfer a greater proportion of their income to public schools than all but two states, http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14759
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Yet more: During a Tuesday union rally in Lansing against a bill that would give new powers to appointed emergency managers, the president of a state teachers’ union compared the legislation to slavery.
"It's again a way to say to labor, ‘you don't count,’” said Iris Salters, president of the Michigan Education Association.  “It's a way to say to employees: ‘get back.’ I believe it's just like being in the slave days.” http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14735
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They are full of good information: The total compensation of a West Bloomfield school teacher grew 173 percent over an 11 year period, going from $47,346 to $129,637.
[Wow!  Who among us doesn't wish WE could demand this increase in pay from our fellow taxpayers?]  Meanwhile, insurance payments climbed from $9,309 to $19,304 per year, and retirement contributions jumped from $3,717 to $16,854 per year.
“Whether it’s sustainable or not is up to the district.”
About 40 percent of the West Bloomfield High School teachers didn’t show up for work on Feb. 15 in the midst of bitter contract negotiations. http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14225
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Here is my latest column for Examiner.com:  Can we talk about unionized workers?
Directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics comes verification that in 2010, union
membership rates among all American workers was 11.9 percent, having fallen from 20% in 1983.
Membership has fallen from 17.7 million to 4.7 million.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
Those who work in the private sector number just 7% of unionized workers. Is it any wonder that
public unions are desperately working to keep forced unionization, to keep those hundreds of
millions of dollars in dues which will then be spent to get Democrats elected? That money can be
better used to raise the take-home pay of workers, leaving them free to select whichever politician
to support, if any at all.
The ability to negotiate wages is the least of their concerns, as those with no labor union
to negotiate their salaries are being fairly compensated in order for companies to retain the best
talent. Keeping high dues is far more important to the unions' power. In a new indication of their
desperation, Labor News touts a new seminar in Wisconsin on April 1 and 2 titled "Madison
Troublemakers School". The "school" will "build on the protests, protect what we have--and lay the
foundation to fight for more". It is pointed out:"led by experienced labor activists, our
workshops will explore strategies to fight back and give you the hands-on skills to make it happen."
http://www.labornotes.org/madison
  I wonder if our "community-organizer-in-chief" will at least make a statement via satellite, or give a lecture on the subject he has learned so well from Saul Alinsky, since he failed to put his own boots on the ground there as he had promised.  He has been taught, after all, that no serious crisis should ever go to waste.  Perhaps President Obama might just lead the country in affirming that 12% of our American workers shall not rule the rest of America, nor threaten governments and individuals who are doing their jobs.  On the other hand, he does pick Ohio State to win its NCAA Tournament Division......

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Madison Troublemakers School - Traverse City Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-traverse-city/madison-troublemakers-school#ixzz1GxobGku2
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National Review writes: Is anyone surprised that a local judge has issued a temporary restraining order against . . . well, against Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican party of Wisconsin? Yes, a mighty jurist in Dane County with the Dickensian name of Maryann Sumi has halted publication of the new law restricting collective-bargaining privileges for the state’s public-sector unions until she can rule on its merits.

Welcome to Election 2012, the preview edition.
As I’ve been saying, Wisconsin is a test-case battleground for the special forces and new weapons that each side will bring to bear next year. Okay, make that one side, since the Republicans continue to play by the old rules — you know, contesting and winning elections, passing laws, stuff like that — while the Democrats deploy their fleets of teachers, cops, firemen, and lawyers like Panzer divisions. For the Party of Alinksy — the unholy offspring of ’30s machine-politics gangsters and ’60s Marxist radicals — there is no tactic too thuggish, no argument too ridiculous, and no thing they will not attack, including the very legitimacy of the system that gave them their law degrees.
Right now, Republicans should be worrying less about who their standard-bearer will be next year — my short list is down to two, who will make swell running mates — and start hunting for field commanders with a firm grasp of tactics, a sense of audacity, a healthy respect for their opponents’ capabilities, and an absolute contempt for their ethos.  [The principle here is important, as three groups of attorneys have called it a special session which does not require the same rules to be followed.  During this restraining order, the unions are given even more time to rewrite contracts prior to the law being enacted.  However, the legislature needs to reconvene to take a new vote - and see if the Democrats once again flee the state.]   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262510/and-wisconsin-michael-walsh
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National Review writes: Vice President Joe Biden has many talents, but a sense of irony doesn’t seem to be one of them. Witness his conference call with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.

In the first minute, he tells thousands of labor activists how much his political career owes to the muscle of the labor movement and how there is a quid pro quo — right before touting the Obama administration as a neutral referee in the labor fights around the country.
Then, the vice president assures his listeners that the administration sees “the absolute positive necessity of collective bargaining” — without mentioning, of course, that federal workers are denied that very same collective bargaining.
Much worse, he says that the people who worked at the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board during the Bush administration were “wearing black shirts.”
Whatever was the vice president referring to? We’ve asked his office for a clarification, but have received no response in the past four hours. His office owes those people either an explanation or an apology, lest they believe that a sitting vice president of the United States meant to compare the people who worked in the last administration to Benito Mussolini’s paramilitary brutes.  Vice President Biden also called Republicans (or conservatives, at least) “barbarians.
There is a regretful tendency in Washington to dismiss what the vice president says with a shrug and say, “Biden will be Biden.” But Mr. Biden is not some loveable if overeager golden retriever who will overturn the china from time to time or do something worse to the carpet. He’s our vice president, and some decorum should be expected.  [I must add that more than decorum is the law.  Biden vowed to uphold the laws of America, and not to choose among us as to who "wins" his favor.]   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262543/no-biden-will-be-biden-free-pass-veep-michael-gonzalez
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Daily Caller writes: A strike called by unpaid Huffington Post contributors received a major boost Wednesday with a call to arms released by the national Newspaper Guild.
The industry association called on contributors not currently on strike to cease contributions and asked members to help by “shining a light on the unprofessional and unethical practices of this company.”
The Newspaper Guild boasts 26,000 members and is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The CWA is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.  [I wish to point out here that I don't believe the unpaid writers for Huffington Post are unionized - and yet they are negotiating for better conditions.  Funny how that can work.]

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/17/newspaper-guild-huffington-post-strike/#ixzz1H330Cq8y

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Politico writes:  [But wait, doesn't all the world by now just love us due to Obama's willingness to decry the power of America?] Brazilians protesting the imminent visit of President Barack Obama  struck the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro with a Molotov cocktail Friday, prompting police to respond with rubber bullets, according to local news accounts.
The crowd was protesting U.S. participation in enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, local reports said. While the demonstration outside the U.S. consulate didn't last long, some reports said protests in other parts of the city lasted longer.  http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0311/wheres_the_welcome_mat_4e386e9e-daa9-484a-beb2-31860544f244.html

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Forbes writes:  Police major Fabio Alessandro of the 13th Batallion of Rio’s military police said that the protestors, all left leaning social movements associated with the Socialist Workers Party, PSTU, did not have a permit to protest near the consulate along Avenida Rio Branco and had refused to disperse from the area. They wore the ubiquitous Che Guevera T shirt and carried American flags that said Go Home Obama. What is most ironic about the Brazil protests is that the PSTU is a hard core socialist party in Brazil. While anti-Obama protests in the US consider Obama a socialist, the socialists in Brazil consider him a yankee capitalist, the bane of the Latin American left.  http://blogs.forbes.com/kenrapoza/2011/03/18/rubber-bullets-fly-at-anti-obama-protest-in-rio-o-globo-reports/

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Forbes writes: Another complaint was that Obama wanted Brazilian president from the Workers Party, Dilma Rousseff, to sell Brazil’s newfound oil to the US. One of the world’s largest deep sea oil discoveries was made by Brazilian oil company Petrobras in the so called Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin off the coast of Rio back in November of 2007.
The US is interested in importing oil from Petrobras, and Obama has said as much. But the US has no powers over Petrobras, which is majority owned by the Brazilian government and intent on servicing local oil needs.  [It was the Import-Export Bank during President Bush's Administration which extended a $2 billion loan to Brazil for their deep-water drilling for oil.  The purpose was to encourage Brazil to purchase American goods.  It was declared to "not be a  downpayment to ensure future oil purchases by the United States", although China was given a contract to buy a large percentage of their oil.  I ask how our government could be so short-sighted and stupid as to not have tied into the loan some advantage to us.] http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/braziloil.asp 

http://blogs.forbes.com/kenrapoza/2011/03/18/rubber-bullets-fly-at-anti-obama-protest-in-rio-o-globo-reports/

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Obama's Nomination Victory Speech Revisited; Obama Asks Supreme Court to Stay out of Judging Obamacare Until Later; Gunshot Thru Windows of Republican Office; Dennis Prager Plays Principal

Obama's Nomination Victory Speech In St. Paul June 3, 2008: "The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America."    [If this weren't so sad, I would be laughing. It is so out of touch with reality that to go through it item by item would be exhausting.  Do you wonder why two of his nicknames are "The Messiah" and "The Won"? Was he saying America never took care of sick poor people before he came along; that the government and not entrepreneurs must "give" jobs; that he has made the world love us?  Such hope and change.]   http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-was-moment-when-rise-of-oceans.html
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Michelle Malkin writes that: Senator Schumer is pretty sure that the Supreme Court is not one of the equal but separate branches of government, so as such it’s possible that Chuck’s advised the White House that they have the power to tell the Supreme Court what to do:

The Obama administration told the Supreme Court on Monday night it should stay away from a high-profile challenge to the 2010 health care law until after a lower court has had a chance to review the case.
Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal wrote, “there is no basis for short-circuiting the normal course of appellate review.” Katyal also says Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s case is problematic because he may lack sufficient standing to challenge the health care law.

Team Obama has said they’re absolutely convinced of the health care law’s constitutionality, so with that in mind wouldn’t you think they’d welcome a fast-track opinion on the law and ultimate thumbs-up from the Supreme Court?

http://michellemalkin.com/2011/03/15/white-house-supreme-court/

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Local Fox News reported: WASHINGTON - Police are searching for suspects after someone shot-out windows at a Republican office in the District.
Police say the vandalism occurred Tuesday night. All of the windows of the office were damaged.
The executive director of the Republican Committee says an air gun was probably used.  Police also say they found a ‘BB’ on the ground outside the office. [I'll look on the mainstream media to see if they cover this newest example of violence by the Left.  They surely haven't fully covered the violent tendencies of the unions in Wisconsin and all over America.  They must be waiting for a Tea Party demonstration in order to show its racist violence.....]
Workers believe the shooting was politically related.  [You don't say!]  http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/windows-at-washington-dc-republican-office-shot-out-031711
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Agora Financial reveals that the precise percentage of people with less than $25,000 saved is 56%. Meanwhile, 29% of workers have less than $1,000 saved. Worse, 34% of workers say they tapped into their savings last year to meet expenses. [It is hard to imagine that many people failed to save anything for their retirement, as social security was never intended to do the total job.  Gone, it seems, is the value of spending prudently and saving for the future.]
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David Swanson reports: Below is an article written by a left-wing activist who called for the impeachment of President George W. Bush. Unlike so many of his comrades, he believes that since Barack Obama is carrying out many of the same policies set in place by his predecessor, Obama deserves to be impeached, as well. While conservatives may disagree with some -- though perhaps not all -- of the author's criticisms, he is joining a growing number of leftists and Democrats angered, nervous, or ready to jump-ship on the Obama presidency. A recent poll posted on DailyKos found 13 percent of liberals support impeaching Obama  
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The Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll for Tuesday shows 20% of the nation’s voters strongly approve of the way Obama is performing his role as president while 42 percent strongly disapprove. That -22 rating among the most passionate voters for or against Obama’s job performance is the lowest point at which Obama has been in the Rasmussen survey since last Fall....  
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Dennis Prager, a radio talk show host, wrote the following speech articulating the values he would discuss if he were a school principal:
   "I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.

I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers, and against our country.

   First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships. The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans. If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race- and non-American nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America , one of its three central values -- e pluribus unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America 's values. This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness. Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interesting in are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you. 

   Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America 's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English -- but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.

   Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school. These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.

   Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the f-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.

   Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

   Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.

   Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you."

Greenspan Says Massive Government Intervention is to Blame; Some Wisconsin Republican Senators Would Win; US Guns Killing US Border Patrol; Tim Geithner "Quite Open" to Global Reserve Currency Run By IMF; Obama Not in Charge; Obamas in Rio; Japan's Nuclear Energy Program

CNN writes: Massive government intervention to save the economy is to blame for the lagging recovery, Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Tuesday.
Greenspan argued for less government intervention to get the recovery rolling and businesses investing in equipment and plants.  But Greenspan goes further in his criticism of government intervention, also blaming housing programs for having delayed and prolonged foreclosures. He said such efforts have created uncertainty about when the housing market will hit rock bottom, at which point speculators can rush in and start buying up houses.  http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/15/news/economy/alan_greenspan_recovery/
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Public Policy Polling produced a poll for the Daily Kos showing that five of the eight Wisconsin State Senate Republicans would actually beat unidentified Democrat candidates in a Recall matchup. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/wi_republicans_leading_in_lib.html
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Redstate reveals: Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles. So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it.
Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets… the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.
One e-mail noted, “958 killed in March 2010 … most violent month since 2005.” The same e-mail notes: “Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone,” including “numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles.”  http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/03/17/will-operation-gun-walker-bring-down-eric-holder-or-barack-obama/
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The UK Telegraph reveals: US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shocked global markets by revealing that Washington is "quite open" to Chinese proposals for the gradual development of a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund.

The dollar plunged instantly against the euro, yen, and sterling as the comments flashed across trading screens. David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC, said the apparent policy shift amounts to an earthquake in geo-finance.

"The mere fact that the US Treasury Secretary is even entertaining thoughts that the dollar may cease being the anchor of the global monetary system has caused consternation," he said.  [This is one further example of Obama Administration policies which diminish America.]  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5050407/US-backing-for-world-currency-stuns-markets.html
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Politico writes: Democrats in Congress are grappling with a question as they negotiate a spending deal: Who's in charge?
The top two Democratic leaders in the House have twice split on whether to approve short-term government funding bills that cut billions from federal accounts. Senate Democrats haven’t put forward a long-term spending plan that can move through their chamber, and Democrats on both sides of the Capitol say they have no idea where the White House stands or who’s running the show. 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51454.html#ixzz1GrPoMabo

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The UK Daily Mail writes this about our President: Nuclear crisis in Japan, a civil war in Libya and where is the President? Heading for Rio de Janeiro. 

Much of the trip will be focused on linking partnerships with Latin America, particularly Brazil, to the growth of the U.S. economy.
Mr Obama will also meet on Saturday with corporate executives from both the U.S. and Brazil and then give a speech to a business summit timed for his visit.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366975/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Libya-civil-war-President-Barack-Obama-Rio-Janeiro.html#ixzz1GrQU31lW

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Yahoo News writes about the nuclear energy program of Japan: Behind Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses. Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all.
In one case, workers hand-mixed uranium in stainless steel buckets, instead of processing by machine, so the fuel could be reused, exposing hundreds of workers to radiation. Two later died.
"Everything is a secret," said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. "There's not enough transparency in the industry."
In 1989 Sugaoka received an order that horrified him: edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video being submitted to regulators. Sugaoka alerted his superiors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co., but nothing happened. He decided to go public in 2000. Three Tepco executives lost their jobs.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110317/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake_nuclear_scandals;_ylt=AlxcDNiMiFtQtNcYUFw5oWKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQ4dW1xMzk3BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzE3L2FzX2phcGFuX2VhcnRocXVha2VfbnVjbGVhcl9zY2FuZGFscwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzQEcG9zAzEEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNidW5nbGluZ2NvdmU-
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Union Salary Tricks in Wisconsin; Madison Troublemakers School; TSA Scanner Results; Teachers Must Follow Students on Facebook - at Home

Cheap Trick? WI Secy of State Gives Unions Extra Time to Lock in Contracts

According to AP:
School boards and local governments across Wisconsin are rushing to reach agreements with unions before a new law takes effect that will remove their ability to collectively bargain over nearly all issues other than minimal salary increases.
Secretary of State Doug La Follette said Monday he decided to delay publication of the law until the latest day possible, March 25, to give those local governments as much time as possible to reach agreements. The law doesn’t take effect until the day after La Follette publishes it.
While most collective bargaining agreements contain “savings clauses,” which eliminate contractual provisions that are in conflict with the law while leaving the rest of the contract intact, since the new law does not apply to contracts in existence, right now, it is unknown whether mandatory dues and state collection of dues would be part of any rushed-through contracts.  http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/03/14/cheap-trick-wi-secy-of-state-gives-unions-extra-time-to-lock-in-contracts/
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Labor notes reveals:Madison Troublemakers School - April 1 & 2, 2011

Friday April 1, 2011, 5 p.m., free
Reception. Cartoon and photo exhibit.
Guest speakers on “The State of the Unions”

Saturday, April 2, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Workshops
$25 includes Saturday lunch, Register Now

Labor Temple, 1602 South Park St., Madison Union busting, the governor's attack on public employees, concession demands, layoffs, threats to Social Security and pensions, increased health insurance costs, contracting out, furloughs, wage freezes, free trade deals, tax giveaways to the rich, tuition increases, wars, charter schools, sustained high unemployment, runaway shops, Right to Work...did we leave anything out?
Working people are under assault and the assault will continue until we put an end to it. The protests at the Capitol are showing what working people are made of.
That’s the idea behind the Madison Labor Notes Troublemakers School. How do we build on the protests, protect what we have--and lay the foundation to fight for more? Led by experienced labor activists, our workshops will explore strategies to fight back and give you the hands-on skills to make it happen. http://www.labornotes.org/madison
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Wired.com writes: The Transportation Security Administration is re-analyzing the radiation levels of X-ray body scanners installed in airports nationwide, after testing produced dramatically higher-than-expected results.
The TSA, which has deployed at least 500 body scanners to at least 78 airports, said Tuesday the machines meet all safety standards and would remain in operation despite a “calculation error” in safety studies. The flawed results showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.
At least one flier group, the Association for Airline Passenger Rights, is urging the government to stop using the $180,000 machines that produce a virtual-nude image of the body until new tests are concluded in May.  http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/tsa-radiation-test-bungling/
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Daily Caller reveals: Education Department officials are threatening school principals with lawsuits if they fail to monitor and curb students’ lunchtime chat and evening Facebook time for expressing ideas and words that are deemed by Washington special-interest groups to be harassment of some students.

The letter says federal officials have reinterpreted the civil-rights laws that require school principals to curb physical bullying, as well as racist and sexist speech, that take place within school boundaries. Under the new interpretation, principals and their schools are legally liable if they fail to curb “harassment” of students, even if it takes place outside the school, on Facebook or in private conversation among a few youths.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/16/fed-instructs-teachers-to-facebook-creep-students/#ixzz1GlLlf0V2

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I wrote the following for Examiner.com/traverse city:
Just what are the Democrats, unions, Progressives and liberals fighting for in Wisconsin? The squatters have caused $7.5 million of damage to the state Capitol.  For what principles are they swarming into the Capitol thru broken windows and camping out there?  Someone should explain to them that their disagreements should be the focus of election campaigns, and not the uprisings worthy of a third world country.  Here are some of the principles they advocate:
1) The right to force workers to join the union
2) The right to retain unproductive workers through tenure and very difficult firing parameters
3) The right to bargain for wages far above the rate of inflation
 4) The right to force workers to pay dues, automatically collecting those dues through deductions from salaries
5) The right to send some of workers' union dues to Democrat election campaigns
6) The right, as in NYC, to pay 650 teachers while they just sit in a room together for as long as three years doing nothing to earn that pay, awaiting a long disciplinary hearing process
7) The right to be given by our President partial ownership in General Motors, at the same time when legitimate investors are given pennies on the dollar
8) The possibility of having Card Check in the future, allowing union elections to be conducted without privacy of the vote
9) The right to force taxpayers to pay for all union pensions, regardless of the current value of the investments in that pension fund
10) The right to force taxpayers to pay for all union healthcare premiums
11) The right for teachers’ unions to remove private school vouchers from consideration
 12) The right for union members to receive up to 90% of their salaries during their entire retirement

Is it any wonder that the union bosses and activists are in a panic mode, willing to thwart government workings, to foment hatred and violence in America, to threaten those in office, to hold classes in community organizing and to lie about their opponents?  We the people are supposed to be gratified by their offers to pay half of what non-union workers pay toward their health care and pensions, while having to cover their pension shortfalls.  Non union taxpayers are expected to accept that whenever unions scream for more, legislatures across this land must forgo representative government in America. Legislatures must be afraid enough of union power, its fear mongering and its disruptive methods, that they just give in.  Unions must wait for another election, for this is America.

Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-traverse-city/what-unions-are-fighting-for?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1GlRl6c12
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Plan Avoids Closing More Schools; Detroit to Save $99 Million by Privatizing 42 Schools; Time Magazine Fuels the Wisconsin Fire; Obama's Out of Touch Radio Address; Unions Protest in Maryland; Communist Party Ramps Up in America

From the Traverse City Record Eagle: Charter schools and private groups would take over 41 of Detroit's most academically challenged schools under a new plan the district's emergency financial manager proposed to cut costs by up to $99 million!  The new operators would pay to lease the school buildings.  The new costs per pupil to be educated would be $6187 per year, compared with the cost in 2009 of $12,838 per student... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2541514/posts  [It must therefore be asked: if for every 41 schools taken over by charter and private schools we save $99m, then if all 142 schools were taken over privately, wouldn't we the taxpayers possibly save $342 million?  One presumes that the best of the public school teachers would have to be hired just to fill the teaching positions, and the worst won't have to be hired.  The overhead of too many in administration, plus the extra costs of unionized teachers, would also be a cost savings.  The results they achieve could hardly be worse than those of the public school system.]
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Vision to America reveals: Republicans in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would declare English the official language of the United States and require the development of English language testing guidelines for those applying for U.S. citizenship.
The English Language Unity Act would set out a new chapter in U.S. code that imposes an obligation on U.S. officials to "preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government."
Part of this chapter would include a "uniform English language rule" holding that "all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance of the Constitution." http://visiontoamerica.org/story/gop-pushes-to-make-english-official-language-of-the-us.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Time Time Magazine Headline: Wisconsin's Governor Wins, but Is He Now Dead Man Walker?

The Wisconsin State Capitol had taken on an eerie quiet by late Friday. Gone were the throngs of protesters who had occupied its marble floors like it were a summer campground. The midnight honking of cars circling the white building had ceased. The chalk outlines around fake dead bodies etched with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's name remained in dismembered parts, not yet completely washed away by hoses.
It was the governor, however, who had walked away the legislative victor in the showdown. On Friday, as angry protesters chanted "Shame" and blew horns and vuvuzelas, Walker took up a dozen pens, one at a time, to sign into law a bill that not only takes away the ability of unions to bargain collectively over pensions and health care but also limits pay raises of public employees to the rate of inflation and ends automatic union dues collection by the state. It also requires public unions to recertify annually. It was a coup by Wisconsin Republicans against the labor movement in one of its strongholds.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2058601,00.html#ixzz1Gbc63qo0
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Fox News writes: A conflict approaching civil war in Libya. An end-times tsunami in Japan. A Congress that can't reach a budget. 

And ... gender inequality?

Amid chaos around the world and on Capitol Hill, Obama's Saturday radio address was devoted to Women's History Month and a call to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a proposal meant to address the income gap between men and women. Then, the president went golfing at Andrews Air Force Base. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/14/obama-urged-seize-reins-crises-pile/#ixzz1GfNOkPJ2

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The Baltimore Sun opines: As Maryland lawmakers prepare to make decisions in the coming weeks on budget cuts and pension reform, thousands of union members on Monday marched on Annapolis to send a message.  http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/2011/03/thousands_of_union_members_sto.html

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New Zeal "Promoting Liberty in New Zealand and Beyond) reveals: According to Communist Party National Chair Sam Webb;

"We need a bigger, bolder Communist Party if we are to meet the challenges of the day...With the all out attacks on workers rights' in Wisconsin and states across our nation, it is imperative that we build the Communist Party as we help build the grassroots movement for jobs and democracy..."

The Communist Party USA is organizing a "1st Annual CPUSA National Conference" to be held at the Party's Unity Center in New York, April 16-17.

In fact, Communist Party members are working in coalition with other progressive groups in helping lead many of the local fight back efforts.The planned conference is designed to bring communists and left and "progressive" activists together from all over the country to discuss, plan and act.

The Party  has also learned a thing or two from revolutions in Egypt and Libya and plans to step up its use of social media.

Central to the deliberations will be panel discussions highlighting many of the opportunities and challenges of building the Communist current in the working class and people's movement. Use of the working-class tools like PeoplesWorld.org and PoliticalAffairs.net and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are also on the agenda...

Conference participants will hear from activists "in the trenches" and discuss fight back strategies.  Participants will share experiences, map out plans, "deepen Marxist methodology and "get fired up" for the big challenges ahead." Everyone will leave the conference assigned with an "action item" to take back to their local communities. http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2011/03/communists-meet-to-plan-nationwide.html

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News and Marching Orders from the NEA; Obama Fails to March [Also Fails to Lead]; Justice Dept. Demands Those with Failing Grades to Become Police Officers; Iran Uses Child Soldiers; Federal Bill Proposed to Deny Forced Unionization of Workers; Michigan May Approve Bill for "Emergency Managers" of Failing Cities

[This Week's News, from the National Education Association, condemns all efforts to rein in the out-of-bounds power of unions, ending with a thumbs down for the following people:]

Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who held a mark-up and passed out of Committee a bill to renew and expand the District of Columbia private school voucher program.  Chairman Issa supports funneling $60 million to private schools through ineffective vouchers while at the same time supporting deep cuts to proven programs like Title I and Head Start that serve students with the greatest needs.  

 Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who at a hearing in the House Education and Workforce Committee this week asserted that federal education programs have “achieved nothing” and questioned the necessity for a federal Department of Education.  http://www.nea.org/home/19449.htm
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Finance Yahoo writes: "If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself," Obama said at a speech in 2007. "I'll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States of America because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner."
Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, the nation's largest nurses union, called Obama "largely a bystander" in the debate over collective bargaining. "I think we're feeling a sense of betrayal from him and not liking it much," she said. [I wonder if Obama imagined that this kind of picketing would lead to civil disobedience, hateful rhetoric, promises of boycotts of businesses who don't publicly support them, and substantial death threats.  Obama is proud of his prowess at "Community Organizing", and these are the results of Organizing for America and SEIU's "organizing".  He is good at organizing and promising, and terrible at leadership.  Perhaps he is refusing to lead because any revolution which occurs because of all this will simply give him permission to form his formerly promised "Civilian Security Force", just as large and just as well equipped as our military, said he.]  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/PROMISES-PROMISES-Obama-shies-apf-961326238.html?x=0
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DAYTON — The Dayton Police Department is lowering its testing standards for recruits.
It’s a move required by the U.S. Department of Justice after it says not enough African-Americans passed the exam.
Dayton is in desperate need of officers to replace dozens of retirees. The hiring process was postponed for months because the D.O.J. rejected the original scores provided by the Dayton Civil Service Board, which administers the test.
Under the previous requirements, candidates had to get a 66% on part one of the exam and a 72% on part two.
The D.O.J. approved new scoring policy only requires potential police officers to get a 58% and a 63%. That’s the equivalent of an ‘F’ and a ‘D’.
“It becomes a safety issue for the people of our community,” said Dayton Fraternal Order of Police President, Randy Beane. “It becomes a safety issue to have an incompetent officer next to you in a life and death situation.”
“The NAACP does not support individuals failing a test and then having the opportunity to be gainfully employed,” agreed Dayton NAACP President Derrick Foward. http://weaselzippers.us/2011/03/12/the-doj-compelled-the-dayton-police-department-to-lower-its-testing-standards-in-order-to-hire-more-of-eric-holder%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cpeople%E2%80%9D/
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The UK Guardian writes: Iran's Islamic regime is using "child soldiers" to suppress anti-government demonstrations, a tactic that could breach international law forbidding the use of underage combatants, human rights activists have told the Observer.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says troops aged between 14 and 16 have been armed with batons, clubs and air guns and ordered to attack demonstrators who have tried to gather in Tehran. The youths – apparently recruited from rural areas – are being deployed in regular riot police roles and comprise up to one-third of the total force, according to witnesses. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/iran-child-soldiers-tehran-protests
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Fox News reports: A group of conservative U.S. senators has introduced a bill to restrict unions from forcing workers to join and pay dues as a condition of employment. 

The move on Capitol Hill comes as several states consider what's known as "right-to-work" legislation -- proposals that have met stiff resistance. Indiana Republicans recently shelved their right-to-work bill after it sparked protests at the capital and after Democrats fled the state to block it, mimicking the tactic used by Wisconsin lawmakers holding up Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union proposal. 

But GOP senators in Washington said national legislation is needed to stop the "strong-arm political tactics" they claim labor bosses are using to compel new employees into joining their ranks. They introduced the National Right to Work Act Tuesday. 

[Will any of these politicians point out that not having to join a union, and not having dues taken directly from their paychecks will actually give members MORE take-home pay, not less?  I didn't think so.]
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/09/gop-senators-introduce-national-right-work-restrict-unions/#ixzz1GVQgXt1K

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CBS News reports: Michigan lawmakers are on the verge of approving a bill that would enable the governor to appoint "emergency managers" -- officials with unilateral power to make sweeping changes to cities facing financial troubles.
Under the legislation, the Michigan Messenger reports, the governor could declare a "financial emergency" in towns or school districts. He could then appoint a manager to fire local elected officials, break contracts, seize and sell assets, eliminate services - and even eliminate whole cities or school districts without any public input.
The measure passed in the state Senate this week; the House passed its own version earlier. The two versions of the bill are expected to be reconciled next week, and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has said he will sign the bill the bill into law.
Democrats and their allies are decrying the legislation as a power grab and say it's part of a wider effort taking place in several states, such as Wisconsin, to weaken labor unions. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20042299-503544.html
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