Tag Archives: Politics

Economy, Florida, Pensacola, Politics

Early Retiree Reinsurance Program

This is what Speaker Pelosi meant by having to pass the (health care) bill to find out what’s in it. Who knew that the ‘Affordable Health Care Act’ was going to have taxpayers paying the health insurance claims for labor union, corporations, and government union employees who choose to retire early? Before they are eligible for Medicare.

The program totals $5 billion and is supposed to last until January 1, 2014 when ‘State health insurance Exchanges’ are ‘up and running.’ But there’s a problem already. Over $2 billion has already been spent, and at this rate the program will be out of money sometime in 2012. Two years earlier than ‘planned.’

Are you feeling secure now that you know your health care will be managed by the government? Do you still believe that Obamacare will bring costs down, and make the quality of care go up? We already know that we can’t keep our plan if we want to, and that we won’t be able to keep our doctor if we want to.

At this point in time, payments to individual states are dwarfed by the payout to the auto workers union, which received more than the states of New York, California, and Texas combined.  Other unions also received government funds, including the United Food and Commercial Workers, the United Mine Workers, and the Teamsters.

Here’s a short list of government entities in our area that Obamacare is funding right now.
  • Escambia County Board of County Commissioners
  • Pensacola Junior College
  • The School District of Escambia County
  • County of Escambia
  • County of Santa Rosa Board of Public Instruction
  • Northwest Florida State College
  • Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners

Nationwide list HERE.  State of Florida list HERE. And you can do a search by Zip Code HERE.

Links: Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) |  New $2 billion bailout in Obamacare

Florida, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics

‘We Are One Rally’ A Bust

Pensacola had their version of the ‘We Are One’ public union campaign We Are One Rally in Pensacolatoday. Lee Prior, the organizer of the event,  said that the pro-union movement was ‘electrifying people across America’ like it did 43 years ago when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched to organize black sanitation workers in Memphis, and was later assassinated.

The crowd assembled was hardly a crowd at all. There were 30 people at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza, including the speakers and sound crew. Like all such rallies there was an activist sign-up list. They garnered 15 names for that.

The keynote speaker did not attend. The organizer read a statement from him instead, saying that he had to be in Tallahassee taking care of business there. Then Jerry McIntosh, the head of the local Movement For Change group spoke.

He tried real hard to lend some relevance to the labor movement and tie it in Jerry McIntosh of Movement For Changewith Dr. King. It was labor unions that started a 40 hour work week, it was labor unions that got us sick pay, vacation pay, health insurance, retirement and pension plans, etc.. It was almost as though he was transported back to the 60’s. All of which was met with a ‘oh hum’ from the supporters. Fact is, all of what he said labor unions started are commonplace in non-union work sites today. They do deserve the credit for improving the workplace for ‘the workers.’ And because of their earlier success, all employers have learned to take care of their employees to where now, they have caused their own demise. Evidence of that is the shrinking number of union jobs in the private sector.

They were orderly and polite. But the reason they were there in the first place, the reason they were protesting, was kind of fuzzy. The CWA printed up some red signs saying ‘Stand Up for Workers’ Rights! Granted that public sector labor unions are in much disfavor with the American taxpayer now that money is tight and budget deficits are high. They have to realize, painful as it might be, that the public funds that pay them do not come from trees. And, like their private counterpart, they have to, or are being forced to, face the reality that like a private company, the government has financial limits too.

A smart parasite knows not to kill the host. Private sector unions know that they won’t have a job or a future if their company has to close its doors. Labor unions are not dumb. But they know that the government isn’t going to shut its doors. They also know that they own the Democrat Party, who will stop at nothing to repay them for their campaign contributions and street mobs. As if granting exemptions from Obamacare to labor unions isn’t enough, the latest quid pro quo revealed today is $2 Billion to unions, state public employee systems, and big corporations to subsidize health coverage costs for early retirees. Including ‘Pensacola Junior College’ and Escambia County.  The biggest single recipient of an early-retiree bailout is the United Auto Workers, which has so far received $206,798,086. They seem to be OK with that.

Their problem is that the taxpayers have reached the point, as have state budgets around the country, that things have to change if anyone is to have a future. Otherwise, they will remain One . . . boil on the butt of American taxpayers.

Links: Uncovered: New $2 billion bailout in Obamacare |  List of health care bailout recipients

Organized Labor, Politics

House Rejects Obama-Backed, Pro-Union Amendment

From the beginning, the Obama administration has made growing labor union membership one of their priorities. Since never has it been the responsibility of the federal government to grow labor unions. It’s not one of the government’s constitutional responsibilities. Like any other business or industry, BIG LABOR can rise and fall on their own.

The bill is a big push back of Obama’s quid pro quo to Big Labor for their financial support. Card Check is another. Instead of saying thank you for your contributions, the administration changed 75 years of labor law to allow a simple majority of votes cast to determine unionization in the airline and rail (like ‘high speed’ rail) industries, instead of the prior standard that required the support of a majority of all workers.

For example, if a company has 100 workers but only 80 turn out to vote in the election, it would only take 41 pro-union votes for the union to organize the company’s workers. That means a minority of workers could determine the status of the majority of the company. A community organizers wet dream.

Notice the subtleness of the two industries that the administration chose to grease for unionization. The two that are vital to the functioning of our country for the distribution of goods and the freedom of movement of our population.

One only has to remember how the economy suffered in 2001 when the airline industry came to an abrupt halt after the terrorist attack to imagine,  if given that power, what an arrogant BIG LABOR can do if they get their shorts in a wad. Just look at how they and their Democrat enablers are behaving in Wisconsin if you want a preview. Now imagine that on a national scale.

It’s way to early to think that this will stand, given that the Senate and the White House are of a different mindset. But it is a start.

Links: House shoots down pro-union amendment on FAA bill, sets up confrontation with Senate, Obama |  House Rejects Obama-Backed, Pro-Union Amendment to FAA Reauthorization Bill.

Economy, Politics, Venezuela

Hugo Chavez On A Health Kick Too!

Not to be out done by First Lady Michelle Obama‘s ‘Let’s Move’ initiative to fight obesity, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (the hemisphere’s idiot) has a health initiative of his own.

Chavez’s plan is simple. He says to avoid obesity, cut your calories. Here’s the funny part . . .

“Be careful with weight gain!” warned Chavez on Sunday, speaking during his weekly television and radio program. “We are eating better, that’s been proven. We’re leaving malnutrition behind. It no longer exists in the country, but be careful with obesity.”

Contrary to Michelle’s ‘Let’s Move’ program, which is being funded from taking food from the mouths of hungry (the Food Stamp Program), Chavez’s program depends on empty shelves in the supermarket.

Venezuelans complain of shortages of basic food items: Many residents say they often take four or five trips to various markets only to end up with bitter coffee and unbuttered bread.

When he says it’s ‘been proven’ that Venezuelans are eating better, he means they are eating maybe two meals a day, up from one and a half meals a day.

Links:

Chavez urges Venezuelans to cut calorie intake |  What’s on the shelves of Hugo Chávez’s socialist supermarket |  Dems Message For Food Stamp Recipients: Eat Less, part 2

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

More Labor-Union Bullying In Wisconsin

Wasn’t it in January 2011 that President Obama called for setting a ‘new tone’ of ‘civility?’ And just a few weeks ago he and the First Lady had a bullying summit or some such? Apparently the Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, never got the message. Or they believed that the President was exempting labor unions from the general population.

They have become un-hinged and are now attacking businesses, large and small, with threats of a boycott if they don’t support their cause. That includes business who have said, hey, I want to stay out of it. Leave me alone.

Members of Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, have begun circulating letters to businesses in southeast Wisconsin, asking them to support workers’ rights by putting up a sign in their windows.

If businesses fail to comply, the letter says, “Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means ‘no’ to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members.”

I learned a long time ago that one man’s rights end where another man’s nose begins. But what do they know about individual rights? Union individual is an oxymoron. The WSEU are community activists with an underworld twist. Nice business you’ve got there. Shame if something happened to it.

The point these union thugs miss is this. Aside from a place that provides goods and/or services, businesses are employers. And I don’t know of any employer who would hire an applicant that threatened him.

Hey, you’re going to hire me or you’ll pay the consequences. Yeah right. If they are so ugly and in your face when they’re not working for you. Why would anyone think they’ll change if you were to hire them? And sorry, take your anger, hate and belligerence somewhere else. Thank you very much.

Media, Politics, Religion, War On Terror

Herman Cain Explains ‘No Muslim’ Comment

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Potential candidate for president Herman Cain was asked one of those ‘gotcha’ questions by some reporter. Something like, would you put a Muslim in your cabinet?

Knowing that the Koran, or Quran, promotes deception (lying) for the purpose of advancing Islam, Mr. Cain is more correct than he might know in not putting blind faith in any Muslim.  Because of the Koran, it comes down to trust but verify doesn’t it?

Islam is the only religion that I know of that not only permits but requires deception under certain circumstances. We are engaged in a war right now against radical Islam. Given his explanation above, American Muslims that understand this will also understand why he answered the way he did.

What’s new is that Herman Cain is not going to be distracted by political correctness. Talk about a breath of fresh air.

Florida, Organized Labor, Politics

Pro-Choice, Union-Busting, Whatever

On Friday the Florida House approved HB  1021. Also referred to as a union-busting bill, it would ban automatic dues deduction in public sector labor unions and require members to sign off on the use of their dues for political purposes.

By Nancy Pelosi standards, the bill was approved with a bi-partisan vote of 73-40. No Democrats voted for it, and three Republicans voted against.

Whether the bill is a union busting bill or not, depends on what you believe the purpose of a labor union is.

Union members may still pay their dues via a check or credit card. And they may still consent to the labor union using their dues for political activism. In either case, if labor unions are as attractive as the union leaders make them out to be, then they have nothing to worry about. The union-busting side complains that “the bill would bar unions from engaging in political activity without permission from members.”

Not only is that exactly right, but it is the point of the bill. The crux of the issue is the usurping of their members’ rights by presuming that all of their members wish to contribute to a political activity that they do not agree with. You could say that this is a pro-choice bill.

In this bill, the workers are permitted a choice where heretofore they had none. It in no way prevents the unions from participating in political activism as they have always done, and support whatever candidate or party (as long as they’re Democrats) that they want. They have the same rights as a union as their members do as individuals. Or to put it another way, the union members have the same rights as individuals as the union does as a collective labor union. The SCOTUS has already established that campaign contributions are the same as political speech.

All statistics being equal, if you figure that about half the country is D and the other half is R, then one could expect that, when finally given the right to choose to fund their union’s political activity or not, that the union might lose about half of their political campaign funds.

The way I look at it, the end of unions bullying their members has finally come. Sucks to be a labor union president nowadays.

 

2012 Election, Politics

Organizing For America Spamming Blogs

An Obama-bot named Diane Pearce commented on The Lunch Counter recently.  The comments were identical and had nothing to do with the topic. But are amusing nevertheless.

Diane Pearce Loves Barack Obama | March 25, 2011 at 9:19 pm

Just wanted to say that I am eployed at a large biotherapeutic company in Clayton NC and I endroce Barack Obama with all my being. I encourage all my friends and colleagues to say yes for Obama in 2012!! I LOVE YOU OBAMA

Point is that OfA is full speed ahead to distract anyone who will listen from Obama’s incompetence to start drumming up re-election support in 2012. The Lunch Counter has no problem with saying yes for Obama. Do you want him out of The White House? Go ahead, say ‘yes.’

Just don’t vote for him.