Part-Time Pundit

UNSCAM: Admissions of kickbacks made

Wizbang has the latest.

August 8th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | United Nations | no comments

The Great Union Breakup: Getting Dirty Money out of Politics

It appears that soon I will be forced into the Communist Party of Champaign an NEA labor union. Sure, this only applies to visiting academic professionals, not permanent ones, but this arrangement isn’t going to last long. Out of 350 people eligible to vote, 62 voted yes, 41 voted no, and about 250 people didn’t vote. This groundswell has apparently justified the raiding of paychecks to send the Democratic campaigns everywhere.
The only comfort about this prospect (besides the fact that I look stunning in a Soviet military uniform which I will don once forced into this union) is that the AFL-CIO is cracking up. While pundits insist that the union breakup won’t hurt the DNC, one of the key issues that has sent three of the biggest unions out was over political campaigning. The Change to Win Coalition says it’s time for the AFL-CIO to start focusing on member issues instead of on politicians. The coalition seems to be giving way to the fact that about 1/3rd of member households are Republican and are getting tired of there money going to Democrats. Of course this is going to hurt Democrats.

The purpose of a labor union is not political campaigning, it is to represent workers needs to their employers. You want to change politics, join a PAC. As an example, the NEA at their recent annual meeting came up with a list of action items. Almost none of the 90+ items had anything to do with education (the E in NEA). More items had to do with Social Security, a program that none or almost none of the members of the NEA are eligible for because they are in pensions systems and exempt from Social Security contributions, than with education. The NEA is less of an organization having to do with education than a political action committee supporting the DNC.

Hopefully, the AFL-CIO crackup will lead unions to realize that if they want to attract new members they need to be organizations that deal with workplace issues and employers alone. If people wanted to join MoveOn, they would. The rest of us don’t take kindly to having our money taken away out of our control supporting policies we find abhorrent (the last story down about a lawsuit being allowed to procede against a union for forcing a member to financially support abortion groups against their conscience) with union bosses skimming off the top. Either represent us in collective bargaining, or stop wasting our time and money. Breaking up the behemoth of corrupt national unions is a good first step to getting big money out of politics.

BNN Link

August 8th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | National | no comments

Celebrating Guardians who Kill

In what only can be considered bizarre, the Florida State Guardianship Association honored Michael Schiavo as Guardian of the Year for being a hero in “mercifully” killing his wife in a method that would be illegal to apply to most animals. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Florida Bar Association gave Judge Greer the Judge of the Year Award for his part in defining separation of powers as prohibiting any check from the Legislature or Executive Branches against the juristocracy. In a society that celebrates people who abort their kids, is it any surprise that people celebrate guardians who delete their charges?

It’s a society that is outraged by stories of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, but remains silent when Planned Parenthood covers up about the same number of child rape cases in 1 year in the state of Illinois than the Catholic Church “covered up” in 50 years nationwide. It’s a society that couldn’t care less that child sex abuse takes place in public schools in much larger proportions.

So while Michael Schiavo and the Florida Lawyers and Guardians associations are celebrating their power to put the powerless to death, the rest of us can celebrate the miracle of birth of Susan Torres to a courageous father who kept his wife on life support so the child could be born.

BNN Link

August 8th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Pro-Life | no comments