Public Union Lunacy

At a time when San Jose faces more than a $100 million budget deficit and the prospect of hundreds of layoffs, San Jose City Councilman Pete Constant is battling with a City Hall employees' union over whether he should be forced to hire an administrative assistant.

 

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This Great Country, America

 

JFK'S
Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when
DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO.  DeGaulle said he wanted all US
military out of France as soon as possible.



Rusk responded,

"Does that include those who are buried here?"



DeGaulle
did not respond.

You
could have heard a pin drop.

When in England ,

at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of
'empire building' by George Bush.



He answered by saying,

"Over the years, the United States has sent many of
its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom
beyond our borders.  The only amount of land we have ever asked for
in return is enough to bury those that did not
return."

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a conference in France

where a number of international engineers
were taking part, including French and American.  During a break,
one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you
heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims.  What does he
intend to do, bomb them?"


A Boeing engineer

stood up and replied quietly:  "Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are
nuclear powered and can supply emergency  electrical power to
shore facilities; they have three  cafeterias with the capacity to
feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand
gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a
dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and
from their flight deck.  We have eleven such ships;

how many does France have?"

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral

was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French
Navies  At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large
group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that
we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French?"


Without hesitating,

the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the
Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't
have to speak German."

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND
THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...


Robert Whiting,

an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.

At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport

in his carry on.


"You
have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked
sarcastically.


Mr. Whiting

admitted that he had been to France
previously.


"Then
you should know enough to have your passport ready."


The American said,

"The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."


"Impossible..
Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !"


The American senior

gave the Frenchman a long hard look.  Then he
quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in
1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen
to show a passport to."

You
could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.

I am proud to be of this land, AMERICA

 

 

Rachel Maddow--Not Liberal Caricature

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow made this apparently straight-faced assertion to media critic Howard Kurtz in aprofile of Maddow he wrote for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. The specific quote from Maddow -- "I don't think I always fit the caricature of a liberal." Not surprisingly, Maddow cited no evidence -- such as an aversion to Keith Olbermann, palpable hankering for red meat, or unbridled lust to tap America's vast untapped natural resources -- that would bolster her premise

 

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Undisclosed Motel 6-David Kahane

Yes, I knew it would come to this: that one day you racist, teabagging wingnuts would finally achieve your dream to outlaw the Democratic party, held since the day Abraham Lincoln took Andrew Johnson hostage as vice president, thus setting the Democrat up for impeachment. Why, Dred Scott himself did not suffer the way these good and men and women have suffered, far from their families, unable to sleep, waiting for the inevitable knock at the door. Even singing patriotic ditties such as “If I Had a Hammer,” “Joe Hill,” and “The Banana Boat Song” helps alleviate the Dostoevskian gloom only a little.

For More

 

And here's a comment in the WSJ by Benjamin Riggs:

It seems that the union supporters in Wisconsin have decided to take to the streets to accomplish what they failed to do within the political system. That’s a reasonable tactic in Tunisia or Egypt, but the last time I looked, Wisconsin already has a democratic system of government, with a system of fair and free elections to ensure that the will of the people was being served. The people have spoken. The unions don’t like the result. What they are doing now is an affront to democracy and to the majority of voters in Wisconsin who they hope to disenfranchise. And what is even more disturbing is that the leader of our country, President Obama, is supporting their actions. Perhaps he believes in democracy only when the results meet his agenda.

 

Protesters in Wisconsin

For two weeks protesters have been living in the capitol building.

Imagine if Tea Baggers did the same to a Democratic governor in a capitol building, occupying it for two weeks? This was a question posed by Dennis Prager on his radio show.

How do you think the MSM would react?

The left gets a free ride with the MSM. They can do anything they want with impunity. The MSM provides free cover.

Here's another example. Note the MSM on this.

LA Police Union

From the LA Police Union:

 

At noon local time on Saturday, February 26, MoveOn.org will hold rallies in front of every statehouse and in every major city to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin. Find a Rally to Save the American Dream near you by visiting the website and entering your zip code. You can also show your support by sending words of encouragement to Wisconsin’s workers via a special website created by the SEIU.

 

For the whole article

 

Imagine, the LA Police Union is in solidarity with the likes of MoveOn.org, SEIU and National People's Action than with the American people. Is this the direction mainstream America wants to go?

Jambalaya--Paella

Jambalaya is a New Orleans creole dish and Paella is a cousin food that originates in Spain. If you've had either one, you know you've had some good eats. This picture is a recipe of my own making that is similar to these two dishes. Two of my golf buddies came down from Seattle and I didn't have the time to make it for them, but here's the recipe that I would like to share with you. It's quite simple.

Ingredients:

White rice

Chicken

Italian saugage

Seafood medley

Onions and garlic, can of chicken broth, can of tomato sauce, and a can of beer.

Spices of salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin and bijol. Bijol is a coloring condiment that turns the rice to a yellow color.

Most ingredients are likely in your pantry. Here's what I did:

Start by cooking the sausage.  After that is done, pull it out of pan and brown some onions.  Then I pull out the onions and add oil to the pan and I add in a couple cups of rice and stir fry it in the oil.

After stir frying the rice a few minutes, I add back the onions, then chicken broth, diced tomatoes or tomato sauce, water and all the spices listed above. I mix up that witch's brew and then I put in a few pieces of chicken. I just buy a whole chicken cooked at Costco, so I don't have to deal with raw chicken. Then I add back the sausage.

The seafood medley consists of shrimp, mussels, oysters and squid. It comes in a frozen package at Costco for $13. I used 1/4 of the package in making this dish. All I do is spread the mussels, shrimp, squid and oysters on top of all the other ingredients.

After everything is in the dish, I don't do any more stirring. I want the dish to cook and what's ideal is for the rice to have a crust on the outside. Let it cook in it's own spices on low heat and allow all the food to absorb all the flavors. Ten minutes before the dish is served, pour in a can of beer. I like Corona, but my WA state friends probably use Ranier beer:-)

Like I say, it's an easy recipe, and good eats.

Evils of Public Sector Unions

“And this gets to the real insidiousness of government unions. Wisconsin labor officials fairly note that they’ve acceded to many of their governor’s specific demands… but they don’t want to lose the right to collective bargaining. But that is exactly what they need to lose. Private sector unions fight with management over an equitable distribution of profits. Government unions negotiate with politicians over taxpayer money, putting the public interest at odds with union interests and, as we’ve seen in states such as California and Wisconsin, exploding the cost of government. The labor-politician negotiations can’t be fair when the unions can put so much moneyinto campaign spending. Victor Gotbaum, a leader in the New York City chapter of AFSCME, summed up the problem in 1975 when he boasted, ‘We have the ability, in a sense, to elect our own boss.’”

More from News Real Blog

Whether pro or anti public union, this is an excellent informative article about public unions.

Obama Threatens America

Begin with the reality that Mr. Obama is a socialist. Those doubting this assertion of fact need only refer to Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism. There, Stanley Kurtz meticulously and undeniably lays bare Mr. Obama’s socialist education, associations, mentoring, roots, beliefs, and actions. Let us also keep in mind that socialism, like Marxism, is fundamentally incompatible with freedom, democracy, and capitalism as embodied in America’s founding documents and as practiced in America. If Mr. Obama is indeed a socialist — and he is — then his belief system, his way of thinking, is innately hostile to America. Socialism and American democracy cannot coexist, so if Mr. Obama is pursuing socialist policies, American democracy must, of necessity, be weakened or destroyed.

But if this is true, how did Mr. Obama become president? It boils down to this: He lied. He lied about who he is, about his background, his fundamental beliefs, his intentions, and his methods. He employed standard Marxist/socialist tactics and concealed his true nature so as to seize power and impose his will, and for two years, he pretty much got away with it. A recurring theme of Mr. Medved’s article is that such things are impossible, as Mr. Obama — like all politicians — wants to be reelected. Put aside, for the moment, that Mr. Obama has addressed this issue explicitly, saying that he’d rather accomplish his (socialist) goals than be a two-term president

 

More from Pajamas Media

 

Mitch Daniels Must Be President

From Wall Street Journal

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels believes he faces a taller challenge as he ponders a White House run: Could voters warm to his message that the country is doomed unless it slashes its debt and radically revamps the popular Social Security and Medicare programs?

In any other year, a campaign platform that gloomy would render a politician toxic. Today, with concerns over the nation's fiscal health on the rise, the Indiana Republican's wonkish bravado is making some think he is a good fit for the moment.

Gov. Mitch Daniels is tireless on the stump. But like many of his potential opponents, he's keeping coy on whether he'll make a run for the White House in 2012. WSJ's Neil King reports.

If the time is indeed right for Mr. Daniels's get-tough message, the angry budget standoffs in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio and New Jersey are also shining a new light on his credentials as a messenger. Mr. Daniels rescinded collective-bargaining rights for state employees six years ago—long before Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker caused a firestorm by putting the same issue on the table.

Mr. Daniels also cut spending, trimmed the state work force to its smallest in decades, and turned a yawning deficit into a surplus, with only scattered outbursts of popular anger along the way.

 

Krauthammer--Wisconsin Union Vote

Recognizing this threat to union power, the Democratic Party is pouring money and fury into the fight. Fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers are unionized. The Democrats' strength lies in government workers, who now constitute a majority of union members and provide massive support to the party. For them, Wisconsin represents a dangerous contagion.

Hence the import of the current moment - its blinding clarity. Here stand the Democrats, avatars of reactionary liberalism, desperately trying to hang on to the gains of their glory years - from unsustainable federal entitlements for the elderly enacted when life expectancy was 62 to the massive promissory notes issued to government unions when state coffers were full and no one was looking.

Obama's Democrats have become the party of no. Real cuts to the federal budget? No. Entitlement reform? No. Tax reform? No. Breaking the corrupt and fiscally unsustainable symbiosis between public-sector unions and state governments? Hell, no.

 

For the rest of the article

 

Large Hadron Collider--TED

Las Vegas--The Poor Man's Guide

Vegas is a great town. For two days.

 

I do enjoy my stay in Vegas.

Professor of Politics from Princeton

Anne-Marie Slaughter

 

And a generation raised on multilevel videogames with complex graphics and strategies is unlikely to be content with Follow the Leader.

 

Read more of Anne-Marie Slaughter's article at The Daily Beast

Mr. Spencer--Let Me Be Wrong

Please, Lord, Let Me be Wrong

Well, the Tsar has abdicated the throne, and seems headed into exile. Even his crown jewels, in Swiss bank accounts, have been seized and will be returned to the national treasury. The mutinous troops who would not fire on the crowd at the Winter Palace will soon be handing power to some sort of Constituent Assembly, which will elect the Egyptian Kerensky. And the world is all atwitter at the prospect of a despot giving way before the power of a crowd. It's people power! Power to the people! You'd think that Corozan Aquino or Vaclav Havel were waiting in the wings in Cairo to pick up the pieces of the fallen dictatorship, instead of the tightly disciplined cadres of the Muslim Brotherhood. I've previously compared this group to the Bolsheviks, but now I feel compelled to admit where I was wrong: the Bolsheviks in 1917 commanded the allegiance of only a tiny percentage of the population, and their vote total in Russia's first (and last) democratic election was dwarfed by that of the Socialist Revolutionaries. By contrast, the Muslim Brotherhood is the only organized political alternative in Egypt--broadly popular, with an infrastructure of governance already in place.

For Mr Spencer's whole article