WP's Lane: Progressives Should Oppose Big Labor's Walker Recall

WP's Lane: Progressives Should Oppose Big Labor's Walker Recall

From the "progressive" Washington Post's Charles Lane, an exposure of public sector unionism and its unequaled influence on elected officials and the cost of government: Of course, collective bargaining in the public sector is inherently contrary to majority rule. It transfers basic public-policy decisions — namely, the pay and working conditions that taxpayers will offer those who work for them — out of the public square and behind closed doors. Progressive Wisconsin has a robust “open meetings” law covering a wide range of government gatherings except — you guessed it — collective bargaining with municipal or state employees. So much for transparency. Even worse, to the extent that unions bankroll the campaigns of the officials with whom they will be negotiating — and they often do — they sit on both sides of the table. More from Lane: The furious drive to oust Walker is the sequel to last year’s dramatic battle over his plan to limit collective bargaining by public-sector unions. Walker won that fight, despite tumultuous pro-union demonstrations in and around the state capitol and a boycott of votes on the bill by the Democratic minority in the legislature.

Washington Post Pushes Mitch Daniels for Republican Presidential Nominee, Rush Limbaugh Expresses Doubts

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who recently caved-in to fleeing Democrat lawmakers by giving away freedom in exchange for continuing Big Labor compulsion, receives a glowing Washington Post blog post while Rush Limbaugh is dubious: RUSH: I'm just sick and tired of Democrat Party and the media picking our candidates. They picked McCain. They picked Dole. I'm tired of it. I don't care who the candidate is, I'm sick of Democrats picking them, because I know they're not gonna pick somebody that can win. That's the whole point. Headline: "Mitch Daniels: The Man Who Could Reshape the Republican Field." Okay, I think Chris Cillizza wants Obama to be reelected. I know Chris; he works at it Washington Post. Chris Cillizza is like everybody else in the main stream media: He doesn't want a conservative to be elected. So here we get a piece in the Washington Post telling us that the only chance we really have as Republicans is if Daniels is the nominee. Sorry, folks, it's the messenger here that is alerting my antennae -- and in this piece is a quasi-endorsement of Mitch Daniels from none other than Obama! What I saw Thursday night at the debate does not lead to our defeat. This story tells me it does. This story tells me that that will cause us to lose, and therefore somebody who would not have sounded that way Thursday night is the only one that can win -- and in today's case it happens to be Mitch Daniels. It's time to get serious now? Well, given the source, I read that is a giant slam. That's an insult. That is a profound insult, and I consider the source: Where is it coming from?

‘Get the “Card-Check” Bill Passed -- or Else’

Big Labor Reminds Majority Leader Reid He Must Deliver on S.560 (Source: January 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Neither the “Card-Check” Forced Unionism Bill’s extreme unpopularity with the public nor the obvious reluctance of several members of his own caucus on Capitol Hill to vote for this legislation can excuse Majority Leader Harry Reid from his obligation to ram it through the U.S. Senate.  That’s the message Big Labor is sending to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as the second session of the 111th U.S. Congress gets underway this month. Last year, Mr. Reid tried early in the session to move the “card-check” bill, but, after Americans opposed to the measure inundated Senate offices with phone calls and mail, he backed off. Mr. Reid then vowed the Senate would take up the “card-check” bill, S.560, as soon as it had fulfilled President Obama’s request of adopting legislation reworking America’s $2.5 trillion-a-year health-care system. And on Christmas Eve, the Senate rubber-stamped H.R. 3590, Mr. Reid’s version of ObamaCare, in a straight party-line vote. Furthermore, Mr. Reid’s U.S. House counterpart, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has made it clear she expects the Senate to act on S.560 before the House votes on H.R.1409, the lower chamber’s version of the “card-check” scheme.