Walter Russell Mead notes:
Scott Walker’s union battles may be getting all the headlines at the moment, but far away in the Empire State a very different governor is getting into a battle of his own with the unions. Although Andrew Cuomo’s union fights have not been the sort of cage match as Gov Walker’s in Wisconsin, they’ve been pretty serious, especially for a state known for its liberal, pro-union politics. Cuomo’s early struggles involved reducing benefits for public sector unions and pushing for a tougher teacher evaluation process. The latest round of the union fight concerns delegate seats at September’s DNC meeting in Charlotte.
Politico reports that during the last week, Cuomo removed the leaders of four of New York’s largest public-sector unions from their seats at the convention. Although three of the leaders were eventually reinstated, it was only after considerable wrangling by the unions and frantic calls to Cuomo’s office. Although the Governor denies any motive that at the very least, Cuomo is sending a message to the unions that he will be more difficult to work with than previous Democratic governors.
Hmmm. This seems to me a reaction to the political reality that unions are very unpopular with voters, particularly public sector unions. Mead thinks so, as well.But as Mead points out this reaction of Cuomo based on nothing more than a power grab:
Ever since Teddy Roosevelt and FDR, governors of New York have had presidential ambitions—Dewey, Rockefeller (who made it to Veep), Averill Harriman and Andrew Cuomo’s father all angled for the nation’s top job during their political careers.
This Cuomo is likely no exception, and significantly, he seems to think that a record of standing up to public sector unions might boost his national ambitions. Looking at Hilary Clinton’s sky high popularity ratings, Cuomo may be thinking that the Democratic center could be the path to bigger things.
But notice the difference, here. Whereas the Lamestream media has been trumpeting the anti-union message of Walker in it’s attempt to bolster the failing effort to have him removed, they’ve said hardly anything at all, about Cuomo being equally realistic about Unions and the damage they do.
Apparently word has gone out from Detroit on just how damaging unions can be. Investor’s Business Daily:
Poor Detroit. It hasn’t had any good news for decades, and now, despite a $77 billion bailout of the auto industry, its population continues to implode. The No. 1 reason: the United Auto Workers union.
Census data released Tuesday show Detroit’s population has plunged 25% since 2000 to just 713,777 souls – the same as 100 years ago, before the auto industry’s heyday. As recently as the 1970s, Detroit had 1.8 million people.
What’s happening is no secret: Detroiters are fleeing an economic disaster, the irreversible decline of the Big Three automakers.
In his now-famous Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler, rapper Eminem drives up to a theater in a sleek new 200 model and says, “This is the Motor City. And this is what we do.” But, sadly, that’s no longer the case. Detroit’s decline has been shocking.
Sure, a lot of the blame goes to a generation of bad management. But the main reason for Detroit’s decline is the greed of the industry’s main union, the UAW, which priced the Big Three out of the market.
Well, let’s be fair to the UAW, and for that matter unions in general here. They’re only part of the reason. The other part is liberalism.. the growth of government intrusion. That’s a problem that Walker has been quite successful in attacking, but Cuomo, will not even make the attempt. Which, to my mind, is precisely why the media a tax walker and says nothing whatsoever about Andrew Cuomo.
Let’s take a historical perspective, here. If you want to see what happened to Detroit’s auto industry, one need only look at the historical perspective of the passenger railroad industry in this country. It seems a strange parallel, but parallel it is as you’ll see.
Consider the linkage; we had a huge, and mildly profitable, passenger railroad industry in these United States years ago. Unionization, and over regulation by government, placed a large burden on the railroad companies. So large was that burden, in fact, that the railroad industry started petitioning government to not run particular routes anymore. The government in its wisdom decided that there were too many people who depended on the railroads for their transportation. As such they denied the railroad companies that permission to cut costs by cutting lines. As such the railroad industry went under. Union imposed operating costs, government imposed operating costs, meant low profits, and indeed huge losses. When the government and the unions finally killed off the golden goose, the government stepped in with Amtrak who has never turned dime one, in total, and has invariably been a huge burden on the American taxpayer.
So what is with the American auto industry. So it soon will be with the American trucking industry. The growth of government, the unrealistic demands of unions, combined to make capitalism impossible.
The question becomes do we have anybody capable of turning that around on our political horizon?
Kimberlin versus Walker makes the traditional media. Brett you are now a celebrity.
Aaron Walker’s arrested explained, by David Hogberg, Investor’s Business Daily:
Here’s what seems to have happened. Although Kimberlin’s first peace order against Walker was eventually thrown out on appeal, it appears that while it was in effect Walker wrote a blog post about Kimberlin. This triggered a Google Alert that Kimberlin had set up. Kimberlin filed criminal charges based on that, apparently claiming that constituted “contact.” The court apparently agreed, and Walker was arrested.
As for why the judge ruled in favor of Kimberlin’s peace order, that’s easier to explain. First, Walker was clearly stressed and high-strung in court, and alienated Judge C.J. Vaughey. He repeatedly interrupted Vaughey, and by the end of the roughly 45-minute hearing Vaughey was clearly annoyed.
Note to Judge Vaughn and other Internet challenged people, a Google Alert only appears in your mail box by your request and confirmation. So Kimberlin signs up for a Google Alert. Gets on in his mail box. Blames it on Aaron Walker and gets a senile judge to issue a restraining order against Walker. Fidel Castro would be proud.
Even most Boston fans didn’t know about this one.
Yes, that’s Brad Delp on vocals.
I got a headache trying to sort out the details of the Speedway Bomber, ‘b/k/a Brett Kimberlin versus Aaron Walker. So instead, feast on this, sweet, cute, head strong, smart and only six years old, from Associated Press:
Hat tip photo: ABC News
McLEAN, Va. — At 6 years old, Lori Anne Madison is the youngest person ever to qualify for the National Spelling Bee.
At a glance, she seems like a child that age: She talks at 100 mph and wears a T-shirt that says “Little Miss Sunshine” on it. But she can spell with the best of them, in this case kids twice her age already considered prodigies.
The bee doesn’t have a lower age limit, but no one younger than 8 had ever qualified for the nationals. Spellers can compete until they’re 15, or until they’ve completed eighth grade.
No one is expecting Lori Anne to win. But just being there is a unique accomplishment, and making it beyond the preliminaries on Tuesday and Wednesday would be another stunning development.
Reax: PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers:
What Become of the Gifted Kids of Africa?
Just wondering how many of Lori Ann Madison of South Sudan and Africa go unnoticed and unexploited year in, year out? Lori Ann is only 6-years old and yet no school is willing to admit/accept her because she is so bright that she wouldn’t fit into any of their systems
Or for that matter the gifted children of say Chicago, District of Columbia, or Rochester? The children of homes with no father?
More reax: Richard G. Williams, Jr., Old Virginia Blog:
Another Homeschooling Success
I wonder if George Pickett was also home schooled? Can’t home school without two parents.
More reax: Laura, Terribly Write.
Meghan McCain whined in the Daily Beast:
“Last week, I went on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show PoliticsNation to talk about extremism in the Republican Party. As a socially liberal Republican, this happens to be a topic I know a lot about. On the show, I told Sharpton that many Republicans treat me like a freak, especially the extreme-right members of my party. I went on to say that I don’t understand the appeal of extreme bloggers such as Michelle Malkin and the late Andrew Breitbart. That’s all I said, but it only took a few hours before my comments were posted out of context on a variety of blogs that suggested I was viciously attacking Breitbart. My Twitter feed exploded with insults, including the suggestion that I should kill myself.”
Hat tip and reax, RS McCain:
You seem to be under the delusion that you are entitled to demand respect from the honest people you insult, simply because your family is rich and your father is a senator. You are a stereotype of the spoiled little rich girl who can’t understand why people don’t automatically kowtow to her whims.
So while you’re whining about people calling you a “fat pig” on Twitter, other people are actually dealing with far more serious forms of harassment and intimidation. Yet I don’t seem to recall you saying one word about the plight of Aaron Worthing, and you were notably MIA on “Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day.”
Conservative can cite the Reverend Al Shartpon’s rap sheet by rote, Tawana Brawley, Crown Heights. etc Yet Megs McCain does Sharpton’s show, from Wikipedia:
During the Crown Heights Riot, Sharpton (who arranged a rally in Crown Heights after Cato’s death[31]) has been seen by some commentators as inflaming tensions by making remarks that included “If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house”.[57]
And Andrew Breitbart and Michelle Malkin are extremists. Sure!
Aside to Megs, as you are a white person and the Reverend has opined that conservative whites want to kill blacks, would not your presence on the Reverend’s show cause him to fear for his life, and if not, why not?
Yeah, pretty much.
The head of the Democratic National Committee doesn’t really seem all that concerned with the outcome of the Wisconsin Recall Elections:
The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee said Friday that if Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) doesn’t prevail over Gov. Scott Walker (R) in next month’s Wisconsin recall election, there won’t be any ramifications for Democrats nationally.
“I think, honestly, there aren’t going to be any repercussions,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said in a broad-ranging interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”
“It’s an election that’s based in Wisconsin. It’s an election that I think is important nationally because Scott Walker is an example of how extreme the tea party has been when it comes to the policies that they have pushed the Republicans to adopt,” Wasserman Schultz said. “But I think it’ll be, at the end of the day, a Wisconsin-based election, and like I said, across the rest of the country and including in Wisconsin, President Obama is ahead.”
Given the recent polling, it’s not really a surprise that the DNC would try to down play the repercussions of an unsuccessful recall. In fact, it’s been clear for weeks now that national Democrats aren’t nearly as enthusiastic about this election as they appeared to be during the height of the protests in Madison last year.
Well, of course not. The effort to recall Walker is a complete disaster for them. Their “giving up” is a strategic move designed to minimize the linkage of the lost there and the upcoming national actions. The fact is, Walker has more support than they do.
These are facts, of course, which didn’t come out until just recently. Not in the Lamestream media, anyway. They’ve been trumpeting that Walker was in serious trouble in this recall. Which, of course, is precisely what the left would like you to believe. What we’re seeing here is the Democrats trying to make their own reality, and being unsuccessful at it, and now they’re having to adjust for the reality that they can’t override. Essentially, what we see today is the Democrat Party trying to cut their losses.
Remember; Wisconsin is a state that carried four Obama buying something like fourteen points in 2008. Yet, between the upcoming failure at recalling Walker, and recent polling suggesting that Obama and Romney are tied at 46% each, the discussion is slowly showing up that Wisconsin is now a swing state.
I suspect this is the coal mine canary for the Obama team. And, for that matter, liberals in general.
It also suggests that the unions, invariably leftist, big government-pushing groups, have lost their pull. While it is true that the GOP has been spending a fair amount of money in the state, and the Democrats not so much, that lack of Democrat Party money has been more than made up for by the unions, who particularly feel threatened by Walker. In the past it has been quite true that absent the union support, Democrats would have lost the state. This is particularly true in the case of the 2008 election.
Clearly, however, the unions do not now have the popular support needed to get their agenda and their candidates approved, if we can take the upcoming Walker victory as any indication.
And let’s take this a step farther and look ahead to the November general election;
Remember that the plurality of liberals in that state has never been overly large.
As an example, Bush only lost to Al Gore, by about 5700 votes. (Given the voter fraud we saw in that state, those numbers are still little bit questionable even at that level )
Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter both succeeded in carrying Wisconsin in their days, by abandoning liberal orthodoxy at least within the state. Obama , meanwhile, has utterly failed to do that, instead doubling down on his socialist dogma in the face of the failures of his socialist policies. The difference in approach between them is rather striking. So, too, is the difference between the Democrat party dogma and the perception of reality in Wisconsin these days.
Assuming this anti -leftist, and anti-union momentum doesn’t shift again, (and these things take invariably longer than six months to accomplish ) it’s not hard to see which direction Wisconsin will be going come November.
All sane men loathe war. However some deluded lefties like Chris Hayes and Dim Won, a/k/a Dumbo, b/k/a Barack Obama not only hate war, they hate the men who fight our war, from Ben Geman, Hill:
Obama honors troops, says ‘dark cloud’ from decade of war is lifting
[…]
The speech comes on the first Memorial Day since the formal end of the Iraq war. “This Memorial Day we mark another milestone: for the first time in nine yeas Americans are not fighting and dying in Iraq,” Obama said
“We are winding down the war in Afghanistan and our troops will continue to come home,” he added. “After a decade under the dark cloud of war, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.”
Let me see if I get this, Dim Won implies that American Fighting Men are “dark cloud” and promises as president to avoid all all cost ever using American Fighting Men to darken any nation, and German, or his editors at Hill somehow assume that Dim Won was trying to honor American Fighting Men and our fallen heroes. American Fighting Men are not dark clouds. We come not to conquer but rather for liberate. We ask little more than some acres to bury our honored war dead.
It was not the American Fighting Man who attacked the World Trade Center in 1883, from Wikipedia:
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, NY. The 1,336 lb (606 kg) urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device[1] was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into the South Tower (Tower Two), bringing both towers down and killing thousands of people.[2][3] It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured more than a thousand.[4] The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal A. Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. They received financing from Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, Yousef’s uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. In November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb.
It was not the Chris Hayes which curtailed the Islamic reign of terror. It never will be.
I stopped doing this some time ago, for reasons I’ve long since forgotten.
Decided I should start sharing some music titles, and see what you folks think.
This one is the Aces live in Concert in 2005, off a disk called “Alive in America”. It was originally off 1976’s “Too Stuffed to Jump”… the one with “Third Rate Romance” on it. Alas, I didn’t pay so much attention to the album because “Third Rate Romance” got overplayed so much. I’ve started to attend some of those other tracks now, all these years later, and found this live track which actually I like better than the studio track.
I want to speak briefly about Memorial day which is today.
It’s always been a special day for me, because honoring our vets has always held special meaning for me; it’s a lesson my parents instilled very well, indeed. It was brought home to me, as I was recently looking at pictures from a trip we made through the Gettysburg PA area some years ago.
It’s a particularly meaningful thing, when you’re standing on that field…. Something that goes well beyond the cold facts and figures about who died from what company, how old they were, or even where they were from. It’s more a feeling you get…. You can sense it… not unlike being at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, or visiting Arlington National Cemetery. I’m told Omaha Beach, and Pearl Harbor and many other sites are the same way. I’ve been at the funerals of firemen and policemen who died in their line of duty, and that was also remarkably similar.
In each case, we’re dealing with places and concepts of death. But death alone doesn’t do it; doesn’t create that solemn atmosphere that is so unique to the above places. After all; there are lots of mass casualty accidents have happened over the centuries and their sites are well marked, and revered, or at least held apart, and yet, their impact doesn’t approach that of an Iwo Jima or a Pearl.
Even under the shelter f the time that has passed since the events, as you stand in each place, you can still feel it; Lives were lost there that were willingly (And in the case of the civilian deaths at the towers, unwillingly) sacrificed toward a higher ideal.
Our feelings and conclusions can be far different from what those lost experienced. Yet, their lives and their sacrifices still count for something. And the thing is, it doesn’t take much for us to out ourselves in their mindset.
Think of it this way; Every single man who died at Gettysburg, at Normandy, at Pearl and all the rest, has meaning for us because each of them, had their own lives, just as we have our own lives. These people loved, they laughed, they cried. They had a favorite food, a favorite color, a particular bit of music, or of poetry stirred their souls, like none other, just like we, ourselves. Every bit as much as you and I love our lives, they loved theirs. Their lives were as precious to them, as yours is to you. Their loss was as keenly felt by their loved ones as yours would yours.
And yet, they gave their lives up, for something bigger.. something they considered to be larger than themselves.
I have a neighbor, whose father just a few years ago needed a liver transplant. This neighbor willingly gave up part of his liver to be transplanted into his father. A noble action, certainly, commendable, and impressive. But with all respect to my neighbor, the choice to do that is comparatively easy to make. He knows and loves his father, and the risks and sacrifices were fairly light by comparison.
How much more noble is a sacrifice of one’s life for people that one will never meet? Well, the people we honor today, those in uniform particularly, but some who were not, gave of themselves for the benefit of people they would never know…. you and I, and countless others from many nations. If not for their sacrifices, you’d not be reading this, because I’d not have written it…. we’d be living in a very different world, possibly, one not nearly as good to us as it has been.
That gift, that sacrifice, is what we memorialize today. Look upon those actions, those sacrifices, and know what you’re seeing is strength, courage, and nobility in measures that should not… can not, be ignored. It must be honored by us all; it was made, after all for our benefit.
Think about that as we deal with the solemn proceedings for their day.
Addendum:
From Glenn:
GEORGE S. PATTON: “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
Indeed so.
Addendum II:
At least two people have tossed John Lennon at me, wondering why we don’t have heroes of peace.
I submit we do… and we honor them today. Let’s look at the reality of what peace is and is not:
Peace, real, lasting peace,is not merely the absense of war. It is not a product of disavowing war, or thinking peaceful thoughts.
Nor is it the product of negotiated settlements. Negotiated settlements in the supposed interests of peace, bring war, almost invariably.
Peace is the product of winning the war brought against you, with sufficient force to prevent any ideas of trying it again.
Examples:
World war II was the direct result of the negotiated settlement imposed following WWI.
The current Korean troubles are the product of negotiating away our efforts in the original Korean War, and the resulting imprisonment of an entire nation. So far as I’m concerned north Korea is a great national shame to these United States for not having the courage to follow through on its objective. A shame brought about by those seeking peace, while not having a clue what real peace is. I wonder if the people currently living in North Korea consider themselves to be living in peace.
Consider, on the other hand our victories over Japan and Germany and how decisive they were , and how good and peaceful an ally each has been following that victory. In each of those cases, those fighting those wars to their successful conclusions created situations where former enemies were turned into steadfast friends. They are therefore the bringers of peace.
Like it or not, that’s the reality.
And so, also, is Lennon’s question about heroes of peace answered.
Memo to Meghan McCain: Al Sharpton is an Antisemite With Blood on His Hands
David Swindle, PJ Tattler.
video:
Reax, Daley Gator:
Chris Hayes epitomizes the definition of educated beyond one’s hat size
I like to say that people who are, while educated, lacking in real wisdom, are educated beyond their hat size. What I mean is that they do not possess the ability to apply their education to the real world. They are, at times, lacking common sense, and do not, apparently have the capacity to accept simple truths. These people are too enamored with nuance. I have worked with such people. Yes they are intelligent, well educated, but they can never seem to grasp that the solution to a problem, or the answer to a question might be the simplest one available. Maybe to them, simple always equals stupid. Their addiction to over thinking and over analyzing everything prevents them from accepting that some things just are what they are.
Mr. Hayes, better people than you risk their lives so that you can spout your pathetic dribble. These people are better than you. Why does it pain you so much to honor your betters?
I disagree, Mr. Hayes is not educated. As real education is experience condensed in time, and all Mr. Hayes can spout is delusional theory. No society can survive without the means and willingness to defend herself. What Mr. Hayes pines for amounts to national suicide. Mr. Hayes has been indoctrinated. and poorly at that.
The Reverend Al Sharpton, uttered:
AL SHARPTON (36:58): It seems like they [Republicans] act as though, some wiping out of people, some of the right-wing, is all right, it’s not all right to do to any innocent people. If you had war and people that’s one thing, but to wipe out innocent people just because of who they are like what was done in Hitler’s Germany or what was done to Native Americans is not justifiable.
video:
Hat tip and reax, Rick Moran, American Thnker:
It isn’t so much that Sharpton is a radical racialist and a bigot to boot. America is full of these clowns and we’ve come to expect Sharpton to show up anywhere he can get publicity and make outrageous statements.
The problem is that he is a prominent figure in the Democratic party. The Democrats complain about their unpopularity with white voters – attributing opposition to racism – while allowing bomb throwers like Sharpton to maintain a high profile at party functions and other events. They make it clear that they take him seriously despite his moronic and incendiary statements on race.
Earth to Democrats: Until you completetly disavow people like Al Sharpton, white people will believe you are the crazy racialist party and will vote accordingly.
Earth to Reverend Al, quit blaming white guys for your problems.
Suck of this one Al, from American Life League:
Percentages of U.S. Females, Age 15-44, Broken Down by Race (According to 2000 U.S. Census)
Whites: 64.7%
Blacks: 12.3%
Hispanic or Latino: 12.4%
Other: 10.6%Percentages of U.S. Women Who Obtained Abortions, Broken Down by Race (According to Center of Disease Control, 2004)
Whites: 54.1%
Blacks: 38.2%
Other: 7.7%
Don’t blame conservative white guys for wanting to kill blacks. Just look at your black sisters. Get back to All.
From William A. Jacobson, Legal Insurrection:
Arrest in Etan Patz murder
A bittersweet update to my prior post about Etan Patz.
Who knows if this is the real killer. I guess we’ll find out as more evidence comes out.
Hopefully the family will have the closure not only of a conviction, but of being able to bury Etan properly.
No body, and a dying suspect with questionable mental stability.
Karen pulls herself away from her kid’s Little League games long enough to do her patriotic duty and blog about the Speedway Bomber, b/k/a Brett Kimberlin, from Lonely Conservative:
Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin Poked a Bees Nest
Brett Kimberlin, aka The Speedway Bomber, is not a nice man. He’s on a mission to go after any blogger who dares to speak the truth about him. He doesn’t want anyone writing about his sordid past, or his ties to liberal groups and “charitable” foundations that send his “non-profit” businesses money.
Many people lust for fame. Alas, Kimberlin appears not to want to be famous, but he is any how.
Addendum: It is apparent, at least to me, why the old media is so often called the Lame Stream Media, from Big Hollywood:
A Breitbart News investigation has revealed that many of the funders of the Justice Through Music Project (JTMP), a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization of which convicted “Speedway bomber” Brett Kimberlin is a director, do not know about his criminal past. Those foundations and funds listed as donors that responded to request for comment also indicated that they had not been contacted by media other than Breitbart News.
The Lamers can find time to investigate fabricated incident from Mitt Romney high school days, but have to interest in who is funding domestic terrorism and why.
