As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.
On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’
Pretty disgusting and I trust the Wisconsin Medical Board might want to do a little investigation here.
Update:
In this next video this purported physician has had enough of being accused of fraudulent activity. Get a good look Wisconsin Medical Board. I smell a disciplinary hearing here.
As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.
On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’
Pretty disgusting and I trust the Wisconsin Medical Board might want to do a little investigation here.
These are my links for February 19th from 14:56 to 14:56:
Wisconsin Union Leaders Offer Financial Concessions? – Top leaders of two of Wisconsin's largest public employee unions announced they are willing to accept the financial concessions called for in Walker's plan, but will not accept the loss of collective bargaining rights.
Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, and Marty Beil, executive director of AFSCME Council 24, said in a conference call with reporters that workers will do their fair share to narrow Wisconsin's budget gap.
Walker's plan calls for nearly all state, local and school employees to pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care premiums. That would save $30 million by June 30 and $300 million over the next two years, the governor has said.
The measure also would prohibit most unionized public employees, except local police and fire fighters and the State Patrol, from bargaining on issues besides wages. Wage hikes could be negotiated only if they don't exceed the consumer price index.
"We want to say loud and clear — it is not about those concessions," Bell said. "For my members, it's about retaining a voice in their professions."
The two insisted their positions have not changed and Friday's call was intended to clarify their opposition to Walker's proposal. Bell, who represents 98,000 educators, and Beil, whose council includes 60,000 members, repeated calls for Walker to sit down with them.
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You see with the public employee unions it is all about power.
These are my links for February 16th through February 19th:
FDR’s Ghost Is Smiling on Wisconsin’s Governor – Somewhere, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is grinning past his cigarette holder at Wisconsin’s governor. They are on the same page regarding government unions.
Except that Scott Walker — Republican cheapskate, his visage Hitlerized on signs waved by beet-faced union crowds besieging the Capitol — is kind of a liberal squish compared to FDR. He’s OK with some collective bargaining.
Walker, you might have heard, wants some changes in how Wisconsin deals with unions. He wants state employees to pay 5.8% of their salaries toward their pensions (they pay almost nothing now) and he wants them to cover 12.6% of their health care premiums (their share would go up from $79 a month to about $200; the average private-sector sap pays about $330).
Unions are enraged. They’ve been calling such increases unspeakable since Walker was elected handily in November. Then, Feb. 10, Walker went further. He’d allow public-sector unions to negotiate only pay, not benefits, mainly because he wants HSA-style health plans and 401(k)-style retirements for state workers, and unions would fight that, tooth and ragged red claw.
So unions erupted. Teachers faked illness in such numbers as to close school districts for days. Mobs beat on the doors of legislative chambers. And in some heavenly Hyde Park, the great liberal god of the 1930s is saying he saw it all along.
Roosevelt’s reign certainly was the bright dawn of modern unionism. The legal and administrative paths that led to 35% of the nation’s workforce eventually unionizing by a mid-1950s peak were laid by Roosevelt.
But only for the private sector. Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.
“The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, “I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place” in the public sector. “A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government.”
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Fancy that – even FDR did not favor government worker’s collective bargaining.
When you think of it, public employees coercing more money from the taxpayers that they are serving is kind of perverse – now isn’t it?
IN-Sen: Questions Raised About Sen Richard Lugar’s Residency – Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar has been preparing for an intra-party challenge since he was first elected, but recently, questions have popped up about his residency and commitment to Indiana.
Asked if Lugar lived in a hotel when he returned to Indiana, Lugar chief of staff Mark Helmke said, “That’s correct.”
Lugar owns a farm in the Hoosier State that he’s been tending for decades. His siblings own parts of the farm, but he still works on it once a month with his son, even though he doesn’t live there.
As for the living conditions on the farm, Helmke joked, “The place is pretty rustic.”
Asked how Lugar’s team would respond if challenged about his residency, Helmke shot back, “We’ll be happy to talk about the farm.”
“It’s not an issue. They can try to make it an issue. We’ll be happy to talk about the farm and what it means to him,” Helmke said.
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Not like Rham Emanuel and Chicago but Lugar really should have a residence in the state he represents.
After two House Republicans called it “ObamaCare,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) asked the chairman whether these “disparaging” remarks should be allowed on the House floor.
“That is a disparaging reference to the president of the United States; it is meant as a disparaging reference to the president of the United States, and it is clearly in violation of the House rules against that,” she said.
Because Wasserman Schultz only asked if it would be appropriate to curb the use of the term “ObamaCare,” the chairman said he would not rule on a hypothetical. But he did urge members to “refrain from engaging in personalities or descriptions about personalities in general.”
Search for Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers continues as Senate adjourns without quorum – Amid the third straight day of chaotic but largely peaceful protests at the Capitol, Democratic senators Thursday boycotted a Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair plan, forcing Republicans to put off further action in that house until Friday at the earliest.
With Democrats hiding out just over the Illinois border and drawing national media attention, Republicans had too few lawmakers to take a vote Thursday and had to adjourn. With thousands of demonstrators swarming the Capitol Square, GOP lawmakers vowed to come back Friday morning to try to take up the proposal, which would help solve a state budget shortfall by cutting public employee benefits and most public union bargaining rights.
Democrats holed up in the Clock Tower Resort & Conference Center in Rockford, Ill., while Republicans said they wanted law enforcement to bring them to the Capitol if they were still in Wisconsin.
“I am still thinking of leading this country. I am still thinking about it. I haven’t made up my mind. We hired a chief of staff because Todd is getting tired of doing it for me.”
When asked who else she might envision at the top of the GOP ticket Palin responded, “No one is more qualified to multi-tasking and doing all the things you need to do as a President than a woman.”
She then began reciting from her resume, listing her experience as a mayor and running for Vice President.
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Sarah Palin can’t let it go…..always setting herself up to be the victim.
President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama ties Palin but trails everyone else in Tennessee – Tennessee was a rare state where Barack Obama performed worse in 2008 than John Kerry did in 2004, albeit by less than one point on the margin. But the state now joins red-turned-blue neighbors North Carolina and Virginia as states where Obama has actually improved since the last election. While he lost to John McCain by 15 points last time, he now trails next year’s crop of Republican frontrunners by no more than 12.
Neighboring Arkansas’ Mike Huckabee typically does best against the president in Southern states, and he comes closest to matching McCain’s margin of victory here, 53-41. The other candidate who usually runs closest to Obama, Mitt Romney, beats him here, 48-41. But neighboring Georgia’s Newt Gingrich can manage only a 46-43 lead, and Sarah Palin actually ties the president at 45%.
AZ-Sen: Top Dems cool on Big Sis – Janet Napolitano candidacy – While most of the Democratic establishment is visibly encouraging Tim Kaine to dive into the Virginia Senate race, the same cannot be said for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in Arizona.
In fact, top Democrats are unenthusiastic about a Napolitano Senate candidacy for retiring Sen. Jon Kyl’s seat, according to those familiar with the race and Arizona politics.
Beyond the routine calls that are made to any potential candidate, one source noted that there’s been little outreach from typical Democratic players to urge the former governor to run.
“There’s not much interest in her. She has a long, long, long record, closely tied to President Obama. She’s got a lot of baggage,” said a Democrat involved in the race.
Dubbed derisively as “Big Sis” by Matt Drudge, Napolitano also took a considerable amount of heat for declaring that “the system worked” after the Christmas bomber was able to board a plane.
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Time has passed Big Sis by and Jeff Flake will be the next Sen
Thune is mulling a presidential run and The Brody File spent the whole day with him on Capitol Hill this past Tuesday. The Brody File received exclusive access into certain meetings Thune was holding that day. All of that will be part of a feature airing on The 700 Club in a few weeks.
Thune told me, “For any conservative or any Republican to get elected to office, you have to have the support and hopefully the energetic support of people who care passionately about the social issues. So, they’re important. And we shouldn’t trivialize that.”
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Not exactly what Mitch Daniels said but is the CW that opponents will use against him – should he decide to run
The governor’s office says the outpatient surgery Thursday morning at Indiana Orthopedic Hospital Northwest in Indianapolis was successfully performed by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sandy Kunkel.
Daniels is expected to return to his office at the Statehouse sometime next week.
Spokesman Jacob Oakman says he’s back in charge of the executive branch of Indiana government after temporarily handing those duties to Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman.
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Get well Governor – Spring Training is just around the corner.
Mitch Daniels vs. ObamaCare – The problem is politicians haven’t done a very good job of explaining this to the American public. Daniels declines to speculate on whether or not he’ll run for president next year. But if he does, his aim will be to build support for a tough, specific fiscal agenda bolstered by sustainable, affordable health policy. Without that support, he says, there’d be little point in running: “Winning an election without a consensus is not worth very much.”
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Read it all
A perspective from a Republican governor who knows America is in trouble
GOP blasts FCC on net neutrality – Republicans took the FCC to task for enacting a net neutrality order without any sound market-based analysis to justify it at a House hearing Wednesday.
“The FCC has done nothing to specifically quantify any harm requiring intervention, or the potential harm to consumers, innovation or the economy from the proposed rules,” Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said during his opening remarks.
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What Obama cannot do legilsatively he is attempting an end-around with executive regulations.
I don’t think the Congress is going to let this stand.
Mark Levin on Ann Coulter and Chris Christie – When will my dear friend Ann start to address the substantive problems with Christie’s actual positions or are we going to get another year of “only Christie can win” fortune cookie logic?
Does she support his positions on: gun control, amnesty, the appointment of an Islamist to the bench, the green agenda, his campaigning for Mike Castle, his MIA on health care litigation, etc.; and how does she think this would energize the base outside of New Jersey? Has the Tea Party even in NJ been pushing for his candidacy? No. Yes, he’s solid in his YouTube battles with teachers and his efforts to try and address NJ’s budget problems, the outcome of which have yet to be determined. But the federal government is a vast enterprise that requires a solid conservative at the helm, especially now.
Oh, and Ann, I backed Fred Thompson. He lost. I reluctantly wound up voting for McCain like millions of my fellow conservatives. Who did you back?
Help send the following message to the Wisconsin Senate and to Governor Scott Walker:
Union dues should be voluntary, and the state should not be in the business of collecting them. Union certification should require a secret ballot. Collective bargaining should not be used to force extravagant pension and health benefits that cripple state budgets.
These common-sense reforms have made the union bosses desperate to disrupt Wisconsin government and overturn an election. They must not be allowed to succeed. In fact, every state should adopt Governor Scott Walker’s common sense reforms.
Chris, the Wisconsin Democratic Legislators are indeed “chickens” who make a mockery of our democratic republic. Running away from their own state so the Wisconsin Legislature cannot take action on their own state’s budget is misfeasance and malfeasance in office.
I am positive the voters in Wisconsin will punish them accordingly at their next general election.
As for President Obama’s front group Organizing for America and the national Democratic National Committee condoning such action and supporting public employees to lie to their employers in a “Wildcat” strike is beyond the pale.
Remember what President Obama said after HE was elected?
Elections have consequences.
Maybe he should remind his fellow Democrats in Wisconsin.
Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar has been preparing for an intra-party challenge since he was first elected, but recently, questions have popped up about his residency and commitment to Indiana.
Asked if Lugar lived in a hotel when he returned to Indiana, Lugar chief of staff Mark Helmke said, "That's correct."
Lugar owns a farm in the Hoosier State that he's been tending for decades. His siblings own parts of the farm, but he still works on it once a month with his son, even though he doesn't live there.
As for the living conditions on the farm, Helmke joked, "The place is pretty rustic."
Asked how Lugar's team would respond if challenged about his residency, Helmke shot back, "We'll be happy to talk about the farm."
"It's not an issue. They can try to make it an issue. We'll be happy to talk about the farm and what it means to him," Helmke said.
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Not like Rham Emanuel and Chicago but Lugar really should have a residence in the state he represents.
House Republicans and Democrats started Friday morning's debate over whether to defund last year's healthcare law, and as part of this debate sparred over whether members should be allowed to call that law "ObamaCare."
After two House Republicans called it "ObamaCare," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) asked the chairman whether these "disparaging" remarks should be allowed on the House floor.
"That is a disparaging reference to the president of the United States; it is meant as a disparaging reference to the president of the United States, and it is clearly in violation of the House rules against that," she said.
Because Wasserman Schultz only asked if it would be appropriate to curb the use of the term "ObamaCare," the chairman said he would not rule on a hypothetical. But he did urge members to "refrain from engaging in personalities or descriptions about personalities in general."
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