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These are my links for February 24th from 05:58 to 06:22:

• Why Does Walmart Get a Pass? Re: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – Indeed, the Center for American Progress goes on (in this post and several others) to indict pretty much every major organization, company, or individual who ever gave to Walker—and even some of the organizations that gave to organizations that supported Walker.

  Never mind that Walker has devoted his entire career in public service to reducing government spending, reforming budget processes, and reining in public-sector unions—this is about wild conspiracy theories, not the impressive, smart, likable young governor taking on an entrenched, corrupt and incestuous relationship between public-sector unions and public officials.

  But there is, oddly, at least one major corporate donor to the Walker for governor campaign that the Center for American Progress has given a pass. Walmart, one of only two corporations to fall in the top ten list of donors to Walker’s campaign, has never been mentioned in connection with Walker by the intrepid Googlers at the Center for American Progress. Not even once.

  Coincidentally, Walmart has been, and by every indication continues to be, a major donor to … the Center for American Progress. John Hinderaker notes this connection in his own post at Powerline, picking apart the shameless hypocrisy of the corporate-funded Center for American Progress's attacks on corporate money in politics.

  You'd think Walmart, with its long record of hostility to unions (which just maybe has something to do with the million-plus jobs the company has created), would be a top target for the group. Or could it be that the Center for American Progress reserves its ire for individuals and entities that do not contribute to the Center for American Progress?

  +++++++

  Hypocrites all

• The Left’s War on the Kochs – The most extraordinary story in the news these days is the all-out assault that the Left is mounting against Charles and David Koch and their company, Koch Enterprises. A day doesn't go buy–hardly an hour goes by–without some new attack being launched against these two lonely libertarians.

  Why? Simply because they are rich–their company is one of the best-run and most successful in the world–and conservative. The Left is trying to drive them out of politics and, more important, to deter any other people of means from daring to support conservative politicians or causes.

  Understand, the Left has nothing against rich people participating in politics. Most rich people who are politically active are liberals, and the Democratic Party gets much more of its support from the wealthy than the GOP. George Soros is only the most famous of a battalion of sugar daddies who fund every left-wing cause. But the Left wants a monopoly. They want wealthy people to be barred from political participation unless they toe the liberal line. Hence their increasingly vicious attacks on the Koch brothers; they are trying to make an example of them.

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  Read the entire piece

• Right Turn – Mitch Daniels’s Damage Control – I asked a Daniels spokeswoman repeatedly why Daniels had to throw in the towel on right-to-work legislation since he got two school reform measures through the state senate with only Repubican votes. She never answered. The question remains: What was the purpose of his capitulation last night?

  Daniels, in essence, has admitted he screwed up. Whether his apology will allay the conservatives who will be Republican primary voters in 2012 remains to be seen. But one longtime Republican observer e-mailed me, "The right to work free of compulsory association with, and dues paid to, any particular group, is as close to a basic liberty as can be imagined. If Daniels won't stand up for that, he can't be counted on for ANY subject aside from green-eyeshade accounting." I suspect that sentiment is rather widespread.

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  Yes, pretty weak sauce from Mitch Daniels

These are my links for February 23rd from 15:36 to 16:18:

• Indiana Deputy Attorney General Fired for Twitter Comments – Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller (R) dismissed his deputy for posting on Twitter that police should "use live ammunition" against the Wisconsin protesters, according to the Indianapolis Star.

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  As he should be.

  Jeff Cox also messaged back that the demonstrators were "political enemies" and "thugs," adding "You're darned right I advocate deadly force."

• Mitch Daniels on Wisconsin: "Been There, Done That" – Daniels spokesman Jacob Oakman sends a detailed statement on the topic:

  Been there, done that, six years ago.

  There’s been a lot of mixing up what’s going on in Indiana with what’s happening in Wisconsin. Gov. Mitch Daniels ended collective bargaining for state employees in Indiana six years ago. He issued Executive Order 05-14 on his first day in office. Now, the governor is working on codifying in state law what’s been practiced here since then: that it takes legislative action for a state to allow its employees to bargain rather than the stroke of a governor's pen, that state employees may choose to deduct union dues directly from their paychecks but can't be forced to do so (our practice now, and 95 percent of our state employees choose not to pay union dues today) and that current due process for employees continues. This proposal does not extend beyond state employees.

  Other states are catching up with what Gov. Daniels has already done, and we’re continuing to aim higher with actions that are designed to create and attract jobs, give children a better education, and continue to reform outdated practices in this state. With the measures the governor has put in place, Indiana has been able to restrain spending, reduce employees, create departments as needed to better serve Hoosiers, hire employees or use private sector contractors where it’s made sense, and put in place a pay for performance system with annual performance evaluations. Indiana has been able to move quickly to make decisions, adjustments, and reductions where needed without collective bargaining slowing the process. Indiana now has the lowest state government employment per capita of any state and the fewest state employees since 1978. Total state payroll, not adjusted for inflation, was $75 million lower in 2010 than 2004.

  Gov. Daniels worked to elect a Republican majority in the Indiana House last year to push for education reform, local government reform, a balanced budget and a host of other measures, and that's where his focus is this year. He simply believes the right-to-work debate about private sector employment is best for another day.

  Here’s what Gov. Daniels said about public unions and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts on the Diane Rehm show on NPR two days ago:

  The most powerful special interests in America today are the government unions. They're the leading financial contributors. They have the biggest PACs they have muscle, a lot of times their contracts provide for time off to go politic and lobby, and over the last few decades, if there were ever injustices or shortfalls in how we took care of government employees, it's been fixed and over-fixed. I think that what Scott Walker is trying to do is in the public interest.

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  The Right to Work flap yesterday was for Indiana private employment and not for public employees which Daniels dealt with by executive order.

• Meet Three Anti-Koch Left Wing H8 Ralliers: Roger Fraser, Bonnie Reiss, and Don Wallace – For two years the left has tried desperately to find video evidence of Tea Party participants to damn the whole. They have failed so miserably that it became necessary for the creation of the group, CrashTheTeaParty.org, which called for opponents of the Tea Party to dress up as Nazis or in other offensive uniforms, or to carry troubling signs, all in the hopes of getting the mainstream media to falsely portray the fake Tea Party protesters as authentic and representative of the whole.
  Well, Christian and I needn’t instigate fake people dressing and acting foolishly, in a racist fashion, or threatening violence. Those at the Rancho Mirage anti-Koch rally (against capitalism, free markets, and gummy bears) have been more than forthright in their extremism. (And now look at what we found in Madison, Wisconsin!)
  Since Lisa Graves and the Center for Media and Democracy has now challenged the authenticity of the videos we took, we feel it’s appropriate to isolate those who made the hateful remarks by name.

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  Read it all.

  The Saul Alinsky LEFT exposed for the fools they are.

These are my links for February 23rd from 14:35 to 14:41:

• How California cities invited the death of redevelopment – Last fall, the League of California Cities, which spent $2.5 million to promote a ballot initiative, argued forcefully that property taxes should be used only to pay for essential public services.

  In their official ballot argument for Proposition 22, the head of the association's Fire Chiefs Department and the president of the California Police Chiefs Association wrote that property taxes should be used "to fund vital local services like 911 response, police and fire protection."

  It's the same argument that Gov. Jerry Brown is using these days as he makes his case to disband the state's 400-plus local redevelopment agencies and to instead spend the property tax revenues they now receive on bread-and-butter services for California taxpayers.

  "Redevelopment funds come directly from local property taxes that would otherwise pay for schools and core city and county services such as police and fire protection and care for the most vulnerable people in our society," Brown said in his State of the State address. "I come down on the side of those who believe that core functions of government must be funded first."

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  Read it all

  California Redevelopment Agencies have been an abuse that has gone on for decades.

  They are really an attempt to recapture local property tax revenues before they go to the state and are wasted on state spending priorities.

  The State of California turned a blind eye to this money grab by local communities while taxes and spending increased.

  Now, the state is broke and wants its money back.

  The state is right but the repercussions to local cities and counties will be widespread but what does Jerry Brown care – that is their problem.

• Indiana lawmakers pass immigration curbs like Arizona – The Indiana senate passed a sweeping immigration bill that echoes Arizona's tougher measures on illegal immigrants and despite opposition from some of the largest employers and business groups in the state.

  The measure, passed on Tuesday night by a vote of 31-18, would allow state and local police to ask a person stopped for infractions like traffic violations for proof of legal residency if the officer has a "reasonable suspicion" they may be in the country illegally.

  Another provision would call for, with some exceptions, the use of English only in public meetings, on Web sites and in documents.

  The bill still needs to be adopted by state's House of Representatives, where opponents say they will now turn.

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  Likely in more states as well.