Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

These are my links for October 2nd through October 3rd:

• House Appropriators take a shot at ObamaCare, Labor and NLRB – The House appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education is attacking funding for Obamacare, the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

  According to subcommittee chairman, Montana Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, the appropriations bill would prevent the Obama administration from implementing Obamacare until the Supreme Court rules on the case. It also defunds the NLRB’s attempts to implement “quickie elections” for unions and defunds implementation of the NLRB’s “poster rule,” which requires employers nationwide to hang pro-union posters in workplaces.

  The “quickie elections” rule the NLRB recently passed allows unions to hold a workforce election within just seven to ten days after requesting one. For decades, unions has to wait about 45 days or longer after requesting an election to hold one. That ensured workers and the company had enough time to catch up and become fully informed on what was happening, as union leaders usually already know what’s going on because they deal with labor relations issues all the time.

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• Perry, Romney Embrace a National Right-to-Work Law – Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney both say they support a national right-to-work law.

  Workers outside right-to-work states currently are obligated to pay the union fees as a condition of employment at firms that have unions, which is in accordance with the National Labor Relations Act. But the unions cannot demand membership.

  "Gov. Romney … would sign a national right-to-work law if it came across his desk," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told TheStreet in an email.

  "Governor Perry would support Senator DeMint's national right to work bill," Perry spokesman Mark Miner told TheStreet in an email.

  Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) introduced the National Right to Work Act in March 2011, which aimed to protect "the free choice of individuals to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities."

  DeMint's state has seen a heavy labor dispute that concerns a Boeing plant in North Charleston, S.C., as the National Labor Relations Board general counsel ruled in April that Boeing's decision to build the plant represented an illegal retaliation for a 2008 strike by the International Association of Machinists at one of its plants in Everett, Wash.

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• Craig Becker and Boeing – For the last few months, Boeing has been clashing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over its decision to locate a plant in South Carolina. The NLRB argues that the airplane manufacturer illegally moved work from union factories in Washington state to a new $1 billion facility in the right-to-work Palmetto State.
  NLRB lawyers maintain this is straightforward retaliation against union workers, based on comments allegedly made by Boeing executives themselves. Business leaders have denounced this as an unprecedented bit of federal pro-union advocacy, with the House of Representatives last week voting to halt the Boeing case and others like it.
  The battle may soon intensify. Federal financial disclosure forms reveal that Craig Becker, a key union-friendly vote on the NLRB, owned stock in Boeing at the beginning of this year. Becker is one of federal agency's Democratic board members.

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• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-10-03 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-10-03 #tcot #catcot
• Obama Supporters "Occupy" DC
  – YouTube – Obama Supporters "Occupy" DC
  – YouTube
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: 2011 Wiggle Waggle for the Pasadena Humane Society – 2011 Wiggle Waggle for the Pasadena Humane Society
• Occupy DC Protesters Call for Re-election of Obama and for Government to Use Force to Impose Their Ideas | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Occupy DC Protesters Call for Re-election of Obama and for Government to Use Force to Impose Their Ideas #tcot #catcot
• Obama Supporters "Occupy" DC
  – YouTube – I liked a @YouTube video from @adamkokesh Obama Supporters "Occupy" DC
• Flap’s Links and Comments for October 1st through October 2nd | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for October 1st through October 2nd #tcot #catcot

These are my links for February 28th from 10:01 to 11:04:

• Pelosi splits with Reid, dismisses GOP plan to avoid a shutdown – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is showing no enthusiasm for the new proposal from Republicans to avoid a government shutdown, putting her at odds with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

  Pelosi said in a statement that the GOP's plan for a two-week spending bill cuts funding for critical programs.

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  But, the Senate Dems are going to roll over and Pelosi is in the minority.

• Wisconsin Democrat Legislator GORDON HINTZ: "YOU ARE F’N DEAD!" | Newsradio 620 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Talk, Sports, Weather | Charlie Sykes – Last week, we heard that State Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) had been busted in a prostitution sting.

  State Rep. Gordon Hintz was issued a municipal citation in Appleton earlier this month for violating a city sexual misconduct ordinance.

  Appleton police said the citation was issued Feb. 10 in conjunction with an ongoing investigation of Heavenly Touch Massage Parlor, 342 W. Wisconsin Ave., in Appleton. Police searched the business and a nearby residence in the 1300 block of North Division Street Jan. 28, after investigators had staked out the properties for several days after receiving a tip.

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  Last Friday…. after the Assembly voted to engross the Budget Repair Bill, Hintz turned to a female colleague, Rep. Michelle Litjens and said: "You are F***king dead!"

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  Nice civlity there from the LEFT……

  He is frakking through in politics, baby….

• Unions vs. the Right to Work – Collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty – How ironic that Wisconsin has become ground zero for the battle between taxpayers and public- employee labor unions. Wisconsin was the first state to allow collective bargaining for government workers (in 1959), following a tradition where it was the first to introduce a personal income tax (in 1911, before the introduction of the current form of individual income tax in 1913 by the federal government).

  Labor unions like to portray collective bargaining as a basic civil liberty, akin to the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and religion. For a teachers union, collective bargaining means that suppliers of teacher services to all public school systems in a state—or even across states—can collude with regard to acceptable wages, benefits and working conditions. An analogy for business would be for all providers of airline transportation to assemble to fix ticket prices, capacity and so on. From this perspective, collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty.

  In fact, labor unions were subject to U.S. antitrust laws in the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which was first applied in 1894 to the American Railway Union. However, organized labor managed to obtain exemption from federal antitrust laws in subsequent legislation, notably the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

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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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  The Saul Alinsky LEFT exposed for the fools they are.

These are my links for February 23rd from 11:43 to 11:47:

• Obama administration won’t defend Defense of Marriage Act – The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of the federal government's ban on recognizing same-sex marriages, a rare legal reversal and the latest in a series of political victories for gay rights activists.

  The Justice Department had appealed the decision of a federal judge in Massachusetts who struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in July, saying it was obligated to defend federal statutes. The 1996 law defines marriage from the federal perspective as between a man and a woman, which means same-sex married couples are denied access to marriage-based federal benefits.

  In an extraordinary change, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Wednesday that he and President Obama had determined – after an extensive review – that the law's key section is unconstitutional. "Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute" in court, Holder said in a statement.

  Administration officials said the review was triggered by a court-imposed filing deadline in two new legal challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, filed in federal courts in New York and Connecticut.

  The change in position came after intense lobbying of Justice Department and White House officials by gay rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union, according to activists familiar with the White House's thinking. "There has been an all-out effort to get them to do the right thing," said one activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

  Obama's relationship with the gay community, a key part of his political base, has been complicated, and activists had strongly opposed the administration's earlier defense of the federal same-sex marriage law. The president has said in the past that he does not support the right of gay couples to marry, though he said in December that his views are "evolving.

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  Obama has now elevated gay marriage into the 2012 Presidential race.

• Indiana Senate leader says right-to-work bill is dead – But Dems Won’t Return to Indiana Anyway – Republicans have killed a controversial labor bill that has sparked a Democrat work-stoppage and large union protests at the Statehouse.

  But Democrats say that isn’t enough to get them back to the Statehouse.

  The Indiana House resumed at 2 p.m. today although most Democrats were gone and the galleries — which earlier were full of protesters who were applauding and chanting — had been cleared by Republican Speaker Brian Bosma.

  Shortly before that, House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer spoke to reporters from Urbana, Ill., where most House Democrats are holed up in a Comfort Suites hotels.

  Bauer said the House Democrats realize Republicans won’t let them have their hope: taking 11 labor and education bills taken off the table for consideration this session. But they want more than just the one, the “right to work” measure, that Republicans today agreed to send to a study committee.

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  The Dems won't be returning because there are now other issues.

  Wow – negotiations of legislation in absentia – a new one for American politics