posted April 30, 2011 11:54 AM            

So, what are reasonable people to believe when the Union thugs went all out in Wisconsin to overturn the results of an election which saw Republicans take control of the Governor's Mansion, the State Senate and the State House BUT these same Union thugs are strangely very quiet when the demoscat controlled state legislature in Massachusetts laid down the same rules for their own state union employees?

They've had their scam going for so long they must be shocked.

Union thugs take union dues money from their members and fund the election of demoscat candidates. Elected demoscats then vote for more and more perks pushed by the Union thug bosses. That's straight "Pay for Play"...Bribery.

But, citizens of the various states have had enough. They realize state employees are making more money and have better, much better benefits than those paying all the bills.

Now, those demoscats are running scared, having seen the results of elections in other states.

But, the same Union thugs are suddenly..very quiet. In the real world, we call that Hypocrisy..with a capital H.

Big labor leaders mum while Bay State Dems launch attack on collective bargaining rights
Published: 1:11 PM 04/29/2011 | Updated: 4:17 PM 04/29/2011
By Matthew Boyle

In the traditionally far-left Massachusetts statehouse, House Democrats passed legislation this week that strips municipal public sector workers of their right to collectively bargain on health insurance plans. The bill has yet to make it to the state Senate or Gov. Deval Patrick, but national labor leaders like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, National Education Association (NEA) President and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Mary Kay Henry don�t seem eager to get involved. Notorious left-wing advocate and filmmaker Michael Moore hasn�t showed up either, nor has self-proclaimed civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson.........
http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/29/big-labor-leaders -mum-while-bay-state-dems-launch-attack-on-collective-bargaining-rights/

posted May 10, 2011 09:32 PM            

A conservative billionaire who opposes government meddling in business has bought a rare commodity: the right to interfere in faculty hiring at a publicly funded university.

St Petersburg Times

quote:

---

A foundation bankrolled by Libertarian businessman Charles G. Koch has pledged $1.5 million for positions in Florida State University's economics department. In return, his representatives get to screen and sign off on any hires for a new program promoting "political economy and free enterprise."

Traditionally, university donors have little official input into choosing the person who fills a chair they've funded. The power of university faculty and officials to choose professors without outside interference is considered a hallmark of academic freedom.

Under the agreement with the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, however, faculty only retain the illusion of control. The contract specifies that an advisory committee appointed by Koch decides which candidates should be considered. The foundation can also withdraw its funding if it's not happy with the faculty's choice or if the hires don't meet "objectives" set by Koch during annual evaluations.

David W. Rasmussen, dean of the College of Social Sciences, defended the deal, initiated by an FSU graduate working for Koch. During the first round of hiring in 2009, Koch rejected nearly 60 percent of the faculty's suggestions but ultimately agreed on two candidates. Although the deal was signed in 2008 with little public controversy, the issue revived last week when two FSU professors � one retired, one active � criticized the contract in the Tallahassee Democrat as an affront to academic freedom.

Rasmussen said hiring the two new assistant professors allows him to offer eight additional courses a year. "I'm sure some faculty will say this is not exactly consistent with their view of academic freedom,'' he said. "But it seems to me it would have been irresponsible not to do it."

The Koch foundation, based in Arlington, Va., did not return a call seeking comment.

Most universities, including the University of Florida, have policies that strictly limit donors' influence over the use of their gifts. Yale University once returned $20 million when the donor demanded veto power over appointments, saying such control was "unheard of."

Jennifer Washburn, who has reviewed dozens of contracts between universities and donors, called the Koch agreement with FSU "truly shocking."

Said Washburn, author of University Inc., a book on industry's ties to academia: "This is an egregious example of a public university being willing to sell itself for next to nothing."

� � �

---

posted May 12, 2011 11:51 AM            

The end of western civilization is at hand; perhaps the end of civilization itself is near.

The Koch Bros are funding University professor(s).

Wow, who knew what evil lurks in the hearts of the Koch Brothers?

They will insist that only capitalist economics..which work...be taught by the "professor(s)" they fund. Leftist weenie Socialist professors...(Socialism which doesn't work}...have their panties in a bunch....cause who ever heard of individuals, trusts, corporations or charities funding University Chairs/Professors or academic subjects before?

Like most leftist weenies, they've got their facts wrong.

Here's a really quick look at some other University Chairs and academic subjects funded by...individuals, trusts and others which have nothing to do with the usual funding stream..Property Taxes..of University life.

http://www.uh.edu/giving/opportunities/endowed/chairs-professorships/index.php#architecture

http://www.mtsu.edu/endowed_chairs.shtml

http://www.usm.edu/gifted/endowedChair.html

http://www.alfaisal.edu/research/resources.htm

http://www.okstate.edu/ag/agedcm4h/ag_news/ag@osu/sp96/asp96_21.htm

http://www.sciencefutures.uwa.edu.au/programs/chairs

Now, want to read something really funny?

The newspaper which published the article which Node posted is OWNED by the Poynter Institute. Yep, the lying St Petersburg Times which also operates the lying PolitFacts fiasco some here like to quote to bolster their failed arguments.

Oh, and that same Poynter Institute runs it's own School of Journalism to teach students all about Leftist/Socialist/Marxist journalism and is very closely associated with Florida International University. Notice, it's Florida "International" University; NOT Florida "American". University. International, as in International Socialism.

Poynter is also hooked up with the Knight Foundation which funds/endows The Journalism Ethics Program at Washington and Lee University. Journalistic ethics have been totally destroyed by leftist journalists..who are nothing but political activists and propaganda artists.

No one has to dig very deep to find the absolute hypocrisy of the lying left.

posted May 12, 2011 01:46 PM            

quote:

---

The Koch Bros are funding University professor(s).

---

What an interestingly myopic way to view the philanthropy, sic.

What those interviewed, the article, and the reporting of the powers such "philanthropy" gives is entirely different of course,

Anyone with a sense of discernment, indeed the ability to read with comprehension, would walk away with knowledge that Chucky Koch is making all of the decisions in the dept of Economics at the University, powers that were not given to a $20 Mil philanthropist who tried the same power play at Yale......and were turned down.

posted May 13, 2011 11:09 AM            

NO, NO, NO...of course not!

Socialists need to get over it.

Socialism doesn't work, never has worked and never will work. Socialism is a dead end.

posted June 08, 2011 03:01 PM            

quote:

---

Koch-backed conservative group spams Detroit with fake eviction notices

The pro-corporate activist group Americans for Prosperity is campaigning in Detroit against a transportation project called the New International Trade Crossing, which aims to make Michigan a center for north American international trade.

But in opposing the plan, they�ve gone to the very extremes of shock campaigning, dropping forms claiming to be eviction notices off at homes in the Delray area of Detroit. Contacted by area reporters, the Koch-backed group defended their flyers, saying they �were meant to startle people.�

---

Detroit resembles a third world country these days. Ground Zero for an American nightmare. Unemployment was at 45% in 2009.

posted June 23, 2011 12:04 AM            

By: Robert Greenwald Wednesday June 22, 2011 11:17 am

Documents and interviews unearthed in recent months by Brave New Foundation researchers illustrate a $28.4 million Koch business that has manufactured 297 commentaries, 200 reports, 56 studies and six books distorting Social Security�s effectiveness and purpose.

Together, the publications reveal a vast cottage industry comprised of Koch brothers� spokespeople, front groups, think tanks, academics and elected officials, which have built a self-sustaining echo chamber to transform fringe ideas into popular mainstream public policy arguments.

The Koch brothers� echo chamber has successfully written the messaging for the AARP, a traditional defender of Social Security for all generations, which recently opened the door to cutting benefits.

The Koch echo chamber begins with think tanks like the Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation and Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Reason Foundation, which owe their founding and achievements to Koch backing. These think tanks take their $28.4 million in Koch funding and produce hundreds of position papers distorting the long-term health of Social Security.

The authors of these hundreds of self-described policy studies, newsletters, commentaries and books are then paraded through television, print and online news media. Their distorted message is amplified through shows like Hannity, with its 3.3 million viewers per episode, or CNBC�s Kudlow Report and its roughly 300,000 viewers per episode night after night after night.

Eventually, elected officials react to the Koch echo chamber and typically shift their position for reelection or the next campaign.

The investigation revealed Koch-supported policy fixes, and specific language repeated across each document, such as raising the retirement age or eliminating cost of living adjustments for Social Security dependents and beneficiaries.

These Koch ideas percolate through the echo chamber and into the mainstream. The frequency and repetition of the arguments supplant more popular policy recommendations like scrapping the Social Security tax cap, which would free individuals earning more than $106,800 annually to pay taxes on all of their wages, like everyone else.

�The Koch brothers job is to do everything they can to dismember government in general,� Sen. Bernie Sanders says in this video. �If you can destroy Social Security, you will have gone a long way forward in that effort.�

The Koch echo chamber has been so effective that AARP, a traditional advocate and defender of Social Security, has repositioned its policy to open the door to cut Social Security benefits for dependents and beneficiaries.

Counter the Koch billions and protect social security. Create an echo chamber of truth and share this video with your friends and family.

The echo chamber, coupled with AARP�s shift toward cutting Social Security, pushes the argument further toward the Koch brothers� goals. Influential opinion-shapers in venerable news outlets will react and have already begun to referee disputes on new �middle ground� that has, over time and through the actions of AARP and the Koch echo chamber, grown tolerant of the Koch brothers� talking points.

�The Koch brothers fund organizations, and you have economists and political scientists working there and they are very, very good at getting on television,� Sanders said. �They are very effective in getting their positions out into the media.�

That�s further personified by the Koch brothers� lobbying. Koch Industries spent $857,000 on lobbyists in 2004, one year before George W. Bush tried and failed to privatize Social Security. They also donated $104,660 to his campaign. The attacks on Social Security needed more time to stew in the echo chamber before they could be mainstream, and given the increase in lobbyists, they have risen dramatically. AARP�s shift is more proof of the Kochs� achievements.

In the first two years of the Obama administration, the brothers have spent $20 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Public Integrity. And they�ve diversified their donations to a slew of Republican opinion leaders and strategic Democrats who oppose revenue increases like Sen. Ben Nelson and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. And, with AARP�s action, the Koch echo chamber has broken ground on a new political terrain favorable to their ideological and financial goals.

Almost overnight, a historic and popular service, like Social Security, faces extinction. But behind this outcome, the Koch echo chamber has been churning for years.

Bernie Sanders Counter the Koch Billions~watch

---------

posted June 23, 2011 10:05 AM            

Welcome to Hell.

posted June 24, 2011 04:25 PM            

Reality is that many freedoms, and the very nature of our republic have been bought. If the rhetoric is not exposed for what it is, and the lethargic do not begin an earnest fight to regain our voice over those who seek to control even the crumbs....well then we get what we deserve.

Corporate America being handed subsidies. Corporate America given paychecks every day, every year by it's citizenry.

A congress that refuses to ask the uberwealthy to again pay their fair share.

Bankers that have traded our good faith for gold plated bathroom fixtures.

Wake up!

Realize who and what are creating policy.

The US corporate income tax rate is 35%. Yet this year, Google, which made $5.5 billion in revenues, only paid an effective tax rate of 2.4%. Indeed, it�s not unusual for a corporation to pay only 6-7% in effective taxes.

Transfer pricing
subsidiaries
income shifting
tax havens

None of it new
but most of it far more skewed to the corporate advantage

Meanwhile average jane and joe America are asked not only to pony up but to give away every social safety net we have.
Enough.

I pity those who believe the screed that millions of dollars buys, and spreads around like so much dodo.

posted June 24, 2011 04:42 PM            

When the Koch brothers hold their biannual strategy session with top conservatives in Vail, Colorado this weekend, they�ll be met by progressive demonstrators from various groups demanding more transparency in campaign finance. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) is one of the few known participants at this weekend�s meeting, but previous Koch retreats have including top lawmakers like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), top operatives like U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donahue, and conservative media figures like Glenn Beck, among many others. Last October�s secret meeting in Palm Springs, California attracted hundreds of protesters.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/24/253276/koch-protest-vail/

posted August 01, 2011 06:36 PM            

Mails Absentee Ballots To Dem's With Wrong Election Date ==
David Koch�s right-wing front group Americans for Prosperity has been particularly active in Wisconsin, where AFP has run hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ads boosting Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), mobilized GOTV efforts for Republican voters, and helped large employers conduct captive meetings to coerce workers into supporting conservative politicians. Now, Politico is reporting that AFP has mailed absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date. The mailers, obtained by reporter David Catanese, instruct reliable Democratic voters to return ballots for the Aug. 9 election to the city clerk �before Aug. 11.� These are people who are our in the voter file who we already knew. They ain�t AFP members, that�s for damn sure,� a Democratic campaign worker told Politico.

Koch�s political activism on behalf of Walker is also a strategy for increasing its profit margin. Koch Industries has a large set of businesses within Wisconsin, including a network of oil pipelines, paper plants, and coal companies. The Walker administration is signaling a very Koch-friendly approach in targeting environmental regulations and going on record with fierce opposition to clean energy policies.

To take full advantage of such a friendly local government, Koch Industries quietly expanded its lobbying operation in the state. Koch has a new government affairs office in Madison, and according to reporter Judith Davidoff, recently registered seven full time lobbyists to work with the Republican-led government in Wisconsin.

posted August 03, 2011 10:03 AM            

So Node, if not, why not?

Soros-Funded Organizations Release �Wisconsin Values Budget�

At a Wednesday morning press conference in Milwaukee, an alliance of left-wing organizations presented the �Wisconsin Values Budget,� billed as an alternative to Governor Walker�s budget proposal. Meant to counter to Governor Walker�s �cuts only approach,� the �Wisconsin Values Budget� is a �balanced approach to our fiscal challenges that demonstrates the governor�s choices are not necessary choices.�

The lead sponsors of the so-called �Values Budget� are Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Institute for Wisconsin�s Future, Center on Wisconsin Strategy, and Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, each a recipient of significant grants from left-wing billionaire George Soros and the Open Society Institute.

The �Values Budget� proposes a �balanced approach� to solving the $3.6 billion budget deficit. Not surprisingly, the �balanced approach� endorsed by these groups hinges on a $1.04 billion tax increase on the �wealthy and corporations� in order that they might pay their �fair share.� It also unsurprisingly advocates spending the $636 million in additional projected tax revenue to offset the current spending cuts, as well as collecting what is alleged to be �$300-400 million� in annual unpaid taxes. Accounting for 54% of the budget deficit, the other 46% is made up by �modest spending cuts� of $640 million and $1.04 billion in public employee concessions.

Currently in Wisconsin, the top 14% of wage earners pay 52% of income tax revenue. The top 2% pay 22% of all income tax revenue at a rate of 7.75%, the 11th highest rate in the nation.

Wisconsin corporations pay a flat corporate tax rate of 7.9% on all taxable profit, the 17th highest in the nation. And while the Institute For One Wisconsin recently alleged that �two thirds of all Wisconsin corporations don�t pay any income taxes,� Politifact discovered this only to be true because the majority of Wisconsin corporations aren�t making enough money in profit to pay income tax due to the down economy. Only 2% of Wisconsin corporations fell into the category of corporations that don�t pay income tax and still earn net income.

Wisconsin�s business tax climate (a compilation of corporate taxes; individual income taxes; sales taxes; unemployment insurance taxes; and taxes on property, including residential and commercial property) was ranked 40th just last winter. But in the wake of a series of legislation and a serious effort to balance the budget, Wisconsin climbed 17 places on Chief Executive�s annual ranking of Best/Worst States For Business.

So while bemoaning �draconian cuts� (mentioned six times by my count) and �Walker�s failure to raise revenue� (mentioned four times), the Soros-funded authors of the �Wisconsin Values Budget� advocate raising taxes by $1.04 billion on the �wealthy and corporations,� whose taxes already consistently rank among the highest in the country, in conjunction with �modest spending cuts� to fix the $3.6 billion budget deficit.

So there you have it, the tried and true answer to all fiscal challenges: �tax, tax, tax the rich!�

posted August 04, 2011 09:40 AM            

California and New York are economic basket cases. So are Illinois and Michigan, as are other bastions of Socialism.

Yeah, Wisconsin just barely missed the break in being in the top 3rd of states with the highest corporation tax...by 0.333%

posted August 04, 2011 11:31 PM            

The US House of Representatives voted for the extension and it went to the Senate...which adjourned and went home for a holiday.

But, while we're on the subject; if O'Bomber continues to insist on changing labor laws voted on by Congress and changing those laws administratively, then I would take a chainsaw to the budgets of the EPA, Commerce Dept, NLRB and every other agency where O'Bomber is interfering...until O'Bomber gets the message. Congress writes the laws.

posted August 05, 2011 11:15 AM            

AFP Wisconsin ballots have late return date

Americans for Prosperity is sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date.

The fliers, obtained by POLITICO, ask solidly Democratic voters to return ballots for the Aug. 9 election to the city clerk "before Aug. 11."

A Democrat on the ground in Wisconsin said the fliers were discovered to be hitting doors in District 2 and District 10 over the weekend.

"These are people who are our 1's in the voterfile who we already knew. They ain't AFP members, that's for damn sure," the source said.

One flier was discovered in Hudson, Wisc. where Democrat Shelly Moore is attempting to upend GOP State Sen. Sheila Harsdorf in District 10; the other was found in Kaukauna, where Democrat Nancy Nusbaum is challenging Sen. Robert Cowles in District 2.

"If they're targeting for Aug. 16, they're hundreds and hundreds of miles off," said the Democratic activist who has been on the ground in Madison for months. "This has nothing to do with either Democratic incumbent up on August 16th."

The absentee trickery comes just as AFP has purchased $150,000 in ad time in Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison to boost GOP candidates.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misreported that a flier was found in Milwaukee. It was actually discovered in Kaukauna. http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0811/AFP_Wisconsin_ballots_have_late_return_date.html

Opinion: Republican candidates should denounce AFP tactics

Post by Chris Walker on 8/2/2011 1:45pm
Post Image This story represents the opinion of the author and is neither an official opinion from Dane101 nor is it necessarily representative of the opinions of other Dane101 contributors.

Democracy requires equality, openness, and most importantly fairness. When people refuse to play by the rules -- when they purposely distort information for the purposes of their own political gain -- democracy suffers for it. Running political advertisements that suggest your opponent raised her own salary while in office when just the opposite was true, for example, gives voters a false vision of reality, clouding their judgment against issues that truly matter (and truly exist) within the campaign.

Such practices are rotten on their own. But when you distort information and propagate it for the purposes of disposing people's rights, it gets downright despicable.

Americans For Prosperity, a Koch brothers-funded, Tea Party-affiliated organization, sent absentee ballots to households of strongly-identified Democrats, urging them to submit their ballots on August 11 -- two days after the recall elections were set to occur.

The organization purports that it was a simple typo, and that it being sent to Democratic households was the result of these individuals trying to "keep tabs" on the organization by becoming members of it.

That would explain everything -- if it weren't for the fact that, instead of a city clerk�s office, the return address sent the ballots to Wisconsin Family Action, an organization that is most definitely as anti-Democratic Party as one can get.

Now THAT'S one hell of a typo. Had the ballots been sent there, there's no question they would never have been counted. Ballots need to be returned to a city clerk's office, not a non-profit organization, who, once in possession of them, could feasibly do whatever they wanted with them.

It's clear to see that AFP is trying to step in and ruin the rights of Wisconsin citizens across the state. Telling people to send an absentee ballot form 1) on the wrong date and 2) to an organization that isn't a governmental entity is as low as one can get. To put it bluntly, it's corporate dollars trying to ruin your democratic rights. It�s suppression through deception, a lie to Wisconsin voters to get them to unwillingly invalidate their own vote.

In America, and especially in Wisconsin, that shouldn't be tolerated. The Republican candidates who would benefit from such vile practices ought to come out and oppose Americans For Prosperity and Wisconsin Family Action for engaging in blatant voter suppression.
http://www.dane101.com/current/2011/08/02/opinion_republican_candidates_should_denounce_afp_tactics

posted August 05, 2011 07:35 PM            

as to the senate being responsible for the FAA debacle

After claiming once again that the U.S. House of Representatives has �done its job� by passing legislation that they know doesn't have any chance of being passed in the Senate and refusing to compromise, Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor defended their union busting provision in the FAA bill that John wrote about here.

CAVUTO: And you were also against the provisions in there that would make it easier... for FAA workers to unionize. And that was a point of contention and one of the reasons the Senate said, we just can't take up this measure that objects to that. So where do we stand?

CANTOR: Well, you know, that disagreement is really under the underlying bill. This was the extension that that really is not a part of this discussion. The issue about organization for labor has to do with being fair to both sides. And if you're going to be fair to both sides, you ought to give both the employees as well as the employers an equal opportunity to make the case. http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/eric-cantor-defends-republicans-union-bust

posted August 07, 2011 08:47 AM            

Seeing as how this is a non-story in the press, it looks like simple clerical errors.

posted August 07, 2011 12:20 PM            

Seaholm said AFP-Wisconsin is addressing the mistake by sending out a call "to each and every individual on the mailing list to clarify the date of the elections."

typo? maybe. 2 copies? NOT. and this kind of "typo" is at best a sign of negligence, not acceptable in these circumstances really, and VERY convenient for the republican candidates, wouldn't you say? HMM??

posted August 07, 2011 04:34 PM            

"One flier was discovered in Hudson, Wisc. where Democrat Shelly Moore is attempting to upend GOP State Sen. Sheila Harsdorf in District 10; the other was found in Kaukauna, where Democrat Nancy Nusbaum is challenging Sen. Robert Cowles in District 2."

Another problem.

"AFP Wisconsin ballots have late return date

Americans for Prosperity is sending absentee ballots...."