State Of The Unions

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Bill O'Reilly



State of the Unions



9/10/2011
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Lots of angst in the air after Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa called tea party people SOB's and urged voters to "take them out." Immediately, voter registration jumped among members of the Gambino family. Apparently, Hoffa is angry that some Americans want to put a lid on public sector pensions and perks that are bankrupting municipalities all over the country. Old Jimmy believes this is "taking the bread out of the mouths" of American workers.



For decades, union power has intimidated politicians in both parties. I mean, if you were running for office, would you want big union money flowing into your opponent's campaign? Would you want organized demonstrations at your rallies? How about work slowdowns, sudden mass worker illness or anti-you phone campaigns? Unions have power, and power rules.



Thus, many American unions have secured lucrative benefits for their members -- benefits that have drained treasuries. The United States Post Office, for example, is on the verge of bankruptcy, unable to repay $5.5 billion in loans from the Treasury Department. The huge cost of postal retirement benefits is one of the main reasons an American institution may collapse.



All of this is not the fault of the workers. They did their jobs and are entitled to what was negotiated. But public money has run out, and going forward, big changes will have to be made if the American economy is to expand. Hoffa can huff and puff all day long, but if he succeeds in blocking economic reform, he will indeed blow the entire house down.



President Obama needs union votes to win re-election. Therefore, he did not condemn Hoffa's over-the-top rhetoric even though he campaigned for verbal restraint in his Arizona speech. Obama also will not go up against the unions and demand fiscal reform. He will position himself as the champion of the working stiff even if it means more disasters like the USPS.



Previously in this space, I discussed my membership in AFTRA, a union that represents TV and radio people. When some greedy suits tried to con me and my colleagues at the syndicated program "Inside Edition" out of pension money, AFTRA fought them and won. So unions are needed, but they should be optional. No American worker should be forced to pay union dues. Employees must weigh self-reliance against union protections.



With union power in decline, Hoffa needs an enemy to rail against, and the tea party provides him that. But if he were honest, Hoffa would see that the tea party folks simply want financial responsibility and fairness in the public sector. Living within your means is a key to economic success. Gaming the system through intimidation and threats is not.



Hoffa's not looking out for his country on this one.















Tags: Budget and Government , Public Sector Unions , Barack Obama , teamsters , Jimmy Hoffa









Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of "Who's Looking Out For You?" and Pinheads and Patriots.

Hundreds of longshoremen storm grain terminal in Washington

Hundreds of longshoremen storm grain terminal in Washington

Charles Krauthammer: Obama Abused the Majesty of a Joint Address of Congress

Charles Krauthammer: Obama Abused the Majesty of a Joint Address of Congress

Ford’s Honest, Brutal Anti-Bailout Commercial

Ford’s Honest, Brutal Anti-Bailout Commercial

The Speech That Broke The Patience Of The Country

From Town Hall:




Hugh Hewitt





The Speech That Broke The Patience of the Country?



9/8/2011
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President Obama’s speech on Thursday night bordered on parody. His repetition of long-overused talking points combined with his repeated attacks on job creators and his incessant demand to “pass it right now” produced a mixture of arrogance and absurdity so transparently political that it lacked any capacity to cause political movement or to change anyone’s opinion on any issue.

Guy Benson, the political director here at Townhall.com, tweeted “That was a shallow, callow campaign speech masquerading as something important. Truly awful.” That tweet was retweeted by friends and strangers across the county again and again as it so completely and accurately summed up the president’s remarks as to need no improvement or additional commentary.



(Guy’s twitter handle is @guypbenson, and if you aren’t following him, you should be. If you don’t know what that means, you should learn. Twitter has changed American politics and commentary thoroughly, and to refuse to join the communications revolution there is like refusing to listen to FDR on the radio in the ‘30s.)



The president’s speech was particularly jarring to me as an hour before he spoke I had taped an interview with Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, and one of the most thoughtful and knowledgeable observers of Islamist extremism in the country if not the world.



Wright is a man of the left, but serious and informed, eager to actually convey information and engage serious questions. The transcript of my interview with him is here. We talked about serious issues and the big decisions ahead of the country and the world when it came to the war on terror and the Arab Spring.



The day before the president’s speech I had been honored to have former Vice President Dick Cheney in my studio for a long conversation about his new, best-selling and fascinating memoir, In My Time. The transcript of that conversation is here.



Cheney is of course one of the most famous conservatives alive, as serious and as informed as anyone who has participated in politics over the past 40 years, and a fine writer as well. We spoke not just about some of the important events and controversies of his long, significant career, but also about the future of the war, the maintenance of the country’s defenses, and the choices facing the American people.



These two interviews with serious, accomplished and significant individuals –one from the left and one from the right—provided a sharp contrast to the president’s almost juvenile rhetoric. The president’s speech was so tendentious, so simplistic and so over the top that I almost immediately dispensed with playing it uninterrupted for my radio audience, choosing instead to leaven it with the NFL feed and sound clips from various movies, like “Squirrel!” from the film “Up.”



If the president refuses to engage the country or his political opposition seriously, then the country should revoke the presumption that the president deserves a serious hearing.



The speech was a joke, and the man who gave it is perilously close to becoming one as well. NBC’s Chuck Todd sounded the alarm for the president the day before the big speech. Only “44 percent approve of the job he’s doing,” Todd reported, “an all time low of his presidency.” “But a more important number that our pollsters say is in there is this idea that this is a long-term setback for him or a short-term one,” Todd continued. “54% said long-term,” Todd concluded. “Our pollsters are concerned that’s [the] kind of numbers you have when the public starts to give up on a president as a problem solver.” Put aside Todd’s slip of the tongue which some on the right have hit him on for suggesting that NBC’s pollsters are worried that the president’s appeal has faded. What matters is what those pollsters detected, which is that the public has tuned Obama out, turned him off, and having done so will simply refuse to believe that anything he says is backed up by seriousness of purpose or considered economic theory. Thursday’s night speech was a desperate attempt to stop the political bleeding, but to have accomplished that mission it would have had to be serious in tone and substance. Instead it was the sort of 7th-grade rhetoric that diminishes the president and the Congress that had to pretend it was other than a campaign speech set-up. Serious people exist on the left and the right in this country, but none of them appear to have the president’s ear, or control of his teleprompter. As we approach the tenth anniversary of the most serious day in the country’s recent history, it is troubling that the president seems incapable of thinking about anything except slogans, and those of the most hackneyed sort.

















Hugh Hewitt

Hugh Hewitt is host of a nationally syndicated radio talk show. Hugh Hewitt's new book is The War On The West.

The Democratic Wipe-Out In Louisiana Is Of Epic Proportions

From Red State:

The Democratic Wipeout in Louisiana is of Biblical Proportions






Washington Dems have killed the brand in Louisiana.











Posted by Steve Maley (Profile)



Thursday, September 8th at 11:15PM EDT

20 Comments





Huey Long must be turning over in his grave. Qualifying closed today for Louisiana’s Fall 2011 statewide elections, and the once super-dominant Democratic Party has failed to field a single credible candidate for statewide office.



Not a single one.



Louisiana’s citizens have common sense. They understand that the policies favored by Washington Dems (on energy in particular) seem expressly designed to cripple Louisiana’s economy and kill Louisiana’s best jobs. They realize that there’s no real national role to play for a pro-life Democrat.



Just recently, Democratic registration fell below 50% for the first time in, well, ever.



Governor – Bobby Jindal will run against a field of nine opponents: four independents, four Democrats and one Libertarian. Two of the Dems are schoolteachers, and one of those is a self-described “Tea Party Democrat” who will try to outflank Jindal on the right.



Other than Jindal, the Governor’s race features a field of political neophytes and perennial also-rans. None of the challengers currently holds elective office. John Georges, who finished #3 in the 2007 Governor’s race, has decided to take his $10 million & go home rather than run again.



In other races:



Lieutenant Governor – Incumbent Jay Dardenne (R, elected last year in a special election) will face the challenge of Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser (R), who garnered plenty of press coverage during last year’s BP oil spill.



Dem Caroline Fayard declined to run for any office after mounting a well-funded effort against Dardenne in last year’s special election.



Attorney General – Incumbent Buddy Caldwell (R, a recent party switcher) will be challenged by former U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao (R), who was defeated for reelection last November. Cao plans to make a case of Caldwell’s handling of the State’s claim against BP. Caldwell, you may remember, filed suit agasint Obamacare as a Democratic AG, while Cao was the sole House Republican to vote for Obamacare.



State Treasurer – John Kennedy (R) will be unopposed.



Secretary of State – John Schedler (R) drew a single opponent, House Speaker Jim Guy Tucker (R).



Insurance Commissioner – Incumbent Jim Donelon (R) gained a last-minute opponent in Donald Hodge (D), a political newcomer.



Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry – Mike Strain (R) drew two opponents, a Reform Party candidate and a novice Democrat.



U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu remains the only statewide elected Democrat. Rep. Cedric Richmond, the New Orleans freshman, is the only Dem in the House delegation.



Defections have caused the power balances in both state legislatives bodies to flip to R.



And the state’s most popular and recognizable Democratic politician is 80 year-old four-term Governor Edwin Edwards, recently released from Federal prison after serving eight years of a ten year sentence for racketeering.



Cross-posted at stevemaley.com.

All You Need To Know About The President's Speech

From Red State:

All You Need To Know About the President’s Speech


















Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)



Thursday, September 8th at 6:50PM EDT

25 Comments





(1) The President will take Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO with him to Congress tonight. Trumka’s union saw 500 of its members storm a business last night, take hostages, and destroy property. The President will also take Jeffrey Immelt of GE with him. General Electric is a prime example of a business that has profited lately not through the free market, but through the government picking winners and losers.



(2) Solydra, which got millions from Barack Obama in his last stimulus and had the President champion its cause, got raided by the FBi today.



(3) We would not have to be subjected to this tonight if President Obama’s last attempts had worked — including attempts from when the the Democrats controlled both the White House and Congress.



Tonight we will hear nothing new — just repackaged, failed ideas.



February 24, 2009:





Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector – jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit.



Because of this plan, there are teachers who can now keep their jobs and educate our kids. Health care professionals can continue caring for our sick. There are 57 police officers who are still on the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs their department was about to make.



Because of this plan, 95% of the working households in America will receive a tax cut – a tax cut that you will see in your paychecks beginning on April 1st.



Because of this plan, families who are struggling to pay tuition costs will receive a $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college. And Americans who have lost their jobs in this recession will be able to receive extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to help them weather this storm.



January 27, 2010:





As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend on gas and food and other necessities, all of which helped businesses keep more workers. And we haven’t raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person. Not a single dime. (Applause.)



Because of the steps we took, there are about two million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. (Applause.) Two hundred thousand work in construction and clean energy; 300,000 are teachers and other education workers. Tens of thousands are cops, firefighters, correctional officers, first responders. (Applause.) And we’re on track to add another one and a half million jobs to this total by the end of the year.



The plan that has made all of this possible, from the tax cuts to the jobs, is the Recovery Act. (Applause.) That’s right -– the Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus bill.



January 25, 2011:





Over the last two years, we have begun rebuilding for the 21st century, a project that has meant thousands of good jobs for the hard-hit construction industry. Tonight, I’m proposing that we redouble these efforts.



We will put more Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges. We will make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based on what’s best for the economy, not politicians.



Just words and status quo.