It’s Wednesday, December 12th, 2012….12/12/12 for any numerologists out there, and only 9 more days until the point the Mayans ran out of stone.  But before we begin, please join us in wishing Travis Paul McKee….

….a happy 23rd birthday; and many happy returns!

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, writing at Newsbusters.org, prior to the final passage of Michigan’s Right to Work bill, Tom Blumer had these observations regarding the AP‘s blatantly biased….and ultimately unsuccessful….attempts to influence events, which included their choice of a headline:

Michigan Republicans end part of union tradition

 

And here we thought the Left was all about rights….and choice!

There will be plenty of time later to look at how the Associated Press and other wires more than likely fail to report the violence that took place in connection with right-to-work legislative actions in Michigan’s legislature today. For now, let’s look at the reactions of Associated Press reporters John Flesher and Jeff Karoub on Friday in an item which is no longer at the AP’s main national site.

Their dispatch’s headline (“Michigan Republicans end part of union tradition”) was from all appearances an attempt to make it seem uninteresting. The story itself didn’t describe the law involved as “right to work” until its fourth paragraph. Both before and after that, the pair, who are more than likely members of the Occupy Movement-supporting News Media Guild, got bitter (bolds are mine throughout this post):

For generations, Michigan was the ultimate labor stronghold — a state built by factory workers for whom a high school diploma and a union card were the ticket to a middle-class life. Yet it took only hours for Republicans to tear down a key part of that tradition, the requirement that all employees in a union workplace pay dues.

The swift action was the result of a decisive governor who teamed up with a supermajority of GOP allies in the statehouse to win a prize long sought by conservatives. It also provided a window into how state governments might work in an era when they are increasingly run by a single party.

Gov. Rick Snyder, a venture capitalist and corporate executive before his successful run for governor in 2010, didn’t bother with political niceties this week after dropping his previous objection to dealing with the right-to-work issue. He announced his support Thursday at a news conference.

Within hours, the House and Senate had introduced and approved bills prohibiting what are known as “closed shops,” where workers are required to join a union or pay fees that are equivalent to union dues as a condition of employment.

No topic is touchier for organized labor, which contends such laws enable workers to enjoy benefits won by unions without supporting the costs of organizing and negotiating. Labor leaders say the ultimate intent is to deprive them of money and bargaining power.

Union headquarters in Lansing.

“Whether proponents call this ‘right-to-work’ or ‘freedom-to-work,’ it’s really just ‘freedom to freeload,'” said Steve Cook, president of the Michigan Education Association.

… Such displays of raw power may become more common around the nation as increasing numbers of legislatures are dominated by a single party. (Gee….what party could that be?!?)

Geez, I don’t remember the AP or anyone else in the establishment press describing how ObamaCare navigated its way through Congress as a “display of raw power” — and that required bribes like the “Cornhusker Kickback,” Louisiana Purchase to get through the legislative maze.

Training exercise for future private industry union members.

As to the “freeloader” argument, Lachlan Markay at Heritage accurately described that popular labor claim as a “myth” in a late-afternoon post today:

Right-to-work laws represent “the freedom to freeload,” conservative commentator Steven Crowder was told by a union protester outside the Michigan state capitol shortly before another protester punched him in the face.

The gripe is a common one: if workers are free to choose whether or not they wish to join a union, Big Labor claims, they can still enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining without footing the bill.

The problem with that complaint: it’s simply untrue. Under the National Labor Relations Act, unions are free to represent all employees – not just union members – at the bargaining table. But they are not required to do so.

“The National Labor Relations Act does not mandate unions exclusively represent all employees, but permits them to electively do so,” explained Heritage’s James Sherk in a Monday column. ”Under the Act, unions can also negotiate ‘members-only’ contracts that only cover dues-paying members. They do not have to represent other employees.”

Moreover, the free-rider argument implies that workers’ union dues would go at least predominately towards activities that achieve better compensation or other workplace benefits. But neither is that the case.

In fact, less than a quarter (24.1 percent) of expenditures by Michigan’s 25 largest private sector (or public/private hybrid) union locals go towards actually representing workers, according to those unions’ latest LM-2 filings (obtained via the Labor Department’s website – see spreadsheet below for a more detailed breakdown). The rest goes towards other expenditures, including benefits, political activity, and general overhead.

Markay has a table at his link showing that of the $130.8 million collected by these 25 unions, only $31.5 million goes towards representation activities. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that journalists who are more than likely union members and certainly demonstrate union-sympathetic biases would fail to report that inconvenient fact.

Think about it; how can the “right” to work possibly be wrong?!?  Like the dinosaurs and the village blacksmith, unions have seen their day; and as far as we’re concerned, the sooner they disappear from the American landscape, the better for all those truly concerned about the welfare of working families….including union workers!

The only parties harmed will be union bosses and Dimocratic politicians, neither of which the country will miss.

In a related item, courtesy of the WaPo and AEI, Mark Thiessen notes John Boehner could take a page from the Michigan GOP playbook:

Republicans should stand and fight

 

When the 1st Marine Regiment was encircled by communist forces at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Marine Col. Lewis “Chesty” Puller was said to have declared: “We’re surrounded. Good! Now we can fire in any direction.”

It’s time for congressional Republicans to adopt some of Puller’s courage — and strategy — when it comes to their fiscal stand-off with Barack Obama. Like Puller’s Marines, the GOP is surrounded. That means Republican leaders have only two options: 1) Surrender. 2) Stand and fight.

Right now, it seems as if they are seeking the least painful way to surrender. It’s time to stand and fight instead. Republicans can still shoot their way out of their current predicament. It won’t be pretty and they will have to fight ugly — but they can still win. Here is a three-step battle plan for doing so:

STEP ONE: Stand your ground on taxes. You’ve already conceded hundreds of billions in new revenue through limiting deductions. If Obama refuses to compromise, pass legislation extending current tax rates for all Americans. Let Obama reject it and take us over the “fiscal cliff” — and then be prepared to live under the Clinton tax rates while negotiations on tax reform continue. In the short term, Americans may blame you. You can recover from that. What you will never recover from is surrendering your principles and giving up your brand as the party of low taxes and limited government.

STEP TWO: Go on the offensive. Immediately put forward a plan to fundamentally reform the tax code. You will be able to outbid Obama and the Democrats in any tax-cut fight. And the intellectual groundwork has already been done. During the supercommittee negotiations last year, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) put forward a plan to lower rates, raise revenue and limit deductions. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has a revenue-neutral corporate tax reform plan that lowers the rate to 25 percent and moves to a territorial system.

On the spending side, “soak the rich” by getting rid of the billions of dollars in government benefits, taxpayer subsidies and corporate welfare the wealthy receive each year and don’t need, and by means-testing government programs from unemployment benefits to farm subsidies.

On entitlements, put forward a plan to save Social Security and Medicare through structural reforms and by reducing benefits for well-off retirees and eliminating them entirely for the wealthiest seniors. Propose a “Buffett Rule” of your own: Warren Buffett does not need taxpayers to subsidize his retirement and health care.

STEP THREE: Pass your plans. If the president refuses to negotiate and no progress is made by February, inform him that you will attach all or part of your plan to legislation raising the debt limit and pass it in the House. Then do so. Obama will sign it. Here is why:

Unlike with the fiscal cliff, Republicans have all the leverage when it comes to the debt limit. Today, Obama is perfectly willing to go over the fiscal cliff and blame the GOP for the resulting tax increases on the middle class. But when it comes to the debt limit, he does not have that luxury. He can’t default on our debt — the consequences are too catastrophic. So in the end he will cave.

Indeed, he would have caved during the last debt-limit stand-off, in the summer of 2011. According to Bob Woodward, when Obama told his advisers he intended to veto the debt-limit bill the Republican-controlled House had passed, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told him he couldn’t — that if Republicans didn’t give in, he had no choice but to sign their bill. “You can’t veto,” Geithner reportedly told Obama, because the consequences “would be indelible, incurable. It would last for generations.”

Republicans had Obama cornered and didn’t know it — so they let him off the hook. When the next debt-limit increase comes in February, they will know better. The president’s current negotiating leverage dissipates as soon as we go over the fiscal cliff. Come February, the tables will be turned — and Republicans will hold all the cards in the debt-limit negotiations.

When that moment comes, the GOP should treat Obama with the same magnanimity that he is showing them today. Right now, Obama is not seeking middle ground with the GOP opposition; he is seeking to crush and humiliate them. That is his choice. But in February, when he suddenly needs Republicans to raise the debt limit, he should be made to regret his refusal to compromise.

The GOP can prevail in the current face-off. Doing so will require the kind of fortitude more common in Marines than in members of Congress. Republicans need to put down their white flags and start fighting for their principles.

There is no dishonor in being surrounded — only in surrender.

Though the French….

….might be inclined to disagree!

Meanwhile, as this forward from George Lawlor and Bloomberg.com confirms, tax rates ain’t the problem:

$822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-11/-822-000-worker-shows-california-leads-u-s-pay-giveaway.html

And if you needed further proof out-of-control government spending is what’s driving the country off the fiscal cliff, this next item, courtesy of Bill Meisen and Daniel Halper writing at The Weekly Standard should suffice:

‘Welfare Spending Equates to $168 Per Day for Every Household in Poverty’

 

The amount of money spent on welfare programs equals, when converted to cash payments, about “$168 per day for every household in poverty,” the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee finds. Here’s a chart detailing the committee’s findings:

According to the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee, welfare spending per day per household in poverty is $168, which is higher than the $137 median income per day. When broken down per hour, welfare spending per hour per household in poverty is $30.60, which is higher than the $25.03 median income per hour.

“Based on data from the Congressional Research Service, cumulative spending on means-tested federal welfare programs, if converted into cash, would equal $167.65 per day per household living below the poverty level,” writes the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee. “By comparison, the median household income in 2011 of $50,054 equals $137.13 per day. Additionally, spending on federal welfare benefits, if converted into cash payments, equals enough to provide $30.60 per hour, 40 hours per week, to each household living below poverty. The median household hourly wage is $25.03. After accounting for federal taxes, the median hourly wage drops to between $21.50 and $23.45, depending on a household’s deductions and filing status. State and local taxes further reduce the median household’s hourly earnings. By contrast, welfare benefits are not taxed.”

Is it any wonder so many aren’t inclined to….

….learn how to fish?!?

And since we’re on the subject of Liberal hypocrisy….

Eric Schmidt declines Obama cabinet post

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has publicly declined to join the Obama administration in the new year after a rumoured offer for the post of Treasury Secretary.

 

Yes….this is the same Eric Schmidt whose company….

 

And since we’re on the subject of foul-breathed, carrion-eating fowl….

‘Vulture spying for Israel’ caught in Sudan

Officials in Sudan say they have captured an electronically-tagged vulture suspected of being dispatched by Israel on a spying mission.

 

The Sudanese, baby; at the top of their game!  When they’re not killing Christians, their capturing feathered spies.

In other International News of Note, this just in from the Hermit Kingdom:

North Korea Launches Rocket

 

Will guard missile for food.

North Korea launched a multistage rocket Wednesday morning, its second this year and fifth ever, in an apparent acceleration of a years-long effort to develop long-range missile capability. It flew farther than a North Korean rocket that failed 80 seconds after takeoff in April, according to officials monitoring the launch in other countries.

Which is to say this….

….was an improvement over that:

On the Lighter Side….

Turning now to another sordid story ripped from the pages of the Crime Blotter, we learn….

Trio Of 13-Year-Old Boys Busted For Knifepoint Condom, Candy Robbery At Walgreens

 

Three 13-year-old boys are facing armed robbery charges in connection with the knifepoint robbery of condoms and candy from a Walgreens store in Wisconsin. The trio was nabbed after boarding a municipal bus to make their getaway Friday night from the pharmacy in Madison, according to police.

Cops reported that the boys, whose names were withheld due to their ages, were confronted by a manager when he spotted them trying to boost the candy. After following the trio outside the Walgreens, the man told police, “at least two, and maybe all three, of the boys brandished knives.” Additionally, one of the teens threw a stolen $15 package of condoms at the store manager, while another boy shouted, “Don’t you call the (expletive) police!”

After collaring the boys, cops recovered three steak knives from the young suspects. One boy said he carried a knife for protection, while another claimed to have been “cutting food earlier and had forgotten he had left the blade in his pocket.”

Each boy was booked into Madison’s Juvenile Reception Center on a variety of charges, including armed robbery, retail theft, and carrying a concealed weapon.

What?!?  All they wanted was a piece of Sandra Fluke’s action; they get busted and she’s up for Person of the Year.

Finally, we’ll call it a day with News of the Bizarre….and somewhat….no, definitely gross!

57 maggots removed from nursing home resident’s ear

 

A 92-year-old with Alzheimer’s was found with 57 maggots crawling in her ear while she was under the care of a nursing home costing around $10,000 a month. The family of Catherine McCann are now suing the home for negligence and emotional distress.

Her 88-year-old husband John McCann spent his live savings paying for her to be looked after by the Lutheran Home for the Aged in Arlington Heights, Chicago. “I was horrified, shocked. thought it was terrible,” he said. “I’m paying all this money for that kind of care – no way.  After giving them $270,000 of my hard earned money – my life savings I gave to them – and not even so much as a note or a call.”

Medics treating her believe a fly crawled into the ear and laid eggs, which hatched into nearly 60 maggots. (57 being “nearly 60”.) Experts studying the sample say the maggots had been in her ear for two or three days before she was brought in. McCann has advanced Alzheimer’s so she cannot speak or care for herself.  The home’s staff finally brought her into the hospital after noticing her scratching and tugging at her ear. One maggot was found crawling out of her ear when she entered the ward.

McCann’s daughter Mary said: “It’s a picture I will never ever get out of my mind — ever.”

The nursing home administrator Phillip Hemmer believes that until the infestation was found, the maggots were not big enough for the staff to see. They say they have not done anything wrong and took the patient to the hospital as soon as the maggots were evident.

Obviously on advice of counsel….which they are certainly going to need!

Magoo