Clipping blog

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• This is The Week that Should End Public Sector Unions
• Closing the Browser Tabs – Back in the Saddle Thursday Edition
• The Delivery Presents – A Rush Rebuttal and Sports Talk with Ashley

This is The Week that Should End Public Sector Unions Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:20 PM PST The most exceptional thing has been happening in Wisconsin over the past few days. Governor Scott Walker has introduced a bill that will save the state about $300 million dollars over the next ten years – a sorely-needed chunk of slack in a budget that has, like so many other state budgets, gotten entirely out of control. Part of the bill affects Wisconsin teachers, of whom Walker is asking two things: 1) that they give up their collective bargaining ability on matters of leave and benefits (but not, and this is important, wages), and 2) that they pay 5.8 percent toward their retirement benefits and 12.4 percent of their health benefits. To be sure, these new demands are considerable – the health benefit rate would be more than double what they pay now – but the state would still require less from its teachers than do most other states or private employers in their own state. In other words, Wisconsin teachers have had a pretty sweet deal so far and the Governor is asking them to accept a less sweet, but still sweet, deal. The teachers’ union responded to the bill by going ape-spit berserk. The union called for a sick out that required several school districts (mostly in areas represented by politically-vulnerable Republican legislators) to lock students out yesterday and today because over 40 percent of teachers simply refused to show up for work. Teachers dragged their students, some of whom had no earthly idea why they were there, to the protests at the State Capitol. Union members showed up at the homes of the Governor and Republican Senate Leader in such force and with such vehemence, that the Senate Leader’s family had to relocate. They took to the streets to call Governor Walker “Hosni Walker” and “Mubarak of the Midwest” and Adolph Hitler.  They found allies with such brave progressives as Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson and progressive lemming Michael Moore, who echoed the ridiculous Egypt analogy. The President himself weighed in with a statement that the bill was an “assault on unions”. Even the Democratic National Committee waded into the fray, in the form of the Wisconsin chapter of Organizing for America. When the teachers were done their protests yesterday, they left the area a complete wreck. Today, the entire story took a turn into the surreal. The state Senate was scheduled to vote on the bill, but could not because every single Democratic Senator fled the city and went into hiding to prevent the necessary quorum call. At this point, the teachers’ union and their Democratic supporters have conceded the argument. They could not defend their refusal of Governor Walker’s relatively small demands and so they launched into ridiculous ad hominem, violent rhetoric (shudder!), and, eventually, cowardly flight. We should take instruction from what has happened in Wisconsin over the past two days. Public sector unions are, as I have said before, a blight on our states and nation. We should do everything in our power to rid ourselves of them entirely and make sure, by law if necessary, that they can never come back again. It would make me very happy if Governor Walker fired every single teacher who called out sick over the past two days. They let down the taxpayers of Wisconsin and, more importantly, taught their students that it’s okay to lie, cheat, and steal in order to get what you want.

Closing the Browser Tabs – Back in the Saddle Thursday Edition Posted: 17 Feb 2011 03:10 AM PST I didn’t blog much yesterday because I was over at Hot Air doing a guest-blogging gig. You can read my two posts here and here. You may enjoy the second, on a gripping Rolling Stone interview with Justin Bieber a bit more than the first, which deals more with the coming budget fight. The commentariat was kind and received both posts well, so I’m pretty satisfied. But I’ll be back to blogging here at home today, so watch out! And now, links! While Republicans were busy doing what we elected them to do, Democrats spent their time playing with an aardvark. I guess that’s a step up from nagging baseball players about chewing tobacco. I guess. Rick Scott makes Florida the third state to tell the President he can keep his high speed rail boondoggle. I wonder when we’ll see a column from Thomas Friedman on how awesome the Chinese are because this guy kept on building utopia with a knife stuck in his skull. Earlier in the week, one of the Church of Global Warming’s messenger boys, Mark Hertsgaard, decided to ambush-interview Senator Chuck Grassley on the matter of global warming. It didn’t go well at all. Ed Driscoll has the chapter and verse on Hertsgaard’s failure and his manifold hypocrisies. The Daily Mail’s commentary on Britain’s National Health Service is blistering and should be in the hands of everyone who believes that government-run health care is the way our nation should go. Trifecta on the budget. No one likes it, not even a little bit. By Jove, says Duane Lester about the CEO of Planned Parenthood, I believe she’s got it! I didn’t see this daytime fireball, even though it was visible in Maryland. I wish I had.

The Delivery Presents – A Rush Rebuttal and Sports Talk with Ashley Posted: 16 Feb 2011 10:23 AM PST Episode 78 is ready for your listening and downloading pleasure. I’m rather pleased with how the show came out and a little bit surprised that I’ve taken to the long-form rant format as well as I have. Unlike a lot of radio and podcasts hosts, I don’t like to yell at my listeners. When I do rant, and I admit it’s happened more often lately, it’s not because I want to vent my spleen but because I want to encourage you all to some sort of action. Even if you do nothing more than take a little heart from what I say and share the show with someone else, if my rants urge to be a little more engaged in the world around us, then I’m a happy guy. If you don’t yet know Ashley Sewell, there’s a good chance you soon will. She is scary-good at social media, and has a real knack for blogging and podcasting. She’s also getting more active in Texas politics and I expect to see big things from her (though not necessarily as a candidate) over the next couple few years. I waylaid her on Twitter and brought her over to the show for some talk about Cam Newton’s gargantuan endorsement contract and a quick look at her Beloved Rangers and the upcoming baseball season. Don’t forget to “like” the show’s Facebook Fan page and share the episodes around on your own Facebook pages. I know I can do more there, but, to be honest, I’m not quite sure what. The platform frustrates me. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to get in touch with me and share! The Delivery - Episode 78 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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