What Unions Do: How Labor Unions Affect Jobs and the Economy

Heritage  "What do unions do? The AFL-CIO argues that unions offer a pathway to higher wages and prosperity for the middle class. Critics point to the collapse of many highly unionized domestic industries and argue that unions harm the economy. To whom should policymakers listen? What unions do has been studied extensively by economists, and a broad survey of academic studies shows that while unions can sometimes achieve benefits for their members, they harm the overall economy." Hat tip to Neal Boortz, who also contributed this:

And this:

Plus these videos: MEGYN KELLY TAKES ON WI TEACHERS' UNION PRESIDENT

How often does the president of the AFL-CIO speak to somebody in the White House?

How the GOP Can Win the Budget Battle

Wall Street Journal  "Democrats will bewail every domestic program cut. Can Republicans convince the public we can't afford to play this game any longer?" Fred Barnes is executive editor of the Weekly Standard and a commentator on Fox News Channel.

Shutdown: Does GOP have the edge this time?  "It all adds up to this: Republicans have less to fear from a government shutdown now than they did when they endured the blame 15 years ago — at least that’s the thinking in some GOP circles."

http://townhall.com/cartoons/glennfoden

It's Crunch Time for Organized Labor .

Former Gov. Ted Strickland (D., Ohio)
speaks to protesters in Columbus.


.

Heritage  "Gov. Walker and other Republicans say they have no choice as states struggle to cover huge budget gaps. Gov. John Kasich, who is pushing a similar measure in Ohio over heated union opposition, says the moves are not an attack on unions, but an effort "to restore some balance."

""We have finally elected people who are doing what they said they would do," said U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, the newly elected Republican from Wisconsin, who supports efforts to trim labor's powers. "I certainly hope that voters will stand by Gov. Walker when he makes these tough decisions.""

Admiral Provides Details of Somali Piracy Killings

GlobalSecurity.org   "The admiral gave a timeline of the action. Pirates captured the vessel about 190 nautical miles southeast of Masirah Island, Oman, Feb. 18. Four U.S. Navy warships responded: the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf and the guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Bulkeley.
"The ships found the vessel and made contact with the pirates via bridge-to-bridge radio, and began a series of negotiations. Yesterday, two pirates boarded the USS Sterett to continue negotiations.

Southern California residents Jean Adam,
 66, and her husband, Scott, 70, were in
 the  seventh year of an off-and-on,
 round-the-world
 trip on their beloved sloop, Quest.
 (Del Rey Yacht Club / October 20, 2005)

"“At 8 a.m. this morning … a rocket-propelled grenade was fired by the pirates from the Quest toward the Sterett,” Fox said. “Immediately thereafter, gunfire erupted from inside the cabin of the Quest. Several pirates appeared on the deck of the Quest and moved up to the bow with their hands in the air in surrender.”"

Four Americans, including Southern California couple, are killed by Somali pirates, U.S. officials say  "Such a jarring end to what had seemed a charmed life devastated scores of people around Southern California, in the array of communities they touched — at Fuller Theological Seminary, where Scott Adam was a long-time student; in the television industry, where he had worked in production and direction; among patients Jean Adam had treated as a dentist; and in Marina del Rey, where the couple hosted deck-top dinners and holiday parties with Christmas lights wound through the rigging of their yacht."  Remember that LA is the home of Michael Moore and Oliver Stone; you may expect the LA Times to run some columns on understanding-the-poor-pirates-side-of-things in three...two...one.

Death to Apostates: Not a Perversion of Islam, but Islam

Andrew C. McCarthy  "Ever since 2003, when the thrust of the War On Terror stopped being the defeat of America’s enemies and decisively shifted to nation-building, we have insisted — against history, law, language, and logic — that Islamic culture is perfectly compatible with and hospitable to Western-style democracy. It is not, it never has been, and it never will be."

Bill Clinton and the New Civility Center

Commentary  "Mr. Clinton said in a statement that the new institute “can elevate the tone of dialogue in our country.” Perhaps, though I do wonder if a few notes of apology from our 42nd president might be in order first.

"Let’s take a journey down memory lane, shall we?"

From Woodstock to Civility Commissions "To see Alinskyites, radical intellectuals, and Woodstock yuppies lecturing fellow Americans on the virtue of civility is tiresome but unsurprising. No one is more authoritarian than a successful left-wing revolutionary: he rises to power by extolling dissent, then stays in power by suppressing it."

Somali Pirates Murder 4 Americans

Human Events  "Aggressively hunting down and killing Somali boats is a much more practical use of our limited but powerful naval resources, and transfers the initiative to our Navy instead of the pirates. It’s time to take the initiative."

Friends mourn 4 US yachters killed by Somali pirates  " Scott Adam, who is in his mid-60s, had been an associate producer in Hollywood when he turned in a spiritual direction and enrolled in Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena a decade ago, said Robert K. Johnston, a professor at the seminary.

""They were just passing out Bibles, trying to do a good thing," said Barbara Herred, who attended the Mass in Santa Monica. "It’s just so sad.""

Leaked Email: Screen Actors Guild Asks Members to Join Anti-Walker Protests in Wisconsin

Big Hollywood  Meaning you should watch for lines in your favorite TV shows where familiar characters take verbal jabs at anyone not on the side of the teachers union.
..."is an email generated by the Screen Actors Guild to “SAG Members” that was leaked to Big Hollywood. We’ve gone ahead and emphasized what we found the most interesting. Is collective bargaining enshrined in law?  How many astro-turfed actors will show up in Madison to protest Governor Scott Walker? Will Sean Penn bring his shotgun? Will Oliver Stone bring his Uncle Hugo? ..."

...On Facebook (comments are welcome):
Screen Actors Guild http://www.facebook.com/screenactorsguild
AFL-CIO http://www.facebook.com/aflcio
We Are One http://www.facebook.com/werunited
Follow us on Twitter @screenactors and @sagnews, and when tweeting supportive messages use the hash tag #wiunions.
Thank you for your attention and for your support of your Guild.
Screen Actors Guild

Unrest and Libya's Energy Industry

STRATFOR  "At the risk of oversimplifying, Libya’s population is split in half: Leader Moammar Gadhafi’s power base is in Tripoli in the extreme west, the opposition is concentrated in Benghazi in the east, with a 600 kilometer-wide gulf of nearly empty desert in between."....

"If Libya veers towards civil war, each side will have its own source of income to feed on, as well as a similar income source on the other side to target."

Dems' Dependence on Government Workers Poses Peril

Fox News  "The way it works now is that state workers’ dues are taken out on payday by the government, which then passes the dough on to union leaders. And since working in many state agencies or schools means you must join the union, there’s no choice but to pay up. The Walker plan would make government union dues voluntary, which would no doubt put a serious dent in the campaign coffers of state Democrats.
"Walker is talking about defunding the Democratic Party in a key swing state and that’s cause for serious alarm for Obama."

FDR's Ghost Is Smiling on Wisconsin's Governor

RealClearPolitics  ""The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, "I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. "A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government.""

UNIONS RUNNING THE SHOW   "But the fact is that when you get unions involved, the job at hand becomes secondary to being a member of a union. As a member of that union, you will work to get more for less. And in the case of government workers, you will work to get more taxpayer money while sacrificing nothing. Students have become secondary. Is it any wonder why our education system can't keep up with other nations?"

The White House and the Wisconsin teachers kerfuffle

Obama’s Attempt to Distance Himself From Wisconsin Rally Fails  "...But apparently someone forget to tell the DNC’s communication director Bob Woodhouse to scrub his Twitter feed to reflect this new strategy. Doug Ross has pointed out a Feb. 17 Tweet from Woodhouse saying that the White House was “proudly” playing a role in the protest."

Wisconsin Puts Obama Between Competing Desires   "The battle in Wisconsin over public employee unions has left President Obama facing a tricky balance between showing solidarity with longtime political supporters and projecting a message in favor of deep spending cuts to reduce the debt."

Barack Obama’s Stand With Unions in Wisconsin is Hurting Him  "Supporting public sector unions in Wisconsin must be hurting Barack Obama. We know because he is using the New York Times to back away from his earlier statements and the tactics of his own Organizing for America."

Why Obama and the Dems Blundered in Wisconsin  "The White House, which for the last two years seemed so tone deaf over health care, jobs, and the economy, may again be displaying a stunning political miscalculation. Unless the Democrats pull the plug on their ill-conceived Wisconsin campaign, the statewide and national backlash now beginning to emerge may continue to resonate all the way to the 2012 presidential elections."

http://townhall.com/cartoons/ericallie