A call for armed counterprotesters to Atlanta labor rally
SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, is holding rallies at state capitols around the country to demonstrate solidarity with public employee unions in Wisconsin. The union has scheduled an event at the Gold Dome in Atlanta at 4 pm today.
This has been posted on the far-right Free Republic site, under the headline:
“Atlanta Tea Party and Many Other Groups, Facing Off the SEIU Thugs Wednesday”
“Members of the various Tea Party, 9/12, and other freedom-oriented folks in the Atlanta area will be assembling in the vicinity of Georgia State Capitol this coming Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm. We’ll be providing balance to the ravings of the passengers aboard the SEIU Thugbus, which is scheduled to vomit forth its stooges at that same place and time.
If you are within three hours drive of ATL, come join us.
Dan and others from RTC will be there, with the usual accoutrements. As always, each participant is responsible for compliance with all applicable local laws.
Rally point will be the corner of Trinity and Washington Streets in front of the Trinity United Methodist Church. Guide on the Gadsden flags. Rendezvous time no later than 3:45 pm local.
There appears to be some regulations re armed protests on the Washington Street side of the Capitol, so attendees are requested to be flexible in your attire. We will attempt (but no promises) to get some additional clarity regarding the situation and post it here prior to the show.
Take a stand.
Join us in Atlanta on Wednesday.”
The advice that “attendees are requested to be flexible in your attire” is apparently a suggestion to keep firearms concealed. The original author goes on to claim that “the lefties are idiots who are very good at running their mouths… and also very good at keeping their distance from an armed American”.
A couple of posters advised against bringing firearms to the rally, but that point of view did not seem to carry the day, as the following posts suggest:
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403 comments Add your comment
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:08 pm
SoCo: Yeah, that makes sense. If I don’t like taxes I can just live off the land… except for the taxes on the land. Also, if I don’t like not having health care I can either choose to pay into a corrupt system, or I have a choice to simply die. Or, if I don’t like the way my employer is treating me, I can just quit and not have any income (Let’s face it, getting another job is nigh impossible these days). Makes perfect sense.
A lot of these are false choices. There is no reason, NO REASON to not try to make things better for yourself, your children, and so on.
Jay
February 23rd, 2011
12:10 pm
jm, from the Economic Policy Institute:
“However, the data indicates that state and local government employees in Wisconsin are not overpaid. Comparisons controlling for education, experience, organizational size, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, and disability reveal that employees of both state and local governments in Wisconsin earn less than comparable private sector employees. On an annual basis, full-time state and local government employees in Wisconsin are undercompensated by 8.2% compared with otherwise similar private sector workers. This compensation disadvantage is smaller but still significant when hours worked are factored in. Full-time public employees work fewer annual hours, particularly employees with bachelor’s, master’s, and professional degrees (because many are teachers or university professors).
When comparisons are made controlling for the difference in annual hours worked, full-time state and local government employees are undercompensated by 4.8%, compared with otherwise similar private sector workers. To summarize, our study shows that Wisconsin public employees earn 4.8% less in total compensation per hour than comparable full-time employees in Wisconsin’s private sector.
These compensation comparisons account for important factors that affect earnings, the most important of which is the educational levels of public employees. When comparing public and private sector pay it is essential to consider the much higher levels of education required by occupations in the public sector. As a consequence of these requirements, Wisconsin public sector workers are on average more highly educated than private sector workers; 59% of full-time Wisconsin public sector workers hold at least a four-year college degree, compared
with 30% of full-time private sector workers. Wisconsin state and local governments pay college-educated employees 25% less in annual compensation, on average, than private employers. The compensation differential is greatest for professional employees, lawyers, and doctors. On the other hand, the public sector appears to set a floor on compensation, which benefits less-educated workers. The 1% of state and local government workers without high school diplomas earn more than comparably educated workers in the private sector.”
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/6759/
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:11 pm
Peadawg: The need to cause a disruption like this?
So what, you want uniform conformity? Would you like to enforce that? Who will help you enforce it?
THAT btw, is a good example of what fascism ACTUALLY is. Stop the disruptions, etc.
jt
February 23rd, 2011
12:13 pm
Decriminilizing marijuana would go a loooooooong way in diffusing these up-tight times. I guess that makes too much sense. No way for Big Pharma to get their slice, too many people scared of the weed, and too many people grasping at pathetic attempts to feel superior to others. (public school products).
To this day, people love FDR …NOT for big government actions(disasters) but for his decriminilizing boooze.(Puritan Americans will never admit this though).
Anyhow, I’m heading downtown………….do alittle diffusing. I’m only packing the weapon of love.
And I will spread it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArLCStQBJ7s
0311/0317 - 1811/1801
February 23rd, 2011
12:13 pm
0311/0317 – 1811/1801
February 23rd, 2011
11:00 am
JAY !!!
Regarding our continuing debate on the meaning of the 10th Amendment, a Clinton appointee federal district court judge in Washington, D.C. has ruled that Congress Can Regulate “MENTAL ACTIVITY (emphasis added)” Under Commerce Clause.
Now I submit to you the following:
1) She should never have been appointed.
2) That reasoning under a plain reading of the 10th Amendment is idiotic.
3) That reasoning if upheld would make the 10th Amendment null and void.
4) Making an Amendment null and void without further amending it or abolishing it by another Amendment is Constitutional treason.
Your thoughts ……………………..
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:15 pm
That’s as dumb as calling someone racist for disagreeing with Obama.
yes, that would be a dumb thing to do, if that were the only sort of criticism being expressed–that of policy disagreement with the Administration.
However, when someone becomes utterly irrational (I’m thinking the type of Birtherism on display by some in here), then it’s fair to imagine that maybe racism is playing a role.
And given the utter lack of logical thought coming from working class/mid-level professional sorts who post here, screaming and fuming about those public sector unions ruining the country, I have to think something beyond mere policy disagreement if fueling it.
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:15 pm
argh. “IS fueling is…”
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:16 pm
awfook. Y’all know what I meant…
RB from Gwinnett
February 23rd, 2011
12:16 pm
“I think your side has already proven itself incapable of managing even that” You’re right, they’re usually at work.
SC, all those things are nice, but none of them address what the public is facing. Take 10-20% out of your salary and then watch your property taxes go up to maintain “essential services” like the rest of us and then come back and tell us what great person you are.
Short of these types of cuts, public sector employees are not participating in this recession with the people who pay their salaries.
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:16 pm
jay – everyone knows that economists are nuttin but pot-smokin-pinko-hippie-commie-symps … or something like that ..
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:17 pm
Jay 12:10 – does that account for benefits? (the hidden cost area where most labor benefits are hidden)
Second, the Federal Government says the same thing. AND YET, while this is anecdotal, I know someone leaving the EPA getting paid over $80k per year (they got tired of DC). The best private sector alternative they could find was HALF that ($40k per year).
Comparing public and private sector job comps works for some jobs, but not others because certain public jobs don’t exist in the private sector. These studies, based on my personal experience and additional digging, tend to be bunk, but I’ll accept pre-emptively that they carry more weight, dubious as they are, than my anecdotes.
Normal
February 23rd, 2011
12:17 pm
Both sides of any debate have the absolute right to assemble and try to out rude each other in this great country of ours, God bless us.
But, from listening to others and doing a little research myself, I join others in thinking that this is a covert action of the GOP to do away with the one “big money” base that the Democrats have left, and that is Unions.
Now that the Supreme Court gave Corporations life (wish they could have added souls), you can add relatively uncontrolled amounts of campaign money to the GOP coffers with the money from the likes of the Koch Brothers and others. It seems to me a logical outcome that if the GOP can outspend the Democrats every election, they have an unfair advantage and we will lose our working and personal freedoms forever. Is this really what we want? I know I don’t. I’m not a Unionist. I haven’t been in a Union for over 40 years, but I stand with them now because I believe the alternative is to dreadful to bear.
Left wing management
February 23rd, 2011
12:18 pm
The very posing of the question “are public workers overpaid” is the utmost of obscenity given that the top 13 hedge fund managers last year posted earnings of $1 billion and up.
The entire question is an obscene diversion.
RW-(the original)
February 23rd, 2011
12:18 pm
stands,
Gotta run, but you don’t seem to be having much luck with your quest to label isms and ists today. Just maybe you might want to consider the possibility of honest disagreement.
Later
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:19 pm
LWM – well, everyone knows that teachers all have secret summer homes in St Barts … overpaid strumpets that they are …
Jimmy62
February 23rd, 2011
12:19 pm
Apparently a gay black Tea Party dude was harnessed by SEIU thugs yesterday. http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/02/horrible-gay-black-tea-partyer-accosted-by-racist-seiu-activists-at-denver-tea-party/
And it’s not the first time union thugs have harassed, and even gotten violent (see Kenneth Gladney). So if people who have taken the legal steps required to carry a gun want to exercise their rights in the face of violent protesters, it’s not for you or me to tell them how to defend themselves.
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:19 pm
Oh lord jesus Jay. Did you look at the EPI board??????????????????????????
http://www.epi.org/pages/board/
Mick
February 23rd, 2011
12:20 pm
peadawg
I think you need to jet into madison wisconsin and investigate how many teachers are calling in sick. The sick out was last week, I guess you’ve never taken a day or two for your own benefit – that is your right….
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:20 pm
That unionization – education quality research I found may have been biased. But the EPI is just the SEIU and the other unions. That study was bunk, and I hope you admit it.
buck@gon
February 23rd, 2011
12:21 pm
Let us all not forget that it was government employees and unions all over Europe (particularly Greece) that set that continent a-smoldering recently. To be clear, we must remember that if Republicans always seem to attract blame for government shutdowns, that it is the mono-polar Democrat union guys who are shutting down Wisconsin schools and Wisconsin legislatures–and of course, this may spread. Please also remember that over the past year, it has been lefty conspiracy theorists like Washington-Man-Jay (WMJ or PNAC-boy, for short) who have decried the tea-party as everything but the peaceful grass-roots organization that it is. In FACT, it was no less than members of the congressional black caucus that accused the TP of famously yelling racial epithets at them as they strutted across the capital to vote on O-care, despite the fact that hundreds of video cameras and dozens of reporters found no such thing.
Note this well: in WMJ-world, and in CC (Civil Cynthia) world, the issue isn’t EVER about civility, peace and it is rarely about real issues. Whatever the unions do today, whatever goonish behavior they engage in will be summarily overlooked, as it was in the last election (black panthers, not union-guys in PA; and union guys busting up a Republican office in VA). The usual nothing-to-see-here song is quickly sung and dismissed in newsrooms and editorial offices. If the roles are reversed and something happens that can be plausibly hung as blame on members of the political right, then we have news material worthy of a national debate, including preening sanctimony from WMJ, CC and POTUS (even though these things are state matters).
Here in this deranged forum, the issue is always about what it can be said that the Right is doing. The other side of this coin is that the issue is NOT about the left. Thus, all your supposedly “rational” arguments, WMJ & CC, are sitting on the shelf. You look and sound like a parrot that can do little but squawk and bite back.
Jay
February 23rd, 2011
12:21 pm
Somebody called and got through to WI Gov. Scott Walker, claiming to be David Koch.
The call was taped.
http://www.slate.com/BLOGS/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/02/23/did-scott-walker-reveal-his-crisis-ending-ruse-to-a-prank-caller.aspx
0311/0317 - 1811/1801
February 23rd, 2011
12:21 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7_0NoRHOEM
Jimmy62
February 23rd, 2011
12:22 pm
I’m all for private sector unions, where they are negotiating against actual stakeholders. Public unions negotiate with politicians who have no stake in the game since they will be out of office before ridiculous pension plans start causing economic problems. The taxpayer is the stakeholder/employer, and gets no input when public sector unions form. Thus, until the taxpayers get to decide what to pay public employees, public sector unions should be illegal.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:23 pm
dB: You mean the birthers and the people who think he’s a Muslim might be racist? Say it ain’t so! Surely they believe he is not born in this country because they simply disagree with his policies!
retired early
February 23rd, 2011
12:23 pm
So, “patriotism”, is now synonymous with “union busting”…for Tea Partiers. What country is this…
Pre WWII Germany…
Peadawg
February 23rd, 2011
12:24 pm
” then it’s fair to imagine that maybe racism is playing a role…….I have to think something beyond mere policy disagreement if fueling it.” – You have a wilder imagination than most kids.
“I guess you’ve never taken a day or two for your own benefit” – Yes I have but I’m start enough to not get caught.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:24 pm
retired early: Complete with a Corporate run right wing news organization dedicated to propaganda and conspiracy theories against the people they disagree with.
buck@gon
February 23rd, 2011
12:24 pm
The other issue is, how many RTC license holders have ever comitted indiscriminate violence on someone, including a police officer? The number is so low that it would only harm WMJ’s argument in mentioning it. It’s sort of the reverse of saying, “oh, the Palestinians don’t want to harm us Americans.”
RB from Gwinnett
February 23rd, 2011
12:25 pm
Jay, what do the WI public employee salaries look like compared to the private sector after you take out the private sector employee’s contribution to their healthcare and their 401K plan?
How many of the private sector employees can retire after X years of service with X% of their salary for life? Very few.
Would it kill you to present the whole story on an issue just once? You know, the way a “journalist” should?
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:25 pm
Peadawg: That’s right, if I don’t think Obama is born in this country, that is surely because I only very simply disagree with his policies. It has nothing to do with how he looks, rumors, or anything…
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:26 pm
“Let us all not forget that it was government employees and unions all over Europe (particularly Greece) that set that continent a-smoldering recently.”
omfg.
Europe is unionized, yes, but THAT isn’t the root of their problems – particularly Greece’s. Criminey, if unions were at fault, then Germany and France would be on their knees, as well …
try again.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:27 pm
RB: That’s a failure of the private sector. Guess they don’t do everything better after all.
Mick
February 23rd, 2011
12:29 pm
Damn rb, if the public sector has it so good, why didn’t you go for one of their jobs versus your corporate master?
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:30 pm
You have a wilder imagination than most kids.
give me a break, PD. You’re telling me the Birther trash here, the ones who are always going on about how (at best) Obama can’t really prove he was born in Hawaii, aren’t the LEAST bit motivated by racism? You can’t even acknowledge that it might play a role among those disturbed folks?
Note that I’m not claiming it’s the primary motivator, just as I’m not claiming that sexism is at the forefront of the anger directed at teacher’s unions. But it’s hard for me to imagine it’s not playing some role.
(as, by the way, I’ll freely admit that some of the stupid, harsher stuff I’ve seen directed at Sarah Palin is likely sexist in nature.)
getalife
February 23rd, 2011
12:31 pm
“getalife 12:01 – I just get to read plenty of news articles about their labor cost problems. More like BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, blah blah blah.”
In other words, you do not have a clue.
Neither do I.
I remember working there when Ahnold was first elected and asked some locals.
Most were enthusiastic about the change.
In the end, there was no change.
Left wing management
February 23rd, 2011
12:32 pm
USinUK: “everyone knows that teachers all have secret summer homes in St Barts … overpaid strumpets that they are …”
Well, just yesterday Wingfield here on AJC, and also the supposedly sane GOP presidential candidate Mitch Daniels on NPR’s Diane Rehm, made the claim that these public sector unions are part of a runaway “elite” that needs to be reined in.
The sheer outrageous gall, the utter obscenity of this claim would have Orwell turning in the ground like so many rotisserie chickens for god’s sake. Yet this is our discourse. And it goes unchallenged by an opposition party led by a president who thinks conflict unbecoming of politics (a misunderstanding not much less obscene).
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:32 pm
EPI Board
Barry BluestoneBarry Bluestone
Thomas BuffenbargerR. Thomas Buffenbarger
International Association of Machinists & Allied Workers (IAMAW)
Anna Burger
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Change-to-Win
Anna Burger is both a top ranking officer at SEIU, the nation’s largest and fastest growing union, and chair of the Change-to-Win Labor federation.
Larry Cohen
Communications Workers of America (CWA)
Ernesto J. Cortes, Jr.
Ernesto Cortes, Jr.Industrial Areas Foundation
Jeff FauxJeff Faux
Senior Fellow, Economic Policy Institute
Leo GerardLeo W. Gerard
United Steelworkers of America (USWA)
Ron GettelfingerRon Gettelfinger
United Auto Workers (UAW)
Teresa GhilarducciTeresa Ghilarducci
The New School for Social Research She received her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. (EPI publications by Teresa Ghilarducci.)
Alexis HermanAlexis Herman
New Ventures
Robert JohnsonRobert Johnson
Robert KuttnerRobert Kuttner
The American Prospect
Donna LenhoffDonna R. Lenhoff
National Employment Lawyers Assoc.
Donna R. Lenhoff, Esq. is the first full-time Legislative & Public Policy Director of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) in Washington, D.C. She represents NELA before Congress and administrative agencies to advance NELA’s Working for Change agenda.
Julianne MalveauxJulianne Malveaux
Bennett College
She is an outspoken activist for issues surrounding race, culture, gender, and their economic impacts.
Ray MarshallRay Marshall
University of Texas, Austin
Gerald McEnteeGerald W. McEntee
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Lawrence MishelLawrence Mishel
President, Economic Policy Institute
Debra NessDebra Ness
National Partnership for Women and Families
Pedro NogueraPedro Noguera
New York University
Jules O. PaganoJules Pagano
American Income Life
Manuel Pastor
University of Southern California
Bernard RapoportBernard Rapoport
Bernard & Audre Rapoport Foundation
Bruce S. RaynorBruce Raynor
Workers United
Mr. Raynor is President of Workers United. Prior to this post, he served as General President of UNITE HERE. He is known for working on numerous southern organizing drives, including the successful J.P. Stevens organizing campaign in the late 1970s and for combining aggressive rank and file organizing and alliances with civil rights and community leaders to build worker power.
Robert ReichRobert B. Reich
University of California, Berkeley
Linda SanchezRep. Linda T. Sánchez
U.S. House of Representatives
Rep. Linda Sánchez, a Democrat, has represented California’s 39th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2003. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and in 1995, her Juris Doctor degree at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was an attorney specializing in labor law prior to her public service career.
Andrew SternAndrew L. Stern
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Richard TrumkaRichard L. Trumka
AFL-CIO
Mr. Trumka was elected President of the AFL-CIO in September 2009. H
Randi Weingarten
Randi WeingartenAmerican Federation of Teachers
Randi Weingarten is president of the 1.4-million-member American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, which represents teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; higher education faculty and staff; nurses and other healthcare professionals; local, state and federal employees; and early childhood educators. She was elected in July 2008, following 11 years of service as an AFT vice president.
Raul Yzaguirre
Raul YzaguirreArizona State University
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:34 pm
Labor unions are just engaged in legal thievery.
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:34 pm
How many of the private sector employees can retire after X years of service with X% of their salary for life?
like I was saying awhile back–it’s mostly what one might think of as “job security envy,” at this point.
How DARE those public sector employees take a deal wherein they exchange lower-than-private-sector salaries for a somewhat more secure future via a modest pension? the BAST@RDS!!!
getalife
February 23rd, 2011
12:35 pm
After the sc activism of the citizen united travesty, corporate and unions can give unlimited donations.
Take out the unions and you have complete corporate power.
It is not rocket science people.
RB from Gwinnett
February 23rd, 2011
12:35 pm
“if the public sector has it so good, why didn’t you go for one of their jobs versus your corporate master?” The thought has crossed my mind, but I think I’d run out in traffic after dealing with the complete idiots who work in most of those jobs. Which is the other part of the equation Jay didn’t address. Some of these people may have equal years of experience and perhaps the same degree, but I doubt they’re anywhere close in work ethic.
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:35 pm
I’m going to get a sammy. I look forward to reading more completely biased and bunk research studies from the far left wing when I get back….
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:37 pm
LWM – “made the claim that these public sector unions are part of a runaway “elite” that needs to be reined in”
our poor teachers – they’re vilified everywhichway they turn. I don’t know how they put up with it day after day.
not to mention, they have to put up with kids …
as far as “elite” … well … as Inigo Montoya would say, “I do not think that word means what you think it means” …
it’s come to mean “anyone we don’t like”
Mick
February 23rd, 2011
12:37 pm
jm
Please stop the self flagellation and venom toward public workers…you’re better than that..
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:37 pm
jm: Labor unions are just engaged in legal thievery.
No silly, you’re thinking of CORPORATIONS, not labor unions.
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:38 pm
“Some of these people may have equal years of experience and perhaps the same degree, but I doubt they’re anywhere close in work ethic.”
which you know from your EXTENSIVE experience, I’m sure.
jt
February 23rd, 2011
12:38 pm
Before I go downtown to show solidarity with my individual sovereignty,
remember this………………….The federal government HAS no money…..it gets it from the citizens of each state……………states that are presently inturmoil…………Regardless, the federales still manage to spend 500 MILLION DOLLARS each year on military BANDS.
500 MILLION DOLLARS on MILITARY BANDS ALONE.
And you Public Sector Union Apologists never miss a chance to strengthen this same entity.
Weird or Phycotic?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/06/AR2010090603018.html?sid=ST2010090603042
500 million?
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:38 pm
RB: Work ethic is really bad in the private sector too. Maybe we should abolish the private sector!
Depressed Opressors
February 23rd, 2011
12:39 pm
Uh oh. Guns! Guns! Liberals wet themselves.
Meanwhile you have a Democrat liberal saying it’s time to get in the street and get bloody. And you people have the gall to call the Tea Party people violent? As Woody Harrelson’s character said in Zombieland, “it’s time to nut up or shut up.”
“”I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going,” Capuano said, according to the Dorchester Reporter. “Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.”
Isn’t that special. Anyone else also thoroughly enjoying the SEIU mouth breathers (the same ones that attack Black Tea Party members) shout down Fox News reporters screaming “Fox Lies! Fox Lies! Fox Lies!” This is beautiful to watch. Let’s see how the liberals will take it to the next level. When will the first physical confrontation go viral on Youtube?
The kook fringe liberal left is going crazy. Now some moonbat judge has ruled that THOUGHT can be regulated by government. Anyone seen Minority Report? Forget arms. Let’s just have states start seceding from the Union. Why not? You have elected representative Democrat liberals running and hiding from legislation. And where is our president in all these crises around the nation and globe? Golfing? Or did the teleprompter funding get cut that quickly?
Change we can’t believe.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:40 pm
I have but one question
Since when did TEACHERS become the overpaid public employees that have it SO GOOD that they need to be cut down?
Mick
February 23rd, 2011
12:41 pm
rb
So please tell me that there aren’t any workers you deem complete idiots where you work now? Of course there are, usually some kind of nepotism or best friends of the boss. It’s a drag..
Depressed Opressors
February 23rd, 2011
12:42 pm
“No silly, you’re thinking of CORPORATIONS, not labor unions.”
Adam: you tell us what corporation FORCES an employee to pay into something it doesn’t want to benefit the corporation? In other words, you tell me how a corporation does what union thuggery does to it’s members – FORCE THEM to pay, many of whom want no part of a union but have no choice due to their job.
Unions are the choke chain of America. It’s long past time to cut that chain the hell off.
Carol
February 23rd, 2011
12:42 pm
Carrying guns to a rally only shows that these nuts are looking for violence. These union protesters are not gun totting idiots. There are children and women demonstrating their right to peaceful protest. The protesters who are initiating violence should be arrested. It is the right of the union protesters to protest if they feel this bill is not right and they should not be threatened by these gun totting bullies.
TaxPayer
February 23rd, 2011
12:43 pm
Well, those public sector employees get what they deserve for trusting a Republican in the first place. Next time they’ll know better and they’ll demand cash in advance for salary, healthcare, vacation and sick leave and retirement benefits for each hour of work. That’s about all the trust that a Republican deserves.
getalife
February 23rd, 2011
12:43 pm
He got punked by a fake caller and exposed his tactic.
Too funny.
He should resign.
Doggone/GA
February 23rd, 2011
12:44 pm
“Since when did TEACHERS become the overpaid public employees that have it SO GOOD that they need to be cut down?”
Wellll…in WI anyway, since they didn’t endorse Walker’s campaign to be Gov
Keep up the good fight!
February 23rd, 2011
12:44 pm
Adam…Luckovichs cartoon today provides the real answer…
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:45 pm
And where is our president in all these crises around the nation and globe? Golfing? Or did the teleprompter funding get cut that quickly?
See, Peadawg, for the record, that’s not racist. It’s just eff-tarded.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
February 23rd, 2011
12:45 pm
SC, all those things are nice, but none of them address what the public is facing. Take 10-20% out of your salary and then watch your property taxes go up to maintain “essential services” like the rest of us and then come back and tell us what great person you are.
RB
Not that I have to divulge my personal business to you or anyone else here. Try this on for size. My wife’s job is on it’s way out of the door, leaving us down substantially in income. That means, the daycare (private sector and privately owned) that we use is losing money. Other businesses that we support by using their services are losing customers too. Don’t think that public workers are not feeling the effects of this economic downturn. Contrary to your opinion and that of others, we too are participating in and feeling the effects of this downturn.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:45 pm
Depressed Opressors : That’s a narrow argument. I, for one, support people NOT joining the union if they don’t want to. It is better to fix that one part of it rather than bust the union entirely. What ELSE are you afraid of. And you entirely missed the point of what I was trying to say.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:47 pm
Doggone: Indeed.
Keep up: Link please?
Nova
February 23rd, 2011
12:47 pm
“If you are within three hours drive of ATL, come join us.”
Nah, I want to be at least three hours away when that mess starts up.
The labor union supporters have a right to peacefully protest just like anyone else. Leave them alone to do their thing. Last thing the Tea Partiers need is for a bunch of gun toting heehaws to show up and reinforce the stereotype in many peoples’ minds. Unions don’t have many fans in Georgia so most folks probably won’t pay much attention to them anyway.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:48 pm
And where is our president in all these crises around the nation and globe? Golfing? Or did the teleprompter funding get cut that quickly?
Hahaha I see that again we have the double standard. If Obama says something he should have stayed out of it, but now that he’s not saying anything and doing his national job, he’s not doing enough for the one thing the 24/7 news cycle has decided to focus on. What a laugh.
Keep up the good fight!
February 23rd, 2011
12:48 pm
Adam…here you go.
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:50 pm
My wife’s job is on it’s way out of the door, leaving us down substantially in income.
Bro. Dang.
While that sucks, I guess you’ll adapt, and maybe Mrs. SoCo will take some comfort in being a full time SAHM for awhile.
(the decibels household took a vow of poverty awhile back, with the Mrs. working extremely light hours, i.e. making an extremely light financial contribution, in order to look after the kid. The world didn’t end, although sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to be as flush with cash as some of the duel-incomers I know…)
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:50 pm
Keep up: hmm sounds like something I said a few blog entries back.
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:50 pm
adam 12:37 wrong
Mick
February 23rd, 2011
12:51 pm
sc@12:45
Excellent point, although I hope you and the miss southern comfort can bounce back, but yes any cut will affect the whole pie – not just one slice..
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:52 pm
jm: That last snark is almost worthy of Dave R. Well done.
Left wing management
February 23rd, 2011
12:52 pm
USinUK: Have a look at this. I hadn’t been following this real closely but apparently teachers have been under a relentless assault from multiple directions:
Why America’s teachers are enraged – Diane Ravitch
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-20/opinion/ravitch.teachers.blamed_1_bad-teachers-public-employee-unions-test-scores?_s=PM:OPINION
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:52 pm
SoCo – sorry to hear about your wife’s job … that suuuuucks! good luck to your fam
Normal
February 23rd, 2011
12:52 pm
It sounds to me like this Democratic Senator is saying the same things Martin Luther King said. If you can be non-violent, be non-violent, but if you have to bleed for your cause, bleed proudly.
I don’t believe he is advocating violence, but is saying if violence comes, accept it. By not reacting to violence, you make the aggressor look bad. A good example of aggression gone wild? The Libyan Mad Colonel
AmVet
February 23rd, 2011
12:53 pm
The two sides couldn’t be more different.
The people’s side includes nurses, truck drivers, steel workers, teachers, Green Bay Packers, students, construction workers and religious groups. The working people in this country who built this country.
The corporate wh0res side?
Beckerheads, Limburgers and fat, lazy, paper shuffling gun-toting cowards…
Carol
February 23rd, 2011
12:53 pm
BTW Atlanta already have the right to work law and have always been a red state. When I lived there I had to work 3 jobs just to have enough money to pay my rent. Its got so bad I had to move back up North so that I could find a decent job with benefits so I could live and raise my family.
States that keep voting Rep time and time again deserves what they have to offer which is no job security with low wages. I live in a blue state. Thank God and if it ever turns red and I lose my job I will be moving out. The union workers have many states standing up in support for the unions and the right to bargin for fair wages, compresation, job security, and fair labor practices.
RB from Gwinnett
February 23rd, 2011
12:54 pm
“So please tell me that there aren’t any workers you deem complete idiots where you work now? Of course there are, usually some kind of nepotism or best friends of the boss. It’s a drag..” Sure there are. They generally don’t stay long as we can’t afford to keep people who don’t produce.
SC, are you saying your wife is a public sector employee whose job is going away or are you saying you are a public sector employee and your wife is losing her job? That wasn’t clear.
Doggone/GA
February 23rd, 2011
12:54 pm
“The labor union supporters have a right to peacefully protest just like anyone else. Leave them alone to do their thing”
As to the RTC people. As long as both sides demonstrate peacefully, there’s not need to do anything about it but MAKE SURE that any who step over that “peaceful” line learn that actions DO have consequences.
stands for decibels
February 23rd, 2011
12:55 pm
fat, lazy, paper shuffling gun-toting coward
we still talking about Newt?
anyways, gotta boogie. Later!
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:55 pm
LWM – this isn’t new – they’ve always gotten the hind end – from people who b*(*&% and moan that they get summers off to people who think they’re all babysitters for their brats to principals who would rather kowtow to asinine parents rather than back their teachers –
frankly, I’m surprised THEY’RE not the ones bringing guns into the schools …
Keep up the good fight!
February 23rd, 2011
12:56 pm
Adam…..yes, there are many too fear because it makes it much easier than trying to get to the real nuances for the answers.
jm
February 23rd, 2011
12:56 pm
adam 12:52 i’ll explain some other time eating requires brevity
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
February 23rd, 2011
12:56 pm
After the sc activism of the citizen united travesty, corporate and unions can give unlimited donations.
Take out the unions and you have complete corporate power.
It is not rocket science people.
You might be onto something……..
The fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission keeps coming.
The case loosened restrictions on corporations that do political campaigning with the proviso that they do it without working with candidates. But in a little-noticed document, three FEC commissioners have said they think corporations should be allowed to raise money directly for candidates.
As it is now, corporations are prohibited from helping candidates raise money. The furthest they can go is allowing a candidate to hold fundraisers on their property, and even then, the campaign must pay for the space in advance. But the three commissioners, all Republicans, said those prohibitions are “at best suspect” in light of Citizens United’s protection of free speech for corporations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/16/AR2011021606173.html
cosby smith
February 23rd, 2011
12:56 pm
Those that pay the bill are once again critized and demeaned by the media and the thugs at SEIU are made to look like choir boys…rediculus, totally riduclus..But thne typical of Jay and the AJC. When will they learn, the hard working people of the USA that pay the bills have had enough..
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:57 pm
They generally don’t stay long as we can’t afford to keep people who don’t produce.
Glad your company actually takes work ethic seriously. But make no mistake, your company is NOT the norm.
Mick
February 23rd, 2011
12:57 pm
nova@12:47
I like your style….
Doggone/GA
February 23rd, 2011
12:57 pm
“Those that pay the bill are once again critized and demeaned by the media and the thugs at SEIU are made to look like choir boys”
Union members are INCLUDED in “those that pay the bills” – they pay taxes and buy things just like everyone else.
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:58 pm
cosby – “Those that pay the bill ”
are you under some kind of delusion that the SEIU workers don’t pay taxes???
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
12:59 pm
dammit, doggone, I owe you a coke
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
12:59 pm
jm: Well I’ll just say if it involves the whole forcing people to pay union dues and be in the union, I do not agree with that. That does not, however, mean that I support stopping collective bargaining rights.
Normal
February 23rd, 2011
12:59 pm
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent and the proof is in the pudding. The RTC is the pudding.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
1:00 pm
USinUK: I BAN YOUR COKE!
jm
February 23rd, 2011
1:00 pm
Doggone 12:57 – brilliant. So if we can all work for the government, everything will be just hunkey dorey
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
1:01 pm
There’s plenty of reason NOT to work for the government. Not that I haven’t thought about being a teacher myself but frankly I want to make more money. And I don’t mind that I will also pay more taxes if that happens. I also avoided military service for reasons of not getting provided the education I was seeking and because I wanted to reserve my right to say “no” to my employer.
AmVet
February 23rd, 2011
1:02 pm
Happy 326th George Frideric…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U8YVsW9I8U&feature=fvst
getalife
February 23rd, 2011
1:03 pm
First, they come for the unions.
Next they came for the cons.
USinUK
February 23rd, 2011
1:03 pm
jm – that’s no more honest than saying that SEIU members don’t “pay the bills” is.
jm
February 23rd, 2011
1:04 pm
“In a major reversal, the Obama administration has notified Congress that it will no longer defend the federal law that says marriage can exist only between a man and a woman.”
Ok. wait a sec. I guess I’m ok with changing this law. But what gives the executive branch the right to stop enforcing laws? I think I’m going to lose all my lunch.
jm
February 23rd, 2011
1:06 pm
USinUK 1:03 – on a net basis, you know Public Workers a net beneficiaries of tax revenue, and private tax payers are net donors. simple as that. The value added by government is not 0, but they are not net contributors. See USSR for reference.
Mick
February 23rd, 2011
1:06 pm
jm
So, if you were offered the same type of position in the public sector for less money but with a guranteed pension plan and paid sick days, you wouldn’t think about it? Remember, the key here is less pay, so if you’re getting paid 5k less a year, that would be 50k less a decade but you get a guaranteed pension or so you thought because in your 25th year they change the rules and all bets are off after making a cumulative 125k less, is that fair?
Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 23rd, 2011
1:06 pm
Dear Jay @ 11:57, thanks for confirmation. I thought I perceived ambivalence in your coverage, and your note – that your philosophy conflicts with your visceral reaction to current events – is a reasoned explanation. No sniping from me; although I land the other way, you may appreciate that my libertarian instincts also cause me some ambivalence on this one.
Adam
February 23rd, 2011
1:07 pm
But what gives the executive branch the right to stop enforcing laws? I think I’m going to lose all my lunch.
It’s the executive branch. Just as the legislative branch can stop MAKING laws, and the judicial branch can refuse to hear cases, the executive branch can refuse to enforce laws.