Shadowy Extremist Group Launches Obama Re-election Campaign

In case you don't get the subtle, underlying message here, the Republicans are extreme or something.

Former White House officials launched a new group on Friday intended to fend off conservative attacks on President Obama's reelection with unlimited campaign cash.

Former Obama deputy press secretary Bill Burton announced the long-expected formation of Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action, twin groups that will take advantage of campaign finance loopholes President Obama had previously decried.

The groups opened up shop on Friday with a website and video attacking the "extreme right," showcasing examples of some Republican presidential candidates' harsh rhetoric toward Obama, as well as the deep-pocketed conservatives that support them.

The groups in many way mirror their counterparts on the right, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, the two GOP-boosting groups founded by Bush political guru Karl Rove and another senior Bush aide and longtime Republican figure, Ed Gillespie.

Crossroads GPS took advantage of elements of the tax code to collect unlimited donations from individuals and corporations to spend tens of millions of dollars against Democratic candidates in the 2010 election.

Priorities USA Action will take advantage of the same part of election law, opened by the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision, to raise and spend millions in similar, unlimited donations, to defend Obama and go on the attack against the GOP.

After decrying anonymous donors to the GOP, this extremist group will be raking in money from anonymous donors.

Mr. Obama has spoken out against such outside groups in the harshest terms, using a radio address in August to complain of their ads, “We don’t know who’s behind these ads and we don’t know who’s paying for them.”

But the White House gave its veiled, but public approval to Democrats looking to form such groups after the party took a beating in last fall’s congressional elections and the Republican groups indicated they planned to play an even bigger role in 2012 against the President.

Officials with the group said seed money has come from the Service Employees International Union and the film mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg.

CNN's Paul Begala, aka The Forehead, will be among the extremists behind this shadowy group.

"We're eager to meet Karl Rove and the Koch brothers in the public arena," said Begala. "As long as they're spending millions telling lies in their effort to destroy the middle class, we will answer them by telling the truth."

SEIU Flash Mob Unleashes Cheesy Dance Moves, Inane Chants on Target Shoppers

Bet you didn't realize the SEIU had the White Man's Boogie in their playbook. Yep, it's true. Too bad they couldn't recruit Richard Simmons for the day. Woulda been a nice touch.

And how convenient for these folks, to hold a flash mob at a Target. This way, instead of hopping on the school bus (huh?) afterwards to go back to wherever they came from, they can just hang back and do a little shopping.



Via Breitbart.

Cross-posted.

Shocker! Obama Political Director 'Forgot' He Was on SEIU Payroll Last Year

Just imagine the buzz and hubbub surrounding this scandal if the JournoList were still alive.

A former top official for a huge New York union who is now the White House political director failed to disclose more than $37,000 in income from the union last year, it was reported yesterday.

As the former public-affairs executive for Service Employees International Union Local 1199, Patrick Gaspard earned $37,191 in carried-over pay while on the White House payroll.

He failed to disclose the income on financial-disclosure forms, Politico reported. Where arrangements for payment by a former employer must be listed on the form, he checked a box indicating he had nothing to report.

The discrepancy was caught by California Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In a letter to the White House, he told Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina of the unstated income.

"As I am sure you are aware, there are very specific limitations on the outside earned income of presidential appointees," Issa wrote.

The administration downplayed Gaspard's failure to include the income on this and last year's disclosure forms. White House spokesman Bill Burton told Politico that the political director was in the process of correcting the forms to reflect that he did have an agreement for severance.

"We have made the small administrative change to this year's and last year's forms to indicate that part of the final payout to Patrick reflected in their typical severance of one week of pay for each of his nine years of service at Local 1199," Burton said.

Gaspard is a key player in the Obama White House, which maintains deep ties to labor unions, especially the service-industries' union. He worked for nearly a decade for SEIU 1199 before joining Obama's campaign.

According to his disclosure forms, Gaspard earned $11,550 working on Obama's transition team and made $172,200 last year as director of the Office of Political Affairs.

It was from that post that he met last September with Gov. Paterson and urged him not to seek re-election.

Is there anyone mulling a run for office Team Obama hasn't leaned on?

You may recall Gaspard's name from this story from an item we noted last fall.

Critics also accuse the Working Families Party of having a long association with the troubled activist group, ACORN. Bertha Lewis, ACORN's CEO, is one of the party's co-founders. The New York Times reported this month that "Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director, worked with ACORN in New York to set up the Working Families political party and sat on the party's board with Ms. Lewis."

ACORN and Obama, perfect together.

Speaking of the late unlamented JournoList, I wonder how tight Gaspard is with this fellow? Worth also noting is where this pimple-faced puke just landed.

Much more here on the deep ties between Obama, Gaspard, Lewis, SEIU and ACORN.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

The Video SEIU Doesn't Want You To See

Imagine leaving your teenage child home alone on a nice Sunday while you and spouse went out for a little while. Now imagine 500 angry, sign waving, bullhorn blaring, union apparel wearing thugs showing up on your front lawn, trapping your child inside.



Well that is exactly what happened to a guy, Greg Baer, who works as general counsel for Bank of America.

The Democrats provide the rhetoric and political cover and the SEIU provides the muscle. When will they show up on your lawn just because you happen to be associated with villain of the day as designated by Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama or any of the Democrats in Washington? Work for a health insurance company? I would hold off on sodding that front lawn. Ever had any dealings with an oil company? Might I suggest an investment in some very big dogs.

Going to a private residence and somehow trying to masquerade it as free speech or some sort of permissible civil disobedience is not only wrong, it is reprehensible on the part of those who participated in this modern day version of a lynch mob.

SEIU has banned the embedding of this video as well as deleted all the comments on You Tube related to it. To view the video you must go to the link. Why isn't SEIU proud of their domestic terrorism?

Remember the most frequent visitor to the White House is the former president of this organization, which is so interwoven with ACORN as to be almost indistinguishable, and now sits on the presidents economic advisory board. Guess he resigned his post so that he could give himself some sort of separation from these sort of activities, but anybody who thinks Andy Stern is not connected probably is too busy tending to their unicorns to acknowledge it.

When will it be your turn?

Acknowledgements go to Nina Easton, who lives next door to Mr. Baer and shot the picture. Some folks may know her from her frequent appearances on Fox News programs. A H/T to Liberty Chick over at Big Government for bringing us this story.

Unions Planning March On Wall Street

Either the writer at the Huffington Post is clueless or the unions are. My vote is both of them are.

Let's start with the obvious. The Tea Party is not so much anti-Wall Street as it is anti big government. I haven't seen a lot tea partiers holding signs or making speeches excoriating Wall Street. That has all been done by the unions. Like when they gave bus tours of AIG executives homes in an attempt to intimidate them.

Next, the unions might want to check who it is their members work for. It may surprise them to find out that a lot of those companies are publicly traded on Wall Street. You know, companies like GM and Chrysler.

While on the subject of GM, until recently GM had it's own financial arm known as GMAC, which sort of engaged in the same sort of practices they say they are heading to New York to protest and draw attention too.

But y'all go on with your silly ol' selves. If you think demonizing the very people and organizations who supply the jobs in this country is a winning strategy then go ahead and make New Yorkers angry with more traffic gridlock and expenditure of their tax dollars to pay for the security and clean-up of your little march, which will no doubt leave a path of destruction in it's wake, because that is just the way your side rolls.

This is a really dumb idea, but what do you expect from organizations who are attempting to divert attention from how they have become destructive to this country and are little more then organized crime bosses with labels sewn on their shirts.

Sneaky Dems Set Up 'Grassroots' Anti-Tea Party Groups

Gee, never saw this coming. It's a safe bet you'll see only one electronic media outlet reporting this scam.

A seemingly grassroots organization that's mounted an online campaign to counter the tea party movement is actually the front end of an elaborate scheme that funnels funds -- including sizable labor union contributions -- through the offices of a prominent Democratic party lawyer.

A Web site popped up in January dedicated to preventing the tea party's "radical" and "dangerous" ideas from "gaining legislative traction," targeting GOP candidates in Illinois for the firing squad.

"This movement is a fad," proclaims TheTeaPartyIsOver.org, which was established by the American Public Policy Center (APPC), a D.C.-based campaign shop that few people have ever heard of.

But a close look reveals the APPC's place in a complex network of money flowing from the mountainous coffers of the country's biggest labor unions into political slush funds for Democratic activists.

These clumsy goons may have been able to get away with something like this in years past, but people are on to them.

The most recent backers of the Patriot Majority and Patriot Majority West, which helped fund the APPC and thus the Tea Party site, form a veritable Who's Who of the country's top labor unions: the Service Employees International Union, Change to Win, the Communications Workers of America, the National Education Association, the Teamsters Union, the United Food & Commercial Workers Union and others besides.

But by far the largest donations have come from a collection of unionized government workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) -- which in 2008 alone donated $5.8 million to Patriot Majority and another $4.1 million to Patriot Majority Midwest.

Using this arrangement, Varoga and Rakis are managing what NPR called a "never-ending pot of union money" that they dispense among the 527s they run, which in turn pay for ads in hotly contested election districts.

That means that taxpayer dollars, sent up as union dues, have been going to fund a host of Democratic causes and help quash the tea party movement.

What's more, Varoga and Rakis are not actually present in Suite 1102. That is the office of their lawyer, Joseph Sandler, a longtime general counsel to the Democratic National Committee.

Sandler, whose firm and trust account raked in over $500,000 in Democratic party money in 2009 alone, told Fox News that there was nothing irregular in their setup.

Perhaps not irregular, but devious nonetheless.

Considering they pumped money into Martha Coakley's losing Senate bid in Massachusetts it doesn't appear the public is buying their so-called "patriotism" that's funded by the Democrat machine. Tha Patriot Majority also has ties to failed Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick dating back to 2006.

So we're supposed to believe they were formed in opposition to the tea parties, yet they date back to at least 2006. Not only that, the guy in charge i=of the group used to work for Dingy Harry.

Varoga, a Texas-based Democratic strategist, was in charge of opposition research for Johnston during Johnston’s failed 1996 run for Congress. A former communications director for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Varoga was slammed for using bogus newspaper headlines in an attack ad during a 1992 state Senate race in Missouri.

Jim Hoft was on to them a couple of weeks ago.

Revolt: SEIU Members Supporting Scott Brown

More details here.

Via AoSHQ. Considering how the SEIU operates, they may want to watch their backs.

SEIU Releases Ad In Support of Scott Brown

Wait. What? This is an ad for the Democrat Martha Coakley?

I think actually this ad works out better for Scott Brown.

Voted with Republicans 96% of the time. Check.

Their language says he is opposed a woman's right to choose; translated from liberal speak that means he's against federal funding of abortions.

Does not believe global warming is caused by humans. Hmm, that seems to an opinion held by the majority of Americans.

Classifying the Tea Party folks as an "extremist groups". Way to really influence enemies and make friends. Of course, this is in opposition to groups like the SEIU who send thugs to townhall meetings to rough up those same Tea Party folks.

I just don't see this ad working against Brown, but I really do appreciate the SEIU spending the money to create it. With friends like this, Coakley doesn't need any more enemies.



And I would dare to say far more people have a negative impression of the SEIU then they do the Tea Party folks.

Maybe they just couldn't find anything that Coakley stands for.

Shocker: SEIU Goons Place $685K Ad Buy for Coakley

Well, the desperate Democrats are already paying the unions to campaign for Martha Coakley, with some very mixed results, and it's panic at the disco tonight with the bombshell poll showing the race a virtual dead heat.

So of course here come the goons from SEIU investing heavily in a race thought to be a gimme just a couple weeks ago. If I'm Brown I announce another money bomb to match SEIU's contribution. He'd probably have it by midnight.

A major national union supporting Democrat Martha Coakley is taking out a massive TV ad buy that slams her Republican rival, Scott Brown, for his positions on abortion and climate change.

The ad taken out by the Service Employees International Union, will begin airing statewide tomorrow. The buy size is $685,000, one of the largest of the election.

“Before you vote for Senate, here’s a few things you should know about Scott Brown,” says a narrator in the 30-second spot. The narrator then says he “has repeatedly opposed a woman’s right to choose” and he “expresses skepticism that climate change is being caused by humans.”

Brilliant. When most of the nation is locked in a deep freeze, these mega-tools are going to bring up the discredited man-made global warming hoax. As for opposing a "right to choose," Brown is pro-choice so that line of attack just reeks of desperation.

I know the morons running Coakley's campaign can't spell, but are they really this stupid? Well wait, it gets dumber.

“No wonder Brown’s campaign is being supported by the same extremist group that backs Sarah Palin,” the narrator says. “Martha Coakley for Senate. Massachusetts values.”

Remember every election cycle we're constantly warned about negative attack ad? Well, Coakley's running nothing but, yet our moral superiors in the media don't seem concerned.

As a side note, it's curious how mythical "climate change" came up in last night's debate, but only as a question to Brown. Check out how "fair" David Gergen was with his questioning.

To Republican Scott Brown, Gergen asked, "Would your preference be to see Roe v. Wade overturned, is that your preference? ... Do you support Roe v. Wade?"

And his follow-up question to Brown: "Do you believe that climate — global warming — is caused by man-made activities — or are you skeptical?"

To Democrat Martha Coakley, Gergen asked: "I wonder — looking back — whether you think it was the right decision to insist on three people at a debate?" She answered yes, and expanded on why.

And his second question to Coakley? "As you look back on the campaign — do you have any second thoughts about the way the campaigns unfolded?" Her answer: "Absolutely not."

Real tough questions to Coakley there, Dave.

I'm surprised Gergen didn't walk over and massage her feet.

Hot Air links. Thanks!

SEIU Supports Republican Health Insurance Reform Plan

That is what I take away from this letter from Andy Stern, the head of SEIU, that he posted this morning. He says he is fighting for the same things that the Republicans have offered in alternative legislation, except he doesn't mention tort reform.

Last night, we held a meeting with your International Executive Board--leaders from across the country. Leaders who know you, who understand what you are going through, and above all else, who believe that every one of you deserves a chance to weigh in on our next steps.

We talked about everything that makes this reform meaningful:

• The 30 million more people who will have healthcare they can count on;
• The people who will no longer lose their coverage if they get sick;
• All of us who no longer have to worry about being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions;
• Women who will no longer be discriminated against just because of their gender.

I am not sure what he means about the 30 million more people who will have healthcare or how he proposes to make that happen, but what is clear is that he isn't too happy with the direction the debate is going in the Senate.

The other thing I took away from this letter is that Stern apparently views SEIU more as a political action group then a workers union. He certainly views SEIU as a driving force in the Democrat Party, and I would like to know how he squares that with his rank and file membership. Are you trying to tell me that every member of his union is a card carrying Democrat?

Stern makes a very emotional appeal using the "Yes, we can" chant associated with the Barry O campaign, but winds up failing to detail just exactly what it is he wants.

ACORN Changing Name, Disbursing Money to SEIU, Other Groups

The crime syndicate known as ACORN is on the run, but is getting plenty of cover from the Democrats, which comes as no surprise since they're an arm of the Democratic Party. Now since their name is radioactive they figure changing it will bamboozle an unwitting public while they work hand-in-hand with the goons from SEIU to funnel money away from themselves. How clever. Consider it one giant slush fund, all designed to aid the Democrats.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, is in the process of changing its name and has already transferred many of its resources to several other left-wing advocacy and political groups, according to a report released Tuesday by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

While the Justice Department has said that federal housing funds should continue to flow to ACORN, several congressmen, in a joint hearing of the House Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee, said they want a special prosecutor to investigate the group's use of taxpayer dollars.

Several weeks back, Congress included in the Continuing Appropriations Resolution for 2010 a provision that bars federal funds to ACORN and its “affiliates, subsidiaries or allied organizations.”

President Obama signed the resolution. But the Justice Department’s opinion issued last week cleared the way for funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to continue going to the organization, a group that many House Republicans have called a “criminal enterprise.”

Which indeed it is. Now Obama may be playing it cute by signing that resolution but make no mistake. Obama is ACORN, ACORN is Obama and and Eric Holder answers to Obama. Just imagine if there was so much financial chicanery going on with the GOP. Why, the media might even be inclined to investigate.

CNSNews.com could not reach an ACORN spokesman on Tuesday for comment after attempts by phone and e-mail. But ACORN spokesmen in the past have said that any illegal or unethical incidents were isolated and that the organization is dedicated to helping the poor.

However, the House Oversight report claimed otherwise, saying, “ACORN’s own training manual reflects a business model in which money is taken from poor people and then funneled into partisan political efforts.”

“ACORN is currently in the process of changing its name and has already transferred resources to several chapters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and possibly Data and Field Services, the Working Families Party, Change to Win and the Council for Unity,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.

The GOP damn well better make ACORN and their affiliates a big issue in the midterm elections. Of course they'll be accused of being raaaaacist, but then again, that's nothing new. They're already whining about a partisan witch-hunt.

ACORN is in the midst of its own investigation of the undercover videos, led by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, but has also railed against what it calls a partisan witch hunt by Republicans.

“Allegations against ACORN continue to pour in—now it appears that the organization actively targeted incumbent Republican members of Congress in the 2008 election," Representative Lamar Smith, the ranking Republican on the judiciary committee, said in a statement. "This kind of political activity is a clear violation of ACORN’s nonprofit status. With more than a dozen investigations nationwide, federal law enforcement agencies can no longer ignore the shady actions of ACORN. Until then, not a single penny of taxpayer dollars should go to fund an organization that time and again has abused federal funds and the American people’s trust.”

Issa, meanwhile, pulls no punches.

"The current administration is fast becoming, in reality, the war room of ACORN's political machine," said Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican. "I am concerned that the era of corruption promulgated by ACORN and protected by the White House is just the beginning."

The top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said ACORN has engaged in "illegal, partisan activities designed to help individual Democratic members."

"This (action) goes from city councilmen to state assemblymen all the way to President Barack Obama," he said.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said Mr. Obama's past ties to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) will "taint any conclusions" by any Justice Department probe into the group.

While these reports don't indicate any name change, here are some suggestions.

SEIU Thugs Finally Charged In Gladney Beating

Finally. After months of careful consideration the St Louis county prosecutors office has seen fit to file charges against 6 people for the beating of Kenneth Gladney at the Tea Party rally outside of Rep Carnahan's town hall meeting back in August.

Of course Jim Hoft over at Gateway Pundit is all over it, and the prosecutors office admit that they were motivated in part by bloggers and videos appearing on the internet.

This particular news account leaves out any mention of the SEIU connection and in fact leaves you with the impression that it was the people protesting against Rep Carnahan support of the PelosiCare healthcare bill that were the ones charged.

Unbiased journalism or willful omission I will leave up to the reader.

They even managed to press charges against a reporter who was on the scene, you know doing his job.

Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman, 30, of University City, was charged with interfering with a police officer. The charges allege that he failed to obey repeated commands "to leave the site of an ongoing disturbance."

Hmmm, isn't the job of reporters to, you know, like, report on things like this? I wonder how often they ask reporters to leave the site of other protests? Of course this is the same Missouri which earlier in the year drafted the memo about folks who oppose Obama should be given particular attention by public safety personnel, since they pose a threat and the same Missouri who wanted to set up truth squads to fight the rumors that might smear The One.

I, like a lot of other people, are still left to wonder what took so long to prefer charges in what appears to be a pretty obvious case of assault, with police officers on the scene. Meanwhile the folks of the "Show Me" state might want to start taking a look at who is running their state and get some folks in there that have at least a passing familiarity with our Bill of Rights.

Union Versus Union

From the Wall Street Journal we have an article about SEIU's tactics in California against another union. The fight all boils down to a new union that was created for healthcare workers called the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). This new union sought to lure current members away from the local SEIU union, known as the Union of Healthcare Workers (UHW).

In setting up this new union they managed to get an election whereby the healthcare workers could decide which union they wished to belong to. There are allegations that the SEIU, acting more like their sister organization ACORN, intimidated and bullied their members, even threatening some with the possibilty of deportation, if they did not vote to stay in the SEIU affiliate.

Speaking in an interview over a sandwich at a hotel in the Bay Area late last month, Mr. Martinez says he was instructed by superiors to tell the workers that if they voted against the SEIU, they could lose their medical benefits, see their green cards or citizenship revoked and possibly be deported. He says he and other staffers were also told to pressure voters to spoil ballots that had been filled out for the NUHW. In other instances he filled ballots out for them. He says he even took some to the post office, as did other SEIU campaign workers.

SEIU counter charges that this man is simply a disgruntled worker. Sound familiar?

These actions appear to be just another example of the thuggish behavior of the organization headed by Andy Stern, who has visited the White House 22 times at last count, and was a co-founder of ACORN.

The unions are not looking out for the best interests of workers, they are only about power. Power funded by their members dues and, in some cases, by our taxpayer dollars.

Who Is Ron Bloom?

A lot of attention is being brought to bear on all of these so-called czars that Obama is now making an integral part of his administration. It is a tactic that has proven to be effective since these appointments avoid scrutiny from congress, like they really scrutinize anybody, and also allows him to proceed unworried by any sort of probing by the so called fourth estate, the media.

There shouldn't be any Pulitzer prizes awarded for investigative journalism for a while, but I forget they still have plenty of make believe hit pieces involving conservatives to pat themselves on the back about and hand out their "Hey, look at me" trinkets.

Anyway, the name Ron Bloom is one that we need to start paying attention to. He has a long history of being the negotiating face of unions in a suit. He is a Harvard Business School graduate who has worked for the unions beginning with SEIU for decades. The most recent union he represented was the United Steel Workers (USW) before becoming a part of the automotive team that Obama put together. You know the one that had the head Steven Rattner having to resign over some questions about his personal finances mixed in with a little fraudulent money gifts.

Rattner was replaced by Ron Bloom, and voila the United Auto Workers (UAW), got a sweetheart deal backed up by the power of the federal government to try and stave off bankruptcy.

Both inside and outside the USW, Mr. Bloom is known as a financially savvy negotiator — with a tendency to spout profanities.

Today Obama is going to go make a speech at a gathering of the AFL/CIO, supposedly to try and push his healthcare agenda, which nobody can seem to figure out, and at this union picnic he is going to announce that Mr Bloom is now going to be the senior advisor for manufacturing. In other words another czar.

Even to the casual observer it is impossible to miss the numerous connections between Barack Obama and the unions. He brings the unions in to act as his muscle, not only against his political opponents, but allies also.

Do you remember this from the automotive bailout plan?

Also at the hearing, Bloom denied that the government had coerced Chrysler's debtholders into dropping a legal protest that they were being treated unfairly in court. Some holders of $6.9 billion in secured Chrysler debt initially protested that they were being pushed behind unsecured creditors such as the United Auto Workers union's retiree health care trust.

But the debtholders dropped their protests after receiving $2 billion in cash to wipe out their debt.

In what can only be termed a serious case of deja-vu over at the Planet Gore portion of NRO (National Review Online), we have this piece from February of 2009.

But most significantly, Bloom (and Keilin) made their reputation battling steel companies which, burdened by excessive union costs, suffered through a very similar experience to the Detroit Three thirty years ago. In fact, as the New York Times’s David Streitfeld points out in this superb article, five U.S. steel companies received over $300 million in bailout loans from the Carter Administration in the 1970s.

“If they were allowed to go under, their partisans warned, the consequences would ripple through the economy at a cost too high to bear,” writes Streitfeld of Big Steel’s predicament in the Carter years. “The old saying, ‘As steel goes, so goes the nation,’ was as much a threat as a boast.” Sound familiar?

Yet, despite that government rescue — the domestic steel industry continued to whither because its unions would not make the concessions necessary for Big Steel to become competitive against foreign competition. In the late 1980s, Keilin and Bloom — representing steelworkers with Bethlehem Steel and LTV — even proposed a national solution with labor, industry, and government involvement.

Yet, as Prof. Richard Fruehan, a steel industry expert with Carnegie-Mellon points out, it was only bankruptcy in the early part of this decade that finally saved U.S. steelmakers. Suffocated by their union and pension overhead costs, Bethlehem & Co. went into Chapter 11. And they emerged only when venture capitalist Wilbur Ross told labor that the mills would re-open if the unions took the concessions they had resisted for years.

The Democrats, who for years have pandered to the unions and rely on their infusions of cash into their campaign coffers every election cycle will find it hard to go against the unions desires on this health care issue, which has now boiled down to one major sticking point, that being the "public option".

The definition of public option continues to change. Is this an option at all or a mandate dictated by federal requirements?

Today's meeting with a powerful union, while announcing yet another veteran of unions to a high level position all under the guise of furthering the health care reform debate appears to be more of message to those Democrats in congress that not giving Barry O what he wants on this issue, which he will supposedly outline on Wednesday, could have some unfriendly consequences for those wishing to continue to draw a taxpayer paycheck.

Surprise! Community Organizer/SEIU Thug Beat Black Conservative

Bill Hennessey at the St. Louis Tea Party has the details on on SEIU thug Elston K. McCowan.

Elston K. McCowan is a former organizer – now the Public Service Director of SEIU Local 2000 – and board member of the Walbridge Community Education Center, and is a Baptist minister, has been a community organizer for more than 23 years, and now, he is running for Mayor of the City of St. Louis under the Green Party.

H/T Dana Loesch.

I blame Barack Obama and his climate of hate.

Watch Obama's SEIU thugs in action.



The thug McCowan is actually a Green Party candidate for Mayor of St. Louis.