Video: Democrats' "extreme" spending

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was caught on tape plotting to label the Republicans and the tea party movement as "extreme." But as this video tells it, the real extremists are Schumer and his fellow Democrats.



Technorati tags: news chuck schumer politics tea party current affairs deficit democrat

Rasmussen: Only 7% think government employees work harder than those in private sector

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released today, just seven percent of Americans believe that government employees work harder than their counterparts in private sector. The same poll finds that 44 percent of government workers agree.

As we've learned recently, not only do public-sector workers get paid more than private industry employees doing comparable tasks, they get better benefits, they can retire earlier, and are much harder to fire.

Technorati tags: Democrats government democrat  politics economy news labor unions

Another class warfare update: Liberal senators Levin and Sanders in favor of millionaire tax

Two weeks ago I reported that the woman who nominally represents me in Congress, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), is returning to the tired liberal playbook of class warfare by instituting a millionaire tax.

Two Senate libs, Carl Levin (D-MI) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have enlisted into this army of few, The Hill is reporting.

The millionaires are usually the job creators, by the way.

Related post:

Class warfare update: Rep. Schakowsky wants millionaire tax

Technorati tags: Senate Carl Levin michigan news michigan politics politics Schakowsky Jan Schakowsky taxes Congress Illinois illinois politics

Latvian president awards his nation's highest military honor to Michigan National Guard commander

On a personal note, Mrs. Marathon Pundit is back from Latvia.

In related news, Latvia's president, Valdis Zatlers, is visiting the United States this week. On Tuesday he awarded Maj. Gen. Thomas Cutler, commander of the Michigan National Guard, his nation's highest military honor, the Order of Viesturs First Grade.

Michigan guard troops are serving with Latvian soldiers in Afghanistan, some Latvian troops have trained in the Great Lake State.

Related posts:

Twenty years ago: Latvia's Barricade Days
Riga Doms and Latvia's Barricade Days
Latvia 20 years after independence: Tearing down a Stučka statue
1990 bread line in Riga, Latvia
Potato harvesting in Latvia in the early 1970s
From the other side of the Iron Curtain: Gas mask drill in Latvia
Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad

Technorati tags: Latvia Latvija europeeuropa international russia military armed forces Valdis Zatlers Zatlers michigan politics Michigan war on terror Afghanistan

McConnell welcomes tea party members

As with myself, Mitch McConnell doesn't view the tea party movement as extreme.

From Politico:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will welcome tea party members protesting in Washington in a Thursday morning floor speech in which he calls the movement’s aim to cut federal spending "pretty reasonable."

Just a day after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lambasted the tea party for pulling the GOP away from deal-making efforts in Congress, the top Senate Republican plans to push back in a jab against the other side.

"In my view, the tea party has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the most important issues of the day," [emphasis mine] McConnell, of Kentucky, will say, according to prepared remarks. "It's helped focus the debate. It's provided a forum for Americans who felt left out of the process to have a voice and make a difference. And it's already leading to good results."

Protesters from Tea Party Patriots are set to rally on Capitol Hill at noon Thursday, and McConnell’s praise their efforts. "[T]hanks to ordinary Americans like these speaking their minds and advocating for common sense reforms, I'm increasingly confident we'll get our fiscal house in order," he says. "Republicans are determined to do our part."

Technorati tags: Politics Republican gop Senate McConnell Kentucky gop

Report from the bloggers' conference call on the NMB with Rep. Phil Gingrey

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) is taking the lead in fighting a stealth unionization drive, one that of course is being encouraged by the Obama administration. A union organizing voting rule effecting the railway and airline industries that has been in place for 75 years was changed by a little-known government panel, the National Mediation Board.

When the Democrats took over Congress in 2007, they tried to enact Big Labor's Holy Grail, card check, which would replace secret ballot elections when workers decide on joining a union with a "free to peek" petition drive. The bosses never got their grail, but in a blogger conference call yesterday, Gingrey called the NMB maneuver an "end-around card check."

As I reported on Monday, the machinists' union "won" an election to represent AirTran Airways reservations and fleet employees. A majority of those who voted--but not a majority of these workers--voted for the union. This may not seem like a big deal, current law covering airline and railway union members makes it almost impossible to decertify their union.

Which is why Gingrey and other members of Congress are urging a "Yes" vote on the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 which will, get this, allow the lawmakers write laws. Specifically, it will reverse the NMB decision. Of the "unelected bureaucrats" on the NMB, in the conference call the Georgian told us, "It's not their job to make law or usurp law."

The vote on what Gingrey says is a "hugely important bill" will probably occur today or tomorrow.

Related post:

Obama union payback continues: This time it's the National Mediation Board

Technorati tags: labor unions organized laborDemocrats Obama business phil gingrey georgia efca card check