Public Unions, the War on Smokers, and ACORN - What Do They Have In Common?

Daniel Bice over at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Online informs us that, "Firefighters union throws cold water on 9-11 float".  (h/t Bot for spreading the news)

The reason behind this union decision is the sponsor of this particular float, Matt Gorniak, has opted out of the union as allowed by a provision in his contract in that employees may elect to pay only their fair share of the union dues which are used for the associated costs of negotiating contracts.  Under Wisconsin state law, employees do not have to pay the portion of dues that funds the union's political lobbying, social, and ideological activities to the labor organization, but may instead donate that portion to a charity.  This applies as long as such a provision is approved by referendum under the bargaining unit agreement with the employees.

I've said before that we shouldn't judge all teachers (or cops or firefighters for that matter) by the spectacle of the union protests in Madison.  Many were silent for obvious reasons and it's a good development to see some start opting out and speaking out.  It warrants repeating:

What Woke You Up?

Meet a few of the Paulbots, as the MSM and supporters of the party-line of either party like to call practically anyone who says anything in support of Ron Paul, among other more derogatory terms.  A few of their stories are below, more can be found here.

cstuerke:

"I got back from Afghanistan in 2005 within a couple months my 4 years in the Marine Corps was up. I quickly realized I could not handle the US. I was mad at the world. I flew off the handle constantly. I went for help. I lasted about 5 min in the shrinks office and he was trying to give me drugs. I told him I didnt want drugs I wanted to be the old me. I decided to move. While in the Marine Corps I traveled all over Asia. I enjoyed Thailand the most and decided to move there. Fast forward to the last election. Sitting in Bangkok screaming at the TV watching the Fox News debate listening to the war mongering. Out of no where....."Just come home". Who is this guy I thought. I started to do research Dr. Paul and the libertarian philosophy. I started to look at people as individuals, unique in their own way. I wasn't mad at people anymore. Things made sense. I traveled back to the US about 10 months ago. I did it cause I believed in the cause of Liberty. I wanted to join the fight. I owe Ron Paul so much. I will be doing everything I can to see him get elected."

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Civic Ignorance - How Bad Is It?

This video, Civic Ignorance - How Bad Is It?, illustrates just how bad it is. This is exactly why we're even having such an uphill battle in the fight for liberty and freedom in the first place and it's disturbing.   It highlights the root cause of the problem - our education system. 

We've all seen it with videos of various members of Congress wrongly interpreting Constitutional concepts or boldly saying they just don't care what's in the Constitution anyway because they believe, like Pete Stark, that they can do whatever they want. We have also seen Herman Cain's speech where he talks about lack of knowledge of what's in the Constitution saying people need to "reread" it, then he goes on to describe it with words that are in the Declaration of Independence. It's pathetic.

I've been following Dr Ron Paul for years and his campaigns for president. He's a great guy, but he's certainly not our last hope. Our children are our hope, for they are the leaders of tomorrow. He knows that and that's why he spends so much time on the college circuit, to teach tomorrow's leaders and sow the seeds that are so sorely lacking in our schools.

The Message is Spreading and the r3VOLution Grows.



 This young man gets it.  There is no way I could do it justice to say anything more as eloquently as he does.



The Fed's Love Affair with Debt. Is There an Answer?

I'm adding a new blog to the list, Market Skeptics.  There are plenty of interesting posts there by Eric deCarbonnel and he seems to know what he's talking about.  One in particular, *****FRAUD: Federal Reserve Is Selling Put Options On Treasury Bonds To Drive Down Yields*****, is extremely intriguing.

Ron Paul has been forever critical of the Fed's fast and loose monetary policies to help Congress to continue to spend bucks like a drunken sailor on shore leave, but I say that with all due respect to sailors for their many monotonous days at sea protecting our country, at least they deserve to let their hair down now and then, not so Congress.  He raised the warning, long before it was cool.

Professor Jacobson over at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion now writes about Sarah Palin's similar criticism of the Fed's policies and the left's attacks on her.  She's starting to get it, but how much does she really get?

Ron Paul says the founding of the Tea Party was encouraging and there is still a healthy element within the movement, but he is also critical of the fact that conventional candidates moved in and that many are not attuned to the full picture of the budgetary battles in terms of the revolution for freedom by defining just what the role of government should be.  You can see what he's talking about in this list of videos where he answers questions from C-SPAN callers.  No one says it better.