Behold The Decency Of Organized Labor

Well, since it is a Canadian union, should I call it Organized Labour?

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First Amendment rights denied on Pennsylvania college campus

Christine Brashier is a student at the Community College of Allegheny County, and was working to put together a chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.  SCCC argues that students that have been granted carry permits by the state should be allowed to carry on campus. 

The school has threatened disciplinary action if Brashier continues to promote SCCC or concealed carry.  The college administration interrogated her, demanding to know if she'd carried on campus (she hadn't), or if she'd carried outside of campus.  So much for privacy, eh?

(h/t)

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Is the Administration targeting GOP donors that own Chrysler dealerships?

If this does end up being true, it's going to cause major instability in the economy, and in the whole of society.  You can't forcefully shut down the private businesses of your political opposition like this, it's fascism.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:23 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Something to keep in mind this Memorial Day

We still have to fight to defend the Memorials to the fallen, and we need to do a better job of it.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 03:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The tolerant left

Nyuck nyuck nyuck! We'll make "rug-munching" jokes, but then cover our asses by adding the NTTAWWT disclaimer. You know, since we're not homophobic or anything. But, well, wouldn't it be funny if everybody in Carrie's family was a FAG or a LEZZIE?!!!!11one!!1!eleventy!!! Har! Though, not that there's anyth—yeah, who are we kidding? If you're the slightest bit Christian or conservative or are connected to any such person, rumors about your sexual proclivities are teh funneh!

To borrow a phrase, it's supposedly BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY!!! Uh-huh. Not like it's a cudgel to beat people into silence or anything. Of course not.

Notice that the anti-gay-marriage stance of a certain Public Fister is never mentioned.

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I Know I Shouldn't Be Surprised, But I Am

What a shock the Obamacare people feel this way.

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Behold The Glories Of Socialized Medicine, Vol. 932,102,283

Too Old for surgery?

On the other side of the country in Alberta, Bill Murray waited in pain for more than a year to see a specialist for his arthritic hip. The specialist recommended a "Birmingham" hip resurfacing surgery (a state-of-the-art procedure that gives better results than basic hip replacement) as the best medical option. But government bureaucrats determined that Mr. Murray, who was 57, was "too old" to enjoy the benefits of this procedure and said no. In the end, he was also denied the opportunity to pay for the procedure himself in Alberta. He's heading to court claiming a violation of Charter rights as well.

These constitutional challenges, along with one launched in British Columbia last month, share a common goal: to win Canadians the freedom to spend their own money to protect themselves from the inadequacies of the government health-insurance system.

The cases find their footing in a landmark ruling on Quebec health insurance in 2005. The Supreme Court of Canada found that Canadians suffer physically and psychologically while waiting for treatment in the public health-care system, and that the government monopoly on essential health services imposes a risk of death and irreparable harm. The Supreme Court ruled that Quebec's prohibition on private health insurance violates citizen rights as guaranteed by that province's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

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The audacity of indoctrination

Gotta get 'em while they're young, you know?

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Liberal admits that Second Amendment is what's keeping them from seizing your property for redistribution

Seen at PW, but it's definitely making the rounds, this line is chilling,

This framing of the gun issue prevents Americans from taking up the collective responsibilities we have too long failed: our collective responsibilities to structurally alleviate poverty, classism, and racism.

In other words, The Second is the only thing keeping liberals from forcefully seizing your property in order to redistribute it. 

More,

Framing the issue this way has an unmistakable implication: better-off white people must know how to handle their guns responsibly, and low-income people of color must not--why else would there be so many more gun crimes and deaths in *those* neighborhoods? *Those* people got what was coming to them, didn't they?

Oh no, you're very mistaken, you fascist vermin.  We eeeeevil crackers know that low income minorities know how to handle their firearms responsibly, because millions do so every day, and we'll defend their Universal Right to self-defense until hell freezes over.  We also know there are people who know how to responsibly own firearms, yet choose to use them for evil purposes.  We also know governments can become corrupt, spiral out of control, and use their power to oppress or even kill innocent peoples.  We have the right to defend ourselves from any out of control regime, and any individual that tries to do us harm.

In fact, one of the traditional means of oppression of blacks in America was to deny them the right to bear arms to defend themselves.  Most of the earliest gun control measures were established in the South after the Civil War, in order to keep newly freed blacks from defending themselves from attacks by Klansmen and other assorted vermin, and to keep blacks from using the force of arms to assert their other Constitutional rights. 

What if they could see how much the lack of gun control undermines the ability of people in neighborhoods like mine to protect ourselves and our children? What if they could glimpse what we already have learned too often, the hard way: that guns constitute the falsest of hopes for personal security? That widescale disarmament is ultimately the best way to keep every mother's son or daughter, every parent, and every human being safe and healthy as can be?

There are tens of millions of people from Russia and the former Soviet Bloc, China, Armenians, Sudanese, gays, Jews and other minorities or political dissenters who would probably argue that widespread disarmament of civilian populations doesn't work...if they could.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 08:48 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Well, At Least It's "Orderly", And Not A Disorganized Panic

Nice to see MINTRU is busy describing our economic situation for us rubes.

The recession has entered a new phase, pulling away from an economic abyss into a period of steep, but orderly, decline.

Wow. That makes me feel better.

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Brady Campaign not satified with disarming Americans

They want to start banning armor vests too.

(h/t)

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Gay Marriage Debate Is About To Get Dirtier And More Vitriolic

I really did not care either way about the California Gay Marriage/Prop 8 debate, mostly because it did not interest me. But the bullying and spiteful antics and tactics of the pro gay marriage people since their defeat at the ballot box are  starting to wear on me, especially this one, where a documentary chronicling the supposed antics of supposedly gay Republicans.

Still, the purported outings that take center stage in "Outrage" have sparked a firestorm of controversy about the fairness and appropriateness of the tactic - and whether it signals a willingness of increasingly militant activists to make private lives fair game for political strategy.

"I don't see it as outing, I see it as equalizing," said Geoff Kors of Equality California, a gay civil rights organization that unveiled two new ads and a statewide grassroots mobilization campaign to support marriage equality this week. "When a member of Congress goes on vacation and is on the beach holding hands with his partner, they're out in public.

"And if they want to get married, we'd love them to be a part of our campaign," he said.

Terry Hamilton, chairman of the board of California's Log Cabin Republicans - the gay GOP group - said Thursday that his organization "recognizes the individual and very personal decision to come out - and does not support third-party outing."

Jo Kenney, a lesbian activist who heads Kenney Consulting, a San Jose organizational development business, also cautions that sensitivity is needed regarding the fear of outing that still exists among many in the gay community.

"Not too long ago, you could go to jail for congregating in a bar, and for some people it's still very real," she said. "I'm not going to condemn those people," she said, "unless they use their power as a public official to hurt their own community."

But Republican officials - noting that the film's targets are limited mostly to Republican politicians - question whether "Outrage" is merely a veiled partisan effort.

"When a (movie) like this only highlights Republicans, it causes you to immediately question the motives of the people putting it out," said Jon Fleischman, the conservative vice chairman of the state GOP and publisher of the Flashreport.com, a California Republican Web site.

"If people have made lifestyle decisions they've kept private, then the makers of this video are showing the utmost contempt for the people who have made the sacrifice of being in public office," he said. "This flies in the face of an American tradition - that is, that people's personal lives are supposed to be just that."

 

more...

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Team Obama Has No Fucking Clue What The Oil And Gas Market Is About

It appears as though Team Obama is set to give the Oil and Gas Industry the "Old In And Out" with his tax packages. Not only will top line taxes be increased on Oil and Gas companies, but secondary taxes will be increased as well.

Collections would begin in fiscal 2011. The White House projects that through 2019, total revenues would reach $13.3 billion from denying oil and gas companies the tax deduction available to other US manufacturers, $8.3 billion from repealing the percentage depletion allowance, and $5.3 billion from placing an excise tax on new Gulf of Mexico production. Another $3.3 billion would come from repealing expensing of intangible drilling costs, $1.2 billion from increasing independent producers' geophysical and geological amortization period to 7 from 5 years, $62 million from repealing the tertiary injectants deduction, and $49 million from repealing the passive loss exception for interests in oil and gas properties.

It also repeals the enhanced oil recovery credit and marginal oil and gas well tax credit. The Office of Management and Budget did not list revenues from either of these actions, probably because of price thresholds.

The budget also reinstates superfund taxes, which OMB projects would raise $6.7 billion during 2011-19. It establishes fees on nonproducing federal leases (the so-called "use it or lose it" concept) and reinstates permit fees that the 2005 Energy Policy Act prohibited at the US Department of the Interior. OMB projects $574 million of revenue during 2011-19 from the first action and $171 million from the second.

All in all, every layer of costs for the Oil and Gas Industry will go up big time. And this line from some Oil and Gas trade industry group nails the situation:

"Tax policies directly impact the decisions that are made regarding drilling, especially for smaller companies." "

More importantly, over 80% of the gas in the US is actually produced in this country. We are troubled that this administration has such a basic misunderstanding of how domestic gas markets will be impacted."

more...

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The Collapse of the Soviet of California?

Any of you morons in California may want to consider relocating unless you've already got your bunker well stocked and prepped.  Apparently the voters feel they're getting taxed too much in California, and will probably reject all the propositions that would raise taxes to pay for the $23 billion shortfall the state government is expecting.  So, since you greedy peasants won't open your change purses for the state anymore, they're going to have to cut services...wanna guess which ones?

As the ballot measures lag in the polls, the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has begun revealing the cuts it is weighing as an alternative.

On Thursday, the administration advised law enforcement officials that it was preparing plans to commute the sentences of 38,000 state prison inmates, including all illegal immigrants. It also is considering closing some prisons and sending inmates to county jails, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by The Times.

Under the plan, 19,000 illegal immigrants -- 11% of state prisoners -- would be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency after having their sentences commuted. An additional 19,000 "relatively low-risk offenders" would have their sentences commuted as well.

Earlier in the week, the administration warned local officials that it may raid their budgets for $2 billion and close firehouses.

Opponents of the ballot measures call such proposals scare tactics.

"It's all about fear," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. "This week it's firefighters; next week they'll threaten school closures."

We've gone from the government asking for more funds to the government demanding tribute from the people, threatening to loose criminals and refuse to maintain law and order if we fail to comply.  Scary stuff.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 01:59 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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How Long Before Jake Tapper Has To Start Having Somebody Start His Car For Him?

I mean, reporting and research into the lending crisis will only lead to more trouble for him.

Of note: At least 21 of these 25 lenders ere financed by banks that received federal bailout money. Citigroup has collected $25 billion TARP dollars; Wells Fargo $25 billion; Bank of America (which bought Countrywide and Merrill Lynch) $45 billion; and so on.

Posted by: eddiebear at 11:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hope! Change! Kicking People Out Of Their Homes!

What the fuck?!? Kicking people out of their homes because they make too much?

Here's how it worked: After the first notice, which was dated Feb. 27, all residents were asked to apply for public housing. Carlen Williams, director of development for the authority, said those applications determined who qualified to keep their apartment and who didn't.

"I still resent the fact that I have to follow their rules," Derisi said. "I'm not a public housing resident. I never have been. I want my relocation expenses. And I want to be left alone."

From that point forward, residents would be divided into various categories. Some earned little enough to qualify for public housing and could keep their apartments. Many earned too much and have to leave. Some simply fled without applying.

But after that, most would wait more than six weeks for the next step in the process.

"I lose sleep because I worry about where I'm going to go," said resident Annie Harrison on Tuesday afternoon. "It's been an awful two months."

And yet, Obama is trying to force banks and mortgage holders to allow other fuckwits and ACORN assholes who overextended themselves to stay in the houses they never could afford in the first place.

Here is how I feel:

 

more...

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Severe, repeated, and hostile

Volokh believes the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act has some potential for abuse.  I think anyone on the internet needs to wear their big girl panties, thus negating the need for this sort of law.

Posted by: Alice H at 12:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Losbinden des Obamapressekorps

Your dose of liberal fascism for the afternoon,

One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.

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