Northern Illinois Patriots

The following is a shocking, scary e-mail sent to Wisconsin GOP senators last night at around 9:30 pm, shortly after the Senate passed an anti-union bill. Not only does the e-mail threaten the senators with death, but it also vows “your familes [sic] will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks.”

Local station WTMJ in Milwaukee obtained the e-mail, and has redacted the sender’s name pending an investigation by the police (emphasis added and spelling and grammar mistakes have not been corrected):

From: XXXX
Sent: Wed 3/9/2011 9:18 PM
To: Sen.Kapanke; Sen.Darling; Sen.Cowles; Sen.Ellis; Sen.Fitzgerald; Sen.Galloway; Sen.Grothman; Sen.Harsdorf; Sen.Hopper; Sen.Kedzie; Sen.Lasee; Sen.Lazich; Sen.Leibham; Sen.Moulton; Sen.Olsen
Subject: Atten: Death threat!!!! Bomb!!!!

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in
the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me
have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that
support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing
with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand
for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many
others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records.
We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a
nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn’t leave
it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the
message to you since you are so “high” on Koch and have decided that you are
now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a
demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed
in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent.
This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won’t
tell you all of them because that’s just no fun. Since we know that you are
not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided
to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it’s
necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making
them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families
and themselves then We Will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) you. Please
understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked
everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel
that it’s worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives
of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and
say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!

Cross-posted

Fighting to keep their members energized...

If you’ve noticed over the last few days, the protests in Madison have gotten smaller. They’ve actually shrunk in size. Despite a visit from Fidel Castro Michael Moore over the weekend, the three-week old protests have just sort of petered out.  Now, there could be a perfectly good explanation for this, or it could just be they’ve decided fighting over the small things isn’t keeping their members energized enough, because on Monday…

The Milwaukee teachers union has dropped a lawsuit seeking to get its taxpayer-funded Viagra back.

The union sued in July 2010 to force the school board to again include the erectile dysfunction drug and similar pills in its health insurance plans.

Wait a minute! You mean you didn’t know that the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association was fighting to save their $786,000 (per year) purple pill-popping habit?

Two years ago [in 2008], the Milwaukee school district decided that it was more interested in enhancing teacher performance in the classroom than the bedroom.

The district cut Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs like Cialis and Levitra from its health insurance plan, hoping to save $786,000 a year.

Officials said too many teachers were using the expensive drugs for recreation, swelling their insurance rates. An estimated 1,000 of the 10,000 school’s staff, which includes employees, dependents and retirees, were using the drugs.

[snip]

Kris Collett, spokesman for the MTEA, said the union had filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division in 2008, but it was dismissed on procedural grounds in 2009. Now, the union has appealed to the Labor and Industry Review Commission to go forward with the lawsuit.

“The health plan provides medications to women for similar medical conditions, but men are excluded from pharmacy treatment,” said Collett, referring to insurance coverage for female sexual dysfunction treatments like vaginal creams, estrogen and anti-bacterial medicine.

The health plan still covers options such as penile pumps and implants, but the union says they are “far less desirable than oral medication,” according to the filing.

So, just to be clear, Wisconsin taxpayers were paying for Milwaukee teachers’ Viagra (to the tune of 3/4 of a million bucks per year). Then, when it was dropped, the union sued, causing Wisconsin taxpayers to pay the legal fees to defend the suit. Now, three weeks into massive protests about reforming collective bargaining for public-sector unions, the union decides to drop its suit.

Talk about a hard argument to make with a straight face.

________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

X-posted.

Photo credit: El Mundo de Laura

By SCOTT WALKER

In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools. Why would one of the best new teachers in the state be one of the first let go? Because her collective-bargaining contract requires staffing decisions to be made based on seniority.

Ms. Sampson got a layoff notice because the union leadership would not accept reasonable changes to their contract. Instead, they hid behind a collective-bargaining agreement that costs the taxpayers $101,091 per year for each teacher, protects a 0% contribution for health-insurance premiums, and forces schools to hire and fire based on seniority and union rules.

My state's budget-repair bill, which passed the Assembly on Feb. 25 and awaits a vote in the Senate, reforms this union-controlled hiring and firing process by allowing school districts to assign staff based on merit and performance. That keeps great teachers like Ms. Sampson in the classroom.

Most states in the country are facing a major budget deficit. Many are cutting billions of dollars of aid to schools and local governments. These cuts lead to massive layoffs or increases in property taxes—or both.

In Wisconsin, we have a better approach to tackling our $3.6 billion deficit. We are reforming the way government works, as well as balancing our budget. Our reform plan gives state and local governments the tools to balance the budget through reasonable benefit contributions. In total, our budget-repair bill saves local governments almost $1.5 billion, outweighing the reductions in state aid in our budget.

While it might be a bold political move, the changes are modest. We ask government workers to make a 5.8% contribution to their pensions and a 12.6% contribution to their health-insurance premium, both of which are well below what other workers pay for benefits. Our plan calls for Wisconsin state workers to contribute half of what federal employees pay for their health-insurance premiums. (It's also worth noting that most federal workers don't have collective bargaining for wages and benefits.)

For example, my brother works as a banquet manager at a hotel and occasionally works as a bartender. My sister-in-law works at a department store. They have two beautiful kids. They are a typical middle-class Wisconsin family. At the start of this debate, David reminded me that he pays nearly $800 per month for his family's health-insurance premium and a modest 401(k) contribution. He said most workers in Wisconsin would love a deal like the one we are proposing.

The unions say they are ready to accept concessions, yet their actions speak louder than words. Over the past three weeks, local unions across the state have pursued contracts without new pension or health-insurance contributions. Their rhetoric does not match their record on this issue.

Local governments can't pass budgets on a hope and a prayer. Beyond balancing budgets, our reforms give schools—as well as state and local governments—the tools to reward productive workers and improve their operations. Most crucially, our reforms confront the barriers of collective bargaining that currently block innovation and reform.

When Gov. Mitch Daniels repealed collective bargaining in Indiana six years ago, it helped government become more efficient and responsive. The average pay for Indiana state employees has actually increased, and high-performing employees are rewarded with pay increases or bonuses when they do something exceptional.

Passing our budget-repair bill will help put similar reforms into place in Wisconsin. This will be good for the Badger State's hard-working taxpayers. It will also be good for state and local government employees who overwhelmingly want to do their jobs well.

In Wisconsin, we can avoid the massive teacher layoffs that schools are facing across America. Our budget-repair bill is a commitment to the future so our children won't face even more dire consequences than we face today, and teachers like Ms. Sampson are rewarded—not laid off.

Taking on the status quo is no easy task. Each day, there are protesters in and around our state Capitol. They have every right to be heard. But their voices cannot drown out the voices of the countless taxpayers who want us to balance our budgets and, more importantly, to make government work for each of them.

Mr. Walker, a Republican, is the governor of Wisconsin.

Cross-posted

Bypassing Democrats hiding out in Illinois, Wisconsin Senate Republicans voted Wednesday night to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights.

Republicans voted 18-1 to pass the stripped-down budget bill in a hastily arranged meeting. None of the Senate Democrats were present.

The State Assembly is expected to vote on the bill Thursday.

All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's so-called "budget repair bill" -- a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.. 

The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday split from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, and a special conference committee of state lawmakers approved that bill a short time later.

Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader Mark Miller said Wednesday Democrats will "join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government," but he refused to say when.

The lone Democrat present on the conference committee, Rep. Tony Barca, shouted that the surprise meeting was a violation of the state's open meetings law but Republicans voted over his objections. The Senate then convened within minutes and passed it without discussion or debate.

Spectators in the gallery screamed "You are cowards."

Before the sudden votes, Democratic Sens. Bob Jauch said if Republicans "chose to ram this bill through in this fashion, it will be to their political peril. They're changing the rules. They will inflame a very frustrated public."

Walker praised the legislative action.

"The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused," he said in a statement. 

"In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform the government," he said. "The action today will help ensure Wisconsin has a business climate that allows the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs."

State Senate Democratic Minority Leader Mark Miller issued a statement saying, "Tomorrow we will join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

By Keith Liscio

In lecturing the nation’s governors this week about the union turmoil in Wisconsin and other states, President Obama said, “I don’t think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated, or vilified, or their rights are infringed upon.”

This statement was a rhetorical triumph even for the Master of the Teleprompter.  It combined both a straw-man argument of the type which the President is so fond of making with an assertion of fact regarding something that is still very much up for debate.

In regard to the current union turmoil, very few people are vilifying or denigrating teachers, policemen, firefighters or other public employees.  In fact, most Americans hold these people in very high regard and respect them for the services they provide. 

President Obama understands this, which is exactly why he attempts to frame the discussion thusly.  In reality, at issue are the unions and union officials who represent these workers and the rigged game they have created which essentially makes every tax paying citizen a donor to the Democratic National Committee and its state and local affiliates.  It is this process of collective bargaining for public employees which has been denigrated and vilified and deservedly so.

Is collective bargaining for public sector workers really a right, as the President and union protestors claim?  If so, why do federal workers and public employees in many other states not enjoy this same right?  If something is truly a right, should it not be universal in application?

For most Americans, the basic conception of rights comes from our founding documents.  The “unalienable Rights” of Americans to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” listed in the Declaration of Independence are “endowed by their Creator;” that is, they already existed without government sanction.  The government’s role is merely to protect those rights, not to establish them.

Similarly, the rights enumerated in the Constitution to speech, religion, the press and so on cannot be nullified by the government, although they are frequently regulated when the rights of one individual conflict with those of another.  This is a basic principle that is often overlooked by the “collective bargaining rights” crowd.  No right can exist infinitely for one person that infringes upon the rights of another.

Even “the right of the people to peaceably assemble,” which is frequently cited as a basis for collective bargaining, does not apply when it comes to public employee unions.  When government workers exercise this right “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” they do so at the expense of the rights of the taxpaying majority to address their own grievances.  That is, the public has a right to expect that their government will be run as efficiently and economically as possible.  When government employees are unionized, union dues extracted ultimately from taxpayers via employee salary deductions, are used to elect politicians friendly to the unions.  Thus, in negotiations the union ends up negotiating with a stooge it helped put in place with nobody representing the interests of the people.

The “right” of public employees to bargain collectively is probably better understood as a privilege, a privilege that existed nowhere in the country until the state of Wisconsin enacted legislation to establish it in 1959.  If the government establishes it, and the government can take it away, it cannot be considered a true right.  It is, in effect, a privilege that pits the interests of one group of citizens (public employees) against those of another (taxpayers).

When the controversy in Wisconsin first broke, President Obama said, “I think it's also important to recognize that public employees make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens."  That is completely true and nobody is really debating that.  Keeping the focus on teachers, firefighters, and policemen is an effort to personalize the issue and deflect from the real problems.  Left unsaid is the important contribution that an overtaxed citizenry makes in paying the bills.

The fact that Wisconsin public employees have agreed to pay more for health and pension benefits if collective bargaining privileges are left intact also obscures the issue.  Imagine catching a child standing on a footstool with his hand in the cookie jar.  The unions in Wisconsin are essentially saying, “we’ll give back the cookies – just don’t take our stool.”  Collective bargaining is the stool that the unions have been using for years to extract ever greater demands from the taxpaying public, until the state finally reached its current fiscal crisis.  Leaving it in place only passes the buck and will certainly cause the state government to face a similar crisis again in the future.

Winning the war over collective bargaining will first mean winning the battle over the language pertaining to it.  As long as even reformers still refer to collective bargaining as a “right” and not a privilege, they will never win in the long term.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. drivers will pay another 10 cents a gallon for gasoline before the latest jump in wholesale costs is fully passed on at the pump, and yearly motor fuel costs will rise 28 percent from last year, the Energy Department said on Wednesday.

The average U.S. household will spend about $700 more for gasoline in 2011 than it spent last year, bringing total motor fuel expenses up 28 percent to $3,235, based on an annual pump price of $3.61 a gallon, the department's Energy Information Administration said.

Retail gasoline prices soared by 38 cents over the last three weeks to $3.52 per gallon, according to the EIA, because of high crude oil costs due to unrest in the Middle East.

"Because the pass-through of changes in wholesale gasoline prices to the retail level is lagged, pump prices would be expected to rise a further 10 cents per gallon to fully reflect the current wholesale price level even without considering any future wholesale price movements," the EIA said in its weekly review of the oil market.

Higher gasoline prices will give consumers less money to spend on other goods and services, which many economists fear could slow the U.S. economy.

The EIA said it expects drivers will pay an average $3.71 a gallon during the summer peak driving season from June through August, about 98 cents more than last year.

There is a 25 percent chance the pump price will exceed $4 a gallon from June through August, the agency said, compared with a 10 percent probability gasoline could fall below $3 during the same period.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by David Gregorio)

Cross-posted

Cross-posted

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) problematic annual exploitation of public schools through the Day of Silence takes place on April 15, 2011. In light of how successful GLSEN and every other homosexuality-affirming organization and blogger have been in exploiting recent tragic teen suicides, it is even more imperative that conservatives take a stand against the use of public education to normalize homosexuality.

A national coalition of conservative leaders and organizations are again sponsoring the Day of Silence Walkout. We are asking parents to find out if their children's schools are permitting students and/or teachers to refuse to speak in class during the Day of Silence. If they will be permitting student or teacher silence during instructional time, we are urging parents to call their children out of school to protest the use of the classroom for the purpose of promoting controversial moral and political views.

Other than the Day of Silence Walkout, there are virtually no organized public efforts designed to tell school administrators, board members, and faculty that many parents do not want their children exposed to homosexuality-affirming activities, resources, or events. We are hoping and praying that parents and guardians across the country will participate in the Day of Silence Walkout which is sponsored by a national coalition of pro-family organizations and leaders.

Over the past few years, the number of homosexuality-affirming events that take place in public schools has increased, at least in part because of the ignorance, cowardice, and acquiescence of conservative parents. In addition to the Day of Silence, we now have No Name-Calling Week sponsored by GLSEN; Ally Week sponsored by GLSEN; Spirit Day sponsored by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); National Coming Out Day sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC); and the Transgender Day of Remembrance sponsored by the HRC.

Ten states have now passed "enumerated" anti-bullying policies, which require that schools specifically address homosexuality, bisexuality, and "transgenderism" in their anti-bullying policies and programs.

And if that's not enough, both a House and Senate version of the Safe Schools Improvement Act have been proposed which, if passed, would prohibit schools from receiving funding to combat drugs and violence unless they also address homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder (or what schools euphemistically refer to as "transgenderism") in their anti-bullying policies and programs.

The ultimate goal of all homosexuality-affirming organizations is not to end bullying. The ultimate goal is either the eradication of the belief that homosexual acts are immoral or the creation of a social and legal climate that make it impossible for conservative beliefs to be expressed. Homosexual activists and their ideological allies exploit legitimate anti-bullying sentiment to implement programs and institutionalize events like the Day of Silence in order to transform the moral beliefs of the nation's youth.

If we don't actively oppose the presence of homosexuality-affirming activities, programs, and resources, they will very soon appear in every elementary school in the country. Homosexual activists and their allies understand that it's easier to capture the hearts and minds of 16-year-olds than 26-year-olds and easier still to capture the hearts and minds of 6-year-olds.

Far too few parents are aware that some school boards and courts have decided that when homosexuality-affirming resources are embedded in anti-bullying curricula or activities, parents have no right to be notified ahead of time and no right to opt out. In most places, however, parents still have the legal right to oppose in word and deed the exploitation of government schools for the purposes of undermining parental values and advancing unproven moral, political, and philosophical beliefs. And parents will always retain the moral right to do so.

If we hope to limit the damage done to individuals, society, speech rights, parental rights, and religious liberty, we must act with courage now. If we don't, we cede a vital battlefield on which the Left will be able to train and multiply new generations of homosexuality-affirming disciples using public funds. Because of our fear and inertia, we will bequeath to our children and grandchildren a corrosive educational environment, diminished rights, and unthinkable cultural oppression. In addition, we will teach our children by example to be cowardly conformists.

From experience, we have learned that public school administrations respond to only three things:

The Day of Silence Walkout will result in at least the loss of funds. Every student absence costs schools between $30-80 per day.

How evil do the ideas to which our children are exposed have to become and how young the children to whom these evil ideas are presented before the conservative community will say "No more." The Day of Silence is not centrally about ending bullying. It's centrally about eradicating true beliefs about homosexuality.

The Bible repeatedly warns that Christians will be persecuted, mocked, reviled, scorned, and hated for the cause of Christ's Kingdom. When will we demonstrate our willingness to endure such suffering for Christ, our children, our freedom, and truth?
 

A dog barks when his master is attacked.
I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.
~John Calvin

Wisconsin Senators now abandoning Senate to help OFA recall Republicans

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 10:35 AM PST

We sometimes joke about the “fleebagging” Democrats hiding out in Chicago to avoid facing their duties in Wisconsin, but the situation is becoming much, MUCH more serious.

MADISON – Tuesday brought the 18th day that Wisconsin Senate Democrats stayed out of the state to avoid a quorum in a vote for Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill which would roll back many public workers unions’ negotiating rights.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican from Juneau, believes the delay is actually a plan by organizers attached to President Barack Obama to get Wisconsin Republican legislators recalled.

If this turns out to be true, which, by all appearances looks to be the case, it would be an unprecedented scenario.

Essentially the assertion here is that the political arm of the President of the United States is orchestrating an effort to circumvent the process in Wisconsin to protect his union interests.

“There’s many people that are beginning to believe this is a delay tactic by the Democrats in the Senate so that these recall elections can be organized by the Obama team out of Chicago, which they are, as we start to do the research on the people that have filed the petition,” Fitzgerald told Newsradio 620 WTMJ’s “Wisconsin’s Morning News.”

When asked whether Fitzgerald knew that for a fact, he responded, “The organizer against (River Hills Republican Senator) Alberta Darling definitely has direct links to the Obama camp. There’s no doubt about it. These guys might be out until June. Unfortunately, what they’re trying to do is flip the majority, and I think that’s becoming very evident.”

Without the union political infrastructure in Wisconsin, Obama’s Presidential campaign will have a very difficult time operating the way it has in the past. Obama operatives know this, and they’re doing whatever needs to be done to ensure the safe keeping of the union machine.

“In a fight almost anything goes. It almost reaches the point where you stop to apologize if a chance blow lands above the belt.”– Saul Alinsky

Right now the Senate make-up in WIsconsin is 19 Republicans and 14 Democrats. Obama’s machine knows that if a single Democrat Senator returns to Wisconsin, he loses his core political operation in the state. If he can keep the Senators out of the state long enough to remove 5 GOP Senators, he can save the machine.

In other words, Wisconsin Democrat Senators may no longer be serving their position as Senators. Instead, their now a part of the Obama political operation

Apparently Wisconsin fleebagger Lena Taylor is using her time hiding in Illinois to attack school choice, voucher schools and anyone who works in them.

The videos below were recorded at a place call the Experimental Station, which is right smack in the heart of Barack Obama’s old “community organizing” stomping ground.

It’ VERY important to note that Lena Taylor, while claiming to be funded by the small, every day average Joe, is actually almost entirely funded by unions and eduction sector.

As you can see here, and via the images below, Lena Taylor is in the pocket of the unions.

The following videos are of Lena Taylor‘s screed against choice in education and and the union infrastructure. (Those of you reading via RSS/Email may need to click here to see the videos and pictures)

It should also be noted that Lena Taylor ran against Scott Walker for Milwaukee County Executive in 2008. Scott Walker won the election by 17%

Cross-posted