Meet Professor “Screw You”

On the front page of this mornings Union Leader reporter Clyntnon Mamuo covers negotiations between the University of New Hampshire, and some 630 professors over their new contract.  As is often the case with such things, there is some disparity between what the University feels is economically feasible and what the white-tower and it’s union representatives actually want.

Keep in mind that the article quotes inflation at around 0.5%, and we know that over the past few years the government method of calculating inflation overall have shown it almost flat.  Using these figures along with what we know about pension issues and what Obamacare is doing to the cost of health insurance ‘the smartest people in the state’…

"…proposed a 12.5 percent pay increase, one percent of which would be merit-based, and no increase in health insurance premiums."

So the education establishment liberals in the university system think like the establishment progressives who ran up the state budget in the past four years. Screw the economy we deserve a huge raise. (The progressive political class gets their reward through a larger public sector union, which gives them money to try and keep them in office so they can rinse, lather and repeat.) And it is no surprise that they, democrats and educators, are fiscally (and ideologically) co-dependent.

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Progressive Trade Rules

Being beholden to unions causes you to say and do stupid things.  Take Carol Shea-Porter for example.  She was against a trade deal with Panama because she claimed it would cost American jobs, when it would actually open up trade from us to them–they already had unfettered access; result?–it would have created American jobs. Provisions … Read more

Remember this the next time your School Board is negotiating with your local Teachers Union…

The state-appointed authority overseeing Buffalo public school finances says taxpayer-covered cosmetic surgery rung up by the city’s teachers totaled nearly $9 million in 2009. The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority reports that last year’s costs for such elective procedures as chemical peels and other skin treatments are up $8 million over the 2004 tab for cosmetic … Read more

Government Unions Must Go

Let the discussion begin: When it comes to union money in politics, as other government unions like the NEA, AFT, UFT, SEIU, AFGE, NAGE, IAFF, and others pour money into the political process, the actual figures are staggering. Several years ago, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research estimated that unions spent $925 million on the … Read more

Obama Appleseed

Unions are basically socialist constructs, huge businesses whose product is workers dues dollars.  They cannot Feel The Power of The Dark Sidesurvive without them so they need to manipulate the business/worker environment to maximize their income earning potential.

The biggest union scam ever conceived was the public sector union.  Taxpayer funded employees pay dues which are then used to influence elections at every level in favor of a political class that will then build union power by growing government, and adding more dues paying union employees whose additional funds will then keep the pro-union politicians in power.

Want to know why democrats care about public school class sizes?  More teachers, more dues, more democrats.  It has nothing to do with learning.  Now project that thinking across the entire "grow government" universe and you have a massive scheme to swell the bureaucracy at your expense that should be illegal but is not.  But with Obama serving as their Johnny Appleseed, using your money–provided by the democrat congress–he’s been creating and saving dues paying public union jobs (and democrat campaign coffers) all over the nation.

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Abusive Union supporting John Lynch

Warning-SEIU Supports John LynchRyan Williams (GOP Spokesperson) just pulled a Kathy Sullivan.  He’s filed a complaint with the AG over an out of state Ad attacking John Stephen.  The democrats of course think this is hypocritical, you know, to act just like they do.  And maybe it is.  Or maybe Kathy is afraid Ryan will get an  overflowing complaint drawer at the AG’s office just like hers.

Speaking personally my "interest" in out of state interests turns entirely on the lefts obsession with pretending they don’t use them or get money from them, and who they are really funded by.  That’s the real hypocrisy.  So maybe Ryan Williams is just making a point?

But is it the right point to make? 

What’s the real issue with that Ad? 

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Data point – what teachers really make as public sector workers

At least in Illinois – your state may vary, but I bet that it isn’t all that much variance. The average teacher in the state of Illinois makes $61,402. Illinois teachers work around 176 days, 300 minutes, or 5 hours, per day.  That’s just over 35 weeks per year.  On average, they make $348.88 per … Read more

MilkingThe Union Cow

MooCarol Seiu-Porter gets 50% of her PAC money from Unions.  You remember the Unions?  Their leadership extorts taxpayer dollars away from the real workers to pay union employees then demands that they tithe  money to them for the privilege of doing it again.  Then they give some of it to Carol so she can help protect their interests.

That’s hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars filtered through union employees to a candidate they might not even support.

Carol also gets another 48% from congressional PAC’s, most of whom are heavily funded by unions.  These are congresspersons–some of them avowed socialists–who like Carol see no problem in giving the public sector employees more feed than those who work to feed them.

In exchange for that money Carol supports everything the unions want whether it is good for New Hampshire or not.  She loves their golden goose, card check, which would eliminate the secret ballot for organizing a union.  It allows unions to strong arm people into joining.  Unions do still do that.  Ask her AFL-CIO Buddy Richard Trumka. (and here).  And while I’m at it some of my own ruminations Here, Here, and Here. (and why not here as well).

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What About Union Campaign Ethics

Bill O’Brien, the next speaker of the New Hampshire House, has drafted a bill for next session meant to resolve the conflict of interest that exists when state employees campaign for state politicians.  Mr. O’Brien’s motivation, as reported in an article in the morning UL by John DiStaso, is Pam Walsh who  collected thousands in political consulting fees from Teflon John Lynch while employed by the state.

The State Union objects to the bill on the grounds that the language in the proposed bill is too broad, that no state employee would be able to work for anyone running for office in the state.  But maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

When you boil it down, there really isn’t any difference between a lobbyist and a public service union member who draws a taxpayer funded paycheck.  These folks have an immediate financial interest in who is elected to office.  They actually pay an entity (the union) to represent them in negotiations with the very government for whom they work, for the purpose of expanding their share of taxpayer patronage, a goal that is directly affected by who is elected to office.  Their natural inclination will be to support politicians who will reward them with financial remuneration and/or expand union access or power to achieve similar gains.  Not only is it a conflict of interest, it is a home field advantage that no other voter or taxpayer can hope to compete with, paid for by the taxpayers themselves from the dues paid out of taxpayer funded paychecks.

Why is this even legal? 

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One Nation – Sick Lying Bastards

So the lying liberal progressive dirt bags who want to turn America into a socialist state are the same lying dirt bags who post pictures like this to give the impression that anyone actually gives a damn about their stupid cause.

Socialists Are Bad For The Environment

Socialist Pigs.  No, literally--these people are slobsPick and environment and socialists will ruin it, even the green socialists.  Case in point; the mess the left after their little gathering in DC.   They left trash everywhere with the obvious expectation that someone else will come along and clean up their mess.

That’s what they do to everything.  Mess it up.  Marooned In Marin has collected all the goods including some Tea Party Hate,  the strong socialist presence, and assorted other gooides.

And then on the jump, there’s a nice video of socialists chanting about how they are socialists.  

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Union Herpes

Unions talk about evil corporations, but consider this.  Corporations entice you to purchase their products but you are free to say no.  You are not obligated to give them your money, you can choose to spend it somewhere else or not at all.  By denying them a portion of your income you deny them the … Read more

The Cost Of Education

When something doesn’t work, and you are a democrat, well you just keep doing it.  These graphs come to us courtesy of Andrew J. Coulson at Big Government.

Graph one Public education employees vs. student enrollment numbers.

Way out of wack@

Graph number two–on the jump–is the inflation adjusted cost of public K-12 education (that’s taxpayer dollars spent) compared to achievement levels.  (I hope you are ready for this.)

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Look For The Union Label

So far this year, $24.7 million in independent spending has been reported to the Federal Election Commission, campaign filings show. Unions have spent 9.7 million (or 39 percent of the total), compared with $6.4 million (26 percent) spent by individuals and 3.4 million spent by corporations.

Passing Our Buck

This may go without saying but would anyone be surprised if the democrat House passed the “Union paychecks To Union Dues To Democrat Campaign Contributions Bailout Bill” they went back to DC to vote on? Lord knows those fat cat liberal incumbents need every penny they can get, and since they’ve gotten so use to … Read more

Carol SEIU-Porter

Fergus Cullen get’s the Hat Tip for spotting this first and posting it over at Red Hampshire, but he didn’t go the extra mile and get a copy of the actual invitation. Here we have a campaign fundrasing breakfast for Carol "Look for the Union Label" SEIU-Porter; remember to make checks payable to Carol SEIU-Porter for … Read more

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