The Wisconsin Professional Police Association is sending out a letter to businesses that threaten boycotts unless they support the unions and oppose the Governor. How is this not extortion?
Seven union heads have sent the below letter to Marshall & Ilsley Corporation, a financial services firm. In the letter, the union members give the president of the company an ultimatum: publicly denounce Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining law, or face union boycott.
March 10, 2011
Mr. Tom Ellis, President
Marshall & Ilsley Corporation
770 N. Water Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202
SENT VIA FASCIMILE AND REGULAR MAIL
Dear Mr. Ellis:
As you undoubtedly know, Governor Walker recently proposed a “budget adjustment bill” to eviscerate public employees’ right to collectively bargain in Wisconsin…
As you also know, Scott Walker did not campaign on this issue when he ran for office. If he had, we are confident that you would not be listed among his largest contributors. As such, we are contacting you now to request your support.
The undersigned groups would like your company to publicly oppose Governor Walker’s efforts to virtually eliminate collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin. While we appreciate that you may need some time to consider this request, we ask for your response by March 17. In the event that you do not respond to this request by that date, we will assume that you stand with Governor Walker and against the teachers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters and other dedicated public employees who serve our communities.
In the event that you cannot support this effort to save collective bargaining, please be advised that the undersigned will publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company. However, if you join us, we will do everything in our power to publicly celebrate your partnership in the fight to preserve the right of public employees to be heard at the bargaining table.
Wisconsin’s public employee unions serve to protect and promote equality and fairness in the workplace. We hope you will stand with us and publicly share that ideal.
In the event you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact the
Director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, Jim Palmer, at 608.273.3840.
Thank you in advance for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
See The Blaze for the complete list of participating unions.
Jim Palmer, the primary signatory, and Director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, made this statement in an interview with Amy Goodman of the Socialist site Democracy Now:
Wisconsin police officers have participated in the Madison labor protests, not only on the job as public security, but also as demonstrators. “Law enforcement officers from all across the state are proud to stand with their fellow devoted public employees,” says Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association. “We have been very impressed by how peaceful everyone has been.”
I suppose we can all be grateful he didn’t promise Madison business owners and employees some beatings from the boys in blue if they don’t take heed here — overtly, at any rate. I suppose by now everybody knows they’ll be forthcoming.
When cops take sides like this, they’re no longer cops. Just better-organized goon squads — with guns.
The Republican Party of Lincoln County organized the rally aimed at collecting signatures to recall Sen. Jim Holperin of Conover, one of the 14 Democrats who fled the state three weeks ago to delay a vote on the bill that strips state workers of most collective bargaining rights.
Group organizers set up a table on the corner of Main and Court streets with recall forms and a sign that read “Recall Jimmy Holperin.”
But union supporters, who outnumbered the group, clustered around the recall table chanting “Flip the Senate,” and “Whose house? Our house.”
***
Originally, the rally was to take place at Kathy and Cal’s Club 64 in Merrill. But Rajek said the group hastily moved the rally after owners received threats.“They got about 50 to 100 harassment calls,” Rajek said.
Restaurant owners declined Thursday to confirm whether they had received threats.
Think they were scared into silence?…
This video was taken moments after a union advocate destroyed several petitions at the Recall Jim Holperin Rally in Merill, WI:
The YouTube poster explained what happened:
The event was moved to the court house grounds because the private location originally slated to host the event was threatened with arson. It should be noted that police were present when the protestor destroyed these recall petitions, but stated to us that there was nothing they could do about it. The female protestor, who had a young child with her, approached the recall table pretending to be interested in signing the petition, then proceeded to write F— You! She then ripped up other completed petitions before being stopped. Her actions were met with great approval from the rest of the crowd, who took up the chant heard in the video.
I’ve never in my life felt an earthquake, so I can only imagine what one measuring 8.8on the Richter scale feels like. Judging from footage coming out of Japan, this morning, it was devastating – dozens are reported dead, already, and the death toll is almost certain to rise.
Via Breitbart TV, here’s a horrific video of a tsunami slamming Japan:
This incredible footage shows the flood waters sweeping away dozens of cars and boats:
CNN is providing live-streaming tsunami coverage, here.
Tokyo’s subway system, the world’s busiest with about 8 million riders a day, shut down after today’s 8.9-magnitude quake and tsunami struck the city, leaving commuters to wait hours for taxis or search for somewhere to spend the night. Retail store shelves were also left empty as victims struggled to buy supplies and food amid the disaster. Police say 60 people were killed and 56 are missing, according to the Associated Press.
WTF?
Atheists on Twitter use earthquake and tsunami to prove there’s no God:
Despite trying to keep ahold of ten tigers tails in both my personal and professional life, I still find some moments here and there to log on to Facebook, and keep up with friends and family. Today, I did so to find some family and friends posting this clip and crying about fascism, dictators, class warfare, and how it was threatening to democracy. My curiosity was peaked, so I decided to take one for the team and watch the Maddow clip. While I feel dumber and insulted for the experience, I’m still glad I did, because, as is the case with many such complaints, there is more to the story than what is presented.
I’m sorry, but in order to follow along, you have to watch. Closing your eyes helps.
Done? Great.
Let’s proceed.
The family member’s post referred to this as being akin to a “dictator” because the emergency manager appointed by the state could void union contracts and strip the local elected officials of their power. If that was all I knew, I might share some alarm, but having grown up in Michigan, I could recall that the state took over the City of Flint, and stripped the local elected officials of authority at the time. I got on google to confirm this, and found an article about it on the World Socialist Website as the first hit in the search. The article, dated November 16, 2002 states:
Flint, Michigan, the fourth largest city in the state with a population of 125,000, is in receivership. The municipal government in the former center of the General Motors auto empire has been plunged into bankruptcy as a result of successive plant closures, capped by the recent shutdown of the Buick City complex.
***
In May of 2002, Republican Governor John Engler declared a financial state of emergency in Flint and began proceedings to implement a state takeover. Engler named Ed Kurtz, former president of a private business college, to oversee Flint’s finances.
On August 20, the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that had temporarily halted a takeover by the state. A September 14 court ruling reaffirmed this decision, effectively ending attempts by the city council to block the takeover.
Since then Kurtz has proposed draconian budget cuts in an effort to erase a $40 million deficit. The cuts come at a time when Flint’s social services and infrastructure are already in a state of near-collapse. Among the proposals under consideration are layoffs of firefighters, the closure of community centers and cuts in trash collection.
So it sounds to me like there was already a legal basis for the state to “takeover” municipalities, and make financial decisions in the stead of local elected officials. I noted that this occurred when the city was in receivership which is a nice way of saying “bankruptcy”.
The other notable takeaway from the story is that a mayor in his third term was unable (or unwilling) to come to terms with mounting deficits. If only the taxpayers who continued to elect this mayor were the ones affected by his incompetence, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, the state of Michigan shares property tax revenue with cities throughout the state, so Flint’s budget deficits didn’t affect just Flint residents; it affected all state taxpayers.
Of course, this still doesn’t tell me what law the state relied on before, or how what is now being proposed is different, so I kept digging. The next helpful clue I found was this story by Michael P. McConnell of the Daily Tribune. The Tribune article described more about what the state is currently up to. One useful passage:
The GOP-dominated state House this week passed major revisions to the emergency financial manager law, Public Act 72, which would allow the state to take over a community’s operations before it goes into receivership. The revisions, which have yet to be passed by the state Senate, also grant emergency financial managers more authority to nullify union contracts and dissolve city councils.
So I glean that:
a) There is an emergency financial manager law already in effect;
b) And the proposal gives the emergency managers more power to nullify union contracts and dissolve city councils. [Emphasis Mine]
Back to the Search Engine. The law in question, Public Act 72 of 1990 already provided the governor with the ability to declare a financial emergency in a local unit of government, upon recommendation of a review team which investigates and issues recommendations. The state treasury provides a great summary of how this process works here. And keep in mind, the overall bill was made law back in 1990. There have been some amendments in intervening years, but the end results that I see my family and friends complaining of have already been in place, and used in cities such as Flint, Benton Harbor, and others.
So I decided to look at the text of the law currently in place. One subsection that jumped out at me:
141.1221 Additional actions by emergency financial manager.
Sec. 21.
(1) An emergency financial manager may take 1 or more of the following additional actions with respect to a unit of local government in which a financial emergency has been determined to exist:
(p) Exercise the authority and responsibilities of the chief administrative officer and governing body concerning the adoption, amendment, and enforcement of ordinances or resolutions affecting the financial condition of the unit of local government as provided in the following acts:
(i) The home rule city act, 1909 PA 279, MCL 117.1 to 117.38.
(ii) The fourth class city act, 1895 PA 215, MCL 81.1 to 113.20.
(iii) The charter township act, 1947 PA 359, MCL 42.1 to 42.34.
(iv) 1851 PA 156, MCL 46.1 to 46.32.
(v) 1966 PA 293, MCL 45.501 to 45.521.
(vi) The general law village act, 1895 PA 3, MCL 61.1 to 74.25.
(vii) The home rule village act, 1909 PA 278, MCL 78.1 to 78.28.
(q) Reduce, suspend, or eliminate the salary, or other compensation of the chief administrative officer and members of the governing body of the unit of local government during the financial emergency. This subdivision does not authorize an emergency financial manager to impair vested retirement benefits. If an emergency financial manager has reduced, suspended, or eliminated the salary or other compensation of the chief administrative officer and members of the governing body of a unit of local government before the effective date of the amendatory act that added this subdivision, the reduction, suspension, or elimination is valid to the same extent had it occurred after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this subdivision.
Which would pretty much cover stripping local elected officials of their authority already. Check. To start at the beginning of the Act as it currently exists, start here.
Here’s how the existing law works: A review of a city or school district’s finances is triggered when one of several events happens, like payless paydays or a failure to meet pension obligations. The state treasurer puts a review panel in place to evaluate the local government’s fiscal health, and if there’s a financial emergency, an emergency manager is appointed.
Amendments to state law under discussion include expanding the list of events that can trigger the state review that leads to installation of an emergency manager, changing the powers of local elected officials during the emergency financial manager’s tenure, giving an emergency manager the power to modify or terminate labor contracts, allowing an emergency manager to consolidate or eliminate departments and allowing a current or recent elected official to serve as emergency manager.• Under the existing law, an emergency manager can renegotiate union contracts but not break them. The amendment would place some restrictions on the emergency manager’s ability to break contracts, namely, to prove it’s necessary, based on the financial emergency and the good of the public. Contract modifications would be temporary.
I found the article useful because it presented the potential challenges, and discussed the pros and cons of the proposed legislation without the end of the world hyperbole that Butch put on the story. The bills which have passed the House are HB4214-HB4218. I decided to see if I could find where the emergency manager now had the authority to disincorporate cities. I found it on-line 7, page 32 of HB 4214.
(cc) For municipal governments, disincorporate or dissolve the municipal government and assign its assets, debts, and liabilities as provided by law.
Of course, there are objective limitations on the use of this power that are enumerated in the bill. It isn’t the arbitrary whim that Butch alleges. But then, I’m sure that this was just an oversight on her part.
And for those who still want to ascribe sinister motives to the law, I direct you to the findings of the legislature when the law was initially passed in 1990:
141.1202 Legislative determinations.
Sec. 2.
The legislature hereby determines that the public health and welfare of the citizens of this state would be adversely affected by the insolvency of units of local government, including certain school districts, and that the survival of units of local government is vitally necessary to the interests of the people of this state to provide necessary governmental services. The legislature further determines that it is vitally necessary to protect the credit of the state and its political subdivisions and that it is a valid public purpose for the state to take action and to assist a unit of local government in a fiscal emergency situation to remedy this emergency situation by requiring prudent fiscal management. The legislature, therefore, determines that the authority and powers conferred by this act constitute a necessary program and serve a valid public purpose.
There really is a reason for it. If municipalities and school districts are so mismanaged that they cannot afford to provide the basic services that they are supposed to provide, then the state can and should step in to put that entity back in a place where it CAN provide those services. Many of the powers decried as harbingers of fascism and dictatorship already existed. The change that I predict is the most likely to be used is the power to void collectively bargained contracts, and frankly this doesn’t trouble me. For years, public sector unions have used collective bargaining to the taxpayers detriment. These public servants aren’t competing with other people for the job, and yet they have an enormous club at their disposal in the form of collective bargaining, and they could come to the table secure in the knowledge of two very salient facts.
One, the unions know that the people they are bargaining with aren’t using their own money; they are using everyone’s money. (And the government officials negotiating with the unions know this too.)
Two, the unions have often made VERY generous contributions to the election campaigns of the people they will be facing across the negotiating table. This would be a little like you or I buying the boss his job before we sat down to talk about the terms and conditions of our employment.
Unfortunately, the problem with these kinds of arrangements is that even other people’s money is a finite resource, as state and local governments across the land are starting to figure out.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, today went off on a tirade about toilets in the midst of an Energy & Natural Resources Committee hearing on energy efficiency standards for certain appliances.
His unwitting victim was Kathleen Hogan, the deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency at the Department of Energy.
“You’re really anti-choice on every other consumer item that you’ve listed here, including light bulbs, refrigerators, toilets – you name it, you can’t go around your house without being told what to buy. You restrict my choices, you don’t care about my choices,” Paul said to her. “You don’t care about the consumer frankly. You raise the cost of all the items with your rules, all your notions that you know what’s best for me.”
If you don’t have time to watch the full five minutes, fast forward to the last minute where he really unloads:
AP photo: Capitol Police Chief Charles TubbsCapitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs pleads with protesters to leave the state Assembly antechamber voluntarily at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Thursday morning, March 10, 2011.
You know what? In light of recent events in Wisconsin, I’ve been kinda too busy over at Moonbattracker to give this blog justice, today. So I’m going to have to do a quick link-around.
Ann Coulter puts her finger smack dab on the central problem for Republicans in Wisconsin, and gives them (esp Scott Walker) some tough love…”Where is Scott Walker? “If he were Chris Christie he would be on TV every night….This is a battle for the nation, people don’t really know what’s going on”…..”Every American needs to know about all of these (Union) outrages…”
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.
It’s a great piece, but I agree with Ann – he needs to take this message to the airwaves.
MADISON, Wis. — Republicans in charge of the Wisconsin Senate have apparently discovered a way to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, bypassing Democrats.All 14 Senate Democrats left the state 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.The move set up a vote in the Senate.When Senate Republican leaders hastily created a conference committee to meet Wednesday night, two Democratic state senators said they feared Republicans planned to pass parts of Walker’s proposal.
Update: NBC reports that the conference committee has already approved the new split-off collective bargaining bill. Now it’s on to the senate for a vote; the GOP-controlled assembly will vote on it tomorrow. One hitch, though, from the Journal-Sentinel article linked above: Did they follow proper procedure in calling the conference committee?
Republican senators quickly assembled at 4 p.m. to send the bill to a conference committee, which convenes at 6 p.m. They largely declined comment after the meeting.
Attorney Robert Dreps, an expert on the state open meetings law, said he did not believe the conference committee could meet with such short notice.
State law generally requires a 24-hour notice for public meetings, but can be called with just two hours notice when more notice is impossible or impractical, said Dreps, who has represented the Journal Sentinel in the past.
“I can’t imagine how they can meet that standard,” he said.
In 18-1 vote, Wis. Senate approves bill to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights
Update: Via Breitbart, here’s Fizgerald earlier today suggesting that the White House might be coordinating the recall efforts against Wisconsin state senators.
Update: “Fish the Impaler” tells me Fox radio reports the fleebaggers are coming back to Madison. Update: FoxNews (TV) now reporting that as well.
Update: A reader says it’s been voted out of conference 18-1 and is now going to the Assembly.
Above, I erred, in saying they were in committee, a sub-unit of the full senate. In fact they’re in conference, banging out changes to make it ready for passage in the Assembly.
If this is true, the deal is already done.
Threat? Janir writes that a local radio guy speculates –
Belling opines that this may not be signed by Gov. Walker and this is a way threaten the 14 missing senators to get back to work or he will sign it. I hope he does sign it, get the collective bargaining restrictions and other union excesses reigned in.
“They intend to physically keep the legislature from assembling tomorrow to vote. Mob rule… ”
Also: “I guess that this means the new civility bullshit is officially over?”
And, noting the DNC’s involvement in these protests: “Barack Obama paid for, organized, and is putting on this riot.”
MORE: Michael Moore: “This Is War.” Yeah, I guess the “new civility bullshit” is officially over. Bear that in mind as you contemplate a response. I don’t think these people realize that they are setting precedents that they may come to regret. They are as feckless in this behavior as they are in their fiscal approach. The consequences are likely to be insalubrious.
MORE STILL: An I-told-you-so from Jim Lindgren.
Plus, reader Jeff Johnson writes: “Will the governor call in the National Guard? He’s not getting any support from the police.”
People sneaking in through window:
As posted at Youtube:
The crowd went quiet at the east lower entrance. Rally leaders told everyone to be quiet and call/ get whomever we can to get into the building within minutes. The window was open for 5 minutes…
Republicans are fighting the destructive government unions with everything they’ve got. After all, the Dems have the full weight of the Democrat-Socialist party including the President, fighting to keep their unholy alliance alive.
This despite a United States Department of Education report that found students in the nation’s capital that were provided with vouchers allowing them to attend private school through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program had made statistically significant gains in reading achievement.
According to the department’s evaluation of the three-year-old program, “those offered a scholarship were performing at statistically higher levels in reading—equivalent to 3.1 months of additional learning,” something very much in line with previous findings concerning the program’s effectiveness.
Columnist Juan Williams, who can often be found providing the liberal perspective on the Fox News Channel, called the decision to end the program, “Obama’s outrageous sin against our kids.“
Today, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released its new ad “Let Opportunity Scholars SOAR” in advance of tomorrow’s committee markup of H.R. 471 – the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. The SOAR Act reauthorizes the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP), which ended under pressure from national teachers unions in 2009.
Cue ominous music...“They’re stealing our democracy, spending millions from secret donors to elect Republicans to do their bidding in Congress. It appears they’ve even taken secret foreign money to influence our elections.”
That’s what Obama and the Democrats said about Karl Rove and Ed Gillipsie’s “shadow GOP” group, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategiesin attack ads last Fall.. Unfortunately, their attacks had the unintended consequence of causing Crossroads GPS donations to skyrocket.
Now the group is launching national campaign ads against government unions.
There are formal recall efforts underway on both sides in Wisconsin, eight Republicans and eight Democrats (the limit legally eligible to be recalled this year), so it’s absolutely crucial that the democratic process be allowed to take place without obstruction.
Unfortunately, Union radicals are doing their best to block peaceful democratic efforts on the Republican side.
This past weekend, peaceful recall petition events came under assault from union agitators eager to flex their muscle and derail the free and democratic process. My friend and fellow Tea Party Patriot Lori White made me aware of the union intimidation that had occurred in the Burlington and Kenosha areas and she put me in touch with Dan Hunt, the leader of the “Recall Wirch” effort.
State Senator Robert Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) has served public sector union interests in the 22nd district since 1997 and is currently subverting the democratic process from an undisclosed location in Illinois.
Yesterday I spoke with Dan Hunt and he confirmed the stories that have been circulating about union efforts to suppress the “Recall Wirch” petition drive. According to Mr. Hunt, union agitators were already present at Veteran’s Terrace in Burlington more than an hour before the event. Union members representing teachers, firefighters and teamsters had assembled and taken up strategic positions in order to achieve maximum visibility and restrict access by blocking entrances and filling available parking areas.
The highly organized union mob waved their mass produced signs and periodically deployed at entrances to create a human barrier when vehicles dared to breech their lines, quickly melting back into the crowd after convincing the vehicle’s occupants to leave. Lacking any sense of shame and parenting skills, many of the union agitators brought their young children to help fortify their human barricades. The well trained mercenaries were careful to avoid the sort of physical violence that once accompanied the Obamacare town hall meetings.
In an e-mail forwarded to me by Lori White, a volunteer named Gerry who was manning a drive-through event in Burlington reported that he was overwhelmed by the union mob. Although they were generally well behaved, “the protesters sucked all the oxygen by strategically blocking our signs from the view of the passerby. Their very real and visible presence effectively hid the fact that we were collecting recall signatures on private property.” Gerry observed that “they were well organized and knew exactly what to do to obstruct our efforts and stay legal.” Sadly, the drive-through site was shut down before noon due to the “unionistas.”
The Daily Caller is reporting that Vivian Schiller, the President and CEO of National Public Broadcasting has announced her resignation today in the wake of the O’Keefe undercover sting which caught (former) NPR Vice President Ron Schiller (no relation) calling the tea party ‘racist’ and bragging that the organization could survive without government funds.
NPR’s David Folkenflik talks with Renee Montagne about the latest developments, saying CEO Vivian Schiller was ousted in the wake of the controversy over News Analyst Juan Williams’ firing last year and gaffes by an NPR fundraiser that came to light Tuesday in a secret video.
See The Caller for the statement from NPR Chairman Dave Edwards.
James O’Keefe had hinted in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, that there was more footage coming that would implicate Vivian Schiller.
*** Is this where we’re headed in journalism? Conservative filmmaker/provocateur James O’Keefe has collected another liberal scalp: NPR. “The latest round of conservative attacks on public broadcasting got fresh ammunition with the release of a hidden-camera video of an NPR executive calling the tea party racist and saying the network would be better off without federal money anyway,” the AP writes. “The video was posted Tuesday by James O’Keefe, the same activist whose undercover videos have targeted other groups opposed by conservatives, like the community organizing group ACORN and Planned Parenthood.” Of course, this comes just days after a liberal Web site embarrassed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) by impersonating David Koch. Are these kinds of ideological stings where we’re now headed in journalism? It’s worth considering that they’re more about feeding raw meat to the base — and confirming stereotypes — than they are uncovering any GREATER truth, no?
To answer the question – Yes, in the case of the Koch prank – Scott Walker turned out to be the same guy in private as he was in public, and of course, the left-wing theories of close collusion between the Koch brothers and Walker was blown to smithereens as it was obvious Walker didn’t even know what Koch sounded like, and spent twenty minutes telling him what he was doing – (not the other way around). No greater truth was uncovered there. It was merely a “gotcha!” prank by a repellent left-wing hack meant to embarrass Walker. That was nothing more than red meat for the base - boob-bait for the bubbas.
As far as the NPR and Planned Parenthood stings are concerned, um, NO, the videos proved that NPR and Planned Parenthood are hopelessly biased and corrupt, and not deserving of public funding. That’s the greater truth that has been exposed as far as the taxpayers are concerned.
It’s not too difficult to make that distinction, now, is it?
***
Is this where we’re headed in journalism? Really? If more journalists actually did their jobs, and aggressively pursued the scandalous stories that are out there, James O’Keefe and his small cabal wouldn’t have to take on all the corruption and fraud in government all by themselves.
With the price of gas up 39 cents at the pump in a month and heading higher amid turmoil in much of the Middle East, Americans wonder why the U.S. isn’t doing more to exploit its own oil resources.
They favor drilling in territorial waters, 67%-29%, according to a new IBD/TIPP poll. That is up from 61%-30% from last May and 64%-25% when Republicans touted drilling in the 2008 election as oil topped $147 a barrel.
There’s also been a solid shift toward drilling in Alaska’s Arc tic National Wildlife Refuge, with support at 54%-40%. That’s up from 49%-43% last year.
Why would any American still want to be dependent on foreign oil?
Meanwhile, rumors are spreading that Palin has decided not to run in 2012, because she has dodged some high profile forums, including an NBC/Politico debate on May 2.
Some, including John Fund from the Wall Street Journal, took the fact that she will not be attending the first debate as a sign that the Governor will not be running for president:
Yesterday Sarah Palin sent another signal that she probably won’t enter the 2012 presidential race when it was announced she would be doing an event in Denver on May 2—the same day as the first Republican presidential debate.
[...]
The political significance of her acceptance lies in the fact that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is set to hold the first debate among presidential candidates on May 2, an event moderated by Brian Williams of NBC and John Harris of Politico.com. “Presumably, this means she will be doing [the fundraiser] instead of any other engagement on the second [of May],” Mr. Andrews told the Denver Post.
I beg to differ.
Doing this fundraiser, instead of the debate, is a sign that Governor Palin will be a candidate for president in 2012.
Read on for full explanation. I think Palin may very well be offended that liberals are controlling the agenda for the first debate – at the Reagan Library - (an affront if ever there was one) and went out of her way to schedule another event on the same day. Why are the other candidates sitting down for it?
In February, appearing on Fox & Friends Hugh Hewitt said the following:
“[I] hope [the Reagan Library] host the first Republican debate,” Hewitt said. “I just don’t want Politico and I especially don’t want NBC to be moderating that debate and deciding what Republican candidates ought to be talking about. I’ll tell you, Steve, the thing that’s amazing. Chris Matthews nightly has his head spin around in a circle about Michele Bachmann. Michele Bachmann almost certainly will be on the stage. How in the world is NBC, I don’t care if it’s [‘Nightly News’ host Brian] Williams or Chris Matthews or if it’s Rachel Maddow – how in the world do they expect Republicans to take them seriously when they’ve become a radical network? So I think — I hope that Republicans refuse to go to this demand, this dictate came out of NBC on May 2. I hope they boycott it.”
The down low is, she’ll be deciding whether or not to run in the next few months. With gas prices skyrocketing, this may be her moment…
Unfortunately, it became necessary this week, for Rush to explain to audience that he doesn’t take callers from paid actors, a charge, that he maintains, doesn’t even make much business sense for a show like his.
The story he’s referring to, originally appeared in The Tablet Magazine on the 11th of February, and suggested that shows like Limbaugh’s, Hannity’s, and Beck’s take fake, paid callers:
“I was surprised that it seemed so open,” the actor told me in an interview. “There was really no pretense of covering it up.”
Curious, the actor did some snooping and learned that Premiere On Call was a service offered by Premiere Radio Networks, the largest syndication company in the United States and a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, the entertainment and advertising giant. Premiere syndicates some of the more sterling names in radio, including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity. But a great radio show depends as much on great callers as it does on great hosts: Enter Premiere On Call.
“Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service,” read the service’s website, which disappeared as this story was being reported (for a cached version of the site click here). “We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners.”
Rush clarifies, it’s FM morning shows that use these types of paid actors:
