Monday, February 28, 2011

Hugo Chavez's Favorite American Joins Union Protest At State House

Actor Danny Glover with Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez
If organized labor in Indiana went searching for a Hollywood actor with a history of controversial political activism to support their fight against Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Republican-controlled legislature to control public spending, they certainly found their man in Danny Glover. Today, union organizers featured Glover as a speaker at a State House rally. As the Star reports:

As more than 1,000 union laborers and their supporters cheered and waved signs, actor Danny Glover encouraged the crowd assembled at the Statehouse to be strong in their opposition to a series of Republican bills aimed at undermining collective bargaining.


"It's not only your battle, its a battle that's taking place across this country," Glover, who has a history of supporting workers' rights, told the crowd that lined the second and third floor balconies. Glover also recited for the crowd the Langston Hughes poem, "Let America be America Again." . . .

"What is happening right now," Glover said, "the governor and legislators have been elected in various states on a mandate to balance the budget. Now there are many choices that you have in order to balance the budget......But to attack peoples right to collective bargaining, to orchestrate legislation that attempts to create a quote unquote right to work state is an attempt to break the unions and undermine the unions."


Onlookers gushed over Glover crowding around to shake his hand.

"I think Danny is a person that is for the working people," said one attendee, John Lacey, the state Director for Indiana Workers United. "He understands working people's issues."

Yeah, they were gushing over a man whose Hollywood career has been bankrolled to the tune of $18 million by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. That would be the same Chavez who declared President George W. Bush "the devil" while addressing the United Nations, which is not much worse than Glover's denunciation of Bush as "a racist." Chavez said he would welcome to Venezuela prisoners held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay for waging a terrorist war against the U.S. He also called Israel "a genocidal and murderous country" and has closely allied himself with our country's sworn enemies, including Iran. Glover was also close friends with former left-wing Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown and forced into exile in South Africa three years ago. For what it's worth, Glover doesn't think much more of President Obama than he did Bush. On Obama's foreign policy, Glover said, "I think the Obama administration has followed the same playbook, to a large extent, almost verbatim, as the Bush administration. I don’t see anything different."

13 comments:

Concerned Taxpayer said...

And remember...all the conservatives, libertarians, and republicans who belong to unions just had to PAY for that liberal bastard to come here.

Cato said...

Did the Republicans exempt the police from the current right-to-work bill?

leland35 said...

I always thought that Pat "The Hair" Bauer was Hugo Chavez's personal emissary to Indiana...with his deputy emissaries, Charlie Brown & Bill "Tax and Spend" Crawford.

Gary R. Welsh said...

No, they are covered, but as has been stated repeatedly over the past week, the right to work bill has been taken off the table for consideration. Continuing to raise this issue is a red herring.

CircleCityScribe said...

Cato, Indiana government employees cannot be forced to join a union as a condition of government employment.

Please don't throw in silly Democrat rhetoric, Cato. Intelligent discourse is appreciated.

CircleCityScribe said...

Cato, I am unaware of any police union active in Indiana. If you know of one, I'd like to probe the validity of your claim....

Downtown Indy said...

Glover is also CEO of a film production company. That means he's one of the evil ones these union folks have been vilifying for the past week.

I don't understand the selection process used for picking their heros.

Anonymous said...

Indy4u2c, it really undercuts your credibility to refer to democratic rhetoric. Furthermore, did you even try to find information on the police union? Here is one example that was literally the first result of a google search: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/24535139/detail.html

But yes, the police in Indiana are unionized. It's the Fraternal Order of Police.

CircleCityScribe said...

To theth1rdman:

Your link led to a channel 6 web site, not what I'd call an authority. I contacted the Fraternal Order of Police and learned that they are NOT a union. Police officers are NOT required to join. It is a fraternal organization.

Perhaps checking your facts before posting. I mentioned I would look into the validity of your claim.

Gary R. Welsh said...

If recollection serves me, membership in Indy's FOP is voluntary.

Anonymous said...

You can say you are not a union, but if it walks like a duck...Well, you know. Here is a resource you might be interested in. It is the website of the Fraternal Order of Police which makes multiple references to itself as a union and their page has been changed recently to explain their massive support for public workers unions. Just because you are not required to join doesn't mean it isn't a union. I'm not sure why you brought that up though since it didn't concern anything I was addressing.

Furthermore, how is the local news station not a reliable resource? I'm not sure where you went to school but that is research 101. What would you consider a more reliable news source than a news organization? I could get some scholars on the subject who agree if you'd prefer.

CircleCityScribe said...

theth1rdman: Please get your facts right.

1) If you found a local FOP on the internet that is a Union, I will bet that it is NOT in Indiana!

2) Indiana government employees cannot be forced to join a union as a condition of employment.

3) TV News reports are for the business of making money, not documenting facts. They have every right to use the term "union" and have it mean the definition of the TV news station's choosing, not necessarily meaning that of a "labor union".

4) I double-checked the FOP web site http://www.instatefop.org/default.aspx. There is NO reference it being a labor union! None.

-I wonder if theth1rdman is only trying to spread propaganda instead of provide intelligent dialog? The disinformation he provides lacks factual basis.

leland35 said...

The Indiana State FOP web site not only does not mention what one would expect from a "labor union," most all the events look like Fraternal events, too!

Bowling, Memorial, scholarship, fish fry...