Thursday, February 17, 2011

Obama Campaign Behind Cairo-Style Demonstrations

Tens of thousands of  school teachers shut down schools in Wisconsin today and descended in mass at the State House in Madison over legislative efforts of the Governor Scott Walker (R) and Republican legislators to break the stranglehold teachers hold over public education and force them to contribute a greater share of their pension and other benefits to make their pay and benefits more in line with what average working Americans receive in a desparate effort to close a multi-billion dollar state budget deficit. It turns out these Cairo-style demonstrations by public workers is being staged by our committed socialist President Barack Obama. Now the President is preparing to unleash his socialist followers right here in Indiana and neighboring Ohio. From the Huffington Post:

Building on the momentum in Wisconsin, where tens of thousands of protesters have turned out to oppose Republican Gov. Scott Walker's effort to strip collective-bargaining rights from the state's public-employee unions, President Barack Obama's campaign organization is mobilizing its followers in Ohio and Indiana, where similar measures are being considered.


Thousands descended upon the Ohio statehouse Thursday to protest a bill that would eliminate collective-bargaining rights for state employees and curtail the rights of local-level government employees. The debate is similar to that in Wisconsin: Supporters say it's necessary to deal with budget problems, while opponents say it's nothing but a vicious assault on unions.

Now folded into the Democratic National Committee, Obama's campaign group Organizing For America is already actively engaged in Wisconsin and is beginning to ramp up organizing efforts in Ohio, though observers say the latter process is about a week behind that in Wisconsin. The group is also beginning to dig into Indiana, whose legislature is considering a bill to limit collective bargaining by teachers.

A DNC staffer told The Huffington Post that the group upped its efforts in Wisconsin after Chairman Tim Kaine spoke with local legislators last week. OFA then began organizing turnout for Thursday's statehouse rally and running phone banks in Ohio targeting state senators, which are slated to continue next week. This weekend, organizers have set up door-to-door canvassing in key districts that they hope will likewise put pressure on swing lawmakers.

OFA National Deputy Director Jeremy Bird said volunteers first alerted the group to the contested Ohio legislation. "The energy is pretty remarkable," he told The Huffington Post. "People started to contact us, and they'd call our office and our volunteers, and say, 'This is a big deal. This is going to affect my family.' ... That started to really simmer earlier this week in Ohio, and it's starting to pick up the pace."

In Ohio, major labor unions including AFSCME and the AFL-CIO are also stepping up the pressure against Gov. John Kasich (R) and the bill's supporters. The AFL-CIO estimated that tens of thousands of phone calls, emails and handwritten postcards have been delivered to state senators in opposition to the legislation, and a spokesman said the protests will continue in the coming weeks.

"One of the things we're trying to do is reach out more to the general public, especially through media, but also through a lot of this phone-calling and door-to-door efforts," Andy Richards, the field communications director for the AFL-CIO in Ohio, said in an interview with The Huffington Post, noting that the protests have helped re-energize a base frustrated by the November elections. "But I think having them as an ally with that, and being able to reach people we aren't necessarily reaching with our membership, is good."

OFA is also stepping up its online mobilization via Facebook and Twitter, as well as the work of its youth chapters at Ohio State University and other schools.

Indiana isn't yet seeing a similar level of progressive momentum, but OFA blasted out an email Thursday to its members regarding the pertinent legislation.

In an interview with Wisconsin's local WTMJ-TV, Obama condemned Gov. Walker's proposal. "Some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain, generally seems like more of an assault on unions," Obama said. "And I think it's very important for us to understand that public employees, they're our neighbors, they're our friends."
Make no mistake about it. This President and his supporters are doubling down on their efforts to bring the United States of America to total financial ruin and serve us up to their masters who support the socialist agenda of the New World Order. They want you to believe we can continue to borrow and spend our way into prosperity. That there is no Red Menace as Gov. Mitch Daniels aptly described it in reference to our increasingly insurmountable government debt. They would rather risk ending our sovereignty by forcing us to dissolve our national borders and scrap our Constitution. To do this, they must ensure we are entirely beholden as debtors to foreign creditors who oppose our very way of life in America. Americans in the private sector are making financial sacrifices like never before, but these government workers would rather enslave private sector workers to maintain their economic standards than share in the sacrifice. If you want to save America from the control of a totalitarian government, you must be prepared to stand up and fight for your rights. After all, what freedom will you have once you've entirely lost your economic freedom and have to turn to Big Brother government for everything you need to survive?

13 comments:

Downtown Indy said...

The beest thing about Obama's reign is that it's almost over.

Citizen Kane said...

Unfortunately, there are a whole lot of people who don't care about being free as long as they get their "government cheese."

Gary R. Welsh said...

Too true, CK. That's probably why we are doomed as a country. When people start moving their wealth out of this country for safer harbors as they already are, it's not a good omen.

Reader John said...

I appreciate your exposure of corruption in Indiana government. And I don't think I underestimate the "new red menace."
But your last paragraph strikes me as almost completely unhinged - approaching Robert Welch's claim that Eisenhower was a conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy."

Unknown said...

AI and CK,

The only thing I can add is:

"Bread and Circuses"

The parallels between America and the decline and fall of the ancient Rome Empire are sadly too stark to ignore.

Cato said...

And when the cops act worse over proposed cuts to their more outlandish benefits, Republicans support them and inexplicably become pro-union and the greatest friends the FOP ever had.

Do any of you remember the cars parked with sirens running, locked, with the keys thrown in a trash can?

Cuts to public spending from unconscionable employee benefits must start with the police.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Not at all RJ when you consider the decline and loss of private pensions earned by American workers as the public sector has grown at unprecedented proportions built upon a pile of debt financed by foreign interests.

Andrew said...

No, AI, I think I have to agree with RJ on this one. Like him, I generally appreciate your efforts to expose state corruption and misuse of government funds.

That last paragraph, though, that's jumping the shark into conspiracy theory territory, where it reads that you truly believe that President Obama is an active player for a shadow world government/organization, and the he is purposely trying to bring down the United State. That's a bridge too far, AI.

Gary R. Welsh said...

When protestors rise up in Tehran, our President is silent. When protestors in Cairo rise up, our President takes to the airwaves to support their cause. The former is a sworn enemy of the U.S that has called for the nuclear annihilation of Israel; the latter has been a close ally of the U.S. for decades and a stabilizing force in a volatile region of the world. Get back to me as the dominos continue to fall in the region and oil prices skyrocket to the point you're paying $8 a gallon to fill up your tank of gas and let me know what you think this President's agenda really is.

Wilson46201 said...

by the way, "Citizen Kane", government cheese was a Reagan program - Clinton ended it.

Bob said...

I think the headline you intended was:

"Koch Brothers Behind Anti Labor Governor and Tea Party"

http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/tea-party-jumps-into-wisconsin-politics/

I just can't understand why everyone is so eager to bust everyone down to poverty.

If you can't earn a middle-class wage as a teacher, fireman or policeman, what job do you propose? Just because someone works for the state doesn't mean that they shouldn't earn a competitive salary.

Investment bankers, CEO's, and various connected elite make millions a year that comes out of our pockets... and we want to bust the chops of teachers?!?

Let's not forget that much of the problem is that states have underfunded the pensions year after year - In Wisconsin they were funding it at 72-78%. It gets very expensive to catch up when you haven't been contributing enough at the beginning.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Wisconsin teachers are earning on average over $100,000 a year with pay and benefits. The governor is simply trying to get them to pay small percentage of the contribution towards their pension and health care. Private sector workers rarely receive a pension benefit and have to pick up a reasonable share of the health insurance premium cost. This is hardly a move to bust them down to poverty level wages.

Bob said...

AI: Please provide some backup for your claim of >$100k.

From various teacher salary sites, I'm seeing that a starting teacher makes $25k and average salary is $46-48k (2009). Benefits add another 48% to that. Average total comp comes out to $72,139.

For someone who has an advanced degree, the base pay seems really low and the benefits seem a little high... Try hiring an MBA for $25k.

http://www.teachersalaryinfo.com/average-teacher-salary-wisconsin.html

Teachers are tired of being the scapegoat for poorly performing schools and underfunded pensions.