Suburban Chicago Firefighters Suspended Over Refusal to Remove American Flag Decals

Four Illinois firemen have been relieved of duty after refusing to comply with a department-wide directive that prohibited stickers and decals on their helmets and lockers.

A representative from Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents the firefighters, met for an hour with Chief Bronaugh Tuesday afternoon, with the union hoping Chief Bronaugh would modify his order. Instead, he ordered the firefighters sent home immediately, pending disciplinary action.

Union spokesman Adam Rosen said he is “shocked” that an agency of first responders would enforce such an order the week of Sept. 11.

The four firefighters said they were told that the order was issued because of racial discord on the department. The four, who include two white firefighters, a black firefighter, and a fourth firefighter who is a Cuban émigré, said no such problems exist.

Instead, they trace it back to a decision by several firefighters to replace a tattered American flag last month in one of Maywood’s firehouses. The new flag mysteriously disappeared early Aug. 23. The order on decals was issued last week.

Maywood has had no such order in the recent past. One of the four firefighters, Dave Flowers Jr., inherited his locked from his father when his father retired from the Maywood Fire Department and has stickers dating back several decades that Rosen calls “irreplaceable.” One is a U.S. Marine Corps insignia issued to Vietnam veterans.

The Maywood fire chief told CBS 2 the order rose out of a need to banish inappropriate messages and gave an example of a photo that could be seen as racist.

The image in question was reportedly a picture of a chimpanzee smoking, which town officials could be construed as racist. However, that picture had been removed nearly 8 years ago by a firefighter that has since retired. Former Maywood firefighter Michael Hess said put up the picture to 'jam up' a colleague who was smoking.

Iron Horse Roundup For July/August 2013

AFP Photo

MONTREAL, MAINE & ATLANTIC- In the wake of last month's deadly runaway train wreck that devastated the southern Quebec town of Lac Megantic, Hermon, ME-based Montreal, Maine & Atlantic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in Bangor, ME.

The MM&A has also petitioned Canadian civil courts for relief under that country's Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The company appears to have set aside nearly $786,000 as “indemnification and/or contribution in connection with wrongful death litigation and other claims,” according to a listing of the company’s 20 largest creditors.

MMA still owes $27.5 million of a $35 million loan it received from the Federal Rail Administration in 2005, according to Gardner’s affidavit. The railroad also has a $6 million line of credit with the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. issued in June 2009. That company has sought to protect its security interest, the affidavit said.

Other creditors include JD Irving subsidiary New Brunswick Southern, a subsidiary of San Antonio, TX-based Valero energy [NYSE- VLO], Minneapolis, MN-based Flex Leasing LLC and the Canadian Pacific railroad [NYSE- CP; TSX- CP].

Although a federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the MM&A could continue to operate under Chapter 11 reorganization, the line through Lac Megantic is still closed, effectively severing the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic in two. At the end of July, Maine state officials had entered into talks with four other unnamed railways to continue service in anticipation of the MM&A shutting down.

The MM&A laid off 79 workers in the wake of the Lac Megantic disaster. Meanwhile, Canadian officials have raised the death toll in Lac Megantic to 47 during the July 6th derailment.

Xoan Soler- La Voz de Galicia

SPAIN- The driver of a train that derailed and killed 78 passengers in northwestern Spain has been provisionally charged with multiple counts of negligent homicide, although he wasn't required to post bond or sent to jail because he wasn't considered a flight risk.

Garzon was questioned for almost two hours at the court in Santiago de Compostela, the northwestern town near where the accident occurred.

Garzon was driving the train carrying 218 passenger in eight cars that hurtled far over the 80-kph (50-mph) speed limit into a high-risk curve on Wednesday evening, tumbling off the tracks and slamming into a concrete wall, with some of the cars catching fire.

The Spanish rail agency has said the brakes should have been applied four kilometers (2.5 miles) before the train hit the curve

However, a local resident who rushed to the scene of the accident said in an interview broadcast Sunday that minutes after the crash Garzon had told him he had been going fast and couldn’t brake.

The resident, Evaristo Iglesias, said he and another person accompanied the blood-soaked Garzon to flat ground where other injured people were being laid out, waiting for emergency services to arrive.

“He told us that he wanted to die,” Iglesias told Antena 3 television. “He said he had needed to brake but couldn’t,” Iglesias said. He added that Garzon said “he had been going fast.”

In its report about the accident, Antena 3 television showed a photograph of Iglesias in a pink shirt and cap helping to carry the driver after the train accident. The station also aired television footage of Iglesias working beside the wrecked train to help other survivors.

Garzon was reportedly on the phone with an agent at the next station to determine which track his train was to come in on. While in the USA, train crews are now prohibited from talking on the phone while operating the train, Spain's state-run RENFE uses what's referred to as 'tren-tierra' or train to land lines to communicate between stations and crew. Shortly before the accident, the train passed from an area where computers control most of the train's functions to one where the driver has to brake and accelerate accordingly. It's believed that Garzon may have missed this transition point while he was on the phone.

ARGENTINA- Transportation officials in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires have released in-cab CCTV footage of engineers reading, napping or playing on their phones while the train is in motion.

In one clip, the driver is seen stepping up to the camera in his train cabin, attempting to obscure the lens so his activities cannot be seen. Other drivers are more overtly distracted, with some taking a nap, reading a book or playing on their mobile phone.

Argentina's Interior and Transport Minister Florencio Randazzo has since vowed to lead a crackdown on dangerous train drivers.

He plans to ban phone calls and unauthorised people in the cab

Mr Randazzo has introduced daily medical checks on all drivers to gauge their fitness to drive and to reduce the risk of them falling asleep at the controls.

Under the new system, all those caught distracted on camera will either be disciplined or fired.

The release of the footage comes more than a year after a commuter train plowed into a terminal in Buenos Aires, killing 49 and injuring hundreds.

FRANCE- Investigators in France believe a faulty switch system was to blame in a deadly derailment that killed six passengers at a station south of Paris last month.

After leaving the tracks, the train crashed into the station at Bretigny-sur-Orge.

A passenger speaking on France's BFM television said the train was going at a normal speed and was not meant to stop at Bretigny-sur-Orge.

He described children unattended in the chaotic aftermath, and swarms of emergency workers at the scene.

Two train cars, numbers 3 and 4, initially derailed, then knocked the other cars off the track, SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy said.

"Some cars simply derailed, others are leaning, others fell over," he said

A spokesman for the French state-run railway- SNCF- said the train was carrying an estimated 350 passengers when it derailed at 5:15 PM local time at Gare Bretigny sur Orge. The official death toll from the accident was 7 with more than 20 injured.


CALIFORNIA- Governor Jerry Brown has ordered a 60-day 'cooling down' period between San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit and workers threatening to strike over an expired contract with the transit agency.

Last month, a 4-day strike had left Bay Area commuters scrambling for alternate transportation. It was the first strike for BART since 1997.

Prior to Brown's announcement, both the Service Employees International Union and Amalgamated Transit Union were hoping the looming deadline of Sunday, Aug 11th would be sufficient to pressure BART management to agree to a renewed contract on the union's terms. Prior to Brown's intervention, the unions had threatened to resume their strike after this weekend.

The two month delay would take away some leverage from unions representing BART employees as it would allow the agency time to recruit replacement workers from out of retirement. An odd clause in the contract originally signed in 1979 would have prevented BART from hiring replacement drivers until the workers actually went on strike, and even then the replacement workers would only after completing a 15 week training course.

Reuters/Denis Balibouse

SWITZERLAND- Transportation officials in Switzerland are investigating the cause of a head-on collision between two passenger trains in the western part of the country. The crash killed the driver of one of the trains and injured at least 35 passengers.

The two Swiss Federal Railways regional passenger trains collided with one another head-on at Granges-Marnand in the Vaud Canton outside of Lucerne on July 29th. Although some press outlets have speculated that one of the trains left the Granges-Marnand station too early and collided with an incoming train, officials have yet to determine the exact cause of the crash and are moving both wrecked train sets to another location to closer examine the wreckage.

SOO Line SD60 #6053 leads an SD60M over county highway G38 outside of Washington, IA with a northbound Kansas City-St Paul manifest freight train on June 2012. Eric Rasmussen photo.

CANADIAN PACIFIC- In a surprise move, the Canadian Pacific Railroad announced that they are seeking bids for more than 40 former Soo Line SD60s and SD60Ms. The solicitation comes as the CPR is more than halfway through an extensive rebuild of their SD60 fleet. Some of the units are being stored at CP's St Luc yard in Montreal. All of the overhauled units have been rebuilt to Tier 0+ EPA compliance and feature AESS Locomotive Automatic Engine Start/Stop and Positive Traction Control in compliance with an upcoming PTC mandate expected to take effect starting in 2015- several more are supposed to undergo rebuilding at Montreal's CADRAIL facility.

The Soo Line ordered the SD60s from EMD in 1987 and with CP Rail's takeover, the burly 3800 HP six axle EMDs could be found anywhere from the Canadian Rockies to upstate New York although they were (and still are) outnumbered by CP Rail's far more prolific fleet of SD40-2s.

Canadian Pacific has also started putting up their fleet of former Milwaukee Road GP40s for sale- Respondek Rail Corp and United States Sugar Corp have already purchased a pair.

With the arrival of rebuilt GP20C-ECO and SD32C-ECO from Caterpillar [NYSE- CAT] subsidiary Progress Rail, Canadian Pacific returned their only two Gensets to National Railway Equipment in Illinois in July. The two Gensets- #2100 and #2101- were largely paid for by a province of Ontario 'green energy' intiative.

Amid Violent Protests, Michigan Becomes 24th Right to Work State

Michigan State Police in riot gear and LIUNA protesters in Lansing, MI. Mike Mulholland- Mlive.com

With the stroke of a pen, first-term Michigan governor accomplished what was once considered unthinkable in a state with strong ties to the nation's organized labor movement and signed into law legislation that made Michigan a right-to-work state.

At about 5:45 p.m., Snyder announced publicly that he signed the historic right-to-work legislation in private - hours after the bills won final approval in the House and five days after he joined with GOP legislative leaders to announce their plan to enact the controversial law.

"This is a major day in Michigan's history," he said during a news conference in the Romney building not long after signing the legislation. "Again, I don't view this as anti-union at all. I believe this is pro-worker."

The signings came as thousands of protesters and union members descended on Lansing, obstensibly to urge a veto of the legislation once it reached Gov. Snyder's desk. Union protestors also tore down a tent belonging to pro right-to-work group Americans for Prosperity- with people inside- and at least one protestor in an IBEW jacket was videotaped shoving and punching FOX News contributor Steven Crowder outside the collapsed tent. Apologists for the various union thugs laughably attempted to explain away both videotaped events as being 'provoked' by Americans for Prosperity or a 'false flag' where they sabotaged their own tent [shorter Union: "They totally deserved to have their tent wrecked, even though they did it to themselves!"- NANESB!].

[12/12 UPDATE- Not satisfied with simply tearing down a tent and assaulting Crowder, the braying mob apparently focused their energies on destroying a hot dog cart and hurling racial slurs at the cart's owner, Clint Tarver. Tarver was catering to the Americans for Prosperity tent that was ripped down to hoots and applause from the union crowd. The media also described the rampage protests as 'mostly peaceful'.]

Earlier in the day, state representative Doug Geiss [D- Taylor] promised on the floor of the State House that "there will be blood" if right-to-work was passed. The Michigan State House Democrats twitter account would later tweet Geiss' threat before deleting it. On Monday, President Obama slammed the state's right-to work legislation as he was speaking in Michigan to try and gain support for his proposed tax hikes, falsely claiming the two seperate bills making their way through the State House would eliminate collective bargaining altogether. Earlier this year, President Obama ripped right-to-work in a speech before big labor leaders like Trumka and Hoffa, but his supporters and economic team were all to willing to take credit for the jobs created in right-to-work states.

One commenter on Mlive.com succinctly charachterized Michigan's new right-to-work law as follows

Unions will now have to view their members as customers instead of just treating them as a revenue stream. That's about the only thing that changed today. Unions still exist. Employees can still organize. Employees can still engage in collective bargaining.

Gov Snyder's move came about 10 months after Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed right-to-work into law, making the Hoosier state the first 'rust belt' state to have right-to-work laws in more than 40 years. Snyder reportedly wanted to make Michigan as competitive as Indiana, which has added an estimated 43,000 jobs since the state passed right-to-work.

Growing up, we got a cursory introduction to the labor movement in the history books at school while unions like the Teamsters murdered 96 people at the DuPont Plaza hotel in Puerto Rico or various New England chapters of the Laborers International Union of North America maintained cozy relationship with the Patriarcha crime family out of Providence, allowing mobsters to engage in laor racketeering while raiding the union's pension fund.

Many of the unions protesting in Madison, WI last year lost much of their credibility when despite AWOL lawmakers and activist judges, laws limiting collective bargaining in Wisconsin were passed by Gov. Scott Walker despite massive, continuous protests on the grounds of the state capitol building. However, despite dire predictions of public employee unions like AFSCME or SEIU, the sky didn't fall and Wisconsin didn't turn into Mogadishu overnight.

Moreover, even without Tuesday's violent tantraum in mind, I have zero sympathy for unions that do things like help themselves to money from families of disabled people. I'm not certain it this is limited to Michigan, but hopefully this practise is dismantled ASAP.

The law will likely face a number of challenges and I would be very surprised if an activist judge somewhere along the way didn't attempt to overturn it by judicial fiat. Still, wouldn't it be ironic if after the rough years the auto industry has had lately, the new right-to-work law started bringing the auto industry back to its 'home' in Michigan?

Union-Sponsored Wal Mart Employee Black Friday Walkout 'Mostly a Fizzle'

A threatened Black Friday nationwide walkout by Walmart employees sponsored by Moveon.org, Occupy Wall Street and labor unions reportedly has done nothing to crimp the mega-retailer's sales on the busiest shopping day of the year.

Protests did take place at some stores, with SEIU members, MoveOn.org and Occupy Wall Street activists making noise, The Blaze reported, but very few Wal-Mart employees participated nationwide.

The Associated Press said that "nine people, including three employees, were arrested shortly after noon for blocking the street" outside the store in Paramount, Calif., but "more than 1,000 people" blocked traffic outside the store at one point in the protest.

"A union-backed group called OUR Walmart has said that it is holding an estimated 1,000 protests in 46 states. The exact number is unclear. Wal-Mart has refuted that estimate, saying the figure is grossly exaggerated and that the protests involved few of its own employees," the AP added.

Wal-Mart said that only 50 employees participated in the protests, but the United Food and Commercial Workers union disagrees, the Washington Examiner reported.

"It said 'hundreds and hundreds' joined in at events across the country," Sean Higgins wrote, but that number could not be verified.

"Even assuming the UFCW figure is correct, that is pretty small given that Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer, with 1.4 million people working at its stores," Higgins added.

A number of retailers, including Wal Mart [NYSE- WMT], didn't even wait for midnight on Thanksgiving to open their doors to hundreds of shoppers hoping to score Black Friday deals. Despite the threatened walkout sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) or SEIU, Wal Mart reportedly had their best ever Black Friday with an increasing number of transactions taking place online.

A number of both online and brick and mortar retailers such as Amazon, Wal Mart, Best Buy, Sears are expecting 'Cyber Monday'- the Monday the weekend after Thanksgiving- to be the single busiest online shopping day of the year.

Badger State Beatdown- Scott Walker Becomes First US Governor to Survive Recall; Obama's Bad Week Continues

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker surivived Tuesday night's union-backed recall effort by a considerable margin. The results marked the first time that a sitting governor had survived a recall- a campaign that was about 18 months in the making and gained national attention for possible nationwide implications. Walker had earned the ire of organized labor and the left for legislation introduced curtailing the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions like the SEIU and AFSCME in 2011- prompting Democrat state senators to flee the state to prevent a quorum on such legislation.

Interestingly, the network who's 'personalities' were the most emotionally invested in seeing Walker unseated were the first ones who called the race for Walker. Less than an hour after the polls closed in the Badger State, MSNBC called the race for Scott Walker.



In the week prior to the election, the consensus among the media and punditocracy was that it would be an extremely close contest with Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett reportedly closing a significant gap with Walker. However, when the polls closed on Tuesday night, the results of the recall wasn't anywhere near as close as anticipated.



Not only did Walker handily surivie the recall effort, but Republican Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch retained her office by a similar margin against challenger Mahlon Mitchell. Kleefisch is the first ever Lt Governor in the USA to face recall.

Yay Wisconsin!

Three of the four state senators (all Republicans) also successfully held off challengers from the Democrat party in their respective state Senate districts. GOP State Senator Van Wanggaard [Senate District 21, which covers most of Racine county aloing the Illinois state line- NANESB!] was unseated by Democrat challenger John Lehman, giving the Democrats the majority in the Wisconsin State Senate. However, that majority would only be theoretical and may be short-lived- the Wisconsin State Senate has already adjourned for the year and the seat is up for re-election in November of this year- before the Senate re-adjourns. It's possible Lehman could serve out his entire term without the Senate ever being called into session.

Not surprisingly, some organizations did their best to spin the outcome in their favor, despite overlooking the agonizingly obvious in the process.

Win or lose, Scott Walker has joined ignominious company in suffering the humiliation of a recall election. 3rd ever. #wiunion
— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) June 6, 2012

Many of the same pundits, media figures and politicians who were emotionally invested in seeing Walker voted out of office before completing his first term could only point to the exit polls showing President Obama leading over presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney as a bright spot. However, these same exit polls showed that the race between Walker and Barrett was a dead heat- so their reliability is suspect at best.

Perhaps one of the most intruiging breakdowns of the recall is that Walker recived more than ⅓ of the vote from union households. Even before the polls closed, prominent Democrats such as former President Bill Clinton and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney began circulating the talking point that the only reason Walker could win was because of out-of-state support from the Tea Party and wealthy donors such as the Koch Brothers [rather conventiently ignoring the $20 million unions and Democrats spent on the recall, the margin which candidate Obama outspent candidate McCain in 2008 or President Obama's lavish Hollywood fundraisers this year- NANESB!].

I pointed out that Obama was conspicuously absent from Wisconsin just days before the recall voting despite fundraising in neighboring Illinois and Minnesota- one of the first bad omens for the Barrett campaign. Despite recent GOP gains in the Badger State, Obama was still considered a favorite to win Wisconsin in the November 2012 presidential campaign until Tuesday night. However, if the Obama camp decided to stay away from the Wisconsin recall as a pre-emptive means of damage control, it didn't do them any good.

Walker’s win prompted Democratic and Republican strategists to reassess Wisconsin’s political landscape and the role the state will play in the presidential race. Until earlier this week, target states listed by President Barack Obama’s campaign didn’t include the state, which has voted Democratic in the past six presidential elections, albeit narrowly at times.

In a campaign video released June 4 -- the day before the recall -- Obama campaign manager Jim Messina listed Wisconsin as “undecided,” along with Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Virginia.

So not only would Obama be facing an energized Republican base in Wisconsin come November, but a demoralized liberal and union base who won't forget that he had abandoned just before to the recall.

If that wasn't enough, the same day Walker cruised to an easy win, Bill Clinton questioned Obama's economic proposals of allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire.

Incredibly, Bill Clinton – the man the White House sent to represent the President during the election – compounded the result by admitting that the country was in a recession and by urging Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts. That makes him the most senior liberal in the nation to cast doubt on Obama’s economic strategy.

In recent weeks, prominent Democrats such as Clinton, former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Newark, NJ mayor Corey Booker have cautioned the Obama camp that they should back off their attacks on private equity as a means of attempting to attack Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital.

Wisconsin Recall-A-Palooza Update- With Walker Up in Polls, Democrats Getting Desperate; Walker Supporter Detained at Barrett Rally

With Wisconsin's June 5th recall election looming, the Democrat party and their union allies seem to be pulling out all the stops in their bid to unseat Gov. Walker. Running against Walker is Milwaukee's Democrat mayor Tom Barrett in what is basically a rematch of the 2010 Gubernerorial campaign.

Well.....almost all the stops. You see, just days before the voters were slated to go to the polls in Wisconsin President Obama hosted six fundriasers on Friday- dividing his time between the Twin Cities and Chicago. Yet Obama was conspicuously absent from that state that takes up real-estate between Illinois and Minnesota. If the Democrats on the national level were at all confident of a Barrett win, Obama likely would've made an appearence in the Badger State while on his Midwest fundraising trip (disguised as official business). Yet President Obama avoided Dairyland like it was a discussion on the most recent jobless numbers report.

Barrett has been trailing in nearly every poll in recent weeks. Although some polls had Walker up considerably in the last few weeks, Barrett was gradually closing the gap and while still behind Walker in some polling, he was within the margin of error.

Further telegraphing desperation is an early 'October surprise' liberal bloggers attempted to spring on Scott Walker over the weekend, citing anonymous and secondhand sources that Scott Walker fathered an illegitimate son with a classmate while attending Marquette University. The love-child story, floated by an outlet called "Wisconsin Citizens Media Co-op", unravelled in about an hour after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter confirmed that the Scott Walker in question had a different middle name than the governor.

Around the same time, a left-leaning think tank began sending out mailers identifying individuals who did and didn't vote in prior elections.

When many Wausau voters checked their mail this past weekend, they got a glimpse of something unusual -- their neighbor's voting record.

"I had no idea that was a part of the public record," said Bryan Mergen, who lives in Wausau.

The mailer -- put out by the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund -- shows a list of people who live near you and whether they voted in two recent November elections. It doesn't show who you voted for, but even so, some voters said it's an invasion of their privacy.

Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board spokesperson Reid Magney said voter records are public records. With a name and a birth date, you can find election records right on their website. And some voters said they don't mind the exposure.

"My first reaction is, what's this?" said Mary Dominski, who lives in Wausau. "And then I thought, well, it's okay. I had no problem with it because I have no problem with my voting record."

Magney said many groups buy a copy of the statewide voter list. But he said this is the first time a group has used the voter information this way.

"I think it probably was not the smartest political move, because I think there's a lot of antagonism and a lot of people thought there was more information than there really is," said Dominski.

Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, a counterdemonstrator was detained by police at a Barrett rally that President Clinton was speaking at.

Particularly damning was the gathering crowd of Barrett supporters and union activists gleefully chanting 'Lock Him Up!' for the high crime of holding up a pro-Walker sign in a public park. The man identified himself as Dave Willoughby and in addition to being a former Marine, is reportedly the son of a prominent Florida Tea Party activist.

Attendees of the rally accuse Willoughby of acting in a belligerent and confrontational manner towards them and Milwaukee police cited him for disturbing the peace before booking him before getting released [During last year's protests against Scott Walker's budget proposal, union members and Democrats occupied the Wisconsin state capitol building, damaging doors, blocking traffic and threatening lawmakers- so even if the pro-Barrett crowd's version of events is 100% accurate, its pretty mild in comparison to what SEIU and AFSCME-affiliated protesters inflicted on the state capital last year- NANESB!]

Wisconsin State Senate Republicans Maintain Majority After Union-Backed Recall Challenge

In a series of elections that many viewed as a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker and his policies towards public employee unions, four out of six incumbent Republican state senators successfully held off Democrat challengers in Wisconsin on Tuesday night.

The wave of recall elections is unparalleled in the nation's history. Before this year, there had been just four recall elections of Wisconsin lawmakers. Two incumbents were recalled, while two survived the efforts. One of those who won his recall election was Holperin, who was in the Assembly in 1990 when a recall effort was launched because of his stance on Indian fishing rights.

After pouring millions of dollars into Tuesday night's recall elections- mostly from public employee unions like the SEIU or AFSCME- union backed Democrat candidates needed to unseat at least three of the incumbent republicans in order to gain control of the State Senate.

Incumbents Dan Kapanke (32nd District) and Randy Hopper (18th District) lost their respective bids to stay in office Tuesday night, with the 32nd going to Jennifer Shilling and the 18th going to Jessica King. However, the last race of the night to be called was between GOP incumbent Alberta Darling and Democrat challenger Sandra Pasch. Although Pasch got out to an early lead, Darling surged past her as the night went on and currently enjoys a 54%/46% advantage with 99% of the precincts reporting.

So after all the protests and union money spent on circulating petitions and political ads, the best the unions could do is come up one seat short of taking away the GOP majority in the Wisconsin state senate. And there's a chance that the Democrat and Union's modest gains could be undone in a week's time, as there are two additional recall elections scheduled for next week. Democrat state senators Robert Wirch (22nd District) and Jim Holperin (12th district) face Republican challengers after fleeing the state with the rest of the senate Democrats earlier this year, a tactic used to prevent the body from reaching a quorum when Gov. Walker's union bill was supposed to go before state senators. Even if both Wirch and Holperin manage to survive their recall challenges, the GOP would still maintain a narrow majority in the state senate.

While many observers believe that the recalls could serve as a barometer for the national electoral mood heading into 2012. However, the Democrats coming up short in trying to wrest power away from the GOP majority in the state senate has no doubt undercut much of the momentum behind a campaign to recall Gov. Walker. Walker cannot be recalled until he has been in office for a year, so those supporting a recall campaign will have to wait until at least January 2012.

In a little over 6 months under the Walker administration, the state of Wisconsin has created 13,000 private sector jobs while cities like Milwaukee are expected to save as much as $25 million annually under the governor's controversial budget repair bill.

Wisconsin Stops Collecting Union Dues For State Workers, Unions Threaten Boycott of Neutral Businesses

Ten days after a Dane County, WI circuit judge blocked the publishing of Wisconsin's new collective bargaining law the administration of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was no longer collecting dues on behalf of public employee unions and charging more for state employee's pensions and healthcare.

Madison — Gov. Scott Walker's administration no longer is collecting dues on behalf of state unions and, as of Sunday, is charging employees more for their pensions and health care, even though nonpartisan legislative attorneys say the changes are not yet law. Backing up the administration, the state Department of Justice argued that the new law - which eliminates most collective bargaining for public workers - is in effect and asked a judge to vacate a restraining order against the law. Meanwhile, a Dane County prosecutor asked a judge to declare that the law is not now in place. Highlighting the different legal interpretations, some local governments are not implementing the new law for their employees. Officials with the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County said they are waiting for answers from courts before making any changes on benefits and union dues.

The Dane County judge who filed the restraining order against the recently-passed bill from Gov. Walker is named Maryann Sumi. It's probably worth mentioning that Judge Sumi refused to order striking Wisconsin teachers back to work and that her son is a career operative for the unions like AFL-CIO and SEIU. More ominously, Judge Sumi issued a statement on Wednesday warning attorneys about their criticisms of how the case was being handled.

Before wrapping up a brief hearing Wednesday, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi offered a word of caution to attorneys involved in high-profile lawsuits over collective bargaining in Wisconsin.

Sumi said emotions are running high over two cases she is hearing regarding Gov. Scott Walker's plan to eliminate most collective bargaining for public workers. That "spirited debate" is important in a democracy, but attorneys must keep in mind their professional ethics, Sumi said.

"They all have a responsibility to promote and not denigrate the judicial branch and, more importantly, the rule of law," she said.

She advised lawyers to review state Supreme Court rules that say: "A lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge...."

She referred to public comments made by attorneys after a Tuesday hearing, but did not elaborate.

Some observers consider Sumi's warning very one-sided and note that attorneys are within their rights to criticize the content of a ruling made by a jurist who had decided to insert themselves in the political process.

Meanwhile two Madison, WI labor unions and Dane County had abandoned efforts to consolidate their complaints over Walker's law after being told doing so would permit the state to bring the case for another judge.

Dane County and two city of Madison labor unions, AFL-CIO Local 236 and Firefighters Local 311, sought to consolidate their separate complaints over the act.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs asked the state to agree not to seek a substitution of judges before moving forward. But Judge Maryann Sumi said the defendants did not have to bind themselves to that commitment. The motion was then withdrawn.

Sumi also agreed with state attorneys that the motion to combine the cases was likely premature and cautioned attorneys in all cases related to the budget repair bill about their public comments when emotions are running high.

"They all have a responsibility to promote and not denigrate the judicial branch, and more importantly, the rule of law," Sumi said.

Meanwhile, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) circulated a letter threatening a boycott of local businesses that decline to display signs the union is passing out that prominently feature the AFSCME logo on the bottom half.

The letters ask businesses to express that support by displaying union signs in their windows.

"Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business," the letter says. "And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members."

Jim Parrett, a field representative of Council 24 for Southeast Wisconsin, confirmed the contents of the letter, which carries his signature. But he added that the union was also circulating letters to businesses thanking them for supporting workers' rights.

The union-led effort is an outgrowth of a boycott campaign by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and other unions in which M&I Bank and Kwik Trip were targeted because either the companies themselves or their executives supported Gov. Scott Walker's budget initiatives.

Jim Haney, the outgoing head of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a pro-business lobby, said the union effort was appalling. And he said the campaign would backfire.

"It's kind of like the old protection racket," he said. " 'If you have the right sticker, we won't break your knees.' This is beyond the pale to force a small-business person to choose when they want to stay neutral. But that isn't good enough."

In the letter, Parrett writes: "It is unfortunate that you have chosen 'not' to support public workers rights in Wisconsin. In recent past weeks you have been offered a sign by a public employee who works in one of the state facilities in the Union Grove area. These signs simply said, 'This Business Supports Workers Rights,' a simple, subtle and we feel noncontroversial statement given the facts at this time."

Parrett said that since the letters were sent, he has received threatening phone calls as well as calls from people supporting the state workers.

"I've gotten a lot of threatening phone calls," Parrett said.

Parrett said similar letter campaigns had been launched in other parts of the state. His region includes Racine and Kenosha counties as well as parts of Waukesha and Walworth counties.

Parrett referred questions to Marty Beil, the head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union. Neither Beil nor Phil Neuenfeldt, head of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, was available for comment.

The AFSCME effort comes more than two weeks after the executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association circulated a letter to Gov. Walker's 2010 campaign donors also threatening a boycott. Interestingly, WPPA executive director Jim Palmer was arrested in December 2009 for drunken driving and never served in law enforcement himself.

Exit question: If union honchos like Palmer or Parrett had their way, do you think we would be seeing things like partisan response times from police and firefighters?

[Hat tip- Lonely Conservative, Red State/Labor Union Report, Le.gal In.sur.rec.tion, Weasel Zippers, WisPolitics, Jammie Wearing Fool]

What's in a Name? House, Senate Don't Even Bother Naming 'Emergency Funding' Bill for Unions

Might as well call it Cash for Clunkers Trumkas.

President Obama passed a $26 billion teacher/public employee emergency funding bill on Tuesday which was marketed as emergency funding to prevent layoffs of teachers ahead of the new school year.

Besides not having a name at this time, HR 1586, also known as the _____ Act of ______ (no, really!) also stands out because Congress interrupted their six week midsummer recess to go back to Washington DC to vote on it. Personally, I liked this Congress much better when they were far far away from the Capitol.

Not surprisingly, most of these jobs that Obama and Congress rode in on their proverbial white steed and saved during the August recess are union jobs. That makes it almost a certainty that the Democrats who voted for the _______ bill will likely get funds back from the SEIU, AFSCME, NEA, AFL-CIO and other public employee unions between now and November courtesy of dues collected from members.

Don't all you red states with budget surpluses now footing the bill for dysfunctional blue states like California, Illinois and New York feel silly now?

For every Bell, CA that's out there, there's some Congresscritters out there who think everybody else has an obligation to clean up the local messes of some of these cities' own making.

Somehow, I suspect the lion's share of that $26 billion will somehow manage to avoid right-to-work states like the plague.

But there is good news! As predicted by yours truly, this Administration has suddenly found religion when it comes to deficit hawkish-ness. And the budget cuts start with the military!

One Nation's Astroturf Yields Yet Another Pitiful Harvest

Riding the momentum of the hugely successful Coffee Party and union bought-and-paid-for The Tea Party is Over comes word from the Washington Post that a cross section of liberal activists have formed yet another sorely needed left-wing group- this one called 'One Nation'- to counter the Tea Party's influence heading into November's mid-term elections.

The groups involved represent the core of the first-time voters who backed President Obama -- including the National Council of La Raza, NAACP, AFL-CIO, SEIU and the United States Student Association.

Gosh- maybe if I listen to the perfectly rational, selfless and mainstream folks at La Raza and the SEIU, I'll forget all about the crappy economy, the inept response to the Deepwater Horizon spill, unemployment teetering around 10% nationwide, the deteriorating situation along the Mexican border, or the job-killing legislation this Administration's been pom-pom shaking for over the last 18 months.

Leaders of the groups have been meeting for about three months in a planning process that some participants called arduous, debating everything from the name of the coalition to what the branding and logo should look like.

Ah yes.....the same people who took three months to come up with a logo and name for the group are the same people who think the USA has been treated to 18 months of mistake-free governance from this White House and Congress, and that we deserve more of the same.

Seriously- three months for a bunch of supposedly like-minded organizations to agree upon a name and a logo? Must be the Deepwater Horizon method of branding. Yet these people will miraculously know what's best for you and me when it comes to healthcare, energy policy, financial regulation and the porous southern border and will act just as decisively.

I'm a tad confused by all this....first the Tea Party was supposed to be a fringe movement of racist, hateful extremists.....but then the American left makes no less than three attempts in the last 6 months to emulate that very same group of violence-prone racist hateful haters.

[Hat tip: Lonely Conservative]

SEIU to Spend $700,000 Thanking Dems For Healthcare Votes

Despite the decline in popularity of Labor Unions and the low public opinion of 0bamacare in general, Service Employees International Union head Andy Stern has decided to spend $700,000 (most likely Union dues) on an ad buy to thank embattled Democrat lawmakers for their 'yes' vote on 0bamacare.

SEIU announced a $700,000 ad buy starting today in the districts of six vulnerable House Democrats. The ads will air on broadcast and cable and run through next week, thanking the lawmakers for voting "yes" on reform in districts where that vote could play badly for them in November.

The lawmakers are: Democratic Reps. Tom Periello (Va.), Dina Titus (Nev.), Betsy Markey (Colo.), John Boccieri (Ohio), Kathy Dahlkemper (Penn.) and Earl Pomeroy (N.D.).

In New York, the local SEIU chapter will begin airing ads tomorrow thanking: Reps. Scott Murphy, Bill Owens, Dan Maffei, Tim Bishop and Steve Israel.

This would not be the first time the SEIU has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad buys. Y'know....sometimes you gotta wonder if Andy Stern in on the GOP's payroll.

Here's hoping the SEIU continues their ringing endorsement of the politicians who brought us this crap sandwich right up until November.

SEIU Head Andy Stern Appointed To Obama's Debt Reduction Panel

President Obama announced last week his appointees to an allegedly bi-partisan fiscal commission that includes SEIU head and Democrat Party activist Andy Stern, which would more or less prove that this thing is a sham before it even convenes.

Let's stop and think about this for a moment. This paragon of wise spending and fiscal responsibility in the labor movement decided to invest nearly $900,000 in media ads alone for Martha Coakley's senate race. This was while other SEIU Locals in Massachusetts had endorsed Scott Brown, Coakley's opponent.

If you want to see the end result of Big Labor influencing fiscal policy decisions- especially public sector unions, look no further than California. Pension costs for public employees in the Golden State have soared over 2000% while state revenues have increased by 24% in comparison. JP Morgan Chase Chairman Jamie Dimon recently cautioned investors that California is at greater risk of defaulting on their debt obligations than the financially beleaguered EU nation of Greece is.

But even with that in mind, Obama decided to appoint the head of one of the largest public sector unions to his blue ribbon debt reduction panel. The only way this panel could be taken seriously is if they recommend the exact opposite of what Stern recommends.

SEIU Spends $685,000 on TV Ad Attacking Scott Brown; SEIU-Affiliated Worcester Local Endorses Brown

The same day TV ads bankrolled by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to the tune of $685,000 slamming Scott Brown were set to air throughout the Bay State, the Republican State Representative and challenger for the Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy picked up endorsements from two of Worcester's police unions:

Local 911, New England Police Benevolent Association, and Local 504, International Brotherhood of Police Officers, handed their endorsement to the state senator. The endorsement comes one day after a debate in which Mr. Brown and his main opponent, Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley, squared off.

Feel free to visit the International Brotherhood of Police Officers homepage linked here. You might see a logo in the upper left-hand corner that looks something like this:

So the same day one of their affiliated locals endorsed Scott Brown, TV stations in Massachusetts air anti-Brown ads paid for by the national SEIU honchos. This comes about a month after the SEIU paid $214,000 to air radio ads for Martha Coakley at the end of the primary, bringing the total Bay State Coakley campaign-related expenditures by the SEIU alone to just under $900,000. Sounds like union dues well spent, Andy.

Of course, the New England Police Benevolent Association is an AFL-CIO affiliated union. The two Worcester Police unions announcements come on the heels of the State Police Association of Massachusetts endorsement of Brown on Monday.

At face value, the endorsement of a Republican by any labor organization in the bluest of blue states comes off as more than a little unusual. However, there may be one glaringly obvious reason as to why some of the unions haven't backed Coakley (who said she would cast the deciding vote for 0bamacare).

Another likely reason the police unions have kept themselves at arm's length from Deval Patrick's AG is because they're still waiting for an apology from the governor. You know- the governor with the approval rating in the 20 percentile who basically called Cambridge PD Sgt James Crowley racist and hasn't backtracked since. Turns out cops have a memory that lasts longer than one beer, and I suspect they have damned little incentive to throw their support behind Gov. Patrick's Attorney General.

Of course, that's all just speculation on my part. But the fact remains that what was supposed to be an uncontested cakewalk for Martha Coakley in the bluest of blue states is now approaching a dead heat with Scott Brown, draining resources and funds from the national DNC and their labor allies- even with their own in-state Locals backing Coakley's GOP challenger.