Page Links:

Obama The Muslim: by Major Gen. Jerry Curry 07/27/2010
WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Obama Trying to Overwhelm the system!
SCORE ONE FOR FREEDOM!!!
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Foreign Affairs
April 6, 2010 A Looming Policy Disaster of Titanic Proportions
To Kill an American
Our Muslim heritage?
Think about this:
Andy Stern’s America
Outrage: Obama Administration Targets Military for Pay Reductions

April 7, 2010
" World’s ‘Most Dangerous Islamist’ Alive, Well, and Living in Pennsylvania An Islamic Armed Fortress Emerges in the Pocono Mountains "
Paul Williams, PhD

 The most dangerous Islamist in the world is neither Afghani nor Arab. He comes from neither Sudan nor Somalia.

 And he resides in neither the mountains of Pakistan nor the deserts of the Palestinian territories.

 This individual has toppled the secular government of Turkey and established madrassahs throughout the world.

 His schools indoctrine children in the tenets of radical Islam and prepare adolescents for the Islamization of the world.

 More than 90 of these madrassahs have been established as charter schools throughout the United States. They are funded by American taxpayers.

 One of these charter schools – Tarek ibn Zayed Academy (TiZA) in Minnesota – is so radically Islamic and subversive in nature that the Minnesota Department of Education issued two citations against it and the American Civil Liberties Union is suing it.

 Dozens of his universities, including the Faith University in Istabul, train young men to become lawyers, accountants, and political leaders so that they can take an active part in the restoration of the Ottoman Empire and the Islamization of the Western World.

 He also allegedly operates compounds to train jihadis in the tactics of guerilla warfare.

 This individual has amasssed a fortune – over $30 billion – for the creation of a universal caliphate.

 His name is Fethullan Gulen and he resides not in the wilds of southern Turkey – but the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

 From his fortress headquarters, located on 28 acres at 1857 Mt. Eaton Road in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Gulen plots the overthrow of secular governments and oversees the spread of education jihad throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States.

 Gulen is surrounded by an army of over 100 Turkish Islamists, who guard him and tend to his needs. The army is comprised of armed militants who wear suits and ties and do not look like traditional Islamists in cloaks and turbans. They follow their hocaefendi's (master lord’s) orders and even refrain from marrying until age 50 per his instructions. When they do marry, their spouses are expected to dress in the Islamic manner, as dictated by Gulen himself.

 The Saylorsburg property consists of a massive chalet surrounded by numerous out buildings, including recreational centers, dormitories, cabins for visiting foreign dignitaries, a helicopter pad, and firing ranges.

 Neighbors complain of the incessant sounds of gunfire – including the rat-tat-tat of fully automatic weapons – coming from the compound and the low flying helicopter that circles the area in search of all intruders.

 The FBI has been called to the scene, the neighbors say, but no action has been taken to end the illegal activity.

 Sentries stand guard at the gates to the estate to turn away all curiosity seekers.

 Within the sentry hut are wide screen televisions that project high resolution images from security cameras.

 Before the hut is a sign that reads “Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center.”

 It’s hard for the local residents to understand that the Muslim who operates this compound is not an American political or intelligence official – but rather a radical Islamist from Turkey.

 Gulen fled Turkey in 1998 to avoid prosecution on charges that he was attempting to undermine Turkey’s secular government with the objective of establishing an Islamic government. Since his arrival in Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security has been trying to deport him. But in 2008 a federal court ruled that Gulan was an individual with “extraordinary ability in the field of education” who merited permanent residence status in the U.S.

 The ruling remains quizzical because Gulen has no formal education or training.
Gulen, according to the Middle East Quarterly, was a student and follower of Sheikh Sa'id-i Kurdi (1878-1960), also known as Sa'id-i Nursi, the founder of the Islamist Nur (light) movement. After Turkey's war of independence, Kurdi demanded, in an address to the new parliament, that the new republic be based on Islamic principles. He turned against Atatürk and his reforms and against the new modern, secular, Western republic.

How powerful is Gulen? And why is he such a threat to America and the Western world?

Consider this:

 Turkey is now ruled by the Justice and Democratic Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, AKP)- - a party under the Gulen’s control. Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s first Islamist President, is a Gulen disciple along with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Yusuf Ziya Ozcan, the head of Turkey’s Council of Higher Education.

 Under the AKP, Turkey has transformed from a secular state into an Islamic country with 85,000 active mosques – one for every 350- citizens – the highest number per capita in the world, 90,000 imams, more imams than teachers and physicians – and thousands of state-run Islamic schools.
Despite the rhetoric of European Union accession, Turkey has transferred its alliance from Europe and the United States to Russia and Iran. It has moved toward friendship with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria and created a pervasive anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-America animus throughout the populace.

 Speaking on Monday at the inauguration ceremony of "TRT al Turkiye," the new channel of the state run TV station TRT, Prime Minister Erdogan said Turkey will always be on the side of Muslims wherever they are.
Gulen’s tentacles stretch throughout the country since his followers, known as Fethullahists, have gained control of the country’s media outlets, its financial institutions and banks, and its business organizations.

 According to Bayram Balci, a Turkish scholar, the Gulen schools that have been established throughout the world seek to expand “the Islamization of Turkish nationality and the Turification of Islam” in order to bring about a universal caliphate ruled by Islamic law.

 Several countries have outlawed the establishment of Gulen schools and cemaats (communities) within their borders – including Russia and Uzbekistan. Even the Netherlands, a nation that embraces pluralism and tolerance, has opted to cut funding to the Gulen schools because of their imminent threat to the social order.

 But Gulen’s activities in the United States, including the establishment of an armed fortress in the midst of the Pocono Mountains, have escaped national press attention.

 In his public statements, Gulen espouses a liberal version of Sunni/Hanafi Islam and promotes the Muslim notion of hizmet – altruistic service to the common good.

 Despite the paramilitary training at his Pocono fortress, Gulen has condemned terrorism and called for interfaith dialogue. He has met with Pope John Paul II, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos, and Israeli Sephardic Head Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron.

 In private, Gulen has stated that “in order to reach the ideal Muslim society ‘every method and path is acceptable, [including] lying to people.’”
In a sermon that was aired on Turkish television, Gulen said:

 You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers … until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this. If they do something prematurely, the world will crush our heads, and Muslims will suffer everywhere, like in the tragedies in Algeria, like in 1982 [in] Syria … like in the yearly disasters and tragedies in Egypt. The time is not yet right. You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it … You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey … Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside. The work to be done is [in] confronting the world. Now, I have expressed my feelings and thoughts to you all—in confidence … trusting your loyalty and secrecy. I know that when you leave here—[just] as you discard your empty juice boxes, you must discard the thoughts and the feelings that I expressed here.

 Why has the federal government opted to turn a blind eye to Gulen and his mountain fortress?

 Why have Gulen’s madrassahs been kept under the radar screen of Hoimeland Security?

 Why have the CIA and FBI allowed Gulen to wreck havoc and topple secular governments without interruption or intervention?
The questions beg answers.

 www.FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Paul L. Williams is the author of The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World, The Al Qaeda Connection, and other best-selling books. He is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR. Visit his website at http://thelastcrusade.org.

Back to top:

" Obama The Muslim: by Major Gen. Jerry Curry 07/27/2010 "

My mother believed in “common sense” testing. She said if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck and acts like a duck; it’s a duck. She believed that actions speak louder than words and that only a liar said one thing and then did the opposite.
Would President Obama pass my mother’s “is he a Muslim” test? Let’s see. President Obama says there is nothing more beautiful than the Muslim call to prayer in the evening. He says that the United States was not founded as a Christian nation.
Obama’s father and step-father were Muslims and he spent his childhood living in a Muslim country where his school enrollment records say his religion is Islam. As President of the United States he genuflects to the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia but not the Christian Queen of England. He thumbs his nose at America’s friends and bows to its enemies. In short, Obama quacks like a Muslim, waddles like a Muslim and acts like a Muslim, so is he a Muslim? My mother would say, “Yes! He’s a Muslim through and through.”
Growing up as a Muslim, Obama must have learned that according to the Qur’an it is acceptable to lie, deceive and live by a double standard provided in so doing one advances Islamic goals. Muslims only pretend to trust and be friends with non-Muslims; in the deepest of their Muslim hearts they have been taught that all non-Muslims are infidels.
Speaking of double standards, Saudi Arabia is building mosques all over the world and Muslims are hoping to build a 13 story mosque at “Ground Zero” in New York City. At the same time, Islam’s double standard mandates that no non-Muslim churches be built in Saudi Arabia or other Islamic countries.
A good example of this double standard principle in action was Yasser Arafat. He could seemingly enter into genuine peace negotiations with the United States and Israel and, at the same time; lie about it with complete sincerity. Routinely he made all sorts of promises and pronouncements in English, and the very next day said the exact opposite to an Arabic audience -- perhaps to him it wasn’t really lying, just being faithful to the teachings of the Qur’an.
Is it because President Obama is secretly a Muslim that he can so sincerely pretend, like Arafat, that his actions and policies have never put a strain on U.S. Israeli relations? “If you look at every public statement I have made it has been a constant reaffirmation of the special relationship between the United States and Israel.” This is like President Clinton saying that it depends on what the meaning of is is.
In 2005 the U.S. promised Israel, in writing, that in future negotiations with the Palestinians we would not insist that Israel withdraw to its pre-1967 borders. But last year the Obama Administration said that that promise would no longer be honored.
In the past, both Democrat and Republican Administrations have insisted that negotiations be based on a two-state solution, which means that for Palestinian refugees
there can be no open “right of return” to Israel
With open immigration the number of Palestinians living in Israel would quickly overwhelm the number of Jews, and soon the Jewish state would cease to exist. Candidate Obama, while running for president, made it clear that he did not support a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees. But now that he’s president, he has reneged on that promise.

Months ago Obama promised to send 1,500 National Guard troops to the Arizona border and to spend at least $500 million on border security. Gov. Brewer is still waiting for the troops and money to arrive.
In a recent Muslim-double-standard speech, President Obama bragged that the southwest American border is as safe as it has ever been. But at the same time his Administration was putting up signs warning American citizens to stay away from the Arizona border area because, “SMUGGLING AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY BE ENCOUNTERED IN THIS AREA.”
Is Obama a Muslim? You make the call.
________________________________________
Major Gen. Jerry R. Curry (US Army Ret.) Ph.D. is a decorated combat veteran, Army Aviator, Paratrooper and Ranger who has served his country both in the military and as a Presidential appointee in three administrations. He is also the author of "From Private to General" (Believe Books)

Back to top:

" SCORE ONE FOR FREEDOM!!! "

1. "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~Thomas Jefferson
2. Those who trade liberty for security have neither. ~John Adams
3. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
4. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them....
6. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.
7. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.
8. Know guns, know peace, know safety.... No guns, no peace, no safety.
9. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
10. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
11. 64,999,987 legal firearms owners murdered no one yesterday.
12. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.
13. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
14. What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you NOT understand?
15. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.
16. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.
17. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/28/high-courts-big-ruling-for-gun-rights/

Back to top:

"April 9, 2010
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Foreign Affairs
Chet Nagle  

 The lapdog congress, tailored to our imperial White House, has produced a garment made of health care. Unfortunately, that very expensive suit may come apart at the seams, and the administration may find they are needful of new clothes. So the administration has decided foreign affairs are just the ticket. As a result, and because members of the Obama administration are leaders and statesmen in name only, American foreign policy is now in shambles on every continent. Why do the incompetents persist?

 Disastrous White House foreign policy initiatives are typified by the discourtesy shown Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent state visit. Results of that Chicago-style diplomacy are already apparent. This week the head of Israel’s important Defense Forces Planning Directorate, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, will visit China to meet senior officers of the Chinese defense establishment. The State Department and the White House insist that visit is just to convince the Chinese to back sanctions on Iran, and it is not designed to repair Israel’s military relations with China, frozen for the last four years at U.S. request. And no way would Israel sell China any of its superior weapons technology. Still, Gen. Eshel will be greeted with full military honors in China, just as Chinese generals will be honored during their reciprocal visits to Israel. Additionally, rumors abound of more Israeli visits to Russia.

 Mindless of that, Washington keeps pushing the “reset button” to make Moscow smile. For example, a tiny Associated Press release on 18 March said the White House has authorized American troops to march in a Red Square parade on May 9th. It seems the administration wants our troops to salute Lenin’s tomb during what the Kremlin promises will be a huge “Victory Day” celebration. White House Press Secretary Gibbs has yet to mention American troops honoring Russia, nor has he commented on Russian nuclear bombers routinely buzzing Alaska and overflying Britain. American foreign policy disasters are endless. A few more examples:

• The abrupt cancellation, applauded by Russia, of missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic designed to protect European democracies from Iran’s missiles. Governments of two allies were damaged and embarrassed.

• The state visit to Australia, cancelled so the president could promote his healthcare bill at home. The government of Australia was hurt.

• The cancellation of President Obama’s attendance at the May U.S./EU Summit in Madrid, ensuring that high level meeting would not be held. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy are slighted and angry.

• The over-flights of the U.S. border by Mexican military helicopters. Danger to citizens near that border is downplayed by the Department of Homeland Security, as is the murder of two Americans in Mexico.

• The $35 billion contract to replace our fleet of aged refueling aircraft. Europe’s EADS consortium (France, Spain, Britain and Germany) partners of Northrop Grumman, have the best aircraft. Lobbied by Boeing, the administration directed the Pentagon to change the rules and eliminate EADS. French President Sarkozy has made it clear, in subtle Gallic fashion, that he considers the leadership of the United States to be dolts, from top to bottom.

• There is START, latest nuclear arms reduction treaty negotiated with Russia. Aware the White House desperately needs foreign policy successes, Moscow got what they wanted in the negotiations. We do not know just how bad it is because details of the proposed treaty are largely being kept secret. The Senate, after November’s elections, may save us.

• There is Washington’s corrupt boss of Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai. Fearing an honest vote, Karzai said U.S. and UN forces were influencing elections in order to end his wobbling reign. He even threatened to join the Taliban. The White House said his statement was “genuinely troubling.”

• The pressure by the State Department on Honduras to return deposed Manuel Zelaya to power. An ally of Hugo Chávez, Zelaya is opposed by the Honduran congress, Supreme Court, church and army, all of whom legally deposed him according to Article 239 of the Honduran constitution.

• And then there is Argentina, Britain, and the assassination of the “special relationship,” the Obama administration’s worst blunder in 15 months.

 In 1982, Argentina’s junta invaded the British Falkland Islands. The islanders are English speakers who want nothing to do with the unstable, mismanaged, and failed state of Argentina, so they asked their mother country to save them. Margaret Thatcher sent the Royal Navy. The Brits shed their blood and took back their islands – and that was that. Until last month when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointlessly reopened an issue settled for 30 years. She said Britain should negotiate the status of British land with Argentina, a bankrupt nation thirsting for oil deposits reputed to lie below the Falklands.

 Why did Secretary Clinton do that? Why did the White House send the bust of Churchill back to England? No room in the basement? Why did they respond to Prime Minister Brown’s thoughtful gift with a set of DVDs that cannot be played on UK equipment? Why did they give Queen Elizabeth an iPod loaded with presidential speeches? Some say these actions were because of British sins in Kenya, the president’s ancestral homeland that the Brits once ruled (1895-1963). Whatever the reason for all the animosity shown to Britain, it has finally come to a head.

 Last week a committee of the British parliament officially noted the history of the Obama administration’s churlish actions and declared the “special relationship,” forged in the fire of the Second World War, was now ended. Old friend Bruce Anderson wrote in London’s Independent: “We British not only speak the same language. We tend to think the same way. We are more likely than anyone else to provide tea, sympathy and troops.” Whether the White House intentionally killed the special relationship or was just careless, it will take a new and very capable American government to bring it back to life.

 If all this damage was done by the White House and State Department to insure reelection, it might be understandable. But how could so many disasters help? Will not the voters realize the growing danger to the safety of America and of Western civilization? It seems American foreign policy now caters to left wing liberals, or it is short-sighted, or it is simply managed by incompetents who care nothing for the national interest. Or all three. But whatever the reasons, no one in the world now trusts, fears, or respects the United States.

 www.FamilySecurityMatters.org  Contributing editor Chet Nagle is a Naval Academy graduate and Cold War carrier pilot who flew in the Cuban Missile Crisis. After a stint as a navy research officer, he joined International Security Affairs as a Pentagon civilian – then came defense and intelligence work, life abroad for 12 years as an agent for the CIA, and extensive time in Iran, Oman, and many other countries. Along the way, he graduated from the Georgetown University Law School and was the founding publisher of a geo-political magazine, The Journal of Defense & Diplomacy, read in over 20 countries and with a circulation of 26,000. At the end of his work in the Middle East, he was awarded the Order of Oman in that allied nation’s victory over communist Yemen; now, he writes and consults. He and his wife Dorothy live in Virginia.

Back to top:

April 6, 2010 A Looming Policy Disaster of Titanic Proportions

James Carafano, PhD, Presidential Policy: Does It Make the Grade?

 The White House Iran policy is sinking faster than the Titanic. Indeed, at this rate the bumper sticker “Obama’s Iran Policy,” could supplant “Titanic” as the universal metaphor for disaster.

 Last week the president’s policy looked particularly bad. Clearly, the White House effort to engage regime in Tehran got a firm rebuttal from Iranian President Ahmadinejad. In a recent speech he literally mocked Obama’s diplomacy. “What changed? Your sanctions were lifted? The adverse propaganda was stopped? The pressure was alleviated? Did you change your attitude in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine?” He then added that U.S. threats of sanctions made him more determined to proceed with the country’s nuclear program. "You should know that the more hostile you are, the stronger an incentive our people will have, it will double," he said.
The White House tried to save face by arguing it had to try the friendship route first, to show other countries how different they were from the Bush administration and to get the UN Security Council on board for tougher sanctions. Sadly, that looks like little more than wishful thinking. Real sanctions look pretty unlikely.

 Real sanctions in the UN Security Council would require the support of China. That does not look like something that is going to happen. To underscore that point, last week Tehran dispatched a senior diplomat to Beijing. The Iranian official declared the “wrong policies” adopted by the world powers have paved the ground for greater bilateral ties between Tehran and Beijing.

 If sanctions happen at all, they are likely to be nothing more than symbolic. No doubt if that happens, Washington will declare a win. That victory lap will not be earned according Heritage Middle East expert Jim Phillips. He wrote recently that “some have argued that such watered-down sanctions have symbolic importance in isolating Iran. But such symbolic wrist slaps are unlikely to impress Iran’s thuggish regime. And the glacial pace of negotiations at the UN Security Council means that any actions taken are likely to be too little, too late. Iran has made steady progress on its nuclear program and will amass enough low enriched uranium by late July to arm a nuclear weapon if it is enriched to higher levels.”
President Obama’s grade for this week is “F” for failing to admit that his Iran policy is failing.
www.FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is a leading expert in defense affairs, intelligence, military operations and strategy, and homeland security at the Heritage Foundation.

Back to top:

" Think about this: "

1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments


--------------------------------------------------------------

COWS
 Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.
--------------------------------------------------------------

CONSTITUTION
 They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq ... Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

--------------------------------------------------------------
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

 The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a government building is this --you cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of politicians .... it creates a hostile work environment.

--------------------------------------------------------------
 Also, think about this ... if you don't want to send this URL to your friends for fear of offending someone -- YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM! It is time for America to speak up!

Back to top:

"Andy Stern’s America"

 Andy Stern’s America

 Last night, Politico reported that Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern is expected to resign and, according to The New York Times, the resignation is about to happen very soon. If Stern does resign, he will be doing so while at the top of his game. Stern told The Las Vegas Sun last year: "We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama - $60.7 million to be exact - and we're proud of it." President Obama is well aware of his huge debt to the SEIU. That is why he admits in his autobiography, "I owe those unions." And it also explains why  Stern is the most frequent Obama White House visitor, according to official visitor logs.

 Stern's access to President Obama has already paid huge dividends including: an $862 billion stimulus that prevented states from having to cut-back government union jobs or wages; $2.5 trillion in new government health care spending, much of which will go to unionized health care providers; and the appointment of SEIU associate general counsel Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. The NYT describes the SEIU under Stern's tenure as "the nation’s most politically active union, with 1.9 million members." The marriage of politics to union organizing has been great for SEIU membership, making it the fastest-growing union in America.

 But what has been great for SEIU's membership rolls has not been good for the SEIU's bottom line. Growing union membership through politics is expensive. The Wall Street Journal reports that as recently as 2002, total SEIU liabilities were about $8 million. But by 2008, the union owed more than $156 million, a 30% increase over the $120 million it owed in 2007. And make no mistake, lobbying government is where Stern believes the future of SEIU is. After President Obama's election, SEIU fired 75 national field staff and organizers so that the SEIU could "reallocate resources ... to lobbying and communications in Washington."

 In fact, taking a more critical look at SEIU's recent growth, The Washington Post reports: "some of its biggest gains in recent years were less the result of shoe-leather organizing and more the result of deals with major employers or politicians -- including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich." Specifically, Blagojevich signed a state law handing over 49,000 state child care workers to SEIU local 880, which is run by the notorious community organizing group ACORN. The deal nearly tripled SEIU 880’s income from $7 million in 2005 to $21 million in 2007. This came after SEIU’s Illinois Political Action Committee gave Gov. Blagojevich $908,000, making it the single largest campaign contributor for his re-election campaign.

 It is no coincidence that under Stern's tenure the number of government union members surpassed the number of private sector union members for the first time in our nation's history. There are two reasons for this: 1) Unions kill private sector jobs, and unionized companies earn profits 15% lower than those of comparable non-union firms. This makes unionized firms less competitive, which is why unionized manufacturing jobs fell 75% between 1977 and 2008, while non-union manufacturing INCREASED 6% over that same time. 2) Government union jobs face no competition. Public sector unionization has exploded in the past decade as leaders like Stern realized politics paid much better than the free market. Under Stern's leadership, SEIU has become the nation's second largest government union with over half of its membership drawing a paycheck on the taxpayers dime.

 Explaining how organized labor really works, US Court of Appeals judge for the 7th Circuit Richard Posner recently wrote:
The goal of unions is to redistribute wealth from the owners and managers of firms, and from workers willing to work for very low wages, to the unionized workers and the union’s officers. … Unions, in other words, are worker cartels. … There is also a long history of union corruption. And some union activity is extortionate: the union and the employer tacitly agree that as long as the employer gives the workers a wage increase slightly above the union dues, the union will leave the employer alone.

 Except that in Stern's America, union management no longer redistribute wealth from firms to union members. With the majority of union members now working for the government, Andy Stern and his cohorts are extorting money from you, the taxpayer. And where is that money going? Not into shoring up union member pensions. Those are woefully underfunded. No, the Andy Sterns of the world turn around and use their taxpayer-funded government union dues to lobby for an even larger government that can pay for even more government union jobs. Andy Stern's America is a perpetual government dependency machine.

 And don't think for a second that Stern's retirement means he is gone for good. Stern is still a proud member of President Obama's deficit commission. Complete reliance on government growth, crippling debt, and Blagojevich-style corruption. That is what Andy Stern did to the SEIU, and it is what Stern and President Obama will do to this country.

Back to top:

" Outrage: Obama Administration Targets Military for Pay Reductions "
Sunday, 09 May 2010 11:27 PM

By: Newsmax Wires
President Barack Obama — who came to power with the help of government employee unions across the nation and has lavished on them hundreds of billions in stimulus funds to keep them on federal, state and local payrolls with no strings attached — is moving to cut spending on salaries for military personnel.

This weekend The Washington Post headlined story, "Pentagon Asking Congress to Hold Back on Generous Increases in Troop Pay,” disclosed that the Obama administration is “pleading” with Congress to give military personnel a much smaller increase in pay than lawmakers have proposed.

The Pentagon contends that Congress simply has been too generous with troops during the past decade.

In fact, lawmakers have lavished so much money on troops, according to the Post, that service members are now better compensated than workers in the private sector with similar experience and education levels.

For example, the military brass claims that an average sergeant in the Army with four years of service and one dependent would receive $52,589 in annual compensation, according to the paper. This figure includes basic pay, housing, and subsistence allowances, as well as tax benefits.

Meanwhile, a U.S. postal letter carrier, with no supervisory or hazardous duty, makes approximately $80,000 a year when all benefits are factored in.

Critics of the Obama administration’s efforts to cut soldier’s pay say America’s security has been strengthened by higher pay rates, as qualified veterans are re-enlisting at record rates, reversing the problem the military witnessed just a few years ago.

"Any attempt to link rising military personnel costs with shrinking military readiness is total nonsense," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., who leads the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest and oldest major combat veterans organization.

"If the Defense Department needs a larger budget for personnel programs, then let the VFW carry that message to Congress. Just don't pin the budget blame on service members and military retirees."
Tradewell's ire was targeted this past week at Clifford L. Stanley, the Defense undersecretary of personnel and readiness, who said during recent testimony before the personnel subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee: "Rising personnel costs could dramatically affect the readiness of the department."

"What's hurtful," said Tradewell, a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis., "is a continuing perception that DoD is more concerned about the budget than they are about recruiting and retaining a professional volunteer force that's been at war now for more than eight years."

According to Stanley, last year was the military's most successful recruiting year since the establishment of the all-volunteer force in 1973.

Although advocates for military families argue that the decade-long spending spree reverses severe cuts that the military suffered in the 1990s, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and other military brass fear that the spending will threaten security in the years to come. That will mean less money to buy weapons and maintain aging equipment.

On Saturday, Gates told reporters that massive deficits can impact how the president and policy makers confront emerging threats like Iran.

Lawmakers consistently have overruled the Pentagon and mandated more-generous pay raises than requested by both the Bush and Obama administrations. Congress has also rejected attempts by the Pentagon to slow soaring healthcare costs, which Gates told reporters are "eating us alive," by raising co-pays or premiums.

The military admits the improving compensation for troops is helping retention.

For example, improvements in pay and benefits have made it more likely that sailors will stick around longer, Vice Adm. Mark E. Ferguson III, the chief of naval personnel, told the Post.

A Navy survey last year found that about 60 percent of spouses wanted their sailors to make a career of Navy life, meaning a stint of at least 20 years. In 2005, only about 20 percent of spouses felt the same way.

"I think pay was previously a concern, but it's started to change," Ferguson said. Congress had been "extremely generous" but rising personnel costs were already influencing what the Navy spends to operate, maintain and modernize its fleet, he added.

The Pentagon wants a pay raise of 1.4 percent for service members next year, an increase based on the Employment Cost Index, which the Labor Department uses to measure private-sector salary increases.

Congress, as it has for the past several years, has indicated it favors a slightly bigger bump, of 1.9 percent.

Although that extra half of a percent may not seem like much, one expert told the Post that it would accrue annually and cost about $3.5 billion over the next decade.

But congressional supporters of the men and women in the Armed Services are questioning why they are being singled out for future pay cutbacks when other government agencies and unions are not.

The U.S. Postal Service, for example, is slated to give letter carriers an increase of 1.9 percent this coming year.

And postal employees are considered to be grossly overpaid compared with their private counterparts. A postal supervisor, for example, can make $70,000 or year or more, plus significant benefits.

Last year, Congress had to help fill a $3.8 billion deficit at the federally backed agency, but there has been no discussion of salary cuts for postal employees. Instead, postal officials have focused on reducing service, including Saturday delivery.

© Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Back to top: