Category: Unions

The New Tone Deafness: Public Unions ‘McVeigh In’ With OKC Imagery

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by Smitty

Gateway Pundit links a NewsOK story:

A state senator today blasted a firefighter union television advertisement as “horrific and tasteless” for using images of the Oklahoma City bombing to make a case against his bill.

The advertisement by the International Association of Firefighters began airing today.


The first line of the ad:

“Firefighters and paramedics are sworn to saving lives and protecting property.”

Now, ‘protecting property’ could be construed to mean ‘protecting the value of the property’ without a lot of mental gymnastics. So how does that work, if the funding model for the union benefits bankrupts the community?
A public sector union is a mutiny, and merits all the affection afforded such.

Economic Terror Plan for ‘Redistributing Wealth and Power in the Country’

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Such eminences as Barbara Ehrenreich and Cornel West were featured speakers at Left Forum 2011, a conference held this past weekend at Pace University in New York City. Left Forum traces its history to a series of events first organized as the Socialist Scholars Conference and sponsored by Democratic Socialists of America.

The theme of this year’s Left Forum was “Towards a Politics of Solidarity,” and among the speakers was former SEIU official Stephen Lerner. His shocking presentation was captured on audio and featured at The Blaze and Business Insider. Lerner described his plan for a “10-state mobilization” against J.P. Morgan Chase beginning in May, seeking “to inspire a much bigger movement about redistributing wealth and power in the country.”

“We need to figure out . . . through direct action . . . how we are really trying to disrupt and create uncertainty for capital, for how corporations operate,” Lerner said. “There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.”

Lerner, who spoke on two panels during the conference, suggested encouraging homeowners to stop paying their mortgages. Saying that 10% of “underwater” mortgage borrowers are in “strategic default” — refusing to make payments but taking advantage of delays in the forceclosure process — Lerner said if the number of strategic defaults were doubled “you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.”

Lerner said: “[W]hat would happen if we organized homeowners en masse to do a mortgage strike? If we get half a million people to agree, it would literally cause a new financial crisis for the banks — not for us. We would be doing quite well. We wouldn’t be paying anything.”

Referring to the recent union-led protests in Wisconsin, Lerner envisioned “moving the kind of disruption in Madison . . . to Wall Street,” confronting banks with the accusation that they “stole $17 trillion.”

“We have to think about how, together, we are building something that really has the capacity to disrupt how the system operates,” Lerner said, describing “a very simple strategy” for such a disruption: “How do we bring down the stock market? How do we bring down their bonuses? How do we interfere with their ability to be rich? And that means we have to politically isolate them, economically isolate them  and disrupt them.”

Advocating “brave and heroic battles challenging the power of the giant corporations,” Lerner said that he and others decided that JP Morgan Chase “would be a really good company to hate” and said they “are going to roll out over the next couple of months what would hopefully be an exciting campaign about JP Morgan Chase that is really about challenging the power of Wall Street.”

Describing a weeklong campaign of disruptive “direct action” and “civil disobedience” — tentatively scheduled for the first week in May — Lerner said the disruptive protests would “connect three ideas”: “that we are not broke, there is plenty of money”; “they have the money, we need to get it back”; and that capitalists are using New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “and other people in government as the vehicle to try and  destroy us.”

UPDATE: Lerner was fired from SEIU in November by the union’s new president, Mary Kay Henry. Lerner’s penchant for “disruptive” tactics was displayed last spring, when he organized a mass protest at the Washington, D.C., home of Bank of America official Greg Baer, and Lerner told Nina Easton:

“Millions of people are losing their homes, and they have gone to the banks, which are turning a deaf ear. . . . People in powerful corporations seem to think they can insulate themselves from the damage they are doing.”

As Easton noted, Baer is a lifelong Democrat.

UPDATE II: Linked by If You Seek Peace — thanks! Now a Memeorandum thread with more blog commentary by Kathleen McKinley at Right Wing News, Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom and Jeff Dunetz of Yid With Lid.

UPDATE III: John Sexton at Verum Serum features video of Lerner in a 2009 appearance on Ed Schultz’s MSNBC show:

UPDATE IV: Remember that SEIU was sued for harassment and blackmail last week. And referring to Lerner’s ouster last year from SEIU, Ed Morrissey says:

Apparently, the first rule of Labor Nihilist Club is not to talk about Labor Nihilist Club. The second rule of Labor Nihilist Club? Keep your hands off the union cash, dude.

UPDATE V: It might be tempting to think that Lerner is a fringe kook with no larger influence, but Sam Foster at Left Coast Rebel observes an interesting coincidence: The day before Lerner made his presentation at Pace University, the AFL-CIO announced a new protest campaign against Morgan Chase:

Hundreds of workers, religious leaders, community activists and farm worker advocates rallied and protested in 200 cities across the couintry today to demand that JP Morgan Chase respect the basic human rights of people to have decent places to live and work.
Large banks such as Chase are flush with cash and protestors demanded the bank declare a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chase has $19.5 billion worth of home loans in foreclosure—nearly 7.5 percent of its mortgage portfolio and more than any other big bank.
Nearly 400 people rallied at Chase headquarters in New York City. Speakers stood on the back of a truck with banners declaring “Chase: Morally Bankrupt” and laid out the case that as a result of the bank’s reckless pursuit of profits at any cost, thousands of people have lost their homes.
Today’s protests mark the beginning of a new, intensified campaign leading up to JP Morgan Chase’s annual meeting next month.

Here is the logo of the Left’s anti-Morgan Chase campaign:

Just a coincidence, I’m sure . . .

UPDATE VI: Bryan Preston is not afraid to call this what it is: Domestic terrorism.

UPDATE VII: Linked by Bob Belvedere at Camp of the Saints — thanks! — and thanks also to Bob and another commenter for pointing out this: Stanley Kurtz has documented that it was at the 1983 Socialist Scholars Conference that Obama became a convert to Alinksy-style “community organizing.” Obama was then a Columbia University senior, and among the participants in the SSC (forerunner of the Left Forum) were Frances Fox Piven and James Cone, “theological mentor” to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The full story is told in Kurtz’s recent book, Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism.

Mandatory Binding Arbitration

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That’s the only possible solution to the ongoing labor dispute at Three Beers Later, where Richard McEnroe was forced to cross his own picket line, established in solidarity with the unpaid HuffPo bloggers.

My worst fear is that Richard’s militant labor unrest against himself will inspire Smitty and Wombat to begin demanding a 10% increase of their pay and even though 10% of nothing isn’t all that much, I must refuse their demand on principle.

Because this is a greedy capitalist blog. When I finally figure out a way to fully monetize the value of our traffic, I’ll cut my co-bloggers a check before I jet off to my private Caribbean island. In the meantime, the floggings will increase until morale improves.

So you see why I’ll be keeping a close eye on the continuing crisis at Three Beers Later, where rumor has it that their management may be bringing in scabs.

SEIU Sued for ‘Harassment’

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And about damned time:

Sodexo USA has filed the lawsuit in an attempt to halt the over-the-top harassment from SEIU, alleging that many of the acts are very serious and outside of the normal realm of union tactics, including acts of ” SEIU blackmail, vandalism, trespass, harassment, and lobbying law violations designed to steer business away from Sodexo USA and harm the company.” . . .
SEIU has been incessantly battering Sodexo since 2007, in its desire to unionize some of its nearly 400,000 employees, many of them hotel and food service workers. . . .
Sodexo USA has filed the lawsuit in an attempt to halt the over-the-top harassment from SEIU, alleging that many of the acts are very serious and outside of the normal realm of union tactics, including acts of ”SEIU blackmail, vandalism, trespass, harassment, and lobbying law violations designed to steer business away from Sodexo USA and harm the company.” . . .

Read the whole thing at Big Government. Smitty has always said that a labor union is a mutiny awaiting its opportunity.

In E-Mail to Dan Riehl, Shankman Claims ‘Very Mainstream Catholic Theology’

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This is a very significant message from Wisconsin pro-union cyberstalker James L. Shankman:

With regards to distributivism, it is very mainstream catholic theology. You could ask James O’Keefe, who says he is personally inspired by G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton is the main political philosopher of distributivism. The last couple pages of What’s Wrong With the World are instructive here. Someone equated distributivism with liberation theology, which is not the case. Distributivism is the stance that the church endorses AGAINST liberation theology, and you can see this in the theology of pope benedict during his disputes with the liberation theologians.

You see from this paragraph that Shankman is not casually or superficially acquainted with the doctrines by which he justifies his radical politics. No, indeed: He appears well-versed in the literature of “distributivism,” cites the works of Chesterton, alludes to Ratzinger. (Although I detect nothing like “distributivism” in Ratzinger’s 1984 “Instruction” against liberation theology, perhaps I’m overlooking something.)  

Now, go back and read my Friday post about Shankman’s religious/economic views, including his citing of Rerum Novarum. Also read the commenters disputing Shankman’s interpretation (or my interpretation) of Catholic “social teaching” on economics. The point is that these doctrines are subject to interpretation, and Shankman’s angry radicalism is an interpretation that many Catholics do indeed adopt. (Richard Trumka, for example.)

“Yeah, but Shankman’s just a kook,” many people will say. Indeed, but the specific content of his madness cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. Kook though he may be, Shankman says that his beliefs are “very mainstream Catholic theology.” If he believes that this justifies his threats — “WE WILL F*** YOU UP” — then I suggest we take his beliefs seriously. Before somebody gets hurt.

UPDATE: Mises on ‘Christian Socialism’

Dan Riehl Always Gets His Man: Madison Althouse Stalker James L. Shankman UPDATE: Social F–ing Justice Theory? Shankman Quotes … Pope Leo XIII!

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Hey, did I call this one or what?

I’d expect online research maestro Dan Riehl is going to have much, much more to tell us about Mr. Shankman.

As soon as Shankman was ID’d as author of the anti-Althouse rant, Dan’s name crossed my mind and within a couple hours he was on the phone with Shankman:

Shankman is currently unemployed, claims to not be a member of a union and says he most often works as a dishwasher when employed. He insists that he does not advocate for violence and in some ways sought to distance himself from his “manifesto,” while also acknowledging authorship. He says he’s done with the issue and was simply giving voice to thoughts and rhetoric he “regularly hears in the street.”
“I’m done with it,” said Shankman . . .

Damn right you’re “done with it,” Jim — just like a cockroach is done feeding on crumbs when somebody turns on the kitchen light.

Go read the rest of Dan Riehl’s interview, and I’ll be back in a few minutes to tell you what’s been going on behind the refrigerator where this roach has been hiding.

UPDATE: On Althouse’s original post, commenter “Mike” wrote:

Kim’s the dean over at Benedictine college, we could always let her know what her son is up to.

That was one little tidbit I checked out last night, but it seemed like a long run for a short slide, so I dropped it and moved on to other things.

However, public records show that Jim Shankman has an address in Atchison, Kansas, and Kimberly Shankman, Ph.D. is dean of Benedictine College,  1020, N. 2nd St., Atchison, Kansas. A conservative, Dr. Shankman has written for the Claremont Institute, and was recently awarded a St. Thomas Aquinas Fellowship from a Catholic educational foundation.

Those who saw Shankman’s now-defunct Facebook page (see commenters at The Underground Conservative) say it indicated that Dr. Shankman was, indeed, his mother. If so, one wonders what went so horribly wrong in Jim Shankman’s life that the son of an eminent conservative Catholic academic became a ranting moonbat — and itinerant dishwasher — in Madison, Wisconsin.

More to the story? You betcha!

UPDATE II: Longtime readers know that, as a student of Mises and Hayek (and Calvinistic Protestant), I have from time to time criticized the Catholic “social justice” teachings of Rerum Novarum, Centesimus Annus, etc.

Grant that the Christian in business should think in terms of the Golden Rule, striving to deal righteously with his fellow man; nevertheless this obligation does not create “worker’s rights” in the sense that secular liberals conceive that term. And if the AFL-CIO is an agent of divine Providence, it is so only in the sense that Jehovah employed the Babylonians to smite ancient Israel. A wrathful God sometimes uses the heathen to chastise His straying children. But I digress . . .

It is interesting, in light of Catholic “social justice” theory, to find this in Dan Riehl’s interview with Jim Shankman:

While denying he is a socialist, or Marxist, Shankman labeled his economic ideology “distributionist.” He believes we should divide the wealth of America across the population “so that everyone can buy a house,” feed and support themselves, starting over from there based upon some concept modeled somewhat after Catholic charity.

Well, that was a quick Google search away:

Distributism (also known as distributionism, distributivism) is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc to apply the principles of Catholic social teaching articulated by the Catholic Church, especially in Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum and more expansively explained by Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Quadragesimo Anno.

So you see that Shankman’s adoption of this dangerous (and I dare say heretical) Catholic doctrine was what inspired his obscenity-filled rant against Ann Althouse: “God told me to f*** you up!”

(Aside: How did Chesterton get mixed up in this daft scheme? And what would G.K. say to find Shankman his self-proclaimed disciple?)

From Mises we learn that, ultimately, “Christian socialism” is . . . socialism. So it is just a different sort of good intentions that pave the proverbial road to a familiar and unfortunate destination. (“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man . . .”)

His mind darkened by this “distributionist” folly, Shankman ranted that advocates of economic liberty are “unkind, unChristian and anti-American.” As though those grim Calvinists who sought to make this land a “shining city on a hill” were un-American, you see. 

But come back in a bit. I’m not finished yet.

UPDATE III: Invariably, my many Catholic readers (who so often praise my writings on family issues) are offended when my aim is directed at their church’s “social justice” teaching. It would be a sin of omission on my part, however, if I did not speak out against this dangerous doctrine that seems to have filled Jim Shankman with so much self-righteous rage against Ann Althouse.

It would be wrong to bite my tongue merely to flatter those who, with “itching ears,” will not “endure sound doctrine.”

Now, I’m not blaming  Leo XIII or JPII for the Madison dishwasher’s anti-Althouse rant, nor saying that any other Catholics is complicit in Shankman’s spectacular application of the New Motherf–ing Tone. I do say, however, that Shankman’s left-wing “distributionist” mentality is a plausible interpretation of Rerum Novarum, and that therefore we ought to take seriously his demented beliefs.

The Catholic/Marxists who propagated heretical “liberation theology” also thought themselves divinely sanctioned to support the Sandinistas. They were taken seriously, and not dismissed as mere “kooks.” Yet how many American Catholics today support the Obama agenda on similar “social justice” grounds as Shankman? Tens of millions, I’d estimate.

“Jeez, what a pathetic loser,” Professor Reynolds says of Shankman, and Jim Hoft says, “The dude is nuts.”

As with Jared Loughner’s Zeitgeist obsession, it’s too easy to dismiss as insignificant or irrelevant the particular content of a crackpot’s madness, especially when so many seemingly “sane” people believe the same crazy things. Not every “social justice” fanatic posts hate-filled rants on the Internet, and not every 9/11 Truther turns into Jared Loughner (or Charlie Sheen). But if ideas have consequences, as Richard Weaver taught us, then bad ideas have bad consequences —  Judge Maryann Sumi’s restraining order, to cite an obvious example.

The Religious Left collects millions of dollars to propagate its heretical heaven-on-earth political gospel, poisoning the minds of gullible young people like Jim Shankman.

And yet not one of them ever hit my tip jar. Talk about “social injustice” — I’m a father of six. It’s for the children!

UPDATE IV: From the cache of Shankman’s Facebook page:

The source is quoted accurately, if out of context: Leo XIII’s so-called “just wage” doctrine from Rerum Novarum:

45. Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.

To explain what’s wrong with that, as basic economics, would require a long argument. But it is wrong: There is no “just wage,” nor is there a “fair price.” 

Most of you are reading this blog for free — a relative handful of readers ever hit the tip jar — but this does not make me “the victim of force and injustice.” I’m just a clueless chump who hasn’t figured out a better scheme to monetize the full value of his blog traffic. If I ever find a way to de-chump myself, I’ll let you know in my final post before jetting off to my private island in the Caribbean.

But in the meantime, hit the tip jar, Ye Tight-Fisted Overlords of the Internet. I’m sure Mises or Hayek addressed themselves to this “just wage” fallacy somewhere. Maybe one of the oppressed peasants in the comments will link to a relevant treatise, just as one commenter already tipped me to this Facebook item.

New Motherf–g Tone Update: ‘A Sense of Entitlement That Leads to Criminality’ UPDATE: Althouse Cyberstalker Says ‘Forced to Commit Identity Suicide’

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UPDATE 10:55 p.m.: The terroristic screed against University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse was posted on a Web account of Madison resident Jim Shankman. In a Facebook status update about 9 p.m. this evening, Shankman wrote:

Because of a right-blogosphere campaign to silence me, I have been forced to commit Identity Suicide. I have never supported or advocated violence for any purpose other than self-defense against terror attacks by the armed wing of the American Right….

A “campaign to silence” you, Jim? And what was your obscenity-filled rant against Professor Althouse?

What’s that? You’ll have to speak up, Jim. We can’t hear you for all those crickets chirping. (Hat-tip: Sarah W.)

UPDATE 12:15 a.m ET Friday: The Underground Conservative has info on the Madison “housing cooperative” associated with Shankman.

Linked by Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit and Bryan Preston at PJ Tatler — thanks! One of the lessons here, by the way, goes back to the outing of anti-Palin blogger Jesse Griffin: You can blog anything you want, under any name you want, but if you think you can do attack-blogging anonymously, you’d better think twice. All it took was one e-mail tip that “Gryphen” was Griffin — a kindergarten teaching assistant — and as fast as you could say, “screen-cap those archives,” it was over.

Speaking of which: Just got off the phone with Dan Riehl, who just got off the phone with Shankman.

PREVIOUSLY (6:39 p.m. ET):

The quoted phrase in the headline is from Professor Glenn Reynolds, reacting to the terroristic screed that someone in Madison, Wisconsin, unleashed against Professor Ann Althouse.

By all means, please go read the whole thing and then tell me that the rhetoric of “workers’ rights” is not a discourse of hateful envy that poisons the souls of young people who succumb to its siren song.

We have seen this before in American history. The lesson is a bit too close to home — and a bit too fresh in memory — for me to let it pass unmentioned.  The privileged never surrender privilege willingly. They employ demagogic appeals to rally others to their self-interested “cause” by demonizing those who dare challenge them. And if someone gets hurt in the process, if some of those duped by the demagoguery decide to turn wrathful words into violent deeds . . .

Madison has become the Neshoba County, Mississippi, of this season. “Workers’ rights” is the Jim Crow of 2011 and government-employee unions are the new Klan.

Yeah. I wrote that. And put it on the Internet.

The New Tone: Because It’s Not ‘Hate’ When Liberals Do It!

UPDATE: Bryan Preston explains why it’s difficult for Althouse to bring this case to the police:

All it will take is one officer involved in the case who is a bit more of a union man than an police officer, and you have a potential problem.

Hmmm. Another parallel to Neshoba County, you see: Because the sheriff’s department there in 1964 included Klan members, the law protected the lawless and no one would protect the innocent. Maybe someone should bring in the U.S. Department of Justice and . . .

Oh, wait. Never mind. Bobby Kennedy, he ain’t.

UPDATE II: The Underground Conservative asserts that the author of the anti-Althouse manifesto is Jim Shankman. And I’d expect online research maestro Dan Riehl is going to have much, much more to tell us about Mr. Shankman.

UPDATE III: Linked by Dad29 — thanks! By the way, Dad29’s reference to Mississippi Burning reminds me of how much I hated that movie, which oversimplified the actual story to turn it into a moralistic melodrama. A native Atlantan of Alabama ancestry, I’ve spent my whole life under the stereotypical shadow of movies like Mississippi Burning and Deliverance. But if you complain about such media distortions, you’ll next be accused of being pro-lynching and here’s never an end to it.

UPDATE IV: Underground Conservative has a photo of Shankman and his friend, Anna Louise Ogden-Nussbaum. While I have not independently verified the ID of Shankman as the author of that screed, there is certainly evidence that Shankman and Odgen-Nussbaum are lefties. On March 11, Ogden-Nussbaum posted a thank-you on a Facebook link about calls for a “general strike” in Wisconsin.

UPDATE V: Death threats against a Republican state senator in Wisconsin.

UPDATE VI: Ogden-Nussaum’s leftist leanings can be seen in a December 2002 story in the Madison Capital Times about more than 500 local residents who signed a “Not in Our Name” ad against the Iraq war. Here is a January 2003 press release from “Not in Our Name” Madison. In case you didn’t know, “Not in Our Name” is an anti-war front group established by Clark Kissinger, ex-SDS national leader and member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a Maoist sect.

UPDATE VII: More info: Shankman and Ogden-Nussbaum are evidently co-proprietors of a Web site called “Free University of the General Strike.” The concept of the “general strike” (and the allied concept of “direct action”) are associated with anarcho-syndicalism, the chief U.S. proponents of which were the IWW.

So it seems that what we’ve got here is a couple of 21st-century Wobblies.

The mind reels . . .

UPDATE VIII: If this terroristic screed results in criminal charges against Ogden-Nussbaum, she could beat the rap with an insanity plea. Madison Capital Times, Aug. 30, 2004:

Anna Ogden-Nussbaum took part in one of the protests that produced many arrests. She rode her bicycle in a “Critical Mass ride” opposing the Republican National Convention and was detained with more than 200 others, her mother, Jenie Ogden, said in Madison this morning.
Ogden said that her daughter, who turned 21 when while being held in a lockup in lower Manhattan, was charged with disorderly conduct and parading without a permit.

“Your honor, my client cannot be held responsible for her actions. She was clearly experiencing an acute episode of Post-Traumatic Bush Derangement Syndrome . . .”

UPDATE IX: Ogden-Nussbaum’s mother is also a kook lefty. Anna’s lawyer can use this as evidence of hereditary moonbatitis.

Linked by The Lonely Conservative and at Piece of Work in Progress — thanks! Memeorandum has more, including the Volokh Conspiracy.


It’s the New Motherf–ing Tone!

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A spontaneous orchestrated outbreak of civility in Tennessee:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Seven union supporters were arrested and charged following an outburst inside a Senate Committee Hearing.
Troopers at the Tennessee Capitol had to forcibly carry out the protestors who were among a group who stood up during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday and began chants about what they called “union busting” by the state Legislature.
Most demonstrators left the hearing room after about 30 minutes, but a small group tried to lock arms to keep from being removed.
“I see civil disobedience as an obligation that we have when we see injustices in the world,” said protester Jared Story.

And who gets to decide which “injustices” oblige us to disrupt legislative proceedings? Because I considered it an “injustice” when the administration screwed over GM’s private bond-holders to give the UAW a bigger slice of the company.

Never mind: Somebody’s shooting at Republicans in D.C. Civility!

The New Tone: Because It’s Not ‘Hate’ When Liberals Do It!