By: Chuck Muth
Citizen Outreach

ACU CALLS ON SOUTHERS TO BOW OUT

American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene yesterday called on Erroll Southers, the Obama Administration pick to head the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), to step forward and withdraw his nomination.

Keene expressed outrage over reports that Errol Southers while an FBI agent used his power to gain access to confidential government criminal records in an attempt to gather private, personal information on his then-estranged wife’s new boyfriend.

“Mr. Southers has demonstrated in the past that he has little regard for the sanctity of information on individuals collected and held by the government,” said ACU Chairman David Keene, “To appoint a man head of an agency like TSA which has access to incredible amounts of personal information on individual citizens is simply unacceptable. His appointment would send exactly the wrong signal to those entrusted to handle such information and would inevitably create a culture that tolerates abuse of the rights of those the agency is sworn to protect. Southers has demonstrated a reckless disregard for privacy rights which should disqualify him.”

Also, ACU notes that Erroll Southers chose to mislead Congress regarding his past activities and then argued that since his illegal snooping took place some years ago it shouldn’t disqualify him now. That defense, said Keene, is “laughable.”

WHAT REID HATH WROUGHT

“The Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate reportedly are planning on finalizing their differing health care “reform” bills in secret. That’s right. They’re kicking out the C-SPAN cameras and planning on huddling behind closed doors with a few Obama Administration power brokers to transform the American health care system. . . . And so it has come to this: A massive bill, compiled in secret, negotiated through corruption, and passed by a party-line vote, will now be finalized in secret.”

– Newt Gingrich

SOME ARE CREATED MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

“(D)uring this economic downturn, 6 percent of those in the private sector have lost their jobs, while public sector employment has dipped only 1 percent. . . . Union members account for only 7.6 percent of the private sector, but a whopping 40 percent of public employees.”

– Paul Jacob of Citizens in Charge

JUDGE ISSUES PROTECTIVE ORDER FOR ORGANIZED LABOR

“In another example of why unions are antithetical to good government, a pliant, left-wing judge in California has ruled that the Schwarzenegger Administration cannot furlough state workers that belong to three powerful public employees unions. . . . What we see here is these union thugs actually preventing the proper and necessary measures to reign in state spending.

“And what is the state spending? OUR TAXES! So, what we have are unions making sure that wild, unproductive, and wasteful spending of our taxes continues and they are using the force of left-wing, compliant courts to do it. Unions are essentially stealing our taxes.”

– Warner Todd Huston of The Union Label Blog

HERE’S AN IDEA, LET’S SCREW NON-UNION CONSTRUCTION FIRMS

“(S)mall employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the employer mandate requiring them to provide insurance to their employees. But, for the construction industry, the rules are different! Specifically, the Senate bill limits this exemption to companies with five or fewer employees, not 50!

“That’s right! In any other business you’re exempt from the employer mandate if you have 50 or fewer employees. But if you’re a contractor and have as few as six employees you must provide insurance coverage for all your employees! Sound bizzarre? What about this Bill isn’t?”

– Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.)

THE CASE AGAINST GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE UNIONS

“By making the union a full and equal partner at the bargaining table, compulsory public-sector bargaining laws deprive the public of its right to participate in policy making. . . . Moreover, to the extent that public employees gain power through recognition and collective bargaining, other interest groups with a right to a voice in the running of the government may be left out of vital political decisions. . . . All citizens have the right to associate in groups to advocate their special interests to the government. It is something entirely different to grant any one interest group special status and access to the decision-making process.”

– David Denholm at the Public Service Research Foundation

MUTH’S TRUTHS

  • Yesterday, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced he would not be seeking re-election next year. Today, Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will also announce their decisions not run again next fall. This after numerous Democrat House member have announced their retirements and one actually going so far as to change parties and joining the GOP? Does anyone else feel a wave building?
  • The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that “Ford posted a 33% rise in December U.S. car sales,” while “Chrysler posted a 3.7% decline and said its full-year sales were the worst the auto maker had seen in 47 years” and “General Motors posted a 5.7% decline.” Let’s see: Ford didn’t take bailout money, Chrysler did and the U.S. government now effectively owns GM. Go figure.

FED-EXCESS

“Someone give me a break. I, as a Fedex courier have never flown, nor will I ever fly an airplane. I can’t even jump seat. I do the same job as every UPS driver out there. I deliver and pick up packages. It’s as simple as that. There is no difference between what I do and what a UPS driver does.”

– Judester, FedExcess.com, 1//10

SURVEY SAYS!

Do you support the idea of giving school vouchers or education tax credits to parents for use at private schools?

  • Absolutely
  • Absolutely not

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Unionism seldom, if ever, uses such power as it has to insure better work; almost always it devotes a large part of that power to safeguarding bad work.”

– H.L. Mencken.”