Combs Spouts Off

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Posts Tagged ‘intimidation’

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Too radical for McGovern

Posted by Richard on August 14, 2008

Today's Democratic leadership has lurched so far to the left that George McGovern is concerned. Specifically, the former senator and the party's 1972 presidential candidate objects to one of their top legislative goals, the Employee Free Choice Act (emphasis added):

The key provision of EFCA is a change in the mechanism by which unions are formed and recognized. Instead of a private election with a secret ballot overseen by an impartial federal board, union organizers would simply need to gather signatures from more than 50% of the employees in a workplace or bargaining unit, a system known as "card-check." There are many documented cases where workers have been pressured, harassed, tricked and intimidated into signing cards that have led to mandatory payment of dues.

Under EFCA, workers could lose the freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder, free from fear of reprisal.

…

To my friends supporting EFCA I say this: We cannot be a party that strips working Americans of the right to a secret-ballot election. We are the party that has always defended the rights of the working class. To fail to ensure the right to vote free of intimidation and coercion from all sides would be a betrayal of what we have always championed.

…

While it is never pleasant to stand against one's party or one's friends, there are times when such actions are necessary — as with my early and lonely opposition to the Vietnam War. I hope some of my friends in Congress will re-evaluate their support for this legislation. Because as Americans, we should strive to ensure that all of us enjoy the freedom of expression and freedom from fear that is our ideal and our right.

Most Democrats will no doubt ignore McGovern, dismiss him as old and confused, or accuse him of becoming a "neocon" (their current epithet of choice, despite having no idea what it means).

If Obama is elected and the Democrats get a filibuster-proof Senate majoirty, EFCA is likely to become law next year. Which means if you have a non-management job for a company likely to be targeted by unions, you can expect a visit some day by a couple of surly, burly "organizers" telling you that you really want to sign their card — if you know what's good for you.

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Obama ticket extortion

Posted by Richard on August 13, 2008

In a comment to Silencing the opposition, I referred tongue-in-cheek to "The Audacity of Control." How about Audacity of Arrogance, or Audacity of Extortion? The Obama campaign isn't just silencing Clinton supporters, it's pressuring people into doing volunteer work for a chance to attend the Obamassiah's acceptance speech:

Some of those hoping to wrangle a seat for Barack Obama's speech were told this week they have to put in six hours of volunteer work for his campaign by Friday to have a shot at a ticket.

And that ruffled at least a few feathers.

"My whole reason why I'm so mad about it is because Democrats need to act like Democrats," said Heather Kreider, a working mother from Centennial.

…

Doing the volunteer work only makes someone eligible for a ticket and doesn't guarantee one, according to the phone message from the campaign.

Campaign officials are doing damage control, claiming only ticket applicants who checked a box to do volunteer work are being contacted, and that those who decline don't lose their shot at a ticket. Kreider and others contacted say otherwise:

But Kreider said she is certain she didn't hit the "volunteer" box on the online application.

Still, Kreider got a message telling her that she had to do six hours of volunteer work by Friday if she wanted a chance at a ticket. Kreider said she will not do the work.

"Absolutely not," she said. "Now it's pure principal. I was a Hillary Clinton supporter, and this is literally my first touch with the Obama campaign. And it's just disappointing."

A man, who spoke to the Rocky on the condition that he not be named, said he got a message saying he had to do 12 hours of phone work or canvassing to have a chance at the two tickets he wants.

Asked if he planned to do the work, he said "hell no" and called the campaign's conditions "blackmail."

The Drunkablog has more, including a link to audio of one of the extortion calls, courtesy of Westword. 

UPDATE: See also ID required.  

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Silencing the opposition

Posted by Richard on August 12, 2008

Sacha Millstone of Boulder, a Clinton supporter and delegate to the Democratic National Convention, has learned just how free, open, and democratic today's Democratic Party is — not very.

In a private email to a fellow delegate, Millstone dared to complain about how the Obama campaign was treating Clinton supporters. The other delegate ratted her out to the party's thought police and suggested she be stripped of her delegate status:

Apparently the Political Director of Colorado's Democratic Party, William Compton, took the suggestion very seriously and told Millstone via e-mail, "You are directed to come in to the Party Headquarters and explain your comments and why you should remain a national delegate…"

Millstone, who worked on the campaign for Hillary Clinton, considered the e-mail a threat."I think that one of the reasons I got this letter was to intimidate me," said Millstone. "It sounded very totalitarian. I thought it sounded undemocratic and I was completely shocked."
…

"I think that it was calculated to have an impact on other delegates and I think this kind of communication does have a very chilling impact on other delegates because people become afraid to speak up. They become afraid to say what they think."

Millstone added, "You can't get unity by telling people to shut up."

I suspect that the PUMAs aren't going to take kindly to this sort of heavy-handed behavior. Could this convention still get interesting, and be something more than a slick, boring infomercial? Dennis Keohane thinks so. 

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Support Harry’s Place

Posted by Richard on July 12, 2008

I've had Harry's Place in my blog roll almost from the beginning and have linked to it several times. It's the voice of Britain's sane, anti-authoritarian left that "gets it" regarding the threat of Islamofascism and its historical and intellectual ties to European fascism.

Reading Harry's Place will convince you that they have a better class of leftists in Britain than we have here — far more articulate, reasonable, funny, and interesting than the American nutroots left. They're evidence, as I once said, "that being economically illiterate doesn't necessarily mean you're divorced from reality in all respects. :-)"

Now, their existence is threatened by a jihadist legal assault. Here's the story from NeoConstant:

Harry’s Place, a UK blog dedicated to promoting the ideals of freedom and democracy, is being sued by Mohammed Sawalha, the President of the British Muslim Initiative, which has been linked to Hamas and the Islamic Brotherhood, both terrorist organizations.  The blog reports that Mr. Sawalha, according to the BBC…

“master minded much of Hamas’ political and military strategy” and in London “is alleged to have directed funds, both for Hamas’ armed wing, and for spreading its missionary dawah”.

In their revelation of the impending lawsuit against them leveled by Mohammed Sawalha, they write:

Mr Sawalha claims that we have “chosen a malevolent interpretation of a meaningless word”. In fact, we did no more than translate a phrase which appeared in an Al Jazeera report of Mr Sawalha’s speech. When Al Jazeera changed that phrase from “Evil Jew” to “Jewish Lobby”, we reported that fact, along with the statement that it had been a typographical error.

Mr Sawalha has been the prime mover in a number of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood associated projects. He is President of the British Muslim Initiative. He is the past President of the Muslim Association of Britain. He was the founder of IslamExpo, and is registered as the holder of the IslamExpo domain name. He is also a trustee of the Finsbury Park Mosque….

…Mr Sawalha says that the attribution of the phrase “Evil Jew” to him implies that he is “anti-semitic and hateful”. Notably, he does not take issue with our reporting of the revelation, made in a Panorama documentary in 2006, that he is a senior activist in the clerical fascist terrorist organisation, Hamas.

It looks like Harry’s Place is going up against some pretty top-notch lawyers on this one, and they’ve got guts, but as the post goes on to say:

If Mr Sawalha persists in attempting to silence us with this desperate legal suit, we will need your help.

We won’t be able to stand up to them alone.

This is why we’ve started this blogburst, to get the word out that we won’t let members of Hamas or any radical terrorist group censor us or any of our fellow bloggers.

If you're a blogger, join this blogburst in support of Harry's Place by posting this message. I'm hoping that in the future, there will be an opportunity to offer financial support as well. I'll let you know.  

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It’s just policy differences

Posted by Richard on December 20, 2007

Unbe-frickin-lievable. Muslim students at the University of California Irvine campus have:

  • harassed, intimidated, and assaulted Jews (verbally and physically)
  • called for the slaughter of Jews
  • held speeches and distributed literature preaching hatred of Jews
  • repeatedly defaced property with swastikas
  • destroyed a Holocaust memorial

Federal law requires recipients of federal money to undertake efforts to end discrimination based on race or ethnicity, so the Zionist Organization of America filed a federal complaint alleging that the school, by failing to take disciplinary action against the perpetrators of such acts, had not met this obligation. The feds have rejected the complaint (emphasis added):

The Office of Civil Rights, which operates under the auspices of the Department of Education, said in a report released last week that some Muslim student activities were offensive to Jewish students.

But the report concludes the speeches, marches and other activities were based on opposition to Israeli policies, not the national origin of Jewish students.

Oh, sure, calling Jews dogs and pigs, throwing rocks at them, and insisting that Allah wants them all killed — those things may be offensive to some people, but they're really just expressions of disagreement over political issues. Move along folks, no discrimination to see here.

How utterly disgusting. 

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