Free Republic

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And for the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee, that means reversing a policy of not accepting money from people who are employed by fossil fuel companies. "We have to draw the line that we are indeed a party of a big tent where all working people are welcome," said DNC Chairman Tom Perez on Friday night. "We're not a party that punishes workers simply based on how they make ends meet." [Snip] Despite the DNC's change of heart and opening of wallets on fuel donations, Perez maintains that the party is committed to fighting climate...

A group serving as a central hub of information for congressional town halls was founded by a former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer and its parent company is located at the same address as an organization funded by liberal billionaire George Soros. Democrats have insisted that recent town hall outbursts against Republican politicians occurred organically, likening them to the Tea Party, while President Donald Trump yesterday tweeted that the "so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous occasions, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!" The Town Hall Project, a group that serves as a one-stop shop...

Kerry's Rhetoric on Gas Prices Offers Dangerous Solutions, Says the National Center for Policy Analysis To: National Desk Contact: Sean Tuffnell of the National Center for Policy Analysis, 800-859-1154 or stuffnell@ncpa.org WASHINGTON, March 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, today used the specter of rising prices at the gas pump to attack President Bush for America's dependence on foreign oil and calling on him to, among other things, stop filling the strategic petroleum reserve. Experts with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) said "Kerry's rhetoric would be laughable if the consequences of...

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is backing construction of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in comments that downplay divisions among unions in the labor federation over the controversial project. “They are not divided on the pipeline itself,” Trumka said in a C-SPAN interview when asked about differences among unions over Keystone. “They are divided on how the pipeline is done.” ADVERTISEMENT “I think we are all unanimous by saying we should build the pipeline, but we have to do it consistent with all environmental standards, and I think we can work that out, I really do, and we are for...

<p>Washington -- The fate of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge rests with the U.S. Senate, but the debate these days is on the airwaves, not in hearing rooms.</p> <p>The Teamsters union, emerging as the most prominent pro-drilling group, is about to launch its own ads to counter a recent anti-drilling advertising campaign, said Alaska Teamster leader Jerry Hood.</p>

Rhetoric ANNOUNCER: “George Bush let corporate polluters rewrite our environmental laws. He wants to rollback the Clean Air and Water Acts …” VIDEO: Stairway/White House; Child at water fountain/Smokestacks. CHYRON: “George Bush; Rewrite Environmental Laws; George Bush; Rollback Clean Air & Water Acts” The Facts Administration Proposed Tough New Diesel Emissions Rules Bush Administration Proposed Tough Off-Road Diesel Emissions. “The proposed rules, unveiled by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, would slash off-road diesel emissions by as much as 95 percent and bring them in line with recently adopted standards for heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses. They would...

Rhetoric VIDEO: Kerry KERRY: “There’s nothing we value more in America than our freedom and independence.  And yet here we are today a nation more dependent than ever on Mideast oil.  I’ve proposed a plan that will make us energy independent of Mideast oil in the next ten years.  Energy independence isn’t just about better gas mileage and a cleaner environment, it’s about protecting our national security and our freedom.  I’m John Kerry and I approved this message because a strong America is an independent America.” CHYRON: John Kerry; A Plan For Energy Independence; JohnKerry.com; Approved By John Kerry...

Don’t miss FrontPage’s other Union Gangsters profiles featuring Craig Becker, Richard Trumka, Stephen Lerner, Andy Stern and Daniel De Leon. Few union gangsters have the exquisitely barbaric pedigree of International Brotherhood of Teamsters president James P. Hoffa. And few labor unions can match the Teamsters, the million-plus member union of truckers and blue-collar workers, for its legendary connections to organized crime, corruption, and violence. For decades the word Teamster was essentially a synonym for gangster. Hoffa is the son of James R. Hoffa, the relentlessly corrupt, larger-than-life Teamsters president who worked closely with figures from the crime underworld. In July...

Calling Americans “Sons of Bitches” and threatening to “take us out” is entirely in line with the low rent character of Jimmy Hoffa junior. Having been raised at the knee of a criminal who specialized in extortion theft and betrayal of those who depended on him, Hoffa is a rotten apple who did not fall far from the poison tree. Since his rise to power on the backs of other, equally as corrupt but less cunning and soulless, Teamster Union thugs Hoffa has always wallowed in whatever mud ….. in order to line his pockets. During his successful effort to...

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters endorsed President Obama Monday, calling his likely Republican opponent Mitt Romney a "vulture capitalist" whose election would amount to a "fox guarding the henhouse." "He represents everything that is wrong with our financial system. He made his money as CEO of Bain Capital by destroying U.S. businesses, sending good-paying American jobs overseas and filling his pockets with millions while putting workers out on the street," Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa said in a release. The organization's endorsement comes with a promise to put "boots on the ground" in all fifty states. "Working families know who is...

Fred Gegare, who is challenging Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa in elections this month to head up the transport union, says that Hoffa and the US government are colluding to control the union by the use of intimidation. If true, the allegations could mean that 50 years of work trying to rid unions of mob influence has come to an end.  Hoffa and the Justice Department, says Gegare, have abused a decades-old consent decree, “which was once used to remove mobsters two decades ago, [but] is now being used to target [Hoffa’s] critics” through a “rogue investigative unit set up by...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is the official statement from Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa issued today about the Occupy Wall Street protest: "No one should be surprised that Occupy Wall Street is gaining support and spreading quickly around the country. The American Dream has disappeared for students, whose reality is debt and unemployment. The dream disappeared for workers forced to take wage cuts by employers sitting on billions of dollars in profits. The dream disappeared for working families who paid too steep a price for Wall Street's greed, stupidity and fraud. "It's clear what this...

Via Breitbart TV, this is Labor Day the way it should be — with a guy named Hoffa threatening his political enemies while a union-stooge Democratic leader sits by and smiles. Honestly, I can’t decide how seriously to take him. On the one hand, this sort of salty tough-guy “we don’t take sh*t from no one” garbage is par for the course for labor leaders when addressing the rank and file, and all the more so when it’s the head of the Teamsters speaking. Sure, he makes $300,000 a year on the backs of his working-class constituents, but he knows...

Teamsters President James Hoffa makes no apology for taking on the Tea Party during a union labor celebration, claiming, “They declared war on us.” In Detroit, before President Obama arrived for a Labor Day speech, Hoffa rallied the crowd, “We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party.” “President Obama, this is your army,” Hoffa concluded to applause, his voice raising to a shout. “We are ready to march. Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to an America...

A top building trades union is launching a midterm-election assault on House Democrats who oppose construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. A letter distributed Friday by the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) to the districts of 27 House Democrats calls for union members to make sure their representative "feels the power and the fury of LIUNA this November." Their crime: signing a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last month urging him to reject Keystone, which would carry oil sands from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries.

Posted: February 25, 2004 7:25 p.m. Eastern © 2004 Universal Press Syndicate In the past decade, the AFL-CIO has lobbied Congress on three major issues of any importance to union members: Oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement; Oppose permanent normal trade relations with China; Support drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The unions lost every vote. Demonstrating his savvy political skills, the head of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, repeatedly throws the federation's support to political candidates who opposed labor on all three issues. So if you ever find yourself negotiating with Sweeney, make sure your opening...

An influential Democratic senator Monday vowed to filibuster a proposal that would allow oil exploration in an Alaska wildlife refuge because the Bush administration's justification for the controversial move was "muddled at best and cynical at worst."

A controversial proposal to build a massive underground pipeline to carry 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas has become the environmental issue of the summer, pitting developers and labor unions desperate for construction jobs against environmentalists and Native American tribes who fear the pipeline will spell environmental disaster. TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL project would consist of more than 1,700 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipe, about 327 miles of which would be in Canada while the rest would snake southward through the central United States. Because the pipeline would...

Crude RealityAs the brutal battle over proposed drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge grinds on, a former oil worker returns to the North Slope in search of the truth about the pro-exploration argument. His conclusion? (Brace yourself.) The unthinkable is the right thing to do. By David Masiel AT TWO A.M. ON A FALL NIGHT IN 1985, I STOOD on the wide gravel beach at Barter Island, Alaska, facing the Arctic Ocean. Behind me, across Barter Lagoon, hung the dim lights of the Inupiat village of Kaktovik. Overhead, the aurora borealis was going off the scale, pulsing and waving...

Poll Finds Support for ANWR Development Survey finds majority of Americans believe energy exploration, development and production in ANWR can reduce dependence on foreign oil. Washington DC – Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for the purpose of exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas was supported by 53% of the American electorate in a survey conducted by The Luntz Research Companies. The level of support jumps to a remarkable 67% of Americans, after hearing the pros and cons of ANWR development. Most Americans believe new domestic energy sources must be found in order to meet growing...