Free Republic

An Action 2 News reporter on the scene says a credible threat to safety has interrupted a hearing in the Senate Labor Committee about a right-to-work bill. Police escorted the senators out of the chamber immediately after they vote 3-1 to approve the bill. The hearing was halted 30 minutes before public comment was supposed to end.

Governor Scott Walker was in Green Bay Tuesday, where he answered several questions about the Right to Work bill. He said he’s always supported Right to Work legislation and if it’s on his desk, he’ll sign it. Governor Walker said Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald began talking about the legislation in December and said it wasn’t on the governor’s agenda then in an effort to focus on the budget. “Our budget’s been presented, historically as it will this year, it takes several months for the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to go through it and Joint Finance Committee so if there ever...

"....In Walker's defense, Tim Graham of the Media Research Center (“Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias”) offers this exegesis: “Walker, the son of a Protestant minister, hears the question very differently: asking if someone is a Christian is a very personal question, asking whether someone has committed themselves to Jesus in their heart. It’s like asking if he knows how often Obama prays. His reluctance to answer for someone he doesn’t know is not a ‘No.’ " Nice try, but the political context of the question was clear and it’s the one Milbank mentioned: the conviction that “Obama is a...

"..........The right-to-work debate comes in the wake of the 2011 fight over Walker's law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. That law also prohibited the automatic withdrawal of union dues for public workers, like the right-to-work measure would do in the private sector. Walker administration spokesman Cullen Werwie said between 1,800 and 2,000 people were inside and outside the Capitol at midday and there had been no arrests. After the rally, protesters filed into the Capitol rotunda and joined the ongoing hearing. While union members were vowing to fight the measure and try to sway Republicans to...

Political Wire publisher Taegan Goddard got a lot of flack on Twitter after mocking Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for claiming he could discern God’s will, only to admit that he had no idea Christians believed they could communicate with God through prayer. It all began with a rather snarky tweet about Walker’s comments that he was still waiting for “God’s calling” before he announced a presidential run. [snip] As Goddard received criticism from religious followers, he shot back at critics by claiming that he wasn’t showing disdain for people of faith, even as his tone became more and more sarcastic....

Former New York mayor Rudy GiulianiÂ’s statement about President ObamaÂ’s lack of love for America has set off a firestorm of denunciation. Giuliani has been accused of racism, and he has even received death threats. Defenders of Obama have evoked everything from his grandfatherÂ’s (on his motherÂ’s side) service in World War II to the two years GiulianiÂ’s father served in Sing Sing to prove either that Obama does love America or that Giuliani has no standing to issue such criticism. The ranting has obscured the reasons why so many Americans take GiulianiÂ’s remarks to heart. Starting with his June...

Great job, Rudy Giuliani! The hero of Sept. 11, 2001 is the hero again. Rudy just said what tens of millions of Americans believe. Gee, I wonder why? Let me count the ways that would indicate to anyone who isn’t blind or a complete blithering idiot, that President Barack Obama doesn’t appear to love America, is “different” in his thinking than any other president, and certainly gives the strong impression his true feelings are anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-Israel. Before we get to exact quotes direct from Obama’s mouth in the past few surreal days, let’s start with the obvious. Is...

I'm not sure which is more absurd, for the media to be up in arms about former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's statement that he doesn't believe that President Obama loves America or for them to mug Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for declining to weigh in on the subject. Many of us have been speculating for years about Obama's affinity for this country as founded. He promised to fundamentally transform this nation -- something he wouldn't have done if he embraced the American idea. There is so much evidence that Obama has a different feeling about America than all of...

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was more than a tad upset with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s criticism of President Barack Obama’s patriotism, saying in his Sunday sermon that Giuliani was a “privileged cracker” and a “devil.” “Giuliani says Obama does not love America,” Farrakhan said, “And instead of apologizing, they say he doubled down, he tripled down, he said, ‘I’m not taking this back. He didn’t grow up like we grew up.’” “How did you grow up, Giuliani?” asked Farrakhan. “A privileged cracker?” After that line got enormous applause, he added: “Or I should say, a...

* In October the Wisconsin governor pledged to support legislation focused on 'safety' during abortions * 'The bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor,' he said in a campaign ad * This month he's telling potential donors that he supports a 'personhood' amendment, which insists that life begins at conception * He boasted in January that he had 'defunded Planned Parenthood,' America's wealthiest and most politically savvy chain of abortion clinics * Walker is busy beefing up his conservative bona fides in advance of a brusiing GOP presidential primary that may not favor blue-state moderates Wisconsin...

A Wisconsin father is outraged about a homework assignment given to his son that bashes the Republican Party on the issue of illegal immigration. An 8th grade social studies class at Shattuck Middle School had to complete an assignment that suggested Republicans were destroying the “pathway to citizenship” for immigrants. The teacher, Grace Davis, used a political cartoon that featured a Democrat laying bricks to build a “pathway to citizenship,” while a Republican character removed the bricks to dismantle the immigration process. …

KING, Wis. — At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, was lonely and desolate. “There used to be a lot more people coming,” said Magnant, a 51-year-old nursing assistant, sighing. The anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. Scott Walker a national Republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more transformative...

Having lived through this two years ago in Michigan, I can tell you the insanity Wisconsin is in for, but then again the state that dealt with the Democrat fleebagger insanity isn’t going to be surprised by too much. Republican leaders in the Wisconsin Legislature have decided to fast-track right-to-work through the legislative process, and Gov. Scott Walker has indicated he’s ready to sign it: --snip-- Some will say Walker is only doing this to burnish his presidential bona fides. To that I would say two things: 1. It’s the Legislature that’s leading this charge; and 2. If the way...

KING, Wis. — At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, was lonely and desolate.

“This is your work that Rudy is talking about!” So emailed a friend of mine on Saturday morning, sending me a link to the Drudge Report, which led with a scandalous New York Daily News article apoplectic and incredulous that Rudy Giuliani could launch the hysterical, Neanderthal, McCarthyite claim that our president, Barack Obama, had been influenced as a young man by a literal communist. I quickly read the piece and nodded to myself. Not only did Rudy have the communist right, but he even had Obama’s exact age (nine) right when he was first introduced to the communist.

Almost immediately following Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's announcement that the Legislature will take up a right-to-work bill next week, speculation about the size and intensity of the opposition from unions and labor allies arose. That speculation will end on Tuesday noon when the first of two rallies planned by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO takes place at the Capitol in Madison. "Republicans are planning to ram this legislation through in an extraordinary session at lightning pace. An extraordinary session changes the rules, limits debate and makes a mockery out of our democracy," reads a statement on the WI AFL-CIO blog....

The rapid rise of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as a top-tier contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 is one of the more surprising stories of the opening months of this year. Whether he was prepared for this sudden emergence is an open question.

Wisconsin governor's NYC visit drew sizable New Jersey wallets Scott Walker spent a profitable 24 hours in town and departed with plenty of NYC cash. But perhaps even more encouraging for fans of the Wisconsin governor is that his haul included dollars from at least four prominent New Jersey contributors, the Observer has learned. *** The Observer has learned that last night’s fundraiser was attended by at least four prominent New Jersey donors, further calling into question the hold New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie can exert over his home state contributors. Mason Simpson, an attorney from Holmdel who practices law...

President Obama may enjoy the approval of 84% of blacks, but don’t count CJ Pearson among them. Pearson, a 12-year-old middle school student in Georgia, has more informed opinions than many adults. The student posted a YouTube video yesterday in which he seeks to “applaud Mayor Rudy Giuliani for his comments about President Barack Obama.”