(Palin) Union Brothers and Sisters: Seize Opportunity to Show True Solidarity

Sarah Palin's Facebook Notes ^ | 2011 Feb 19 | Sarah Palin

[kevkrom]

The union-led school closures and demonstrations in Madison have left most ordinary Americans shaking their heads in disbelief. Months ago, I penned a message to my fellow union brothers and sisters when I found myself on the receiving end of union boss Richard Trumka’s wrath. Yesterday’s demonstrations reminded me of the full-page ads taken out against me when I put my foot down in dealing with union demands while I served as governor. My message then and now to good union brothers and sisters is that you have another option. You don’t have to kowtow to the union bosses who are not looking out for you, but instead are using you. You can join millions of other union members in a commonsense movement to help fight for the right causes in our great country – for budgets that share the burden in a truly fair way and for commonsense reforms that take power away from vested interests like union bosses and big business lobby groups, and put it back where it belongs – with “We the People.”

Here we are still struggling to get out of a deep recession and coping with high unemployment, record deficits, rapidly rising food prices, and a host of other economic problems; and Wisconsin union bosses want union members out in the streets demanding that taxpayers foot the bill for unsustainable benefits packages. I am a friend to hard working union members and to teachers. I come from a family of teachers; my grandparents, parents, brother, sister, aunt, and other relatives worked, or still work, in education. My own children attend public schools. I greatly admire good teachers and will always speak up in defense of the teaching profession. But Wisconsin teacher unions do themselves no favor by closing down classrooms and abandoning children’s needs in protest against the sort of belt-tightening that people everywhere are going through. Union brothers and sisters: this is the wrong fight at the wrong time. Solidarity doesn’t mean making Wisconsin taxpayers pay for benefits that are not sustainable and affordable at a time when many of these taxpayers struggle to hold on to their own jobs and homes. Real solidarity means everyone being willing to sacrifice and carry our share of the burden. It does no one any favors to dismiss the sacrifices others have already had to make—in wage cuts, unpaid vacations, and even job losses—to weather our economic storm.

Hard working, patriotic, and selfless union brothers and sisters: please don’t be taken in by the union bosses. At the end of day, they’re not fighting for your pension or health care plan or even for the sustainability of Wisconsin’s education budget. They’re fighting to protect their own powerful privileges and their own political clout. The agenda for too many union bosses is a big government agenda that only serves the union bosses themselves – not union members, not union families, and certainly not the larger community. Everybody else is just there to foot the bill; and if that bill eventually takes the form of thousands of teachers and other public sectors workers losing their jobs because the state of Wisconsin can no longer afford to keep them on the payroll, that’s a risk the union bosses are willing to take as long as their positions are secure. Union brothers and sisters: you are better than this and you deserve better. Don’t be led astray.

One final word of warning to my fellow Americans: back in 2009, I warned about what would happen if states accepted short-term unsustainable debt-ridden “Stimulus Package” funds. Accepting those funds allowed states to grow government, increase already unsustainable levels of spending, kick the can down the road on reforming entitlements, and create public expectations that they would continue financing these new mandates once the federal funds ran out. States were not in a position to grow government and take on new financial commitments then, and now the chickens have come home to roost. As goes Wisconsin today, so goes the country tomorrow.

- Sarah Palin

[unseen1]

ROFL...If she was in WIS you would be screaming about why she has to make it about her and how she was just an attention grabbing celebrity. And how she should leave the work to the real politicians....

[unseen1]

need to check your facts then. she served more than half a term. If you want to worry about facts and such.

also the fact wrong as it was had nothing to do with the topic at hand. It’s akin to throwing a spitball in a classroom and about as mature.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You just nailed it!

This whole situation has nothing to do with “Union Bosses”. Period! It is all about having unions in any form, and the fact that they disrupt fair and logical bargaining between the employer and the employee.

All Palin’s recent ramblings show, is that she is painfully out of touch and definitely not any where as conservative as most here would have us believe.

In fact, here track record over the last 2 years has clearly demonstrated what I just pointed out above. The more she talks, the deeper she gets and the less support she gains.

[OldDeckHand]

"It appears you do NOT know where Palin nor Walker stand on this issue."

No, I'm quite clear where Walker, and several other Governors stand on these issues. It's Palin's position that is squirrelly.

"and if you don't understand where Palin stands after reading this op-ed you must not be able to understand plain English."

First of all, to put the words "Palin" and "plain English" in the same sentence, is funny all by itself.

Second, since Palin does not use the words "collective bargaining" or "right-to-work" we have no IDEA where she stands on those issues as they specifically relate to Wisconsin. Does Sarah Palin believe that an individual has an inalienable right to work in ANY job in Wisconsin (or any state) without having to join a union? If so, then why didn't she say that, rather than brush the hair of the union membership?

Does Sarah Palin believe public service unions have a right to collectively bargain without limitation? And, if she doesn't, then why is she so reticent to say so?

This isn't about the union members or the union leadership. It's about the Democratic legislators in Wisconsin and their subversion of the democratic process as it relates to these issues. Republicans want to make some simple, straight-forward and MUCH needed adjustments to the collective bargaining process for public service unions, and Palin doesn't have a THING to say about it.

I'm suspicious. Very, very suspicious.

[dforest]

I am done with an ass like you.

[unseen1]

So you don’t think Walker is a conservative then?

Since he thinks its great to have unions have collective barginning rights when it comes to wages?

And christe is defintely not a conservative since he has never once question the right of public unions to collectively bargin on any and all topics...and when asked directly on the isssue
“Christie declined to say if he supports ending collective bargaining”

And of course Mitch daniels is not a republican since he is refusing to allow a “right to work law” to move through the chamber to avoid the issue in IN.

[wtc911]

OK...in the interest of accuracy.....

Palin did not quit as governor after serving half a term.

Palin quit as governor after serving few months more than half her term.

You're right...it sounds so much better to state with absolute accuracy how long she served before she quit.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You go ahead and project your own rhetoric n00b. I have my own well in tact.

If she were there right now supporting Walker and letting Walker do most of the talking, I would be changing my opinion of her accordingly. Instead, she writes nonsensical drivel from her computer on her Facebook page, from an outsider's point of view.

Oh, you DID mention “Attention Grabbing”. What she is doing here is exactly that.

[Texas Eagle]

Ha haaaa!!!

My Union brothers and sisters! That'll make heads explode. Gotta love this woman.

[OldDeckHand]

14T in National Debt, and climbing every second. States teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Angry mobs of union thugs running roughshod over the state of WI (visions of things to come elsewhere), and you get the one guy on the board who's an apparent grammar fetishist. I'm sorry.

Some people can't see the forest through the trees - or is it the trees through the forest? Not to worry, I'm sure he'll set me straight.

[unseen1]

hey i see you don't want to admit Walker is for collective bargaining rights for public unions when it comes to wages. that's ok. shoots you entire argument to crap about him not riding the fence. So I understand why you didn't address it.

Hell if Palin said hi you would be suspicious very suspicsious

[EternalVigilance]

Nampa police: Tom Luna threatened, vehicle vandalized [after proposing school reforms]

Idaho Press Tribune 

February 15, 2011

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna's vehicle was vandalized overnight at his Nampa home and he and his family have received threats, he told police.

“Yes, he has made us aware of threats to him and family members and we are looking into those, and we are aware of those, and we are doing what we can to provide protection,” Nampa Police Deputy Chief Craig Kingsbury said.

On Saturday night, a man who identified himself as a teacher reportedly showed up at Luna's mother's home in Nampa in order to speak with her about the superintendent's contentious education reform plan. Luna happened to be at his mother's house at the time.

-----

Maybe Mrs. Palin could beg her "brothers and sisters" to back off.

[FreeReign]

Public service unions are driving dozens of states to the precipice of bankruptcy, and she calls them "brothers & sisters"? That's rich.

Perhaps, as a Fox commentator, she is a member of a private sector union. Perhaps she trying to communicate with those public sector union members, who like herself, don't have believe in the trade union philosophy.

[BillM]

I guess you haven’t read her other stuff so it never happened, kind of like the tree in the forest.

Inform yourself then what you say will have value.

Typical liberal!

[unseen1]

hey thanks for proving my point. No matter what Palin does it will never be good enough for you. We get that.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Yea, I know, it’s those dirty “corrupt bosses” that are behind all this....

[OldDeckHand]

This thread isn't about Scott Walker. It's about Sarah Palin's bizarre ode to public service unions.

But, since you've brought it up, Walker has been quite clear about what he would ultimately like to see happen to public service unions. But, he realizes you have to crawl before you walk. It's about incrementalism.

Now, what any of that has to do with Sarah Palin's inability or unwillingness to specifically address the problems as they relate to the current Wisconsin wranglings, is a mystery - apparently only known to you.

Sarah Palin drafts an essay of love to union members, while avoiding comment on the substantive reforms that are needed. Why is that?

[SteveAustin]

I’d ask Freepers to put aside the Palin/anti-Palin arguments for a weekend.

We really need help in Wisconsin to make sure these needed reforms go through.

If any Freepers from out-state have a few minutes on their hands today, perhaps they can read the up to date stories from our major newspaper and then post supporting notes in the “comments” section of each story. The unions seem to have their posters in there 24/7.

Here is a link to the front page of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com/

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

There you go again, projecting your bias on others as if you are the only one who has the right to an opinion. Learn to speak only for yourself, then you might get somewhere with other people if you ever do figure it out.

[OldDeckHand]

"Typical liberal!"

ROTFLMAO.

Her "other stuff"? Please, let me know where I can find her comments about this situation as it relates to "right-to-work" and collective bargaining. Does she support Scott Walker and the Republicans, or does she wish to endear herself to the union thugs? Seems like the latter, rather than the former, to me.