Free Republic

Unions face tough fight on Prop. 75 SACRAMENTO - As they mobilize to defeat a ballot measure that could sharply limit their political activities, unions are finding one of their toughest jobs is persuading their own members to oppose it. Proposition 75 on the Nov. 8 special-election ballot would prohibit public-employee unions from using dues for political purposes without written consent from members. -snip- Close Race The union survey by San Francisco pollster David Binder sampled 777 AFL-CIO-affiliated union members. Initially, they split 47 percent in favor of the measure to 46 percent against. After being told that unions were...

JON STEWART MOCKS MAGAZINE EDITORS AT ADVERTISING WEEK High-Priced Celebrity Speaker Skewers Print Media Hosts at MPA Event NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- An Advertising Week event designed to promote magazine publishing ran off the rails last night, when chosen moderator -- and magazine cover-boy favorite -- Jon Stewart ended up roundly mocking the editors on his panel and telling the assembled burghers of print that the medium now sits at “the children’s table.”

Linda Foley's Screed +fake apology Note to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (or whatever you’re calling yourselves these days): I was just re-elected president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA, and I’m not resigning. That said, let me address the rest of this column to the people who really matter: the members of The Newspaper Guild. In case you missed it, for about a month I have been subjected to what I would characterize as a right-wing screed over some comments I made at the National Media Reform Conference in St. Louis on May 13. The comments (which I won’t repeat here) were...

Polling Shows Support for Arnold's Reforms... Despite What You May Hear! Undoubtedly, you have seen a lot lately about poll numbers. It is time to put them into some perspective. Mike Murphy, Arnold’s political consultant, sent the following statement out to the press. As you can see, Mike doesn’t think much of any public poll taken 5 months before the election! And you shouldn’t either. Our own internal polling shows Arnold in much better shape than the media would have you believe. We have also attached a few charts and graphs to show you what the public REALLY thinks about...

An Aljazeera cameraman who has been incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay since 2001 has suffered extreme physical, sexual and religious abuse, his lawyer says. Clive Stafford-Smith, who visited clients in the US detention camp in Cuba a few weeks ago, told Aljazeera.net that Sami al-Hajj had been beaten by his interrogators. Al-Hajj, a Sudanese national, was arrested in late 2001 while working for Aljazeera in Afghanistan. "Sami has endured horrendous abuse - sexual abuse and religious persecution," said Stafford-Smith, who is on a visit to Qatar, on Tuesday. "He has been beaten. He had a huge scar on his face when...

NEARLY four years after her husband was murdered on 9/11 just because he was American, Loisanne Diehl stood in lower Manhattan, defending her beloved from those who would insist he deserved to die. "He did not have it coming to him," said Lois. "None of them." After all this time, her tears came easily. And, to my surprise, so did mine. Because less than four years after America was sucker-punched by terrorists, we are again under a vicious attack. Only this time, those who would destroy our way of life are working from within. Here, at the spot known as...

Ho Chi Saddam Trail? Nope./Iraq in the War on Terror As I suggested Sunday, reflecting on John Burns’ coverage of Syrian-backed Saddam-Zarqawi infilitration routes, Balkan smuggling rings are a more appropriate comparison than “Ho Chi Minh Trail.” But the NY Times has to impose its Vietnam template. Burns’ report still provided a lot of useful detail. Now the Washington Post has published an article on a Syrian smuggler . It provides a different perspective on the infiltration network– and I think it also illustrates that the Ho Chi Minh trail comparison was inappropriate. The article is written and reported by...

"Popularity, Privilege, and the White Populists Who Populate the Airwaves" After the sixth book arrived in the mail, I realized something might be going on here...Turn on the TV, and there’s Jon Stewart sneering at Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond or the bigoted Republican Party. Listen to the radio, and there’s Al Franken talking about the racist plot to disenfranchise black voters during the 2000 election. Liberal pundits, while not as ubiquitous as conservative talk radio and TV warriors, nevertheless seem to be coming out of the woodwork these days. ----- ----- ----- Like the white populist movements of olden days,...

The charge of racism is a toxic accusation in our culture more damaging than the charge of "Communism" at the height of the McCarthy era. It is the contemporary version of the witch-hunt and the fact that its stigma can be applied so casually by leftists to conservatives in their line of fire reflects how instinctive this enterprise is to people who think of themselves as “liberals.” The witch-hunt may even be said to be instinctive to progressives who regard themselves as the avatars of human decency and reason, the rest us as turn-back-the-clock reactionaries and … well, racists. -------...

Local Pax station is showing Stolen Honor right now...just started at 7:00am opposite Sunday morning fluff news.