Corporate front group tweets approvingly about editorial equating Employee Free Choice Act with Nazism.
Corporate front group tweets approvingly about editorial equating Employee Free Choice Act with Nazism.
Today, the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) — which is a corporate front group, “founded by several longtime Republican operatives,” that is lobbying against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — tweeted approvingly about an editorial in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette that unequivocally equates EFCA with Nazism.
The editorial says that “American public opinion came to the defense of the secret ballot when it was about to be junked. It needs to stay vigilant against these sly little provisions intended to achieve the same end”:
Have you noticed? Political parties supposedly dedicated to the workers’ welfare have a way of undermining their rights. They may begin by bullying management but wind up dictating to labor, too. And everybody else. For a European example to beware, note the sad history of the grandly named National Socialist German Workers Party, aka Nazis.
WFI’s Mark McKinnon has previously warned that EFCA is equatable with “tyrannies and socialism.” The group will not identify its funders, but National Journal reported that is likely funded by big retailers such as Wal Mart and Home Depot. The Center for Union Facts, another anti-EFCA front group that is run by super-lobbyist Rick Berman, also linked approvingly to the editorial.
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Hi, Tim, what’s up?
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:16 pmHi, Tim. How are you tonight?
So…you,um…expecting trouble?
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:17 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Labor laws + Nazism = Godwin.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:19 pm“Good day.”
As you wish. Have a good evening, then.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:21 pmThey are lying, of course, because what else do Republicans do? The EFCA does not do away with the secret ballot. Period.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:22 pmWorkforce Fairness Institute. Now there’s an Oxymoron from the Retugslicans who run it.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:22 pmHey Tim,
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:25 pmDon’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. And if memory serves, this is about the 2nd or 3rd time you’ve done this.
“As you wish.”
BTW, that wasn’t a Princess Bride “as you wish” – Wayne read my comment#8 and said, “you love him?” ;)
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:26 pmTimmeh Spews: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!
Buhbye TROLL
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 pmCalling a person or group “Nazi” is not just disrespectful and unwarranted in this day and age, but it really demeans those who lived under Nazi rule and/or the Holocaust. It also shows that people using the term have little knowledge of history and absolutely no argument to defend their position without resorting to such vile language.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:40 pmet tu, Timmeh? Has another big, bad, GOoPer decided to just become a whiny little b!tch?
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:43 pmGuess the big, bad, risk-taking, entrepreneurial, capitalists don’t think they can do so well when they have to pay labor a fair wage.
Pussies. Twatwaffles. Shitweasels.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:50 pmWhat would conservatives/Repubs do if they didn’t have the Nazis to equate everything to? Or at least, anything dealing with improving regular people’s lives.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 pmHmm.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Vaculik.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 pmIf you want to read a really good blog go to: http://WWW.plainnews.blogspot.com
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:56 pmThese people are idiots.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:56 pmIt’s almost amusing that whenever somebody opposes a new government idea, they try to equate it to Hitler, as if that automatically makes it a bad idea. Well, if that’s going to be their rationale, they should also oppose Democracy (because Hitler was democratically elected), and federally-subsidized highways (because Hitler built the Autobahn, though not for the sake of the people, but that’s beside the point). Oh, wait, they already do oppose those things.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:57 pmPoor Tim, He is running out of friends, or he is running them out.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:01 pmMy feeling is that we wouldn’t need a secret ballot if everyone would just stand up and shout UNION!
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:02 pmAmericans are just scared shitless. Scared about losing their shitty job. Scared about losing their health care (if they actually have any). Scared about being ostracized by their fellow friends and workers. Scared about not being accepted by the popular clique at work. Scared about al-qaeda, the NSA, the CIA, the police, etc.
So it’s come down to this. The Nazi card. This what politicains do when they are desperate.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:03 pm***
whatever happened
to tim vakasukadic?
???
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:06 pmOT, but I was very interest to google the names on the White House visitors log (the one the admin refused to release and then did late today) with respect to healthcare, and here’s who they are:
Angela F. Braly Pres/CEO WellPoint, Inc.
Richard Clark CEO Merck
Jay Gellert Pres/CEO Health Net
George Halvorson Chairman/CEO Kaiser Permanente
Stephen J. Hemsley Pres/CEO United Healthcare Group
Karen Ignagni Pres/CEO AHIP
Jeffrey B. Kindler Chairman/CEO Pfizer
Thomas Priselac Pres/CEO Cedars-Sinai Health System
J. James Rohack Pres/AMA
Rick Smith Pres/CEO Allocade (health IT)
Wayne T. Smith CEO Community Health System
Bill Tauzin Head of Pharmaceutical Lobby
Richard Umbdenstock Pres/CEO American Hospital Assoc
William C. Weldon Chairman/CEO Johnson & Johnson
David Nexon Sr. Exec. VP Advanced Medical Tech Assoc (AdvaMed)
cited as “no visits”:
Ben J. Lipps, MD Chairman/CEO Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA
William A. Hawkins, III Chairman/CEO Medtronic
Robert L. Parkinson Chairman/CEO Baxter Intl.
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:10 pmWayne A. Schneider says: #22
Don’t you just love the arguments by the virulently uneducated when it comes to unions and health care? They always say they don’t want to pay for Fat Tony’s heart bypass surgery (for example). By that reasoning, why do they let anyone drive on their street? Their taxes paid for that street so why would they let anyone else drive on it? It’s only about them, right? How come they let the fire department go to someone else’s house to put out a fire? Their taxes paid for the fire department to be only at their house, right? Their taxes pays for the police department to protect them. Then why do they let the police department go to other peoples houses in a time of need?
We pay for all these services in the hope that we never need them. But, they are there, because we pay for them, just in case we do! Health care should be included.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 pmAngela F. Braly Pres/CEO WellPoint, Inc.
Richard Clark CEO Merck
Jay Gellert Pres/CEO Health Net
George Halvorson Chairman/CEO Kaiser Permanente
Stephen J. Hemsley Pres/CEO United Healthcare Group
Karen Ignagni Pres/CEO AHIP
Jeffrey B. Kindler Chairman/CEO Pfizer
Thomas Priselac Pres/CEO Cedars-Sinai Health System
J. James Rohack Pres/AMA
Rick Smith Pres/CEO Allocade (health IT)
Wayne T. Smith CEO Community Health System
Bill Tauzin Head of Pharmaceutical Lobby
Richard Umbdenstock Pres/CEO American Hospital Assoc
William C. Weldon Chairman/CEO Johnson & Johnson
David Nexon Sr. Exec. VP Advanced Medical Tech Assoc (AdvaMed)
SCUM
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:21 pmMr. Evil,
They oppose a healthy populace because there’s more money to be made if enough people are unhealthy. The more I think about it, the more that sounds like the thinking of a diseased and twisted mind. I hope for their sake, we get the health care reform the president is trying to get us. They need help.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:22 pmPublic disclosure or sunlight laws would clear up the issue of who’s behind this stuff. As for name-calling the right sure fits the definition of Nazism and union workers on the left would accurately be called Social Democrats or Socialists. But as usual go for the big lie just like Karl says: that’s Karl Rove for all you Nazis.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:23 pmWayne A. Schneider says: #30
Especially the “birther” woman in Delaware that firmly believes that Obama was born in Kenya. And that the state of Hawaii conspired to make it appear that Obama was born in Hawaii. You know, a state within the United States! LMAO!!! Even Lou Dobbs (CNN) is amongst this lunatic fringe.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 pmMr. Evil, I wouldn’t go so far as to say everyone on that list is “scum” but they are all for-profit. BigPharma has no interest in discoverying “cures”, their profits lie in finding maintenance drugs. The hospitals are focused more on bed days for paying customers, not better outcomes and early discharge. The AMA is mainly specialists who rely rendering services that may not be needed to paying customers, and the for-profits health plans, well, they need no additional explanation. I understand why a few health IT companies were invited to the table, but talk about having an unfair market advantage: “We met with the President at the White House, and here is our product.”
I guess I’m at least pleased that the White House finally released this list. A matter of national security my arse! More like a matter of financial security for a select few.
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:30 pmMy first prayer since I was a child.
Please, GOD (Dammit), please let me become a benevolent dictator so that people can finally experience what it is to be human. Everyone has health care, housing and a job. And the doctors still get to drive BMWs.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:31 pmWhenever I hear news of the Birther phenomenon, I can’t help recalling that wild-haired middle-aged woman at the McCain rally who called Obama a muslim. Then SNL spoofed her (quite well!) and the image of a “Birther” was born in my mind’s eye.
Once again, thanks a lot, McCain!
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:33 pmProud says:
Shroud thinks we all masturbate to it’s tune.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:39 pmNote to visiting trolls before they get voted down:
This thread is about Republican opposition to EFCA, not the president’s press conference. If you wish to discuss that, either wait for a TP thread about the subject or go to a blog that is discussing it. Thank you and have a good evening.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:42 pmProud, I don’t gush. In fact, some of Obama’s decisions have pissed me off lately, So don’t group us into a category where we think Obama’s some kind of tin God. Quite Frankly, that is reserved to Republicans when they reflect on Regan.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 pmWayne, I went off topic (hangs head in shame…) but I can tell you that none of the healthcare execs on the visitor’s log run companies that are strictly unionized! Parts of their companies are under union contracts (hospital nurses, pharma transport, etc.) but BigHealth is most definitely not union. In fact, most of the middle class jobs have been outsourced overseas.
How’s that for getting back on topic?
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:49 pmProud says:
What, nothing about Odramas infomercial tonight. I thought you people would be all gushing over it.
So why did you watch Obama’s press conference than?
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 pmThe fact that a very small group of fat cats can go around calling the majority, US citizens, socialist is stupid as those tax on soda commercials. Now really.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 pmProud, I hope you understand now.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 pmranus69@41, I guess Proud is a glutton for punishment. Watching Barack must be like looking at a car wreck for him . He can’t look away. The fact Obama is still popular, even if his policies aren’t, must be galling to someone like Proud.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:09 pmFunny, this guy makes a good argument about how Hitler was right wing.
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitler.htm
Putting the choice of joining a union back in the hands of the workers is just evil. Only the anti-christ would try such a thing….. Or maybe a gay who wants to take your gun away….
Notice how I worked gays, guns, and god in that?
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 pmHello, Hello, Hello… Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me…
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:33 pm*nods*
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:03 amDaniels says:
Funny, this guy makes a good argument about how Hitler was right wing.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Hitler was extremely right wing. Do you dispute that?
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:09 am*nod*
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:11 amAll card check does is to see if there is going to have enough interest in unionizing.I currently work for Northwest airlines which is soon to to be Delta airlines and we are merging non union and union people and it`s a beyaaaach.The EFCA does not take away the secret ballot but it does put labor on a more level playing field with the employer.There will be fines and punishment if the company or the union use certain tactics for intimidation and such.Employers are scared because they will lose some power because right now they have the power over all in a nonunion shop and when a vote can be held.As a airline worker I fall under the railway labor laws so the EFCA doesn`t affect me but will affect future generations of labor and they will need the protection that a union offers.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:26 amConservatives have an issue with unions because they are authoritarian and deleterious to business. On the other hand, conservatives have no problems with huge multinational conglomerates which are far larger and more influential than any union. The neocons see no danger there. Simple logic escapes them.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 amGod know someone has to protect lightly-educated working people from their own best interests. Luckily, there are soulless PR hacks to fill the void.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 amZooey says:
Hitler was extremely right wing. Do you dispute that?
Do you know how to read? Or you just flaming at the lips on everyone?
It’s pretty hard for me to comprehend how anyone think’s Hitler was a leftist. Socialist was in the parties name, yet I cannot find anything the party did that was socialist. From what I have read, It seems Hitler and the NAZI’s used the excitement of socialism from Russia as a way to bring up support in the middle/lower class. I mean you can’t just tell people, “We are going to install authoritarian rule” and expect people to follow you.
The NAZI’s destroyed the unions after they took over. I just can’t imagine a real socialist destroying unions.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 amDaniels says:
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 am
F uck you, prick.
I was asking for clarification, do you f ucking mind?
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:54 am.
How fitting for a Democracy in decay…
… Hand the power to the Multiconglomerats.
Rome fell as easy.
.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:43 amSorry, O.T.
The NSA is still listening to you
Bush went away, but domestic surveillance overreach didn’t. It’s now the law, and the ACLU is fighting back
By James Bamford
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/22/eavesdropping/
.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 am.
President Obama’s Longtime Physician Opposes White House Health Plan, Advocates Single Payer
Dr. David Scheiner was President Obama’s doctor from 1987 until he entered the White House. Today Dr. Scheiner is publicly opposing Obama’s health plan and is calling for a single-payer system. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/22/president_obamas_longtime_physician_opposes_white
.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:48 am.
LOL. How naive of Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI).
We’re already headed there…
… What does one call the last decade in America but a downward spiral toward a Fascistic state of Government?
It’s like PORN. We know it when we see it…
… Soft core, hard core. It’s all PORN.
But to be clear of one thing.
Unions are about maintaining “WORKERS RIGHTS” not Corporate rights.
Anyone who says otherwise is either an ignorant fool, or playing a con.
.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:41 amp.s.
I hope everyone understands the inherent difference in calling illegal immigrants “Illegal ALIENS”. We all know Mars does not support advanced life, NO?
Then maybe, just maybe, people can wrap their minds around the concept that just because the NAZI Party called itself “SOCIALIST”, doing so did not necessarily make them Socialists. NO?
.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 amdaniels, Zooey can read quite well, thank you. You won’t be scoring any points around here by getting terse with the regulars. You aren’t making yourself all that clear, either.
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:04 amNazitis. n. Affective disorder in which stressed-out wingers start calling everyone and his brother Nazis. Caused by catastrophic electoral humiliation. More at treasonosis.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:25 amSpeaking of Tweets, here’s a highly educated one from Sarah Palin:
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:53 am
Would the right-wing stop acting nuts? We have far more pressing matters that need our attention.
Thanks, and have a nice day.
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:34 amSo wingnuts, The Nazis were anti-union and Communist countries such as North Korea, China and Cuba outlaw unions. Republicans also oppose unions. Which one are you? Communist or Nazi?
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:58 amProud, Tim, answer the above question.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 amCompanies spend on average over three million dollars to combat union organizing. The company I work for spent one million dolars to try to keep four men out of our union(IAMAW). Copanies can drag their feet for years on first contract negotiations, esentially leaving employees worse off than before negotiations began. I suggest that people read the bill, it is all spelled out and easy to read. So easy that even a moron like Tim Vacumelips can read it.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:08 amTim_Cnutlips says:
Sorry, nothing personal, but I no longer engage in dialogue here. It became abundantly clear that I am not welcome here.
Good day.
What? Are you actually gonna do it? Jump off a cliff and kill yourself? At any rate, GOOD RIDDANCE JACKASS.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:43 ambsober , The problem with the Reich Wing Nuts is they hate losing, especially to an American of African descent.The Reich is all about power and their Reich Wing Christofacsit homophobic racist hate filled ideology,in other words if you ain`t Right,White and Wealthy your not one of them.Peace and solidarity my fellow union brother/sister.Call your congressperson folks and tell them to vote yes on the EFCA just as it is.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:03 amBehind all of its faux-populist rhetoric, the Republican leadership understands that it is the handmaiden of the rich and powerful. The other 95% (or is that 99%) of the country is only pandered to with lying propaganda because of the unpleasant and regrettable fact that, in a democracy, the GOP must confuse, mislead, frighten or coerce a majority of the voters to get into power and stay there.
In a rare moment of lucidity, editor of the neocon flagship Weekly Standard (and son of the Irving Kristol, the self-styled “Godfather of Neo-conservatism) Bill Kristol admitted:
“[Among conservatives] there’s been too much pseudo-populism, almost too much concern and attention for, quote, ‘the people’…. After all, we conservatives are on the side of the lords and barons…. We…are pulling up the drawbridge against the peasants.”
And, just to show this attitude has always been a core value of Conservatives, I include a quote from John Foster Dulles, Republican Secretary of State under Eisenhower in the 1950s:
“… somehow we find it hard to sell our values, namely that the rich should plunder the poor.”
The GOP is now doing its masters’ bidding by trying to prevent ordinary working Americans from regaining some of the power they lost when Reagan began the systematic destruction of the trade union movement.
An individual worker is powerless against the massed power of management. That creates scared workers who are easy to exploit and mistreat. Only through unions, can workers group together and have the power to deal with management as equals – and that’s much too democratic an idea for a party whose raison d’etre is the defense of the rich and powerful oligarchy that actually runs our so-called ‘democracy.’
July 24th, 2009 at 12:37 pm