Union Violence in Michigan: Tony Camargo of IBEW Sucker Punches a Fox Reporter

Anthony (Tony) Camargo
Violent Michigan Union Thug

I have always hated unions.  They seem like organized thuggery, beating up people who just want to work.  Yesterday they used violence to oppose supporters of right-to-work laws in Lansing, the capital of Michigan.    One well known comedic pundit, Steven Crowder, was punched in the face by an IBEW thug named Anthony Camargo (otherwise known as Tony Camargo).

I spent an hour or two trying to track this thug down, and found a person with that name, aged 53, in a town in Michigan.  Don't know if it's the right Tony Camargo, but the age is about right based on photographs.  This Tony has an unlisted number, but I could get the information if I want to pay for it.  I don't, at this point.

All you need to know about unions is this:  they are blackmailing, extortionists, thugs and bullies who want to get paid more than they're worth and use intimidation, blackmail and force to get it.

Hey Tony, wait for the knock on your door, it's coming.  A knock by the police, of course, what else did you think I meant?

Michigan Democrat Threatens Violence Over Passage of Right to Work Laws

Michigan has passed right-to-work laws which weaken the union monopoly on labor in that state.  Michigan had little choice:  it is the most unionized state in the midwest, and also the one with the highest unemployment.  Yes, there is a correlation.

Now some asshat Democrat, Rep Doug Geiss has declared "there will be blood," implying that the new laws will result in union violence...against whom?  Michigan politicians?  Non-union workers?

Rep Geiss had better be careful, his prediction may come true in ways he does not foresee.

Michigan Gets Smart, Passes Right to Work Laws

Yesterday, both the Michigan state House and Senate passed identical versions of the Workplace Fairness and Equity Act, bills that would give Michigan workers the freedom not to join unions if they so choose.  In states without "right to work" laws, an employee generally can be compelled to join a union, or forced to pay union dues without joining, as a condition of employment.

Whatever their historical achievements, unions today have one major purpose:  to extort employers into paying union members more than they are actually worth on the open market.  Unions are a form of monopoly, in which both employers and the public are often forced to pay through the nose for the goods and services that union members produce.

Unions are rarely satisfied with their exorbitant salaries and benefits, and always push for more, lest they destroy their employers through strikes.  Hostess is the latest example.

It is widely known that unions are what destroyed General Motors.  Unions are why American companies relocate their manufacturing facilities overseas.  Employers get tired of the blackmail and exorbitant costs, and move their plants to China and elsewhere to lower their costs and increase profits.   In times like these, such efforts may be necessary for a company's very survival.

Democrats support unions and oppose right-to-work laws, since unions are a major constituency of their party.  Unions also support Democrat candidates with their members's dues, whether the members like it or not.

Today, union leaders and Democrat politicians are waxing eloquently about the RIGHT to collectively bargain and join unions.  However, that right has not been taken away, and employees can still join unions if they wish, and cannot be fired for it.  The important difference is that employees in right-to-work states do not HAVE to join unions or pay union dues if they do not wish to do so -- and they can't be fired for their refusal.

Unions often supply a crowd of member-thugs to commit violence and destruction in order to intimidate opposition.  They did so yesterday in light of the Michigan vote (per the Washington Examiner):

After [Gov. Rick] Snyder announced he would support the legislation, union activists rushed the Senate chamber. Squadrons of Michigan State Police were ready for union violence however, and with the use of pepper spray they were able to prevent the protestors from hijacking the chamber. “A level of appropriate force was used by troopers,” State Police spokeswoman Shannon Banner said. “Medical treatment was offered but they refused.” Eight protestors were arrested in the melee.

Union-extorted high pay and benefits, like high minimum wage laws, do little for employees if there are no jobs.  The Examiner notes:

Michiganders are tired of businesses and factories leaving the state. They are tired of having the highest unemployment rate in the region. Yesterday’s right to work victory was another major step in Michigan’s fight to become competitive again.

The Union Label and What It Means (Graphic)

Jim Shankman is a Liar and a Coward

A couple of days ago Ann Althouse, a law professor and blogger in Madison, Wisconsin, received a threatening message from one of the pro-union leftists there.  Now the leftist has been identified as one Jim Shankman, who maintains a blog at this link.  Shankman had threatened to harrass Althouse until she leaves Wisconsin, promising that "We will fuck you up."

Now this leftist pussy has written a rationalization for his thuggish behavior.  He writes:

Ann Althouse and Meade advocate torture, attack against nonviolent protesters, police-state crackdowns on citizens exercising their constitutional rights, class privilege, race privilege, and basically the full spectrum of assaults against American democracy advocated by the radical, revolutionary wing of the republican party. They are unkind, unChristian and anti-American.

There is absolutely no truth in Shankman's screed; he just makes up outrageous claims to support his profound ignorance and immaturity.  He sounds like an ex-college student who was thoroughly marinated in crazy, moonbat, leftist ideology before he flunked out. Now he spends his time on a righteous crusade to slay the evil demons that exist only in his tiny little mind.

Anyone can make things up and then attribute the lies to his enemies.  Let's try it:

Jim Shankman advocates Marxist communism, the enslavement of all productive working people who will then be forced to supply the lazy, pot-smoking left with a high standard of living while the latter lounge about all day, sucking their thumbs and playing video games and producing nothing of value.  He represents everything that is decadent, backward, despotic, ignorant and false in the Democratic Party.

Whoops!  I meant to write something obviously false, ridiculous and exaggerated to prove my point.  However, it appears I have written a fair semblance of the truth about Jim Shankman.  My bad.

One thing I will say to Shankman is this:  don't threaten one of us, you pimply little punk.  Are you naive enough to believe that your threatened aggression will be passively accepted?   Guess again, punk.

Related post at the Other McCain

Union Protester Ousted by Police from Wisconsin Capitol

I found this photo at Serr8d's Cutting Edge and added a talking balloon for the ousted protester.

Free Loader Unloaded in Wisconsin

A Cure for Depression: Gov Walker Signs Bill Ending Public Employee Collective Bargaining Rights

My depression has been rather severe for months now.  My mental depression is strongly linked to the Democrats' economic depression.  However, this morning I read on the news that Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has signed into law the new bill ending the collective bargaining rights of most public sector employees.  Good!  That made me feel better.  No doubt Walker's move will help alleviate both forms of depression (economic as well as mental).

State employee unions have pushed wages and benefits into the stratosphere, bankrupting several states, the worst of which is California.  Unfortunately for California, the Dems are in complete control of the state and won't do anything about it.  In Wisconsin, the Republicans have the governor's chair and the majority.

Cubachi has the story here.  Hat tip to Riehl World View.

The World Has Gone Mad, Part 3,456: Wisconsin Union Thugs Make Death Threats to Republicans

The union fanatics in Wisconsin are determined to keep their free lunch (getting paid more than they're worth through the blackmail of collective bargaining).  They have been besieging the state capitol building and behaving as an unruly, uncivilized mob.  In short, like Democrats.

Senate Republicans in Wisconsin received the following emailed death threat last night:

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in
the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me
have decided that we've had enough. We feel that you and the people that
support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing
with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand
for it any longer. So, this is how it's going to happen: I as well as many
others know where you and your family live, it's a matter of public records.
We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a
nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn't leave
it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the
message to you since you are so "high" on Koch and have decided that you are
now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a
demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed
in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent.
This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won't
tell you all of them because that's just no fun. Since we know that you are
not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided
to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it's
necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making
them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families
and themselves then We Will "get rid of" (in which I mean kill) you. Please
understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked
everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel
that it's worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives
of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and
say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!

Read more about it here.

Let's All Sing: "Look For the UNION LABEL!" (Photoshops)

There are a number of great graphics on the web that illustrate the "Union Label."  Unfortunately, I didn't create any of them.  However, I gathered them here for your enlightenment and enjoyment.

"Atlas Shrugged" Movie Starts April 15: Who Is John Galt?

Pamela Geller as Dagny Taggart, VP of Taggart
Transcontinental Railroad Lines (of "Atlas Shrugged")

The Other McCain is reporting that the "Atlas Shrugged" movie begins showing in theaters on April 15.  I'd love to see that, and I hope it is true to the book.  Ayn Rand's famous novel about the capitalist good guys fighting the socialist morons is, without a doubt, the greatest pro-capitalism story of all time.  It has inspired the contempt and hatred of leftists since the book debuted in 1957.

The story is about key capitalists bowing out of the economy as governmental interference increases.  The capitalists start their own colony and economy in a hidden valley in Colorado, and let the larger economy crash on the shoals of governmental overreach.  The term "Who is John Galt?" refers to an early leader of the capitalist movement, who walks off the job one day after a pro-socialist meeting of the workers.  "Who is John Galt?" then becomes a popular saying like "What's the price of tea in China?" or "Does a bear sh*t in the woods?" or simply "Who knows?"

Today, more than fifty years later, politicians have learned nothing about economics, and governmental overreach is on steroids.  When major companies go out of business or move their operations overseas (to escape high taxation and onerous regulation), don't ask "Why?"  Ask "Who is John Galt?"

The term "Atlas Shrugged" refers to the great Atlas of capitalism who, instead of continuing to hoist the world on his shoulders, shrugs off the burden.  Now when companies shut down and entrepreneurs drop out of the economy or leave our tax world to find freer havens, people say that "Atlas is shrugging."  Pamela Geller named her blog after this phenomenon, i.e. "Atlas Shrugs."

This phenomenon is not new.  I remember years ago when European politicians complained of the "brain drain" to the United States, as talented European engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs fled to the greener pastures of North America.  Today we may be experiencing a "reverse brain drain" as the technically talented follow their ambition to China and India.  Socialism and its weaker sister liberalism do not strengthen an economy, they slowly choke the life out of it, resulting in lower productivity as the talented seek greater opportunity elsewhere.

Wisconsin Protest Signs: Some Suggestions for Union Supporters

Wisconsin State Unions' Real Message to Taxpayers! (Photoshop)

I took this image from American Power and Photoshopped it a bit so that the true message is clear.

Health Warning Re: Dangerous Parasites! (Photoshop)

Dr. Stogie presents, for your health and protection, the following presentation of some common but persistent parasites.  Enjoy, use and distribute freely.

The Democrat Message in Wisconsin: Pay State Employees Until You Bleed

So now Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and many other Democrats are supporting the state employee unions in Wisconsin.  So what exactly is the Democrat message?  Here are some possibilities:

1.  Wisconsin taxpayers should pay exorbitant state salaries and benefits, even if it means the state continues to bleed red ink and become increasingly insolvent.

2.  Unions are sacrosanct (because they are major supporters of the Democrat Party) and you must pay them whatever they wish, whether you can afford it or not.  Go without, suffer poverty, get taxed until you bleed, but continue to pay those exorbitant benefits regardless of the pain it causes the majority of taxpayers.

3.  The Democrat Party is indeed "the Party of Something for Nothing," because the real purpose of labor unions is to blackmail management into paying workers more than they're worth.  Government supported labor unions are just another means of "redistributing the wealth," from those who earn it to those who do not.

4.  The Democrat Party stands firmly, now and forever, for fiscal irresponsibility, for spending far more than you take in, for things you don't really need and which have little or no value, or could be easily replaced with cheaper and more effective alternatives (e.g., hiring outside firms through a bid process to do better and cheaper what overpaid state employees now do).

5.  Or to put it more succinctly, RED INK, CONFISCATORY TAXATION, GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRACY, GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY AND UNION BLACKMAIL.  Now there's a slogan we can all get behind!  I am so inspired!

Wisconsin -- the Next Big Fight Between Left and Right (Union Busting)

As a Californian, I know clearly the reason why my state is a financial basket case.  It is because of the strong unions of state employees, who have pushed up wages and pensions to outrageous levels, causing catastrophic rivers of red ink and state bankruptcy.  What California needs is to remove the abused power of collective bargaining among its state employees.  With the state firmly in the grip of Democrats, that isn't likely to happen, and the exodus of businesses and individuals will continue.

Now it appears Wisconsin has the same problem.  Its treasury is also being drained by the state employee unions.  So the governor there is supporting legislation to end collective bargaining by state employees.  I am 100% for it.

Once upon a time, unions were a good thing, a counterbalance  to abusive business management practices and mistreatment of employees.  It was an effective means of holding management accountable for its employee policies and practices.  When any group of humans has unbridled power, they will abuse it.  It is a law of nature.  I call it "the asshole syndrome," or simply AS.

Now unions in some places have achieved unbridled power and once again, the AS reappears.  The assholes in this case are no longer management, but the employees themselves.  They are looting state treasuries with the same wild abandon of drunken barbarians sacking Rome on a Saturday night.  It is time to put the bridle back on this runaway group.  It's time for them to drop those swords and grog goblets, and to unhand those wenches.  

Of course, the Wisconsin brouhaha will quickly become a stereotypical case of left vs right, with the liberals and the Democrats supporting the unions regardless of their excesses and unreasonable demands.   You can almost write the scenario ahead of time.