OTBL'ers...DITTO

Wife of Conn Post-reference Protester

...does the wife of conn know what conn meant by the statement "'the I hate white folks' channel 5..." in Kilowatt's Friday, November 12 post The America I Saw Today.

...concernings conn's post Welcome to Topeka, Home of the Westboro Bastard Church, those pictures illustrate what those people are about. Even though the OTBL admin has kicked people off www.ontheberline.net for a lot less, I think your sentiments are probably understated from the way most people around here feel about those invaders.

...as for getting booted off the OTBL site, conn should be pretty safe. Evidently the admin over there has taken somekind of hypocritical oath and is becoming more flexible in what he terms "lewd and vulgar." OTBL poster bergwin is still actively posting and commenting, even after calling a compassionate, creative, gifted, tax-paying writer from Hudson a "a brown nosing limp dick for the government schools, he bends over for all the liberals in Hudson..." This post was done on October 28. If you lap your Kool-aid out of the same dish as the admin, you should be ok.

Next thing you know, the admin will let some of those people from New Richmond who are trying to add intelligence to the OTBL "debate" post some positive information concerning public education...like hell!

Today In Labor History

November 18
1919: Seattle printers refuse to print anti-labor ad in newspaper.

November 19
1915: On the morning of November 19, socialist trade unionist Joe Hill was executed by a Utah state authority firing squad. Hill was a songwriter and organiser for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), also known as the “Wobblies”.

Hill had been convicted of murdering a former policeman and his trial was one of the most controversial ever to take place in Utah. Hill emphatically denied the charges, but refused to testify at the trial, and was convicted of murder on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to death. One of the last messages sent from his death-row prison cell to fellow Wobbly “Big Bill” Haywood was: “Don't waste time mourning. Organise!”

November 20
1816: First use of term “scab” by Albany Typographical Society.

1884: Norman Thomas born, American socialist leader.

1901: Mine fire in Telluride, Colo., kills 28 miners - prompts union call for safer work conditions.

Check out the Big Labor site.

Class is now in session...

The Shocking Truth Exposed -- On The Border Line

Scroll down for the picutres that are too lewd and vulgar to be displayed at the top of the blog...

Who Said It -- Reagan or Bush 41 or Bush 43

"Over the next five years, the Social Security trust fund could encounter deficits of up to $111 billion, and in the decades ahead its unfunded obligations could run well into the trillions. Unless we in government are willing to act, a sword of Damocles will soon hang over the welfare of millions of our citizens."

The Not So Funnies: Homeland Security

New Richmond Airport: Homeland Security v. "Free" Fencing To Protect Expensive Toys

Here's something you won't be reading at www.ontheborderline.net. The New Richmond airport recieved -- unsoliciated -- $300,000 to build a fence around the airport perimeter. Evidently, this will make our country safer and protect a lot of expense toys. If you take a drive over by the airport, you can quickly see that, as long as the terrorists don't go through the front gate, they should be able access the airport without tearing their pants or breaking a fingernail.

According to Mike Demulling, manager of the New Richmond Regional Airport, a $300,000 fence was built around the airport after he received an unsolicited Homeland Security grant. Demulling, who said he had originally hoped to build a mesh fence to keep out deer, switched to a steel-and-barbed wire security fence after a phone call from the Office of Justice Assistance.

"It was, 'We're going to send you the money, this is what you have to do with it, this is what we expect,' " Demulling said.

As you read this, the Republican Congress is busy cutting holes in our country's social netting and giving tax cuts to the rich so they can build bigger fences around their gated communities.

No child left behind or Piper Cubs, Cessnas or Pitts Specials. Read more...

The Not So Funnies -- Reaganomics Revisted

Service Cuts for the Poor to Finance Tax Cuts for the Rich

UPDATE: Thursday, Nov. 10, the House leadership had to abandon a vote on a miserable spending bill that would cut $53.9 billion, one-third of which would come from human needs services. Cuts GOP members are seeking include slashing $9.5 billion for Medicaid, $15 billion for student loans, and $844 million for Food Stamps. They'll be trying their best to pull together the votes they need, so now more than ever Congress needs to hear from you.

Read more about The Ultimate Special Interest.

Today In Labor History

November 17
1959: International Brotherhood of Longshoremen change name to Longshoremen’s Association.

Check out Big Labor.com

Republican Christine Todd Whitman Urges More Moderation In The GOP and Less Extreme Conservativism

"(The Republican Party) is all about partisan politics. It's not about policy."

Christie Todd Whitman, a former governor of New Jersey and former Environ-mental Protection Agency administrator, said the Republican Party should focus less on extreme conservatism and more on moderate policy at a recent lecture at Brown University.

"Fundamentalists want one, correct way to approach things," she said.

(JPN note: Haven't we seen this strategy in action at www.ontheborderline.net?) Read more on what gets a former Bush cabinet member labelled a RINO.

A Test of the Integrity of "Moderate Republicans", i.e., RINOs

The upcoming vote in the House over "mandatory spending" cuts is being hailed as one of the most important votes this year -- as it rightly should be. The vote will indicate as much about the direction our country is headed as it will about Congress' spending priorities. And the outcome is likely to be shaped by the courage and integrity of moderate Republicans.

Conservatives see the House vote as an opportunity to blaze forward on the path to "starving the beast" -- dramatically downsizing the federal government. Progressives and some moderates see it, instead, as an opportunity to reject a radical agenda and begin to realign national policy with the values of the American people.

Read more...

Quote of the Day: The hamburgers are better on this side of Borderline

"A Hamburger is warm and fragrant and juicy. A hamburger is soft and nonthreatening. It personifies the Great Mother herself who has nourished us from the beginning. A hamburger is an icon of layered circles, the circle being at once the most spiritual and the most sensual of shapes. A hamburger is companionable and faintly erotic. The nipple of the Goddess, the bountiful belly-ball of Eve. You are what you think you eat."
--Tom Robbins

If you want to feed rotten hamburgers to your kids, go to On The Border Line.

House Rejects Bi-Partisan Effort to Shield Internet from Campaign Finance Laws

In a surprising vote, the House rejected a bipartisan effort to shield online communications from the strictures of campaign finance reform laws.

H.R. 1606, the Online Freedom of Speech Act, sponsored by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), would have codified the current Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulation that exempts the Internet from campaign finance regulations, including the soft money provisions of the Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). The current exemption was struck down by a federal court, and the FEC is now considering a new rule. On November 2, the bill failed (225-182) to get the 2/3 vote it needed to pass the House on the suspension calendar. (Under suspension rules, debate is limited to 40 minutes and no amendments are allowed. The process is generally used for non-controversial bills.)

Increased Regulation Coming if Congress Does Not Act
The Hensarling bill would have modified the definition of "public communications" in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) to exempt communications over the Internet. BCRA amended FECA to prohibit political parties, federal candidate campaign committees, and other regulated political committees from using soft money to finance "public communications." Instead, these communications must be paid for with funds raised under the restrictions of campaign finance rules, which prohibit corporate contributions and limit individual contributions.

Read more at OMB Watch

The Evolution of Intelligent Design

United Nations Declares November 16 Day of Tolerance

Fight against intolerance is one of the main trends of the UN activity. Demand for tolerance has been required at present more than ever before, the address of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the occasion of the International Tolerance Day reads. The world marks it November 16, Kazinform refers to the UN Almaty office.

In terms of severe economic competition, people’s migration and space curtailment, the matter of coexistence of various cultures and religions has become more urgent.

It is essential to form culture of tolerance based on consolidation of legal protection and education. And personal initiative is of necessity as well. Everyone must long to learn more about one another, perceive the peculiarities and find out the best in religions and traditions of each other. Nothing but the process of mutual cognition let us understand that what unites us is much stronger that splits us, Kofi Annan considers.

Building tolerance and trust in diverse communities is not done overnight, but takes time and commitment. Building tolerance requires access to education. Intolerance is often rooted in ignorance and fear: fear of the unknown, of the "other", other cultures, religions and nations. Intolerance is also closely linked to an exaggerated sense of self-worth and pride: notions taught and learned at an early age. Therefore in coming years, we need to place greater emphasis on educating children about tolerance, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

But we should not forget that education does not end in school, that adults - firstly as individuals capable of committing acts of intolerance but more importantly in their capacity as parents, law-makers and law-enforcement officials - also need to be considered a priority target of our educational efforts.

International Day of Tolerance had been declared by UNESCO November 1995 on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

Check out the United Nations web site.

Quote of Note: Robert Ingersoll

"With the idea that labor is the basis of progress goes the thought that labor must be free."
---
What light is to the eyes --
what air is to the lungs --
what love is to the heart,
liberty is to the soul of man.
Without liberty, the brain is a dungeon,
where the chained thoughts die with their pinions
pressed against the hingeless doors."

Robert G. Ingersoll
American lawyer, orator, statesman, 1948

Pen & Ink Jambs

Pen & Ink Jabs: More of the same

There's never been a better time to join the G.O.P.

With the President's approval at an all time low.
Now's the time to join the new minority party.
Here a GOP new members guide:
Become Republican

Today In Labor History

November 14

1881: Trade unions formed the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Organizations, later becoming the AFL. Under the leadership of Samuel Gompers and Peter McGuire, the AFL became the most influential labor organization in the nation.

1903: Women’s Trade Union League founded in Chicago. WTUL history.

1938: To “organize workers into powerful industrial union,” United Mine Workers of America President, John L. Lewis called a meeting in Pittsburgh’s Islam Grotto, founding the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

1979: Federation of Professional Athletes granted a charter by the AFL-CIO.

Reagan Remembered: Social Security

"I believe that we should build any social security rescue plan around three very basic principles:

First, we must preserve the integrity of the trust funds and the basic social security benefit structure.

Second, we must eliminate abuses within the system and elements of the system which duplicate other programs, both of which could rob beneficiaries of their hard-earned benefits.

Third, we must hold down the tax burden on current and future workers.

I believe in those principles, and I think that a great majority of the American people believe in them, too. I believe in the social security system. I believe that it will survive and keep its promise to this generation of beneficiaries and those to come."

December 29, 1981

Quote to Ponder: The High Road To Productivity

"It is clear that with the internationalization of markets, countries, companies, and people can thrive only if they yield to the imperatives of global competition. The most basic of these imperatives is that we can compete in only two ways: reduce wages and income or increase value added (or productivity and quality), sometimes referred to as the ‘high road….’ The high-value-added option, by contrast, could create very steep learning and earning curves and therefore holds great promise for personal, organizational, and national advancement. A production system based on ideas, skills, and knowledge clearly is less restrictive than one based on manual work and physical resources. However, since under present institutional arrangements in the United Sates market forces tent to lower wages for most workers, the high-road outcome will require positive interventions."

Ray Marshall,
Former U. S. Secretary of Labor

Panel 68E - Row 001

Learn more about Richard C. Fina aka "Doc".

Quotes to Ponder: Robert E. Lee

"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world."

---
The education of a man is never completed until he dies.

Robert E. Lee

Anti-Christian Christian Group From Kansas Protests At Hudson Soldier's Funeral

I was reading a current post at the OTBL site titled The America I Saw Today that was about the protest in Hudson Friday, November 11 at the funeral of Specialist Ben Smith who was killed in Iraq. From reading the post and the comments added, I got the impression that some local, anti-war group was staging the protest. From the comments to the post, it appears some of the OTBL'ers thought the same thing.

Since they mentioned the Twin Cities media covered the event, I did a little research. On the KARE 11 website, I found a story on the Hudson funeral protest. The "Christian" group doing the protesting was from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. According to KARE 11, "the group has taken to protesting outside funerals of soldiers killed by bombs in Iraq. Their message - soldiers' deaths in Iraq are a punishment from God."

This group doesn't just hate American soldiers, it also hates gays, Jews, Blacks and most Christians -- unless you happen to belong to their church. The group maintains a web site call www.godhatesfags.com. I found the following site run by the Anti-Defamation League that tracks the activities of this group. The ADL figths bigotry.

Here are a taste of the quotes attributed to the Godhatesfags site:

On America:
"The reason for the violence that has been erupting in the United States of America in recent years is that GOD HATES AMERICA."

On gays:
"The only true Nazis in this world are fags. They want to force you by law to support their filth, and they want to shut you up by law when they hate what you say. They would be perfectly happy to make it a crime to preach that 'God hates fags' under the guise of 'hate speech legislation.' "

On Jews:
"Fag Jew Nazis are worse than ordinary Nazis. They've had more experience. Jews stirred up the Romans to butcher 6 million Christians in the catacombs in the 1st century. The First Holocaust was a Jewish Holocaust against Christians. The latest Holocaust is by Topeka Jews against WBC..."

On Christians:
"Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, Northern and Southern Baptist, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, etc. have all departed from God. Most well-known preachers (Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, etc.) have departed from God, and disassociated themselves with pure Gospel preaching."
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Obviously, there are many sick bastards slithering across this country. It's too bad they had to come to Hudson, Wisconsin on a very sad day and bring the additional tears and pain that accompanies their brand of hatred, bigorty and intolerance. However, as much as we hate to see this hatred and bigotry on display, it is important to make sure groups like the Westboro Baptist Church have the right to protest. Otherwise, their evilness will only fester underground and take people by surprise in the dark of night.

The family of Ben Smith should take this protest personally, as should the people of the community and this nation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Smith family. Our hope is for an America where someday the type of hatred and ignorance displayed by the Westboro Baptist Community disappears.
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Point of Information:
Adding his comment to the above mentioned OTBL post, Conn wrote "Too bad there were not 20 Harley guys instead of 1. I must give kudos to the media jackels however…after the initial story on “I hate white folks” channel 5, there was not a single mention of the human debri protesters after the Garage Logic Mayor took them to task. "

Does anybody know what Dr. Conn means by the "I hate white folks" comment?