I have received the below message from Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Committee, which I am posting for your information. I signed the letter, and I hope you will too.
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"We will hunt you down . . . slit your throats . . . drink your blood. I will have your decapitated head on a pike in the Madison town square."
Those are the words of a union militant aimed directly at a Wisconsin state legislator for daring to vote to restrict Big Labor's forced dues control over Wisconsin state workers.
There were literally dozens of similar recorded death threats along with acts of vandalism leveled against Wisconsin state legislators and Governor Scott Walker for not towing the union boss line.
Even more ominous, the Wisconsin State Journal reported police found "dozens of rounds of live ammunition outside the Capitol" during the height of the Wisconsin protests.
Thankfully union militants did not use that ammunition to make good on their threats . . . at least not yet.
Unfortunately, just last month the New York Daily News reported that a small group of union whistle blowers and members of the Communications Workers of America were not so lucky.
After reporting a timesheet-padding scheme by their local union bosses, one of the whistle blowers was beaten so severely by a union thug he suffered two herniated discs and had to undergo knee surgery.
Another whistle blower found a dead rat in his locker along with a note he would be "taken care of." And another stated he was told: "If I continue to complain about their finances, they would have me killed."
The fact is nearly every day ordinary working men and women face death threats, harassment, vandalism and bodily harm if they dare defy the dictates of union officials.
Union bosses consider themselves above the law because -- they are -- thanks to the notorious Supreme Court Enmons decision.
Today you and I have an opportunity to put an end to all this.
That's why it's vital you sign the petition urging your Congressman and Senators to cosponsor and vote for the Freedom From Union Violence Act IMMEDIATELY.
The fact is, for decades union bosses and their underlings have committed thousands of reported incidents of violence, extortion, vandalism and even murder.
And in most of these cases these vicious acts of violence and intimidation have not even been investigated, much less prosecuted and punished.
Ever since the Supreme Court's infamous 1973 Enmons decision, union bosses have been granted immunity from prosecution for acts of violence and vandalism they orchestrate in the so-called "pursuit of legitimate union objectives."
This outrageous loophole in federal law has effectively tied the hands of federal law enforcement officers and has permitted union bosses and their handpicked "enforcers" to achieve their union goals – by any means necessary.
And, it's no secret union bosses are all too happy to use violence and terror to achieve their number one goal: force more and more working men and women into paying union dues.
You and I need to make sure union bosses and their henchmen are subject to the same laws as every other lowlife and criminal.
That's why the Freedom From Union Violence Act must be a top priority in Congress.
But to make this happen I'm going to need your help.
First, will you sign the petition to your Congressman and Senators urging them to co-sponsor and vote for the Freedom From Union Violence Act?
http://righttoworkcommittee.org/fuva_petition.aspx?pid=fuv1
Next, can I also count on you to chip in with a contribution of $10 or more to help the Committee pay for and, just as importantly, expand this critical program?
If we are going to force the politicians in Washington to stand up to the union bosses and end this legalized union terrorism once and for all, it will take an army of concerned and committed Americans just like you.
You see, unless the politicians in Washington are forced to pay attention, they will continue to turn a blind eye to the violence committed by their union boss patrons.
With your help, we hope to contact up to 1.5 million Americans in the next few weeks who are outraged union bosses have the green light to act like they're above the law.
Your generous contribution will also help pay for costly radio, T.V., and newspaper advertising, which, if funds allow, we hope to run in swing states and districts calling on politicians by name to support the Freedom From Union Violence Act.
Your generous contribution today can also enable us to personally brief hundreds of influential nationally syndicated columnists, editorial writers and talk radio hosts in order to build momentum in the media for the Freedom From Union Violence Act.
So, please, sign the petition and, if at all possible, chip in with a contribution of $10 or more to the National Right to Work Committee so we can mobilize the grassroots army needed to finally plug this Big Labor loophole of violence.
With your help we will put an end to Big Labor's terror tactics once and for all.
Sincerely,
Mark Mix
P.S. Today we have an historic opportunity to finally close the loophole that exempts union bosses and their handpicked "enforcers" from federal prosecution for violent acts which would send any other brutal thug or criminal to jail.
So please, sign the petition demanding your Congressman and Senators cosponsor and vote for the Freedom From Union Violence Act.
Let's make the politicians in Washington explain to their constituents why violent union officials should be allowed to get away with murder.
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The National Right to Work Committee is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens' organization dedicated to combating compulsory unionism through an aggressive program designed to mobilize public opposition to compulsory unionism and, at the same time, enlist public support for Right to Work legislation. The Committee's mailing address is 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160. The Committee can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-325-7892. Its web address is http://nrtwc.org/
Not produced or e-mailed at taxpayer expense.
To help the National Right to Work Committee grow, please forward this to a friend.
If the National Right to Work (FOR LESS) Committee told me it was raining, I would step outside and take a good look. In this case, I did what I always do when someone makes vague insinuations about a judicial ruling: I looked up the original text.
ReplyDeleteThis letter is worthy of Joseph Goebbels. I have in mind the incident, recorded in the autobiographical novel, Das Judencar (or, The Car With The Yellow Star, where a Nazi youth group in the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia is mildly informed by an unarmed, uniformed, police officer, that it is almost curfew time, and the boys should be on their way home now. Goebbels put it on the radio as mass slaughter of innocent German youth by the thugs of the Czech government -- to the admiration of the youth who were there.
The Enmon decision ruled, quite simply, that the Hobbs act was never intended by congress to apply to isolated acts of violence committed by union members in the course of an otherwise lawful strike in pursuit of otherwise lawful objectives. The court noted quite clearly that such acts of violence are punishable under routine state criminal statutes. However, the monetary payments sought have to themselves be extortionate -- that is, payment for nothing -- in order to come under the Hobbs Act.
The court cited from detailed discussion in congress, where Rep. Marcantonio pointedly asked a sponsor whether the act might not be used against a union in precisely the manner the NRWFLC is advocating. The sponsor said no, it could not. The courts will not authorize prosecutors to go beyond what congress intended and voted for.
A good parallel is the Supreme Court's decision in the Lopez case that congress had no business passing criminal laws against carrying guns near a school. States have every power to do that, and have done so, but general criminal statutes are not in the jurisdiction of congress. Sentator Kohl of Wisconsin, who thank God is retiring, issued a grandstanding press release that it was a terrible decision, because guns in schools are a serious problem. The court did not say this is not a problem, the court said it is a matter for the states to outlaw, and noted with approval that all of them had.
There is a good conservative principle being applied here: don't make a federal case out of it.
Strikes are inherently confrontational. I suppose I might support a law that if an employer hires armed thugs to beat up people on the picket line, then the courts will grant the union everything it asked for, with triple damages for the life of the contract. But, it generally doesn't work like that. People who violate specific criminal statutes are prosecuted for what exactly they did.
Enmon actually doesn't apply AT ALL to the facts contained in the letter posted here. Intimidating people to prevent them reporting a crime is not a lawful objective at all. The Hobbs act might even apply.
People who indulge in such blatant lies as are apparent in the letter posted here not only do not deserve financial contributions, they deserve to wither on the vine. They can't be sued for libel only because they haven't named and defamed an individual. They have merely lied to the American public as a whole.
Spoken like a true union hack.
ReplyDeleteI'll grant you this Gary: you didn't take the easy way out by suppressing my comment. However, you said nothing to refute it either. I looked at the court decision, offered an analysis of what it said, and you offer nothing to rehabilitate the shabby performance of your mendacious heroes.
ReplyDeleteBoy, do you know how to throw up a smoke screen.
ReplyDeleteUnions are national organizations who lobby Washington on a daily basis. They are properly covered under federal law.The SEIU for example should be under federal jurisdiction. Just becaause a union thug beats up someone doesn't mean it is just a state matter when union protests or gatherings that result in violence are are being orchestrated from a union office in another state or Washington.
So the Hobbs Act pertains to corruption and extortion but not acts of violence by union members. So what? That tells me that we need a federal law to cover it.
It is you who have not refuted my charge or the statements of Mark Mix. You say they are fiction.
Boy, do you know how to throw up a smoke screen.
ReplyDeleteUnions are national organizations who lobby Washington on a daily basis. They are properly covered under federal law.The SEIU for example should be under federal jurisdiction. Just becaause a union thug beats up someone doesn't mean it is just a state matter when union protests or gatherings that result in violence are are being orchestrated from a union office in another state or Washington.
So the Hobbs Act pertains to corruption and extortion but not acts of violence by union members. So what? That tells me that we need a federal law to cover it.
It is you who have not refuted my charge or the statements of Mark Mix. You say they are fiction.
Gary, saying it twice does not make it more true, unless you are a character in a Lewis Carroll epic poem, specifically, The Hunting of the Snark.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously have not read the Supreme Court decision at issue, which is why you refer to sober analysis of a legal opinion as a smoke screen. Mostly though, you just don't like the result.
It is not a question of federal jurisdiction or no federal jurisdiction over unions. The basics of union governance and collective bargaining are indeed governed by federal law. The Hobbs Act is not one of these laws. You might find something in the Landrum-Griffin Act which pertains to the actions referenced, IF they are sanctioned by the union, but not the Hobbs Act. Lobbying, incidentally, is not per se illegal, nor does the fact that an organization engages in lobbying bring it under the Hobbs Act.
The Hobbs Act pertains to activities in the nature of a protection racket, where someone says "Pay me $10,000 in small bills every month, and I won't burn down your business." The payment itself has no legitimate basis. Nothing is being exchanged for value. Nothing would be paid, ever, period, if not for the threat of violence.
Not so with wages. Wages are due, with or without intimidation about how high or low the rate of pay shall be. The Hobbs Act does not apply if, e.g., I agree to mow your lawn for $20, you only pay me $10, and I burn down your garage. Arson laws do apply, the Hobbs Act does not.
The Enmon decision should never have had to reach the Supreme Court at all. It arose because an unscrupulous prosecutor decided to grab any tool he could find in the statute book, and twist it to go after who he wanted to go after. That is a common form of abuse in the prosecutorial business.
Did you ever see the movie "The Great White Hope"? When the feds were trying to find a way to "get" Johnson, who was indeed a disagreeable character in some ways, they said "Hey, he's sleeping with a girlfriend he's not married to, we could get him under the Mann Act." An agent with more integrity said "That's for commercial ass, she's not a pro." The other said "Let me talk to the fine print boys." (In those days, state laws against fornication may have applied anyway, but it was not interstate COMMERCE).
Same deal here. The fine print boys can stretch any law to cover a situation, if they want to get somebody bad enough, in this case, the union. But the Supreme Court properly recognized that it didn't fit.