SEIU, Keep On Spinning

I'm sure by now, all of you have heard about the resent violence on the night of the 6th, outside of U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan's forum on health care and aging in my home town of St. Louis, Missouri. I'd like you to bare with me while I show you how the Service Employees International Union as well as many media outlets are spinning this story to paint protesters of the current health care reform ideas as violent radicals

Before I get into the meat and potatoes here it needs to be said that violence has no place in what should remain a civil debate. It discredits and further divides both parties. Leadership on both sides of the debate has condemned such actions, and for that they are to be commended.

Now, unless you've been hiding under a rock, you're aware that there has been very heated and passionate opposition to the current direction Congress and the Obama Administration has taken health care reform. Many Americans are fed up with out-of-control spending by politicians who seem to be more concerned with the wants of special interest groups then the needs of their constituents. So, the people are making there voices heard the best way they know how. I think it's safe to say that the nature of a town hall meeting is to let the people come face to face with their representative. If they won't respond to phone calls or answer questions via email then a town hall meeting seems to me to be the next logical step.

Every group has its bad apples. History shows us that the civil rights movement had its share too, but America still saw that light. We've seen a few loons in this movement but there are very few. We've come to a turning point in America where the people are no longer afraid of being ridiculed because they know in their heart that the direction this country in heading in is not right.

Let's focus in on the incident in St. Louis. When the town hall ended the debate continued on the street. A physical confrontation erupted followed by injuries and arrests. If you search the web for articles, you'll find that the liberal media has been extremely vague on the the facts of this altercation. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an article today on their website by Kim Bell and Patrick O'Connell, titled "Dueling protesters disrupt Carnahan forum on aging."* In the article they stuck only to the facts that the St. Louis County Police issued and the next day reactions of a few leaders on both sides of the debate. In fact, the only specifics in the article pertaining to the chaos, a quarter of the whole piece, was the first hand account of an SPD reporter who was one of the 6 people to be arrested! He told how his arrest was grossly unjustified. I might add that the story of his arrest begins after the physical altercation in question.

* http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/5420430FDF2036F08625760B00136BBC?OpenDocument

113 words at the end of the 1900 word article were devoted to the real story. Kenneth Gladney, a man selling "Don't Tread On Me" flags outside of the town hall, was beaten by 4 SEIU members.

Even a writer for the New York Times wouldn't touch the details of this altercation, saying simply "Opponents of the proposed changes, organized by the St. Louis Tea Party, apparently clashed with supporters organized by the Service Employees International Union outside a school gym." **

** http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32338375/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/

Why won't the liberal media examine the facts of this case and let the readers decide who the extremists are? Could it be that their precious SEIU might be seriously injured by the facts? Hmmm... Something to think about.

It seems that SEIU is betting that most non-members will refrain from visiting their websites. I find it peculiar that St. Louis' own, SEIU Local 2000, has the following message posted on their home page.
"Because of recent turmoil and problems on the Local 2000 Executive Board, SEIU has decided to temporarily take over management of the local union. The new trustees are dedicated to improve and strengthen the local."***

*** http://www.seiu2000.org/

And even more strange is a post on SEIU's national website. Kenneth Gladney is not mentioned once, but they do tell the story of a reverend and SEIU member as being "assaulted at a town hall."****

****http://www.seiu.org/2009/08/stop-the-violence-at-health-care-town-halls.php

They even go so far as to post the following disgusting propaganda video in the same article.



At the end of that video you see the reverend on the ground in the blue SEIU shirt and it conveniently fades to black right before the non-combatants begin to verbally scold the SEIU members.

Lets examine an unedited version of the same indecent. You'll notice that the video begins with the SEIU reverend on the ground right next to Kenneth Gladney, the black man in the tan polo shirt.

Notice: Strong Language


The un-cropped video tells a very different story. I could go on and on about this but I ask you, please, go to these links I've given you, re-watch the videos. The manipulation of the public is insulting to this country's people, and needs to be realized.

I'll close with one more video. The story told by Kenneth Gladney.

Dolph's First Letter to the Congressman

And now a reading from Dolph's first letter to the Congressman.

Well Representative Conyers, if someone asked me to the "read the bill" I would respond the very same way. What good is it for me to read the bill if I don't have the time? After all, I am a full time student with a part time job. I have to mow my lawn, do the dishes, and take out the trash from time to time. Oh, and I do need to take my clunker in for an oil change soon. Most of the time it's hard for me to get through an enjoyable book without getting sidetracked by other things that come up in my life. I certainly wouldn't have the time. And what about the mind boggling legal babble that is contained in these bills? Why... you'd need two lawyers and two days just to figure out what it means after you read the bill. I certainly don't have the staffing, or any other such resources for that matter, to take on such a task. What good is it?

But then, I'd probably continue and state how in this great country of ours we elect people to represent us in such matters. Yes, the founding fathers knew when drafting our constitution that in order for us common folk to enjoy our liberties we'd need to have a government by the people, of the people, and for the people. Part of that government they created included the House of Representatives outlined in... oh, what part of The Constitution was that, ARTICLE. I!

Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, you know all about these things. After all, you've been in the House sense 1964. As someone who earned the Juris Doctor in 1958 and who most certainly has a very competent staff with access to more than two other lawyers, we all know you were just kidding around, Congressman. I'm sure most Americans would agree that if you weren't competent in understanding such legislation before voting on it then we wouldn't see you in Washington after 2010. Oh, Congressman, you are a jokester.