Townhall Meetings: Alarming Rise in Union Involvement and Violence

I encourage you to read GatewayPundit and Michelle Malkin regularly. They have been keeping abreast of recent developments -- alarming ones -- at town hall meetings taking place around the nation. From national and local political leaders to unions, those who question ObamaCare are being not only painted as disruptive, racist "teabagging rednecks" carrying swastikas, but now unions, especially the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) -- which invested $61 million to Obama's campaign.

This is a bit "all over the place", but I want to share with you some troubling events around the country and locally ...

Here's a more national perspective of recent developments from Michelle Malkin:

SEIU and the “persuasion of power”

By Michelle Malkin • August 6, 2009 11:44 PM

In May, I told you how the Service Employees International Union’s $61 million investment in Barack Obama paid off with cabinet appointments, executive orders, key personnel slots, and legislative goodies.
Now, the SEIU thugs are looking out for The Boss. In Tampa, Florida and St. Louis today, the Purple People turned out to give cover to members of Congress targeted by Tea Party activists and town hall protesters. For the first time, the town hall protests were marked by physical aggression. More on the St. Louis arrests of confrontational Obamacare activists here. (Just like Obama wanted: “In your face.”) This is no coincidence.
I’m excerpting a portion of my Culture of Corruption chapter on the SEIU. This is what you are up against.

[Go here to read the excerpt detailing the SEIU's sway over Obama.]
Locally, GatewayPundit is regularly posting on local developments. Today, he offers more details about last night's townhall meeting with Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) at Bernard Middle School in South County. The local press just reported on some disruptive shouters within the meeting, but failed to show what was going on outside.

RAW VIDEO!!.....TEA PARTY PROTESTERS ATTACKED-- 1 Black Conservative Seriously Hurt in St. Louis!... 6 Arrested Including SEIU Members!

** RAW VIDEO from Missourah blog:
A black conservative was attacked by the Carnahan-supporting mob.
At least one SEIU member is arrested by St. Louis police in this video:



Six people were arrested outside the Russ Carnahan town hall event on Thursday after thugs attacked tea party protesters.

Missourah Blog wrote this about the incident:

What I can tell is that a guy walking 10-20 feet ahead of us said to the guys in purple shirts (SEIU members, as I understand) "you attacked him!" and "you're going to jail!"

The guy who said he was attacked (light brown short sleeve collared shirt) said he was just out there selling something (I think "Don't Tread on Me" flags).

One black conservative was seriously hurt outside the event.
The Post-Dispatch reported:

St. Louis County police say six people were arrested. Two of those were arrested on suspicion of assault, one of resisting arrest and three on suspicion of committing peace disturbances. Carnahan was gone when the ruckus started.

Kenneth Gladney, a 38-year-old conservative activist from St. Louis, said he was attacked by some of those arrested as he handed out yellow flags with “Don't tread on me” printed on them. He spoke to the Post-Dispatch from the emergency room of the St. John's Mercy Medical Center, where he said he was waiting to be treated for injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face that he suffered in the attack. Gladney, who is black, said one of his attackers, also a black man, used a racial slur against him before the attack started.

“It just seems there's no freedom of speech without being attacked,” he said.

Carnahan reserved a section at the event for union supporters.
He blocked the 1,000 tea party protesters from entering the event and even had his supporters enter in a side door.

Here is another video of the massive crowd of tea party taxpayers waiting in line before the town hall event. They were denied entry but the union members were allowed in through a side door. Posted by Gateway Pundit at 8/07/2009 05:52:00 AM

St. Louis Tea Party today has posted a letter from an eye witness to last night's violence at the townhall meeting with Rep. Carnahan. The letter was authored by attorney David B. Brown, detailing the assault he witnessed on his client Kenneth Gladney, a local Black conservative. Here is St. Louis Tea Party's response to the attack:

The St. Louis Tea Party coalition joins in the call for apologies from Carnahan, SEIU, and President Obama. This criminal attack was inspired by DNC and BarackObama.com propaganda. Only Thursday morning, the White House promised “punch back twice as hard.” Clearly, the goons of SEIU decided to draw the first blood.
We believe that this attack was planned and intended to create a riot to discredit the American political resistence. Luckily, the patriots who attend tea parties and town halls did not take the bait. Mr. Gladney did not fight back. Mr. Gladney, like Crispus Attucks, suffered for the promise of freedom — the freedom his race was so long denied. We salute Kenneth Gladney. We are proud that he is on our side.
We all pray for Ken. May he recover quickly and fully from his injuries inflicted by leftist thugs in an attempt to subvert his First Amendment rights.
TELL THE SEIU THAT WE OPPOSE VIOLENCE
SEIU
5585 Pershing Ave.
Suite 130
St. Louis, MO 63112
PHONE: 314.367.0013
FAX: 314.361.8704

Keep your eyes open! Keep reading ALL sources of information, not just the MSM and not just from the Democratic Party.

Spread the word! Get involved!