Michelle Placer thought in terms of wants, not consequences. On July 26, Placer, 38, was arrested by Ingham County (Lansing), Michigan sheriff's deputies for embezzling more than $30,000 in dues from the Holt Paraeducator Association, the employee union where she had served as treasurer. The money was to have been forwarded to its state affiliate, the Michigan Education Association, in turn an affiliate of the National Education Association. Placer was later released on bond. An initial complaint had been lodged last December with the county sheriff's office.
If an embezzler returns money to its proper owner, that doesn't erase the fact of the embezzlement. Authorities in Worcester County, Maryland have been operating on that principle since late January, when they 
Government in Wisconsin, one probably has heard by now, is paralyzed. And the ultimate losers may be future generations of taxpayers. Last Thursday, February 17, up to 25,000 protestors, led by public-sector union officials, 
Ever so quietly, America passed a milestone in 2009. For the first time in our history the number of employees in the public sector belonging to a labor union exceeded the number in the private sector. Proposed legislation in Congress would push this trend along further. The benignly-named 
