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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Mid-Michigan UAW members protest at state capitolsUpdated at 07:12 PM today
Tags:lansing, unions, uaw, protest, local, joel feick
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Joel Feick
More: Bio, E-mail, News Team
MADISON, Wis. (WJRT) -- (02/19/11) -- Thousands of protesters in Wisconsin are facing off at the state capitol over a plan to eliminate collective bargaining rights.
Mid-Michigan union members are among the crowd there.
United Auto Workers Local 651 President Art Reyes spoke with ABC12 about the protests.
After protesting in Wisconsin, members of the UAW will move to our own capitol in Lansing to protest Governor Snyder's Budget plan.
Mid-Michigan UAW halls are helping organize the effort and they're encouraging union members, non-union members, small business owners and seniors to all meet in the church parking lot across the street from our state capitol.
The group will gather at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
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(Copyright ©2011 WJRT-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) |
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Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:35 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:08 am |
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00SL2
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| Adam, the article you reference was published June 24, 2010 and references 2009 memberships. Bottom line in the article, "Because government employee unions in particular draw their funds from government under the guise of membership dues, this represents more and more taxpayer funds being diverted into a permanent lobby for big government," is so true. |
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Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:40 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Largest protest yet fails to sway Wis. lawmakers
By Todd Richmond And Jason Smathers, Associated PressPosted 13h 46m ago |
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MADISON, Wis. — Sometimes they cursed each other, sometimes they shook hands, sometimes they walked away from each other in disgust.
by Michael P. King, AP
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None of it -- not the ear-splitting chants, the pounding drums or the back-and-forth debate between 70,000 protesters -- changed the minds of Wisconsin lawmakers dug into a stalemate over Republican efforts to scrap union rights for almost all public workers.
"The people who are not around the Capitol square are with us," said Rep. Robin Vos, a Republican from Rochester and co-chair of the Legislature's budget committee. "They may have a bunch around the square, but we've got the rest on our side."
After nearly a week of political chaos in Madison, during which tens of thousands of pro-labor protesters turned the Capitol into a campsite that had started to smell like a locker room, supporters of Gov. Scott Walker came out in force Saturday.
They gathered on the muddy east lawn of the Capitol and were soon surrounded by a much larger group of union supporters who countered their chants of "Pass the bill! Pass the bill!" with chants of "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!"
"Go home!" union supporters yelled at Scott Lemke, a 46-year-old machine parts salesman from Cedarburg who wore a hard hat and carried a sign that read "If you don't like it, quit" on one side, and "If you don't like that, try you're fired" on the other.
A lone demonstrator stood between the crowds, saying nothing and holding a sign: "I'm praying that we can all respect each other. Let's try to understand each other."
The Wisconsin governor, elected in November's GOP wave that also gave control of the state Assembly and Senate to Republicans, set off the protests earlier this week by pushing ahead with a measure that would require government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs and largely eliminate their collective bargaining rights.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the crowds that have gotten bigger each day have yet to win over any member of his caucus.
"What they're getting from individuals back home is stick to your guns, don't let them get to you," Fitzgerald said. "Every senator I've spoken to today is getting that back home, which is awesome. It's great to hear from people who are part of a rally ... (but) two people you meet at a fish fry or a person who comes up to you at a basketball game, those comments sink in."
Fitzgerald and other Republicans say the concessions are needed to deal with the state's projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall and to avoid layoffs of government workers. The move to restrict union rights has also taken hold in other states, including Tennessee and Indiana, where lawmakers have advanced bills to restrict bargaining for teachers' unions.
The throngs of Walker supporters who arrived in Madison on Saturday for an afternoon rally organized by Tea Party Patriots, the movement's largest umbrella group, and Americans for Prosperity, carried signs with a fresh set of messages: "Your Gravy Train Is Over ... Welcome to the Recession" and "Sorry, we're late Scott. We work for a living."
"We pay the bills!" tea party favorite Herman Cain yelled to cheers from the pro-Walker crowd. "This is why you elected Scott Walker, and he's doing his job. ... Wisconsin is broke. My question for the other side is, 'What part of broke don't you understand?'"
Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate, short of the votes needed to keep Republicans from passing the so-called "budget repair" bill, fled the state on Thursday. They haven't been seen since, and said Saturday they are more resolved than ever to stay away "as long as it takes" until Walker agrees to negotiate.
"I don't think he's really thought it through, to be honest," Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach, of Middleton, said Saturday.
Democrats offered again Saturday to agree to the parts of Walker's proposal, so long as workers retain their right to negotiate with the state as a union.
Fitzgerald said that's an offer the GOP has rejected for months. The restrictions on collective bargaining rights are necessary so that local governments and the state have the flexibility needed to balance budgets after cuts Walker plans to announce next month, he said.
Walker, who was spending time with his family Saturday and didn't appear in public, also rejected the Democrats offer. His spokesman, Cullen Werwie, said the fastest way to end the stalemate was for Democrats to return and "do their jobs."
Madison police estimated that 60,000 or more people were outside the Capitol on Saturday, with up to 8,000 more inside. The normally an immaculate building had become a mess of mud-coated floors that reeked from days of protesters standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said there were no arrests or problems during Saturday's protests. "We've seen and shown the world that in Madison, Wis., we can bring people together who disagree strongly on a bill in a peaceful way," he said.
Steve Boss, 26, a refrigerator technician from Oostburg, carried a sign that read "The Protesters Are All 'Sick' -- Wash your Hands," a reference to the teacher sick-outs that swelled crowds at the Capitol to 40,000 people Friday and raised the noise in its rotunda to earsplitting levels. Boss said the cuts Walker has proposed were painful but needed to fix the state's financial problems.
"It's time to address the issue. They (public workers) got to take the same cuts as everyone else," he said. "It's a fairness thing."
Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees' absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said.
"What employers have a right to know is if the patient was assessed by a duly licensed physician about time off of work," Sanner said. "Employers don't have a right to know the nature of that conversation or the nature of that illness. So it's as valid as every other work note that I've written for the last 30 years."
John Black, 46, of Madison, said he came out to the rallies in order to help bridge the gap between the pro-labor protesters and Walker's supporters. He carried signs that asked for a compromise on the budget bill while a friend's son handed out purple flowers.
"We liked Scott Walker as a change agent, but he moved too quickly and because of that there's always room for compromise," Black said.
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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer and Dinesh Ramde contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Photo/ Wisconsin State Journal, Michael P. King)
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by Michael P. King, AP
Protesters walk around the state Capitol with an American flag in Madison, Wis., Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. A few dozen police officers stood between supporters of Republican Gov. Scott Walker on the muddy east lawn of the Capitol and the much larger group of pro-labor demonstrators who surrounded them. The protest was peaceful as both sides exchanged chants of ?Pass the bill! Pass the bill!? and ?Kill the bill! Kill the bill!? The Wisconsin governor, elected in November?s GOP wave that also gave control of the state Assembly and Senate to Republicans, set off the protests earlier this week by pushing ahead with a measure that would require government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs and largely eliminate their collective bargaining rights. (AP Photo/ Wisconsin State Journal, Michael P. King)
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Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:42 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Collective bargaining and unions have saved lives, especially in the factories. Workers cannot depend on employers to ensure safe working conditions.
I worked twice for Genesee County without union representation and twice I got seriously injured. The county cared more about the bottom line and not about the employees.
Look at Gm empoloyees injured by hydrolic fluids and the workers now suing for injuries related to asbestoes. The one attorney ad has family members of a deceased employees discussing how the asbestoes ran down like snow. Genesee county GCARD just paid out on an asbestoes related whistle blower lawsuit.
I recently spoke to some retired government employees who were startled to learn their income in retirement falls into the category of below the poverty line. Take away benefits on one hand and you will replace it on another level, such as more medicaid and food stamps. |
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Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:56 pm |
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JCARPENTER
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| Your being critical of the wrong source. Its not the unions fault that cost of health care is increasing and its not the unions fault that their members and retired members are victims of inflation. Health care co. are being controled by greedy drug cos. and lawyers who are driving cost thru the ceiling by phony law suits and phony research cost.Add the folks in washington printing money as fast as they can and you have a formula for disaster.Some union officials may admit to over protecting their members. I thought that was their job? I wish politicians would be guilty of over protecting my tax dollars.How about you? |
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Mon Feb 21, 2011 2:51 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| The unions in Wisconsin have already agreed to the monetary concessions requested by the governor. This is union busting as he does not need to go after non wage collective bargaining . |
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Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:27 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Wisconsin's Secret Weapon
by Dirk Johnson Info
Dirk Johnson is former Chicago bureau chief for Newsweek and The New York Times.
X Close
As Gov. Walker escalates his budget showdown with unions, he’s got help from the Fitzgerald family, which runs both houses of the legislature and, lately, the state troopers. Dirk Johnson reports.
To slap down the public unions, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker knew he would need unblinking Republican loyalty, especially from the bosses in the legislature: Scott Fitzgerald, the leader of the state senate; and Jeff Fitzgerald, the speaker of the state house.
The Wisconsin state troopers, as it happened, needed a new chief this month, and the Walker administration determined the ideal candidate for the job was Stephen Fitzgerald—the 68-year-old father of those very same Fitzgerald brothers, who is now sending his team into the field to hunt down wayward Democrats. The job pays nearly $107,000, and will mean a big boost in pension benefits.
In this state that gave birth to the Progressive Party, critics of the governor have called the state patrol appointment a case of cronyism. Interesting time for that charge to surface—especially given Gov. Walker’s full-on challenge to the public-sector union movement—which, after all, was designed in part to guard against bald patronage based more on connections than merit.
“It’s raised a lot of eyebrows, that’s for sure,” said Dennis Dresang, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And it’s the sort of thing that people aren’t going to forget about Walker.”
The governor’s staff insists there was no favoritism at play in the appointment. They note that the elder Fitzgerald served 10 years as sheriff of rural Dodge County, about 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee, and later was appointed as U.S. Marshall for the Western District of Wisconsin, overseeing security in federal courts. In a bid to win back his job in Dodge County last year, he was defeated in the Republican primary by a 2-1 margin.
“It’s crazy,” said Graeme Zielinski, “when they’ve got to go ask their daddy to chase after the Democrats.”
The appointment of Fitzgerald, a Wisconsin State Journal editorial scolded, “doesn’t pass the smell test” and “looks like a goodwill offering from Gov. Scott Walker to the top two lawmakers Walker will need on board with his budget and policy agendas.”
As chief of the state patrol, Fitzgerald’s most visible role came when the governor dispatched him to find the Democratic state senators who fled the capitol to forestall a vote that would effectively gut collective-bargaining rights for most public unions.
The role of the younger Fitzgeralds in the process has been mocked by Democrats. “It’s crazy,” said Graeme Zielinski, “when they’ve got to go ask their daddy to chase after the Democrats.”
The Democrats are said to be in Illinois, beyond the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin State Patrol. Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn, a Democrat with strong union bona fides, is unlikely to send out the posse to catch the fugitive Badgers.
For their part, the Fitzgerald legislators show no sign of backing down in the fight that has sent thousands of protesters into the street every day for the past week.
When Scott Fitzgerald was asked about the possibility of a compromise with Democrats on Monday, he replied: “Won’t happen, won’t happen, won’t happen.”
The state senate leader, who is 47, has been in the Wisconsin legislature since 1994, when he challenged incumbent Barbara Lorman in the Republican primary because he considered her too moderate. He has not lost an election since then.
The appointment of Fitzgerald, a Wisconsin State Journal editorial scolded, “doesn’t pass the smell test” and “looks like a goodwill offering from Gov. Scott Walker to the top two lawmakers Walker will need on board with his budget and policy agendas.”
As chief of the state patrol, Fitzgerald’s most visible role came when the governor dispatched him to find the Democratic state senators who fled the capitol to forestall a vote that would effectively gut collective-bargaining rights for most public unions.
The role of the younger Fitzgeralds in the process has been mocked by Democrats. “It’s crazy,” said Graeme Zielinski, “when they’ve got to go ask their daddy to chase after the Democrats.”
The Democrats are said to be in Illinois, beyond the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin State Patrol. Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn, a Democrat with strong union bona fides, is unlikely to send out the posse to catch the fugitive Badgers.
For their part, the Fitzgerald legislators show no sign of backing down in the fight that has sent thousands of protesters into the street every day for the past week.
When Scott Fitzgerald was asked about the possibility of a compromise with Democrats on Monday, he replied: “Won’t happen, won’t happen, won’t happen.”
The state senate leader, who is 47, has been in the Wisconsin legislature since 1994, when he challenged incumbent Barbara Lorman in the Republican primary because he considered her too moderate. He has not lost an election since then.
The appointment of Fitzgerald, a Wisconsin State Journal editorial scolded, “doesn’t pass the smell test” and “looks like a goodwill offering from Gov. Scott Walker to the top two lawmakers Walker will need on board with his budget and policy agendas.”
As chief of the state patrol, Fitzgerald’s most visible role came when the governor dispatched him to find the Democratic state senators who fled the capitol to forestall a vote that would effectively gut collective-bargaining rights for most public unions.
The role of the younger Fitzgeralds in the process has been mocked by Democrats. “It’s crazy,” said Graeme Zielinski, “when they’ve got to go ask their daddy to chase after the Democrats.”
The Democrats are said to be in Illinois, beyond the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin State Patrol. Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn, a Democrat with strong union bona fides, is unlikely to send out the posse to catch the fugitive Badgers.
For their part, the Fitzgerald legislators show no sign of backing down in the fight that has sent thousands of protesters into the street every day for the past week.
When Scott Fitzgerald was asked about the possibility of a compromise with Democrats on Monday, he replied: “Won’t happen, won’t happen, won’t happen.”
The state senate leader, who is 47, has been in the Wisconsin legislature since 1994, when he challenged incumbent Barbara Lorman in the Republican primary because he considered her too moderate. He has not lost an election since then.
The appointment of Fitzgerald, a Wisconsin State Journal editorial scolded, “doesn’t pass the smell test” and “looks like a goodwill offering from Gov. Scott Walker to the top two lawmakers Walker will need on board with his budget and policy agendas.”
As chief of the state patrol, Fitzgerald’s most visible role came when the governor dispatched him to find the Democratic state senators who fled the capitol to forestall a vote that would effectively gut collective-bargaining rights for most public unions.
The role of the younger Fitzgeralds in the process has been mocked by Democrats. “It’s crazy,” said Graeme Zielinski, “when they’ve got to go ask their daddy to chase after the Democrats.”
The Democrats are said to be in Illinois, beyond the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin State Patrol. Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn, a Democrat with strong union bona fides, is unlikely to send out the posse to catch the fugitive Badgers.
For their part, the Fitzgerald legislators show no sign of backing down in the fight that has sent thousands of protesters into the street every day for the past week.
When Scott Fitzgerald was asked about the possibility of a compromise with Democrats on Monday, he replied: “Won’t happen, won’t happen, won’t happen.”
The state senate leader, who is 47, has been in the Wisconsin legislature since 1994, when he challenged incumbent Barbara Lorman in the Republican primary because he considered her too moderate. He has not lost an election since then.
The appointment of Fitzgerald, a Wisconsin State Journal editorial scolded, “doesn’t pass the smell test” and “looks like a goodwill offering from Gov. Scott Walker to the top two lawmakers Walker will need on board with his budget and policy agendas.”
As chief of the state patrol, Fitzgerald’s most visible role came when the governor dispatched him to find the Democratic state senators who fled the capitol to forestall a vote that would effectively gut collective-bargaining rights for most public unions.
The role of the younger Fitzgeralds in the process has been mocked by Democrats. “It’s crazy,” said Graeme Zielinski, “when they’ve got to go ask their daddy to chase after the Democrats.”
The Democrats are said to be in Illinois, beyond the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin State Patrol. Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn, a Democrat with strong union bona fides, is unlikely to send out the posse to catch the fugitive Badgers.
For their part, the Fitzgerald legislators show no sign of backing down in the fight that has sent thousands of protesters into the street every day for the past week.
When Scott Fitzgerald was asked about the possibility of a compromise with Democrats on Monday, he replied: “Won’t happen, won’t happen, won’t happen.”
The state senate leader, who is 47, has been in the Wisconsin legislature since 1994, when he challenged incumbent Barbara Lorman in the Republican primary because he considered her too moderate. He has not lost an election since then.
The state house speaker, who is 44, came to politics later. He played basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay until he was sidelined with injuries. After transferring to the state school in Oshkosh, where both brothers earned degrees, Jeff Fitzgerald moved to Illinois and worked at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He returned to Wisconsin with his young family and won a seat on the city council in Beaver Dam in 2000. Later that year, he was elected as a state representative.
Some people who have known the Fitzgeralds, including staunch union supporters, say they have been surprised by their hard-line stands against organized labor. Colin Millard, an official with the ironworkers union in Dodge County, once competed against the Fitzgerald brothers in a pie-eating contest. He said he believes the Tea Party movement spooked the Fitzgeralds.
“Some people in the Assembly didn’t think Jeff was far enough to the right to be speaker,” said Millard. “And they’re being pushed by the governor. Walker’s got higher aspirations and he’s demanding that they go along with him.”
Political experts say they cannot recall any state where two brothers led each chamber of the legislature. While they consistently toe the party line, they have differed on some measures, such as ethanol standards.
Just a few months ago, the Fitzgeralds were little-known around the state. The Democrats controlled both houses, and they wielded little power as minority leaders.
The Fitzgeralds have relished the change in fortunes. When a reporter with the Isthmus newspaper in Madison recently asked Scott Fitzgerald about the complaints of a union leader, the Republican responded: “He doesn’t have the leverage anymore.”
Jeff Fitzgerald echoed the sentiment. “What goes around comes around,” he said.
The angry crowds do not bother him. “If you’re not willing to pick a fight,” he said, “you’re in the wrong business.”
Dirk Johnson is former Chicago bureau chief for Newsweek and The New York Times.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com. |
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Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:51 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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CHICAGO — There's no indication the dramatic impasse in several Midwestern states over benefits and collective-bargaining rights for government employees will end soon.
By Scott Olson, Getty Images
Members of the Iron Workers and firefighters unions demonstrate in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., on Thursday.
EnlargeClose
By Scott Olson, Getty Images
Members of the Iron Workers and firefighters unions demonstrate in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., on Thursday.
UncommonWisdomDaily.com
Although the Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill early Friday that would rein in bargaining power for public workers, state Senate Democrats remain out of state, denying majority Republicans the quorum needed for a vote. On Thursday, state troopers visited the homes of some missing senators, but none was found.
"I applaud the Democrats in the Assembly for earnestly debating this bill and urge their counterparts in the state Senate to return to work and do the same," Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said in a statement issued moments after the Assembly vote.
But the vote didn't come without drama.
Democrats had delayed a vote with a filibuster, throwing out dozens of amendments and delivering rambling speeches. Each time Republicans tried to speed up the proceedings, Democrats rose from their seats and wailed that the GOP was stifling them.
"We're trying to fight it with everything we've got," Democratic Rep. Cory Mason said.
Debate had gone on for 60 hours and 15 Democrats were still waiting to speak when the vote started around 1 a.m. Friday. Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer, R-Waukesha, opened the roll and closed it within seconds.
Democrats looked around, bewildered. Only 13 of the 38 Democratic members managed to vote in time.
Republicans immediately marched out of the chamber in single file. The Democrats rushed at them, pumping their fists and shouting "Shame!" and "Cowards!"
Republican Gov. Scott Walker issued a statement Friday praising the Assembly for passing the bill and renewing his call for Senate Democrats to return.
"The fourteen Senate Democrats need to come home and do their jobs, just like the Assembly Democrats did," Walker said.
Walker said layoff notices will go out next week to at least 1,500 state workers unless the measures are approved in his bid to close a hefty budget shortfall. |
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Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:07 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Wis. Assembly passes bill limiting union rights
By Judy Keen, USA TODAYUpdated 9m ago |
2158 | 17ShareReprints & Permissions
TROOPERS LOOK FOR DEMS: No one home
PHOTOS: Scores rally for union rights
FOLKS ARE TALKING: Budget crisis creates a stir
Democratic Sen. Chris Larson said Assembly passage of the bill, which also would increase public workers' contributions to retirement and health insurance plans, won't erode Democrats' resolve.
Talks between Senate Democrats and some moderate Republicans are the best hope for ending the standoff, Larson said.
"The tone has changed," he said, since the website Buffalo Beast posted audio of the governor talking to a prank caller posing as a wealthy conservative activist. Walker joked in the 20- minute conversation about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders.
Elsewhere:
• The Indiana House adjourned until next week after Democrats said they won't return to vote on a bill that would bar unions from requiring that employers fire non-union workers who don't pay union fees.
• No vote has been scheduled on an Ohio bill that would restrict public workers' bargaining rights.
• The Kansas House voted to disallow unions from deducting dues from members' paychecks. The Senate hasn't acted.
• New Jersey unions plan a rally Saturday in Trenton to support Wisconsin workers. The liberal group MoveOn.org plans rallies Saturday in every state.
Marc Dixon, a Dartmouth College sociologist who studies the labor movement, says Wisconsin "is a key potential turning point" for public-employees unions.
"If you live in a state where there still are protections and it turns in Wisconsin," Dixon says, "then you're likely to see a lot more action ... where you are."
Contributing: Associated Press |
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Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:22 am |
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Dave Starr
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| In 2008, before the election, I was having lunch with some former coworkers. The group included a "wheel" from our UAW local. Out of curiosity, I asked if the group thought endorsements had much effect on how people voted. Mr. "Wheel" immediately said: "You mean you don't vote the way the union tells you to?"
(That is an exact quote!)
When I told him I make my own decisions on who to vote for, he spent the rest of the lunch get together glaring at me. |
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I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:12 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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My father worked in Buick for 35 years and suffered health problems as a result. The pre union days he described to me were frightening. Unions have place, but some unions have overstepped their roles.
The unions have gottens assaultive people back on their last final last chance agreements. Sorry but I don't agree that people who threaten to kill their coworkers should be kept, even if their pastors come from prominent churches. And just how many last chances do you get.
But I am not willing to see them totally abolished. I have seen discipline administered unevenly and people mistreated because the boss favored one employee over another. Employers don't always have a level playing field. |
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Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:12 pm |
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Cornbread Maxwell
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I am not in a union, so why should I support them as they currently stand? I absolutely do appreciate what they did for our society to improve working conditions, but employees having a seat at the contractual table - I have a hard time with that. Business owners set the wages they are willing to pay, we have the choice on whether we want to work for that person/company or not.
Right now, I am having a very difficult time understanding the support for teacher unions. You do understand the travishamockery our educational system is today, right? Looking at the numbers, it is an embarrassment. Per student spending has doubled over the last 30 years, inflation adjusted, and yet scores are actually declining. We know that there are a huge range of skill levels for teachers in the classroom - some change lives daily, some simply stopped caring. So why aren't we tracking teachers' results so we can monetarily reward the best teachers and fire the incompetent ones - why on earth is it based on tenure - how can that possibly benefit the children? Do children learn better from teachers who know they cannot be fired or from teachers who know their results will have consequences?
I live in Flint and have young children. How can you tell me to send my children to Flint Public Schools when our city currently has 2/3rds of its population in either the 1st or 2nd literacy classification - that's either completely illiterate or functionally illiterate. Yet people support the status quo? Are any of you parents? How do you not rage at our educational system and the unions who protect incompetence? The classrooms are failing our children - wake up. Do something different - at least try it out - because the way we have been trying for decades has not succeeded. |
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Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:41 pm |
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Dave Starr
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Hate-a-rama: The vulgar, racist, sexist, homophobic rage of the Left
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011
Barack Obama’s new era of civility was over before it began. You wouldn’t know it from reading The New York Times, watching Katie Couric or listening to the Democratic manners police. But America has been overrun by foul-mouthed, fist-clenching wildebeests.
Yes, the tea party movement is responsible — for sending these liberal goons into an insane rage, that is. After enduring two years of false smears as sexist, racist, homophobic barbarians, it is grassroots conservatives and taxpayer advocates who have been ceaselessly subjected to rhetorical projectile vomit. It is Obama’s rank-and-file “community organizers” on the streets fomenting the hate against their political enemies. Not the other way around.
The trendy new epithet among Big Labor organizers who’ve been camping out at the Madison, Wis., Capitol building for more than a week to block GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s budget reform bill: “Koch whore.” Classy, huh? It’s a reference to the reviled Koch brothers, David and Charles, who have used their energy-industry wealth to support limited-government activism. A left-wing agitator based in Buffalo who impersonated Koch in a prank phone call this week used the slur to headline his “gonzo journalism” report. (If a right-leaning activist had perpetrated such a stunt, he’d be labeled a radical, stalking fraudster. But that’s par for the media’s double-standards course.)
The 20-minute phone call undermined the grand Koch conspiracy by exposing that Walker didn’t know Koch at all. No matter. “Koch whore” is the new “Halliburton whore.” The Captains of Civility are sticking to it. And the sanctimonious “No Labels” crowd is missing in action — just like Wisconsin’s Fleebagger Democrats.
Sexual vulgarity is a common theme in the left’s self-styled “solidarity” movement. Among the Madison pro-union signs the national media chose not to show you: “Buttholes for Billionaires” (complete with a photo of Walker’s head placed in the middle of a graphic photo of someone’s posterior) and “If teabaggers are as hot as their Fox News anchors, then I’m here for the gang bang!!!”
Last month, GOP Lieutenant Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch was subjected to similar misogyny for her outreach efforts to private businesses. Liberal WTDY radio host John “Sly” Sylvester accused her of performing “fellatio on all the talk-show hosts in Milwaukee” and sneered that she had “pulled a train” (a crude phrase for group sex).
At an AFSCME rally in Providence, R.I., on Tuesday, an unhinged pro-union supporter picked an unprovoked fight with a citizen journalist taping the event for public access TV. His eyes bulging, the brawler yelled: “I’ll f**k you in the a**, you faggot!” After several unsuccessful minutes of trying to calm their furious ally down, the solidarity mob finally started chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, union-busting’s got to go” to drown out his intimidating vow to follow the cameraman outside the building. Criminal charges are now pending against him. None of the local media who covered the event thought to mention the disruption in their coverage.
In Columbus, Ohio, supporters of GOP Gov. John Kasich’s fiscal reforms were confronted with a fulminating union demonstrator who railed: “The tea party is a bunch of d**k-sucking corporate butt-lickers who want to crush the working people of this country.”
In Denver, Colo., Leland Robinson, a gay black tea party activist and entrepreneur who criticized teachers unions at a Capitol rally, was told by white labor supporters to “get behind that fence where you belong.”
They called the 52-year-old limousine driver “son” and subjected him to this ugly, racially charged taunt: “Do you have any children? That you claim?”
Tea party favorite and former Godfather’s Pizza President Herman Cain is another outspoken black conservative businessman who has earned the civility mob’s lash. Two weeks ago, a cowardly liberal writer derided Cain as a “monkey in the window,” a “garbage pail kid” and a “minstrel” who performs for his “masters.”
Monkey. Parrot. Puppet. Lawn jockey. Uncle Tom. Aunt Thomasina. Oreo. Coconut. Banana. We minority conservatives have heard it all.
In Washington, D.C., a multi-union protest at the offices of conservative activist group FreedomWorks resulted in one young female employee, Tabitha Hale, getting smacked with a sign by a barbarian wearing a Communications Workers of America T-shirt — and another FreedomWorks employee getting yelled at as a “bad Jew” for opposing public union monopolies and reckless spending.
In the wake of the Tucson massacre, Obama urged the nation “to do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.” He pushed for “a more civil and honest public discourse.”
As Big Labor-backing MoveOn.org (the same outfit that smeared Gen. David Petraeus as a traitor) prepares to march on all 50 state Capitols this weekend, where’s the Civility Chief now? AWOL. |
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I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:39 am |
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