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Women’s History Month, Geraldine and Our Future

  • Posted on March 27, 2011 at 1:38 pm

Geraldine, the picture of competency!

A lot of people don’t even realize that March is Women’s History month.  http://www.womenshistorymonth.gov/index.html

It isn’t surprising to me because so many months have become something dedicated to this cause or that cause.  After awhile, they all start blending together.    As a woman, I am partial to the cause of women’s issues.  Some people think that the glass ceiling was shattered when Geraldine Ferraro ran for Vice President in 1984.  However, that is just not true.  It is fitting that Geraldine died during “Women’s History” month though because we have an opportunity to think about just how far we have or haven’t come.  This is the Geraldine that I will choose to remember.  She was a strong advocate for the issues and she called things as she saw them.  I wish we had more women politicians and advocates that are willing to stand up for the issues like Geraldine.

You can read more about Geraldine here.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/us/politics/27geraldine-ferraro.html?hp

On my website I have a link for the equal rights amendment that sadly has never been ratified.  At the rate the Republicans are going a fetus will have equal rights before women do.   http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/116904/this_ohio_fetus_can_walk

Our country is still a male dominated country.  The laws are made mostly by men.  Until women can reach the top and become the legislators that actually pass and create the laws, we will continue to be second class citizens.   I think we all could learn something from Sojourner Truth.  Here is Alice Walker reading “Ain’t I a Woman”.  It’s amazing that we haven’t really reached that glass ceiling and shattered it after all these years.  This is a great tribute, so watch it.

I worry about the young women today and the images that they see for women.  It seems like equality is more about being able to act like a man than being able to discover who you are as a woman.  On one hand women have these images that they are told they should live up to that are designed to attract men.  These images are of young “air head” type women that share their sexual escapades.  These women like Paris Hilton, the Kardashian sisters and all the other young starlets send a message that women are more about sex than brains.  Freedom for women seems to be more about that “sex” thing than it is about that “thinking” thing.  Young women today may think they have broken barriers but so many are still asking a male for permission to do whatever they need to do in their lives.  Until women stand up for themselves and use their brains and not their sexuality to get what they want, they will always be marginalized.

During the 2008 election both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were sexualized in a way that a male politician would never be.  We, the women of the world, have to demand that this stop.  When we see pictures of Sarah’s ankles, and hear talk about Hillary’s “cankles”, we as women, have to scream bloody murder that this is sexism and it has to stop.  We cannot allow our female children to be constantly bombarded with the images that sexualize them without demanding that it stop as well.  Women have to start voting in blocks.  We just cannot let men keep running the world.

Right now in Michigan we have men telling us that education has to take a big hit.  The politicians in Lansing want to give big tax breaks to business and take the money out of the mouth of our children through education.  Everyone should be offended by this.  However, women should be even more offended as we are way under represented in state politics.  Here is our list of representatives.   http://house.michigan.gov/replist.asp

It’s fairly obvious that most of the “deciders” in our state are MEN.  If you need more proof, here is the list of our senators.  http://www.senate.michigan.gov/members/alphamemberlist.htm

I think we need to stick together as women and try to change the policies and politics in Lansing and of course, across this country in Washington D.C.  We have more women in this country, but we are kept apart in our thinking by men who push an agenda that is called “family values”.  We get all worked up over social political issues like abortion and gay marriage that we are left controlled by politicians that use these issues just to get votes.  If women would get together and talk about the issues that are important to them on a daily basis like education, jobs, police protection, and the issues based around the cost of living and raising our children in a positive environment, we could probably agree on more things than we disagree.  Instead, we sit back and tend to let those male “deciders” make all the big decisions for us.  I, for one, am tired of a government that makes crazy decisions about education and everything else in my life that may not be in the best interest of our country or state.  We need to stand together as women or we will fall again for that “big daddy decider” that isn’t as smart as we are on the issues!  We have “skin in this game”, one of those sport’s analogy that the men like to use.  We have the future of our children at stake.  What kind of life do we want for them?  Do we want them to have less than we have had?  Do we want them to be servants to the master of big business, just another little spoke in the wheel of business progress or do we want to keep their dreams alive?  I for one want this country to transform into the country that it was meant to be that serves for the good of all and not just the few.  I want our country to stand for peoples’ rights, not corporations’ rights.  I want women to have the same opportunities as men and that includes even in politics!  You may or may not agree with anything I write about, but if you think about it women still have a long way to go.  It’s time that women stand up and become the shakers and movers of this country.  Our country needs us because without women in the game of politics, men will walk all over us!  We must vote and we must encourage those strong women we know to seek public office.

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Mr. Rogers Comes to Sturgis

  • Posted on March 25, 2011 at 10:32 pm

"Fred" looking a lot like the original "Fred", Mr. Rogers!

Last night I went to a town hall meeting with Representative Fred Upton.  It was the last of his 18 meetings.  There were somewhere between 75-100 people that showed up for this meeting.  The Sturgis city hall room was packed.  Representative Upton wanted all of us to call him “Fred”.  He’s just one of us, even if he is a millionaire.  He was dressed like Mr. Rogers in his fashionable cardigan and appeared fairly low on that charisma scale.  As my pictures show, you might be wondering if they were separated at birth.  Fred may seem to lack charisma but he has been awarded a very powerful position in the House of Representatives as he is now chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce committee.

“Fred” opened by letting us know that this was a time for him to “listen” to his constituents.  He wouldn’t be answering a lot of questions but he would be taking notes down so he could respond later.  He began the night by telling us that the financial situation in our government is far worse than first suspected.  No mention was made of course of those big tax cuts given out in December.  He said the deficit numbers for the 2012 Obama budget were actually larger than what President Obama projected because the CBO, which he let us know is not biased, basically came up with different numbers that were far more alarming.  As he continued his little speech it was quite obvious that he wants us to be prepared for the big hammer that is going to fall on all of our heads because they (the responsible Republicans in Congress) must do what they have to do to get this budget under control.  He made sure to slam Representative Nancy Pelosi because she was terrible because she wouldn’t let the Republicans have any say what so ever on anything.  He also wanted us to know what a breath of fresh air Speaker John Boehner is because he wants everything to be transparent.  There will be no secrets and the Democrats will be invited to all the tea parties!  He let us know that there would be an open forum with microphones where we could ask our questions.  He wouldn’t be answering those questions but would give a small response at the end.

Fred Rogers looking a lot like Fred Upton!

The first man had a question that I just can’t remember because all I could hear was a pep rally for Ronald Reagan.  When I heard the white haired, old man sing the praises of Ronnie, I felt my ears implode and I wondered if this was going to be a Republican pep rally.  Thankfully, it did not end up being a rally for Republicans.  There were many questions asked which showed me that we have distinctly different viewpoints even in Sturgis.  Sturgis is a Republican area.  The questioners seemed to be from people from all sides of the political spectrum.   There were environmentalists and other people concerned about carcinogens at the meeting who don’t like Fred’s bill to amend the Clean Air act.  You can see the bill here.

https://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h910/show

There were other concerns about the nuclear power plants in Michigan and one in particular that is a similar model to the GE one in Japan.  There were also questions about hazardous waste from the nuclear plants and the government subsidy of these plants.

Many people were concerned about the continuing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya.  One Vietnam veteran spoke about how we were taken into a trumped up war in Vietnam and these current wars as being similar to that.  He wanted to know why we are there in what the mission is and if it was “accomplished” as President Bush said then why are we still there.  Another gentleman wanted to bring all of the troops back from all of the countries that we are in and establish them in bases here.  He said our economy would be booming if those guys were spending their money here and not in places like Germany.  He said they could protect our borders and we’d have a lot more jobs here because they would be spending their money here.  So, I was wondering how many troops we have in Germany and I came across this article.   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8406938/US-troops-in-Germany-banned-from-wearing-uniform-in-public.html

Our guys sometimes are nothing more than sitting ducks.  They don’t make the policy.  They just enforce it.  I didn’t hear about this on any newscast lately.  Here is a chart put up on Wikipedia that shows the number of troops we have and then how many are overseas.  I saw another figure on Wikipedia that is closer to 400,000.  Regardless, it looks as though we have about a half a million soldiers around the world ready to police it.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Overseas_Troops.gif

Of course many people had concerns over jobs.  These questions ranged from protecting the middle class to incentives for businesses to CEO pay compared to the common worker’s pay.  My question was like all of the above rolled into one.  I questioned why there is so much talk about the trouble with Social Security, etc. when in December Congress passed the tax bill that made it so I pay 2% less in Social Security.  It doesn’t make sense to me.  If it’s such a problem, why would you make it a bigger problem?  It seems to me a good way to destroy a program.  I also was concerned about the endless supply of money for wars and there is not enough money for domestic spending for things like education.  It seems to me all the real tax breaks go to big business and the wealthy.  If more and more money is going to war, less and less is coming back to the states.  There were some in the audience that mentioned the “Fair Tax” which Feed seems to like.  You can find out more here about this issue.  http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer I don’t know enough about this tax but it was mentioned a few times so knock yourself out figuring out how you would do under this tax.  There is a calculator there so you can see how it would impact you.

There were many more questions from the cost of cleaning up meth lab houses, which is very draining on our tax dollars, to DOMA, the economy, health care, to the new proposed bridge to Canada, and even the “bridge” card.  One man was very upset at the abuse that he was seeing with the bridge card.  He claimed he had “court documents” that prove that a person was using the card to buy drugs like crack.  He went on and on about this abuse and how he has tried to get this person put in jail for their crimes but to no avail.  He even wanted the congressman to look at those papers to see what he could do.  I know I was sitting there wondering what papers this guy could have in his possession.  He ended his long tirade to let us know that the “offender” of these terrible crimes was none other than his WIFE!  Yes, all of his credibility went out the window with that disclaimer.  Every ex-whatever must have been thinking about that ex-husband or wife that is so full of revenge that they want to put their ex-lover in JAIL!  It was the comic moment of the night as everyone split a gut with laughter when he said it was his WIFE!

The night was interesting and I was glad that it wasn’t a pep rally for Republicans.  I am glad I went to the meeting.  However, I really didn’t get the feeling that “Fred” was doing all that much listening in the sense that it would change anything he chooses to do.  He spoke at the end and mentioned that some of the questions were state issues and he said we could get in touch with our state representative for those issues.  He wanted to clear up the issue about his “Clean Air” bill.  He basically sugar coated what it would and wouldn’t do and let us know that we must do these things to get business to stay in this country and not go to China.  He told us he has been to China and they don’t have any standards so it’s better if we lessen our standards and get the businesses here because we would be doing our part to save the world.  It was some kind of funky logic to me.  I don’t think Fred will be saving the world any time soon with this but I’ll give him credit for at least putting together a “listening” tour, even if it seemed to me that he was more interested in spreading those latest “Republican” talking points around.  I will say this in Fred’s defense, when I have contacted him through email or phone; I always eventually get a response to my concerns.  They may not be what I want to hear, but he does send a personal letter that is not a form letter.  So, Mr. Rogers came to Sturgis and now he’ll go back to D.C. armed with all of his “notes” about our questions and he will join his buddies on Capital Hill and put his expensive suit back on, so he can fit in with that crowd!  To really get the flavor of who our congressman is all about, here is his voting record.  http://www.ontheissues.org/MI/Fred_Upton.htm

Here is an interview with Fred.  He doesn’t look so much like Mr. Rogers here.  He is dressed in his Washington garb.

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Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions

  • Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:01 pm

I grew up in a teacher household.  My parents were both teachers.  I think they were amazing, especially when you think back to the time when they were growing up.  My parents were born in 1909 and 1911.  Dad grew up in a very large family.  It really is amazing that so many of his family received a great education.  Mom grew up in a smaller family that was more prosperous, but she also was fortunate to have received a great education.  They met at Central, fell in love during the depression and raised a huge family together.  They were hard working farm people.  Mom went back to teaching when I was young in the late fifties.  Dad joined her when we had farm difficulties and they both were hired by Kingston Public Schools in the “thumb” of Michigan in the early sixties.  We used to summer back up north in Leelanau county on our old farm where dad continued farming and working for Jimmy Johnson as a mechanic over in Empire.  Mom and Dad both worked so hard.  We needed that income in the summer when dad worked the other jobs and farmed.  We lived a simple life.  We only went on one big vacation when I was growing up.  We went out west and saw my brother, Jim, in California.  That was a big deal!  My brothers and I picked cherries and strawberries in the summer.  We all worked for the common good of the family. My parents were both proud members of the NEA, MEA and of course KEA.  When they first started teaching salaries were very low.  I don’t know how they managed really.  After my dad died, I went up to clean his house and organize it.  One paper I came across sure explained a lot for me about our Christmas times.  Dad and mom had built a huge pole barn and they had a loan that evidently was written as a yearly note.  The note came due just before Christmas each year.  It was over a thousand dollars.  I don’t remember the exact amount but I remember thinking about their pay and how hard they worked all year long.  If dad hadn’t worked the farm in the summer and also worked as a mechanic, they wouldn’t have been able to pay that bill.  I remember when mom made “Egg ala Goldenrod”.  As a kid I remember it stuck to the roof of my mouth and it was awful.  It was eggplant fried in egg and it was something cheap because they could grow it.  Looking back I knew times were tough when we were eating that!  We used to go to my aunt and uncle’s place and get some free clothing.  Of course they had a large family and their children got first dibs.  The clothing was donated from church.  I remember a brown and black pin striped jumper that I wore for my school pictures that came from that room at my aunt’s place.  Around the time I became a sixth grader things got better.  Mom became involved in getting a union in Kingston.  I know she worked on negotiations.  When I was in high school we were living over in Cass City.  I remember a lot was going on with the Reese teachers.  One day our family drove over to Reese.  I must have been a junior in school.  We went over to support the teachers.  The teachers were on strike.  They were the Reese 44.  In the end, they all lost their jobs even though they had been a part of the community for years.  They were thrown out like yesterday’s paper.  They took a stand and lost.  I remember how my parents felt for those teachers.  They felt a kinship and solidarity with them.  You may have to scroll down the page a bit but check out the video from the past president of the Reese union.  He went on to work for the MEA but he never taught again! http://www.mea.org/voice/june08/reese44.html Recently, all that my parents and teachers all over the country have fought for over the years has been summarily dismissed by politicians who have been hell bent on destroying the teachers’ unions.  Some young teachers today have no idea how it was back in the days before unions.  Teachers were completely at will.  If some school board member had a kid graduating from college and they needed a job, a teacher could be let go to make room for the kid.  Teachers could be let go because a superintendent or principal had a personality conflict with them. I really never thought I’d be a teacher.  I saw everything my parents went through and even the Reese 44.  My mom loved teaching and she even had that teacher voice.  She could be yelling at us kids one moment and then answer the phone ever so sweetly the next.  Any teacher knows all about that.  My dad had to deal with a lot of rough boys that were coming in from Teen Ranch.  It was kind of a place for wayward boys.  They called my dad “Cotton Top” because of his white hair.  He was given many of those hard to handle students I think because he could handle them.  It probably helped that he had ten boys of his own.  Dad taught math and science and mom taught English and home economics.  Dad also coached junior high and my mother headed up the Future Homemakers of America.  I’m not sure FHA is even around any more.  My parents were dedicated teachers.  Mom would work on her lesson plans for the year throughout the summer months.  When I decided to become an art major my mom encouraged me to get my teaching certificate I think so I would have a “marketable skill” to go with my degree.  After graduation I first taught at Fowler, Michigan.  I loved teaching in Fowler.  I remember the excitement of my first teaching job. I left Fowler to follow my husband to Oklahoma.  In Oklahoma I wanted to develop my art which was pottery so that’s what I worked on.  I made pottery and went to art shows.  I took courses out at Southwestern Oklahoma State University with Montee Hoke, a fellow potter from MSU.  A few years later my husband left me in Oklahoma with my two month old baby, Josh.  I continued working and selling pottery to support us.  I saved up my money so I could move back to Michigan to be close to my parents.  I wanted my son to know his grandparents.  I continued making my living off my artwork in Michigan.  When my son was in kindergarten, I took my pottery wheel and clay in to school to demonstrate.  I had a blast!  I loved working with the kids and I started thinking about going back to teaching.  I’d been out for quite a few years so this was not an easy decision.  I had to go back to school to get my certificate updated.  I wasn’t sure how I could do that.  The thought of taking classes after so many years away from it boggled my mind.  My parents helped me and even loaned me the money that I needed for school.  My parents always believed in me and encouraged me.  I am so thankful that I listened to their wise counsel. I went to Central Michigan University when Josh was in second grade.  He started school at Glen Lake and then went to Mt. Pleasant and back up to Glen Lake at the end of the winter term.  These were both public schools.  That was a lot for a kid but it was an adventure for both of us!  Josh became friends with his first “black” friend, Kyle.  This was my son’s first real exposure to diversity.  It was a great learning experience, even if the school year was disrupted a couple of times.  His teachers at Glen Lake knew what I was doing so they knew he would be coming back and they were supportive. I taught the next year at Manistee and then the following year we moved to Sturgis.  I’ve been teaching at Sturgis since August of 1993.  I can’t believe how time has just flown by.  I love teaching art.  I think about teaching all the time.  I’m constantly researching things online and looking up things in my countless books because I always want to do more.  When I’m shopping I see things through my teacher’s eyes and think about how I can use something I’ve seen in a lesson plan.  Working with young people is both challenging and exciting.  I love middle school students because they are so energetic and full of ideas. Being in a union has helped me in many ways to become a better teacher.  I fully believe in a great public school system.  It is the great leveler of our society.  If you can get a good education, you have the potential to go far.  Unions are more than just there for bargaining rights that deal with salary and benefits.  There is solidarity to working towards a common goal in education.  The teachers that I know first have an obligation to their students.  The goal is to provide students with the best possible education.  Many teachers work hard to improve their teaching ability by taking courses, attending professional development seminars and even by doing research on their own.  Teachers have to stay updated on material.  Most have embraced the computer technology age and were among the first to get computers and learn how to use them.  We all work with our administrations to try and design curriculum that is both challenging and exciting.  While some people may feel it is “us” against “them” at my school it really isn’t.  We are all interested in the best interest of the students.  Administrators and teachers work side by side on planning and coming up with strategies to improve the school and the school climate.  The teacher unions across this country have bargained to restrict class size, accommodate students with special needs and even promoting curriculum that benefits all children. While teaching I have learned to respect all workers, union and non-union.  I feel a kinship with all workers that strive to earn a fair, living wage.  In my mind, our country was built by unions and the middle class grew out of unions.  I saw how my parents were better off after teachers became unionized.  I wouldn’t want to be summarily dismissed like those teachers who were called the Reese 44.  They were in the early stages of union formation.  What they lost, the rest of us gained.  They took a stand and the rest of us benefited from their bravery. Today we have brave union workers standing up for all union workers.  They have been protesting in Wisconsin and many other states.  Most people don’t realize how difficult it is to take a stand.  I can write on my blog, but these people are the real heroes.  They faithfully show up to do the tough work and to take the abuse for the rest of us.  The rest of us sit here not wanting to make any waves, hoping that our jobs are secure and knowing that the wave of teacher bashing is knocking at our door.  Most people that know me know how dedicated I am to my profession.  I am a proud NEA member.  I wear my red blouse today as a badge of honor.  The real heroes though are marching on the capital buildings and they wear what is truly a red badge of courage.  They have a target on their backs and most of us hope that target doesn’t move our way.  However, it is moving our way!  It is moving like a wave across this nation by a group of politicians that have decided that we, the teachers of America, are the problem.  I will wear my red today and I will be proud of my profession and my union because I truly know that I give everything I can to my students.  I live to teach, not just teach to live.  Politicians may think they know me, but they don’t know the half of who I really am and what my dedication and profession is all about.  I believe in sharing knowledge and helping people get the best education possible.  It doesn’t matter to me if you are poor, wealthy or somewhere in between.  I want to spark the imagination of all my students and I go to school and make my classroom a “home away from home” for your child.  I stay after to help students that need more time or just to give them a place to go.  My dedication and commitment would not be questioned by people that know me.  The people that question my integrity are paper pushers that live in a world of political corruption where money for war is never questioned, but money for education is always questioned.  The cousins to these people have invaded our states where tax breaks for big companies is more important than the education of our children.  Under President Bush we were asked to do more with less.  We have done that.  Now we have more politicians asking us to do more with less. I’ve always believed in the goodness of people.  Some people think I can be naïve because I really want the best to come out of people.  I certainly don’t want to see the worse side of a person.  I know these politicians can do better.  I know that the standard they want me to live at as a teacher is one that they are not expecting of themselves.  Many politicians, especially in Washington D.C. are millionaires.  As a single teacher my standard of living is pretty simple.  I drive an old car and live in a little house.  There is no glitz and no glamour.  My life is one of dedication to my profession.  I would like to ask these politicians to ask themselves a simple question that President Kennedy challenged us with a long time ago.  I would say, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country?”  I ask this question because destroying the middle class and the education of the middle class and the poor by not funding education properly is destroying our country.  If we want a prosperous society, then we must fully fund education, save the middle class, and give a hand of kindness to the poor and struggling in this country.  We don’t need to prop up business with huge tax incentives, pander to the wealthy with lavish tax cuts, spend unheard of amounts of money on endless war and of course we don’t need to spend a couple billion dollars on the next election.  We need a society that is more interested in the content of our character than in the size of the pocketbook or wallet that we carry.  Workers of this country need to unite today in solidarity.  If you can do this one little thing, it might start a chain reaction.  As Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”  Wear your red proudly today and show your patriotism for your country and for all working Americans.  Our local union president has asked us to wear red for the rest of the Tuesdays until school is out.  It’s nice to have my Tuesday outfit ready to go for the rest of the school year.  I will wear my red and be proud to be a National Education Association member!

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Wear Red on Tuesday

  • Posted on March 20, 2011 at 12:40 am

Now that I have your attention, wear red on March 22nd!

I was sent an email by a guy named Jonathan.  He asked me if I could write something for March 22nd.  They want to have a blog day in support of teachers.  He included these links and his own.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=159856257404609 FB page where you can sign up and say you are in.
http://stephenlazar.com/edusolidarity/EDUSolidarity.html webpage, pretty, where we’d like you to ping back.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_207762892567061&ap=1 A more general facebook page

Jonathan
http://jd2718.wordpress.com

Here is a snippet from the Edusolidarity website:

On Tuesday, March 22, teachers in NYC will wear red in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are under attack in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and elsewhere. We also stand with teachers in places like Idaho, California, and Texas who are facing massive layoffs. We would like to take this stand on the web as well. We encourage you to publish a piece on March 22 entitled “Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions.” In this piece, please explain your own reasons for being a proud union member and/or supporter. Including personal stories can make this a very powerful piece. It would be great to also explain how being a union member supports and enables you to be the kind of teacher that you are. We want these posts to focus not only on our rights, but also on what it takes to be a great teacher for students, and how unions support that.

I encourage anyone that is reading this to wear red in support of unions on March 22nd.  If you are a blogger pass this on please.  The United Federation of Teachers website is here.  http://www.uft.org/campaigns/stand-together-workers-wisconsin-and-elsewhere

I am a member of the National Education Association.  While red is definitely not my color, I’ll see what I can do for a good cause.  I will be working to get a post ready for Tuesday so please check back with me.  I’m not sure what I’m going to write, but I have a lot of thoughts on the subject.

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Class Warfare

  • Posted on March 15, 2011 at 8:11 pm

When I was a kid one of my many brothers would climb up on our huge Maple tree and throw sticks and stones down on anyone that tried to claim his roost in HIS tree.  I mention this here today because it’s a good analogy for Republican politicians and their huge attempts at limiting the power of the poor and the middle class.  The buzzword is “reform”.  However, the reform is ONLY about limiting the power and ability of the poor and the middle class.  There is no mention of any kind of reform that really will have an effect on the wealthy or upper classes.  These reforms can be anything from workers’ rights to health care to even the judicial system.  The tort reform we always hear them talk about is set up to limit the ability of the disenfranchised to make a claim against anyone above their stature, which would be most people and corporations.  The Republicans have tried for years to limit the amount that can be received in a lawsuit for inadequate health care claiming that this is the reason health insurance costs so much.  I noticed the steep change in the cost of health insurance right after September 11th 2001.  Do you really think it had something to do with the changes in our health care providers or was it something to do with the drop in revenue the insurance companies felt from investments that tanked after that time?  Just remember that the health insurance industry is a for “profit” industry.  They exist to make a profit.  There may be some like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, my company, which are supposed to be non-profit.  However, they still pay their CEO a huge compensation. http://blogpublic.lib.msu.edu/index.php/2008/05/19/are-blue-cross-blue-shield-of-michigan-o?blog=5

Republicans like to claim that it’s all about personal responsibility and the need for people to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and of course that they, themselves, never had a helping hand.  We all know that is ludicrous because so many of them have been groomed for the positions and posts that they currently hold.  Sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know that gets you to the top of that tree.  Most of us sitting under the branches of that proverbial Maple tree are lucky enough if we can get a small perch we can claim as our own.  However, those at the top aren’t very willing to share their perch because they feel a sense of indignation that anyone would want to claim what is rightfully “their” perch.  They earned it!  They are the self satisfied, bloated, corrupt individuals we all know that don’t care about what is in the best interest of the common good of all the people.  It’s what is in “their” best interest that really matters.  By golly they clawed their way to the top and you better too.  However, once they get to the top they work very hard at taking all of the supporting branches away that helped them get to the top.  You know those things like low interest student loans, Pell grants, public education, and any aid programs like heating assistance for the poor.

Many people have talked about class warfare for years.  The Republicans have accused Democrats of creating this warfare to get votes.  That part might be true because Democrats always talk about these things around election time.  However, neither party has done enough of what they could to elevate our society so that everyone can get a little branch on that tree.  True class warfare is really happening right now and it is being instigated by Republican politics.  We have been pressured into believing that we all have to “share” in some kind of sacrifice for the good of the country.  We have been living way beyond our means and we must pay the piper what is due.

No one has really pointed out something that I can see so clearly.  Most of us people sitting under the Maple tree don’t use much resources of any kind in our country.  Most of us are not flying off in our private jet wasting tons of fuel.  Most of us haven’t been to a government created airport in the last month.  We might fly once in awhile for a family vacation but we aren’t the ones using that airport like it’s our own home base.  However, we are paying for it.  Most of us aren’t living in gigantic houses sucking up our natural resources with our rich and famous lifestyles.  Most of us live quite conservatively by shutting off our lights and dialing down our furnace in the winter and up in the summer months.  Most of us pay our bills and do everything we can to not declare bankruptcy.  However, for the rich and famous, it can be done any time they get in a tight pinch.  The rest of us will pay for it because the banking industry will get their money back one way or another.  That famous rich guy will eventually think he should run for the presidency because he knows how to run a business, so how about doing the same with our country.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

In my opinion the great leveler in society is a good education.  If you have a good education, you can go far in life.  You may not become a millionaire sitting at the top of that proverbial Maple tree but more than likely you will be able to create a decent life for you and your family.  The true key to solving poverty is in education.  The statistics here from my state are interesting.  As the education level goes up the poverty level goes down.  That makes a lot of sense, so why do all of these new Republican governors seem to want to take away from education to pay for their tax breaks for the corporations?  It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y&-state=st&-context=st&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_S1701&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=309&-redoLog=true&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=04000US26&-format=&-_lang=en

You can check your own state levels at these next two websites:  http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STGeoSearchByListServlet?ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&state=st&qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_S1701&_lang=en&_ts=317767762496

http://www.justneighbors.net/poverty-facts-your-neighborhood-who-my-neighbor

43 million people are below the poverty line in this country.  If you head on over here you will find some fascinating things to read but it won’t be surprising to most of you.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient

The Gini coefficient is a mathematical equation that basically shows the disparity between the income of the rich and the poor.  The closer the number is to zero, the more equal things are.  The closer the number is to 100, the more unequal things tend to be.  In 1929, you know during the times of the stock market fall and the beginning of the great depression the estimated number for the United States was 45.  We had a period after World War II when this number declined considerably.  This was a time when the middle class was really built and unions were a big part of that.  Since around 1980 we have gone back in decline with numbers as high as 46.9.  Most of us know there has been a change in who has more money and who has less.  This site just makes you think about things.  The rich just keep on getting richer and the poor keep trying to figure out how to strap those gold laced boots on to get to the top of that proverbial tree.

I always wonder why the wealthy seem to always want more.  They are already at the top of the tree, so you would think they wouldn’t mind letting some of that wealth trickle on down like Reagan assured us it was supposed to.  However, it turns out most millionaires don’t feel wealthy.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110314005921/en/Fidelity%C2%AE-Survey-Finds-Millionaires%E2%80%99-Outlook-Economy-Highest

I want all of you to stop laughing.  I know you are because it really is unbelievable.  Even those workers at Ford are sharing in the profits these days.  That would sound great if they hadn’t already given up so much.  The real slap in the face for Ford workers is that CEO pay!  Just check this article out.  The rich get richer and the rest of us get whatever happens to land our way and we thankfully take it!

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/03/mulally-bill-ford-share-fords-profts-big-time/1

Finally, here is more information that those Bush tax cuts really aren’t all their purported to be.  It turns out if you are in the top 10%, you probably did all right.  The rest of us, not so much!  This has the gap in income tax and it’s a great site to really research.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=106

Unfortunately, we do have class warfare in this country.  The politicians take care of the corporations and the wealthy with the many tax loopholes and tax incentive plans while the rest of us are left to “share a sacrifice”, whatever the hell that means.  What it really means is that we will get less and the rich will continue to get whatever they want and need built off the backs of the middle class and dare I say the poor.  Those of us in the 90% are the ones that prop up everyone else.  We do our jobs whether it is teaching children, policing the world, scanning goods at the airport so the wealthy can continue to feel safe, or assisting them in their pursuit of more wealth.  We are factory workers, nannies, waiters and bus boys but the one thing we all have in common is proportionately we are greatly under paid, over worked and abused by a system that asks for continual sacrifice from us when the rich are expected to just get richer!

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Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures….or… Let’s just say the Republicans are in POWER!

  • Posted on March 13, 2011 at 12:10 am

Here in Michigan we are that sleepy old state that no one is paying attention to while everything seems to be going on in Wisconsin.  However, it seems like a coordinated battle plan has been drawn by many of the Republican governors in some very key political states all at the same time.  I don’t think this is a coincidence.  The main battles are taking place in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Florida but of course there is also New Jersey as well as other states that I’m not watching as closely as my own.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-usa-unions-states-idUSTRE7295QI20110311

One of the things I find really interesting is how close these states have been in recent national political elections.  It seems that all of these governors are hell bent on destroying unions, teachers’ unions especially.  The NEA is the biggest of all.  It is the largest professional organization and labor union in the United States.  Republicans have criticized it for years as being a big supporter of the Democratic Party.  In Michigan the MEA has supported more Democrats but has also supported a few Republicans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUpO1QFMDtM

Here is more showcasing the sneaky underhanded tactics being used by these governors to push through their ideology much like Wisconsin’s Governor Walker pushed through his plan in the dead of night.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110311/NEWS15/103110454/0/ENT04/-100-cost-shield-Gov-Rick-Snyder-s-tax-proposal-from-voters?odyssey=nav|head

The obvious goal is about taking away the financial support to the Democratic Party and to create an environment where business can have whatever they want.  A few years ago at our school everyone read a book entitled, Whatever It Takes.  Of course that book was about educating students.  These governors are using techniques that embody that spirit of whatever it takes to destroy the middle class.  John Edwards always said he wanted to be the voice for the voiceless.  Well, we know John has been permanently derailed because of the choices he made with Rielle Hunter and the fact that the Democratic Party, much like the Republicans, really don’t care about the poor and the voiceless.  However, I must mention here that Newt Gingrich can double down on being bad to his many wives and still gets respect from the Republican Party.  The reason I mention John here is no one is speaking for the voiceless, the poor and the disenfranchised.  President Obama is working as hard as the Republicans at thinking up new ways to screw the poor and the middle class.  Just keep this tidbit in your mind as you read on because no politician is really speaking for the disenfranchised today.  All we hear from politicians is how we have to have a “shared sacrifice”.  I don’t want to get too sidetracked from things but I wonder why these politicians in the following post aren’t sacrificing.  They want everyone else to sacrifice.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/08/wisconsin-state-senate-republicans_n_833058.html

The first time I heard about farm subsidies is back in the seventies when I was young.  I was watching the Johnny Carson show.  Johnny had John Wayne on his show.  John Wayne was laughing about how the government pays him not to farm.  Now that’s class warfare!  The current Republican governors all seem to want to give massive tax breaks to corporations; you know those entities that the Supreme Court fully recognizes for their “corporate personhood”.  It seems to me that for years I’ve heard Republicans chastising Democrats for creating “class warfare”.  The Democrats are always pointing out the massive divide between the rich and the poor.  Unfortunately, this only seems to happen around election time, but it’s enough to get the Republicans crying for mercy.  However, truthfully the Republicans have declared a sort of war on the middle class and the poor in this country.  The class warfare of today is created through governmental policies that cater to the whims of the wealthy and big corporations while slashing everything from education to any assistance to the poor or disenfranchised.  I have always believed the one thing that can help to elevate a society is a good education.  It is getting harder and harder to obtain that education when policies are in place to ensure that it fails.  Budget cuts to education are designed really to keep the poor and middle class where they belong, dumb and uneducated.  If enough people were truly educated in this country, they might do something about the sorry state of our democracy.  We hear all about how education is broken but truthfully if you want a good education in this country you better fix poverty.  I know right now there will be some narrow minded person sitting here reading this and thinking how the poor will always be with us.  That’s uncreative, small minded thinking in my book.  The great leveler in society is education because it opens many doors that would be otherwise closed.

If you will remember back to when President Bush was in office you will remember that we had all of those color coded alerts about potential terrorism in our country.  We were constantly kept in a state of fear and panic at the thought that a terrorist might be living next door to us.  These terror alerts were manipulating us during the 2004 election.  Whenever John Kerry would go up in the polls, a new terror alert would be announced and like the sheep we are we would do whatever we were alerted to do.  Today the constant drumbeat has been about those lousy pubic unions and how they are screwing up our society.  Yes, it’s the lousy teachers that suck the blood and life from our society.  Even though some of them may give hope to the hopeless, they are the new enemy of the poor.  If it wasn’t for those greedy teachers, the poor would have money.  Sometimes you know the enemy of your enemy is your friend.  Those Republicans have called for a moratorium on spending for anything that will help you or me.  However, if there is some new subsidy or tax break they can give to corporations and the wealthy they’ll get right on it because they still pretend to believe in Reaganomics where that “trickle down” theory was invented.  Truthfully, our society is becoming one of the wealthy and everyone else that are left to “attend” to the wealthy.  I’ve never been able to figure out why enough isn’t enough for the wealthy.  How many billions do you need?  That trickle down theory just doesn’t work because the richer someone at the top gets, the richer they want to be.  They don’t let it trickle down and the only way you are going to get it to trickle down is through government policies that ensure that it does.  Our “desperate times” are created by policies designed to make the rich get richer and screw the poor.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Unfortunately, we don’t truly know how desperate we all are until we get a Republican governor to show us!  I’ll leave you with the desperate people in Wisconsin that have done everything they can to make our country wake up to what’s really going on.  This clip includes Michael Moore on the Rachel Maddow show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYrv65HufIs

Here’s part 2 of that show!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvqQ_olFJ2U&feature=related

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Chickens, Eagles and Michael Moore

  • Posted on March 6, 2011 at 12:11 pm

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you will not be surprised by some of the things I find online and become interested in.  Today I discovered a website called the National Priorities Project.  I, for one, resent so much of my tax dollars being spent on these two stupid wars that the government seems to want to perpetuate into eternity.  This website has some interesting tools.  One of the tools allows you to put in what you paid in federal taxes so you can see how your money was appropriated.  I must confess.  It did not make me happy, especially what went into education.  If you go to this page and put in what you paid, you will see what I’m talking about.

http://nationalpriorities.org/en/tools/taxchart/

After looking over that website I discovered this little article that will surprise no one.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/17/us-wiki-china-treasury-idUSTRE71G47920110217?pageNumber=1

China is flexing their muscle with us and what are we doing?  It seems we will go after entitlement programs and the unions.  That’s a nice little combination that will have an effect on the regular “Joe”, you know the normal people like you and me.  It will not have any measurable effect on the wealthy.  In fact they have been assured that their money is safe and secure from the grubby hands of the American taxpayer through the continuation of the Bush tax cuts and the changes made to the so called “death” tax.  The changes President Obama agreed to are significant.   http://www.sbnonline.com/2011/03/how-the-2010-tax-relief-act-could-impact-your-estate/?full=1

Yesterday I was listening to the replaying of Tom Hartman’s radio show I believe from Friday.  He said Mike Huckabee wants people to work until they are 75.  Tom laughed and said that a brick layer couldn’t work until he’s 75 and that perhaps the only people that could would be a preacher or a priest.  Mike, of course, is a preacher, not just an ex-governor or Fox talk show host.  These conservatives seem to have absolutely no heart.  They can take from the American people anything and everything without batting an eye.

Last night I came across an old video of Senator Teddy Kennedy fighting for an increase in the minimum wage.  It is well worth watching because it only showcases the lack of representation that we currently have in Congress.  Who is standing up for the workers of America?  Can’t you imagine Teddy talking about unions right now?

Teddy was frustrated in his quest to raise the minimum wage.  He noted tax breaks were given to wealthy corporations and he asked a couple of important question.  He said, “What is the price?  How much more do you want?”

These are the same types of questions the American people should be asking their elected officials right now.  What is the price and how much more do you want?  These same elected officials will go back to the well of the American people to select more young men and women to fight their wars.  Few of them will suggest to their own children that they should join the military during these trying times.  Most of their children will go into business and make a bundle just like their parents.  So where are these elected officials in Washington D.C.?  I know where the 14 senate Democrats are in Wisconsin.  They’re taking a stand.  It cannot be easy for them.  They are heroes to many people.  Governor Walker on the other hand continues to look for any way possible to destroy their credibility.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/03/wisconsin-senate-oks-arrest-of-absent-dems-for-contempt/1

It appears the Senate GOP leader in Wisconsin has issued arrest warrants for them.  After all they must be criminals for taking a stand!  Let’s keep on squeezing them until they say, “Uncle!”  Personally, with all of the bullying that has been in the news the last several months and the deaths of young people that have committed suicide in the news; I find it interesting that the governor of a state can act like such a “bully” to his constituents.  People wonder why these young kids “bully” people.  Is their really any wonder about this when bullying is constantly happening in politics on a grand scale?  Politics today is full of bullies and the worse offender is the “gang” of Republican governors that have the “mindset” to destroy American unions.  We don’t have any super major politicians stepping up to speak for unions but Michael Moore went to Wisconsin this weekend and rallied the union protestors with a rousing speech which you can see at TPM.  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/michael-moore-rallies-thousands-in-madison-america-is-not-broke.php

We may have some chickens in Washington D.C. but thankfully Wisconsin has 14 senators that soar like the American eagle and are standing up for workers’ rights in a courageous way that we should all be thankful for across this nation.  Michael Moore wanted one fact repeated by someone in the main stream media.  He went on to say, “Four hundred obscenely wealthy individuals in the United States of America now have more, cash, stock and property than the assets of 155 million American people combined.”   He continued to talk about Wall Street and the banks running our country and the death of democracy.  We have all felt like there is nothing we can do about it but these brave 14 senators have made us realize that there is something we can do about it.  Michael Moore went on to talk about what he learned in his economics class in high school.  Watching Michael had to be uplifting for the Wisconsin crowd because it was uplifting to me here in Michigan.  He went on to tell people that the wealthy control the message because they control the media and he is right.

Many have said this will be decided by the message that is put out by the media.  If we rely on the mainstream media for this message, we will lose.  This is why bloggers everywhere have to get this message out and get those common “Joes” thinking about what is really going on in this country.  The American people, the common people that go to work every day and keep this country moving, have to step up and take back their country and take back their democracy from the extremely wealthy.  All I ask you to do is spread the word and get people talking about what is really happening in this country.  The message Michael ended with is, “We have had it!”  We have had it.  I’m fed up with how the American worker has been turned into the “scapegoat” for everything that is wrong in this country.  We are the United States of America as Michael said not the Corporate States of America!  If you do anything else watch Michael and spread the word.  Remember, Michael is always portrayed by the “corporate media” as a man that is a bit of a nut and outside the box of the American people but truthfully Michael is one of us.  He grew up in Michigan and still is doing what he can for the community he lives in up in Traverse City.  He is one of the founders for the Traverse City Film Festival which has done a lot for the tourism industry up in Traverse City.    http://www.traversecityfilmfest.org/

Even though right wing nuts tried to destroy what he was doing with the film festival most finally realized what a great thing it is for Traverse City.  At the end of his speech Michael finally reminds the crowd that it is one person, one vote and that’s what we should remember.  If we want to take back our country, we have to get organized and we must vote.

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Jon Stewart “Must See” TV and Frances Perkins

  • Posted on March 4, 2011 at 9:53 pm

Last night I stayed up late just to watch the Daily show because I knew Diane Ravitch was going to be on the show.  It was too late to stay up but I’m not sorry I watched it.  Jon has a great staff.  They put together all of the important elements in their clips and it is truly “must see” TV.  If you do nothing else tonight, watch Jon Stewart’s whole show.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-march-3-2011-diane-ravitch

Diane mentioned Finland because that country has been sited so many times for their world standing in education.  Diane talks about this and also the relation of education test scores to poverty which I have written about here on my post many times before.

It is amazing that teachers have become the “scapegoat” for all that is wrong with education today.

After checking out Jon’s show you might want to get the new book on Frances Perkins.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins

I, like most Americans, don’t know enough about our history.  Frances Perkins was FDR’s labor secretary.  My sister is reading a book about her and it sounds fascinating.  The book is, “The Woman Behind the New Deal” by Kirsten Downey.

If you cannot afford to buy the book, remember you can get it at your local library.  They will even have it shipped in from another library for you.

What is shocking to me is how little I know about this amazing woman.  She was truly a champion for workers’ rights and we all need to learn more about her.  When you think about the fact that a state like Mississippi hasn’t even elected one woman to congress in all of their history, then you read about Frances and “New Deal”, you will be absolutely amazed.  http://womenincongress.house.gov/

We need more women like Frances Perkins in public office today.

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Where’s Waldo, Dick Morris and Newsmax

  • Posted on March 2, 2011 at 7:47 pm

Obama reminding me of Waldo once again!

There seems to be a lot of discussion about a Washington Post article by Ruth Marcus titled, “Obama’s ‘Where’s Waldo? Presidency.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/01/AR2011030105489.html

I personally don’t see what all of the hoopla is about as I wrote about “Where’s Waldo” way back in September, but of course I’m just a lowly blogger with not that much traction!  Ruth concludes in the end, “Where’s Obama? No matter how hard you look, sometimes he’s impossible to find.”  It sure makes me wonder who is reading my blog.  I only see the numbers of people that are visiting.  Read my post and read her post.  My videos may be gone but if you scroll down past the videos and read all of it, you might be left wondering if Ruth read my post!

http://www.ksvoboda.com/?p=660

My take of course is a little different because before the election last fall Obama started “speaking” again and it was like a mystery because he had been so silent on so many issues.  Suddenly, with the election looming, he had all of these big ideas.  Of course after the election he was back to the same old “Where’s Waldo” moments.  You can check my post from September and see that I was first and you can have a laugh.  President Obama doesn’t stand for much and in my humble opinion if you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.

In other news, I want to get back to the Wisconsin debate.  A friend on Facebook who I know is liberal wanted people to fill out a survey on Newsmax.  Yes, I know I should have stayed away because everyone knows that Newsmax is a conservative site.  I filled out the survey and of course being the honest person I am used one of my real email accounts.  I probably should have put some fake email up, but I would never do that, so I’m stuck getting emails from Newsmax.  I did unsubscribe, so maybe they will stop sending me these little tidbits of gross misinformation.  However, I found one in particular quite interesting.  I got an urgent message from Dick Morris.  You all know Dick Morris, the Fox News guy and Republican strategist that actually worked for President Clinton.  He was friends with Clinton before they became enemies and of course now he hates Hillary.  Okay, I’m digressing.  It seems Dick is really worried about Governor Scott Walker because those powerful unions, you know demonic like, are out to get him.  Here is Dick giving his take on things:

Governor Scott Walker’s fight is our fight. If he prevails, the reforms he proposes will spread to all the states in the country. New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Idaho are already pushing similar legislation.

But if we lose in Wisconsin, the public unions will have their way all over the nation and we will never get reform.

When Walker says he wants to limit collective bargaining to wages and benefits, what he is really saying is that he needs to be free to roll back teacher tenure, reward good teachers with merit pay, give parents choice about where to send their children, and assure that — even if there are layoffs — that they are based on merit not seniority. The union contracts all over America block these key changes. But we have to put our children first and improve the quality of our schools.

Dick goes on to mention that the League of American Voters needs your help, probably with money, to help Governor Walker.  I must confess that when I first looked at that word, “League”, I couldn’t believe it.  I couldn’t believe that the League of Women Voters would be in cahoots with Fox News commentator, Dick Morris!  Thankfully, it wasn’t the right league.  I love the name of the group though because it made me feel like I’m supposed to be a part of the League of American Voters.  After all, I vote and I’m American!  Catchy, isn’t it?  Dick ends his email with the following;

This is a heaven sent chance to take back our country from the control of the public employees labor unions, which form the backbone of the Democratic Party.

Please donate today!

Good God!  It is a “heaven sent” chance because we all know that Jesus would have been a REPUBLICAN!  Oh, I didn’t know that the whole point of this exercise in Wisconsin was to destroy the “backbone” of the Democratic Party.  I thought that was the secret plan.  I didn’t know they actually put it in their emails to their constituents!

I need to mention right now that the big, bad teacher unions don’t actually have the clout that Dick here seems to think.  The truth is here In Sturgis we haven’t “demanded” things at our district.  We’d like things but we have basically given up many things over the years.  We know times are tough and we work with our administration and the school board to try and solve problems.  We used to have Messa Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance.  It was probably what people consider the “Cadillac” of plans.  Some time after September 11th, 2001 insurance went up.  I had to contribute $2500 a year to keep that insurance.  That went on for a couple of years and it got to be too much of a burden for the group, so we gave it up.  Class size used to always be no more than about 24 students.  We gave that up a few years ago.  Now we have classes that can be into the low thirties.  When President Obama wanted everyone to compete for “Race to the Top” money, we ended up giving up on evaluations.  At Sturgis the teacher evaluation will be some how tied to student performance.  This happened across the state as well.  Guess what?  We still haven’t been “chosen” for the “Race to the Top” money. Last year the state of Michigan passed legislation that requires teachers and I believe other state employees to pay 3% more of their salary into their pension.  This was done to help fund all of the pensioners that retired under the state’s special “early” incentive plan.  We currently haven’t received a pay raise and because of the changes we are all making less money than we did last year.

Dick Morris went on to include the message from the League of American Voters and here is the main part:

This is why the League of American Voters is urgently launching a national effort to help Gov. Walker and to stop these bloated unions.

The League of American Voters is at the forefront of the battle in Wisconsin defending Scott Walker.

Dick Morris, the famous Fox News analyst, says “The League is the most effective grassroots organization in America.”

Dick credits the League for having stopped Obama’s “public option” healthcare takeover. The public option would have destroyed private health insurance, and we stopped them.

The League also led the fight to force Pres. Obama to renew the Bush tax cuts. Our national TV effort with Sen. Fred Thompson worked. Obama caved.

Now, the League has prepared a powerful new radio ad to air throughout Wisconsin in support of Gov. Walker.

With your help we plan on exposing the Obama-Labor machine in ads across the nation.

But it underscores the truth, Obama and his public union cronies are desperate.

They’ll do whatever it takes to keep power.

That’s why Obama says “Punish our enemies… Reward our friends.”

But together, you and I can help Scott Walker do what’s right for Wisconsin — what’s right for America.

I think it’s funny how the league used the term “Obama-Labor machine”.  I, for one, don’t much care for Obama any more than I care for Dick Morris.  After all it is Obama that pushed for “merit” pay.  The big question that begs to be answered is who is going to decide what is meritorious?  Obviously, there is no extra money, so how is “merit” pay ever going to happen any way?  A teacher friend of mine, who is conservative, said today that maybe they will lessen our pay and if you qualify for “merit” pay you’ll be at the level you are at right now!  I think that’s what I understood him to say today.  Stranger things have happened.  After all Dick Morris and Bill Clinton were once buddies.

Finally, I find it interesting that the league closes with the salutation, “Yours for Freedom”.  Those big bad unions are against freedom, you know.  They stifle freedom because they work for worker’s rights and we all know if workers have rights the places they work for have to follow some RULES!  Yes, if Dick has his way, teachers will go back to the good old days when they swept the floor, put the wood in the fire, and of course were ever so single and virginal.

This is Dick long before he sent out the email that didn’t really talk too much about education.

Just remember what Greta said about the election in 2012 because that’s what this is really about.  Dick says, “They’re digging their own grave.”  It’s interesting that these analogies are still being thrown around so easily by some commentators and politicians considering the shooting in Arizona.  I, for one, think it’s about time we stop with all of the targets with a bull’s eye on them and the sports analogies for politics.  Dick would love to witness the death of the Democratic Party and possibly democracy.  However, the death of the Democratic Party happened long ago.  The Democratic Party today is but a shadow of its former self and the same could be said of the party of Lincoln.

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