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Solidarity and Why Wisconsin Matters

  • Posted on February 20, 2011 at 11:27 am

I’ve been watching the protesting going on in Madison, Wisconsin with great concern.  Many believe, just as I do, that Madison is a test case for the rest of us.  I believe there has been a constant push to divide workers in our country and around the world.  All people that work for someone else need to pay attention to what is happening in Madison.

Unions have become the target of business and we, the American people, have been duped by the corporate propaganda machine.  Unions have been blamed for everything from the current economic condition to why businesses are choosing to manufacture goods in other countries.  However, what most people should be thinking about is how workers are being treated around the globe.  We were lead to believe that NAFTA and opening up normal trade relations with China would help raise the standard of living around the world.  http://articles.cnn.com/2000-10-10/politics/clinton.pntr_1_wto-membership-china-global-trade-regime?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS

What is really happening is a growing divide between the very wealthy and the rest of us.  We, the American people, the real laborers of our country, have not understood how we should all be banding together in solidarity.  We should be insisting on good and fair working conditions and benefits for everyone from the person that sweeps the floor in the factory to teachers, doctors, waitresses and anyone else that is an employee in this country.  Instead we sit back thinking only of ourselves and our particular circumstance.

Some look at teachers and think they deserve this.  Part of this is because this whole past year there has been systematic propaganda put out by the corporate media about how bad teachers are because the American student is so poorly educated.  We have heard the drumbeat from the president on down through Michele Rhea in Washington D.C. and the video, “Waiting for Superman.”  If you are to believe the corporate media, then you would have to think that your own child is getting a poor education.  I’m not saying that all students are getting a great education.  What I am saying is that the corporate run media has been pushing hard for the demise of the teacher’s unions for the past several years.  This should come as no surprise for anyone that can think back over the last few years and especially this past year.  The corporate run media wants people to think this group in Madison is just a bunch of cry baby teachers that don’t care about anything but their cushy jobs with summers off.  The corporate run Republicans have been taking our government from the federal level on down to the state level and privatizing anything they can get their hands on.  This is another area that we have been lead to believe is a better choice.  Private companies can do a better job than the government, or so we have been told.  This is just another way that politicians have been rewarding those companies that have been giving charitably to their campaign coffers.

Looking around the world this year there have been protests all over the globe. While the banks have been rewarded because they were too big to fail, the citizens of the world have been taken down a notch through the decimation of benefits, pensions, health care, and college education. I remember distinctly this video of students protesting in England and some of them shouting, “Off with their heads.” This video doesn’t play the sound but it did happen. This was in reference to Prince Phillip and his wife. Unions have been protesting around Europe as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zptklj49AYs&feature=related

As a country we need to stop pitting the old with pensions against the young, the union employees against those non union workers, as well as government workers pitted against private employed workers.  The workers of the world need to unite in solidarity or they will continue to lose benefits and wages while the wealthy will continue to rake in the money, get all the tax breaks and the CEO of these big corporations will continue to receive unbelievable bonuses.  The truth is what is happening in Madison, Wisconsin is the destruction of bargaining.  If unions across this county cannot have true bargaining rights, you won’t have them either.  If they lose benefits, you will surely lose benefits as well.  If they have no strength, neither will you!

If you are my age or older you will remember the saying, “As the Dow Goes, so Goes the Country.”  Today as a worker and a teacher I can honestly say I believe as Madison goes, so goes the country.  If they lose, so will we!  There is a concerted effort by the Republican governors across this country to destroy union’s rights to collectively bargain.  Here is a piece from Ohio.  http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/overhaul_of_states_collective.html

I want to play a video from last week that really explains what is going on in Madison.  It really is about busting the union and nothing else.  It’s a longer video but you should watch the whole thing and listen to John Nichols at the end when he talks about what is happening around the world.

Ed Schultz has done a great job of covering Madison this whole past week.  His show is on at 10:00 p.m.  Eastern time on MSNBC and he has been spending time there.  I found this video of Ed talking to the teachers just before his show the other night.  It really is good.  Ed understands what’s really going on.  It is as he says about what is morally right and fair.

As a teacher I want to add some information that most people don’t realize.  Young teachers here in Michigan have to take classes for the rest of their lives.  The cost of this comes out of their pockets.  I’m currently taking courses and it’s not cheap.  The teacher qualifications and licensing has changed drastically over the last twenty years.  Teachers used to get a life certificate.  I have a continuing certificate.  I don’t have to renew my certificate any more.  I’m taking my courses to reach a higher level of pay and expertise, not because I have to do so.  Younger teachers have to take courses in order to keep their license updated.  They also have to pay for renewing that license.  I’ve been taking courses throughout the school year, so I don’t have a lot of “free” time.  Many teachers take courses in the summer time as well.  Curriculum planning is also done in the summer time.  I think some people just don’t have a clue how much planning goes into creating a good classroom atmosphere and education for the children of our country.  I know what my commitment is as a teacher.  I give my all to my students.  I know other teachers that do the same.  We are dedicated professionals that care about the well being of our students.  We go out of our way to do our best to help students reach their full potential.  We even buy things to bring into our classrooms and donate for good causes that will likely benefit some of our students and their families.  We are not the enemy.  We, the American workers, should all stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Madison, Wisconsin.

I would also like to thank the brave Democratic state senators that have chosen to leave the state of Wisconsin so a quorum could not be met to pass this vote.  They are true heroes for the working people of America.  http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/02/19/wisconsin_protests_in_images

Additional food for thought:

Here in Michigan our Republican governor has proposed a budget that would mean a $470 funding cut for each and every child being educated in our K-12 public schools.  http://www.michiganpolicy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1018:a-comprehensive-analysis-of-governer-snyders-budget-proposal-for-k-12-education&catid=75:k-12-education-blog&Itemid=132

I’m sure he’ll be looking to see what happens in Wisconsin.  We have already faced some changes in bargaining rights based on the Race to the Top program instituted by President Obama.  http://www.michiganpolicy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=840:hb-6331-collective-bargaining-agreements-and-performance-based-initiatives&catid=35:k-12-education-policy-briefs&Itemid=117

By the way we haven’t won any “Race to the Top” money.

Here is a good op-ed piece from the Washington Post.  http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/scrooge-ism_in_wisconsins_unio.html

This is an interesting website to look at union membership across the nation.  The numbers here in Michigan and in Wisconsin have gone down.

http://www.bls.gov/ro3/mdunion.htm

This is good if you like to look at statistics from the Census Bureau.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/

This blogger has written about wage stagnation and how we have coped.  This is interesting.

http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2010/05/wage-stagnation-biggest-threat-to.html

Also if you think this isn’t going on around the world, just look at these pieces and think.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/295564

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/civilian-protests-around-_n_808306.html#s223153&title=Tunisia_

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“One Nation Working Together”Rally

  • Posted on October 2, 2010 at 4:21 pm

I just happened to be home today and turned on CSPAN and realized the “One Nation” rally was getting ready to begin.  I had heard about this rally through the Ed Schultz show as he had continually talked about it on both his TV and radio show.  Here is Big Eddy talking about it on his show.  It’s rather long but you should at least watch through his little exclamation about Rahm Emanuel.  Rahm left the president on Friday but probably according to the labor unions, he should have left long ago!

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

As the rally opened they had a local hip-hop choir group which made me want to go to the store like I had planned.  I guess it was entertainment to fill time but I seriously didn’t get the point.  I hung around and caught Ed.  Ed was loud and seemed to be used to rev up the crowd with how we are “One Nation”.  Ed was like one of those loud, screaming Baptist preachers.  He’s either going to convert you with words or scare you into converting.  After Ed was some lame ad about One Nation working together.

Comparisons surely will be made between the Glenn Beck rally and this one.  To me it looks like both rallies have managed to get a rather large crowd to attend each rally.  Midway through this rally they reported that according to some satellite picture this rally is bigger and growing than Beck’s rally.  Both of these rallies tried to channel  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his words.  Both have a clearly different dream of what they want to see happen in this country.  Beck’s rally was about awarding medals to some people and honoring them as individuals.  As I recall it was to restore “honor” to America.  The implication was that President Obama has some how dishonored our country.  This rally seems to be about sharing the problems facing the American people and saying, “We stand with you!”  The speeches are tied to the writings of Jesus.  The tone is one of that takes on the concept that what happens to the least of my brothers, happens to me.  This seems to be the concept behind the “One Nation” rally.  It actually could be billed as restoring honor to the American people that have been dishonored by the system and corporations!  This rally has allowed people to bring signs whereas the Glenn Beck rally didn’t want any signs for some reason.  One of the most dominant signs I noticed was one that said, “Jobs, Not War!”

This rally is designed to get Democrats in the mood to vote in November.  The people attending the rally are to go back to their homes and help rally others to support the Democrats.  One nation is working together but not the Republicans because they’re the party of “No”.

Leave it to Al Sharpton to get the party rocking.  “One nation under God” is what he said we were.  He talked about the same things but he really revved up he crowd.  There was talk about bailing out the American people.  The thought was if the government can bailout corporations, then they can surely bailout the American  people when they are having hard times.  There was a comparison to what is spent on education and what is spent on defense.  I believe 5%  of what goes to defense was the figure that was said goes to education.

A native American comic, Charlie Hill, spoke but some of his jokes were a little flat as the rally doesn’t seem to be about bashing people like Palin but building up the American worker.  I think he didn’t get that memo.  The most interesting thing he said was that we’ve been fighting terrorism a long time; all the way back to 1492.  I thought truer words were never spoken.  Columbus gets all kinds of glory from us today but if we were taught the real history of his voyage and the “conquering” of America, we wouldn’t be so kind to him.

After Charlie were many workers and even unemployed people looking for work.  These people came from many walks of life and unions.  They had what I believe was the strongest voice for this rally today.  Larry Cohen from the Communications Workers of America talked about the decline of the unions and the loss of wages and benefits over the last forty years.  He said we used to have one in three in a union and now we have one in sixteen.  I think he had a really strong voice for unions and the many people that followed him from a nurse to a teacher to a transportation worker all spoke very poignantly about the plight of workers today.

There were many well known people at this rally.  I saw Jesse Jackson in the crowd and he also spoke.  Charlie Rangel, Dick Gregory and many others were there as well.  In my opinion the most elegant speaker was Harry Belafonte who talked about Dr. King speaking out about the Vietnam war.  Then Harry spoke out about the two wars we are currently in.  He had the raspy, aged voice of reason that I wish President Obama could hear!  I have to thank the “right winger” that posted this so early on Youtube.  This is not the complete speech as the part about Vietnam and our wars today wasn’t included.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vty7ESzusdY

This rally ended up being a real political rally.  The Glenn Beck rally pales in comparison to what this rally was about.  The Beck rally was much shorter and really was about giving out some awards to people that Beck admired for many different reasons.  It really wasn’t a typical political rally as there weren’t speakers talking about fixing the nation or building up a party or even voting.  This rally seems to have been organized to both respond to the Beck rally and the Tea Party people but also to try and rally the “troops” to vote.  If people are listening and they’re Democrats, it could rally them.  They didn’t talk much about President Obama.  I’m sure that was by design.  They talked about an agenda that included jobs, justice and peace.

Even college students spoke at this rally and talked about their student loans.  One young man talked about an education and jobs being our “rights”.  I have to say I agree with much of what he said.  Randi Weingarten from the American Federation of Teachers was also at the rally and gave a rousing speech for education!  She asked all to join in and be one nation together to make a difference in our children’s lives.  Rev. Frederick Haynes talked about bringing our fingers together to make a fist to strike a blow for everything from education to justice.  He repeated many things we need to bring our fingers together for.  Basically, you don’t get much attention when you tap someone with your finger but if they see your fist, they’ll listen.  I liked this guy.  He had a simple way of bringing a big message!  Beau Sia, a slam poet, spoke and it was a great poem about teaching.  I didn’t get to see the whole rally as I have other things I have to do.  I’m sure I saw the bulk of it.  Much talk was given to everything from jobs, justice, education, the prison system, and health care.  The end result is to vote and to vote for Democrats!

I admire the people that were able to go to the rally because they have chosen to try and do something, rather than sit and do nothing.  One woman that is unemployed talked about “Working America” where she helps to organize other unemployed people to go out and volunteer.  This rally was very inclusive with all colors and ages of people.  Beck’s rally seemed very white and old.   I have to give it up to Big Eddy.  He did rally the troops.  He talked about this rally so much that I really wondered if he and the unions could get the crowd he was expecting.  They did.  The crowd was impressive as were the many speakers.

I just wish the Democratic Party was half as good as the people they currently represent.  These people deserve representation that isn’t corrupted by the deep pockets of corporations.  They have gone out of their way to promote the Democratic Party and I believe the Democratic Party should go out of their way to hear these voices.  This shouldn’t be just another rally where nothing ever comes from it but a vote.  We’ve had enough of that.  Everybody gets excited to vote.  Then the politicians go back and we find out they had their fingers crossed behind their backs the whole time we were talking to them.  Let’s all put our fingers together and make a fist.  Maybe if they see our fist, we’ll get what we want!

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The Real John Boehner

  • Posted on August 25, 2010 at 3:47 pm

So my brother was offended by a piece I wrote a few days ago and he said I should look up the word “diatribe”.  To humor him I did and decided I would write a real “diatribe”.  (As a noun:  A forceful bitter verbal attack against someone or something.)  Well, hello Representative John Boehner!  Welcome to my version of a diatribe about you!  If you don’t know who John Boehner is he is a representative from the 8th district in Ohio and he is the current House Minority Leader.  If the Republicans have their way in November he is expected to become Speaker of the House.

Now to the juicy stuff!  This is something “snarky” (Oh there’s that word again.) that Lynn Samuels said about him on Sirius left radio the other day.  I thought it was hilarious.  She was talking about Area 51 and Roswell.  Someone phoned into her show and they were saying how some people think there are aliens living among us.  She referred to Rep. John Boehner and his eerily non human form and skin color.  For all of you that haven’t noticed he has the strangest tan around, sometimes he appears quite orange on the talk show circuit.  He’s the current threat to the Democrats.  You know he’s a threat when the next talk show I’m listening to is “Big Eddy” and he’s talking about John as well.  “Big Eddy” is my loving term for Ed Schultz.  Big Eddy played a commercial on his program against Boehner that was pretty funny.  Big Eddy said he was thinking of playing it every day.  This was on the radio so I thought I’d find that commercial on You Tube to see what it was like.

The commercial is put up on You Tube by the Blue America Pac.  It is “priceless”!  When I was listening to Big Eddy he went on to talk about golfing and Boehner’s huge amount of time devoted to it.  Big Eddy loves golf himself so I know much of what he was saying is probably true.  He said for a guy to play golf a hundred or so times a year means he must be thinking about it all the time.  He’s talking about it with his friends and frankly he isn’t doing the work of the American people.  I frankly can’t see how Boehner’s constituents continue to vote for him.  Here is another commercial by the National Sierra Club.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QStk3fahKdU

If you look at his votes for 2010 you can see why many people have labeled the Republican Party the party of “No” as most his votes are “NO”.  However, I did notice that he voted “Yes” for a “Congressional Cost of Living Pay Increase” in April of this year.  I wish I could vote myself a cost of living pay increase.  Don’t you?  By the way, the Ohio unemployed might like to know that he voted against extending unemployment benefits in the same year he voted to increase his own pay.  In the same month he voted for his pay raise he had a “NV” which means not voting for extending unemployment benefits.  He made sure he was there to vote for his own pay but either skipped voting or wasn’t even present to vote for his unemployed constituents!  Some of us would call that a “Dick Move”!  Wow, if you look closer, you will notice he used to vote “Yes” a lot until the Democrats came into power.  So, it is obvious that he is an obstructionist although he does vote for defense spending under the Democrats and Republicans.  There doesn’t seem to be a defense bill he doesn’t like.  Even though we all know there is a lot of waste in defense spending.   Here is Rumsfeld once again looking for that defense money!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRqeJcuK-A&feature=player_embedded

John also has gone all out in his attempts to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70.  He’s wealthy what does he care?  He can golf a hundred times a year as though he is already “retired”!  While he’s off golfing the work of the American people isn’t getting done!  Raising the retirement age to 70 basically means that you will get less for Social Security because most people aren’t going to be teaching school, policing our towns, or doing any of their jobs until they’re 70.  They will be forced out of their jobs before that and eventually apply for Social Security early and take a big cut.  It’s not hard to see what this is really all about.  John Boehner, like many politicians, doesn’t have to worry about money.  He is a millionaire.  Strangely enough if you look at this chart he is pretty much “average” among house members in income.  That should be telling us something about all of these politicians not just this man.  http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00003675&year=2008

I share John’s Catholicism but we are worlds apart in our politics.  John, as a Catholic, could never speak for me but it does explain his abortion issue voting.  It doesn’t necessarily explain his defense record as Catholics are taught social justice and solving things in a manner like Jesus which involves making peace.

Most of his voting record is tied to business, corporations and special interests.  He is continually pushing to extend the tax cuts while calling for cutting the deficit.  His thinking isn’t truly logical as it is a proven fact that the tax cuts for the wealthy haven’t helped our country.  If they had helped, we probably wouldn’t be in the shape we are in right now.  Those tax cuts came in with Bush and are earmarked to go out at the end of this year.  Many might want to ask themselves that age old question.  Are you better off today than you were in 2000?  Some people may be better off.  Many are obviously not as they fight foreclosures on their homes and battle to keep their jobs.  The extension of these tax cuts will probably only lead to a higher deficit unless we cut something else.

Boehner never saw a defense bill he didn’t like, so I expect he would cut any entitlement program he can get his hands on.  This can include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and even things like unemployment benefits.  It can also include things like school lunches, aid to public schools, financial aid to college students but trust me it won’t include tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.  If John gets to be Speaker of the House while most of us will be balancing our budgets deciding what to do in the coming year, John will be busy dismantling health care reform, extending the Bush tax cuts and cutting programs for the least among us.

Ohio voters from Boehner’s district need to think long and hard about voting for this man that takes care of himself by voting for increased pay to himself as well as golfing more than any man I know.  In Sturgis there are plenty of golfers.  I don’t know anyone that has the time to get out and golf like John unless they are super wealthy or are retired and live on a golf course!

If you consider yourself to be middle class and you want someone to vote for your best interests check out this website.   http://www.themiddleclass.org/legislator/john-boehner-31?gclid=COub1_ud1aMCFUcz5wodQQHXuQ

He has an 8% rating based on his votes from 2009.  Now all of us know that 8% is failing.  If he is failing the middle class, he’s probably failing you and me or at least his constituents in Ohio!  It’s time for people to stop listening to the rhetoric this man puts out on the TV news talk show circuit and really look at the man.  He hasn’t lived up to the hype.  It’s time to give a Democrat a chance to do something for Ohio.

Boehner recently called for the resignation of Obama’s economic team.  I have my own problems with Obama’s team as well.  However, it is disingenuous of Boehner to conclude that the current problem is generated by Obama’s team alone.  It was the Republicans that brought us to the brink of disaster but this disease has infected both parties.  No one has said it better than George Carlin (May he rest in peace.) in this clip from one of his stand up routines.  George has colorful language so if that is offensive to you take more offense to the politicians that are “sticking” it to you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GseyaEibb_4

So, when you are thinking about voting, try voting out the money and start with Representative John Boehner.  If you aren’t convinced how to vote, just check out this post on politico.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29881.html

The politician/golfer is busy spending his PAC money on none other than GOLFING!

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