What's on Katie's Mind? : Tag : teacher’s unions

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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 11^th, 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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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.