Teachers only want what's best for your child

That's why they engage in organized cheating to secure their jobs and make the school look good, even when they are failing to teach the children.
Teachers and administrators in the Atlanta Public School system (APS) have been caught in a massive cheating scam designed to make the schools performance figures spike.

If that isn't bad enough, there are some that still defend the teachers by claiming they were "pressured" and feared retaliation if they didn't help with the cheating.
Really?
Are these the same, courageous category of hero that storms Capital buildings to preserve wages and benefits during school days?
And they are too afraid to protect the kids from administrators?

Unions vs Taxpayers war heating up

Wisconsin voters won yesterday when the assembly passed an altered version of the pro-taxpayer bill that had all the financial language stripped out but still removed some collective bargaining powers from the unions.
After learning they had lost despite their illegal occupation of the statehouse and tactics of harassment and intimidation, union thugs got surly and started beating drums, yelling, chanting, and whistling.
There were no reports of actual violence and the police actually abandoned ground floor entrances when it was evident that there was no way to stop the union supporters from invading.
The police showed remarkable restraint and shrewdness in not arresting these thugs, many of which had the ACLU phone number written on their hands or arms for when they got sent to the slammer.

Speaking of violence, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin have received death threats, including one unambiguous e-mail, that are being investigated.

And now that they have failed (as they knew they would from the start) to stop the bill from passing, the Democrats are coming back from under their rock.

Meanwhile, in Sacramento a face-off between Tea Partiers and Moveon.org thugs ended with a fizzle after a megaphone wielding thug from Stockton tried to mix it up with the Tea Party by crossing the street and tussling with someone (on video).
The thug was arrested and it was all over but the shouting (literally, they shouted at each other for a while and it was over).

So, no big violence yet and the good guys aren't falling for the thugs tactics.
I wish that were the end of it, but we know it will escalate before it ends.

Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning.

Unions are great for union workers.
They boost pay and benefits to levels that drive companies to offshore jobs and lay people off, or even fold completely.
They protect bad employees from being fired, so the good ones have to work in a hostile environment.
They also make it necessary to place large numbers of people in limbo.
Just ask the Providence, Rhode Island teachers.
Every one of the 1,926 teachers have been given notice that they may be let go.
The district had to send out the notifications in order to meet requirements that call for advanced notification of any job actions.
Now these teachers can fret and worry until the last day of school, when final decisions will list those actually being cut.

Wisconsin explained

Some people may be confused as to why public employee unions have illegally occupied the statehouse, filed false sick leave requests, and freaked out about actually having to pay for a small portion of their retirement.
Well, a report showing that 2/3rds of Wisconsin 8th graders are not proficient at reading provides at least a partial explanation.
I was mad at the teachers for abandoning the students by staging sick-outs so they could protest, but I know see that they were allowing the kids to self educate.
They will likely fare better playing video games or burgling the neighbor's house than they would sitting in classes run by a failed, union run system.
The most telling statistic is that the state basically doubled the per student spending from 1998 to 2008 yet no improvement in test scores was seen.

Wisconsin leads the way

Considering its past and the left leaning politics of the region, it is surprising that Wisconsin is leading the way in fighting back against union abuse of taxpayers.
But the last elections turned over the state house and governorship to Republicans and they are working to pull the teeth of the Socialist beast that has been ravaging every state in the union in its rapacious pursuit of more power and money.
You go Wisconsin!
Win one for the rest of us.

On a side note; if the picture in the article is correct, I would say there might be more than 'hundreds' at the rally.
Maybe that's just a miscalculation on my part after having my crowd calculator messed up by 'million man math'.

SF Lunatics have control of the asylum

San Francisco is trying to deal with a $360M budget deficit for the coming year, or maybe not "trying" after all.
Handing out $170M in cost of living bonuses doesn't seem a very effective way to fight a budget imbalance.
This fiasco follows the November 2010 defeat of a measure that would have made union employees pay more into their retirement.

The unfunded liability for retirements has tripled from last year to $1.6 Billion.
I wonder how much worse it has to get for the taxpayers in that city to wake up?

One more reason for unions to be criminalized

Need a job?
Willing to live in the big city and work at Carnegie Hall or the Lincoln Center moving chairs and props around?
You can be a stagehand if you know the right folks and one of the existing hands dies or retires.
Would you be more willing if you knew that the average stagehand's compensation was $290K (wages and benefits) or that the top hands get $530K?
You may not have heard of these benefit packages because the stagehands have shut down theaters before and have shown a great willingness to do it again (it gets easier when you have a money cushion to lie on that the musicians and other performers trying to get by don't).
Few people who perform in these venues will speak out against the powerful unions for fear of reprisal.
When people fear the unions to the point where it is hard to find someone who works with them willing to openly comment on their exorbitant compensation, you know it is time to tear them down and seal them in the dustbin of history.

Voter fraud in Jersey

If you thought voter fraud was bad, you need to see this story.
Voting machines hijacked and stuffed with votes that are then returned and recorded as legitimate votes.
This criminality would be easy for the press to uncover if they actually cared about making elections fair.

Time to rein in unions

If you needed a clear picture of why Unions need to be severely restricted and held to a higher standard, read this story.
It is bad enough that unions have saddled us with crushing debt through unfunded pension liabilities while guaranteeing themselves early retirements and unbelievable job security while garnering compensation far in excess of similar jobs in the private sector.
But even worse is the pervasive attitude of power and entitlement.
When unions think it is acceptable for them to shut down transportation and vital supplies in order to secure insulation from real world difficulties (thereby doubling the pain of those on the hook for their comfortable lifestyle), they show how incredibly dangerous they have become.

Union leaders and thugs who commit or allow crimes like those being committed in Europe and in the Mediterranean, should be jailed for their actions.

Historic truth about unions and communism

The Ford Motor Company was the last of the big auto companies to fold to unionization.
It was ironic that the unions chose Ford at all because Henry Ford had already upset his competition by paying his employees better and hiring minorities.
He even helped the Communists by training them in mass production techniques.
But he was a one of those hateful Capitalists and he had to go down as much as the rest of them so Communism could look better and eventually triumph.
It is interesting to read how little the left's playbook has changed since the 1920's.

Municipal Mergers?

Cash strapped cities in California are considering the "D" word as a solution to their fiscal woes.
No, I don't mean Democrat (that's what caused the problem), I mean dis-incorporate.
Over the last twenty years, many cities have incorporated in order to retain tax revenue that would normally go to the county and retain more autonomy.
With dis-incorporation, the taxes and power return to the county along with the fiscal responsibilities.
It isn't clear if the move by cities like Half Moon Bay will resolve issues with employee unions, but the responsibility will be the county's and perhaps they will be able to justify layoffs due to duplication.
Public employee unions in California have effectively blocked cities from declaring bankruptcy unless approved by a state board stacked with pro-union members which will not approve any deal that doesn't insure union members still get everything promised them.

Isn't this solution the municipal equivalent of a merger or acquisition?

Rangel case just gets more disgusting

Some of us were cheering (quietly) when we heard that Charlie Rangel was being charged with ethics violations (again).
Now it comes out that lobbyists and unions are spending big bucks to defend him.
Rangel's legal fees were $2.16M in 2009 and savvy contributers to his campaign coffers know they are funding his legal defense.
In the first two quarter, 35% of Rangel's campaign reciepts were spent on legal defense.
If he were a Republican and large corporations and lobbyists were funding his legal defense, it would be the daily headline for weeks!

AZ immigration law protesters caravan from Los Angeles

Union members and activists are caravaning to Arizona to protest the new immigration law as it is set to take effect.
As usual, their comments and stance betray their own racist, narrow-minded view of the situation:
"Rob Robbins, 71, a home care worker in Long Beach, said he grew up black in segregated Alabama in the 1940s and '50s and sees parallels between the racism of that time and now.
"Anytime I see signs of that coming alive in our country, it rises my indignation," he said. "SB 1070 basically says you are guilty because of how you look. That, to me, is not American." "
"I look at things in a historical context," said Carlos Leon, 47, a detention officer with the Los Angeles County Probation Department who decided that he needed to speak up for the oppressed.
Leon said he believes the law is unjust and will result in people being questioned about their status based on their looks."

Mr. Robbins has no clue. If there is "segregation" it is self imposed and the law goes to great lengths to not use "appearance" for cause.
Mr. Leon has no clue about history or he would acknowledge the looks based discrimination of the Spanish masters when they controlled Mexico and admit that his "belief" that the law will be abused is based on his own personal bias.

I guess Arizonans should just look at these obliviots as unruly tourists and encourage them to spend, spend, spend.

Unions lose, Illinois wins

Illinois has finally felt enough pain from losing conventions to other states (like Nevada, despite Obama's warning) to change the law to let exhibitors plug their own computers in or hire someone to set up their booth without having to pay them union wages.
The unsurprising response from the carpenter's union?: "The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters responded with a lawsuit saying they've been singled out and pushed to unemployment."
The change has already brought conventions back to Chicago.
Who would've thought allowing people to not have to pay punitive union prices to do things they are perfectly capable of doing themselves would increase business.

Imagine more giveaways to Obama's pals in finance bill

Imagine activists and unions stacking corporate boards with people more interested in "social justice" and the environment than profit.
Imagine businesses victimized by the financial crisis being the ones punished by increased scrutiny and costs.
Imagine the return of gender and race quotas.
Imagine more money flowing to organizations like ACORN.
Imagine a bureaucracy that can choose to loan money to anyone it's directer desires, no matter how risky the loan with no internal checks on the director's decisions.
Imagine a "Consumer Protection" bureaucracy with the power (and unstated mission) to punish ANY company that has a financial relationship with consumers.
No imagination required. It is all in the new finance legislation.

Be afraid.

French unions strike over retirement at 62

The French unions are upset that they actually have to work until age 62 before a cushy retirement that the next generation will likely stop paying.
I have a great idea!
For every day a union strikes, add two more days until retirement.