CTA Sponsored Legislation Could Cripple Charter School Growth

February 8, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

The California Teachers Association can’t realistically unionize all charter schools, so it promotes laws that limit their numbers.

In Golden Missed Opportunity, recently published in City Journal, I examined the options that families in California have if they want to remove their children from failing public schools. The pickings in the Golden State are rather slim, and those options we do have — charter schools, homeschooling and the Parent Trigger — are constantly imperiled by a governor and state legislators who typically do the bidding of the California Teachers Association, the largest state affiliate of the National Education Association.

Charter schools are public schools which aren’t bound by the bloated union contracts that stifle so many traditional public schools. California has over 900 charter schools that currently educate about 400,000 students. To the union’s consternation, only about 15 percent of these schools are unionized. Of course, the union would like to see a 100 percent rate, but accomplishing that would take too much effort and money. Additionally, the flexibility that non-unionization offers is one of the attractions of charter schools for many teachers.

So instead of unionizing, CTA tries to eviscerate current charter laws or get caps on the allowable number of charters. At this time, there are three pieces of CTA sponsored legislation working their way around Sacramento. In fact, just last week the state assembly voted 45-28 to approve one of them, AB 1172. The bill, now in the Senate Rules Committee, was authored by State Assemblyman and former teacher and union activist Tony Mendoza. If AB 1172 becomes law, it would allow a school board to block the creation of a new charter school if it would have a “negative fiscal impact” on the school district. However, “negative fiscal impact” is never really defined, and California charter law already has clearly defined reasons why new petitions can be denied.
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Jerry Brown and CTA: Testphobic Twins

February 1, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Taxes, Teachers Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

Children in the Golden State will get a better education when teacher quality becomes a priority

In perhaps the most in-depth study on the subject to date, three Ivy League economists studied how much the quality of individual teachers matters to their students over the long term. The paper, by Raj Chetty and John N. Friedman of Harvard and Jonah E. Rockoff of Columbia, tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years, and using a value added approach, found that teachers who help students raise their standardized test scores have a lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates, greater college matriculation and higher adult earnings. (The authors of the study define “value added” as the average test-score gain for a teacher’s students “…adjusted for differences across classrooms in student characteristics such as prior scores.”)

The only caveat from the authors is that using test scores in teachers’ evaluations could lead to “teaching to the test or cheating.” Nothing new here. Some people, when involved in any kind of competition, will try to gain unfair advantage or cheat outright. Typically, it’s a small part of the population and those who do should lose their jobs and face criminal charges.

The lesson is clear: test scores can give us a great deal of information about who the really good teachers are. But California Governor Jerry Brown, unfazed by the blockbuster study, actually called for less testing in his recent State of the State address.
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Exposing a 40-Year Education Crime: Why California Needs School Choice

January 28, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, School Choice, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

Busting LAUSD and every other school district in the state for negligence should help kids, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when. In the meantime, giving families more educational options would be a great help, but don’t hold your breath, California.

With National School Choice Week underway, we see many positive things happening across the country. In states like New Jersey and Louisiana, governors are taking the lead in proposing ways to break the devastating monopoly that government run schools – their educrat leaders, corrupt and/or inept school boards and the powerful teachers unions — have held for far too long.

As an example of Big Education gone bad, I write in City Journal about a crime that has been perpetrated on the children of California for 40 years and the lawsuit that addresses it:
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Restoring American Exceptionalism – Chicago Townhall

January 24, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Chicago, Children, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, President, Public Employees Unions, Radio, Republicans, Rights, School Choice, Senate, Talk Radio, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Vouchers, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

I just got back from a wonderful evening taking school choice at the Restoring American Exceptionalism, Chicago Townhall. In attendance were radio talk show host Michael Medved, Fox News contributor Juan Williams, and Dr. Paul Worfel, Director of Education of Trinity International University. The discussion was moderated by John Tillman of the Illinois Policy Institute.

The event was sponsored by National School Choice Week, an effort by Americans for Prosperity, and is one of many events being held across the country to encourage parents, legislators, and activists to work toward allowing parents a choice in their children’s education. Co-sponsors were Townhall.com, Salem Radio Networks, and Chicago’s WIND Radio, AM 560

Arriving at the sprawling campus of Trinity International University of Deerfield, Illinois, the biting cold outside was quickly forgotten by the warm reception all received by the event staff. The program started promptly with an introduction by local radio host Big John Howell of AM 560, WIND radio who turned the program over to John Tillman of the Illinois Policy Institute.

The night’s debate was nicely balanced from right, center and left with a panel featuring the conservative side of the debate on education represented by talk show host Michael Medved, the center represented by Fox News contributor Juan Williams, and the more traditional educrat’s position taken by Dr. Worfel.

I won’t repeat the whole discussion, but here are some of the more interesting (and some might say provocative) highlights.
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Indiana Democrats Fleebagging Again, Abandoning Their Jobs

January 19, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Indiana, Jobs, Liberals, Mitch Daniels, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, Right To Work, Senate, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again Indiana Democrats are playing the fleebagger game. Because they don’t have enough votes in the Indiana Statehouse, Hoosier Democrats are abandoning their rightful duties and fleeing the Capitol over Indiana’s right-to-work bill currently under consideration in Indianapolis.

Indiana Senate Bill 269 and House Bill 1001 would make it illegal to require workers in Indiana to join a union as a condition of being allowed to have a job. Allowing workers a choice seems like an inherently American idea, doesn’t it?

After all, how could anyone tell you that you must belong to a union or you’re not allowed to have your job? That sort of forced association seems so contrary to the American character. But forcing people to join unions just so that they can have a job is precisely what Indiana Democrats are fighting to protect.
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NEW SONG: I Stand With Walker

January 19, 2012 | Filed Under Music, Public Employees Unions, Scott Walker, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | No Comments

Glen Shulfer has a new song in support of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

You might remember Glen’s earlier song Union Man.

More Pension Truths and Why You Should be Very Angry

January 16, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

How much is that sweet retired teacher who lives down the street draining from your bank account? As the public employee pension mess worsens in California, little Rhode Island shows a way out.

In last week’s post, I focused on “air time,” a little known scheme in California and 20 other states that allows teachers and other public employees to pad their pensions at taxpayers’ expense. Also, not very well known is just how many of Joe and Jill Taxpayer’s tax dollars are going into the pockets of retired teachers.

In California, teachers contribute 8 percent of their pay to their retirement system. Where do the rest of the contributions come from? The current rates include 8.25 percent from the teacher’s employer and 2 percent from the state. But wait a minute. Who is the teacher’s employer? It’s the school district. In Los Angeles, for example, most school district money comes from the state, some from the federal government and the rest is local revenue. Hence, the employer’s contribution is all really the taxpayer’s burden, as the state, city and feds generate no money on their own. So it would be much more honest to say that 10.25 percent comes from the taxpayer.

Let’s look at the taxpayer’s responsibility another way. Sandy, a teacher I know, worked for 24 years in CA and retired at age 61. The amount of money she contributed into the system at retirement (including interest accrued along the way) was about $150,000. Sandy started collecting a pension of about $40,000 year (plus a yearly 2 percent COLA increase) for life. Whatever interest this money accrues over the next few years, Sandy’s contribution will have evaporated in about four years. So, at age 65 she will start living off other people’s money – whatever the “employer” (i.e. taxpayers) kicked in, whatever the “government” (i.e. taxpayers) kicked in and whatever is left, the taxpayers will have to fork over.
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Obama Excuses Over 500,000 Union Members From Obamacare

January 12, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, Obamacare, President, Public Employees Unions, Senate, Socialism, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember back in the days of the debate over Obamacare when unions were the biggest voices screaming in support of the legislation? Many labor union bosses said that nationalized healthcare was exactly what they wanted. Further they said it was what was good for the country. Yet now we learn that Obama has given waivers to some 550,000 union members so that they don;t have to suffer under Obamacare.

Paul Connor reports that a classic Friday evening document dump from the White House shows that unions employing up to 543,812 members have received waivers fro the Obama administration.

Fridays are often the one day of the week when government agencies satisfy transparency rules and release documents that show what they’ve been up to. They release them on Friday in the early evening because they understand that reporters are already headed home for the weekend and TV news departments have already programed their evening newscasts. These agencies also understand that news agencies don’t often cover heavy news on weekends. Further, by the time Monday rolls around the document will be “old news” and many of them will simply escape attention.
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State Sponsored Thievery Continues in Plain Sight

January 7, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

Teachers and other public employees use “air time” to pick your pocket. The California State Teachers Retirement System tries calming words. David Crane tells the truth and loses yet another job.

Saying that the state teachers’ retirement system is underfunded is the understatement of this or any year and now, CalSTRS is giving us specifics. On December 27th, it said,

“Recent media reports have suggested that to solve the unfunded liability the state will have to increase CalSTRS funding by $3.8 billion a year for 30 years for a total of more than $114 billion. Although this is an accurate statement based on current projections, achieving adequate funding can occur several ways that would be phased in over time. The CalSTRS $56 billion funding shortfall can be managed, but it will require gradual and predictable increases in contributions.”

In fact, saying that the shortfall has to be “managed” is like saying that World War II had to be managed. No, the reality is that there has to be major destruction and rebuilding, no matter how unpopular this will be with the beneficiaries of the theft, their unions and their kick-the-can-down-the-road buddies in Sacramento who are occasionally known as legislators. Tinkering around the edges and “managing” the problem will do little.
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Visitors from Outer Space and Their Strange Ideas About Education Reform

December 30, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

There are those among us who think that teachers unions, collective bargaining and peer assistance review are the way to a better education for kids. They look like earthlings, but in fact are extraterrestrials.

As the year draws to a close, newspapers, magazines and blogs are filled with best of and worst of lists that deal with everything imaginable. The Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force got on the bandwagon early and posted Best and Worst in American Education, 2011 in November. All solid stuff. Can a reformer not be happy about the Parent Trigger being raked over the coals, yet surviving, or that many of Michelle Rhee’s reforms are still in place despite leaving her post as D.C. Schools Chancellor after a major push from the American Federation of Teachers? On the worst list, the Task Force includes the Atlanta teacher cheating scandal and the union-orchestrated overturn of Ohio’s recent anti-collective bargaining law.

Then lo and behold, we received a dispatch from Planet Ravitch on December 23rd. (Most people are not aware that shortly after astronomers ruled that Pluto was not a planet in 2006, a new planet would be identified. And it is inhabited!) The people who live on this celestial body (named after Diane Ravitch, a former reformer who turned into a champion of the failing status quo) are afflicted with a dyslexic-like condition: they have the entire education reform picture exactly backwards. The way to true reform is to hold their ideas up to a mirror with the resulting image revealing the best way to proceed.
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The ‘Let’s Brainwash American Children Club’ Has a New Member

December 26, 2011 | Filed Under Larry Sand, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

Venerable Scholastic has joined progressive educators and teachers unions in an effort to indoctrinate and radicalize American school children.

Scholastic, a student magazine that has been in business for over 90 years, has caught the progressive fever. (H/T Mary Grabar.) This malady affects common sense and good judgment and leads the afflicted to report news from a biased, progressive viewpoint.

In its December issue, Scholastic, which purports to “believe that all sides of the issues of our times should be fairly discussed — with deep respect for facts and logical thinking,” gets all gooey-eyed about the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon, mentioning that OWS concerns itself with “protesters,” “voicing concerns,” “Americans wanting more opportunity to share in company’s prosperity,” and “workers that they feel that they can never get ahead.” To be sure, some of these types are present at OWS events.

But, Scholastic omits a few inconvenient details, like the fact that the OWS camps have been a magnet for Communists, anarchists, street hustlers, and common criminals and have been breeding grounds for murder, rape, vandalism, robbery and anti-Jewish sentiment. The filth left by many of these criminals — I mean protesters — has taxed municipal sanitation systems at great cost to taxpayers. As of December 9th, there were 417 incidents in all. You would think that Scholastic could have managed to mention that all is not sweetness and light in OWSland.
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Tenure for Teachers: Enough is Enough

December 18, 2011 | Filed Under California, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Every year untold thousands of school kids are harmed by teachers who shouldn’t be allowed in a classroom. Parents must be given an opportunity to send their children elsewhere.

A teacher arrives at work high on drugs…daily.

A teacher regularly flies into rages, terrifying kids and coworkers.

A teacher talks in explicit terms about sex to the students.

A teacher makes constant sexual advances to other teachers.

A teacher doesn’t teach her students anything.

These are a few of the teachers that new Perth Amboy schools superintendent Janine Caffrey has to deal with on a daily basis. She is quick to point out that most teachers are committed and talented, but there are a few….

The evil here is tenure or permanence, which in New Jersey bestows a position for life on teachers after just three years on the job. (It’s even worse in other states – in California, for example, a teacher can get into the untouchables club after only two years.) Tenure for teachers would be nothing more than a bad joke if it didn’t destroy the education experience for tens of thousands of children who are subjected to incompetent/cruel/perverted people on a daily basis.
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Unions Acting Like Unions Harassing Teacher Supporting Gov. Walker

December 15, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Liberals, Nanny State, Public Employees Unions, RightPundits.com, Scott Walker, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Kristi Lacroix, a Wisconsin teacher, appeared in a political ad produced by education reform supporters of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Now, her union is retaliating against her so harshly that she is considering quitting her job in public education because of the harassment.

As Kyle Walker says in the video, this is typical Alinsky tactics with a “fire Kristi” movement drummed up by union thugs to force the poor woman to quit her job. People that used to be her friends, used to be her coworkers are attempting to destroy her life just because of her political position….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Racist Union Hypocrites

December 13, 2011 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Labor Law, Unions, Vote Fraud, Voter ID, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unions are at the head of the critics on the left that claim that voter ID laws are raaaacist and suppress the minority vote. Yet, as Christian Adams’ Election Law Center blog notes even unions require their voters to show their ID before voting.

A picture is worth a thousand words. According to OpenSecrets.org unions belonging to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) have donated over $26 million to Democratic candidates and causes since 1990. During that same period, the union gave a paltry $272,311 to the Republican Party.

As you’ll note in the photo below the union requires its own members to produce a photo ID in order to vote. The photo shows a union worker voting earlier today on whether to sanction a new four-year contract with Boeing, clearly the union understands the need for a picture ID in order to help guarantee a clean election:

In America, one needs an ID to vote in a union election, buy liquor, drive a car, board an airplane, use a credit card and a slew of other things in our society. Yet, the Democratic party refuses to back the idea of requiring an ID to vote in state and federal elections under any circumstances. A sensible voter ID law that respects the rights of the poor, elderly, and minorities is a great idea. What are Democrats afraid of? You connect the dots.

Yet another example of how leftist and Democrats want to make rules for us to follow… but they don’t feel they need to obey them themselves.
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The Route to Teacher Union Extinction: Is the Other Shoe Dropping?

December 13, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

In addition to online learning, Democrat’s abandonment of their traditional union allies could put an end to the educational status quo and decimate the teachers unions

In my October 18th post, I wrote about Terry Moe’s book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools. I specifically addressed that part of the book in which he builds a scenario for the eventual undoing of the teachers unions. One of the two ways he claims this will happen is via technology, in the form of online learning. The other route to marginalization is the realization by Democrats that education is really a civil rights issue and that they are morally bound to get on board with reform and choice. By adopting this position, they will be abandoning their longtime political allies – the teachers unions.

As with the rapid ascent of online learning, Moe’s second nail in the unions’ coffin is picking up speed. In a recent Huffington Post entry, Joy Resmovits addresses the “new education lobby.”
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ISU Lecturer: Patriotism Excludes People At Bottom, Troops Don’t Need Care Packages

December 9, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-War, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Iowa, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Society/Culture, Teachers Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Thomas Walker, lecturer in the intensive English and orientation program at Iowa State University, is disgusted over all this fawning over “the troops.” And so, to vent his disgust, he took to the letters to the editor pages of The Iowa State Daily. What Walker gave us is yet another screed from an extremist, left-winger being paid our tax dollars to “teach” our children his brand of hate for America.

What stirred Walker to spit his venom was a generally benign little program to assemble care packages for our soldiers overseas put on by ISU’s college Republicans. For five years the college Republicans have raised funds to buy socks, wet wipes, shampoo and other sundries for the troops. This year they raised the second highest amount of all the chapters.

But this feels-good story didn’t warm Thomas Walker’s heart, nosiree. University lecturer Walker was filled with disgust at the display of concern for our soldiers. So, Walker took to his pen — and his Thesaurus — to lambast this horrid display of patriotism perpetrated by these nasty college Republicans.

To get the full flavor of his bile, one must see the whole letter.
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Indoctrination: A Must Read For Parents, Taxpayers and Everyone Else

December 6, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

To a large extent, the progressives have taken over American education, are transforming it and are doing it in plain sight

Indoctrination: How ‘Useful Idiots’ Are Using Our Schools to Subvert American Exceptionalism is an invaluable book written by Kyle Olson, founder and CEO of the Education Action Group, an organization that is on the frontline of education reform and a champion of school choice.

In this brief and very readable book, Olson describes the ways that the progressives in our society have taken over K-12 education. They have been running most of our elite colleges and schools of education for years now and this step is in keeping with their plan to transform America.

As a public school teacher whose career spanned four decades, I have seen the long march first hand. Perverting the traditional purpose of American education (which has been to make better and more educated citizens), progressives have been inspired by the theories of Paolo Freire, a Brazilian socialist who saw everything through a Marxist class warfare lens.
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Help Halt the NLRB’s Assault On America’s Union-Free Workplace

December 5, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, NLRB, Regulation, Republicans, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Originally posted at Labor Union Report…

Last week’s NLRB vote to give unions the ability to ambush union-free workers and the companies that employ them, as well as to deny due process on bargaining unit issues, is only the latest in a long line of attacks on America’s union-free workforce by the union extremists controlling Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board.

Notwithstanding the recent agreement between Boeing and the Machinists’ union to end the prosecution* of Boeing opening its second 787 in South Carolina, listing out of all of the attacks on job creators and America’s union-free workforce would necessitate more than an entire post. However, here are just a few:

Micro-unions: In a recent ruling, the NLRB has given unions the green light to begin unionizing portions companies by what are called “micro-unions.” Now, union can unionize small segments of a company by classification (or department).
Reducing employees’ rights to rid themselves of unwanted unions: In a reversal of a previous NLRB decision, the Obama-NLRB has made it much more difficult for employees to decertify unions where highly flawed card-check method of unionization had been utilized. The NLRB’s reversal was only outdone by the NLRB’s destroying of ballots from elections that were already held, but were awaiting the outcome of the NRLB’s decision.
Requiring union-free employees to post union posters. Though delayed, the NLRB is requiring all union-free, private-sector employers to post NLRB posters explaining workers’ rights to unionize.
Legitimizing union ‘sweetheart deals.’ Last year, the NLRB approved unions’ ability to negotiation pre-recognition agreements in exchange for ‘card check,’ thus undermining employees’ rights through “sweetheart deals.”

It’s time to put pressure on Washington to halt the NLRB’s assault and here’s how you can help.

Our friends at the Free Enterprise Alliance‘s Halt the Assault campaign have put together an online petition to send a message to Washington to Rein in the Rogue NLRB.

You can even embed a Rein in the Rogue NLRB widget on your blog or website.

Greedy Union to Destroy Black Restaurant Owner’s Business

December 1, 2011 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Free Trade, Jobs, New York City, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

An actress, model, and African American business entrepreneur credited with reviving a once-blighted neighborhood and bringing back theater goers to the New York Theater District is about to lose her business to a greedy union that wants to hike the rent for her famous restaurant 350 percent.

Back in 1986, Barbara Smith, sometimes called “the black Martha Stewart,” opened a restaurant in the Theater District called B. Smith’s. Her eatery soon became the toast of theater goers and stars alike. It also became a favorite in the African American community.

B. Smith’s was visited by such famous people as Denzel Washington, August Wilson, Danny Glover, Sidney Poitier, Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Angela Bassett Liza Minnelli and more.

Unfortunately, the building in which Smith opened her famous restaurant is run by the Local One of the stagehands union and quite despite what she has done for New York Theater the union has decided to raise the rent so high on Smith that she will be priced out of her long-time business.
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With the Economy Down, Obama Looks to Help Big Labor Make it Worse

November 30, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, NLRB, President, Stimulus, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

With this week’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of American Airlines, we again see the results of unions having a hand in destroying American businesses. We also saw GM laid low by union demands costing Americans billions in bailouts. But despite these lessons of the recalcitrance of Big Labor forcing even worse calamities on our jobs climate in this dismal economy, Obama is about to make matters worse by using his powers to regulate to further harm both our business sector and our economy.

Obama likes to stand before the American people and claim that he wants to “help” the business sector. He claims that his crony capitalism is meant to “save” those businesses that are “too big to fail.” But while he stands before the microphones and pretends at being interested in capitalism, he wields his powers to regulate like a club with which to beat down the business sector.

Obama’s latest move — among dozens in the last three years — is to have a regulatory board he controls to issue new rules which would make it harder on business owners to prepare themselves and inform their employees on what it might mean to unionize their workplace.
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NLRB Chairman Releases Election Proposal Ahead Of Wednesday Vote‏

November 29, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Jobs, NLRB, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Board Chairman releases details of election proposal for Wednesday vote

National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce today released details of his proposal to amend certain election procedures in order to reduce unnecessary litigation in disputed cases. The amendments are drawn from a comprehensive overhaul of the election process proposed this summer through the federal rulemaking process.

The Chairman’s resolution will be considered and put to a vote at a public meeting of the Board set for Wednesday afternoon at 2:30. The text of the Chairman’s resolution is here, and an explanation of the amendments can be found here. The meeting will be streamed live from the Board’s website at www.nlrb.gov.

If the resolution is approved by a majority of the Board, a final rule will be drafted and circulated among the members for a subsequent vote. No final rule can issue without such approval.

Chairman Pearce issued the following statement in connection with the resolution:
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More Union Workers Caught Blowing Weed on Break Time

November 29, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Crime, Detroit, Jobs, Michigan, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Not long ago a series of Detroit sting-styled TV News reports found autoworkers getting high and drunk during their lunch breaks. Now WJBK has found the same problem with the union workers at an aerospace factory.

Tower Defense and Aerospace Factory Workers Party at Lunch: MyFoxDETROIT.com

The company claims it has “been investigating” the employees. But the fact is, if these workers were not protected by unions they’d have been properly fired the second management realized that they were doing illegal drugs on company property during their break time.

It shouldn’t take a TV expose for a company to be able to fire criminals! But that’s what happens with unions. They protect criminals.
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California’s Looming Fiscal Disaster: Sunlight and an Informed Public are the Best Disinfectants

November 29, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

With the state and various cities on the brink of insolvency, it’s imperative that the electorate become more informed and demand that school districts and teachers unions do their negotiating in public.

This past Sunday’s Los Angeles Times above-the-fold headline screamed “Voters back tax hikes for schools.” It was déja-vu all over again. As I wrote in September,

“… a poll which is biased and does not take into account the knowledge of the people being polled is misleading and dangerous. The public is led to believe that the responders are perceptive and knowledgeable, when in reality so many are not.”

(And I could have added that a poll that misleads or misinforms its respondents is the most dangerous of all; I’ll address that shortly.)

The Times article reported that a USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times Frequency Questionnaire released last week showed that 61 percent of those surveyed said they would pay higher taxes to boost school funding.

As I read those words, I wondered,
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How Radical is Obama? This Radical…

November 28, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, NLRB, President, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama is very successful at one thing: the bait and switch. He stands before America presenting a picture of a hard-working moderate and claims that he wants to work with the Republicans to get things done. In reality he won’t even meet with them. He talks about compromise, but never offers any. He mouths kind words abut the business sector but uses his powers to make new regulations to destroy its profitability. In short, he’s a radical even though he doesn’t play one on TV. His modus operandi is to assume most voters are too stupid, lazy, or disinterested to compare his hope-n-change rhetoric with his actions.

Obama’s penchant for bypassing Congress and making radical changes to regulations in order to push his far left agenda is a case in point. Obama’s push to radicalize the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and turn it from a non-partisan watchdog agency into a tool for Big Labor is a perfect example of how the President uses regulations to achieve what he and the far left cannot do with legislation. It is also an example of how he is trying to radically change America under the radar of most voter’s notice.
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OWS Misfits, Drug Addicts, Rapists, and Unicorn Riders Go Home for the Holidays

November 28, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Socialism, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The anti-western, anti-capitalist group whose advertisement started the Occupy Wall Street movement has told its adherents to go home. The first phase of Occupy is over they said. Time to regroup, network, and try to finally come up with some sort of message besides an amorphous we-hate-whatever chant. Time to finally figure out an agenda to go on to the next step.

Only there isn’t one. OWS is now SOL.

It isn’t surprising. After all there was really never any there there. Sure there was some legitimate ire at its heart, but, quite unlike the Tea Party movement, there was never a scintilla of coherence to the Occupy… I hesitate to even call it a movement. To be a movement there has to be something moving.

The Occupy-Whatevers had trouble appealing to the average American from its inception. After all, nearly every major group sponsoring it — and those claiming partisanship with it — are the antitheses of Americana.
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Big Labor Pays Big Bucks For Occupy D.C.

November 23, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Nanny State, Public Employees Unions, Socialism, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A nurses union spent big cash to “Occupy Washington DC.”

On November 3rd, 2011, the National Nurses United Union, allied with the AFL-CIO, payed for the expenses of more than 1000+ members to march with Occupy DC and ask the President to raise taxes. Both public and private hospitals must have gone short staffed as the nurses hailed from all over the country and were very clear who brought them there.

My favorite part was the militant, anti-American nurse that said her union refuses to deal fairly with employers and prefers to use their big money to get the federal government to “force” employers to do what unions want them to do.

We don’t believe in trying to work with management in a hospital to make change cuz they won’t do it, they won’t do what’s right. So, we lobby for legislative change to force them to do it.

What could be a more un-American attitude than this? Our founders didn’t intend government to an interventionist force that would lord over the business sector and “force it” to do things that unions what employers to do.

Unions are authoritarian, anti-democratic, big government monsters that really do need to be cut down to size.
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Teachers are Overpaid and Underpaid

November 21, 2011 | Filed Under California, Education, Larry Sand, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

A new study claims that public school teachers are overpaid. Are they? Depends.

An ongoing whine from teachers unions and their fellow travelers is that public school teachers don’t earn enough money. But according to Andrew Biggs, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute scholar and Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, it is just not true. In fact, in a recently released study, they find that teachers are overpaid. Typically teachers have many perks like excellent healthcare and pension packages which aren’t counted as “income.” Armed with facts, charts and a bevy of footnotes, the authors make a very good case for their thesis. For example, they claim,

“Workers who switch from non-teaching jobs to teaching jobs receive a wage increase of roughly 9 percent, while teachers who change to non-teaching jobs see their wages decrease by approximately 3 percent.
“When retiree health coverage for teachers is included, it is worth roughly an additional 10 percent of wages, whereas private sector employees often do not receive this benefit at all.
“Teachers benefit strongly from job security benefits, which are worth about an extra 1 percent of wages, rising to 8.6 percent when considering that extra job security protects a premium paid in terms of salaries and benefits.
“Taking all of this into account, teachers actually receive salary and benefits that are 52 percent greater than fair market levels.”

Needless to say, the usual suspects are none too pleased with the report. A teacher-blogger going by New York City Educator calls his piece, “‘That’s Just Mean’: Bullies at the Heritage Foundation.” Okay, whatever.
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The Triangulation of the ‘Occupy’ Movement

November 17, 2011 | Filed Under Banks, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, New York City, Taxes, Unions | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

Throughout the painful and paradoxical existence of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) we have been told by those in the mainstream media, as well as by sympathetic politicos, that at its root, at its genesis, the OWS Movement was both organic and legitimate. We were told that the movement was exclusively about a rebellion against high unemployment and crony Capitalism, even as those championing the cause disingenuously blurred the line between crony Capitalism and Capitalism. But, an honest examination of the underlying goal(s) of this movement – and who is serving to advance its agenda – exposes a nefarious, deceitful and dangerous reality.

The notion of “triangulation” is not new to American politics. Savvy politicians have triangulated messages and circumstances to their benefit ever since the creation of our country. One needs look no further than the debates that took place over the creation of the US Constitution to understand that even though our Framers and Founders were dedicated to their principles and positions, they were willing to employ rhetorical leverage to achieve their goals. Alexander Hamilton was a master at message triangulation.

Perhaps the most contemporary politician to masterfully employ the art of message triangulation was former Pres. Bill Clinton. In pursuit of re-election in 1996, Clinton senior advisor Dick Morris advocated for a set of statements, a set of policies, that differed from those of his fellow elected Democrats. These policies, which pandered to the ideological Middle and Right, included deregulation and balanced budgets, culminating in the false declaration, included in Mr. Clinton’s 1996 State of the Union Address, that the “era of big government is over.”

Fake Teacher Evaluation Racket is Busted in Los Angeles

November 14, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Los Angeles, Public Employees Unions, Teachers Unions, Unions | Comments Off

-By Larry Sand

Parents sue the LA school board and teachers union, forcing them to obey a law that they have ignored for 40 years.

There is nothing new about unions bullying weak-kneed school districts, but this may be the mother of all abuses– for forty years, school districts and unions have collaborated to break the law in California. According to the Stull Act (Section 44660 of the state’s education code), part of a teacher’s evaluation is required to include a student achievement component, but this has not happened anywhere in the state. Last week, after consulting with EdVoice, a reform advocacy group in Sacramento, parents of some students in Los Angeles Unified School District sued the school district and teachers union for what amounts to a dereliction of duty. While the lawsuit is aimed at LA, it will have state-wide ramifications.

Originally enacted in 1971, the Stull Act, named after State Senator John Stull, was amended in 1999 to include,

“The governing board of each school district shall evaluate and assess certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates to:

The progress of pupils toward the standards established pursuant to subdivision (a) and, if applicable, the state adopted academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion referenced assessments….”

In other words, a part of a teacher’s evaluation is supposed to be contingent on how well his students do on state mandated tests. This is hardly a radical notion, as half the states in the rest of the country now evaluate teachers in part by student performance on these tests.
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Coke Heads Protest Koch Heads at Blogcon 2011

November 11, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Denver, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Republicans, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, here we are we conservative bloggers gathered together at Blogcon 2011 (sponsored by Freedom Works) in downtown Denver, Colorado and what do we find? You guessed it, the Occupy-Whatevers, ever present Guy Fawkes masks in hand, came to disrupt our little conference.

Just after 3PM the Occupiers tried to Occupy Blogcon yelling out epithets at their favorite boogiemen, the Koch Brothers (pronounced coke, like the famous American soft drink). Of course no one at this conference is funded by the Koch Brothers, but, hey, let’s not ruin a good chant.

Small handful of Occupy protesters disrupt conservative conference

The Occupiers infested the lobby here at the Crowne Plaza and immediately raised a ruckus. It seemed that the protesters numbered somewhere about 30 or so and were heavily outnumbered by the conservative bloggers huddling around them with cameras and microphones to record their theatrics for prosperity.

Some of these young people were brought by a Denver school teacher who was ashamed to tell us her name.
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