Posted on 02/12/2010 8:52:39 PM PST by ciceroqpublic
So Toyota is in trouble, big, big trouble. They made some shoddy parts, or more truthfully, allowed their suppliers to make some shoddy parts and as a result some people died. This is not why they are in trouble. The reason that a cold chill is running down the collective spine of Toyota's employee base is that their old arch rival GM is on the ropes and the new GM CEO Barack Obama and corporate board, the House and Senate, have decided to destroy their sales base in the USA. Looking for proof ? The Secretary of Transportation actually went on TV and told people to stop driving their Toyotas because the were unsafe and they might kill people. This was a signal that the new political establishment was beginning the cycle of payback for support and contributions.
Barack and Friends, the new megaplex coffee table, talk show powerhouse political vaudeville show rose to power on the funds of the big unions. This, of course, included the unions entrenched inside American Car companies. The buyout of GM and the attacks against Toyota are payback pure and simple. I'm certain that the administration is relieved to be able to pull it off with the clean one, two, right cross, rabbit punch combo. No more worries about the unions in this political cycle. But wait, aren't I forgetting something?
Ah yes, one half of the Democrat war chest in the last election came from Teachers and Government employees unions. So far they have been out in the cold. Worse yet the recent shock and awe campaign against Toyota even caused collateral damage to the self esteem of the rank and file of the Teachers Unions. The Prius brake recall has shattered the one liberal teacher car buying option that runs on clean, non polluting smug. I can hear the whining and grumbling in the distance already. The administration better move fast and pay off the Teacher's Union in a spectacular and creative manner. Fortunately for all of us I can see their next move and issue the warning call so we can all circle the wagons.
A good friend of mine is a Prius driving, inner city Teacher. If you have the misfortune to spend an evening with her - after she has finished justifying her decision to divorce her long suffering husband in an attempt to cure her native ennui, then listed at length her various heroic actions to single handedly conquer global warming she will unerringly turn to her pet peeve,the brutal economic mistreatment of teachers. This is a bottomless topic for her. In fact, since I have a number of public school teachers in my greater social circle I can say with no reservation it is the only topic that fires them into soul deadening rants that are unavoidable and unceasing.
Here's a summary. They work too many hours. The work is brutally hard. They are the most important people in society. They are grossly underpaid. All of the problems with academic performance are the fault of the parents and, in their most offensive diatribe, they don't have enough time off.
My friend for example has been teaching for twelve years. She is tenured so is impossible to fire. She is paid $86,000 per year. (the average American makes $44,000) She has a summer vacation from June 20th til September 5th each year. In addition to this she gets a three day weekend for Columbus Day, then a week off for Thanksgiving, then a week off between Christmas and New Years, then a three day weekend for Martin Luther King Day, then a four day weekend for President's Day, then a week off for Easter and finally a three day weekend for Memorial Day. In addition to this she gets 5 personal days and 7 sick days and TWO WEEKS PAID VACATION. She receives full health care insurance and life insurance. Her loans are subsidized and guaranteed through the union. All tuitions of almost any conceivable kind are paid in full. ( she complains bitterly that she must pay the bill in full and wait three full weeks for reimbursement!) This career is the result of a four year college education majoring in mildly demanding topic of education.
Dangerously this worldview, shared throughout the ranks of the Teacher's Unions, is an opportunity that the Obama administration is about to exploit in an effort to fix the next election in their favor. They will do it by offering a two pronged pay off. First they will launch an initiative to make inroads with Catholic Voters. This is a weak demographic for the President. This will provide political cover for the administration to pass a bill making St Patrick's Day a national holiday. It's a win/win for Obama. He solidifies support of American Irish Catholics, a large segment of the pie and more importantly he gives teachers a FOUR DAY WEEKEND in March. As any parent of school age children knows March is the ONLY month where teachers work for the whole month. The government worker's unions and the teacher's unions will faint in gruesome bliss. ( I must tip my hat to history here. The roman emperors had a tradition of adding holidays to the calendar to celebrate their accension to power. By the end of the empire there were almost no days left to conduct business on since a holiday precluded all official business)
The administration won't be satisfied with this very visible, idiotic and counter productive change in the American work schedule. They, after all, have control of the House and Senate. The payoff to the AFLCIO involved legislation didn't it? Well the payoff to the teachers will use all the power and organization of the legislative branch as well.
It's a little reported fact that Toyota has recently stood up to the Unions and refused to allow the unionization of their new US car plants. A week before the government's declaration of open war against Toyota the unions began picketing the car company. It is a time honored tradition in political corruption that the powerful use the government to destroy their enemies. For the Car Unions Toyota is THE Enemy. For the Teacher's Unions Home schoolers are THE Enemy. This will be the administration next campaign move. Heed my warning friends, control of our children's education is about to come under withering fire. This administration and congress will be moving this year to outlaw home schooling.
Recently home schooling has boomed. In many parts of the country flat enrollment numbers in public schools is directly attributable to home schooling. I won't discuss the ironclad logic why this reaction on the part of parents is a good, laudable and positive trend to end the tyranny and political myopia of the public school system. It is just necessary to recognize that to the Teacher's Unions home schooling is public Enemy #1. The coming attempt to reelect Barack Obama shows that the war is on. They haven't gone public as of yet but this year is the beginning of the full-blown campaign.
Look for the first few leaks of damning stories about home schooling. They will start by demonizing the movement. Then they will move rapidly to tax it, and outlaw it in practice if not in law. Before the next election home schoolers will see a world on the horizon where school boards and local school administration have to certify their credentials. Homes will be subject to inspection and regulation by OSHA and the EPA. The list of obvious and viscous options are too depressing to outline. All I can say is we must spread the word and fight.............
Copyright Brad Morrison/Billiken Media 2010
well said. I am a member of HSLDA and have been for 21 years. There is an army of homeschoolers in the nation that have resolve. That is the nature of the people that homeschool. They fight back when messed with. :)
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I will be in jail before my kids spend a second in a government run school house.
ping
Here in Michigan, the state legislature people have commented that when the home schoolers take action, everyone in Lansing notices.
Obama would be a fool to mess with us.
Not going to happen. Too many court cases in favor of homeschooling. Too many victories, such as in CA and recently in NH where a legislator admitted that homeschoolers do better than their public school counterparts so why bother to regulate them? When a bill for more regulation was voted on in the legislature, the sponsors of the bill got creamed big time.
Dems are skating on thin ice as it already is. They would be crazy to try it.
Not going to happen. Too many court cases in favor of homeschooling. Too many victories, such as in CA and recently in NH where a legislator admitted that homeschoolers do better than their public school counterparts so why bother to regulate them? When a bill for more regulation was voted on in the legislature, the sponsors of the bill got creamed big time.
Dems are skating on thin ice as it already is. They would be crazy to try it.
Sorry for the double post. Don’t know what happened, didn’t get “Auto-preview in effect. Click Post again to submit your comment” the first time.
I have no doubt they will make the effort, but success will be out of reach. Obama won’t be re-elected for many reasons, and an attack on homeschooling would give us yet another.
He's a fool.
He and the rest of the RATS will mess with homeschooling. Yes, they are THAT stupid.
They will pay with a resounding slaughter in the following election.
“My friend for example has been teaching for twelve years. She is tenured so is impossible to fire. She is paid $86,000 per year. (the average American makes $44,000) She has a summer vacation from June 20th til September 5th each year. In addition to this she gets a three day weekend for Columbus Day, then a week off for Thanksgiving, then a week off between Christmas and New Years, then a three day weekend for Martin Luther King Day, then a four day weekend for President’s Day, then a week off for Easter and finally a three day weekend for Memorial Day. In addition to this she gets 5 personal days and 7 sick days and TWO WEEKS PAID VACATION. She receives full health care insurance and life insurance. Her loans are subsidized and guaranteed through the union. All tuitions of almost any conceivable kind are paid in full. ( she complains bitterly that she must pay the bill in full and wait three full weeks for reimbursement!) This career is the result of a four year college education majoring in mildly demanding topic of education.”
I know a lot of teachers in a lot of districts and none of them have cut a deal like this.
I am not going to call the author a liar, but I sure suspect that he might mistaken about this compensation package. My BS meter is pegged on “Very Deep”.
I would like to know what school district he is talking about.
I share your optimism and faith in the tenacity of homeschoolers. They are millions strong and would never allow it and they’ve made huge strides no matter how liberal the state - even CA - remember a few years ago when they tried to require teacher accreditation for all homeschooling parents? Come to think of it, and I may be wrong, but I haven’t heard of any legislative setback in recent years in any state. Just progress.
Good example - when I first started homeschooling we lived in NJ and the state surprisingly had zero control over homeschoolers. One state Dem decided to change that and insisted that because of a couple lax cases where CPS let kids fall through the cracks, all kids needed physicals mandated by the state and reported by their doctors so as to monitor the health and well-being of all NJ kids. She attempted to introduce legislation to that effect and thousands of homeschoolers from liberal NJ marched on Trenton; thousands more flooded their reps with calls. The legislation quickly died in committee.
If that can happen in New Jersey of all places, it will happen everywhere else. Besides that, each individual state would have to come on board and I can’t imagine how that would happen. Seems to me there are too many congressmen who support homeschoolers in their states.
The homeschooling voice is so strong on so many levels and it’s amazing how it’s grown in just a couple generations. I’m eternally thankful for those who went before us, so to speak. It’s even grown by leaps and bounds since I started 8 years ago. I think it would take sudden martial law where the catastrophe shadowed all else, or several more generations where change creeps very slowly in, before homeschooling is outlawed in the US. Even then it would be pretty ugly.
LOL, you are absolutely right. That paragraph is so fantastic that it is well worth repeating. Thanks for the huge grin this morning.
While I agree that the home school community is a formidable opponent, I suggest that we not get complacent. It took a long time to get where we are and to have the rights we have now as home schoolers. I don’t think any of us thought that we would see the government taking over banks and major corporations like we have seen over the last year or so. The NEA is powerful entity and is committed to ending home schooling. We need to stay alert, be politically involved and keep speaking out! (And keep raising great kids!)
Doesn’t anyone think that it is preposterous to think that Obama can “buy off” the Catholics by making St. Patrick’s Day a National holiday?
Good grief, there are already so many celebrations, both before and after St. Paddy’s Day, that we don’t need a special day off!
“They will pay with a resounding slaughter in the following election. “
From your lips to God’s ears.
It may well be preposterous that Obama can buy off Catholics with a holiday but history shows that this kind of political largesse works. Also look at how the democrats have bought off civil rights groups with the Martin Luther King Holiday even though the democrat party opposed civil rights.....................
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