Thank You Governor Walker of Wisconson

For uniting the Democratic party in a way that hasn't been seen since 2008!

The Few States With No Collective Bargaining Rights For Teachers

This really needs no explanation as these folks do just fine on their own. And with that....

"Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:

South Carolina – 50th
North Carolina – 49th
Georgia – 48th
Texas – 47th
Virginia – 44th

If you are wondering, Wisconsin, with its collective bargaining for teachers, is ranked 2nd in the country. Let’s keep it that way.

This isn’t to say that the lack of collective bargaining explains these poor outcomes, of course, but it is true that the evidence that breaking teacher’s unions improves educational outcomes is somewhere between “exceptionally weak” and “non-existent.”

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2011/02/but-i-thought-union-busting-solved-all-educational-problems

Why Does the Right Have Such a Disdain for Teachers?

In light of how Gov. Walker of WI kissed up to who he thought was Koch, one of his largest financiers in the election, made me think a bit. Teachers across this country should be aware of how corporate interests can influence Governors to cut their benefits in order to allow business to game the system.

In other words, at the cost of those that educate our children, will come the payoff to campaign contributors.

It's a downward spiral in our education system. The constant attack from the right on our public teaching system is slowly eroding away what was once a noble occupation. Many highly skilled people stay away because they know, the second there is a downturn, they look to teachers to take the lopsided brunt of the load on their backs. Teachers are demonized as leeches on society from the right.

Driving home last month I remember reading a bumper sticker that encapsulated this disdain for public teachers that read; paraphrased 'I Can't Wait to Defund All Public Schools so We Can Build More Stealth Bombers.'

Who on earth could be that ignorant?

The video footage of Sarah Palin and her daughter rolling their eyes when a protester in Alaska mentioned she was a public school teacher is just one more example of the growing disdain the right has for public education.

I know the right likes to say the left thinks Republicans are all dumb rednecks (at least they joke that way to fire up the partisans) but when the apparent attack on our educators is so apparent in every day politics, it's not some far fetched conclusion that the right just doesn't like teachers.

Just Imagine...

Imagine if Obama had joked to a fake Trumka about his baseball bat he had in his oval office when speaking about the Tea Partiers what the uproar would be.

Just for a sec, stop and imagine what would be going on in right wing circles, just imagine.

If Obama joked about a bat in his Oval Office to Trumka, Fox would have guest after guest on to ask them what they thought about the President joking about bashing Tea Partiers heads in and if they think the President should apologize. Asking them if he crossed the line.

It would be on Fox 24/7. Every hourly show would ask the same question over and over. Every right wing blog would have blaring headlines of Obama with a bat drawn in his hand cartoons. Every right wing radio station would be hammering away at it, hour after hour.

At no point is the Governor of a state joking to who he thinks was a major contributor to his campaign about beating protesters with bats funny.

Right wing partisans would be insisting to be invited onto every other cable news station and they would push how the President joked about bashing in the heads of Tea Party protesters.

The conversation would focus on that to the point of a frenzy. Opinions would be heavily shaped. The public would overwhelmingly turn against the President. It would be shameful to throw your support behind someone who joked about bashing in the heads of the people he is supposed to represent.

Just stop for a second, and imagine.

Gov. Walker of Wisoncon Punked by Buffalo Beast

For whatever reason, the buffalo beast blog is down. Most likely because of the flood of people heading there.

The interview is a prank call of Gov. Walker who thinks he's talking to David Koch, the financiers of his Governorship and who also helped logistically getting out the vote and all. Walker basically wrote in his budget a section to hand over WI utilities with no contracts over to Koch for a payback.

Here is the audio for anyone interested.





Here is the original Beast's blog entry, Buffalo Beast

Democrats Lead in One Congressional Generic Ballot

I know its early but there appears to be some momentum behind Dems tightening up the ballot. Maybe Republican overreach at every level of Govn't is wearing thin on the voters and some who considered themselves tea party grassroots folks are fuming Tea Party Patriots and other "grassroots" organizations run by GOP operatives took their money and ran.

According to TPM here PPP is showing Dems edging ahead 45%(D) to 41%(R), Democracy Corps is showing a tightening at 46%(D) to 48%(R) and even Rasmussen, whom Nate Silver from NYT's Fivethirtyeight blog showed had a bad Republican bias in their polling, is showing 39%(D) to 45%(R).

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Goes After Peoples Family's

I thought I had seen it all but when I ran across this ThinkProgress article exposing security firms hired by the Chamber distributing pictures of family members and the schools they attend, I am completely floored.


http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/10/chamberleaks-target-families/

Distributing pictures of their children and private information about what schools, etc they attend is terribly disconcerting.

I hope the networks pick up on this. It's not some small thing.

No Appologees

Make no mistake. President Obama never apologized for the US. He was just highlighting the arrogance of the last administration to eccentuate his reasonable and modest stance.

Sen. Jim Webb is Out

It's time to draft Tom Perriello for U.S. Senate in Virginia.

Get on the ball folks.

http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8622/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=221

Left Wing Purists

Watching the legislation passing some state houses and the judicial activism happening in the courts right now makes me worry when ideological purists with a voice try to convince others to sit on their hands and stay home.

Staying home gets us a Republican House, it will get us a Republican Senate and possibly even a WH. The state legislatures will be filled with radical right wing politicians that will criminalize abortion a step at a time, reduce school funding, let our infrastructure crumble, prosecute scientists, push for more oil and less renewable's etc etc etc.

Staying at home solves nothing.

What Violent Right Wing Rhetoric? (cont.)

Heartbreaking. Where is the press on all this. There is a pattern.

"Will Bunch has a truly heartbreaking, infuriating post up on the murder of nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father in Arizona in 2009. Brisenia’s mother survived by playing dead.
The killers were newly minted Tea Partiers and fledgling Minutemen, and I think it’s safe to say they were influenced by at least one Tea Party rally in Arizona before carrying out their murders. Shawna Forde, the mastermind of the operation, had apparently cooked up an idea to murder and rob drug dealers to fund her anti-immigrant activities. She and her accomplice, Jason Bush, broke into the Flores home on May 30, 2009."


via Balloon Juice

What Violent Right Wing Rhetoric? (cont.)

It never ends. The right believe in intimidation and death threats as a way to influence Democratic law makers. Here is just one more of many violent attacks against Democrats.

via ThinkProgress

Great Job Gov. McDonnell

First big snow storm and this new Governor is a huge failure.

Thousands of people were stranded last night. There were no emergency vehicles to be seen.

Where was the state of emergency?

Where was the Gov? What an utter failure.

This is what happens when Republicans take over. They talk a good talk but when it comes to actually doing something they are nowhere to be seen.

George Allen Announces Run for Senate

Jim Webb - Born Fightin!

George Allen - Born With a Silver Spoon in His Mouth!

You decide.

Webb /

A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Webb served as a Marine Corps infantry officer until 1972, and is a highly decorated Vietnam War combat veteran. During his four years with the Reagan administration, Webb served as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, then as Secretary of the Navy.

Allen /

Born March 8, 1952 in Whittier, California) is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the son of former NFL head coach George Allen.
Allen graduated in 1970 from Palos Verdes High School, where he was a member of the falconry club and the car club. He was also quarterback of the varsity football team.

Falconry club! That's the kind of leadership I'm looking for.

What Violent Right Wing Rhetoric? (cont.)

As more threats of violence against Democrats continue to pile up, at what point will our Govn't put a stop to the hate speech inciting violence.

"LOS ANGELES — Police in the Orange County city of Santa Ana and California Gov. Jerry Brown's security detail were trying find out Friday who wrote graffiti on two walls threatening to kill the new governor on Valentine's Day.

The graffiti, which threatened the governor and included a Nazi swastika, was discovered Thursday and is considered a "terrorist threat." Authorities are also investigating any links to earlier graffiti in the area threatening to kill Catholics."

Read more at McClatchy DC