Tag Archives: public employee unions

How Many Dead Slaves Does It Take To Prove These Teachers Are Idiots?

Posted on by
2

This story is certainly an argument for paying teachers based on competence, not tenure. Note that it was the student teacher who noticed how bone-headed this proposed homework assignment is.

From NY1:

It was quite a homework assignment that a fourth grade teacher at P.S. 59 wanted to give her students last Thursday.

It consisted of a few math problems, but Aziza Harding, the student teacher who was asked to photocopy the worksheet, couldn’t believe a couple of the questions.

“I’m just like, ‘Wow, this is really inappropriate,’” she said.

Question 1 on the sheet, entitled “Slavery Word Problems Homework”, was written as a matter-of-fact subtraction problem. It asked:

“In a slave ship, there can be 3,799 slaves. One day, the slaves took over the ship. 1,897 are dead. How many slaves are alive?”

The second question had multiple parts multiplication and addition. It said:

“One slave got whipped five times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month (31 days)? Another slave got whipped nine times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month? How many times did the two slaves get whipped together in one month?

Keep in mind that not one, but two veteran, teachers thought this assignment was a good idea.

Barack Hussein Obama …mmm…mmm…mmm. Isn’t he the guy who has made clear at every opportunity that the only lost jobs that matter are those of public school teachers? Don’t we hear endlessly that we must throw more money into his “stimulus” ratholes, let those precious teachers might-GASP-be laid off? Screw the serfs who pay their salaries. If they get laid off, who cares?

More at Gawker and Slate.

Pre-Election Day Musings

Posted on by
4

How many of these people are teachers? Did they get fake doctor notes?

How many of the people attending that Obama rally this morning in Madison, WI are teachers, current or retired? With respect to the former, did they call in sick? Do they plan to use one of those fake doctor notes that they used during their recall agitating?

Is it my imagination, or is Bruce Springsteen turning into Bob Dylan?

Would it be possible to get some of what Barack Hussein Obama is taking so that I can escape reality for a while? Is there any other explanation for his claiming that his policies have worked?

Maybe Obama thinks that when they told us over the weekend to turn back our clocks, it meant that we can all pretend that it’s November 2008.

 

Ask Teri: Mike Madigan and His Democrat Cabal Try to Pull Another Fast One, The Proposed Illinois Constitutional Amendment

Posted on by
6

Recently, I received a note from one of our SL’s (Smart Listener), who is also a subscriber to the Teri O’Brien Show. It read:

Do you know anything about this proposed Amendment to the IL Constitution?  Do you know where I can find out the conservative view on it?  On the surface it looks like something I’d support.  But Mike Madigan sponsored it so that concerns me.  I just don’t see how something like this that appears to be fiscally conservative could get through in IL.  I don’t trust them!

First, let me say how much I appreciate this SL’s support of the show. It helps us keep the lights on. If you value the information you get here, and on the Teri O’Brien Show, please consider subscribing. As little as $5/month, makes a huge difference here. You can click on the yellow buttons on the right side of the top of the page to either subscribe, or make a one-time contribution. Thanks so much!

SL, your intelligence is showing, not only because you like the show, but because you view anything sponsored by current Illinois Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Illinois State Democrat Party Mike Madigan with suspicion. For readers who don’t know much about Mike Madigan, and why his involvement in any legislation raises a red flag, please check out this column from the Chicago Tribune’s always insightful John Kass. Mike Madigan runs the IL democrat party, and under its fine stewardship, this state his been run into the ground. It has $85 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $8 billion in other unpaid bills. Businesses and productive citizens are fleeing the high taxes. Madigan accepts no responsibility for any of it. 

So what does the amendment say and what would it do? To put it simply, as the folks at BallotPedia state “If passed, the measure would require a three-fifths approval by the General Assembly, city councils, and school districts that wish to increase the pension benefits of their employees.” Here’s the text, from the official Illinois General Assembly website. It would take effect on January 9, 2013.

This amendment is exactly what I would expect from the sleazy pols who run this state, with Madigan at the top of the garbage heap. It is a cynical attempt to allow him to pretend that he and his party, which runs this state, are doing something about the fiscal mess, when in fact it would do nothing to fix the real problem; specifically, that Illinois has spent billions it doesn’t have and has borrowed billions to keep spending.

So, is it good idea to require supermajorities to increase spending even more? As we say about chicken soup, it couldn’t hurt, but as a practical matter, it’s not going to fix anything, and voters shouldn’t be fooled into thinking it will. Does that mean we should vote against it? In my opinion, no. In theory, it’s a good thing. Public employee unions oppose it because they oppose anything that makes it harder to spend more on public employee goodies. One thing we need to do is pass some actual pension legislation that will shore up the system by requiring bigger employee contributions, higher retirement ages, and reduction in the amounts paid to cronies to manage the pension funds. This amendment doesn’t touch any of those things. The Illinois Policy Institute calls it a “do nothing” amendment, and they are correct. I will probably vote in favor of it anyway because I don’t want to send a message to the clowns in Springfield that I’m not concerned about their profligate spending. I also understand those who say not to vote on it either way, precisely because it’s a ridiculous charade.

The real solution to Illinois’ fiscal woes is to get rid of one-party control, and for people to stop voting for the democrats who have destroyed this state.

 

 

 

Just How Ridiculous is The Chicago Public School Strike? The Numbers Don’t Lie

Posted on by
1

As you listen to representatives for the striking Chicago teachers whine about how unfairly they are being treated, consider these numbers from Fox Business Channel’s Varney & Company:

Chicago teachers have the highest average salary of any city at $76,000 a year before benefits.
The average family in the city only earns $47,000 a year.
Teachers pay only 3 percent of their health-care costs.
Out of every new dollar set aside for public education in Illinois in the last five years, a full 71 cents has gone to teacher retirement costs.
Just 15 percent of fourth graders are proficient in reading.
In 1987, 43% of incoming Chicago freshmen would drop out of high school without graduating.
2012: Chicago’s freshmen drop-out rate is 39.4%, the lowest it has ever been.
Only about 60% of Chicago high school students graduate compared with national average of 75%.

Source: Chicago Sun Times: 1987 teachers strike is an ugly lesson for Mayor Emanuel; 9/9/12
Source: Reuters: Chicago teachers, school officials resuming talks to avert strike; 9/9/12
Source: Chicago Public Schools System CPS.edu

Yes, that’s right, Chicago serfs. Even if you are lucky enough to have a job, you probably aren’t making $76,000 a year before benefits. Wait…God love ya…what am I talking about? You don’t have any benefits, so why even mention that.

Union Teachers Prepping the Next Generation to Pay Up: the Candy Tax

Posted on by
Reply

How much goes to public employee union members?

As I always say, you can’t make this stuff up. Or better yet, when you do think you’re making it up, you find out later that it is really happening.

On the 10/30/11 edition of the Teri O’Brien Show, I played Tim Slagle’s “Halloween” bit, in which he suggests the we use the holiday as what the libs like to call a “teachable moment.” It’s an opportunity to explain the concept of “take home candy,” as in “Sorry, kid, you don’t get to keep it all. You’ve got to pay your fair share.”

So, I’m with a group of acquaintances that I see every Monday, all women, several with kids of prime trick-or-treat age, and one of them mentions that at her child’s school, they have a “candy tax” after Halloween. She said that the children are supposed to bring 50% of their candy to school to share with the troops. The idea of sending excess Snickers bars and Reese’s Pieces to our brave defenders has been around for a while, through organizations like Operation Gratitude, Operation Sandbox and Soldiers’ Angels, as well as others. What a great idea I thought!  Teach kids about sharing, as well as the the sacrifice of the brave men and women of the U.S. military–what’s not to like? That’s what I thought until I learned that of the 50% of the surrendered sweets, only 20% actually was intended for the troops. The other 30% of the tax was to be paid to the teacher! As I seem to say every 5 minutes these days, I am NOT making this up!

So, Tim, you need to update that Halloween hunk. The privileged public employee union class is getting the next generation used to continuing the grand tradition that allows them to retire in their late 50‘s at 75% of their inflated salaries while suckers working in the private sector work until they drop dead to support them.

Now that’s scary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Politics, Pop Culture, the Hottest Issues of the Day, and Your calls. The Teri O’Brien Show, featuring America’s Original Conservative Warrior Princess, Live and in color, Sundays 4-6 pm Central time  at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Teri-OBrien. Daring to Commit Common Sense, Fearlessly, and More Important, Cheerfully, in the Age of Obama.

Make My Day: Text “FAN TOBCWP” to 32665

Can’t listen live? Download it from iTunes and listen on demand. 

As one listener wrote “one of the most insightful and entertaining pundits in America. Also, her voice is magical.”

Serious Ideas, Irresistible Entertainment. Warning: listeners may become hopelessly addicted.


Obama’s Latest Vote Buying Scheme

Posted on by
Reply

As you no doubt heard, the latest example of the liberal racket, in which they create a problem with their income redistribution schemes, then confiscate money from the productive to hand out to their friends and mascots, while pretending to solve that problem, is Barack Obama’s plan to help poor, long suffering liberal arts grads suffocating under the crushing debt that they incurred to get their worthless degrees.

Do you think health care costs have skyrocketed over the last ten years? They have, but not as much as the cost of college. Now, I’ll bet most of you will answer the following question correctly, even if you didn’t go to college: did government intervention make college more or less expensive?

From the Michigan (as in University of) Daily:

Tuition data for the University’s Law School show the effect of government intervention. Adjusted for 2009 values, yearly tuition at the Law School in 1950 was $1,884 for state residents and $4,037 for out-of-state students. In 1950, the inflation-adjusted, median personal income was $18,103, meaning that students would have earned enough to pay off a year of tuition in less than three months.

Fast forward 60 years: tuition for the Law School is currently $41,310 and $44,310 for in-state and out-of-state students, respectively. The median personal income is approximately $25,000. Today, the average American would have to work more than 18 months to afford a year of tuition.

What caused the difference? Before World War II, there were no government loans or grants. When these things did not exist, college was inexpensive and affordable. Government intervention in education has caused costs to skyrocket.

Besides driving up the cost of education, the government is driving down its value. Since fewer individuals went to college before World War II, people didn’t stay in school very long before they joined the work force. Today, however, with guaranteed loans, droves of Americans obtain college degrees. Thus, the value of the degree has diminished. This is basic supply and demand. To stand out, a student must obtain a graduate degree or Ph.D. These students spend more years in college, accumulate more debt and delay their entrances into the work force, where they can actually make money.

Today, anyone who wants to go to college has access to a loan co-signed by the government. Students then bid and compete against one another for spots at universities with government money. There is no restraint on the demand, which causes an increase in prices. Universities love this, as it enables them to increase admission costs knowing that the government will guarantee the debt. If anything, college tuitions should be decreasing. We are currently in a recession and demand for highly skilled workers has diminished. Unemployment is high, and incomes and the economy are shrinking — yet college prices continue to rise.

Could colleges afford to charge $30,000 a year if government loans did not exist to support this artificially created demand? The answer should be obvious. These programs mean that colleges have no incentive to bring down costs.

The reality of everything that liberals say is the exact opposite. They always pay lip service to those who play by the rules, but they now they want to reward people who borrowed money and now expect to whine, beat on bongo drums and refuse to take showers so that they don’t have to pay it back. They claim to want to help “working families,” but now want to effectively shovel tax dollars into the coffers of elitist college professors and administrators who took oodles of cash under false pretenses.

Obama’s latest plan is breathtaking in its undisguised political cynicism. Rasmussen reports that most Americans oppose this racket, but that doesn’t matter. Remember, most members of this audience reside in the bottom of the Obama pyramid, the group whose job is to silently submit and pay while the royalty at the top live large, and those in the middle receive the favors they dole out. That’s why most of you will be expected to work until you drop dead so that members of public employee unions, especially school teachers, can retire in their late 50’s at 75% of their average salary. Now you are being asked to also pay for the “educations”, and I use that word very charitably, of spoiled brats whose votes are essential for Barack Obama’s re-election. It’s beyond nauseating, and if the American people allow this bunch to pull this scandalous plan off by not showing up in droves to vote them out, we deserve what we get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Politics, Pop Culture, the Hottest Issues of the Day, and Your calls. The Teri O’Brien Show, featuring America’s Original Conservative Warrior Princess, Live and in color, Sundays 4-6 pm Central time  at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Teri-OBrien. Daring to Commit Common Sense, Fearlessly, and More Important, Cheerfully, in the Age of Obama.

Can’t listen live? Download it from iTunes and listen on demand. livepage.apple.com

As one listener wrote “one of the most insightful and entertaining pundits in America. Also, her voice is magical.”

Serious Ideas, Irresistible Entertainment. Warning: listeners may become hopelessly addicted.