Getting Schooled In Wisconsin

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Here’s a lesson that is both ironic and sad at the same time. According to the U.S. Department of Education, two-thirds of the eight graders in Wisconsin cannot read proficiently. But assuming the kids are skilled enough to watch TV, they can now see their teachers demonstrating to keep their generous union benefits. So, while things do not seem to be going well in the classroom, any thought of holding teachers somewhat responsible is cause for a protest march.

As a former high school teacher, it pains me to criticize those trying to educate American children. You will never become rich doing that and the job can be maddening. Today, many children are the victims of a permissive society that often refuses to hold kids responsible for their actions. Cowardly parents make excuses for the failure of their kids rather than finding a solution to their poor academic performance. Instead of preparing their children for rigorous academic challenges, derelict parents sit it out.

But teachers are supposed to overcome apathetic parenting and at least give the kids a fighting chance to succeed. That is a challenge that’s supposed to be met.

As I’ve written before, in my eight grade class at St. Brigid’s School on Long Island there were 60 students and one nun in the classroom. All of them could read proficiently and, believe me, some of the parents were not exactly Ozzie and Harriet if you understand what I’m saying. The nun brooked no nonsense. She forced us to learn.

But that was then.

In ten years starting in 1998, Wisconsin doubled the amount of money spent on each public school student to more than $10,000 per pupil, per year. And test scores went down! Doing the math, the equation seems to be that money is not the key to knowledge.

Discipline is.

The teachers in Wisconsin should be compensated to the best of the state’s ability. But the educational gravy train is off the tracks. There’s no more money. The taxpayer is tapped out.

So, in the future, if you want to teach kids you’ll have to take less to do it. That may not be fair but that’s the lesson that Wisconsin is teaching us. The writing is very clear on the blackboard: No more public money is on the way.

I left teaching because I understood the limitations of the job. I knew at a young age that my income would be restricted and that my life would be fairly predictable.

Selfishly, I wanted more.

But I respect those who devote their lives to teaching immensely. I want them to have as much as the market will bear.

Sadly, that point has now been reached.

There is a man who like to ask controversial questions on Yahoo Answers and then add his comments. Here is one of his latest:

Why was Obama in Madison right before the civil unrest began?

Our president and his administrative officials were in Madison for 2 weeks planning and orchestrating this current round of civil unrest in Madison, and his chronies have spread it to other states.

Madison, do not forget, was where Obama took part in the founding of ACORN.

Those protests are not peaceful. They have destroyed ongoing talks and shouted down their victims, they threaten people and present their massive outsider numbers to intimidate the forces of the rule of law. They ignore every rule of law in place with respect to how they treat the capitol, they are damaging the building and abusing its staff, and most of them are not even from Wisconsin. There are doctors handing out fake sick passes on the sidewalks. Most of the vehicles I saw were from other states, as were the majority of the buses.

Obama was there 2 weeks before and left several of his staffers behind to continue the planning stages for this revolt.

It is NOT a peaceful protest.

There is a lot more going on behind the scenes than we are told about by the mainstream media. Between the rioting here in America and the rioting around the world, our position is becoming more precarious. It is my hope that people will wake up and ask the tough questions that very few people seem to be asking.

Technorati Tags: Bill O'reilly, school teachers, Wisconsin riots

Anyone?

There are so many things to do each do and I feel sad when I think about all of the things I should be posting about each day, but miss out on. Glenn Beck has been doing an awesome job bringing to light the evils of our society.

Elections are coming up this year – are you aware of your candidates and their positions on issues important to you?

Health Care is at the forefront right now and Nancy Pelosi insists that it is going to pass, despite the fact that the majority of Americans want to have nothing to do with the current plans on the table. Have you made your voice heard?

It’s so easy to get caught up in day-to-day living, but we must remember are priorities.

Mine are God, Family, Country and then everything else.

What are yours?

Technorati Tags: busy, Glenn Beck, health care, life, Nancy Pelosi

We have Macro Problems and need Micro Solutions.

The government says: Everything is too big to fail.

That is a lie:
The answer is “smaller.”
The answer is you.

He referred to the New York Times article that I just posted.

Three Possible Financial Scenarios for Our Country and their Solutions:

Scenario 1. Recession

Get out of debt and save.

The politicians need you to spend money. They will never tell you to quit spending.

Scenario 2. Depression

Get out of debt and save.
Remember our grandparents and their fruit cellars?
Today’s equivalent might be to buy two cans of food instead of just one when you go shopping.

Scenario 3. Collapse:

Use the Three G System:
God
Gold
Guns

Of course, the best answer is to put God as an umbrella over the entire problem before a collapse hits!

Dave Ramsey says to use the word we no longer hear:

No!

No, you can’t have another cookie.
No, you can’t have a new car.
No, you can’t have a new stimulus package.
No, you can’t have that health care program.
No, you can’t keep spending our children’s and grandchildren’s money.

Let’s all say it together…No!

Technorati Tags: collapse, Dave Ramsey, depression, Glenn Beck, no, recession

“Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government” by Edmund L. Andrews

The United States government is financing its more than trillion-dollar-a-year borrowing with i.o.u.’s on terms that seem too good to be true.

But that happy situation, aided by ultralow interest rates, may not last much longer.

Treasury officials now face a trifecta of headaches: a mountain of new debt, a balloon of short-term borrowings that come due in the months ahead, and interest rates that are sure to climb back to normal as soon as the Federal Reserve decides that the emergency has passed.

Even as Treasury officials are racing to lock in today’s low rates by exchanging short-term borrowings for long-term bonds, the government faces a payment shock similar to those that sent legions of overstretched homeowners into default on their mortgages.

With the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government’s tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically. Other forecasters say the figure could be much higher.

In concrete terms, an additional $500 billion a year in interest expense would total more than the combined federal budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

See the article: http://www.cnbc.com/id/34104722

Technorati Tags: Edmund L. Andrews, Glenn Beck, national debt, New York Times

We’ll see soon enough.

Update:

Chicago is first one out of the running.

Here is a transcript of Stu and Glenn’s exchange on the radio after hearing the results:

STU: There is news coming from over there in Copenhagen.

GLENN: Ya, sure.

STU: Ya, sure. The first round of voting is up for the Olympic games, and the first

GLENN: Wait for it! Wait for it! Enjoy this. Savor this moment.

STU: And the first city to be eliminated is… Chicago. Yes, our president flew all the way over there to fail

GLENN: Not one plane. Just in one plane?

STU: No. Two planes. We need more breaking news. There we go. Two planes.

GLENN: Two planes.

STU: His wife Oprah Winfrey, all the jet fuel needed to lift them.

GLENN: All the massive amounts of corruption that was promised.

STU: All the greenhouse gas emissions, all the publicity, all the excitement.

GLENN: For nothing.

STU: For as the kids call it, an epic fail.

GLENN: Hang on just a second. Stu, can you still hear me?

STU: I can can you still see me?

GLENN: I can see you, yes.

STU: And hear me?

GLENN: I can hear you and see you through the glass. Now let me ask you this, Stu.

STU: Yes, Glenn.

GLENN: Are you saying that the president failed?

STU: Glenn, there is no honest observer who could disagree with that statement.

GLENN: Let me ask you this, Stu: In his failure to bring the Olympic games, didn’t Putin go over and get the Olympic games?

STU: Yes, he did, Glenn.

GLENN: Wasn’t Tony Blair the first to go over and get the Olympic games?

STU: I believe you’re correct on that, Glenn.

GLENN: So this would make the is it possible that this is the first head of state of any major country that has ever gone over and made the pitch in person and then failed?

STU: I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m choosing to believe it, Glenn.

GLENN: We can always hope.

STU: And Glenn, by the way, I don’t know if you’re noticing this. This is the first absolute undisputable proof of Rush’s comment being true: I hope he fails because we’re going to need the money. Well, he’s failed and guaranteed we’ve saved money by his failure.

GLENN: Unbelievable.

STU: So it’s actually, it’s proven to be true.

GLENN: Do you notice there in Daley plaza they have a sign up on one of the buildings: Imagine.

STU: Imagine failure, Glenn.

GLENN: No, no. It says

STU: You don’t need to imagine it anymore. It’s here.

GLENN: It says Chicago 2016, imagine. And that’s exactly what they’re going to have to do. In 2016 they’ll stand around and imagine what it would have been like to have the Olympics in Chicago.

STU: Welcome to the 2016 imaginary games.

GLENN: Unbelievable.

STU: Seriously that is a you know, we sat here

GLENN: An epic failure, epic failure.

STU: Why

GLENN: Epic failure.

STU: Why did he do this? This is terrible PR.

GLENN: Can I tell you something? Right now oh, my gosh. Chicago received the least votes in the first round.

STU: Yeah, it was eliminated.

GLENN: Yeah, urgent wire here.

STU: Tokyo is now out by the way as well. Tokyo is out. Madrid or Rio.

GLENN: What are they doing? How are they possibly making this? The only one that you could have done on social justice really was Tokyo.

STU: I think Rio, though, because there’s never been an Olympic games south of Mexico City, I believe. So I mean, the entire hemisphere is being ignored.

GLENN: Well, that’s a pretty big deal.

STU: That is a big deal.

GLENN: And they’re just good looking down in Rio. You know what I mean?

STU: There you go. But Glenn, seriously like how isn’t this president supposed to be the guy who can talk Ahmadinejad out of a nuclear program?

GLENN: Oh, yeah. They love him.

STU: If he can’t get

GLENN: He just gave a speech yesterday and he said, look, it’s important. I am the guy I am here to bring the whole world together. I am here to I can I got the whole world in my hand, I got the whole wide world in my hand, I got the whole wide world in my hand, I got… what? Oh, crap.

STU: I have nothing.

GLENN: I’ve got nothing in my hand.

STU: I’ve got two jets that need to fly back in my hand. I’ve got

GLENN: I said yesterday let me tell you something. Somebody right now is about to receive a phone call that will change their life. Somebody, whoever made the decision that said, yes, Mr. President, you should fly the first lady over and then you should join them on the day, so you’re in Copenhagen, ya, sure, when this story breaks. There’s no way to escape it because you can’t be, like, meeting with a general or something. You’re going to be in Copenhagen when they announce this. That person, whoever made that, is about, if they haven’t already, is about to receive this phone call (making phone noises). “Hello?” “Yeah, pack the stuff. Guess who’s got a new job at the Center for American Progress.”

STU: (Laughing).

GLENN: Guarantee you someone is going to be transferred to the Center for American Progress. Which is weird because it’s almost like Siberia.

STU: Yeah, it is.

GLENN: You just go into Siberia and you’re just there. You still play a role, but you’ve brought shame to our fearless leader. Your family, like in the middle of the night, like Van Jones, I don’t even know. Is this family? Does his family even know where he is now? Do they just come and get him in the middle of the night and leave his family going, “Where did Daddy go?” “Oh, he went to the Center for American Progress. Shhh, quiet.” I’m just sayin’. It’s just a question. Just a question.

STU: It’s time to turn in the Blackberry.

GLENN: May I ask no, no, the Blackberry is the one connected to the Center for American Progress.

STU: Center for American Progress, yeah, that’s a good point.

GLENN: May I ask this question: Is it possible that the president ever finds himself transferred to the Center For American Progress?

STU: I don’t know.

GLENN: We’re not really operating constitutionally now anyway. Could we wake up appeared ever just see a headline that says, “President transferred to the Center for American Progress. New president, John Podesta.

STU: No. Can George Soros just be implemented as king above all of them? That would make things a lot easier.

GLENN: You conspiracy theorist, what evidence do you have that George Soros is involved in any of this? So we have to I guess figure out which city was more corrupt and had bigger bribes to the IOC than Chicago. That’s saying something.

STU: Well

GLENN: When we can be outbribed, that’s

STU: The problem is that that whole corruption thing from Chicago is so long gone, a lot of these bids and stuff happened back when Rod Blagojevich was governor and he would never be involved in anything.

GLENN: And Mayor Daley, only 41 in his administration have

STU: 47, Glenn, 47.

GLENN: Only 47 have gone to jail for corruption.

STU: So

GLENN: Not 48.

STU: No.

GLENN: Not 50. Only 47.

STU: 50 would be a problem. 47’s

GLENN: Well, it depends on how you define “Problem.” So there it is. Heart breaking news. Chicago didn’t get the Olympics.

Technorati Tags: Chicago, Copenhagen, Obama, Olympics

While most of the country is talking about Obama’s speech last night, there is a much darker story breaking.

Glenn Beck appeared on Fox and Friends Tuesday and warned that something was about to hit the fan–it would be huge and people will be thrown in jail.

Fox News is covering the story now–at least the tip of the iceberg that is showing.

These YouTube videos are posted on Breitbart’s website. Watch them–you’ll be horrified.

Part 1

Click here to view the embedded video.

Part 2

Click here to view the embedded video.

Call the White House and your Senators and Representatives–demand that an investigation go forward immediately.

Visit Breitbart’s site at: http://www.biggovernment.com

Technorati Tags: ACORN, Glenn Beck Breitbart.tv, housing, pimp, prostitute

You can find the clock at: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Technorati Tags: , US Debt Clock

Click here to view the embedded video.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, birthday, Glenn Beck, YouTube video

I read through the transcript of part of Glenn Beck’s show yesterday. A woman from Arizona sent him a letter that she had written and he read it on-air.  This is obviously well-thought out and the points she delineates are spot on. I only hope America wakes up before it’s everlastingly too late. The damage is being done every day, much of which is behind our backs. I do not know her name, but here is her letter–the emboldening is mine:

I got a letter from a woman in Arizona. She writes an open letter to our nation’s leadership: I’m a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you’re willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I’m not a racist. This isn’t to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don’t you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don’t you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don’t trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ?? what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we’ll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band?Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let’s have it. Let’s say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ?? please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let’s just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I’m busy. I’m busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don’t want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we’re morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we’re so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn’t ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don’t care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Technorati Tags: Glenn Beck, letter, woman

Click here to view the embedded video.

Technorati Tags: Garofalo, Lou Dobbs, racism, racist, red necks, tea party