Heh: 'Million Teacher March' Falls 992,000 People Short

ReasonTV was actually at the 'Million Teacher March' that turned out a whopping 8,000 attendees, and as this video clearly demonstrates they were committed socialists: What We Saw at the Save Our Schools Rally in Washington D.C. 

And from Kyle Olson on the epic fail: 'Million Teacher March' Falls About 992,000 People Short

The embarrassing attendance underlined one major truth – there is no mass movement to maintain the status quo in our nation’s public schools. The only people defending the current system are those who profit from it, like the leaders of the nation's teachers unions.

The "Save Our Schools" message was honest in one respect – the union goal is to save public schools as they currently exist. Notice that there was no call to improve the quality of education for students, because that's not what the unions are fighting for.

Their only concern is to maintain a system that has kept unions financially health for decades. The fact that American students are struggling in this system is not on their agenda.

And Democrats are behind the education monopoly because it is a large mechanism for them to launder taxpayer money, in essence forcing all taxpayers to underwrite the Democratic Party. Forget the education of the children. School choice reform is indeed the civil rights issue of our day, and although I disagree with this liberal on most everything else, he mostly right here: Fox News' Juan Williams on School Choice

UPDATE: Some progress being made in Detroit, but it's on the financial side only:

• The Detroit News: DPS's Roberts overrides contract, imposes cuts; union pres. vows fight
• The Detroit Free Press: DPS employees must shoulder $81 million in concessions, including 10% pay cut, Roy Roberts says

I mean, the district is only a few hundred million dollars short every year. More progress on the financial side via MLive: Julie Mack blog: Otsego's move from MESSA will save district about $4,200 per teacher

In most organizations, changing health-insurer carriers isn't headline news.

But in the school community, there's a certain OMG factor to the announcement that teachers at Otsego Public Schools have agreed to switch insurers  from MESSA to Priority Health.

What some view as an act of union disloyalty is being presented by Otsego administration and the Otsego Education Association as a win-win for the district and its teachers.

The district's health-care bill for teachers will drop from about $12,600 to $8,400 per insured employee -- and that's for comparable insurance coverage. The savings are funding a 2 percent raise in teachers' base pay as well as step increase, which are raises associated with longevity.

For many in Michigan schools, MESSA has ranked with summers off and a decent pension plan as one of the expected perks of being a public school teacher. MESSA is renowned for its great benefits and its terrific customer service.

Of course, MESSA is also run by the largest teachers union, the MEA. It costs a lot more which is why we are in this situation: Good news: Michigan's per-employee health benefit is $1,400 more than the average of the Midwest and Northeast states. MESSA is expensive and the MEA pushes it onto school districts during contract negotiations pretty much like the don Corleone gives out his offers you dare not refuse. It's a money maker for the MEA, and by extension the Democratic Party to keep the gravy train going, at taxpayer expense of course.

They're not giving up on one of its financial legs. Just follow the money.

UPDATE #2: Not education, but union shenanigans anyway here in MI: Cop Union Boss Boasts of Beating Lawmakers With Flashlights: If Soldiers Don’t Have Unions, Why Do Police and Teachers? It's that 'new tone' we were promised after the Giffords shooting.

Video: Government Unions and the Bankrupting of America

Via BreitbartTV:

It's all part of the Cloward-Piven strategy to collapse the country from within:

Video Report: Cincinnati Labor Boss Indicted On Wire Fraud Charge

Those unions dues sure went to help the little people, didn't they now:

Federal prosecutors say Diana Frey embezzled more than $750,000 from the union she created, helping herself to about half of all the dues paid by the union’s 800 members over the past six years.

Via BreitbartTV. I've said many times that forced unionization is a money laundering operation where ordinary workers are bilked to fund the Democratic Party. Replace Fey with a Democratic politician and all of a sudden it's legal.

Woohoo! NFL Lockout Over

I'm in a great mood on account of this news. My wife, not so much: Sources: NFL Lockout Over

My butt is going back on the couch every Sunday come September!

UPDATE: NFL Commish: 'Football's Back'

Detroit Free Press commentary: Emergency manager law undermines principles of democracy. But forced unionization without a vote does not?

It's ironic that those associated with the Democratic Party despise the democratic process unless they are in charge. We already witnessed the absurd spectacle of Democratic Party Senators from Wisconsin, and Assemblymen in Indiana, flee the state and hole up in Illinois for the specific reason of subverting the democratic process that is their namesake. Here in Michigan our own minority State Senators from the Democratic Party threatened the very same thing if they didn't get what they wanted: Irony: MI Senate Democrats threaten to subvert democratic process, blackmail RINOs. So it's quite ironic how their supporters are coming out against the emergency financial manager law here in the state under the auspices that it somehow subverts the democratic process (isn't that what bankruptcy does in the real world anyway?). in The Detroit Free Press: Emergency managers undermine principles of democracy

Around the world, people are demanding democratic accountability from their governments. Many of those crying out the loudest are people with very few resources, whose countries are facing deep and painful economic woes. No one who values democracy would suggest that just because they are poor, these heroes have no right to self-rule.

Yet here at home, some in our state have given up on democracy -- despite being elected officials themselves. And evidently they believe that those with the fewest resources need democracy the least.

Earlier this year, our state government passed Public Act 4, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act, which establishes a new form of local government: government by decree, with citizens ruled by an unelected official.

The law gives the governor "sole discretion" to appoint and oversee an emergency manager for any city, village or school district in the state. EMs, once in place, can sell off public property and shred all municipal contracts, including union contracts. They can dismiss all elected officials, charge the local budget with hefty salaries for themselves and anyone they choose to hire, and even dissolve the local government entirely.

So pretty much the same thing a bankruptcy judge would do in a bankruptcy proceeding. The last paragraph above is deceiving especially in this quote: "an emergency manager for any city, village or school district in the state." The Governor can do no such thing. The city, village or school district must be in financial peril. As in bankrupt because of dreadful mismanagement by Democrats and their union cohorts. What's another option? They don't have one. And believe you me this has to do with only one thing - union contracts. Which bring me to this:

It's an ultimate irony that in a state that forces people to fund the Democratic Party by laundered money via union dues forced from them as a condition of employment sans any vote of the membership, that these union supporters would use the notion of the democratic process being subverted in arguing against financial managers righting bankrupt public entities.

Your tax $$$ hard at work: MI School District illegally uses school alert system to make robocalls to recall Gov Snyder

Yes the school district apologized for it, but the damage is done nonetheless. From Michigan Capitol Confidential: School District Admits 'Big Mistake' Over 'Get Rid of Snyder' Phone Alert

A public school district in Michigan has used its phone alert system to point voters toward the recall effort against Gov. Rick Snyder. In early June, shortly after the Snyder recall reached the petition-gathering phase, the alert system for Lawrence Public Schools sent out the following robocall to residents of the district:

“This is a message from the Lawrence Public Schools (inaudible) alert system. This is an informational item and not directly associated with the school. Concerned parents interested in cuts to education . . . we're here to inform you that there is information about the problem. Also, be advised that there is a petition to recall Governor Snyder. If you want, stop by Chuck Moden's house right by the school June 7th/8th between 3:30 and 4:00 pm. Thank you. Goodbye.”

To listen, click here.

The school alert system is used for special announcements, such as school closings due to snowfall, lock-downs or other school-related information. In such situations, the robocalls go out to “alert” residents of the district about a special circumstance that is taking place. Though it is uncertain without an official investigation, use of the system to advance a political endeavor, such as the Snyder recall, appears to have been a violation of the state’s campaign finance law.

That's putting it as mildly as possible. Behind this is the Michigan Education Association (MEA) that has publicly made it known what everyone knew it was doing privately - pushing for the recall of Gov Rick Snyder. Does it not bother anyone that an organization that is funded by laundered taxpayer money via forced unionization, and subsequently given to the Democratic Party either directly or indirectly, is using their bounty to recall duly elected representatives and the Governor for simply looking out for the taxpayers best interest? Who works for whom exactly? HT: Instapundit

Mackinac Center Video: Freedom to Work: A New Right-To-Work Effort in Michigan

I still don't understand why forced unionization has not been ruled unconstitutional. It violates in totally any notion of freedom of association. During the recession, did you know that the top 5 states for growth were all right to work (where by law one cannot be forced to join a union)? Texas gained 750,000 jobs in the last 10 years while Michigan lost about as much. And this the drive for a right to work law here in MI is underway:

A grass roots coalition called "Michigan Freedom to Work" held a news conference June 30, 2011 at several locations around the state, including Lansing, MI. Several union members and others gathered in the Capitol building to announce their new coalition and plans to push for legislation to add Michigan to the list of states that have enacted Right-to-Work laws. These laws allow workers to choose whether or not to join a union at their place of employment.

Culture of corruption: Obama's auto bailout chief Ron 'I did this all for the unions' Bloom caught lying to Congress

From The Washington Examiner: House asks: Did Obama's auto bailout chief say, 'I did this all for the unions'. The House asked Bloom outright that very question, and Bloom denied it outright:

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) questions Mr. Ron Bloom, former Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury, on whether Mr. Bloom had said at a farewell dinner of the Auto Task Force in late July 2009, "I did this all for the unions." Mr. Bloom denied the quote...

However, two independent sources have documented Bloom saying those exact words. Back to the Examiner piece, a local connection:

On November 24, 2009, Detroit News reporter David Shepardson wrote about a dinner held at Washington's Rosa Mexicano restaurant in July of that year, after GM had come out of bankruptcy.  Both Bloom and Steven Rattner, the Wall Street figure who played a key role in the bailouts, spoke to the group.  "Rattner praised the team's intensity and focus and said the group was among the best he had ever worked with," Shepardson reported.  "Bloom, the former adviser to the United Steelworkers, joked that he 'did this all for the unions.'"  (The article is not available on the paper's website, but here is a copy of it on a United Auto Workers site.)

In September 2010, Rattner published a book entitled Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry.  He also described the dinner at Rosa Mexicano:

...Fortunately, after I spoke, Ron Bloom was there to lighten the mood.  "I did this all for the unions," he jokingly declared.  Everyone laughed and the war stories began to fly…

So the exact same quote by two independent sources, one claiming it was in a joking manner and one not, but the exact same words nonetheless.  So back to Blooms appearance on the Hill June 22:

Rep. Burton: Well, did you say this at a dinner? There was a dinner and it was reported by David Shepardson, Washington correspondent for the Detroit News. At a farewell dinner of the Auto Task Force held in the restaurant Rosa Mexicano in late July 2009 that you allegedly said "I did this all for the unions."
Mr. Bloom: No I did not say that.
Rep. Burton: You didn't say that?
Mr. Bloom: No sir.
Rep. Burton: So, you were misquoted?
Mr. Bloom: That's correct.
Rep. Burton: Well, I'm going to call that guy up and ask him if you said that. You know that you are under oath here?
Mr. Bloom: I'm fully aware.
Rep. Burton: You made no comment like that at all?
Mr. Bloom: No sir.

So did he or didn't he? The above is a flat-out denial rather than Clintonian obfuscation. Two sources confirm it, but there's also this:

... ABC News reports that a White House source is referring reporters to Rattner's book, adding that Rattner "clearly writes that Bloom made the comment as a joke."

That has Republicans on Capitol Hill confused. "Bloom is denying having said it in the first place, but the White House is saying it's just a joke," says a Hill source.  "Well, you can't have it both ways."

Now Issa has written a letter to Bloom, giving him "an opportunity to clarify" his testimony to the committee. "Despite your five denials, two independent sources documented you saying these words," Issa wrote.  "It appears that either a respected reporter and your former boss in the Obama administration have both given inaccurate accounts of your comments to the public, or your testimony was not completely truthful. ..."

Anyone have the audio out there?

UPDATE: More coverage from the hearings: Burton: There Is No Shared Pain For GM Salaried Workers 

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) questions Mr. Ron Bloom, former Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury, on the drastic cuts to the benefits of the salaried workers versus those under contract.

Video: Autoworker Testifies on Union Election Intimidation and Harassment

It's funny that the Democratic Party purports to be the party of democracy, but out of the public limelight hates democracy. Besides the elected representatives in Wisconsin and Illinois that fled the state to subvert the democratic process, witness democracy in action courtesy of the UAW: Autoworker Testifies on Union Election Intimidation and Harassment

Washington Examiner: Larry Getts was a union shop steward at a past job, so he was inclined to support unionization when labor organizers showed up at his current job at a Fort Wayne, Indiana Dana Corp. plant that packs and ships auto parts. But yesterday morning Getts testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce that he eventually soured on the union as its representatives launched a campaign to harass and misinform workers as part of its "card check" organizing drive.

Related: Teacher Quitting Union Over Support for Obama

“I just want to know if these unions are about adults or kids, because I became teacher for the kids."

Shocker: NEA endorses Obama for 2012, promises to launder taxpayer money for campaign coffers

The National Education Association and its state affiliates is a Democratic Party taxpayer money laundering operation that does some representation on the side and has a negative net value to student education to boot. Their main effort is in advancing liberalism at all cost and speed. Which is why they are endorsing Obama so early in the 2012 election cycle (was there any doubt?). From the AP: Major teachers union endorses Obama's re-election 

The nation's largest education union has endorsed President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Members of the National Education Association voted to support Obama on Monday at their annual convention in Chicago.

In a statement, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel says Obama and the union share a vision and members wanted early and strong support to help his election.

...The association has 3.2 million members and bills itself as the largest labor union nationwide.

And from the day before that: GOP maligns teachers, Biden says. Making teachers contribute pennies on the dollar for unsustainable Cadillac healthcare policies is maligning teachers now? Making teachers contribute pennies on the dollar towards an unsustainably generous pension plan allowing them to retire in their 40s and live comfortably off taxpayer largesse is maligning teachers now? Oh, please already...

Biden to Union Members: If You Vote Republican, Don't Ask Me For Any Help

And that, believe it or not, was at an event that Biden claimed was non-political. Via memeorandum: Biden to Union Members: If You Vote Republican, Don't Ask Me For Any Help

Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged it wasn't a political event, but it still didn't prevent him from sending this warning to Teamsters union members during his address at their annual convention in Las Vegas this past Friday.

Um - didn't Obama blast companies that went to Vegas?

Guess it doesn't apply to unions. But anyway:

"And don't any of you, by the way, any of you guys vote Republican," Biden said. "I'm not supposed to say, this isn't political. ...don't come to me if you do! You're on your own, Jack!"

Non-political. Uh um. More from Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

On NLRB, Obama distances himself from himelf

For those that have not hears yet, Obama National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has told Boeing that it cannot build a manufacturing plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. It has to build the plant in Washington State, a forced unionization state. The NLRB has no such authority, but when has that ever stopped Obama? My last post on the issue: Heh: Senate GOP Embarrasses Dems Over Boeing. And now for the current news via memeorandum: Obama Breaks Silence About Boeing v. NLRB Labor Dispute

President Obama broke his silence today about the dispute between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board over a proposed plant in South Carolina.

The move by the NLRB to block Boeing's plan to move a plant to the Southern state has incited a wave of indignation from Republicans and the business community.

The President today put distance between his administration and the labor board stressing that it is “an independent agency.”

It's been a long time since I watched COPS, but one thing I do remember is that when lawbreakers were caught, the "what? what? What'd I do?" schtick was standard operating procedure. Not much different here.

“We can't afford to have labor and management fighting all the time, at a time when we're competing against Germany and China and other countries that want to sell goods all around the world,” Obama said at a Wednesday’s White House press conference.

So his solution is to punish the employer and reward his union masters. As Orin Hatch said: Democrats “play politics very, very tough, they play it well, and they don't give a damn about what's right and what's wrong”. Don't give a damn indeed.

UPDATE: Via Instapundit: Ex-NLRB chairman denounces partisan Obama board.