Wednesday Chronicle
Teachers Strike, Children Suffer
The Foundation
"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." --Samuel Adams
Editorial Exegesis
Chicago's children aren't learning"Labor Day may have passed, but in Chicago school is still out for the summer. That's because, for the first time in more than 25 years, the brothers and sisters of the Chicago Teachers Union are striking. Though they are already among the best-paid educators in the country, making an average of $76,000 per year in salary -- plus benefits -- the union is unsatisfied with an offer from the city's board of education that provides them a 16 percent raise over four years, worth a total of $400 million. (The CTU's original offer was for a 30 percent raise over two years.) Accounts from both sides indicate that the sticking points are the maintenance of the union's lavish benefits structure and a teacher-evaluation system that labor officials worry could -- horror -- result in the firing of large numbers of its most ineffective members. On the merits, the case isn't close. Chicago teachers currently pay just 3 percent of their own health-care costs, and nearly three-quarters of new education spending over the last five years has been gobbled up by their retirement costs. ... The proximate consequence of the union's intransigence is that a mass of youths won't be in classrooms, but on Chicago's increasingly murderous streets. The contrast with the city's 45,000 charter-school students, along with its parochial- and private-school enrollees -- all of whom remain in their classrooms -- is stark. The benefits of school choice are manifold, but not least among them is that your child's education needn't be held hostage by the whims of public employees who finance and staff the campaigns of their putative bargaining 'adversaries.' That sort of thing doesn't happen in competitive markets. ... Political reality alone ought to force the Democrats to push labor for a quick agreement that maintains most of the cost-saving concessions, at least cosmetically preserves the teacher-evaluation model, and, most important, gets Chicago kids back to school. Whether this happens will say much about who wears the pants in the liberal coalition." --National Review
Upright
"Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis walks, talks and barks like a rootsy Occupy Wall Street activist. ... When she's not urging other teachers to ditch the classroom or organizing traffic blockades to impede everyone else in Chicago from getting to and from their jobs, Lewis spends her time trashing public charter schools and business leaders trying to reform our Soviet-style monopoly in education. The results speak for themselves: While CTU members earn an average of $74,000 a year and are now spurning 16 percent pay hikes, 71 percent of the third-largest school district's 8th-grade students can't attain the most basic level of science proficiency, and nearly 80 percent are not grade-level proficient in reading. ... It bears repeating often: The goals of the teachers union radicals are not academic excellence, professional development and fairness. The goals are student indoctrination, social upheaval and perpetual grievance-mongering in pursuit of bigger government and spending without restraint: 2, 4, 6, 8! One agenda: Agitate!" --columnist Michelle Malkin
"[Yesterday], the U.S. embassy in Cairo was attacked, stormed, and the U.S. flag was torn down by a bunch of crazy Egyptians emboldened by the Arab Spring. Yet Barack Obama felt he needed to issue an apology. ... On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. ... According to CNN, Obama's Administration issued a statement saying that it 'condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.' America is apologizing for those who would 'hurt the religious feelings of Muslims?' Did Buddhists kill 3,000 Americans on September 11? How about Hindus? Or, Zoroastrians? Or any of the other 21 major faiths that exist on the Earth? ... Even though everyone believes this election is going to be about the economy, a few more boneheaded days like yesterday might well make Obama's inept handling of foreign policy a major issue. If I have hurt your feelings ... I'm so sorry." --columnist Rich Galen
Editor's Note: Libyan Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three embassy staff were killed by al-Qa'ida jihadis in Benghazi late yesterday in what they claim is retaliation for a film they decided insulted Mohammed. In other words, their religious feelings were hurt, so someone had to die. This is the barbarous enemy we face.
"[Sandra Fluke] completed her education a few weeks ago -- at the age of 31, or Grade 25. Before going to Georgetown, she warmed up with a little light BS in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Cornell. She then studied law at one of the most prestigious institutions in the nation, where tuition costs 50 grand a year. ... Sandra Fluke has been blessed with a quarter-million dollars of elite education, and ... is entirely incapable of making a coherent argument. ... Sexual liberty, even as every other liberty withers, is all that matters: A middle-school girl is free to get an abortion without parental consent, but if she puts a lemonade stand on her lawn she'll be fined. What a bleak and reductive concept of 'personal freedom.'" --columnist Mark Steyn
Essential Liberty
"The problem with Medicare is not just that its current formula is unsustainable, or that Obama diverted a staggering amount of projected future spending on it into yet another bank-breaking entitlement. It is that the national government is innately incapable of running an entitlement program. ... As constituted, our government offered two visions of 'providing for the general welfare.' First is the Madisonian principle that Congress's capacity to tax and spend is strictly limited to its enumerated powers -- which do not include running social-welfare programs. The second is a Hamiltonian gloss, giving Congress additional latitude, provided that its schemes benefit all Americans equally -- which would preclude welfare programs that take from A for the benefit of B. Once you abandon these moorings, once you accept a wealth-redistribution system in which government becomes the arbiter of 'social justice,' the ball game is over." --former DoJ attorney Andrew McCarthy
Insight
"Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom." --economist Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992)
Demo-gogues
Easy for him to say: "We are absolutely better off than we were when I was sworn in and we had 800,000 jobs being lost in a month." --Barack Obama
Nothing but debt as far as the eye can see: "My plan would reduce our deficit without sticking it to the middle class. Independent analysis has shown that my plan would cut deficits by $4 trillion. And I've already worked with the Republicans in Congress to cut a trillion dollars' worth of spending, because those of us who care about what government can do to help people give them a ladder up." --Barack Obama
Regulator extraordinaire: "Just yesterday my opponent called my position on fuel efficiency standards extreme. I don't know, it doesn't seem extreme to me to want to have more fuel efficient cars. Maybe the steam engine is more his speed." --Barack Obama
Math is hard: "What they're proposing, and this is a fact. I say to the press, 'Fact check me.' What they're proposing will actually cause the Medicare trust fund that pays for the benefits when you go to the hospital, the doctor, etc., to run out of money, a sufficient amount of money by 2016. That's when it would hit the wall." --Joe Biden
Making it up: "Seniors would be kicked out of nursing homes. What are we going to do? A lot of those folks are moms and dads. They come from middle-class families. Even worse some have no families, nowhere to go. What's going to happen? They don't tell you that their plan would immediately cut benefits for 30 million seniors." --Joe Biden
Dezinformatsia
Blame Bush: "Could the 9/11 attack have been stopped, had the Bush team reacted with urgency to the warnings contained in all of those daily briefs? We can't ever know. And that may be the most agonizing reality of all." --New York Times columnist Kurt Eichenwald politicizing the 9/11 anniversary
Blame Republicans: "For 44 days last summer, Barack Obama was hostage to events outside his control. The Republican Congress newly dominated by the Tea Party threatened for the first time in history to have America default on its debts. ... But is that the president's fault?" --ABC's Diane Sawyer
Star struck: "Years from now we may look back ... and remember Bill Clinton's [DNC] speech as one of the greatest in convention history. No one, including President Obama himself, has made a better case for Obama than Bill Clinton did." --MSNBC's Chris Matthews
Race bait: "Part of my job when I speak about politics is to speak up for black people and say things black people need said. This mission has rarely felt so necessary as it has when racial code words recently entered the Presidential election. .... Using certain words to invoke racialized fear and scare white working class voters is a long-established part of the Republican playbook." --MSNBC's Touré
A little overstated: "What is riskier than living poor in America? Seriously! ... I am sick of the idea that being wealthy is risky. No. ... Being poor is what is risky. We have to create a safety net for poor people. And when we won't, because they happen to look different from us, it is the pervasive ugliness." --MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry
Newspulper Headlines:
That Can Mean Only One Thing: It's a Day Ending With 'Y': "Tonight, Obama Gets Backing From Hollywood" --NPR.org
This a Sentence if Verbs Not Missing: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Career Path Hazy" --Politico.com
God Bummed by Atheist Flip -- Now That Would Be News: "Atheists Bummed by Democrats' God Flip" --Politico.com
News of the Tautological: "Less Hiring Probably Kept U.S. Jobless Rate Elevated in August" --Bloomberg
Bottom Stories of the Day: "No Reports of Damage After Two Light Earthquakes Strike California" --Associated Press
(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)
Village Idiots
Compulsive liar: "I've heard no less than Ambassador Michael Oren say this -- that what the Republicans are doing is dangerous for Israel." --DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz who accused conservatives of misquoting her -- except they didn't
Stuck on stupid: "[Republicans] think lying is a virtue." --Obama's deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter
Left-theology: "I think we measure how Godly we are by Medicaid, by Medicare, by access to the lease of life of people who's backs are against the wall." --"Reverend" Jesse Jackson
Likely story: "[Obama] cleaned up half the s--- in four years realistically. It ain't like you gave him a clean house. Y'all gave him a house with a TV that didn't work, the toilet was stuffed up; everything was wrong with the house." --rapper "Snoop Dogg"
Anything goes: "I have no experience with incest. We started thinking about that. ... I'm not saying this is an absolute but in a way, if you're not having kids -- who gives a d---? Love who you want. ... If it's your brother or sister it's super-weird, but if you look at it, you're not hurting anybody except every single person who freaks out because you're in love with one another." -- film director Nick Cassavetes on his upcoming incest-promotional movie, "Yellow"
Short Cuts
"GOP ad shows Obama using exact same words in 2008 & 2012. So much recycling, 'presidential speechwriter' should count as a green job." --former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson
"Barack Obama walked onstage to thank Bill Clinton after his barn-burning speech Wednesday. As they walked off together, someone up front shouted how nice it was to have God back on the platform. They both spun around and said that it was nice to be back." --comedian Argus Hamilton
"Bill Clinton said that President Obama inherited a deeply damaged economy. And if he's re-elected he'll inherit an even more deeply damaged economy." --comedian Jay Leno
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
178 Comments
Son of Liberty in Colorado
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:14 AM
Here's a thought! Why don't we just run all of the folks who want to apologize for 9/11 and Muslim sensitiveness out of the country. Ship them all off to a Muslim nation where they can pucker up and kiss Habib's butt! Then the rest of us who still love this nation can take the shackles off of the military and turn 'em loose with the admonition "Necco eos omnes, Deus suus agnoscet."
It means "kill them all, God will know his own." Not very nice I know, but I was trained to be a warrior, not a wimp.
David A Stevenson in Onondaga Hill, NY
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 4:11 PM
A-MEN My Brother
Robert E8 USN Ret in SE AZ
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 6:21 PM
Second that Amen! Totally correct, now, if we could just git 'er done.
Geoff in St. Charles,MO
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 10:57 AM
I'm with you.
AL in WINSTED,CT
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:27 AM
ILL GIVE THEM WHATEVER THEY WANT IF JUST ONE KID FROM THAT WHOLE SCHOOL SYSTEM CAN CORRECTLY SAY THE WORD: ASK, NOT AX.............JUST ONE , BECOUSE I THINK MY TEACHERS WOULD HAVE CORRECTED ME WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL.........AS IS THIER JOB
Jim in Alabama
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:46 PM
Sorry Al, but "Grammar" is code talk for racism now.
Victor Bitar in Pahrump, NV
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:28 AM
Tragicly, the Chicago teacher's strike is JUST ANOTHER SYMPTOM of where this country is heading. It took years to get here, but the American Society has been going downhill - INCLUDING THE BODY OF CHRIST/CHURCH- without even acknowledging how short-sightedly we have become MONEY WORSHIPPERS. Values and virtues are no easily replaced; ESPECIALLY WITHOUT A HUMBLE SPIRIT, and one that will acknowledge and repent BEFORE IT CAN TURN AROUND and move upward not keep sliding.
RK Sprau in L.C. N.M.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 4:53 PM
greed comes from everyone to include these so called job creators. Greed created unions, poor working conditions, poor wars created unions, forced overtime w/o/ pay forced the unions. Are we going back to the good old days?
If everyone was equal then there would be no need for unions.or Universal Health care.
VeilRemoved in Portland, OR
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 5:54 PM
Milton Friedman said: ... and what is Greed? Of course, none of us are greedy. It is the other guy who is greedy. The fact of the matter is that we all have our own self interest. Additionally, the Reality of Life, if you have studied history and applied the widsom to the cultural anthropology, is that: Equal Opportunity is born ONLY from Liberty. Equal Outcome is meted ONLY from tyranny.
RK Sprau in L.C. N.M.
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 3:48 AM
Yet greed in all forms is still there. from the big corporations, (I am fighting one now.) to the man on the street, it is greed that drives us and greed during the 80's is good. I'm afraid we've lost our way.
Mary F. Laur in Mission, Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Maybe they should start firing teachers, perhaps 200 a day until they decide to be happy they have a job, and go back to work.
TAE in PlanetUtah
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Sadly, with the political climate in Chicago, they're not likely to pull a Regan and fire all those union teachers a'la the air traffic controllers. Wouldn't that put a twist in their tails?
David Bowers in Michigan
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Start taking applications for NEW teachers, fire all of the current teachers, and then call out the national guard to make sure there is no trouble at the schools from the fired teachers. Enough is enough with their 3-4 year extortion racket.
Tim Carey in Pennsauken NJ
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Isn't it about time the US REALLY stood up to the Islamic terrorists? We have our Embassy compromised in Egypt and then an Ambassador and others killed in Libya. Maybe leveling Bengazi and a massive drone or missle attack on Egypt along with immediate and complete cutting off any and all aid to both countries will get their attention. All this on the anniversary of the Islamic terrorists murdering of over 3000. Eye for eye multiplied by a thousand would be a good start.
KN in Arkansas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:34 AM
I dare say the kids could teach themselves and do just as well or just as poorly depending how how one wants to look at it.
RADDAD in atlanta
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Public employees should not have the right to strike.... PERIOD !!
Mary F. Laur in Mission, Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:47 AM
We need a national right-to-work amendment, in my humble opinion.
Rubicon in Lancaster County, PA
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Raddad has a point. Lets be realistic... these folks already have tenure protecting even the worst teachers from virtually any action to correct them or encourage them, or allow them to move on. The lock the unions have w/ liberal legislators in the state house & in Washington, shows that their priority is survival of the union & not teaching the children.
RK Sprau in L.C. N.M.
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 3:50 AM
Greed produces unions as a means of of self survival, greed is what drives unions. We are a nation of Greed.
Miss Kitty in Missouri
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Amen!
RK Sprau in L.C. N.M.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 4:51 PM
I agree in principle. Some people should be allowed other options such as those in the nurses union. In other-words, don't put lives at risk. Other than that, greed forced unions into existence, bad working conditions forced them into existence. Are we heading that way again?
J.W. in Glendora, CA
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 8:24 PM
My father was a long-time union member and after he retired he said that unions had their place when first started, but now they are just like any other organization with too much power: corrupt and greedy. There does need to be a national right-to-work initiative where you can belong to a union if you want to, but it is not a requirement to get or keep a job.
RK Sprau in L.C. N.M.
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 3:50 AM
AMEN BROTHER
Jim Parsch Sr. in Carolina Shores, NC
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:39 AM
If the Chicago School Dept. will hire me I will come to Chicago and teach. I do not hold a teaching degree, but I am positive that I would be able to instruct the children as to what GREED is and what ENTITLEMENT means. I'd fire every damn one of them and hire someone who cares about the kids and wants to actually teach. I'm a retired Teamster and these striking teachers are nothing but glutten hogs for money and bennies. You can't squeeze blood out of a rock. Be satisfied you have a job and making some kind of a living dummies.
Mary F. Laur in Mission, Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:49 AM
I'll guarantee,almost, that no Texas teacher has ever made $76,000 a year.
a reader in Ohio
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:39 PM
That's a reflection of the importance Texas gives to education.
wjm in Colorado
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 1:01 PM
More likely how important they Do think it, not subsidizing lazyness and incompetence on the backs of the taxpayers. I bet in Texas they get their mony's worth.
Steve in Garland, Texas
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Collective bargaining is illegal in Texas....no teacher unions...no strikes...ever. We're having school today!
a reader in Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 2:10 PM
Oh, no. What you meant was Teachers' Unions, not education.
Or do you actually believe the two are equivalent?
They most certainly are not.
MNIce in Minnesota
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 3:44 PM
No, it's a reflection on how easy it is to find people willing to teach in Texas.
RK Sprau in L.C. N.M.
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 3:53 AM
what is Texas school ranking on a national scale? it has to be better than NM.
a reader in Ohio
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 3:51 PM
Texas ranks 49th verbally and 46th in Math.
Gunner in Decatur, MS.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:41 AM
If the women in the forefront of your photo are any indication, those folks don't have any pay problems. They're too fat already! But maybe they're not demanding a food stamp increase, too.
Mary F. Laur in Mission, Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:44 AM
As a retired public school teacher in Texas, I can truthfully say< "God bless Texas." We are still a right to work state. I didn't have to belong to anything to have a job. My first husband and I belonged to a professional organization named Texas Classroom Teachers Association, but we didn't have to belong to anything. We worked with the local and state school boards to gain things that were good for teachers, and even did some lobbying at the state capitol in Austin in the offices of legislators. Anyone of our teachers could belong to a union if they wanted to, but we didn't have to. We didn't want unions to get a foothold in the teaching profession in Texas. I admit that I agree with some of the things they want, but don't think that's the way to achieve it.
Jason in Lansing, MI
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:44 AM
Well, the picture shows that at least the loudest CTU members are getting enough to eat. Unlike their students. When people are called to be accountable for their salaries, look at what happens. The unions sense a potential threat and BAM! they are instantly demonstrating. And the Leftmedia covers it as if it was really important.
Doug in council bluffs
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Sad day in history of learning. Most of the teachers I know, do the job because of a desire to help children. I am not a union employee. If I do not perform in a manner that is profitable to my employer, I will have to find a different job. I have been cut from other jobs for that reason. I must constantly 'better' myself or my employer will find someone who can do the job for less. That or find someone who is willing to work harder for the same money. My first inclination is to fire and replace the teachers. With IL not being a right to work state, the taxpayers have little recourse. I hope this can be resolved peacefully.
G P H in Chicago, Il
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:52 AM
right to work states are part of the problem, employers able to fire employees for any reason isn't exactly conducive to doing a good job it breeds paranoia, excess stress and, overall dissatisfaction with any form of employment.
The Texas Cooke in Lockhart, TX
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:09 PM
Actually, G P H, it leads to rewards for high quality work, which is an incentive to give your best performance, and it leads to replacement of those that either can't or don't do the job. Why would that scare/stress you? I lived with it all of my life and excelled. I had stressful jobs because they were stressful tasks, but not because I was afraid somebody was going to have a screaming match with his wife/husband before work, and fire me because (s)he was still pissed. That's irrational and NOT AT ALL what living without a union is like.
Mark in Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:17 PM
An employer who "fires for any reason" would soon be OUT OF BUSINESS - because no one would work there... I cannot believe the how far LEFT this country has gone in a few short years. Democrats today make Jack Kennedy look like Rush Limbaugh...
a reader in Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 2:15 PM
AMEN!...
wjm in Colorado
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:18 PM
You marxist tool, if you do a good job, show up on time, and benefit the employer, then you have nothing to worry about. Of course, you would rather call in sick, occupy a park and get paid with no reprecussions. Do you ever wonder why your City and State are failing? Chicago is one of the most dangerous places on the planet, you death toll exceeds both Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis. Quite a success story.
Merry Colin in Cave Creek, Arizona
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:26 PM
Pure baloney G P H in Sh-tcago! You don't live in a right to work State and I do! What the heck do you know? Nada! It doesn't help that you are from IL! Sheesh--do you really think anyone considers your opinion as unbiased? Try commenting on unions, corruption, and random murders-- on that front we might think you have some firsthand experience. Past that, forget about it!
Jeff in Arlington, TX
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 5:49 PM
Look at the economy in TX, then look at the economy in IL. Now how on earth do you get your mouth to form those words. Texas is adding jobs faster than any other state. I've worked here for 25 years. I have gotten a raise every one of those years. Because I earned them, not because they were negotiated for me by a union. I have also seen a lot of underachievers fired. The Jamestown colony had a rule. You don't work, you don't eat. Funny but it works. Now go hide behind your union, as for me I will stand on my own two feet.
demsarerats in Oregon
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 9:47 PM
Gph, lol, spoken like a true drat parasite, like you would know anything about work.
Hamilton in IL
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 10:22 PM
What foolishness!
What person in what job is immune to getting fired? Whatever job you may have, you work at the pleasure of the company that hired you. Teaching should be no different.
And we'd be a lot better off if education was handled exclusively in the private sector. This is another one of the myriad of mistakes we've made as a society - transitioning education over to the public sector - and another mistake that we desperately need to correct.
G P H in Chicago, Il
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:50 AM
Just a little comment on your entire pile of steaming garbage about the teacher strike. you wonder why the students perform poorly? maybe just maybe it has a bit more to do with that the average class size is 60, that the teachers pay for supplies out of their own pockets and, that teachers are increasingly restricted from actually doing their job (because teaching is more than what shows up on the ineffective standardized tests) or, that the longtime answer to misbehaving kids is to give them exactly what they want a vacation (sorry suspension)
while i realize you are a Republican propaganda machine we the people could hope that you at least don't play the fox news scare tactic style one sided displaying of the facts.
Elle in California
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:12 PM
Clearly, you must be one of the incompetents in the street. If you take the number of students divided by the number of teachers it is clear that the average class size cannot be 60. Stop drinking the kool aid.
Anton D Rehling in Olympia, WA
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 12:43 PM
I went to school in the 60's and 70's Class size was never a problem most of my classes were always over 30 and when we had issues with a subject the teacher would pair us up with a student who understood the subject. In College for instance, chemistry class size was 75 plus conducted in a huge class room with tiered seating, I aced that class as well as others and it had nothing to do with class size.
The problem with our public education system besides being unionized is the teachers in many cases are just plain stupid and attempt to teach courses they themselves did not master. We no longer demand a high level of behavior from our youth that is a failure of parents as well as meddling government idiots drunk with power and believe they have the right to control and regulate everything and everybody. Blah, Blah, Blah.
Mark in Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:14 PM
Here in Texas, teachers salaries are in the 40k range - and many times they also buy school-room supplies. If your public school classrooms actually do have 60-students - how about CUT your OUTRAGEOUS salaraies by 20k to fund more classrooms. Your description of no consequences for bad behavior is EVERYWHERE - not just Illinois.
You are actually supporting teachers WALKING OUT of classrooms - because they don't like the PAY RAISES being added to their extremely HIGH salaries & bennys. PATHETIC.!!!...
The Texas Cooke in Lockhart, TX
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:15 PM
Actually, G P H, class size is 60 because each union teacher is getting two teachers salaries and their benefits are taking up the school district's operational budget for supplies.....and kids misbehave because liberals won't allow them to be disciplined in school. Wow....sounds like the unions again, doesn't it? How can you NOT see that?
Mark in Texas
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Great point and very well said. Just about ALL our problems today are the direct result of liberal policies…
wjm in Colorado
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Useful Idiots often make up facts to enforce fantasy. The real numbers reveal the class sizes are between 20 and 30 students. Your overpaid zealots could care less about the students, but look to satisfy their bloated waistlines. Get a clue, Chcago is an abject failure and you and you fellow Democrats can Share in the blame.
Merry Colin in Cave Creek, Arizona
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:35 PM
You are most certainly an ignorant troll. 60 kids per class--- my eye! Oh yeah, maybe the few decent teachers can't actually do their job because they are too busy being policeman and social indoctrinators to the children of the ignorant of your "great" city. Oh my heart bleeds for the poor teach making 76K a year having to pay for supplies. My sister, with two masters degrees, is a teacher in NYS and makes less than 50K. What doesn't come from fundraisers done by the PTA and room parent partners comes out of her pocket. She's smart, resourceful, and dedicated --- she hits the 99Cent Stores and doesn't biatch about it. Further, just watching interviews with these mental midgets with Che tee shirts who can't explain the meaning of same demonstrates that the LAST place they belong is in ANY public school.
Stuck in Liberal Maryland
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 1:02 PM
If you haven’t realized it yet most of the local governments in the country are under fiscal crisis and your complaint is the same old sob story. The truth in the matter is if the Chicago teachers were given their raises and kept their benefits package as is they would be back in the classroom and would be almost silent on the issues that you’re complaining about. I know the problems that you bought up are true, but are only come into the lime light when teachers unions are in contract negations. The unions are there for the teachers NOT the students.
FYI, my wife is a teacher in Maryland. She hasn’t had a raise in six years but they’re not striking! And I won’t bring up the issues of teacher misconduct and how the union fights to hide them!
demsarerats in Oregon
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 9:51 PM
Gph, “average class size is 60" is the steaming garbage, liar.
JJStryder in Realville
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 1:27 AM
Tie teachers salary with the average salary of all of their graduates. Maybe they'd be more motivated to teach and less on parasitic behavior.
Brian in Newport News
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 7:12 AM
If the teaching profession there in Chicago is as bad as you say it is, why don't you move? You can still do that can't you?
There are a lot of things that cause poor performance in students. Don't try to pin it on one political party or another. The problem is caused by a number of things: break down of the family, negative influences from the media, peer pressures, lack of competition/incentives, and agendas of various special interests groups come to mind. Paying more for education is NOT the answer, though that is typically all politicians can come up with.
Geoff in St. Charles,MO
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 11:05 AM
You are obviously one of the incompetents that couldn't hold job if wasn't for union blackmail, do your posting on huffpo or daily kos and leave this one to the adults.
G Dub in Lee's Summit, MO
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:51 AM
OK – we know that the Ambassador to Lybia was killed by a mob infuriated by an obscure youtube fim depicting the Prophet Mohammad. Under international law, this attack on the embassy was an attack on America. This murder of the Ambassador was, what else: Murder.
Since the Empty Suit who sits in the empty chair behind the desk in the Oval office cannot divert from his re-election campaign to do / or say anything about it – let me step in.
Here is how I would handle it. 1) To the Government of Lybia – hand over to US authorities the men / women responsible for the Ambassadors death within one week or all US foreign aid to Lybia for one year is suspended. In addition, for each week that this demand is not met – one more year of promised US aid is suspended. Note, by suspension I mean “NOT PAID – EVER”. These monies to be used SOLELY to pay down the National debt. Nothing else. 2) Same to ALL countries in the Middle East. You screw with our embassies, you harm our personnel – we first pull the plug on foreign aid then if that does not stop the violence and you do not become good citizens of the world – we the United States of America will arrange a meeting of you with a couple thousand of our US Marines – on your soil.
Simple diplomacy that they will understand – money and strength – not apologies.
Howard Last in Wyoming
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12:18 PM
G Dub, who says history does not repeat. Carter overthrew the Shah in Iran and look what that brought us? Now Barry kissed the backside of the nut jobs in Libya and look what that got us yesterday.
Edward in New York
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:51 AM
As a teacher of almost 40 years I can tell you with absolutely no hesitation that the Teacher's Unions are the one's that "wear the [political] pants". Should you say otherwise you are deluded. Or a member of one of those unions.