President of the AFL-CIO says two factions of the White House are racists and "Wall Streeters."

Courtesy of Business Insider:  

Richard Trumka, the head of the largest labor union in the US, had harsh words Wednesday for the members of the Trump administration. 

Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, told an audience at a Christian Science Monitor event that it's difficult for him to work with either of the two major factions in the White House. 

"You had two factions in the White House. You had one faction that actually had some of the policies we would have supported on trade, on infrastructure — but they turned out to be racist. And on the other hand, you had people that weren't racist, but they were Wall Streeters. And the Wall Streeters began to dominate the administration and have moved his agenda back to everything he fought against in the election."

Hard to argue with that actually. 

Interesting that Trumka felt that the folks that had the most in common with the union are racists. He might want to check his charter.

Trumka by the was WAS part of Trump's manufacturing jobs council, right up until he learned his was working for the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler.

"She felt she was being forced to perform for this monster." A Rockette breaks her silence about feeling forced to perform at Trump's inauguration.

Courtesy of Marie Claire:  

The dancer next to Mary was crying. Tears streamed down her face through all 90 minutes of their world-famous Christmas Spectacular as they kicked and pirouetted and hit mark after mark on the glittering Radio City Music Hall stage. This was Thursday, three days before Christmas, the day the Rockettes discovered they'd been booked to perform at the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. 

"She felt she was being forced to perform for this monster," Mary told MarieClaire.com in an exclusive interview. "I wouldn't feel comfortable standing near a man like that in our costumes," said another dancer in an email to her colleagues.

"Mary" is obviously a pseudonym to protect this dancer from losing her job for speaking out, and she has quite a lot to share.

For one, despite what we have heard, the performance was NOT at first considered optional for the full time dancers:

"So it wasn't optional at first. The email from their union said they had to do this job," Mary says of the full-timers. By Friday, after backlash from the dancers and on social media, producers agreed to make participation elective. 

However that does not mean that many of the performers feel they have a choice:  

But dancers are worried that their choice to sit out now means they'll be sitting out for good; it's not as if dancing makes for a stable career, even without hurdles like this one to jump. Mary knows of three full-time dancers who have chosen to decline to perform, and at least one of them is fearful of losing her standing as a result. "It will be interesting to see who doesn't get their job back," Mary says. "But do you really want to work for a company that supports this? I just don't know. It's become a moral issue at this point." 

 "Mary" also says that the performance has caused a split within the usually tight knit group: 

While the performance is now theoretically voluntary, that hasn't dissolved the tension within the usually supportive group of women. "There is a divide in the company now, which saddens me most," Mary says. "The majority of us said no immediately. Then there's the percentage that said yes, for whatever reason—whether it's because they're young and uninformed, or because they want the money, or because they think it's an opportunity to move up in the company when other people turn it down."

Mary says that to her knowledge, no women of color have signed up to perform that day. "It's almost worse to have 18 pretty white girls behind this man who supports so many hate groups," she says. The lack of diversity in the kick line is "embarrassing" on a normal day, she says, and will only be more pointed in January. "They're going to be branded in history as one of those women," Mary says. "How's it going to look?"

So to be clear the man who rode to the presidency on the waves of racism, and with the help of a foreign government, will have performing at his inauguration a group of lily white dancers who secretly despise him but feel pressured to do as they are told for fear of losing their jobs.

Well I guess it could be worse.

At least nobody is rounding them up and taking them away.

At least not yet.

Chris Christie suggests that the teacher's union deserves a punch in the face.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

In an interview that aired on Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper reminded the New Jersey governor that he had advised people to punch bullies “in the face” during his first term as governor. 

“At the national level, who deserves a punch in the face?” Tapper wondered. 

“Oh, the national teachers union,” Christie replied without hesitation. “They’re not for education for our children, they’re for greater membership, greater benefits, greater pay for their members.” 

“And they are the single most destructive force in public education in America,” he added. “I’ve been saying that since 2009. I’ve got the scars to show it, but I’m never going to stop saying it because they never change their stripes.”

Christie attempts to explain his pugnacious attitude toward the NEA by saying that they are all about getting better pay, and better benefits for their teachers. (Which by the way help them to better educate our children asshole.) But he also goes out of his way to mention that they have already thrown their support behind Hillary Clinton as if he is somehow insulted that they would not wait for the GOP to choose THEIR candidate before deciding not to endorse somebody from a party that has done nothing but attack teachers and undermine education for the last fifty years or more.

You know what this makes me so fucking mad that I would like to volunteer to stand in for the NEA and receive that punch from Christie. My only stipulation is that once he has smacked me with his blubbery fist that I get a shot as well.

Trust me, it would be well worth it.

At this point the only contest that I can really see among the GOP contenders for the nomination, is which one I despise the most. It seems to change almost daily.

Today it is a toss up between Chris Christie and Donald Trump.

But hey, the day's still young. 

Robert Reich explains that we strengthen the middle class by strengthening unions.

Courtesy of Robert Reich.org: 

 One big reason America was far more equal in the 1950s and 1960s than now is unions were stronger then. That gave workers bargaining power to get a fair share of the economy’s gains – and unions helped improve wages and working conditions for everyone. 

But as union membership has weakened – from more than a third of all private-sector workers belonging unions in the 1950s to fewer than 7 percent today – the bargaining power of average workers has all but disappeared. 

In fact, the decline of the American middle class mirrors almost exactly the decline of American labor union membership. 

I think Professor Reich is one of my favorite sources for learning about politics and economics in this country.

And I am really jealous of his ability to illustrate his lessons while he speaks.

The conservatives in this country have been attempting to bust the unions since the first day workers organized in this country, it is shameful how successful they have been since Ronald Reagan set the standard back in the 1980's.

Well SOMEBODY'S going to have to find a new theme song.

Courtesy of Mediaite: 

On Saturday pro-union Irish punk band the Dropkick Murphys told Wisconsin Governor and organized labor bête noire Scott Walker to stop playing their songs at his rallies. 

Walker reportedly took the stage at the Iowa Freedom Summit this weekend to “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” the band’s collaboration with the Guthrie family made big by its featured inclusion in The Departed. The Bostonians were not pleased.

You know I am sure there is some local shit kicker band that would LOVE to have Scott Walker play their songs while he busts Wisconsin unions and takes a giant crap on the middle class.

Bill Maher addressed the NYPD's insecurity and tantrum throwing on Real Time last night.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Bill Maher closed Real Time on Friday by denouncing not only New York City police, but police unions in general for fostering tension between officers, residents and elected leaders. 

“Put six slugs into an unarmed man by the seat of your car? ‘By the book,’” he explained. “Strangle a handcuffed guy to death? ‘By the book.’ Kill a 12-year-old who had a toy gun? ‘By the book.’ Maybe they need to get a new book. Who wrote this book, anyway, George Zimmerman?”

“This is why Americans hate unions now,” Maher said. “It’s why Republicans have been able to make ‘taking on the unions’ an applause line. Because union bullsh*t that people see on TV made it easy for them to make it about crybabies and entitlement. Which is a shame, because with a record wealth gap, we need unions now more than ever.”

I am usually 100% in support of unions, but Maher does make some good points about certain police unions. 

The Koch brothers and conservative PAC's are spending millions to defeat Mark Begich in Alaska. So here come the labor unions to the rescue.

AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami with Rachel Maddow

Courtesy of Mother Jones:

Republicans' most likely path to retaking the Senate in November requires GOPers to pick up seats in six key states: Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Of the six, Alaska—where Democratic Sen. Mark Begich is facing off against former Republican Attorney General Dan Sullivan—may be the closest race. That's why right-wing groups backed by the likes of the Koch brothers and Karl Rove are dumping millions into the state—and why Alaska unions are pulling out all the stops this year to make sure Begich, a fierce supporter of labor, carries the day. 

"This is literally the most active we've ever been in an election cycle," says Vince Beltrami, the president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, which represents nearly all unions in the state. 

Union members have been working the phones, pushing out mailings, and canvassing on behalf of Begich. Volunteers have even taken the unusual step of door-knocking in areas far outside of Alaska's urban centers, says Jerry McBeath, a professor of political science at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Because of the unprecedented level of campaign action this year, Beltrami says, the AFL-CIO had to rent out an extra 7,000-square-foot warehouse.

The giant push by labor this year comes not only because the race is one of the most competitive in the country and could decide which party controls the Senate. The wave of union action is also a backlash against the onslaught of money pouring into the state in support of Sullivan from the billionaire Koch brothers' dark-money group Americans for Prosperity and GOP operative Karl Rove's super-PAC, American Crossroads. The groups—which support the rollback of collective bargaining rights and back right-to-work laws, which prevent unions from compelling employees to join or pay dues to a union—are dumping money into the Alaska Senate race for the first time ever. 

"They're up here on the airwaves 24 hours a day, seven days a week, trying to tie Mark to Obama," Beltrami says. "They say things 50 times a day on the airwaves that aren't true. You gotta push back."

Don't forget these are ALASKAN union members fighting against forces outside of our state throwing truckloads of money at this election in order to elect an outsider who will jump through any flaming hoop they hold up for him.

We are fighting for our very lives up here, and this is absolutely a David and Goliath story of a local Anchorage man facing off against giants of industry willing to bury him under a mountain of campaign spending.

I know Vince though, and if this thing can be turned around with good hard work and a never say die attitude then he and his union brothers and sisters are certainly the ones to make that happen.

Sit down kiddies, Sarah Palin's going to learn ya about unions.

Holy crap! Did you buy ANY of that?

Here was Wonkette's take on this drivel:

It start with some facts about the history of Labor Day that Sarah found on Wikipedia, about how hard-workin’ people built America. What do Republicans think of hard-workin’ Americans, you ask? “Fer ‘em!” Sarah replies. But then she brings up how Todd was in a union — elected treasurer, even! — and how that was fine because Todd was helpin’ some hard-workin’ guys up in Alaska, whereas the “union thugs,” the ones runnin’ the unions, they’re no good. She concludes this rambling saying that the true meaning of Labor Day is not about politics. 

At the end of the video, she takes a moment to address everyone who doesn’t have Labor Day off, and she thanks them for coming to work that day. 

So Palin has nothing against her union brothers and sisters' but flat out hate those union "thugs" don'tcha know?

I guess it does not dawn on Palin that those "thugs" ie union bosses, are union members as well who worked their way up. (And by the way if Todd was the treasurer, you know the guy that makes sure people pay their dues and keeps track of the payout, that kind of puts him in cahoots with those same thugs that Palin is dissing in this stupid video.

As for Palin's contention that the Republicans are on the side of union member, well that is simply Palin brand mooseshit.

Here is just a smattering of what the GOP has been up to lately to undermine or even destroy unions in this country, courtesy of Mother Jones:

From New Hampshire to Alaska, Republican lawmakers are waging war on organized labor. They're pushing bills to curb, if not eliminate, collective bargaining for public workers; make it harder for unions to collect member dues; and, in some states, allow workers to opt out of joining unions entirely but still enjoy union-won benefits. All told, it's one of the largest assaults on American unions in recent history. 

Behind the onslaught is a well-funded network of conservative think tanks that you've probably never heard of. Conceived by the same conservative ideologues who helped found the Heritage Foundation, the State Policy Network (SPN) is a little-known umbrella group with deep ties to the national conservative movement. Its mission is simple: to back a constellation of state-level think tanks loosely modeled after Heritage that promote free-market principles and rail against unions, regulation, and tax increases.

In the immortal words of Keith Olbermann, "The woman...is an idiot."

Robert Reich explains America's Koch problem.

You know I am not always a huge fan of petitions, but I am so goddamn sick and tired of these rich assholes undermining our democracy that I think this is one petition that deserves our support.

Private school advocates in Wisconsin go on a full frontal assault against public schools.

Courtesy of The Progressive:  

Parents whose children attend the public schools in Wisconsin have been getting a barrage of phone calls lately offering "free tuition to send your child to a private or religious school." 

"We at School Choice Wisconsin are proud to pay for this call, because we want the very best for you and your child," a woman's voice intones. 

The friendly voice directs parents to a website: chooseyourschoolwi.org. 

A little online digging reveals that the School Choice Wisconsin website address is registered to the American Education Reform Council -- a group funded by John Walton, of Walmart, to the tune of $1 million between 1999 and 2000, and also funded in part by grants worth hundreds of millions from the rightwing Bradley Foundation. 

The American Education Reform Council's political arm has been heavily involved in pushing voucher legislation in Colorado and Michigan; "paycheck protection" (to limit unions' ability to spend money in elections) in California; and a failed Washington, D.C., voucher initiative designed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. 

Why is this group calling parents in Wisconsin now? 

The calls happen to coincide with the application process for the statewide voucher program created in the last budget, also known as the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program. The application period runs through April 21. Even if school vouchers are not available in a particular district, if enough people respond to these robocalls, voucher advocates can use the responses to demonstrate demand. 

Ginning up demand for vouchers helps the people who want to expand the program -- which is why the Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity is holding pro-voucher events around the state during application season.

As if that were not troubling enough, it is only one strategy being used to undermine public education in Wisconsin.

Right on the heels of those school-choice robocalls, Wisconsin parents are now receiving postcards in the mail from "eAchieve Academy," "Wisconsin's Leading Online Middle and High School."

This is one of many virtual school programs that offer online classes and will be paid for with school vouchers. Of course with no need to maintain class sizes for each teacher, and no need of janitors to clean non-existing hallways or cafeterias, there is plenty of money left over for the owners of these websites to pocket.

And this is happening, not just in Wisconsin, but all over the country.  

K12, Inc., the huge, nationwide virtual school operator that runs the McFarland online academy, raked in $848.2 million in profits in 2013 as a publicly traded company, almost entirely out of the public trough.

These schools are often NOT performing at anywhere near the standard set for public schools, and their test scores are often far from impressive.

Make no mistake, this has NOTHING to do with improving education, and EVERYTHING to do with undermining public education and sucking tax dollars away and putting into the private sector.

And we are losing this battle every day.

Former conservative icon "Joe the Plumber" now working in a union shop just like any other pinko commie. Say it ain't so Joe!

Courtesy of Wurzelbacher's Right Wing blog Joe for America:

 In order to work for Chrysler, you are required to join the Union, in this case UAW. There’s no choice – it’s a union shop – the employee’s voted to have it that way and in America that’s the way it is. I have lived in Toledo, Ohio off and on throughout my entire life and I have plenty of friends who are union members. Sometimes we agree politically and sometimes not, but it has never kept us from being friends. I wondered if this would be the case at my new job, so.. 

I had three days of orientation, and now I’m “on the job” over here at Chrysler and on Day 4, I’m outside on a break smoking a cigarette and right on cue – some guy calls me a “teabagger.” 

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Democrats and liberals, who are supposed to so tolerant and enlightened regarding homosexuals have for three or four years now, have been using a gay slur to describe people who they think are associated with the Tea Party. “Tea Bagger” has traditionally been a derogatory slur used to intimidate, put down, humiliate and otherwise taunt, smear, bully or just discriminate against gays – usually gay men – based on a sex act that gay men apparently made popular. 

Decorum prevents me from describing it – they got this thing called “Google” now for that – but suffice it to say that the double-standard for what Democrats can say and what conservatives can say continues unabated, but still I thought to myself, did this guy think I’m gay, or was he making a statement of my political affiliation? I tried talking to him, but he went off about how he was a “journeyman” and started walking away. 

Wurzelbacher's thin skin is kind of humorous considering the crap he said about the President.

However if he actually used this Google thing he is talking about, he might learn that the word "Teabagger" was NOT a disparaging label used to describe gay men.

In fact according to the Urban Dictionary it is either a person who dangles their testicles in another person's mouth (Described as a male on female activity) or:

A fascist right-wing conservative who opposes affordable healthcare by shouting at public gatherings.

In other words Joe Wurzelbacher.  (There were a few other definitions, but they were pretty racy.)

Besides as The Week reported back in 2010, the term Teabagger was NOT originally chosen as a derogatory remark by the Liberals.

Here is how the term evolved: 

Feb. 27, 2009 
At the first anti-stimulus "New American Tea Party" rally in Washington D.C., a protestor carries a sign reading "Tea Bag the Liberal Dems before they Tea Bag You!!" The Washington Independent's David Weigel calls it "the best sign I saw." 

March 2 
Americans for Prosperity, an anti-tax group, is one of the first Tea Party organizations to advocate sending tea bags to elected officials to protest the stimulus package. Several other lobby groups follow suit. 

April 1 
Several Tea Party protest sites encourage readers to "Tea bag the fools in DC." Jay Nordlinger at National Review Online later admits: "Conservatives started [using the term]... but others ran and ran with it." 

April 9 
Rachel Maddow is the first to mock the Tea Party's use of the phrase on her left-leaning MSNBC show. "Even Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina is getting in on the hot tea-bagging action," she says, stifling laughter. (Watch Rachel Maddow joke about the "tea baggers")

So like all Teabaggers Wurzelbacher is just upset that his group was so ignorant that they chose an easily mocked sexual term to describe themselves that the Left Wing will not let them forget.

Oh well, deal with it!

However if Wurzelbacher wants to avoid being mocked in the future he might think about not posting articles with headlines like these:  

The NAACP Is A Racists Bigoted Organization 

The Republican Establishment wants the IRS harassing the Tea Parties more than the Democrats 

Obama’s despotic rule: Montesquieu knew this would happen 

Let's face it, much like Trig, Joe the Plumber was a tool of the Republican party, and once they are done with you they simply toss you aside.

If he wants to fit in with his new, and possibly more liberal, co-workers he might want to think about no longer carrying water for the conservatives, and start thinking of who it is that is working to help the middle class union members.

Here's a hint, it sure as hell is not the Republican party!

Robert Reich explains the Republican war on America.

Courtesy of MoveOn.org:  

Connect the dots between policies that keep many of our fellow Americans desperate, and you’ll see they add up to a war on the poor and working families. 

I bet you thought my headline was hyperbole didn't you?

Sadly, it is not.

It is time for the Democrats to start fighting as if they are fighting for their very lives.

Because they are. 

When the Republicans talk about the good old days.

You know its true.

By the way, here are 36 ways that unions have made ALL of our lives better:

• Weekends 
• All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks 
• Paid Vacation 
• FMLA 
• Sick Leave 
• Social Security 
• Minimum Wage 
• Civil Rights 
• Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination) 
• 8-Hour Work Day 
• Overtime Pay 
• Child Labor Laws 
• Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
• 40 Hour Work Week 
• Worker's Compensation (Worker's Comp) 
• Unemployment Insurance 
• Pensions 
• Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations 
• Employer Health Care Insurance
• Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees 
• Wrongful Termination Laws 
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 
• Whistleblower Protection Laws 
• Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee) 
• Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS) 
• Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises) 
• Sexual Harassment Laws 
• Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) 
• Holiday Pay 
• Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance 
• Privacy Rights 
• Pregnancy and Parental Leave 
• Military Leave 
• The Right to Strike 
• Public Education for Children 
• Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work) 
• Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States

You're welcome.

And do you know which political group stood in opposition to almost all of these changes?  Of course you do.

Sarah Palin keeps right on using her Naughty Monkey Pumps to kick that repeal Obamacare dead horse. "Get up damn you, we're losing!" Update!

Courtesy of the Wasilla Wendigo's Facebook page.

I assume that Palin spent all day yesterday trying to find a picture of her with some union members to provide some cover for yesterday's hateful fact free diatribe. 

By the way somebody has already pointed out that you can tell that the photo was reversed by the phone number on the banner behind her.

Apparently they wanted to get her "good" side.

Yeah I've met her. Her only good side is when she is outside and all of the windows and doors are locked to keep her that way.

Update: For those wondering, it appears the picture is real.

 However I am not at ALL sure any of those people are actual union members.

With October 1st breathing down her neck Sarah Palin tries, and fails, to get Union members on her side in trying to get Obamacare repealed.

Courtesy of Nurse Wretched's Facebook page:

Remember when President Obama promised us, “If you like your current health care plan, you can keep your plan?” That was not true, and his deceptive claim falls in line with all the other lies about Obamacare – like there’d be no health care rationing. (Did she just take actual concerns voiced by the Nevada AFL-CIO and conflate them with "death panels?" I believe she did.)


Anyone with an ounce of common sense can understand that if it is cheaper for a company to cancel employees’ health benefits and pay the $2,000 Obamacare fine instead of providing, say, a $10,000 government mandated employee health care plan, then of course that company will choose to pay the much smaller fine.

And if companies don’t have to provide government mandated health care for part time employees, then of course that’s an incentive for them to cut back employees’ hours and make their workforce part time. (Yep that is a risk, and one that many big businesses are threatening to expand. But ultimately when the program gets implemented completely these businesses will find it more advantageous to take part in the subsidies and reduced prices that the ACA will help implement. Besides having two part-timers instead of one full-time employee doubles the cost of things like training, scheduling and uniforms. This is simply a ploy by big business types to resist the change.)


This isn’t rocket science. This is Economics 101. And it’s happening right now at companies all over the country. (Rocket science and Economics 101, two classes we know Sarah Palin never took.)


We saw this coming, and now even President Obama’s union leader friends have finally 'fessed up to Obamacare lies. These union leaders betrayed their own membership by enthusiastically endorsing Obamacare, and now our good union brothers and sisters are at risk of losing the benefits they’ve worked for and counted on their whole lives. Union bosses, you owe your membership an apology, retraction, and resignation. (Yes we all now how much Palin loves the unions. Not!)


Union leaders are now scrambling and trying to get special carve-outs exclusively for union members. I sympathize with union members (What, she sympathizes with them?) – especially when they’re led by thugs. (Ahh! That's better.) I always do. But this is the wrong way to go about fixing the enormous train wreck that is Obamacare. More cronyism, select exemptions, and special subsidies make the problem worse. 

We need to repeal the whole darn thing, and that starts with defunding it. 

Union brothers and sisters, don’t let your incompetent leadership hoodwink you again. Demand a full repeal, an immediate defunding, and some resignations. (Yes my union brother and sisters let's stop Obamacare and replace it with...uh....with...well we'll get back to you on that.)


- Sarah Palin

With the October 1st signup date looming on the horizon, the Right Wing is freaking out that they may not be able to stop or water down the Affordable Care Act before the American people get the chance to experience for themselves how great it is for them and their families.

Will there be hiccups and screw ups? Yes of course there will, there always are. 

And they will be exacerbated by the fact that the Republicans are flatly refusing to help smooth out the rough patches by working on small changes to the implementation of ACA that would help over come the sticking points. You know like was done back when Medicare was being implemented.

But here is what I always keep in mind. IF Obamacare was going to be the train wreck that the conservatives keep predicting that it will be, they would simply sit back twirling their metaphorical mustaches until it crashed and burned and then start whipping out the "I told you so's." ("Fuck you we knew it, and that's why we didn't vote for it!")

However instead they are working night and day, and spending Koch brother money hand over fist, and even threatening to shut down the government, in an effort to KEEP THE LAW FROM EVER BEING IMPLEMENTED! That is not what people confident that Obamacare will fail would do, THAT is what people who KNOW it will be successful and damage them politically would do.

I'm just saying.

Class size not an issue so long as you have "high quality" teachers? On what planet?

Courtesy of the Chicago Teacher's Union: 

There's a lot at stake in the closing debate for Chicago Public Schools, which sees eliminating redundant facilities as one piece of a long-term strategy to force efficiencies and address a chronic fiscal crisis. 

For parents and students, the prospect of being shifted away from familiar, nearby schools — even those where student performance lags — can be a daunting and even scary prospect in a city where crossing more streets brings with it expense, inconvenience and safety concerns. 

Michelle Harris, president of the Local School Council at May Elementary in the Austin neighborhood, also sees the consolidation efforts as a threat to school quality. 

"In western suburbs like Forest Park, where my kids used to go to school, they sure wouldn't be OK with 30 students in a classroom," Harris said. "When there's more children in a classroom, there's less learning time and less personal time with the teacher." 

May is one of the 129 schools under consideration for closing. This year there are 463 students enrolled at May, under half its ideal capacity as figured by school officials. 

Becky Carroll, a CPS spokeswoman, argued that big classes don't necessarily hamper learning. 

"It's the quality of teaching in that classroom," Carroll said. "You could have a teacher that is high-quality that could take 40 kids in a class and help them succeed."

I am having a VERY hard time believing that a spokesperson for public schools said this.  It literally makes me want to bang my head on the desk in frustration.

Yes it certainly does help to have a good teacher. However these people are educators NOT wizards!

They can teach, perhaps their teaching can even be categorized as"high-quality," but that is only part of the challenge.

They also have to deal with the different learning capabilities of the students in their classroom. The teacher may be "high-quality" but it is unlikely that in a room full of 40 students that they can all be categorized as such.

This teacher will invariably have students that have IEP's and require special attention, students that did not get enough sleep, students that were passed through the system even they are still several grades behind their peers, students that are hungry because there is not enough food at home, and students who have behavioral problems whihc result in disruption within the classroom.

This "high-quality" teacher might be able to adequately educate 75% of her class in this atmosphere, but at least a quarter of them will fail, or learn so little that they might as well have failed.

What's more the strain of trying to teach this size classroom, year in and year out, will eventually burn this "high-quality" teacher out and send her running to the private sector in the hopes of finding some more reasonable classroom size in a private Christian school, where science is considered  unimportant and trouble makers are simply expelled.

Look I've worked in a number of classrooms, I was the support staff for those teachers, and I can tell you that even under optimum conditions some of these teachers barely make it to the end of the year with their sanity intact. There is tremendous pressure to succeed, and often not nearly enough support, leaving teachers terrified of failing their students.

The idea of expanding the class sizes and then holding the educators to some unreachable "high-quality" standard is cruel and  punitive, and will ultimately result in the failure of the school in which it takes place.

But what can you expect when a non-teacher tries to address the problems of education?

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is now channeling union busting Wisonsin Governor Scott Walker. Well isn't THAT special?

Courtesy of KTVA:  

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is targeting unions in a move that is not unlike that of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. 

Late Friday afternoon the mayor’s office submitted a proposed ordinance to the Anchorage Assembly that could completely overhaul collective bargaining rights and dramatically change the relationship between the municipality and its employees.  The ordinance is aimed at city employees and organizations across a wide spectrum of jobs, but the language goes out of its way to define two jobs with new language: police and firefighters. 

And most drastically, the new proposal removes four pages of rules that dictate how unions go about strikes, and it affirms several times that "strikes or any work disruptions" are prohibited outright. 

This proposal isn't limited to firefighters and police officers. It also includes sewer and water employees, and electrical employees and port employees, as well.

You know for a long time now we have been debating who the Alaska GOP would choose to face Mark Begich in 2014. The main two choice had always been Joe Miller and Mayor Sullivan.

However recently Miller's huge play to take over the Alaska GOP collapsed as his flunky, Russ Millette, got the boot as chairman, leaving Miller with no inside track to getting the nomination.

Not only that but recent polling shows he would only receive 9% support against Begich which essentially makes him a non-starter, and the field wide open for Sullivan who has a more impressive 29% support.

However this proposed ordinance is definitely going to impact Sullivan's chances against Begich in a negative way, as Alaska is a union state, and many of our citizens are blue color workers heavily invested in their unions.

Beyond that Sullivan has some of the same issues that damage Miller's chances, including backing from a fringe group of supporters, a certain "party planner" who shall remain nameless (Unless he runs of course.), and let's not forget THIS:

 

Yes Sullivan also has ties to the Wasilla Wendigo. Which by the way, is ANOTHER thing that will surely come out if he decides to take Senator Begich on. 

Personally I see smooth sailing ahead for Mark Begich's chances of retaining his Senate seat.

Chris Matthews tries to get surrogate for Koch Brothers to admit he works for them. He won't.

God I loved watching this yesterday!

The guys absolutely REFUSES to admit who bankrolls Americans for Prosperity even though we ALL know that the Koch Brothers pay these guys to work on their behalf in Michigan to help bust up unions.

I am not always a huge Chris Matthews fan, as I have stated before, but damn did I enjoy watching this slimy little worm squirm!

(You can watch the entire interview here.)

Michigan just passed union busting "Right to Work" measure. Expected to be signed into law tomorrow.

Protesters outside the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan today.

Courtesy of the AP:  

The Republican-led Michigan House has approved a contentious right-to-work bill limiting unions' strength. 

The measure approved Tuesday morning deals with public-sector workers. Another bill focusing on the private sector was approved last week, when the Senate OK'd both bills. 

When final versions have cleared the House, they'll go to GOP Gov. Rick Snyder for his expected signature as early as Wednesday.

Even with Obama's reelection and strong national support for the policies espoused by Democrats, there are still places, like Michigan, that are still fighting against corporate backed Republicans working hard to break unions and diminish the rights of the middle class.

I know right?

The Republicans talk about the "Right to Work" laws being beneficial to the worker, but of course that is bullshit. Instead it does the following:

The Republicans talk about how representing big business at the expense of the average American has hurt them politically, but let's face it, they have no intention of changing ANYTHING except how they hide their agenda.

A Brief History of Corporate Whining.

Believing that businesses are self regulating is like believing that criminals are self incarcerating.