Month: November 2011

Right-to-Work is Coming to Ohio: Money spent against Issue 2 sealed the deal

That mug shot of Diana Frey represents to me the problems of public sector unions. It’s not the individual members themselves who are the problem, but collectively they pave the way to corruption. As a general rule, the larger the organization, the more opportunities for corruption, and that corruption usually comes from the leadership. Diana Frey had access to vast sums of money from a union she started, and she abused that trust for her own gain. There are people like her in the leadership of most unions to varying degrees. They may not be embezzling money on the scale of Diana Frey, but the power they wield does corrupt their intentions for the so-called “greater good.”

Doc Thompson did a wonderfully balanced segment on 700 WLW on Issue 2, the collective bargaining reform bill in Ohio. This portion of the conversation begins with an interview from a rep from Freedom Works, but consists of many phone calls from people on both sides of the Issue 2 argument. Doc also breaks down the specifics of Issue 1 and 3 in Ohio as well, so if you aren’t sure what those issues are, you’ll want to spend time with this broadcast. Click the video link to listen.


Doc is a lot more neutral about the public unions than I am. I have come to a place where I believe they should all be illegal. I see absolutely no good that comes from them. Not only has the collective bargaining contracts negotiated by unions allowed very average employees to make Grade A income, but they create a culture of complacency that I find devastating to our social fabric. Our society has become too safe, regimented, and overly regulated. Too many people have jobs that are unproductive and simply serve to maintain those complacent conditions and it is the unions who perpetuate that culture.

A hard look at the Stacy Schuler case in Mason and the sexual promiscuity going on at that school not just among that one teacher, but the several who are also involved, and the situation I recently learned about at Lakota where a teacher thought nothing of using a child to seduce the mother of a family is that all these participants are functioning within a bubble of protection which the union gives them. Because unions destroy competition, there are no real rivals in the work place that must be out-performed, and this allows the mind to wander to sexual promiscuity on the light end of corruption and on the heavy end, Diana Frey and her embezzlement of three-quarters of a million dollars in union dues. See the sad sex story of the Lakota parents here:

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/sex-at-lakota-schools-i-just-want-to-see-justice-said-the-husband/

Wherever I’ve had to work with unions either in the private sector, which I do often, or the public sector which I have since I became involved in school levies, I see massive inefficiencies in their work ethic that disgust me. Unions exist to protect the employee, but that is not always a good thing, because competition helps drive the best out of people, and when that is taken away, complacency fills the void.

I am one of those who believe that every member of society should have a right to belong to a union, or not to belong to a union. I believe that freedom from a union should be an option for every Ohio employee. And I am one who thought that Issue 2 never went far enough. Those who claim it went too far are those who assume that the static patterns maintained for the last 40 years deserve to be maintained, and I think it should be completely erased. There is no merit in the union activity that I can see, except for those who live under its protection. The cost of that protection is not something I’m willing to support. The strangle hold they have on the public must be released.

As I was riding to work this morning in the crisp cool autumn air I thought of a friend of mine and frequent reader here who announced to me last night, “I’m the one of the first to sign the petition for Ohio to become a Right to Work State!” I had to smile at that, and not just because the mask I wear in the cold attracts a lot of attention, but because it has been talked about for a long time. Many of us who have wanted education reform have been waiting to see the results of Issue 2, but after seeing how much money the unions from outside Ohio have spent attempting to defeat that very fair bill, it has been decided to proceed with our plan to put Ohio Right-to-Work on the state ballot. This is something that needs to be implemented as fast as possible. The ugliness, the fear tactics, the misleading information that has come out of the unions during this campaign against Issue 2 has sealed the deal and convinced many people who there just isn’t a happy co-existence with labor unions. Employees need to have the option to belong to them or not, and in the future I will judge the value of employees based first on whether or not they are in a union. If they are in a union I will assume that they are a weak employee who is relying on collective-bargaining to receive a level of pay they do not deserve. Those not in a union will naturally earn my respect because they obviously are proud of their work and don’t wish to hide it in a collective mass.

Unions, you brought it on yourself. We tried to play nice, but you chose the radical route. So you are doing yourselves in. Personally, I am done with all of you. I want a cop, a firefighter and a teacher, but I don’t want a union between them and me. All one has to do to see the ugliness of the union ethic is to pull up the rug, because there has been a lot shoved under there that has accumulated over time and has pulled our society down to a level that I find reprehensible.

For those who wish to point at Diana Frey and say, “She’s not an accurate representation of public unions, or unions in general.” I would say that you are lying to yourself out of convenience. You don’t want to believe simply due to that fact that you benefit from unions and don’t want to believe you are participating in treachery to the nation. Diana attempted to shove her mess under the rug, but it was just so big that we could see the lump in the carpet. So we lifted it up and saw what she had done. However, for every Diana Frey, there are many little Diana’s out there doing much smaller offenses that add up to a lot of dirt collectively, and it all doesn’t fit under the rug.

I want to pull the rug away all together. I want to polish the hardwood floors of our nation, so I’m ready to toss the carpet out to the trash so we can show off the foundation that has always been there. But without the carpet, there isn’t anywhere to stuff the corruption, which is a key to putting our country on the correct tract which will endure for the future. That is the primary reason I am a huge supporter of making Ohio a Right-to-Work state, so look for the petition coming to a neighborhood near you. And when you see it, SIGN IT!

For the answer to everything click the link below!

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/the-answer-is-c-who-runs-society-the-engine-or-the-boxcar/

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Standing Against the Raging Water: The current isn’t always right

Halloween of 2011 for me was a day of rebirth instead of mocking death with the typical rituals of that pagan holiday. My sister brought twins into the world so a good part of my day was spent at the hospital. However, over the weekend the No Lakota Levy had lost between 500 to 700 signs and Channel 19 was covering the story where Tiffany was kind enough to see me at the hospital as the twins were born to discuss the missing signs. You can see that report at this link.

http://www.fox19.com/story/15919829/no-lakota-campaign-reports-missing-signs

As I thought about the signs I didn’t want to say on camera that I thought that it was radical elements of the Move Forward Campaign, the PTA groups, the leftist teachers, the students whipped up into anger by their teachers in class, which had stolen the signs or vandalized them into the wrecks seen in the Channel 19 report. What gives me the right to make that assertion………..experience.

I know that there are many things within the Lakota School District that are actually quite sinister. This could be said for any large organization. But just because this is the typical case, it is certainly not an endorsement. A story that came to me on the wings of a little bird that spoke to me on a recent fall day uttered a chirping dialog of severe concern regarding high level administrator’s behavior at Lakota East when parents tried to find alternatives to the funding problems that faced the school last year after the levy defeat. The little bird told me what I had always suspected, that the administration at Lakota is much more concerned with passing school levies, obtaining additional money for their inflated contracts than the actual health of the district.

The little bird said, “Many of us parents were trying to save the band program from severe cuts by having a fund raiser, where we could have covered all the costs for that extracurricular activity. We wanted to pay for it ourselves but were told we weren’t allowed.”

“Why,” I asked.

“Because we were told that the band was an emotional issue that the public enjoyed, and that if the public didn’t pass the levy, it would be taken away until they did pass a levy.”

“Are you serious,” I said.

“Yes. It was a very frustrating situation.”

What that means is that administrators would not allow the help of these parents to save their extracurricular program with efforts of their own because the school wanted to cut those programs as punishment for not passing the levy. For those of you, who have any doubt that the busing was removed as a purely extortive tactic, doubt no longer? Lakota and every other public school even though they do it with a smile on their faces are radical organizations that participate in behavior that we’d find appealing if it came from a thief, or a mugger. But since it comes from a school, we put blinders on to and forget about the behavior.

As I stepped away from the birth of my new niece and nephew to give the Channel 19 interview, a long time family friend that I have known since she was a very little girl stated, “Why is he doing this?” You see, most of my family is not with me on my beliefs of saying no to school levies, and they absolutely do not agree with me on Issue 2 which I am 100% for. The reason is in my family there are teachers, superintendents, professional students, policeman, nurses and city workers who are unionized. I come from a family that started its roots at Fisher Body in Hamilton and my best friend growing up had parents where the mother was a Lakota teacher, and the dad worked at the Norwood GM plant. My family and I haven’t spoke much since all this started and that’s part of the price for taking a position like this. This is why people tend not to take firm positions, because they will often not do the right thing because in doing the right thing it may affect a loved one. So when I stepped out to speak with Tiffany, of leaving my wife in the waiting room to defend me, the obvious question on everyone’s mind was, “Why is he doing this, and can’t it wait till tomorrow? Why is he doing it while the babies are being born? Does he want to tarnish their first hours with this rebellious diatribe of his?”

The long time family friend said to my wife after I left, “I hope the levy passes because I’m tired of having to drive my kids to school. It’s really hard on me.”

“But don’t you see that’s why they are doing it,” My wife said.

But the long time family friend didn’t care. She just became flustered and turned her attention to the rest of my family who agreed with her. After all, a Friends television rerun was coming up later, and that was far more important. The emotions of the moment were supposed to be focused on the children being born exclusively.

When I came back up from my interview, I wasn’t surprised to learn about the transaction. In my world all things have to be done at the same time. The joy of new family arrivals must receive the proper ceremony, but the battles outside in the world do not stop. All tasks must be achieved simultaneously. But it is just such a sentiment that these schools use as extortion against family friends like the one mentioned. She’s a sweet girl, and the only fault she exhibits is a blissful ignorance. If this were the Matrix movie, she metaphorically speaking has taken the “blue pill.” She doesn’t want to see or question the deeper meaning of anything, and people like her will always be victims of extortion by some political power.

I mention all this so that you can know that I have no respect for those of you who say, I will vote for the school levy because my wife is a school teacher. Or because my father is a superintendent, or any other title in public education, and the same holds true for cops and firefighters over Issue 2. Your vote should not be dictated by what some family member does. It should be based on what you know to be right in your heart, even if everyone you know and care about plead with you to do otherwise for their own personal comfort.

Life is not about being comfortable. It’s about actually living and doing your best to do the right thing. The right thing is not to jump off a cliff just because everyone else does. Sometimes, everyone IS wrong and you may be the only voice of reason. And if you don’t let that voice be heard, then you did wrong. They may not listen, but it won’t be because you didn’t try.

So have a little respect for yourself, and don’t let yourself get pushed around, even if your family members tell you that it’s acceptable. IT’S NOT! If they choose to swallow the blue pill, fine. But don’t participate in open extortion and expect to look in the mirror and respect yourself. Sure, you may have the support of your family, but that’s not enough. Because ultimately, you have to feel right about what you do inside and they can’t give that to you. The terms of living must be met by the individual, not a collective sum. Believe me; I am speaking from extensive experience.

 

For the answer to everything click the link below!

 

Macrocosm and the Microcosm: It’s a math problem displayed in art

I had a beer with my son-in-law at The Polo Grill in Mason and we discussed our thoughts of the upcoming election and people in general. The video below articulates perfectly my current mood. As I speak to my constitutional purist friends in the Tea Party, my Wild West traditional arts friends, and my conservative political friends, and even my artistic friends who almost agree with nothing politically with me, I continue to be amazed at how willingly we place upon ourselves chains of social bondage. The first comment I received last night from a person I respect a great deal about the sexual situation I described in the article at the link below was “What’s the big deal? It’s sex between consenting adults.” Clearly the message was lost in the importance of the story:

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/sex-at-lakota-schools-i-just-want-to-see-justice-said-the-husband/

The artist who assembled this painting accurately portrays my current feeling about virtually everything. Have a look.

I spend a lot of my time thinking about life in the macrocosm and that video shows the condition of the American macrocosm.I am infinitely fascinated with the conditions that add up to that macrocosm so events in the microcosm are things I pay a lot of attention to. And one of the conditions which add up to those people in chains shown in that artistic rendering begin in public education.

Many people inaccurately assume that I have a hatred of public education because I don’t want to increase taxes on the community to pay for it. At one level, public education is simply too expensive. The cost of it needs to come down. But personally, I am not happy with the product that public education produces, mainly because they are largely responsible for the willingness of the people in that video for putting on those chains.

I have listened to many stories come at me from acts that go on within a school system. Since I live in the Lakota district, which is considered one of the best in the country, there are still plenty of stories of bullying between class types among students. It seems to happen more to the children of parents who cause trouble. It’s almost as if unconsciously the participants in these schools have a collective defense mechanism against threats to the system itself. Parents who have problems with the school, whether it be a case where a teacher comes on to the mother of a student to engage in sex, or if a parent is one of those people who come to school board meetings and try to make sense of the numbers, those people are labeled as trouble makers, and they are targeted as well as their children. Bullying isn’t just happening on the playground or on the school board as Linda O’Conner stated recently, where she felt she was being bullied off the school board for being a dissenting vote too often.

Last year prior to the levy attempt I was shocked to learn that the very treasured band teacher William Thomas was told his job was on the chopping block if the levy didn’t pass. This caused the parents and students who adore him to become very upset and rally to pass the levy. The whole scene was a scare tactic started by the administrators to manipulate the public into passing the levy, just like cutting busing is to create fear and anger in the parents so they will pass a higher tax on themselves.

A parent who had a controversial issue that involved many people within the school found that his child was singled out by other students and picked on aggressively. What made those students pick on his child? A teacher whispered in their ear to initiate the behavior indirectly. Of course all this behavior is hearsay; it’s just words in a hallway, or in a classroom, or a subtle message on Facebook. It’s the same subtle message that came from the labor unions, and ultimately George Soros to start the Wall Street Riots. It’s whispers in the microcosm to affect the macrocosm because small events add up to big events and manipulators know it.

I saw on my way to work today that virtually all of our No Lakota Levy signs had been stolen. We’ve lost over 700 signs over the last week and a half. Why? The reason was to shut down the message, to protect the collective whole of the school system, and it took a pretty large effort to collect that many signs, so it’s not just one or two people.

So at one level my anger is at the audacious costs these public schools expect from the community to operate. But secondly, it’s what they expect people to take as they maintain an “education class” which instructs their “product,” the students themselves, to enter life already in chains, and as a lover of individual freedom, I find it appalling I am required through my taxes to contribute to such a poor “product.” What they are making is something I don’t want to deal with in the future because it is all the little events in the microcosm, the bullying, the subtle manipulations to secure funding, the political imbalance in philosophic collectivism, the radicalism of the public unions, the product public schools create that is terrible! They prepare the mind of mankind to fall for the utterances of half-baked presidents and live life in chains just as that artist portrayed.

So it is not my fault if you dear reader cannot connect the dots. If you read what I put here and wonder, “what is he after?” “He just hate’s public school.” “He wants attention.” You are making those assertions from your perspective in the microcosm of your existence and the static patterns of your life will not allow you to see beyond. That fault is your own. The way I see such people are simply as links in the chains that bind us all to a mental slavery started in the games played in public education.

I am thankful that there are artists out there who can so accurately capture the macrocosm of the problem even if our society is powerless to stop it because of the foundations that are established in the microcosm and propelled by those who are simply blind.  I am also thankful for cold beer in The Polo Grill and the company of people who” get it.”  Because as long as the beer is cold and the hamburgers are that good, the rest of the world can drown on its dept and ignorance as far as I care.

For the answer to everything click the link below!

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/the-answer-is-c-who-runs-society-the-engine-or-the-boxcar/

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com