Governor John Kasich came to my backyard on Monday November 7, 2011 and along with a host of many people I’d call my personal friends spoke about Issue 2 on the night before the historic election. And as I watched him, I could see in his demeanor that he “get’s it.” Have a look at that video of his speech at “The Barn of Liberty Twp.”
The trouble is that too many American’s, of which Ohio represents, have been breed in public education to think as socialists, so the public union machine is able to play on the collective tendency of this learned behavior. So this one broadside may not be enough to sink the ship of union control. That’s alright, because we have more cannon balls ready to fire again. As I watched John Kasich speak from “The Barn” while the cool autumn air drifted in over the large crowd charged with excitement in the deep woods of Liberty Twp, far away from the corrosion of progressivism, I saw a man on stage who isn’t afraid to pull the trigger again, and for that I’m grateful.
It is the only logical conclusion, because it would take a lot of time and a lot of car trunks to steal that many signs, especially the big ones.
But is it a surprise………..no. While I was taking calls from all over the community by angry people who have lost their NO LAKOT LEVY signs I received this note from the father I mentioned in a previous, heartbreaking article. You can review that situation at this link.
Since Sandy Wheatley of the Move Forward Lakota push used references to the bible in the debate we had toward the end of September, I’m sure she could appreciate an event of BIBLICAL proportions since she also said recently that the reason the No Lakota Levy signs were missing was because the “wind” was blowing them away. You can see that reference and debate here:
Also, as you can see, these “good” Christian soldiers of the Move Forward campaign are running such a clean campaign that they are putting their signs in front of our signs in a childish attempt to cover our message. Isn’t that very………………Christian of them.
Well, I heard from a Levy supporter, one of those kind people who were at the school picking up signs and other material to support the levy. For those people I have a message here:
> I hope all of you are will to take the same pay cuts you want the teachers to take, > remember that schools are a service industry and payroll will be the largest part of the budget. I am sure none of you have every been to a band competition or a football game or an art show. The impact has also already started. I am sure you could not tell me who the band director is at East and how the band did this year and the last 10 years. You would like our students to just be average and not prepared for college. If you put signs near the school where kids walk by and expect nothing to happen, this is why you think only of yourself.
When I was a kid, which wasn’t that long ago, but by measure of social value seems like an eternity, cartoons like the one below from Walt Disney created for me positive static patterns that even to this day fill my mind with value. The cartoon is part two of Paul Bunyan and the song was so catchy that I still find myself humming it while I work.
This new age of educators who are creating the static patterns of our youth seem to have no grip on reality since they have become radicalized by that NEA reading list. Their motto for living is “have money, will spend,” which should have been the logo of the levy attempt at Lakota in the year of 2011. Of the Move Forward levy campaign’s total contributions, it has spent $26,180.50 to help them win a vote toward passage. It currently has a balance on hand of $15,862.40. Included in the expenditures were: Roger Effron and Associates ($2,500; consultant fee);U.S. Postmaster ($2,000; bulk mailing); Patriot Signage ($3,905; yard signs); and Triad Research Group Inc. ($9,750; community attitude survey).
Here are the two Consulting houses the Pro-Levy group spent $12,250.
This morning an employee came up to me and said, “You’re for Issue 2, right?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m a tremendous supporter of Issue 2.”
“Well, I think it’s just terrible. They want to take away our collective bargaining rights.”
I said to them, “Nobody has a right to collective bargaining. What makes you think it’s a right?”
“It’s in the constitution!” They were very angry when they said this.
I took a breath. “No, it’s not in any constitution either federal, or state wide. Collective bargaining for public employees was created by corrupt, progressive politicians to ‘purchase’ voting blocks for themselves. It has nothing to do with actual rights. FDR started this discussion and Kennedy finished it off as a favor to the mobs in 1962 with Executive Order 10988. That’s when public unions were allowed to form and it was a mistake. Unions have NO natural rights to anything I have. They do not have a right to collectively bargain for the tax money I toss in the pot to spend on our government services.”
“But they pay taxes too!” They said.
“Yes, but the difference is for the public employee, they pass the hat around, they all contribute and at the end, they divide up among themselves what they put in, because their wages come out of the hat. I put money in the hat and it never comes back to me. I don’t get money back out of the hat. It goes around, I contribute, and I get back an employee for public service, and I have a limit on what I’m willing to pay for those services. Collective bargaining in my opinion should have been abolished in Issue 2, along with the idea that public employees should be in a union. It doesn’t go far enough in my opinion! I see Issue 2 as a very fair reform that is ESSENTIAL to the future of Ohio.”
I was at an event the other day where many politicians had gathered. All of them knew both Cunningham and Seitz and we had very animated discussions about them. I offered that I think these guys think public education is all about football scores. They think public education is all about the Friday Night Lights which brings the community together under the banner of sports. The thought of a teachers union doesn’t cross their mind. In Cunningham’s case, the PTA groups and Lakota coaches come into his sports bar in West Chester and ask him, “please support us. You are the only one. Our children’s lives are in jeopardy.” I have a good idea what kind of talk goes on because another sports bar within the Lakota district received the threat of a boycott from one of the principals at Lakota last year working through the PTA organization, which really scared the owner. So much so she came to the No Lakota Levy group for help. The PTA argument was “We will pull our business if you don’t support the Lakota Levy.” So there is no question that similar discussions have taken place with Bill Cunningham who is a businessman first and understands that such a fight would cost him. So it’s easier to just keep focused on those Friday Night Lights, ground everyone can relate with, and ignore all the real problems.
• Huber Heights City School District: $1,273 • Northmont City School District: $1,272 • Valley View Local School District: $1,266 • Oakwood City School District: $1,249 • Northridge Local School District: $881 • Vandalia-Butler City School District: $880 • Mad River Local School District: $869 • Kettering City School District: $862 • Dayton City School District: $387 • Trotwood-Madison City School District: $383 • Centerville City School District: $311
The West Chester Police did a good thing and that’s act quickly on an internal investigation of one of their own. The nine-year veteran 37-year-old David Busemeyer was investigated and indicted by a grand jury of three felony charges, obstruction of official business, obstruction of justice and attempted tampering with evidence. Busemeyer is of course innocent until proven guilty, but this entire internal investigation is a reminder that public servants are not perfect. And I don’t expect them to be. What I expect is for West Chester to do exactly as it did, and that is bring about justice even when it involves their own.
The trouble with “collective begging” which is the union term that Cunningham has adopted to refer to the “collective bargaining” reform bill of Issue 2 is that “collective bargaining” is not practical, is expensive, and allows employees who can’t achieve large wage levels under their own merit to make excellent wages under that system. Using West Chester purely as an example since it’s my community it’s not a big deal if David Busemeyer makes $70,032.20 if there was some sort of evaluation procedure that delivered him that type of wage. Maybe he does a lot of high risk work, or maybe he can speak in several languages and act as a translator for illegal immigration busts. But under collective bargaining, EVERYONE makes that kind of money. All a public employee has to do is show up for work, do what they are told within the union rules, and keep their nose clean, somewhat, and they will receive an automatic increase based on their collective bargaining contract.And instead of one employee making great money, you have hundreds making that kind of money and every bit of it must come from the tax payer.
I hired Willie about 15 years ago to be my spokesman for a line of T-shirts I was producing to help get out a message I had which stated, “TAKE AN AX TO OUR TAX.” We were making the shirts at cost during the 1996 election season to bring high taxes to people’s attention. Rob Portman actually bought one from me, and I took one down to city hall and gave it to Roxanne Quals, the mayor of Cincinnati at the time. Willie was hired to do our commercial which we ran on 700 WLW.
I was set to go on with Bill Cunningham during his 9 PM show on a summer Friday night. As I was headed to the station Cunningham had on a segment where he had strippers on doing a live strip show while Cunningham did play-by-play commentary. My wife told me, “This is the guy you’ve hired to be your spokesman?”
I said, “No, he’s a conservative. Willie is just doing this for ratings.”
My wife said, “And you’re going to go on behind this?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Doesn’t this compromise your message?” My wife said. “You hate Howard Stern because he has no ethics. You hate Jerry Springer because he’ll do anything for money. How is this guy any different? And you’re going to go on his show and let him pretend he’s a conservative. You’re going to acknowledge his existence? You’re going to even give him the time of day?”
In the video above, Cunningham has fantasies that his words actually carry weight, and there is a certain percentage of the population out there who would listen to advice from Jerry Springer, Howard Stern, or Bill Cunningham. Those types of personalities try to be everything to everybody, and actually believe in nothing. But then again, most lawyers are that way. They’ll believe whatever you tell them to, so long as the money is green.
Brian and Shannon have a wonderful conversation about this very important bill. Be sure to listen to the entire broadcast especially the callers after the interview.
“Hi!” the man said enthusiastically. “I wanted to talk to you about Issue 2.”
I smiled as he handed me the literature which was in favor of the repeal attempt. My wife had come out behind me and grabbed her forehead when she heard that a spokesman from the “other side” was in our driveway. “You came to the wrong house” she said.
The man’s smile disappeared as he studied our faces. “Why’s that?”
My wife gently pointed at me, “that’s Rich Hoffman.”
“Crap………..Well, you never know who’s door you’re going to knock on.”
I put my arm around the guy and said, “Dude, it’s alright. We’re definitely on opposite sides of this situation, but we can still get along…..even if you’re wrong.”
The man was holding out the literature for the repeal attempt, which I took. “Thanks,” I said, “I was wondering what you guys were handing out to people.”
The man smiled slightly and shook my hand. “Well, thanks for your time, and have a good day.”
“You too,” I said as the man turned and headed back to his car. I could feel my wife burning a hole in my back with her gaze.“What? I was nice.”
“Suspiciously nice,” she said. “What are you up to?”
I feigned surprise. “Now what makes you think I’m up to something?”
“Because I’ve been married to you for over 20 years.”
I held up the literature from We Are Ohio. “Because it’s nice to have the other side bring you information and place it on your doorstep. It saves me some research time. I’m grateful to the fellow, as time is a precious commodity.”
• Issue 2 strips away important Collective Bargaining Rights. This was hilarious since there isn’t anything anywhere which states that collective bargaining is a “right.” It is a privilege that has been abused. Click on this article to see how.
• Issue 2 Endangers us All. This is another one that brings about laughter. It’s the old “panic” trick which schools use to trick people into more tax money spent. “You’ll be safer if you pay us more money.” This behavior actually equates to mob type extortion, because the only real danger comes from the public employees themselves, because if they walk off the job, homes could burn down, criminals might roam with impunity, and kids would be in a classroom that has no teacher because they are on strike. The only danger is that if Issue 2, the public employees in a fit might retaliate by laying down on the job. It’s even documented that some public employees have actually burned down the homes of their tax opponents in the past or encouraged violence in other “indirect” ways.
• Issue 2 Hurts our Economy. This comes from people who most probably have difficulty balancing their check book if they didn’t have a 43.4% wage and benefit advantage over the private sector. They are people who have little knowledge of production, but are simply service oriented employees who think they know the miracle of money and production. It is these types of individuals who think that “job creation” is done by government and not the wealthy.
• Issue 2 is an Unfair Political Giveaway. Here comes the classic class warfare ploy. It’s “us (the worker) against them (the management).” In the minds of the radicalized public worker “management” is always against them and they treat negotiations like a football game, where you gain yards against the defense which is management. It doesn’t matter who is on management’s side, they are all villains to the radicalized union member, and this especially true of public workers represented by a union.
We finished our dinner with our stomachs sore from the laughter and again contemplated the public employees who have grown over time to become entitled, to expect everything in their lives to move forward, but to never give anything up. Their idea of giving back to the community is to take wage freezes and giving back personal days, which many in the private sector don’t get and never will. Giving back things you have not yet received is not giving back. But to the public employee, it is! As a group the public employee is desperately out of touch and they have no plan on what to do with the day after the election if they succeed in a repeal attempt. Their plan is to raise taxes to deal with the budget deficits, and that’s why we laughed so hard over our dinner. The idea of just how out-of-touch these people are is something that might be unbelievable on a stand-up comedy act. Yet, with a straight face, they hand out literature and protest with silly signs in the back of pickup truck to “repeal Issue 2, so we can keep everything the same for us, the public employee.” But they have no plan other than taxing the rich. Their argument is one of shallow water in a jagged stream filled with a dye that discolors the water which they applied so that nobody can see just how shallow their water is, and what they hide just under the surface. The answers to most of the reasons we need Issue 2 is articulated in the Brian Thomas, Shannon Jones interview. But also, all the reasons we should vote for Issue 2 also comes from the literature of We Are Ohio. Upon examination it is clear there is no helping these people since their perspective is tinted with extremely high expectations. And only time will heal them while we must help them put their feet upon the ground of reality once again after decades of neglect and pay-offs.
In the meantime all we can do is laugh and vote YES for Issue 2 on November 8, 2011.
For the answer to everything click the link below!
I was impatient at the Issue 2 debate which took place on October 3, 2011. As my wife and I arrived at the Lakota East Freshman Building at 7 PM to see Bill Coley take on Steven Lazarus representing the local firefighters in a debate over Issue 2, the collective bargaining reform law. I was impatient because my Tampa Bay Buccaneers were playing the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football and anyone who knows me understands how much I love the Bucs! So I had thought about skipping this debate so I wouldn’t miss the game. However, I also like Doc Thompson and the Liberty Twp Tea Party and both were involved in putting on this debate, so I reluctantly recorded my game to attend this event.
I feel badly now, for with all that I have said and written about how destructive the public worker has become not only to the national economy, but to themselves. I feel badly because even though many view my comments as harsh and overly critical, I realize now after that episode of the Issue 2 Debate that my comments have not been harsh enough. It is evident to me that the public unions do not represent the middle-class in any way shape or form. They are a new class onto themselves. The name of that class is the “Spoiled Class.” They are citizens of our community who have become so numb to anything beneficial that they no longer appreciate what it took to give them anything at all. They seem to be no different from the spoiled child of the very wealthy who will scream at the top of their lungs, “I DO NOT WANT TO GO TO DISNEYLAND IN CALIFORNIA. I WANT TO GO TO DISNEYWORLD IN FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
They like the spoiled child are not even capable of seeing anything beyond their own concerns. The “Spoiled Class” collective disposition is only out for what they can achieve in mass and even that has a selfish prerequisite.