There was a lot of dispute about the removal of Senator Bill Seitz from a key committee during the final days of the vote on Senate Bill 5 which would become Issue 2. See an interview from Seitz with Channel 9 who is from the Cincinnati area.
I’ve known a lot of attorneys, and one of the common tactics they use when they have a weak case is to drag their feet and extend out a case. And Seitz obviously blindly loyal to labor interests even though he sells himself as a conservative was not able to see Senate Bill 5 for what it was, a good healthy culture change for public sector employment. Seitz, the labor attorney, listed as one of the best in America, as you can see at the link below, looks to have sabotaged and watered down the impact of Issue 2 from the very beginning by loading it down with unnecessary politics, which went against the kind of reform Kasich and many in the house and senate were looking for.
And this explains the behavior of Bill Cunningham on 700 WLW as well. In the brotherhood of attorneys, it is the mask of conservatism that they use for their act, but in reality when the make-up is taken off to who the individual truly is, the union of attorney brotherhood speaks of the true actions and now that Issue 2 for the first time in my adult life attempts REAL reform, it scares the people who have built their lives around the chaos of litigation.
In the middle of the night I received a message from Laura Sanders who is working on the Move Forward Lakota campaign, a group that is advocating the passage of a new levy at the Lakota School District. She wanted to show me her new video, which is nice and I think well-edited. But like I wrote her, where in the video does it say “WHY is more money required?” We know teachers are valuable to the community. But Lakota is not underfunded. It’s a district with $165 million dollar budget that we know about, and in all reality is closer to $250 million in total revenue. Yet it is the average pay rate of the employees in the district that hovers just over $63K per year that is driving up those costs, so how much is too much?
Like I said to Laura, having money to put on a glitzy show does not provide justification for the expenses. We cannot manage our district if teacher pay is simply a bottomless pit. Lakota has at least $30,000 to start their levy campaign with and I’m sure they will receive more over this next campaign. To see who gives money to them and what their campaign finances look like read this article which breaks down how much they spent last year, how much they have to spend this year, and who gave them money by clicking on the link below:
The belief from the Move Forward Campaign is that if they spend money, they will automatically convince people of their need. And that’s what they’ve done with their new ad. In the heading Laura titled it “Creative Battle” I suppose in response to the No Lakota Levy’s latest video which you can see here:
You can see our website at www.NOLAKOTALEVY.com where that video launches upon your visit.
I have heard some of the most foolish comments in my adult life regarding Issue 2, which is the ultimate fix for these budget problems, especially at Lakota. I know for a fact that there are teachers at the top of the pay scale that aren’t worth 45K per year let alone 80K and 90K. Only in a union under collective bargaining could weak people earn so much. But then there are some teachers that are worth that much money. But if the Lakota Levy fails and cuts are made, it will be the newer teachers who cost the least and generally have the most ambition that we’ll lose, unless Issue 2 holds. The argument the public workers are making is similar to me telling my editor that, “the book will be terrible if we lose these characters. I refuse to make revisions to my 110,000 word manuscript!” They would then say, “Ok, thank you for the opportunity to work with you Mr. Hoffman, but we can’t afford the publishing cost of a book that large. Such a large book has limited market value because statistics show that most people are intimidated by large books, so we would never recover our initial investment, so good luck on finding another publisher.” The Issue 2 group does not understand that by trimming down a manuscript or a school district we make them stronger.
While all this discussion over Issue 2 is percolating and unions are dug in deep with their rhetoric and talking points, Lakota is after more money to supplement a contract with it’s union that is excessively high, the Cincinnati Reds are floating offers for their star player in Joey Votto, who is currently the gem of our local baseball team. He’s the ideal baseball player and we’d all like to see him stay in Cincinnati for his entire career. But in reality, Joey will most likely decline in production over the coming years, and he is set to make more than 20 million a year, because his contract dictates that much. So the Reds should follow the formula of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and dump him for a fresh young player that costs much less but can give comparable numbers. The Reds would have to do this because to keep Votto means they couldn’t afford other players that will be needed to create a valuable franchise. So at some point in the near future, the Reds will have to cut Votto, which will be painful, just like editing a book, or managing a school district. It’s painful, and emotional, but we are REQUIRED to do what is right for the organization we are representing. What dictates the Reds cut Votto is that they don’t have a budget which allows for him in the future. Public workers don’t understand this. They simply believe that tax increases will allow for them to have everything, job security and all employees making healthy wages without competition driving costs down. They believe this because a budget limit has never been established, which is what we are doing with the No Lakota Levy group, helping to manage costs by setting a limit.
I recently did an article about Issue 2 where I compared the details of that very good bill to the aerospace company Boeing, building its new manufacturing plant in South Carolina. To see that article click the link:
There are those of us who function outside of the normal static patterns of society, and do so on purpose, because it is clear to us what is behind this “Occupy Movement.” Glenn Beck is one of those people and you will see his videos here explaining this situation, along with the other active parties. Much of the source material for this article comes from Glenn Beck in one way or another, because as progressives have outlets like Russia Today, the RT Network, the Huffington Post and many others, those of us who don’t care for progressivism have Glenn Beck’s work, and Talk Radio and we are late to this game, because for too long, we trusted the system while progressives embedded themselves under our noses. To understand fully, I suggest watching these videos completely, which I’m providing to compliment my text. It is extremely important to have a full understanding of this very complicated situation that is actually a military maneuver without the use of weapons. So take your time and absorb all this information, and be sure to send it to a friend. To understand what the intent behind the military maneuver is, read this article:
To understand what is wrong in America, which none of the progressive groups seem to understand, but people like George Soros is exploiting for his own ends, watch this video. Here Robert Kiyosaki author of Rich Dad Poor Dad explains the mystery that everyone is so confused about. He breaks down our entire society into four groups in a diagram he calls The Quadrant. First are the “E’s,” which are employees then come “S’s,” who are the “Smart Guys,” then the “B’s” which are big business, and then the “I’s” are the investors. I’ve been saying the same as Kiyosakis that our society makes entirely too many “E’s,” and it s the “Employees” who make up these protestors. America was designed to create “B’s,” and “I’s” and an abundance of “S’s.” But the socialist movement brought to the United States by progressives during the years of Teddy Roosevelt seeks to make lots of “E’s” through public education. So when everyone is trained in the same place, they think the same, and can then be used to march like soldiers when commanded.
The strategy from people like George Soros, and he’s not the only one, but is simply the guy who is on the camera most, and provides video for us to observe, is to use progressive groups, like labor unions, to drive up costs, bankrupt the economic system of the United States to the point of collapse, then bring the United States into a weakened position under the global order of the United Nations. That is the plan. (“Call it crazy today, but tomorrow you’ll wish you listened.”)
If your wife asks you, “Honey, does this dress make me look fat?” Then you, the husband answer as you can see the skin dimples pushing through the fine surface of the dress as it hugs her hips, “No, no, you look beautiful.” The husband has committed a sin. You told her she was beautiful when you know in your mind that the correct answer was, “Hell, no, you’re fat. You have let yourself go over the last ten years and I’m embarrassed to be seen in public with you.” The husband answers the way he does out of a duty to his wife that goes beyond truth. He is forced to put on blinders to the truth in order to share a life with this woman, who has gained 40 extra pounds, wants the ability to eat, and eat and eat, but still expects her husband to lust after her for sex.The man, to avoid fighting with his over-weight wife will tell her anything to shut her up and get her off his back, so he tells her, “No, the dress looks great………..dear.”
Parents who have kids in those delicate years of childhood, who are in their school years, are an insecure lot. They of course want what’s best for their children, and desire every opportunity for them. So they tend to trust the opinions of others over their own knowledge because after all, being a good parent takes experience, and how do you get experience but by raising kids. So during that process, parents tend to believe they can throw money at a “professional” to give them the added security that those professionals will be there to pick-up whatever they miss as parents.
The parents both working jobs and paying a lot of money for a house they bought just so they could send their child to Lakota is no different from the husband who is just trying to keep the peace with his wife. “Yes, you look good to me. How much do you need to do your job better?”
The obese professionals caring for our children then take that money given by the enabler and buy more junk food so they can become even more obese. And when the food runs out, they will come back and say, “I need more! I am a ‘big boned’ entity and I need to maintain this large body. I’m hungry. We need a new levy.” The enabler, the typical tax advocate will then say as the woman in the video said, “We need to pass this levy so we can have good schools, so we can maintain our excellence.” But the eyes don’t lie. The public can witness the dishonesty which resides there seemingly hidden. They can see what the enabler is really thinking. “Wouldn’t it be better if the school system wasn’t so obese? Wouldn’t the school be better if it was much thinner?” The enabler is just as guilty as the husband who tells his wife, “Yes honey, you look good. You’re not fat at all.” The husband knows that if he doesn’t tell his wife something to that effect then sex will come with difficulty, and it will be a pain-in-the ass to pass his wife in the bathroom or in the hallways of his home. And thus the levy advocates are in the same boat. They must pass these inflated professionals in the halls of the school their children attend and communicate with others in social events, so they put on the blinders so that they can endure the experience with some resemblance of sanity.
I would look at the woman with her body attempting to bust out of her dress and ask, “Do you really want to know?”
The woman expecting praise as she fans her hands down her thighs to straighten out her dress doing her best to look sexy, “Of course, darling.”
I would then say, “My dear, your ass is fat and you are a pain to all the eyes of this room for you should have worn a potato sack rather than do that dress injustice by asking it to hide your blob-like body. There isn’t any amount of perfume, make-up, or cosmetic accessories that can hide the fact that you have visited the potato chip bag about 100 times too many!”
I didn’t know how bad it was till the Issue 2 debate that I mentioned where a member of the Middletown City Council pleaded to Senator Coley that jobs needed to be brought to Ohio, as if Coley could somehow reach into a magic bag and produce them from thin air. This man truly believed that such a statement was possible, and as I heard him speak I felt profound pity for the man. He seemed like a nice guy, certainly well-intentioned, but he did not understand where all the jobs in his city had gone.
I don’t blame Boeing at all for not wanting to put up with a radical work force, and I find it appalling that the government is stepping in where it has no business, but the same thing happens in our communities each time a teachers union decides to strike, a federal mediator comes in to negotiate, and what happens is our elected officials quickly get out-witted by the outside pressure and the unions win with public money we must then supply as tax payers. The situation is that ridiculous. And yes the spoiled class is that out-of-touch.
Thank the “Spoiled Class” for those empty buildings, and the job that was once there, but has fled our shores in search for freedom and the right to thrive and grow.
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.
Many of my current friends are about 30 to 40 years older than I am, because it is during this phase once the body has withered away, and sexual fulfillment is not the primary objective of the adult mind followed by a sense of sacrifice to a child. (I’d put the order of necessity for women the other way around, for men, it is as I listed it) It is these older minds who finally begin to see things as they are, unfortunately death is breathing down the necks of these fine people, so it’s often too little too late. They contributed their share of madness into the fabric of social existence confusing necessity with their biological urges and now in their later years they wish to fix what they helped to wreck through the ignorance of their youth. To my way of thinking, “youth” extends well into the late 50’s of some of these people. Some people don’t get “wise” until their 60’s or 70’s. But most do get there eventually because as the strength of their bodies leaves them, their minds increase to compensate.
She wasn’t the first to make such a proclamation. Over the years people would say to me, “You are just like Thoreau.” They seemed astonished when I’d reveal to them that I had never read him, at least until fairly recently, after the encouragement of my daughter. The reason I never gave Thoreau a chance early in my life was because I partially blamed him for the Hippie Movement. It was high school English that taught me that Civil Disobedience was the model of the Civil Rights Movement and it was enjoyed by Ghandi also. Well, I thought Ghandi was a pacifist who should have led India to a violent conquest of his enemies, and this whole starvation thing never made any sense to me. The idea of self-sacrifice for a greater caused always seemed immature. Just as the idea that Christ died on the cross to relieve me of my sins never made sense either. I spotted a long time ago in those Christian studies a series of looters who sought to place themselves between the people and their God as a kind of toll keeper, and they use Jesus, the pacifist as a gate to collect the toll. Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience wreaked all these elements and I refused to read it in high school for that reason, again in college, and in my adult life until my daughter told me my rebellion was misplaced.
Below is a message I received from a teacher who is attempting to play a little game that is now all too familiar. In the debate I had recently with the Pro Lakota Levy group, you could hear the same type of fear based placement of a core argument, resembling the message below.(CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THAT DEBATE)
The example of Somalia is a preposterous one. It is obvious that the creators of that little (anti-libertarian) film does not understand the greater aspects of social relationships. The real trouble in Somalia is due exclusively to their tendency toward collectivism as can be seen in this short documentary.It was on the back of collectivism that socialism was brought to that country, then when that fell, as it always does it paved the way for the clan Civil War that is currently taking place. Somalia is the direct result of government meddling at many levels, not the other way around, as the video obviously produced by some New Age Leftists, only able to see a small part of the overall picture interpreted.
The threats by these collectivists are utterances that aren’t worth the wind which carries the sound wave of discontent. Anyone who believes as collectivists do can be replaced by a superior mind quickly and efficiently, because it is the superior mind who avoids such occupations in order to avoid the fools who are currently employed there.The superior mind doesn’t waste their time on the quandary of collectivism. The apocalypse predicted by those employed by government as that body of collectivism is reduced by the tax dollar are unfounded, completely, the world will still turn tomorrow, kids will still be taught by a teacher, there will still be police and firefighters and many others. The term phrased, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” has been true. But my solution to the squeaky wheel is not to just put more grease on it; it is to replace the wheel all together with one that doesn’t make any noise, and might even work better. It is in such thinking that permanent fixes reside.
Rich Hoffman
