Tag: education funding

Paying for Protection: The Organized Crime of Teacher Unions

Should a teacher have to pay dues to a union in order to work for a public school? Of course not, yet that is exactly what’s happening in Ohio and many other states. Such a policy is no different from organized crime, where protection money is required in order to avoid some retaliatory measure. This type of behavior has absolutely no place in modern education!

Doc Thompson talks to Tracy Bailey of the Association of American Educators about alternatives to teachers unions and politics along party politics. It is a fascinating discussion that deserves review. If you are truly hungry for facts, make sure to listen to this interview. Bailey discusses how teachers are listed at the top of many public opinion polls as to people society trusts. But union leaders are viewed equal to used car salesmen in a trust worthy factor, and there is a growing disconnect between those two gaps.

Check out Tracy’s link here.
http://www.aaeteachers.org/

Yet the stories of impropriety continue among the tax payer employees known as teachers. Lakota had a major scandal recently in January from Ryan Fahremkemp and Mason had one with Stacy Schuler in February and there are more to follow on her coat tails. Read this next bit of information coming out of Mason.

You can read the whole article from The Whistleblower at this link.
http://thecincinnatusstandard.com/Whistleblower_Newswire_Saturday_February_26_2011.mht

Sex and Drugs for All: The Mason Schools

Here’s yet another Mason teacher, Daniel P. Little, who is still teaching in the district.

Several of our readers said we didn’t report enough detail about Mason teacher Dan Little, 28, and his arrest in the midst of his sex and drugs two-day party spree in Room 403 at the Hampton Inn on Crescent Avenue in Covington, Kentucky. Also present at the party when the arrests took place were five other people: another Mason teacher Russell Fallon, Mason assistant wrestling coach Jabree Jones, Tasha C. Davis, Carrie Little (Dan’s wife), and John L. Miller.
____________________________________________________

I don’t know about you, but I expect better behavior out of the teachers we hire with our tax dollars. I am aware that there are always bad apples in a bundle, but what doesn’t get analyzed from all the chanting protestors in the Ohio and Wisconsin State Houses is that there is a level of expectation that the public has about their teachers. Unfortunately many tax payers throw up their hands in frustration and have stopped “expecting,” because bad behavior goes unpunished, or is brushed under a rug by administrators. That is the crime here, and that is why we are finding more of these stories from teachers that are abusing “The System.”

It is certainly not new, this idea that teachers want to have sex with students, or administrators are having sex with teachers, or teachers like in the case involving Daniel Little are getting together with a group of other teachers along with his wife to engage in extremely bad behavior. This wasn’t just one teacher and one isolated incident much like the Schuler case wasn’t just sex with one student. She was involved with the Assistant Principle also, which has not been discussed much. And Dan Little wasn’t just having a crazy drug party with his wife in a hotel room. It was with several other teachers, people we expect to teach our kids about the negatives of drugs.

But schools hire public relations people known as “spokesman” to clean up these issues and present a public face that the media can assist in portraying. Notice how Dan Little is portrayed on the Mason School System website.

Staff Awards and Honors
Mason City Schools’ staff members are at the top of their profession.
• 31 Mason teachers earned National Board Certification, MMS science teacher Dan Little and Mason Heights second grade teacher Greg Hill won the Rising Above Teacher Award sponsored by Panera Bread Company
Check it out for yourself. http://masonohioschools.com/district.cfm?subpage=185

 

Do you think Panera Bread wants it’s Rising Above Teacher Award going to a drug abuser? Of course not. And would the public be inclined to pass another school levy if they knew about such bad behavior? Of course not. So it doesn’t get talked about. It gets spun and twisted so a moral judgment cannot be made, and by the time the next levy hits the ballot box, the voters have forgotten, because all they see is the awards that were won and published by the school.

That’s where the unions come to play, and that is what the teachers are paying for with their union dues, protection. Dan Little makes $86,000 and he’s only 28 years old. The union has collectively bargained in favor of a teacher like him obviously. Who thinks that kind of financial compensation would be available in the private sector? But that’s not the only thing the union dues purchase for a teacher like him. The union makes it so difficult for the administration to investigate and punish bad behavior that administrators have given up too.

Administrators and I know this is a hundred percent true because I know some of them personally, spend their time protecting image and not enforcing policy. The inmates do run the asylum and everyone knows it, within the school systems. It is a running joke.

Now I get a lot of letters from people who don’t want to see it. Or they get mad at me for pointing it out, because in their minds, they want to maintain the illusion that they want to believe. And I say to those people that they are irresponsible participants of destructive behavior which directly corrupts our youth. If they cannot see the error of their self-imposed blindness, then they are as bad as the people who commit these terrible acts, because the public trusts these tax funded employees to care for their children.

I started this quest by asking a simple question. Is a the average teacher salary at the Lakota School District worth 62K. For me, no. I think that is way too high as an average. The average needs to be in the lower 50K range to meet the budget requirements. But if the public is going to be required to pay teachers like Dan Little 86K a year, is it too much to ask that he uphold a high moral order in his private life? Is a person with obvious social problems qualified to make so much? Is he even qualified to teach one child let alone a class, or several classes? Yet those questions cannot be asked because the teachers union with all their collective bargaining agreements put in place for “safety” of the employee prevents even asking the question, because the pursuit of justice is far too costly to overcome the organized crime strategies of the union.

That is the heart of the problem. There are a lot of good ideas out there. Doc Thompson as a radio talk host has went above and beyond in examining them. You can listen to hours of his testimony on this site or simply visit this extensive online video library with sound bites from his show. http://www.mefeedia.com/feeds/51484/overmanwarrior

The question is, as the supervisors of these employees, which is all of us that pay taxes, is the system the way it is now to your liking? Do you think it works? Or do you want to do like David Letterman said recently, “why don’t we just throw more and more money at education until it works.” It doesn’t matter if it’s 20K or 30K per pupil! The union bosses bet that you don’t have the fortitude to oppose them, because as long as the bad stuff is kept from your eyes and you can have deniability to impropriety, you can still look at yourself in the mirror each day and feel ok about things. They know human nature doesn’t like to fight, and they have built an empire on the backs of our children at our expense in more ways than just money, and they know most people won’t challenge them directly.

Meanwhile the bad behavior continues in the shadows. It’s everywhere if you want to lift up the rug and look. And we are paying for it all. Our kids watch us and can measure our blindness, and they will take that lack of vision into their adulthood. And when we are all grandparents looking over our children’s lives and the wrecks they have become, the guilt will be on us all for turning away from trouble, and lacking the courage to even question a system that is rooted in tyranny to protect the fates of our children from the organized corruption that resides in the human soul.

Rich Hoffman

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

Bill Cunningham and the Hot Fudge Sundae: Betting on a S.B.5 Referendum.

Want to hear leadership? Listen to this interview of John Kasich by Bill Cunningham from 700 WLW. Kasich is defending the Ohio State Senate Bill S.B.5 from Cunningham who has taken a surprisingly soft stance against the bill, surprising because Cunningham has a long history of looking for leadership in elected officials that take strong positions; yet he is now siding with politicians like Jessie Jackson and Todd Portune, which is highly unusual.

One of the reasons that Cunningham cites he is taking a soft position on S.B.5 is out of fear that the labor unions will be encouraged to put the bill on a referendum to be voted on by the voters of Ohio. Cunningham believes it’s easier and more conciliatory to the unions to allow them to be a part of the negotiation process, and it may take the edge off and avoid a referendum.

I never had illusions that S.B.5 would avoid a referendum. After all, when it comes to union activity, they have a history of pushing and shoving until they get what they want, so a referendum that is well financed by the union is a certainty one way or the other.

So when that referendum happens, I am making the formal announcement that I will bet Bill Cunningham a hot fudge Sundae that the referendum will be defeated when the unions do collect all their signatures and place it on a ballot. Cunningham predicts a 60-40 defeat in favor of the unions based on a 1997 decision regarding workers compensation. What Cunningham isn’t taking into account is the presence of the Tea Party Movement that was not in place in 1997. This time when the unions send out teachers and fireman wrapped in the flag, there will be a counter to them in Tea Party members all across this state telling the truth behind the pro-union campaign.

Even though the numbers of the Tea Party are less, I will take the enthusiasm of the Tea Party over the rhetoric of union organization in a head to head battle between right and wrong any day, and I firmly believe that this new political element will swing public opinion armed with facts the opposite way that Cunningham predicts.

Cunningham has also stated that if Shannon Jones had not introduced S.B.5 in its aggressive form that all the protests and anger created by the unions would subside. But the truth is, Wisconsin attempted such a minor reform, and we see that the intensity of the protests are every bit as radical, so it does Governor Kasich no good to negotiate because unions have not shown any interest in the past of doing such a thing. Only now, with a Republican majority faced with a nearly 10 billion dollar deficit, are there any cries from unions to “talk.” Kasich knows it will do no good to “talk,” and I respect his position because it represents many in this state that feel the same level of frustration.

So the real battle for S.B.5 will be decided by the voters in the state of Ohio whether or not Kasich plays nice. Any reform attempted will bring on union aggression. It’s unavoidable, because the unions are a radical organization that only understands forward advancement. They don’t know how to give back once it’s realized that they asked for too much.

If I’m wrong, which is about as rare as an eclipse, I’ll be happy to buy Cunningham a hot fudge sundae from UDF. But my bet is that these new elements that exist in the political landscape will tip the balance of power in a new direction not to the liking of the public sector unions.

To display this argument I submit exhibit “A.” Witness David Letterman talking to Rand Paul and you can see how the world of yesterday “thought” and how the world of tomorrow will “think.”

Letterman said, “I think he’s wrong, but I’m just not sure why.” A referendum against S.B.5 is referred to in much the same way by Cunningham. His political instincts tell him that S.B.5 is wrong, yet there is a part of him that understands what the Tea Party represents. The truth will be revealed in the tax payer as they vote on the battle ground of Ohio’s ballot boxes, and it won’t be in favor of continued union control over the public sector.

Rich Hoffman

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

I Don’t Want My Money Going to a Union: End of Story!

Why is it so difficult to understand that people like me, don’t want my tax money to go to a public union? I don’t want my money spent on union activity of any kind. End of story. I’m willing to go along with what society wants, but I personally think unions as an institution are un-American, socialist fronts and I want no part of them. I’ve thought that for years, well before it became popular. So to me, S.B.5 is not nearly strong enough.

Doc Thompson covers the latest with S.B.5 as Dan Hennessey of the Lebanon Tea Party reports from Columbus with a fantastic, and fair interview.

Virtually everyone covering this story of union influence assumes that public sector unions have always existed. And those that work in those unions actually believe they have a human right to certain benefits. I’ve said it more than once; unions have a right to exist. But I don’t want to pay for that activity because I do not believe in them. Their view of the world is unproductive and naive. Listen for yourself.  This audio clip is a song endorsed by SEIU.  Gives you a great insight to their mentality. 

I’ve worked in a union establishment during the 2000 election between Al Gore and George Bush and was told by the union to vote for Al Gore. Well, I never paid any dues to the union, I had no desire to be a part of the union, and I certainly wasn’t about to vote for someone they told me to vote for.

I have told my union story in another article. Feel free to have a look. The short argument is that I, as an American citizen, should have a “right” not to feed an organization that I believe makes other Americans dependent, weak, emotionally soft, collectively oriented, psychologically off balance, and behave like a crime syndicate. I believe so strongly about it that I don’t even like to put money into the movie industry, because of the union activity. I feel the same about sports. I like both entertainment venues, but I do avoid spending money on those activities because they have large unions. I think there is a real danger of there not even being a professional football season this year because of the collective bargaining situation emerging in the NFL and it makes me sick!

It is disgusting to listen to union bosses complain that Governor Walker and Governor Kasich are rushing through legislation to bust unions, that there isn’t a place at the table for unions to negotiate. For years, the public unions have pushed politicians with EXTREME aggression. It’s always been a one way street. The union has superseded management in most every case. It doesn’t work. Union leadership has proven over the decades that they cannot self-regulate.

In Ohio only 655,000 people belong to a union both public and private. That’s 13.7 percent of the 4,787,000 people employed in the state. Yet this minority has dictated an extraordinary expense upon the tax payers through taxes improperly collected and distributed.

There are Republicans that cannot stomach their emotional attachment to the marketing tactics of firefighters, police and teachers in order to do what is right, because they are guilty in their past of pandering to these groups for their own climb to power. What those Republicans fail to understand is that what is going on in America is there is a real desire to do what’s right, even if it hurts.

The Republicans that are of that selfish ilk, they care about issues so long as their world is convenient. Those are the conservatives that have made the conservative philosophy look bad for years. They are Republicans because it makes them money. They are the first Judas’s to report to a Roman guard what goes on in the garden in order to save their own necks, and this again is a pathetic by-product of the unions which have subsequently weakened our society. Lawyers, and police heads that are Republicans, but benefit off of legal antics driven by union activity, they have difficulty thinking clearly. These people are the type of Republicans that say ending collective bargaining is a bad political move because the unions have the power to put the issue on a referendum to overturn such a law as S.B.5 proposes to do. Those Republicans are afraid that they will lose office holders in the next election if such bold legislation is created.

What those Republicans don’t take into account is that if collective bargaining is ended, and Ohio becomes a right to work state, and the economy begins to show signs of improvement by 2012, and 2014 the other 86.3% will forgive any anxiety that comes from S.B.5. If the unions attempt a referendum, the old school Republicans underestimates the ability of the Tea Party in Ohio to campaign against the referendum. They are content to allow 13.7% of the population to manipulate the rest of the state. We know there will be police, firefighters, and teachers wrapping themselves in the flag to manipulate the voting public. And we know the inner cities will vote their way. But times are changing and people are waking up. I believe a referendum against the organized crime tactics used by these unions could be turned against them if they’d try such a thing, and that is a battle I’d willingly take part in.

This battle that is taking place is more than Republicans versus Democrats, or Tea Parties versus unions, but of the establishment versus the new breed. I would contend that the soft position of some Republicans has more to do with control than anything. It has to be difficult for them to see that Shannon Jones, who is a fairly new senator has proposed such aggressive, sweeping legislation, because after all, for those that have been in the State House for years have toed the line and played the game. They desire to put their own touches to a bill like S.B.5 so they can stake their claims to the success.

I can say that I’m sick of the whole process. I don’t want my money going to unions. I don’t want to see my elected representatives playing politics either. I don’t care if that’s how it’s been done in the past. We’re talking about the future, and I don’t want to see that kind of thing going on. My position is that it should not be going on. Politics and political parties are something to be thrown out the window.

Do something bold, get rid of collective bargaining. Get rid of the money and influence built around the Democratic Party. And don’t play politics like it’s a football game where there are this many Republicans and this many Democrats and whoever has the majority wins. Take the chips off the table and the majority concerns with it. Take away the special interest of union influence and lets see what Ohioans really think politically, and we’ll have a better representation of what the state really wants from its elected officials.

I don’t want to support public unions with my tax money. Get it! Keep the firefighters, the police, and the teachers, but drop the union. Union influence is as wrong as the definition of wrong can be.

Rich Hoffman

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

A Democrat is Supporting S.B.5 Bill in Ohio: Putting people ahead of politics and emotion

As Columbus, Ohio fills with union protestors like expected, the “real” working people are left to other devices to participate in this issue. After all, the protestors are making the case for themselves why we should pass Senate Bill 5. The primary reason aside from all the financial reasons is it is obvious that the public sector will continue to function in their absence, because life is going on while thousands of them take off all at the same time to march on the Ohio capital.

Those of us with real jobs, where our value is missed even if we take off one day, must write, give interviews to newspapers, talk on the multiple talk radio stations, or vent our frustrations at the hundreds of tea party meetings that conjugate all across the state a few times a month.

The intent of the protests is to look like a unified force, and such a force is supposed to function to intimidate the election process. It’s worked in the past, and union bosses are hoping it will work this time. They have a list of Senator’s that they are hoping to intimidate which I’ve included below. But their overall strategy is to make the whole issue of collective bargaining appear to be an “us against them” kind of thing, or a “poor rising up against the rich.” These are tired diatribes however and because of these strategies over the years it has finally caught up with us. If S.B.5 is not passed or if it is passed but watered down to appease the mob, the people who vote it down will be held directly responsible. Because like any right thinking person who understands economics, this issue is not about political revenge, or rich versus poor, but is about balancing our financial books and creating a business friendly environment for potential jobs, and it crosses party lines.

Listen to Jeff Berding, a democrat from southern Ohio speak to Doc Thompson on 700 WLW about his support for S.B.5.

If you are a frequent visitor to this site you know that Jeff isn’t an isolated politician when it comes to understanding reason. There are hundreds of hours of such conversations documented here just like the one you just heard. I admit there are hundreds of thousands of words written here and many hundreds of articles, videos and sound bites, so it can be overwhelming. That information is here like a library to help discuss topics that aren’t covered by the popular press. You can search for that information by checking the calendar off to the side of this article.

You can also pull them up by Googling “Overmanwarrior” along with whatever topic you want info for.

What’s happening in the country is Americans saw what happened to our film hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California when he started strong only to be wiped out by the unions, unable to do anything to stop the financial bleeding in the state, much the way they are attempting to do in Ohio. The unions have a long history of this kind of thing, and it’s designed to scare politicians that the people elect to represent them, which actually subvert the process. That’s one of the biggest aspects of these protests that are wrong. Public Sector Unions use money they’ve made off the tax payer to lobby members of elected officials through strong-arm tactics to subvert the will of the people who elected those politicians. That’s a very bad thing. The people who are currently in the state house of Ohio, and Wisconsin are there because tax payers do not want to become the next California, and expect bold action to return our states to prosperity lacking deficits. And the people protesting and speaking out against S.B.5 are short-sighted and selfish. They are looking at their tiny sector of the economy, which has a major impact on the whole, and seeks to preserve their imposition on society.

Some Senators have given the unions hope because of comments these Senators have made, and they are the targets of these protests. The protests are designed to break these senators’s resolve to reason out of fear from reprisal or the possibility of not being re-elected.

Sen. Bill Sietz R – Cincinnati District 8

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-8068
Email: SD08@senate.state.oh.us
“While there is much in the bill I think is good, there are some things I think are decidedly a bridge too far,” said Sen. Bill Seitz,

Sen. Frank LaRose R – Fairlawn District 27

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 2nd Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-4823 (614) 466-4823
Email: SD27@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. LaRose, said he doesn’t believe the system is functioning as well as it should, but “I think that reforming collective bargaining doesn’t mean getting rid of it.”

Sen. Keith Faber R – Celina District 12

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-7584 (614) 466-7584
Email: SD12@senate.state.oh.us
The question is, what will the bill look like? Sen. Faber,, the Senate’s No. 2 GOP leader, said he was confident there would be “clear majority support in my caucus.”

Sen. Scott Oelslager R – Canton District 29

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 2nd Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-0626 (614) 466-0626
Email: SD29@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Oelslager, expressed the most definitive opposition to the bill. “I’ve been a strong supporter of collective bargaining my entire career.”

Sen. Gayle Manning R – North Ridgeville District 13

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, Ground Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 644-7613 (614) 644-7613
Email: SD13@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Manning, said she understands the teachers’ perspective, but she also understands the budget deficit and has not made a decision on the bill.

Sen. Bill Beagle R – Tipp City District 5

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-6247 (614) 466-6247
_Sen. Beagle, said the bill’s replacement of continuing teacher contracts with one-year contracts could be difficult to implement and is a fairness issue because administrators can have five-year contracts.

Sen. Jimmy Stewart R – Albany District 20

Majority Floor Leader
Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-8076 (614) 466-8076
Email: SD20@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Stewart, would not say whether he supports the bill, but he stressed he is searching for some middle ground with “some of my labor friends.”

Sen Jim Hughes R – Columbus District 16

Senate Building
1 Capitol Square, 1st Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 466-5981 (614) 466-5981
Email: SD16@senate.state.oh.us

Sen. Hughes, said he is keeping an open mind on the bill and offered no commitments to its major provisions.

 

It’s not hard to see how some of these senators might be intimidated by the constant chants of “Kill the Bill.” To have emotional testimony from firefighters, police and teachers proclaiming that they are the hinge pins of society will work on your conscience if you are not a strong-willed person to begin with. After all, people are people and nobody wants to hurt anybody when it comes down to it. So it’s difficult to reason fact from fiction when emotion is used as the argument.

If you’ve worked on a school levy campaign like I have, you learn to see the false prophets and all the emotional testimony. Even though these are senators, it is hard to develop the experience needed to do what is right when people pull on your heart-strings. But that’s what has to be done. So be sure to send those fine people an email letting them know that they can walk that plank of sharks protesting in Columbus and you’ll be there for them. After all, think how it must feel to have hundreds, maybe thousands of emails, and letters filling their offices while they can’t even go to lunch without seeing a sea of protestors chanting at them. The protests are designed like torture, to alter people’s reality and make them think less clearly.

The reality is 15K, 20K or even 70K is not very many people. The real mass is out there in the plains and hills of Ohio, and they are busy working and watching. And if politicians waver from their task, those politicians will be removed and new ones put in place until reform does happen. It’s as simple as that.

If anyone questions the level of corruption at play here listen to Richard Trumka brag about his influence over the White House. If anybody hears this and doesn’t think there’s something wrong you’ve completely lost your way.

That is just another reason why all this public union business has to stop. It is an issue that transcends Democrats and Republicans. It’s too important to play politics with. And it requires courage in the face of adversity. The unions are betting that they can scare away enough Republics off S.B.5 through sheer intimidation. They don’t have to worry about the Democrats not voting their way, because they put those people in office……….with our tax money. Who do you think those Democrats represent? The farmers, laborers, businessmen, who aren’t, and don’t want to be represented by a union?

Congratulations Jeff Berding for reaching across the aisle and showing the kind of boldness these times require. It may hurt politically in the short-term, but it will give you a proud story to tell your grandchildren someday when they are looking for a hero and you can offer them one with your grand story. Because doing what’s hard is what we take pride in when life darkens around us.

And Senator Sietze, I was inspired by your speech last year calling on Governor Strickland to “lead.” Well, now you have a Governor willing to “lead.”

I personally think your reasonable comments about refining S.B.5 and reading it thoroughly is wise. But remember, the only reason Democrats and the unions are willing to talk now is because they pushed everything too far to the point of breaking the tax payer backs, and they see that it’s a real possibility of losing forever collective bargaining. The problem with Republicans, traditionally, is they always back off the throttle when they shouldn’t. It should be a positive to take the high road. But the political opposition never does, and if you “negotiate” too much, that window will close forever. We arrived at this point in history because Democrats pushed and pushed and pushed while good people took the high road.

I get the high and low negotiation process. I’ve done it myself many times. But when it comes to the kind of activity that goes on in collective bargaining, use the strong cards you have when you have them, and play the game to win in the long run. Not just to appease the current masses. It’s best to avoid a referendum process, but consider how many of those people in unions vote purely as Democrats because of their pay check. So long as there are public unions involved in politics we will never know what is the true nature of our Republic, because the numbers will always be skewed. Unions tell people how to vote and that’s a problem.

Being nice won’t fix this problem. It was imposed on all of us by years of greed and ruthless manipulation and it falls on us now to act with uncommon valor.

Rich Hoffman

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

Teachers Cheat in Wisconsin: Lying about why they’re off work

During school levy campaigns, it doesn’t matter if it’s Lakota, Mason, Little Miami, Lebanon, just name the Ohio district and you’ll find a multitude of accusations of impropriety on behalf of the teachers. Teachers through their unions have learned how to “game” the system, and they’ll do whatever they can do to achieve results for themselves. This has been most obvious to those of us that work on anti-levy campaigns where State Revised Code prohibits school officials and administrators to use school resources to work on campaigns for levy requests, but they do it anyway.

Teachers and administrators participate openly in extortion tactics such as cutting busing to make transportation inconvenient on parents of the district, and other cosmetic cuts imposed for much the same reason. There is a level of arrogance in these school systems that you might experience from organized crime elements, yet we send our kids to these institutions and pay the tolls because we don’t have much choice. It’s easy for us to turn away from the crime because much of it is done in the gray areas of the law.

You can learn a lot by observing people while under duress, and now that there are protests in two states over legislation that is seeking to end collective bargaining, there’s a lot of duress from unions. The union rank and file is now out of their comfort zone and showing what they truly are, including President Obama, who has attached himself to the movement. And what we are seeing is much of what many of us feared in our deepest darkest anxieties. At the protests in Wisconsin teachers, the same people that we trust to teach our children are openly seeking doctor notes from physicians that have made themselves available to falsify documents to excuse those teachers while they protest.

Doc Thompson has some great sound bites with examples of this behavior which is extremely disgusting. He also has some great quotes from the testimony Jeff Berding who is a Democrat that has come out in support of the S.B.5. Jeff testified to collective bargaining abuses to Cincinnati’s personnel costs that are growing 18 percent annually. The city’s contract with police gives officers an average of $87 an hour for working holidays and can let workers retire with six-figure sums for unused leave, totaling $93 million. Listen to all that from Doc himself from the February 21, 2011 show.

If you really want to see what is behind this type of insidious behavior, look who emerged from his Clown Rally in Washington, Ed Schultz. It would seem that Ed couldn’t get a crowd to come to him, so he went to the crowd. Listening to these people says a lot about their mentality. What they are chanting has nothing to do with a middle class life style. What they want is essentially un-American. It is clearly socialist theories that people like Ed have been pushing for years. (That’s why the system is bankrupt, Eddie.)

It’s a good thing to know these things, because the next time these schools ask for a levy, people will know what is behind the numbers. So I encourage those protests to continue as they are and show us all what you’re made of. I’ve known for a long time. Now, it’s time the rest of America see it for themselves.


I wonder what the parents of those kids think? I’d be ashamed if my kid was participating in this vile, disgusting, hippie-like behavior. Maybe that’s why these kids are doing it, because their parents yearn for the radicalism of the 60’s. Maybe they get the ideas from MTV and through their music which again craves the radical 60’s. It’s probably a little bit of both those things topped off with the influence of radical teachers toeing the union line on a daily basis. My opinion is that nobody in the United States should behave like this. This behavior belongs in some third world country, because that’s what this behavior gets you. And to all you left winged hippie sympathizers, all you’re doing is proving Glenn Beck right. He called this behavior from you people over a year ago. If this is what education is all about these days, I want NONE of my money to go to it, because it’s not working.

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
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The Latest on School Choice: And Death Threats to Scott Walker

For the latest on what’s happening regarding School Choice up at the capital, here is some testimony from Representative Matt Huffman from Lima, Ohio given on February 16th, 2011. There are plans to expand the voucher program which is an encouraging sign for those of us that are pushing for 100% eligibility in the state.

Here are some testimonies from parents speaking for the merit of the School Choice program.

This program will go a long way to solving many of the education funding issues we have in the State of Ohio by introducing competition to the mix. I’ll post more as I get it. There’s a long way to go, but this is a big first step.

Now, for those who are on the fence with this issue have a look at these students and what they put on Twitter during the Wisconsin protests.  We need to pull our kids back into reason.  We need to bring competition to education so radical educators will lose their voice in the free market system.  It’s of utmost importance.   

If we just let this whole system go without serious reforms it will just get worse.

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
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Warrior of the Week: Governor John Kasich

There comes a chance only a few times in a century for people of a state, or nation to define themselves through their actions in a great epic battle of some age-long warfare. Battles and wars are not always fought with bullets, knives, aircraft or missiles. Some of the most violent battles in the history of the planet never directly shed a drop of human blood, but created ideology that steered the course of the human race through ideas. Those battles take place in courthouses, statehouses, and Capital Hill where the warriors dress in business apparel wielding pens across paper with destructive effect.

Such activity is not what many in mainstream America consider to be war however, and that is why organized labor and other progressive platforms have migrated like a sickness into our legislative process to the point where it threatens our very existence. Collective bargaining has been for Ohio a kind of Trojan Horse where on the outside it’s an appealing device, but hidden within is an army intent to devour everything in its path once behind the walls of their enemy.

Ohioans are now aware that something is wrong behind our walls, from within our state borders, and they elected a governor in John Kasich to deal with that threat directly, and swiftly. That threat is nothing short of our economic vitality and future survival. So it is with great honor that I name Governor John Kasich as the “Warrior of the Week” while he must look out across the lawns of the statehouse in Columbus and see the mass of people intent on further destruction of our state economy and hold steadfast to the ideas for which he believes.

Such boldness as exhibited by Governor Kasich is rare in people, as the intent of these protests that will intensify at the start of Februarys last week, is to rattle his mind. Listen to Kasich behind the scenes here.

Those protestors, many of which are good people caught up in a bad system, just as soldiers on a battlefield are not evil taken by themselves, yet the minds behind the movement represent much of what’s wrong with our State and Nation. The architects of these protests reveal their malicious intent behind protest signs and chants. Sadly the majority of the state that stands behind the Governor is busy at their work, contributing to their families, and communities. While the protesters hope to erode away the resolve of our elected representatives with mass, the truth of their strategy will soon collapse the protestor’s objective.

As seen in Wisconsin, doctors have been on hand to pass out “false” doctors excuses so those teachers protesting can still retain their jobs. As groups like SEIU and the Huffington Post have put their resources to work in an attempt to apply “mass” bringing in people from out of the state to make the movement appear larger than it is, the reality is that hotel rooms and local economies are seeing business that they otherwise wouldn’t have experienced, and that is good for the cities of these protests. The protesters do not have the financial resources to maintain crowds of 70K or more for long. They will run out of sick days and vacation time in the not too distant future. The shock factor and media blitz will wear off and the reality of the situation will become obvious quickly. The true majority will finally have its voice heard over these loud chants from the minorities that pack these state houses. For the way to beat the protestors is to take away their quick emotional victory and spend them into their own destruction, which is what, will happen.

Governor Kasich in Ohio is the kind of man that sees through the chaos to the end result, and that makes him unique. I personally hope that SEIU and the President’s Organizing for America groups send a lot of people to Columbus. Ohio’s hotel chains and downtown businesses will enjoy the increase in business. But the intimidation that is intended will fall on deaf ears, because Governor Kasich is not governor of Ohio to be a career politician. Kasich is Governor of Ohio to do a specific job, and that’s what he’s doing.

I can say that I know many thousands of people in Southern Ohio that are behind his efforts and the efforts of Shannon Jones, along with all the bold legislators that are taking the big steps to do truly good things in the face of attempted coercion.

There isn’t any walking the plank alone this time for this Governor. Ohio has over a decade of frustration that is ready to be unleashed at the voting booth. Governor Kasich is just the first of these reformers. So after the protestors in Columbus run out of their own sick days, and money, once the hotel rooms are back to regular occupancy, Kasich will have a passed Senate Bill 5 in front of him to sign. And he has an entire state hungry for his signature. And for a change, Ohio has a governor with the guts, and fortitude to put a signature on a document like S.B.5 and to win a victory on this battlefield for the fate of Ohio’s future that will live on for generations.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
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Ray Warrick Testimony on S.B.5

My good friend Ray Warrick from Mason testified on Collective Bargaining in Columbus on February 17th, 2011. Since I have video of his testimony I put it here to be watched instead of read. Listen to the rumble of the crowd outside who were able to watch the proceedings on a screen and hear what was going on in the chamber.

This is what it looked like outside that chamber.

Even though many union workers took the day off to be there, “paid for I might add,” there were some who managed to go up to Columbus and show public support for the bill. Mixed in with the chanting on this next video, “kill the bill,” are people yelling, “Pass the Bill.” It is easy to ascertain that many supporters of the bill are not present. They are the silent majority, while the many of the people against the bill were encouraged by their unions to take off work and protest. This shows the fundamental difference in philosophy.

Here is a short speech by Matt Mayer. I think he took the high class approach in the face of very intimidating union tactics. As Matt said, the people supporting the bill were routinely called “retarded,” by union members chanting from the crowd.

Here is how the news was covered in Toledo, where many just aren’t ready to deal with the cost collective bargaining has imposed on tax payers, particularly the mayor there who is trying to appeal to his political base.

Unions had almost 30 years to be “fair.” Instead they just kept asking for more, and more, and more, and more, and more, and more, and more……………………………………..

Only now that there are Republicans in place at all government levels in Ohio are they willing to “negotiate.”

I have news for those people who think like that. The Republicans did not just walk in off the street to take control of our government process. Ohioans all across the state looked at the situation and said they did not like the direction Democrats have taken the state. So they put Republicans in position to work on bills like S.B.5. They are doing their job. Taxpayers are tired of politics, and unions are wrapped up so tight with politics that it is inevitable that they will feel the impact of that wrath. But they did it to themselves and have only their leaders to blame.

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
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Union Violence and Intimidation

If a picture is worth a thousand words then the pictures below is worth billions and billions of writing. I’ll say it again; I do not want my tax money poured into organized labor. It’s really no different from organized crime. President Kennedy had no right to make public unions legal. It was an epic failure that brought organized crime like tactics to not only politics, but each and every one of the lives of Americans.

I have always felt this way. It’s not due to some conservative conspiracy. It’s simply recognizing that our public systems are broken in a fundamental way, and the source of that break is in the creation of the entitlement culture. So I’m going to take you on a journey of union arrogance, violence and political manipulation, which costs each and every person reading this very dearly.

Let’s begin with Reed Larson from 1997, over a decade ago. American society knew we had a problem then, and nothing changed. We have the same issues now, as we did then. So listen to Mr. Larson.


Now, do you think Reed is speaking out of turn? Well, listen Bob Chanin from 2009. After 41 years as the nation’s top education lawyer, Chanin closes his last Representative Assembly as general counsel with a stirring address to more than 8,000 delegates. Who wants to pay for this kind of “power?” I don’t.

The problem is, these people tend to be radical and on the left side of our political spectrum. If there was more of a balance of all political types, it would have more merit, and justification. But what happens is many of the union members adopt left winged policies in trade for the financial security the unions provide.

And this is how unions bring people under their ranks and ensure that everyone toes the line.










Here is a non-union truck driver trying to deliver his load to a union construction site. It’s a little long, but worth watching because it shows why businesses would rather do business with Right to Work States. Look how unproductive this activity is.







And when it’s thought that this is all a right winged conspiracy, it’s not. If a guy like Jeff Smith was running in my district, I’d vote for him even though he’s a democrat. I admire Jeff, not because of this speech, but because he’s a very hard worker and wants to be in politics for all the right reasons.



If you are a union member and are giving money to these organizations, you should be ashamed of yourself. I’d advise you to take action now and remove yourself from the situation. For those of you that are not a part of a union, or are like me, that have chose to not give money to unions or participate in them because of their tyrannical behavior on American Society then pass this link to a friend.

Left leaning citizens are always quick to protest the destruction of whales, or deforestation. They’ll protest drilling for oil in Alaska, or the rights of the gay population. But who’s protesting the thuggish influence workers unions have on state and national economies? Who!

Nobody.


That’s why these people feel they can do what they’re doing in Wisconsin, and Ohio where law makers are doing what a majority of the people who think with reason know needs to be done. This is how unions respond.

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
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Zombie Like Protestors: Who is responsible? The evidence points at President Obama.

According to The Huffington Post, Ohio is about a week behind Wisconsin. There is an organized plan, just as there is in Wisconsin, to swamp Columbus, Ohio with the type of radical behavior delivered to Madison.

So what’s going on in Wisconsin? Here is the platform for Governor Walker’s budget plans. Sounds pretty reasonable to me. The guy was elected by the citizens of Wisconsin to govern the state and balance the budget. If people wanted another democrat to further exacerbate their debts, they would have elected one. But they didn’t. So here is Walker’s proposal.

But listen to these people. Sounds like public education failed them miserably because they clearly don’t have a grip on reality. Where do they get these ideas?

Remember when everyone in the media said Glenn Beck was a crack pot for saying socialist were trying to undermine our society through social networking? Listen to these two kids. They believe what they are saying. Where’d they get their ideas?

Listen to these people, “it’s for the kids and their families.” They actually believe it. Where would they get that idea? Because it clearly isn’t, they are just repeating what they’ve learned from some other source.

Here is some of the rhetoric on the signs displayed in the protests. Look at the type of rhetoric written on them. Where did they get those ideas? They all seem so similar.

Now, we’ve seen this locally, but it’s a national tactic, where teachers use our kids to fulfill their political and financial objectives. These children have no idea why they are at the rally. All they do know is that they are off school and doing what their teachers told them to do.

So what’s behind all this crazy stuff? That’s right, it’s good ol’ George. It’s all about ideological issues according to him, even though he’s smart enough to become rich, so he’s being misleading. What he really means is that the millions he’s spent pushing left winged agendas are being rejected by the part of the country that is in the political center and to the right of that center. The ideology that he speaks of is the mark he left through his influence on all the people shown above that are protesting something they don’t understand.

And of course here is President Obama’s position on all this. Obama is simply a spokesman to people like Soros who definitely have an agenda to subvert the Constitution. The victims of this activity can be seen in these protests.

Now where do you think all these people get the ideas behind their rhetoric? Here is President Obama. Listen to what he says, and you’ll see that the protestors are asking for all the things he promised.

I was playing a video game today called Left 4 Dead 2 which is a game where a bunch of thoughtless zombies try to suck your blood. It’s a fun game intended to be action packed and scary. The zombies in Left 4 Dead reminded me of these protestors. The protestors look like us. Talk like us, but they are sick and diseased with something that is dangerous to all of us. And I blame people like President Obama for doing his part to make those poor souls sick on his rhetoric. Obama is responsible for doing his part in creating the hostile climate we are seeing in Wisconsin.

Listen to the generals of this new kind of war. Because that’s what it is.

It’s sad to see so many of our fellow citizens sick on these entitlement ideas. Like zombies, they seem to have lost all thought of their own and can only see the world based on their own needs. They spout the commands of their leaders without question and to hear them, and see them is a sad, pathetic sight.

They truly believe that if they display in mass that somehow the peer pressure will change the fate of our nation. Soon the zombies will descend on Columbus, Ohio by the command of their democratic leadership with direct support from the President of the United States who is under control by people Soros. And that’s not acceptable.

Even if all the zombie protestors which exist in the world take to the streets, they do not outnumber the normal thinking citizens that run these states and pay the taxes. Soon the protestors will learn how fruitless their endeavor is when they quickly prove how irrelevant they are to the public sector.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
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