Tag: philosophy

Take Another Drink and Stay Drunk; The Delphi Technique.

Throughout the No Lakota Levy campaign, it has shocked me how many people are willing to overlook obvious problems in favor of their own short term gain. I can only attribute this behavior to a perfectly normal, and sane individual seeking to get drunk, or “trashed” as they like to term it, for the short term gain of being free of regulation and responsibility along with the bliss of debauchery and ignoring the frequent urination and eventual hang-over that will inevitability ensue.

Has everyone forgotten this from 2008? I haven’t. Talk about a hang-over. This is why things cost so much.

Now that it’s on the table, teacher salaries make up that drunken metaphor. People that want to keep everything status quo are now willing to overlook the obvious overpayment to employees of the district in favor of the short term gain of keeping everything as it is. For these drunken drink seekers they are willing to ignore the obvious question, that if school districts are in financial trouble, and they proclaim that they do not have enough money, and then inquiring minds look at their expenditures and see that they are spending 75% to 85% of their expenditures on wages and benefits, they are unwilling to proclaim that the market economy cannot support the step increases and wage rate that the collective bargaining system has negotiated across the state. They are unwilling to look at how unions have created in Ohio legislation many of the back breaking policies that districts are facing now without money to apply. And they are unwilling to look at why it is a problem for public employees to be organized under a union.

Nothing in this video is conservative. All the players speaking are from the left. I think this video displays the beginning of the education problem.

The NEA contributes over $40 million dollars to democratic candidates. And recently a democratic strategist was hired to attempt to assassinate my character. Why wasn’t it a republican? Because the money that goes into education unfortunately finds its why into the politics of the Democratic Party. And I’m not a supporter of the Democratic Party. I can’t help it that they have attached themselves to our children. That’s why in my view, that separation needs to take place before we can have an intelligent conversation of how we can properly fund schools. But having organized unions collectively bargaining for any tax payer funded occupation is unethical, because there is no way the tax payer can get the best value from a government employee if wages cannot be driven down competitively. And again, when overwhelmingly, organized employees vote democratic, which means as long as public positions are unionized, a true balance within our republic can never be achieved. Such an arrangement is great if you sympathize with democratic platforms, but if you don’t, you are forced to fund democratic activity with your tax dollars, which is wrong and creates an unhealthy political climate.

Unfortunately this is a realistic portrayal. This lady is just saying what most everyone in public employment thinks.

I learned in the Pulse Journal’s October 21, 2010 edition that my views are considered by some to be of the more radical view.

Well……this is new to me. It leads me to wonder what views I had that were considered radical. I can see where people may have trouble with the things I proclaim because they are difficult to admit. But radical, why would they be proclaimed radical?

Maybe it was that I used bullwhips to demonstrate how governments can cut taxes. After all, using whips to make a point is different, so taken only by word it might sound that way if the person describing it presented it that way. After all, the traditional format would be for a person to present the information with a suit and tie and some charts. The trouble with that is I do present information in that format. And I’ve watched for years others present information in that format. And I’ve watched established politics routinely suppress the view points of statements made in a traditional format. So to get your story told in this political climate unfortunately, you have to find your unique voice, and use it.

The other thing that may indicate that I’m a radical, or as pointed out by the OEA, I am one of those vocal conservative voices that are in the minority. And that my statement that unions should not be funded in any way shape or form by tax payer funds is in some way radical.

Well, because the word radical has been used in my direction, and democratic strategists have been hired to defame my name, it is time to reveal that my use of the whip at the beginning of the No Levy Campaign was by design. The reason is that the traditional methods do not work any longer. So a new strategy is needed. So I used another talent that I have to help me communicate my point in a fashion that the opposition was not prepared for.

Why don’t traditional methods work any longer? Because, Saul Alinsky came along and created various methods of consensus building that have been used against the middle class to enact various goals under collective bargaining.

Saul Alinsky started in the 1950’s to help the poor communities to improve their situations, which in itself seems to be a noble goal. However, his tactics were used by universities in the late sixties to create a new level of radical behavior that was unleashed upon the United States like a cancerous disease called the hippie movement.

In 1971 Alinsky published Rules for Radicals a year before his death in 1972. It was in his work and reputation that unions began to adopt his methods for their collective bargaining. After all, Alinsky had the Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson’s admiration so he had enough credibility to be very well known by the 1950’s across the state. In Rules for Radicals he states, “Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future.”

Alinsky along with a couple of other guys started the Industrial Areas Foundation, in January of 1972 and began teaching members of the NEA UniServ personnel in Kentucky and then in February, Illinois’s UniServ personnel. And from there, the teaching has branched out.

Who are the radicals?

A technique that was developed is called The Delphi Technique. I’m not going to get into the details in this essay, but will leave it to say that it is a form of consensus building. Google it and be ready to read a lot. It is not a far stretch to say that The Delphi Technique has been used extensively by more and more unions for many years now to completely undermine the power bases of tradition, all in the spirit of noble quests such as women’s rights in the workplace, proper compensation, and work load concerns.

Various forms of The Delphi Technique are found in many different business strategies. I ran into it first while having to study Six Sigma for companies I’ve worked for. The Delphi Technique comes up as a way to build consensus among a large group, and then letting the group believe that they arrived at the conclusion on their own, when in fact the facilitators of the group had the outcome already decided prior to a meeting.

Keep in mind that the Department of Education did not exist prior to 1979. And Rules for Radicals was introduced in 1971. So many realities that we now consider normal had only come into being during the late 60’s and 70’s. Fast forward to the current time, is it any surprise that across the nation wages for members of unions, that have used these techniques have soared to tremendous levels. And in the case of the local issue I have been dealing with at Lakota, the level of wages is exclusively the reason for the current financial calamity the district is in.

The problem with the union model is that they have only most strongly survived in public sector jobs, which is why unions are pushing government to add more government expansion and thus union power. In the private sector, businesses that have tried to function with a union ideology have been crushed out of business. This is why unions tend to dislike capitalism. Capitalism favors the strong and successful, while the weak are left behind.

Saul Alinsky started his crusade to assist those poor that had been left behind by capitalism, so it is only natural that people educated by such methods, will sympathize with those left behind in the economics of capitalism.

Here is what Hollywood has bought in to. Let Alec Baldwin tell you about Saul Alinsky

But the world is changing, and not in the way the union and large government people would desire, in spite of their efforts. In schools, they proclaim that a community should value an education by paying a teacher top pay. But the world is requiring us to learn faster then traditional teaching. Rosetta Stone Software for instance is immensely effective as a computer based foreign language program, that traditional education would spend years instructing. Many electives, traditional mathematics, English, etc can now be learned with computer programs. It is not a surprise that more and more parents are choosing Home School as an option. Is it surprising that a home schooled student out performs their public school counterparts by 30% or more in all categories. What does that mean?

Of course the downside to home schooling is the social interaction that takes place. But what does that social interaction have to do with a teacher. When we talk about social interaction, we’re talking about the peer groups that form in school. Not the academics.

When people talk about the cost per pupil of teaching a student that cost is directly attached to the expenditures of a district, and as pointed out already, at least 75% of that is wages and benefits. So if a district or the state determines that they need to bring the cost per pupil down, so they can have a conversation on how to properly fund education at the state level, they can’t discuss it, because the funding system is kept in chaos by unions seeking first the goals of their collective bargaining intentions. It doesn’t matter if the results of their collective bargaining break the back of the tax payer. They don’t think that far, just like the party goers seeks to get drunk for the short term gains. And nobody wants to discuss if education needs a complete overhaul in general, because of the success of the home schooling sector of the population. Again, that conversation can’t begin because too many wish to just keep everything as they are now, because that’s the only way to maintain the system that can support the collective bargaining agreements gained through years of using Saul Alinsky’s techniques.

They call me radical, LOL

The bottom line is that we are on a technological frontier and the way we learn is changing, and is becoming more and more interactive. A traditional teacher standing in the front of a class is becoming more and more irrelevant. Such methods will always be needed for higher degrees and technical experience. But for the basics, much more efficient methods are available. And while all this is going on, we are paying educators top level pay which is causing trouble with school district budgets.

Last week I had more than a few people tell me that the only way to handle the education funding problem is with property taxes. This was a shocking statement to me. They professed to say that the state of Ohio has no money and that other programs are bankrupting the state. So education money is not even an option.

My response was simple, and was directed at a VIP who’s on the inside at the state level. “It’s not that the state does not have the money. Taxpayers sent money to the state, but you guys spent it on things, and the money did not find its way to education. You have a priority problem. Not a revenue problem. You have to sit down and figure out what revenue you have, and then figure out where your priorities are, just like any household. You guys did not spend money on education because you knew that the property tax system would allow you to spend money on other programs that in all reality are probably less important.” We don’t have enough money for Medicare. We don’t have enough money for Social Security, and we don’t have enough money for education. So how do you get more money for those things? You have to bring the costs down. What are the costs? And how can they be brought down?

It is the drunks that are calling me radical. They look at me with glazed over eyes and a mantra they have accepted through talking points given to them during the party. And since the hosts of the party have more value to the drunks enjoyment than what I’ve been saying, once drunk, they are left to only call me names because their logic is no longer with them.

But when the party is over, they’ll be the first to vomit and cry out for someone to help their headache. And when that happens, I won’t help them. It was their poor planning that led them to drink themselves silly, and dehydrate themselves to such an extent that their overall health in now in jeopardy. And the value of such a lesson learned is much more valuable than the relief they’d gain from my charity. And such a hang over is the result of this election. They cry out for more funding, or more to drink so the pain can go away. But I’m not giving them any. Because for the benefit of their own sustained health, they need to work through the head ache.

Rich Hoffman

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

My “Little” Problem: Progressive Public Affairs Consultant Openly Lies to the Media

A story of manipulation from David P. Little.

The below press release is a typical campaign assassination attempt that has led our nation into bankruptcy. People like David P. Little make their entire livelihoods manipulating the facts and shaping the opinions of the voting public. In this letter Little shows how “little” he truly knows. For instance, and I’ll go into greater detail at the end of this essay, he denigrates tea party types as using simplistic language, where in reality, most tea party types are more sophisticated and currently read much more than the typical public employee. So to use terms to attempt to reduce public perception of tea party types is to confuse his own political opinions with facts which he presents below as truth, when in fact they are only the opinions of a man with limited understanding.

So without any further delay, enjoy the below Press Release from David P Little.  You can listen to Darryl Parks reading the press release along with my appearance on his show by clicking on the video below. 

 

 

From: DPLITTLE [mailto:dplittle@fuse.net]
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 9:24 AM
To: David P. Little
Subject: Bullwhipping Quality Education in Butler County

Dear Friend of Public Education,

Every year opponents of adequate funding for public education become more vocal and hostile to the historic mission of public education in America. Each election season our schools are reduced to pleading for support from constituencies that are being told that we should abandon our traditional system of public education and institute more private or unregulated for-profit charter schools without elected boards or genuine accountability to the citizenry.

It is clear that the simplistic language and tactics of tea party type enthusiasts are now being utilized in these battles; this is reason enough for their efforts to be strongly and consistently opposed. So I write to invite you to join us—now.

This year these perennial battles feature a wealthy businessman in the Lakota School District of Butler County who is intent on bullwhipping our educational system by withholding all financial support and making hostages of the students and staff in these institutions.

Pretending he is Buffalo Bill while flailing with dueling enflamed leather whips, Lakota levy opponent leader, Rich Hoffman, a wealthy businessman and anti-government activist, is leading the attack on a school system which is the envy of many across the region, widely known for opportunity and excellence.

Using hostile talk radio and YouTube video as vehicles, Hoffman and other levy opponents are intent on bullwhipping the administration, teachers, and the thousands of students and family members that depend of the Lakota Public Schools. While pretending that he inhabits a wild west show, steeped in pioneer values and individualism, Hoffman presents Confederate battle flags in his videos and ignores the fact that public education was among the very first accomplishments of all frontier settlements in the United States and remains the steadfast goal and anchor of all quality communities.

Please review the links below for additional information and details of how you can assist in the fight against opponents of quality education in our region. Battles such as this impact the success of public education in all of our communities and disinformation of this variety must be opposed with energy equal to the task.

Thank you,

David P. Little

David P. Little
Public Affairs/Political Consultant
207 Woolper Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45220
Cellular: 513.477.2651
dplittle@fuse.net

Now Mr. Little, its time for some facts about your note; public education was not “organized” during the foundation of the country. We had public education, but the organized portion of public education started with 4 employees during 1847 in Ohio. The OEA officially formed in the early 1900’s ahead of the NEA. You are confused when you assume that public education must involve organized labor. The fact that you associate those two issues together means you cannot understand how to solve the problem. Frontier towns made the teacher a central part of the town’s foundation, as they should be. But organized collective bargaining is an entirely different matter. This is the problem since you need help understanding the difference.

I’m not pretending to be Buffalo Bill. He had a beard. Do I have a beard? I’m Rich Hoffman, and there’s only one of me. Buffalo Bill was Buffalo Bill. Do you understand that? Or is it too difficult?  I’ll make it easy for you.  Buffalo Bill is in the old photo.  I put my wife in the one with me in it.  That way you can see the difference.  (I was chewing my food)

You mention that I use confederate flags in my videos. You use that term in a plural sense, when in fact confederate flags appear in only one of my videos, one that was shot at a Wild West Arts event, where confederate flags, pirate flags, and American flags are very common. In those events, the confederate flag does not represent slavery the way people like you that have perpetuated as progressive ideas that have moved through our culture. In the Wild West groups, those flags celebrate history, and the Civil War is important in reflection because our country grew as a result. But in my video, the flags are flying in the wind on one of the vendors booths at the site. Confederate Flags are quite common in Gatlinburg, Tennessee as well, and are part of southern culture which I happen to like. But saying that doesn’t automatically mean I’d ever endorse slavery, quite the opposite. If slavery existed today in the United States, I’d be against it with the same voracity that I protest school levies. The trouble with you is that you are seeking to make an issue of that, as if it somehow reflects racism, which is a typical progressive strategy. When they can’t win an argument, they just call people names and hope it sticks. It’s kind of like throwing darts in the dark and hoping they hit a target. So you completely misrepresented that one video, and there certainly aren’t any plural videos.

You used the word pretending twice. I’m not doing any pretending, David. I have video of some of the Wild West Events I’ve been in. And they are steeped in pioneer values and individualism. There’s no pretending about it. Or maybe you don’t understand what the word pretend means.

Is this pretending?

And it’s not always western arts. Sometimes it’s just doing stunt work, or stand in work for contemporary films. https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/09/25/bullwhip-consultant-on-films/

Hey, and the firewhips are specially made with Kevlar. If they were leather, they’d burn, and I couldn’t reuse them. But I’ll give you a pass on that. Doing so much desk work like you have, I wouldn’t expect you to know that.

And I, or none of the people I know who are against tax levies want to withhold all support and hold students and staff hostage. The trouble is, organized labor has attached itself to our children and it is difficult to remove those elements because the organized labor is a radical system that threatens to destroy our children if we don’t give them more money. That is why one of the first cuts is busing in order to pass a levy. In Lakota they have a budget of over $160 million dollars. So that is not withholding all funds as you’ve stated above.

Now you had a six paragraph letter, and you told 4 complete fabrications of the truth in the whole body of that document. The only reality of those statements is in your own mind, but yet you wrote them down and sent that information out to many important people as though it was truth. Very, very, very irresponsible. And what disinformation specifically have we pointed out in the No Campaign? And what action are you calling for in that letter? Violence? You said the word fight. That means violence to me. And none of us are against quality education. We’re businessmen. We expect results, and we expect quality. But we are against the way organized labor has driven the budget to the level it currently is. We see it as the fault of your clients and your personal philosophy that has irresponsibly spent themselves into crises. And we also blame the same for hiding that irresponsibility behind our children. These radical slanders from your side will not be tolerated unchecked.

And let me take issue with your very first paragraph. You say, and I quote “Each election season our schools are reduced to pleading for support from constituencies.” Excuse me? These are public employees. They have to make a case for their existence. Yes. That’s a fact of life. But you’re term about being reduced to pleading states that you believe the people you represent are somehow entitled, and are therefore above the taxpayer. You forget who your boss is. And David, because you do so much work for politicians, you also work for the taxpayer.

I did a little checking on you.

David Little’s Experience
Strategist & Communications
DPL Political Consulting Services
(Public Relations and Communications industry)
January 1993 — Present (17 years 10 months)
Public Policy/Political Consultant
David P. Little, Consulting Services
(Public Relations and Communications industry)
March 1987 — Present (23 years 8 months)
INDEPENDENT PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONSULTING EXPERIENCE:

• Regional Director Statewide Campaigns /Media Consultant; Four Ohio constitutional offices including Governor, Attorney General, Auditor, and Secretary of State

• Five U. S. Congressional Campaigns; Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky; Campaign Director and/or strategist; Responsible for strategic planning, issue briefing and development, press relations, issue development, opposition research, campaign publications, select speech writing and intensive debate coaching

• Reform Ohio Now Campaign, Southern Ohio Director Constitutional Ballot Initiative; Managed regional office and activities, volunteer staff, and media relations as part of a statewide seven million dollar ballot initiative to reform elections, redistricting, and campaign financing in Ohio

• Natural Resources Defense Council; Washington, D.C. (2008) Year long legislative climate change/global warming assignments in conjunction with M+R Strategic Consultants, New York & Cleveland, Ohio

• Alliance of American Insurers, Chicago, Illinois; Developed and implemented rapid-response media strategy and maintained political/legislative relations in New York, New Jersey, & Pennsylvania

• ProgressOhio.org, Columbus, Ohio; Three year staff retainer with numerous press spokesperson assignments, State Capitol and statewide media events for environmental, social justice, multiple other clients

• Americans United for Change; Washington, D.C. Statewide press events & public Issue development political education efforts in Ohio (2006) AFL-CIO & related organizational financing of assignments

• Healthcare Leadership Council; Washington, D.C.; Midwest Field Director; Represented coalition of 50 healthcare industry CEO’s on national healthcare legislation. Created and maintained relations with Governors, Congress, business allies, editorial boards, and U.S. Senatorial tours

So what do you mean by fight, David P. Little? I’m just a guy that doesn’t want to see taxes increased. I see you, and your side with a hand out, with a lack of business understanding, and with a political agenda that I’d consider dangerous to the country I live in. And you better think hard about whether or not you want a fight with me.

Rich Hoffman

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

Why Tampa Bay Buccaneer Football is the Best

I love Tampa Bay Buccaneer football!

When I was a kid, I didn’t like the social structure of the whole business. I never liked being told what to do so I didn’t like coaches. I never liked the class structure football created either. And I never liked how weak kneed grown adults got over star athletes that were half their age. That always seem weak to me.

I played soccer instead when I was a kid, and was so aggressive that my nickname was “The Animal.” Years later I realized that I probably should have played football, because to be honest, I love war.

Football is a war game, pure and simple. It’s about ground gained, ground defended, and winning.

And with that said, my favorite football team is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Why?

I used to be a Cincinnati Bengal fan. I relate much more to the coaches and owners than I do players. And I saw a lot of myself in Sam Wyche. Sam made me appreciate football for the war game that it is.

When Paul Brown died, his son Mike wasn’t quite the same kind of man, and he didn’t like Sam Wyche. So he ran Sam out of town. And my loyalty went where Sam ended up?

Tampa Bay.

After the owner of The Tampa Bay Buccaneers died in 1995, the Glazer family took over, and brought a whole new level of attitude to football. They let Sam go which I wasn’t happy about. Wyche brought in great names like Warren Sapp, John Lynch, Mike Alstott, just to name a few, but hadn’t been able to win consistently. They sometimes won dramatically yes, but not consistently. The Glazer’s hired Tony Dungy and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin which were a couple of people that I admired and was curious about. And between those two men, and a fantastic new football stadium, they changed the NFL.

To this day, there are more head coaches from the Tampa Bay Buccaneer organization than any other team in the NFL. Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears, Monte Kiffin who is the defensive coordinator for USC working with his son there, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburg Steelers, and Raheem Morris who is the current Buc coach. Those are all active coaches, not to mention the retired Tony Dungy who went on to Indianapolis to achieve more than he did in even Tampa Bay, and Rod Marinelli who didn’t have a very good time with the Detroit Lions. So they are doing many things right in that great football town.

This is my idea of an intro video to a football game.

First touchdown at the new Raymond James Stadium. I LOOOOOVE the Pirate Ship!

Always a fighting spirit.

I like the Bucs because of Tony Dungy.

I like the Bucs because of Gruden.

I Love the Bucs because of the Pirate Ship.

Redemption Awaits 2007

This is Buccaneer Football!!!!

Tampa puts everything they have into every aspect of the business.

The Announcer Gene Deckerhoff!

And I will never forget the night my wife and I were at Raymond James Stadium the night the Devil Rays went to the World Series. Glad we were there!

This video was a couple hours after the Buc game with Seattle and the tribute to Mike Alstott. It was a really exciting evening.

And this is how I bring the magic to my house every Sunday that the Buccaneers play! I enjoy the games even when they lose. Because the Bucs are always fun to watch.

With all the changes over the years, the ownership never lost their identity. Players come and go. Coaches come and go. But the owners of this team understand how to keep a good product on the field.

It’s all about passion, hard hitting, and resiliency. And not being afraid of doing the hard things to keep winning.

That’s why I love the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com

A Two Month Drama, The Battle of the Lakota Levy

A Chronology of the No Lakota School Levy Campaign,

New article in the Enquirer:

Lakota Schools basically got caught inflating the deficit numbers. They’ve changed the projected deficits three times since April. First at $28 million, second at $10 million, and now it’s down to $4 million.

What this means is that when pressed, the School System found ways to cut their costs without impacting the service to the customer, the community. Just think what they could do if they could bring their wages and benefits down to what everyone else was making, instead of the inflated wage the education profession expects now.

Check out that Enquirer article here.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101016/NEWS0102/10170339/1196/NEWS/Lakota-deficit-estimates-muddy-levy

There has been so much that has occurred over the last 8 weeks regarding the No Lakota Campaign, I thought I would put all that information in one place, so everyone has easy access to it. It would be impossible to put a link to every article here, but I must regulate it to just the key points.

• Here is the big one, the release of the top wage earners at Lakota, which exhibits why they have a financial crisis they imposed on themselves by lack of discipline.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/pay-rates-for-top-434-teachers-at-lakota-schools/

• This is the first visit to WLW’s Scott Sloan Show where we reveled to most of the Midwest why Lakota and other school systems are drowning by their expenditures.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/rich-hoffman-and-dave-varney-visit-the-scott-sloan-show-on-wlw/

• This was the second visit to WLW, this time to Darryl Parks show on the following Saturday.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/wlw-on-saturday-september-25th/

• To put things in perspective for much of the mail I was getting, from people who obviously don’t understand basic economics, I did a video which was featured on The Blaze.com, using a bullwhip trick I knew to explain the problem of public sector employees getting in the way of private sector needs.

http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2010/09/04/a-whip-trick-to-save-america/

• After seeing the video I did for The Blaze.com, The Enquirer did a story about my metaphor of using bullwhips to describe cutting unneeded costs from public budgets.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100922/NEWS0102/9230322/Man-wants-to-whip-proposed-levy

• After all the positive coverage, which came because the group I’m working with had brought up truly legitimate questions that seldom get asked, or dealt with in the press, the Pro Levy people decided to attack the largest voice that had helped us ask those basic questions. As usual with public employees, they seek to silence anyone that questions them. “They use the squeaky wheel gets the grease” trick and hope if they yell loud enough they can silence any criticisms leveled in their direction. This is the standard organized strategy using The Delphi Technique in order to build consensus among voters. Lucky for us, 700 WLW had the guts to stick with the story.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/pro-lakota-group-threaten-wlw-radio/

• Due to the request of many of the Pro Levy people who started to see the error of their own view points, I published a budget idea so they could see that there were actually options to what the school system had been telling them.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/lakota-budget-plan/

• Then I published the numbers of how much the State of Ohio had cut from Lakota and reviewed the previous levy attempt in May of 2010.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/lakota-levy-but-wait-we-just-did-this/

• And I summed up the situation involving all parties involved in the Lakota School Levy.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/the-lakota-school-levy-and-the-infamy-of-bad-decisions/

• We received a letter from a person that is very much against the school levy that has children in the school system. I published it here to remind everyone why fighting this levy was important.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/why-fight/

• Here I show a collection of interviews that show that Lakota should have seen the financial crises coming, but did not act in time to avert any potential trouble. Instead of dealing with the true problems, they reverted to just asking the tax payers of the community for more money.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/a-financial-crises-just-doesnt-happen-lakota-should-have-seen-it/

• The Pro People went on the Scott Sloan show to try to refute everything the No Levy people, and specifically, I had been saying. What ended up happening was Scott Sloan read the Lakota Teachers contract on the air, which proved to be indefensible.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/the-power-of-the-big-one-scott-sloan-reads-the-lakota-teacher-contract/

• By popular request, I did another whip trick video to explain the difference in budgets from what a Yes vote gives the district, and what a No vote gives, and why establishing a budget amount is important.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/bullwhip-economics-pubic-versus-private-sector-the-lakota-school-system/

• At the Lakota School Board Meeting on October 11th, 2010 the No Lakota Levy people showed up in force to speak out against the levy in front of the board. Virtually no Pro Support people showed up to speak in favor of an indefensible and audacious levy increase to impose upon an economically ravaged community.

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/the-lakota-school-board-meeting-3-weeks-before-the-election/

• Some kids were caught trying to steal our No Lakota signs which point to a larger, more organized attempt to steal away the opposition’s message in order to sneak the tax through with uninformed voters.

http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=13305856

  • Here I am on WLW again to discuss the sign theft and other dirty tricks that have occurred.

Rich Hoffman

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

Don’t Drink the Lakota Kool-Aid

I continue to hear this preposterous notion that people should vote for this Lakota School Levy in order to preserve the value of their home.  That comment, which seems to be the only argument left by the Pro Levy people, is in my view one of the most selfish, and uneducated statements someone could make. 

What we’ve learned over the last two months is this: the levy is about preserving very lucrative teacher contracts that extend to large state wide and national unions.  They’ve made themselves so large and powerful, a local school board can no longer deal with the influence yet we are expected to pay locally as though our school system is still community run.  This levy is NOT about children.  It’s about money and security.  Nobody wants or expects teachers to work for free.  It is excessive to have an average salary of over $60,000 per year plus benefits!  That’s called mismanaging the budget.  If a single teacher gets cut, or a bus doesn’t pick up a child, it’s by choice to protect very inflated wages and benefits.  It’s all about money and union influence, nothing more. 

Second we’ve learned that the deficit numbers have went down over the last 6 months.  They started at $28 million, and then were at $10 million, and now they’re at $4.2 million.  What that means is that once people pull up their boot straps, good people can accomplish a lot, and that’s what the No Levy People have been trying to say all along.  

And lastly we’ve seen what Pro Levy People are willing to do to win.  They’ll steal signs.  They’ll threaten large radio stations, and they’ll call people names who step up and point out what should be obvious. 

If the people who move to Liberty Twp, and West Chester only move here for the schools then they’re as shallow and selfish as the real estate agents who are more concerned about their own pockets then the health of the community. 

Don’t buy the Kool-Aid the Pro People are selling.  Visit us at NoLakotaLevy.com for the facts. 

Rich Hoffman

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

I Want Your Money Film Review

I Want Your Money:

I Want Your Money is an ambitious documentary from filmmaker Ray Griggs that my family and I caught at Newport on the Levee in downtown Cincinnati. I have to say I am grateful to the AMC Theaters for offering this film on its opening night.

It is wonderful to see that on the same day, two films were released, Waiting for Superman, and I Want Your Money. We have all grown tired of the documentaries that feature a leftist slant particularly Michael Moore.

I enjoyed Moore’s Roger and Me, but since then, he has progressively moved in the direction of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, which was written in the 1500’s. Michael Moore’s last film about capitalism was a far cry from his sincere attempts in Roger and Me. He has become corrupted by his media star power, and therefore lost to ideology. Such a concept as utopia is an infantile and unproven theory. And it has been infuriating that so many movements have emerged to embrace these silly ideologies like a utopian society, socialism, and Marxism and wrapping all these ideas into a political philosophy called progressivism.

Watching I Want Your Money took me back to the 7th grade when I helped campaign for Ronald Regan by giving a speech defending his military spending proposals in my school history class. And watching Regan and his speeches again in not only real footage, but also appearing as a cartoon character that is trying to teach Barack Obama how to be a good president took me back to the 80’s and reminded me just how powerful and positive that time period had been.

I had forgotten just how messed up Jimmy Carter and all the previous administrations had left our country. When Regan became president, it was a time of Clint Eastwood movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger was still a tough guy, before he became beat up and abused by the unions of California, which was covered in the film, and Bruce Willis was a rising star. Men were still proud to be men in the movies. And that’s why it was appropriate that a cowboy actor was president.

Watching Regan’s speeches were almost surreal. Since Regan left office in 1988, there has been so much said about how slow, dimwitted, and uninterested he was in government. Now, with years to assist my experience, I understand why those comments emerged. They were to suppress the memory of what Regan did.

It is those same elitist voices that are proclaiming that the Tea Party are a bunch of “hicks” or any number of adjectives used in a derogatory manner toward those that do not share the warped philosophy of Thomas More. I’ve personally heard it all my life.

I started wearing a cowboy hat in the fifth grade. It was because Clint Eastwood, and Burt Reynolds wore them, and those were my favorite actors at the time. Reynolds wore one in Smokey and the Bandit, one of my all time favorite films, and Eastwood wore them in many films, particularly the spaghetti westerns he’s so well known for. So I have heard plenty of public ridicule for my love of cowboy hats. Most people just look funny at you. Not many say anything, especially when they know you are confident in your appearance. But many people just don’t understand the significance. Those are the types of people that have bought into all the crazy leftist stuff. And being comfortable in your manhood is not something leftists like. And they don’t just target men. If you’re a woman, and you like being a woman, their wrath comes at you as well. That’s because progressives need to point out what’s imperfect because they need society to attempt to achieve philosophical perfection, which they offer. But all they have to stand on are half-baked ideas by half baked philosophers.

So it was really refreshing and it really took me back to the cowboy hat wearing Ronald Regan when much of the film was set at his ranch. There was a great scene of Regan signing his massive tax cuts on a foggy day at the range dressed coolly informal in a jean jacket. It makes you wonder why more people have missed the magic of Regan up to now.

But this great documentary captures the essence of where the United States is now. And it does a great job of capturing the meaning of the Tea Party. It does a great job of explaining the debt. And it successfully shows how foolish many of the progressive philosophies are, and how they’ve virtually ruined everything they’ve ever touched.

So if you can, see this movie. Support filmmakers like this with a ticket bought. Don’t wait to see it on DVD. If this film does well, more films will be produced like this. Hollywood is watching. So vote by going to see this film at the theater.

And yes, the progressives are upset: Take a listen.

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com

The Lakota School Board Meeting, 3 weeks Before the Election

There was a School Board meeting for the Lakota’s Administration on Monday, October 11th. Normally, three weeks before a major election, there is a lot of emotion and many people show up for these things to voice their opinion. Many of us from the No Lakota Group spoke. There were a few that spoke in favor of Issue 2, but overwhelmingly, the voices came out against the levy.
Since none of the papers covered this overwhelming discrepancy, I invite you to view the speeches here. The public portion of the meeting begins at the74 minute mark. I am the second speaker of many that spoke out against the Lakota School Levy.

Enjoy the speeches and remember to VOTE NO on Issue 2 on November 2nd.  Click on the below link to see them. 

http://www.lakotaonline.com/videos.cfm?vID=5617

Rich Hoffman

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

The Power of the Big One. Scott Sloan reads the Lakota Teacher Contract.

700 WLW has long been a beacon of truth in the Tri-State. Every half hour on the hour they broadcast the news as it changes and migrates throughout the day. And in between those news casts they discuss the tough issues. When a major storm strikes and tornados litter the sky seeking to destroy everything in their path, The Big One is the station everyone turns to until the storms pass. When snow threatens to cover us all with white death, The Big One is there. So it is with the same vigilance that another storm is threatening us all, an avalanche of an education system in Ohio that is crumbling under its own weight, and only one powerhouse of media has the guts to explain the situation.

A couple of the personalities of that great station Scott Sloan and Darryl Parks have valiantly stood against the forces of power that seek to propel the planned agendas of special interest and the relationship to the big business of education. But before I provide you with the very powerful clip of Scott Sloan reading the Lakota Teachers Contract on the air the reader here needs some background on the situation.  (The Scott Sloan reading is at the bottom of this post)

The State of Ohio Supreme Court case of March 24, 1997.

Section 2, Article VI of the Ohio Constitution requires the state to provide and fund a system of public education and includes an explicit directive to the General Assembly:

“The general assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State.”

And with that statement, the State Supreme Court found the current funding system being used by the State of Ohio as unconstitutional. The directive was then given to the state to properly fund all of education in the state of Ohio within the constitutional provisions.

Since 1997, nothing of any substantiality has been attempted in Columbus however, completely ignoring the Supreme Court decision. Instead, special interests have dug in and divided and conquered each school district with chaos, driving the per pupil education rate to such an extent that it makes it impossible for state legislators to attempt to tackle the problem. After all, in order to live by the state constitution, Hocking County, Ohio would need to receive the same type of funding as Butler County, Ohio. And in order to do that the cost per educated pupil would have to be determined.

The result was that from 2002 to 2010, in the Lakota School District in Butler County, Ohio for instance, the average salary of a teacher went up from $48,000 per year to a staggering $62,000 per year in just an eight year span. Other districts across Ohio have seen the same type of increase.

What is the result of this sudden jolt of salary increases? The cost per pupil in the State of Ohio was right around $6,500 in 1999 and is now just over $10,000. Since most education budgets occupy around 80% of the education expenditures, the cost per pupil is directly attached to teacher salaries and benefits.

In the State of Ohio the average teacher salary is roughly $55,000. Lakota is at $62,000. And the cost per pupil is directly connected to those wages. So what has happened is since wages have expanded nationwide for the teaching profession due to the diligent efforts of the NEA and the OEA teacher unions, along with others, the State of Ohio legislature is completely unable to determine what the cost per pupil is for teaching children, because many of them seek endorsement of the powerful unions, and therefore won’t touch the subject.

And with all this knowledge known and in print for all to see, newspapers cower away from such data in search of an easy headline. And television can’t seem to see behind the children that the powerful interests in education cower behind. There is only one place in Ohio that has the guts to tackle this issue for the complicated monster it truly is:

The Big One, 700 WLW

And with that, I present one of the most powerful moments of radio that I can remember in my lifetime. Scott Sloan actually took the time to go through over 160 pages of Lakota Teacher Contract in order to present the facts on the air to a group of Pro Levy supporters. To do such a thing required hours of preparation. Most people with much more at stake won’t read the contract because it’s too difficult, and that is how we all end up scammed, because people are reluctant to do the work. But Scott did the work and read it on the air. And for that, many people owe him a tremendous debt.

Click to listen:

Rich Hoffman

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

Pro Lakota Group Threaten WLW Radio

Pro Lakota Group Threaten WLW Radio

In the video below Pam Perrino and others of the Pro Lakota Levy campaign threaten WLW radio for putting me on the air during the last week of September, 2010. Their goal seems to be to shut down all resistance to their proposed tax increase of the Lakota School Levy. Pam had in fact been on the previous week after Dan and I did our show. But she still harassed the radio station for putting us on the air making false claims and legal threats. This video is a bit long, but worth listening to. At the end, I found the clip where she had in fact been on the previous week, right after Dan and I left the station.

I find it appalling that Pam participated in this activity. Being against this school levy, we have every right to express our views on the No Lakota Levy side. But the Pro Side shows their arrogance in this display and threats of boycotting the station, its methods like this which have created the situation that all of education is in. The threats and intimidation create one sided debates, and over the years have allowed for the imbalance we are witnessing.

The people against this levy that I know want to see the costs of education brought down to sustainable levels. We don’t care what other schools are doing. We’re not going to play the game anymore. And these irritating displays by angry mothers and teachers are not acceptable. Nobody in their right mind would want to spend money on this type of mentality.
It’s a shame that we’re all guilty of throwing money at people like this just to shut them up.

And on top of this activity, every single yard sign the No Levy Group put out were stolen over the first weekend of October. Again, the mentality is an attempt to eliminate the opposition. This is not how elections are supposed to be conducted. One would expect this kind of behavior in places like Cuba, Iran, or North Korea. Not in West Chester, Ohio!

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com

The One Nation Rally Comedy Show

The One Nation Rally

Is this mainstream America? It looked like an episode of South Park to me, compare them below.







Who are these people?

This is what progressives have in mind for the United States?  What planet did these people come from?

I took particular notice that the Ohio Education Association was promoting the event as well. And people wonder why I think Teacher’s Unions should be illegal in government positions. They openly endorse this strange mentality.

And what is Ed Schultz talking about here?

And again, when people wonder why we need education reform; listen to how much he talks about public education. Who in the world wants these types of ideas in our schools? I don’t. I’m a conservative, and I’m certainly not evil. And you bet we want to change this country away from what people like you have turned it to under our sleepy eyes.  Who makes the jobs, Ed? 

The good thing in all this is that hardly anybody showed up to this rally considering all the power that was behind it. That is because like the ambition in socialist governments is reflected in union membership, where a majority of the people functions like they are half asleep. They get their dander up when they want something, but once their needs are met, the go back to sleep like a baby sucking on the bottle. And that is what happened at The One Nation Rally.  And with over 200 union organizations busing their members in, and a month’s notice, this is all that showed up.  And the one’s that did were mostly asleep.

I would like to thank the people who put the rally on, I laughed hard for 4 solid hours at the display of comedy that was presented. Not at the effort of the participants, but at the level of seriousness for which it was presented against the background of what is truly occurring.

The 8/28 Rally much more reflected my view points.  And it is nice to know that the people that went to that still represent sanity and American virtue.

Below, the 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally

You see all you progressive minded people out there, and this was reflected in the One Nation Rally,  you have about as many fans for your cause as the WNBA does.  And this rally reminded me of this Family Guy episode. 

That’s what the crowd sounded like during Ed’s speech, which was the most energized of the day. Thanks guys, that was funny stuff.

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com