September « 2011

27Sep/111

In WEA We Don’t Trust

In the wake of the passage of Governor Scott Walker's Public Union Employee curtailing of collective bargaining privileges, the citizens of Wisconsin have begun to learn to what extent they have been scammed year-over-year. No where is this more apparent than in regard to the School Teachers' Union insurance concern WEA Trust (Wisconsin Education Association Trust).

In district after district, Cheeseheads are learning that not only have they been gouged but gouged mightily in this unholy alliance of Big Labor and Monopolistic business arrangements, but that the abuses are being revealed to be more significant than was touted by the Walker Administration and state legislators.

How we know this is the case is that for those districts that refused to extend Public School Teacher Union contracts before Walker's reforms became law, budget surpluses are now being realized. For those school districts that extended Union contracts before the new laws went into effect budget shortfalls. As a result, in those districts with new-found surpluses, property tax levies have either remained flat or been reduced. Of course, the opposite is true for those unfortunates living in districts whose boards shamefully chose the Unions over the taxpayers on behalf of whom we have been reminded they are to serve (ie. Milwaukee Public Schools district).

The extent of the grift perpetrated under the Democrats at the state level and their allies in the Teachers' Union is stunning.

To say nothing about overpaying, double-dipping (whereby a teacher retires and is rehired the next day and subsequently receives full pension, full benefits, and full salary all on the taxpayers' pocketbook), mandated cost of living adjustments, tenure (or the inability to weed out the awful teachers), the worst scam of all appears in the form of WEA Trust.

For years upon years, the Wisconsin Teachers Union has baked in a mandate for a good many districts to purchase Cadillac insurance plans from... wait for it... the Wisconsin Teachers Union. Being over-insured is one thing. Over-paying to over-insure teachers is another thing.

Yesterday, it was revealed that one district in Wisconsin (Oshkosh)

...could save about $774,000 this year and another $1.3 million next year by leaving its union-affiliated health insurance for a new provider".

The district requested proposals from providers in July after its labor unions gave the board full control over health insurance as part of a one-year collective bargaining agreement.

... Business director Bob Tess said[,]"We weren't just looking for the cheapest plan. It just so happens that the best plan was also the least expensive."

Read the whole thing Here

Makes one wonder aloud who will benefit most from Obamacare.

Enoch_Root

AKA. Bobby Donn Brubaker (the most popular man in Mesa, AZ), the Umbrella of Terror, Jack Ketch.

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Filed under: Invincible Ignorance, Tavis Smiley & Company, Teachers of the Gobierno Persuasion 1 Comment

27Sep/112

Man Who Begged Obama at LinkedIn Forum Positively Identified

The man who begged Obama at LinkedIn's online forum to "take me up the butt, please" has been identified as a former Atlantic blogger.

The Blaze's Meredith Jessup also discovered the story behind this piece of guerrilla theater:

Turns out that Robert, who describes himself as a Bolivian Marxist, is indeed a student at Georgetown Law, and does have parents. After that, though:

According to the Daily Kos, Robert should be commended as “a patriot” for spelling out the reason people are protesting. “If you can watch it without being affected, you are as heartless as Dick Cheney,” the site notes.

There’s just one problem: Robert Stephens’ story is (surprise!) completely bogus.

Phone inquiries into the county property records & taxpayer services office reveal that the Stephens family home is not and never has been in foreclosure, that property taxes had been paid in full this year and the remaining balance on their mortgage for the half-million dollar home is less than one year’s worth of tuition+fees at their son’s law school.

The nail in this empty protest‘s coffin is a delightful phone conversation I just had with Robert’s mother, Marquita, where she admitted Chase Bank indeed was not “taking” their home from them. Instead, due to a recent “reduction in income,” they’ve decided to hold a “short sale.”

When I asked Mrs. Stephens if she and her husband planned to stay in their suburban St. Paul, Minn., surroundings after the sale, she told me they weren’t too keen on the idea. The area is “a bit too conservative,” she said.

Much more fun at Conservative Commune, where I also have up a bleg that so far has netted me $5, in case any of you remembers me. I've been en fuego on Solyndra/LightSquared there, if I do say so myself. So . . . in your orisons.

I'm going to reboot this blog, too, as I'll have time on my hands after work in Wisconsin, as soon as I can get out there. Hope to see you around.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Filed under: Too Lazy to Categorize 2 Comments

26Sep/110

Cripples and Bedroom Slippers… and the Vanishing G

Can't imagine a Conservative or White Person ever getting away with such things... but then, he slices, dices, and walks on water.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Filed under: POWIP Art, pudding No Comments

13Sep/115

This Is Culture. Bow Down.

No, this is not a political post.

Okay, just one political bit:
Patriotic bitch YEE HAW!

[Lee Greenwood]GOD BLESS THE USA![/Lee Greenwood]

So some pretty complete coverage here: Part 1, Part 2

A few choice costumes:
Miss Ireland Ain't Messin Around
Miss Ireland has no time for Riverdance

Miss Chile is going mining
Miss Chile got stuck in a hole for months, and all she got was this crummy costume

Miss Costa Rica demands worship
Miss Costa Rica is ready for the human sacrifice

Domo Arigato Miss Japan
Miss Japan has got some kickass platforms. And swords.

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.

Filed under: Womens with Boobs - that them Smell Good 5 Comments

10Sep/110

That Man Said Bad Words at Me

It seems Mr. Mayor of Chicago told off a union rep:

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis says Mayor Rahm Emanuel “exploded” at her during a conversation in his office about his signature longer-school-day effort, pointing his finger at her, yelling and telling her, “F--- you, Lewis.”

“I just want to call it immense disrespect for me and the Chicago Teachers Union,’’ Lewis told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday. “I didn’t appreciate the way he talked to me.

“My father never talked to me like that. My husband’s never talked to me like that.”

Emanuel — long known for his salty rants — would not go into specifics Friday about the exchange, and said the meeting weeks ago ended with a hug from Lewis.

“I’m not going to get into a he-said, she-said. We had a good meeting. It was not a long meeting. We talked about a longer school day and we talked about focusing on elementary kids,” the mayor said.

So, let me understand this. You want better treatment from the mayor of Chicago than from your own family members? How, exactly, does that work?

I don't know about you, but I got (and get) the best treatment from my dad and my husband.

In any case, this seems like a desperate ploy to garner some sympathy for the teachers union, because nobody is feeling all that sorry for them having to work marginally longer hours. The retort on that is likely: "You still have summers off. And you have a job."

It's a weak ass attempt to get sympathy, though.

Rahm cursed you out? Congrats. You're now part of the club.

Meep

Filed under: Too Lazy to Categorize No Comments

9Sep/112

Neutral – Obama Defends Maginot Line

Having grown up in the States among people with a healthy contempt for France, I was exposed to all manner of jokes at the expense of the French people. It was at a very young age that I heard the following:

Did you know French tanks are built with only one gear?

Routed by the Germans not just once but twice in the first 50 years of the century past seemed to have earned the French the unfortunate reputation of being adept at retreat.

When I went off to college my area of interest was 20th Century Europe... which one cannot study without a great deal of interest in Military History. I took a particular interest in Military Strategy during this time... though I was of course fascinated by the politics. What I learned about WWI and WWII taught me many things about Systems, people, Humanity, etc...

It also gave me a more nuanced view of the French.

A tank with one gear is problematic. Especially when that gear is Reverse. But there is something worse than a tank that can only go backwards... namely, a tank stuck in Neutral.

In defense of the French, there were plausible, unforeseen technologies in play... and the manner in which war itself was waged - the way generals and majors went about conducting it - had never morphed so radically as it did between the late 1800s and the onset of WWI. Other tectonic shifts became obvious as WWII broke out, as all of you well know. It stands, however weakly, that the French can appeal to us on this score.

But there is something else, however, one must acknowledge about the French: they knew when to disengage from battle. Or, if you prefer, retreat. Or, if you prefer, live to fight another day. That is, in studying the record, one sees that some semblance of strategy is to be found as it relates to the behavior of the French in both of the World Wars.

I cannot say the same thing about the current president. It is truly bizarre. Good God, man! Man up! Advance, hold, or retreat.

Hitler, the record shows, had truly lost touch at the twilight of the Third Reich. One such way we know this is from the orders he was issuing to his field generals up until the very end: to advance on this position or hold that position even though there were no troops left to advance or hold.

I look at Obama now and I am starting to feel a bit sorry for him. He is a starry-eyed boy sitting stunned and confused on a very real and brutal battlefield. I am no Unionista, but from my point of view he is perhaps the last person I would ever follow into battle. And not just because his tank remains in Neutral.