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EIA's Special Economic System Quote of the Week
Issue
It's rare when you can fit such a disparate group of
quotes under a single umbrella.
Capitalism. "He's a wonderful guy. I've known
him for many years. He's extremely highly regarded." – San
Francisco school board president Mark Sanchez, speaking of assistant
principal Gerald Courtney, who was arrested on charges of felony pimping and
pandering. Courtney allegedly leased apartments used for brothels and
created Internet posts seeking prostitutes and johns.
(August 9
San Francisco Chronicle)
Crony capitalism #1. "Obviously, general funds
were used for (the political action committee), which violates the rights of
the members to decide whether they wanted to participate in political
activities or not." –
Teachers Association of Long
Beach board member Dale McVey, whose lawsuit led to the unsealing of an
independent audit of the union's finances. The audit found TALB had spent
$110,000 more on political races than the board had authorized and at least
a portion of the difference came from general fund money. Another $120,000
in credit card charges and checks lacked supporting documentation. The
auditors believe $32,000 in checks had forged signatures. (August 2
Long Beach Press-Telegram and August 10
Long Beach Press-Telegram)
Crony capitalism #2. "Every expenditure has been
in the context of fighting poverty." – United Long-Term Care Workers
President Tyrone Freeman, commenting on a Los Angeles Times
investigation that discovered his union
paid hundreds of
thousands of dollars to firms owned by his wife and mother-in-law. Reports
the Times, "The Los Angeles-based union, which represents low-wage
caregivers, also spent nearly $300,000 last year on a Four Seasons Resorts
golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club, restaurants such as Morton's
steakhouse and a consulting contract with the William Morris Agency, the
Hollywood talent shop, records show. In
addition, the union paid six figures to a video firm whose principals
include a former union employee. And a now-defunct minor league basketball
team coached by the president's brother-in-law received $16,000 for what the
union described as public relations, according to the union's U.S. Labor
Department filings and interviews." (August 9
Los Angeles Times)
Freeman gets bonus points for his well-timed August 6
blog entry, headlined "The
Invisible Hand In Your Pocket."
Reading the mainstream press, scanning union web sites and
cultivating inside sources are all well and good, but some of the best labor
union information comes courtesy of the commies.
Communism #1. "[AFL-CIO President John] Sweeney
also noted that Dennis Van Roekel, who will take office Sept. 1 as president
of the National Education Association, challenged the executive council on
August 6 on organizing. The independent NEA, with 3.2 million members, is
the nation's largest union. In some states, including Minnesota and New
York, NEA and the American Federation of Teachers have a joint affiliate.
'His main focus is for us to consider change, to look at new models for
organizing, and that we don't have workers in the same sectors we had, like
manufacturing,' Sweeney said. Van Roekel admitted 'it took some working at
it to accept change and to in the right directions to go' in organizing.
Sweeney said he has the impression, from this meeting, that AFL-CIO member
unions are moving in that direction, too." –
August 7
People's Weekly World.
Communism #2. "I had
an experience in the past couple of weeks that really evolved my thinking
about charter schools. I used to think charters were the epitome of all
evil, and just created solely to bring down public schools. After my
experience, I find I need to alter that view a lot. The people I met at this
charter conference, I must say, are just like me, just like you. People who
were simply fed up with the status quo and were tired of hitting their head
against a system that will not change. They see charter schools as a way to
cause some change, if only for a small group of children. But hiding behind
them are [companies like] Edison [Schools] and the Knowledge Is Power
Program, which are obviously directed toward privatization and siphoning
dollars from public education. Fueling the fire are the people who see it as
the opening toward busting unions." – Julie Washington, elementary
vice president of United Teachers Los Angeles. (August 6
Socialist Worker)
Read the entire interview, in which Washington also says:
* "We are losing not only our ADA [average daily
attendance] because of charters, but also we're losing union membership. So
besides the fact of whether or not there is any value to charters, I think
our union has to take some practical look at the fact that we are losing
membership, which will undermine our base and our stability. As a matter of
fact, one of the staunchest supporters of the charter movement is Colorado
State Senator Peter Groff, who was at the National Charter Schools
Conference that I went to. He was touting to charter advocates how to
influence legislators, and he laced his stuff with the most vicious
union-bashing that I have ever sat through. And that's part of the plan.
It's setting the unions up, and repeating over and over that unions are the
problem. And lo and behold, the public has finally caught on, and they're
agreeing."
* "I don't think we've done ourselves any favors by
being narrowly focused on certain issues--damn what the kids need and damn
what's going on in the total system--just speaking only to very narrow union
ideology and not really opening it up. [We need to do a better job] of
defining who we are for ourselves, and not allowing the media or union
busters to define who we are."
YOU'RE SAYING that unions have to address social
justice, or else we're never going to organize the charters?
"It goes beyond the charters. If unions don't wake up
and begin to connect to the community by standing with them and addressing
all the social ills that are befalling everyone in this world--poor health
care, inadequate wages, inadequate housing, the prison pipeline. If we don't
begin speaking to power, then we're going to lose the whole thing. Because
even our own members are no longer engaged."
Feudalism. "The fact that you invite a person
into your house does not mean that you cannot kick him out when he tries to
burn the house down." – Francis Flaherty, an attorney representing the Clark
County Education Association in its efforts to
expel teacher Ron Taylor. Flaherty's analogy conveniently omits the
financial and representational obligations attached to CCEA's
"invitation." (August 7
Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Corporatism. "There shouldn't be school
shopping." – Broward County school board chairwoman Robin Bartleman. The
board voted 6-3 in favor of a new policy that would make lying about your
residence in order to get into a better school a third-degree felony,
punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. (August 6
Miami Herald)
Libertarianism
(think
TANSTAAFL). – "For years, districts have been under pressure to enroll
as many eligible children as possible into the lunch program because of
scrutiny by federal and congressional auditors, as well as advocacy groups.
Congress authorizes funding for the meals based on the estimated number of
eligible children, regardless of whether they're all enrolled. The program,
which dates back to the late 1960s, is meant to ensure that all children can
get a nutritious meal. If most eligible children aren't signed up, the
backlash is two-fold: the government appears to be wasting money, and
advocacy groups accuse the agency of letting children go hungry."
The results, of course, were entirely predictable:
"And as more children eat government-paid meals, school
food-service programs find themselves increasingly shouldering the costs for
much of the food. Food-service directors say that's because federal
reimbursement rates have not kept pace with the recent leaps in inflation.
They're waiting for Congress to grant a bigger reimbursement, but that's
unlikely to happen anytime soon in this election year. In the meantime,
federal officials are urging school cafeterias to rein in growing expenses
while continuing to serve meals that meet nutrition standards." – August 11
Arizona Republic.
This
reminds me of some other federal government program, but
I can't for the life of me think of what it might be. |
