Voters and Packers and Bears – oh, my!

When do Green Bay Packers fans line up for hours to see a fan of their arch-enemy, the Chicago Bears?

When that Bears fan is President Obama, that’s when.

There were some scattered rain showers, and the temperatures were cooler by the lake, but nothing stopped this crowd from seeing the President, hearing the President, and cheering him on.

Tammy Baldwin opened for him – now she can say she was an opening act at Summerfest! – and helped energize the crowd. Not that the crowd needed much encouragement; there was a hum and a buzz as the fans, er, voters waited for the headline event.

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Add a few cheeseheads hats, and the scene could resemble a game at Lambeau Field.

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“We are not Bears fans first or Packers fans first; we are Americans first.”

I’ll add to the playbook. The election is coming up quickly. Before we know it, it’ll be voting day. There’s no overtime in elections. Let’s consider summer to be training camp, and September the preseason. Now it’s the real thing, and the final score will be, well, final. Are you in?

November 6th is coming all too soon.

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Mitt, Mitt, Mitt.

Dear Mitt;

May I call you Mitt? After all, you’re not really earning my respect these days. The first name will have to do.

Microphones off or on, Mitt, you must think about what you say. Or maybe, just maybe, you really did think about that statement. That’s what scares me. It was, after all, full of your favorite terms. It had a number – a percent, no less! It described a segment of the population that you see as beneath you, which showed clearly in your choice of words. Let’s see.

-dependent on government 

Mitt, I work in the public sector. Does that make me dependent on government? My children attended public schools, and my daughter attended a state university. If that makes us dependent on government, then I guess we fit the profile. By the way, your perception of middle income? Way, way high. We ordinary public school teachers don’t even dream of reaching your estimate of $250,000.

-think they are victims

No, Mitt, I’m not a victim. I’ve been through a lot in the recent past, including a long (unpaid) medical leave from my job (see above). I’m a disabled adult and I wear two hearing aids, but I’m not a victim, Mitt. I’m a survivor. .

-entitled to health care

Health care, Mitt, is a right, not a privilege. Here’s where we differ. No one should have to wait seven months to see a specialist. No one should have to turn down a necessary prescription because it’s a Tier 3 and the co-pay is too high. No one should have to turn down medicine in order to buy food. Which brings me to —

-entitled to food

What exactly are you saying? That people should starve? Have you ever watched a child wolf down his school-funded breakfast on Monday morning because he hasn’t eaten all weekend? No, I didn’t think so. Or – maybe you did mean that hunger doesn’t exist, much less actually matter. (Uh, Mitt? That “Let them eat cake” quote wasn’t really Marie, but she lost her head over it. America still has peasants who have no bread, make no doubt about it.)

-entitled to housing

Once again – are you saying that a home is optional? Home doesn’t have to be fancy. An apartment, a room in a shelter, space in a relative’s basement – housing takes many forms, as does homelessness. Mitt, I’ve seen it firsthand. Have you? Frankly, having a roof over one’s head is not optional.

My job is not to worry about those people.”

Really? If you don’t worry about them, who will? We public school teachers (you know, the ones that Scottie-in-Madison calls Thugs) worry about our students. We worry about their families, and we worry about the village that raises them. It’s a village where we worry about each other, and then we take action. If you’re not worrying, I’m sure you’ll take no actions that might make a difference to anyone on your list. A list, by the way, that includes nearly half of the voters in the United States.

No wonder those voters stick with Barack Obama. It’s not because we’re entitled, but because President Obama has earned our respect. And that, Mitt, makes him entitled to another four years in office.

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Would you do it for free?

Our union building rep (BR) brought us reports and advice for dealing with our new not-a-contract Handbook. One piece of advice: do not, under any circumstances, use our own personal funds to buy supplies. If we even need something as small as a pencil, we are not to bring it from home or buy it ourselves.

So today I sent myself an email. Of course I send myself emails; doesn’t everybody? I send notes from work to home to remind me to do or bring something the next day. Those emails usually look like this:

to: Me, of course
subject: BRING (in all caps, of course, so I don’t delete it)
And then the message arrives, looking more like a shopping list than a memo. Today I sent home a note that said “BRING — binder, small to medium.” 

And then I remembered. We are to bring no supplies from our own homes, buy nothing with our own money. Pencils? No problem; we have boxes of nice pencils sporting our school logo. Pens? Virtual teachers travel fairly often for standardized testing and field trips, so most of us have a collection of (oh, readers, I hear you laughing; you’re way ahead of me) hotel pens and scratch pads. Binders? I keep a box at home because Amigo uses a lot of binders for his Braille papers. Many are repurposed from Chuck’s workplace. I almost never pay money for a binder. They’re too easy to scavenge for free.

Where does this put me? I didn’t know. I probably didn’t pay any of my precious pennies for this binder, but it’s mine. All. Mine. And Amigo’s, too, if I’m totally honest. 

It’s like getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I BYOB (Bring My Own Binder), I send the message that it’s okay, I’ll handle this. Don’t spend the school district’s money on necessary supplies. I’ll supply the cash.

Now take the BYOB dilemma up to a higher level. It’s the guilt trip I’ve been hearing from top brass in Chicago, but it’s a guilt trip I’ve heard from fellow teachers at times, too.

“What’s best for kids?” is the question. “Do what’s right for kids,” is the answer, too. The unsaid piece, though, is this: How far will teachers go? How much will educators do without recognition, without compensation, without pay?

Some take it as a point of pride when they “ignore the contract” to organize and put on an evening event at school. Staffers who choose not to attend can be shunned at school based on the implication that they “don’t care enough.” In other settings, coming to school to work on a weekend can be a conflicting act. If a family drives by school on a dreary weekend and sees my classroom light on, they see me working overtime – for free.

And that, my friends and colleagues, is where the conflict begins. How much will teachers do for free? Is a teacher’s skill and expertise and experience worth $0 per hour? How long and how far do we go before we collapse and say, “NO MORE!” . How long can quality education last under circumstances in which the experienced and educated professionals are told, not asked, that they are worth nothing?

Chicago teachers, you have my support. Don’t ever let the big kahunas tell you that it’s “good for kids” when their teachers work for nothing.

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Trouble in the Windy City

Trouble. We’ve got trouble with a capital T and that stands for Teachers.

With apologies to the Music Man, Rahm Emanuel might be singing this tune. Mr. Mayor has a problem. Chicago teachers said “We’ve had enough!” and walked out on strike. 26,000 teachers. Countless students. Parents scrambling for child care. Police officers on duty to monitor picket lines and wayward students.

I won’t get into the nitty gritty of the issues except one: the use of standardized test scores to evaluate teachers. Regular readers know how I feel about that item. In fact, I’m going to hold my test-fail examples for another post to really do them justice.

The part of this story that hurts the most, the statement that cuts right to the heart, is Rahm’s statement that “…our kids do not deserve this.” If he intended to spark a guilt trip, it almost worked. This was a low, low blow.

Teachers in Chicago and elsewhere have put children first again and again and again. Have you heard of teachers buying classroom supplies with their own money? Teachers coming in early and staying late? Bringing work home? Grading tests on weekends? Attending meetings without pay? Walking a child to their waiting parents so the hallway bullies won’t act? Making sure their students get fed, even if it means buying snacks out of their own wallets? Teachers want the best for children.Teachers want to do the best job they can because (guess what) the students deserve a good education. 

For teachers to walk off the job, to stop teaching, means a lot more than a contract dispute. It means that these teachers have lost their trust in the system, a system that is supposed to support them as they educate tomorrow’s workforce.

Rahm, er, Mr. Emanuel, needs to cut the guilt trip. The teachers in Chicago have worked harder and harder, achieved more with less, over and over. They are beyond the point of feeling like they’re leaving students in the lurch. Teachers were hung out to dry a long time ago, and their declining working conditions had a direct impact on the students.

Most teachers agree that students do not deserve the effects of a strike. Teachers are not in the profession for the income; they’re in it for the outcome. A strike is a last resort.

Maybe my opening lyric today would be more effective as “Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with D and that stands for Disrespect.” The syllabication is all wrong, but the meaning rings true.

Chicago teachers have the emotional support of millions of educators across the nation. Once in a while drastic measures are necessary. This is one of those times.

 

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Tonight, tonight – let’s make history at the DNC

Remember four years ago? The election of 2008? Barack Obama became the first African-American to be elected president of the United States. I had a major lump in my throat that night and in January when he was inaugurated.

Since then, President Obama has had major challenges: some ridiculous (let go of the birther garbage already!) and some very serious. He has approached them all with class and intelligence.

Listing his accomplishments would be too easy. Instead, on the day of his acceptance speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, I give you samples from Compost Happens to chronicle a few choice moments in the last several years.

President Obama’s first State of the Union Address – the ending statement calling for unity and cooperation is still valid today.

My professional reaction to changes in stimulus money for schools based on their success as measured in test scores – this concern is still relevant as well.

I reviewed a young readers’ book about Obama’s historic journey to the presidency.

Another review, this time of my favorite coffee blend.

‘Tis the season to campaign! 

Thoughts on Joe Biden and – get ready for it – Sarah Palin

Need more reading to fill the time until President Obama starts his speech? Use the search box above and enter the term “Obama.” You’ll find all sorts of posts that cover the journey from candidate to president-elect and finally, President Obama.

President Obama. I still love hearing that phrase.

 

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Free Air Time

Political party conventions offer free air time for candidates, really. In an election like this one, so close (and yet so far), every minute counts. Or does it? Let’s analyze a little.

Item: Paul Ryan gets the crowd fired up and ready to go, but he gets his facts wrong. Progressive web sites start calling him “Lyin’ Ryan.”

False: President Obama didn’t save a General Motors plant in Wisconsin.
Truth: First, Obama wasn’t even in office when the GM plant closed.

False: President Obama ignored recommendations of a bipartisan debt commission.
Truth: Paul Ryan actually sat on that commission. And he led Republicans in voting down the commission’s own recommendation. So the commission never gave a report to Obama, because Ryan himself voted to kill the report before it could.

There were more conflicting statements in Ryan’s speeches. Keep an eye on the press. Move On Civic Action is sponsoring a petition asking members of the press to “…Fact-check and call out candidates when they lie. You have an obligation as journalists to educate the public on the facts of the major campaign issues.”

Item: Clint Eastwood talks to an empty chair.

  • He gets mocked by slide shows all over the internet
  • Clint manages to upstage Romney’s acceptance speech – during prime time, too
  • Fans start wondering if he’s losing his marbles in his old age
  • Obama has a simple response: This Seat is Taken.

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That’s the trouble with free air time. Anything goes – almost. In the same vein as “Buyer Beware” let’s add “Listeners, look it up”. Check the facts. Check the sources.  Voters, let’s not allow falsehoods like Ryan’s or oddball statements like Clint’s influence our votes.

After all, President Obama looks mighty nice in his chair. He belongs there.

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Being a Woman

I almost posted a quiz – a list of feminist slogans and quotes along with a list of years, with an opportunity for readers to match the two. Instead, I offer you an chance to reminisce about creativity in the feminist movement. Remember the Barbie Liberation League? In the 1990s….Grandma Daisy does this sort of storytelling best, so here she is.

Oh, children, your world is different, thank goodness. I lived through a fascinating and yet difficult time we called the Women’s Movement, or Women’s Liberation, Women’s Lib for short. We reminded lawmakers and voters that we are people, endowed with basic human rights along with our, ahem, voluptuous figures. To put it bluntly, we didn’t need balls to make good decisions about …. oh, your mother is listening. I can’t say that in front of you young ones., so back to the history behind the story. We had rallies, we held demonstrations. We ran for office ourselves instead of waiting for men to take care of our needs. We worked to pass laws that protected our right to make health care decisions.We built awareness of the importance of birth control and how much that birth control meant for our freedom, our liberation. We fought for equal pay for equal work. Laws passed, medications improved, but attitudes were harder to change. 

Sometimes women got creative to make a point. The Barbie Liberation League was one such example. We females were determined to be good students and make it “cool” to be smart. Math and science were supposedly men’s territory, so girls had some catching up to do. Adult role models like teachers and nurses pushed us young ones to go farther, higher, faster into the world of advanced math and sciences. 

Barbie dolls. You know the doll, right? Of course. They’re at the bottom of your sister’s closet with the rubber ducky and the worn out blankie she won’t throw away. Barbie, the doll with the unrealistic figure (39-21-33 at 6 feet tall were the proportional measurements, if you’re into trivia) was a favorite of many young girls. Girls knew she wasn’t realistic, but some tried too hard to look like her and became anorexic. A doll for a role model? Well, it happens.

When the Talking Teen Barbie came out, she had a limited vocabulary. Unfortunately, the people who programmed and recorded Barbie’s phrases had been in a fog throughout the entire women’s movement. Take a look at these examples.

Will we ever have enough clothes?

I love shopping!

Math class is tough.

Wanna have a pizza party?

In the old toy store aisles, G.I. Joe was a parallel type of doll, er, action figure, on the little boy side. His vocabulary was macho and tough – what they called “all male” back then. 

This is going to be rough. Can you handle it?

I’ve got a tough assignment for you!

Mission accomplished. Good work, men!

The Barbie Liberation League took action. They bought Talking Barbie and Talking G.I. Joe from toy stores, swapped out the voice boxes, and then repackaged the dolls and returned them to the stores. Little boys and little girls got Barbies that said, “Vengeance is mine!” and G.I. Joes that suggested, “Let’s plan our dream wedding.” When Joe proclaimed “Math class is tough”, it sounded ludicrous.

Well, darlings, that was the point. If a man couldn’t say it without sounding idiotic, why should a woman repeat that phrase and internalize that philosophy? Talking Barbie wasn’t pulled off the market, but the feminists and the Barbie Liberation League had made their point. Being female didn’t mean being less intelligent. It still doesn’t. 

Anyway , my grand-precious ones, some day I’ll tell you what we did when the guys at our college claimed that women couldn’t play jazz. Hah! We showed them, all right. Now go practice your trombone, and I’ll tell you that story later. 

 

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A Woman’s Place

Dear Hillary (Clinton, naturally;);

I admire your work as Secretary of State. Heck, I’ve admired you since you refused to sit home and take a supporting role to your governor husband! Bake cookies and host teas? Only if it’s a house party to support my favorite candidate, and then I’m willing. But back on topic, I understand your decision not to run for president again. Let me know when you choose to mentor a successor: I’ll be there to support her and vote for her. Woman, you are amazing.

— Still a Feminist after all these years

Dear Paul (Ryan, of course);

I am a person. When you draft a bill you call “personhood”, remember that women are people, too.

— Firmly Female

Dear Mitt (Romney – are there any others?);

You’ve established a history as one who looks down on others who are not like you, whether that difference be long hair or blindness. You’ve also established that you did not respect teachers, even those who taught you. Well, Mitt, I am hearing impaired and a teacher. In order to get my vote, you’ll need to show that you do, after all, respect teachers and people with disabilities. I wear my hair long, too. I hope that’s not a problem.

— Daring to be Different

Dear Entrepreneurs;

When I was growing up, I saw a tee shirt that proclaimed “A woman’s place is in the House — and the Senate.” Add the White House to this design, and you’ll have a winner.

— A Potential Investor

Dear Mr. President;

Thank you for recognizing the complexity of the health care labyrinth in the United States and taking the first steps to make that care more accessible to all.

To your good health; Daisy

Hey Rush;

You, sir, have less of a brain than the Scarecrow of Oz. At least he did a great deal of thinking. I’m not sure you think at all. On the other hand, I’m sure you don’t.

Dorothy

Dear Todd (Akin, that is);

Are you serious? Where were you in biology class? First year health? Please drop off the House Science committee. You obviously weren’t in class when you needed to learn the basics.

– Teacher of Tomorrow’s Electorate

Dear Tammy (Baldwin);

I remember when you first ran for Congress and I wished you represented my district. Now you’re running for Senate, and I’m excited and energized at the possibilities. After meeting you, I’m even more impressed. I’ll continue to support your Senate race in any way I can.

-Wowed in Wisconsin

Dear Isaac;

Thanks for demonstrating to the G.O.P. that no matter how much money they spend, they cannot change the weather.

— Blowin’ in the Wind

Dear President Obama (I still love hearing that title!);

Thank you for publicly stating that you want the same opportunities for your daughters as anyone would for their sons. You set a prime example by installing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. I would expect no less from the leader of the free world.

Daisy, a Dedicated Democrat

 

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Across the Nation

In my travels, both real and virtual, I see many visual messages. From the Southeast to Midwest, join me on my journey.

In Tampa, Florida, the locals welcome the Republican convention.

 

From the Milwaukee area, I bring you The Overpass Light Brigade: brilliant.

From a nearby parking lot, on the bumper of an original VW Beetle:

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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Tell me again, how does the female body work?

I couldn’t believe the baby aspirin between the knees method of birth control made headlines last year.

Now I can’t believe the idiocy of Representative Tod Akin, Republican from Missouri and candidate for Senate. He claimed the following:

First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

What the hell??!!

Does this man talk to real doctors, MDs, professionals who really know how a woman’s body works? Did this man talk to sexual assault counselors?  Does he know what rape means? Did he pay attention in middle school when the science and health teacher taught how fertilization occurs?

I’m appalled that Mr. Akin would believe such a falsehood, much less attribute it to medical professionals and state it as truth.

I’m even more appalled that people might trust him and agree with this woefully inadequate piece of playground gossip.

I’m still more appalled that ignorant voters might decide to vote for lawmakers who believe that a woman can “shut down” her reproductive organs and somehow resist pregnancy when she is being attacked.

Republican leaders are distancing themselves from this horrific statement and the man who made it. But listen up, women: VP Paul Ryan was one of 200 cosponsors of the “personhood” bill that would outlaw birth control pills and narrowly define the term “rape.” Mitt Romney wants to completely eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood. These two candidates are dangerous.

I want my health to be a discussion between my doctor and me. No one in Congress need get in the middle. If Tod Akin is any example, many in the Republican Party didn’t pay enough attention in school to understand how pregnancy occurs, and they certainly can’t comprehend or define the term “rape.”

Women, we can’t stay silent. Speak up, educate, and above all, vote. A woman’s vote still counts the same as a man’s.

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