To Surly, With Love

Says it all.

WI Defendants Want To Pack Juries And Pick Judges

Power and control and that is what this is all about. It's not the money because public sector union members make excellent salary and benefits. It is about power and the ability to control the political debate so they can can control as many other aspects of life in their states as well.

It's time to end rigged system

Public employee unions are unlike private sector unions. In the private sector some of the interests of employees and employers aren't aligned. Employers want to keep costs low; but employees want to maximize their pay and benefits, thus raising costs to employers. In order to strengthen their hand, employees unite to collectively bargain over wages and benefits.

Now consider the case of public sector unions. Public sector employees want to maximize their wages and benefits, too. But unlike their private sector counterparts, they have a very big role to play in choosing the employers on the other side of the negotiating table. They do this by taking funds earned through collective bargaining and sending them right back to the people they bargain with in the form of political contributions.

If that sounds like a rigged system; well, that's because it is.

Not Funny: Iowa Hawk Dissects WI ACT/SAT Brag & It's Not Pretty

The Democrat Party of Wisconsin has already disowned the statement about collective bargaining being the reason that Wisconsin scores better on the ACT/SAT. They should because it is totally bogus piece of research.

Now, Iowa Hawk, known for hilarious take downs of liberal puffery, has put up a serious post concerning the same study.

Longhorns 17, Badgers 1

Please pardon this brief departure from my normal folderol, but every so often a member of the chattering class issues a nugget of stupidity so egregious that no amount of mockery will suffice. Particularly when the issuer of said stupidity holds a Nobel Prize.

Case in point: Paul Krugman. The Times' staff economics blowhard recently typed, re the state of education in Texas:

And in low-tax, low-spending Texas, the kids are not all right. The high school graduation rate, at just 61.3 percent, puts Texas 43rd out of 50 in state rankings. Nationally, the state ranks fifth in child poverty; it leads in the percentage of children without health insurance. And only 78 percent of Texas children are in excellent or very good health, significantly below the national average.

Similarly, The Economist passes on what appears to be the cut-'n'-paste lefty factoid du jour:

Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:

South Carolina – 50th
North Carolina – 49th
Georgia – 48th
Texas – 47th
Virginia – 44th

If you are wondering, Wisconsin, with its collective bargaining for teachers, is ranked 2nd in the country.

The point being, I suppose, is that unionized teachers stand as a thin chalk-stained line keeping Wisconsin from descending into the dystopian non-union educational hellscape of Texas. Interesting, if it wasn't complete bullsh*t.

(Read the whole post by clicking on the headline) Having dealt with this type of "research" for many years I have followed this "research" with interest because of the immediate and similar automatic agreement (and verbiage to support that agreement) was being parroted throughout the left side of the Internet sphere.

They can't see the forest for the trees, but I have no doubt they will continue to state that the sick sapling is truly representative of all the trees. That's how they try to win.

Wisconsin Pablum

Cry Baby Out Of State Congressmen