Part 3: What's going in America (and what's wrong with America.)

QUOTE from Senator Barry Goldwater: "Sex and politics are a lot alike. You don't have to be good at them to enjoy them."

More LEARNINGS about what's going on in America. (Info from The Jim Hightower LOWDOWN.)

As a retired teacher I'm learning a lot about current attitudes towards teachers. These attitudes are coming from from the conservatives elements of American society. Recently, we have been called tax-sucking leeches, glorified babysitters, overpaid slugs who leave work at 3 pm and take the whole summer off. "Greedy," as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie barked at teachers in his state. Fire-em, bust their unions, take away their democratic rights, slash their pay, increase their workloads, and eliminate their pensions. Words like these are coming from right-wing governors, state legislators, mayors, and members of Congress. What is ironic is that you don't see them offering to do the same. What a morale booster for our current teachers. Thank God, I'm retired.

In Florida newly elected Republican Gov. Rick Scott said he was going to run state government like a business. He had previously been CEO of the health care comglomerate Columbia/HCA, where he presided over massive Medicare fraud that cost his culprit corporation a $1.7 billion federal fine and cost him his job. In only his first four months he has:
- Demoralized Florida teachers by moving a bill requiring each of them to reapply for their job every year, with renewel of their contract dependent on how their students perform on a single standarized test.
- The state's budget deficit is to be reduced by firing teachers and increasing the workloads of those who remain.
- Scott is slashing the number of weeks that out-of-work Floridians can get jobless aid to as low as 12 weeks, rather than the standard 26.
- He has proposed massive tax cuts to corporations and millionaires, even as he wants to whack state education spending by 10% and take an average of $2,300 a year out of each teacher's paycheck.

I bet the Florida teachers are thrilled with their new governor.

Tomorrow I'll write about what's going on (and going wrong) in Maine and Michigan.


HUMOR for today: This is the Hagar comic strip from May 14.

Hagar's wife, Helga, is mopping the floor and cleaning the house while Hagar is sitting in his recliner drinking a beer.

Helga says: "Hagar, how can you possibly sit there for hours and watch me work?"

Hagar answers: "The toughest part is to just sit here quietly and not offer any constructive advice."