As I have spoken before on this subject and do not want to belabor it I will be brief. Everyone by now knows I stand with unions and against the Corporate thieves that are consolidating their power.
Reading yesterday however this confirmation. The bill that Governor Walker proposes to pass will limit collective bargaining to only wages. This means in addition to things like benefits also the issue of seniority. Anyone who can read will know that this means that as budgets tighten older, more experienced and thus higher paid teachers will be out of a job.
How can we tell our children their education counts, tell our children like my daughter that their dream of being a teacher is a valuable one, if teachers become the scapegoat and lose the benefits they have earned. Do we really think a pension is too much to ask.
I will give the Republican spin machine credit. They are good at what they do, far better than Democrats can ever think of being. To think that they can take money from the corporate interests and greed guzzlers like the Koch brothers and foster divides between working people that have pensions and those who do not amazes me.
One would think that those workers who are not unionized and do not have pensions and benefits would call out to each other that they need to get unionized and fight to improve their lot. Instead following the Republicans hopes and dreams they take out their bile and anger on those who do rather than the fatcats who limit their opportunity to do the same.
It is a very strange thing.
At some point we all reach a point in our profession where we have done the right things and worked long enough that we are making a salary that is more than someone just starting out. Trusting in corporations to value our experience over the money they could save by replacing us with a younger, cheaper worker is a fruitless exercise.
Would we not all be better off trying to gain the benefits the unions have fought for than by trying to bring their members down to our unprotected status.
It boggles the mind.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Red Sox, the Radio and Pink Houses
I love baseball. We watch football, enjoy hockey and like basketball but in this family we love baseball. When I was a young boy the Red Sox would be on perhaps on the weekend afternoons when the local affiliate would pick up the Boston broadcast. Then in the later seventies when cable came we lived too far out to get it and the jealousy we felt for those fortunate enough to watch TV38 out of Boston was immense.
Now we can see every game on NESN. Recently in the last couple of years we have even started getting the baseball package which allows you to see every game. It is a baseball junkie's dream.
Still and I tell my sons this to no avail, they cannot picture it, that nothing is better than the game on the radio. I love baseball on the radio. I also have XM radio and of course they offer every teams local radio broadcasts. Hearing the local flavor of the announcers, even local commercials makes every game interesting.
Of course the MLB baseball package does the same thing as the Colorado Rockies commercials featuring Carlos Gonzales chowing down at some local Taco joint showed over and over last year.
Radio was how we listened to the majority of the games growing up. This is something the kids do now only if we happen to be traveling somewhere in the summer and their Nana wants us to find the game on the radio. Listening to Joe Castiglione, he of the " It's a pop up " call with such a level of disgust and disappointment you fear him jumping off a bridge is like going back in time to my childhood of listening to Ned Martin.
We would have the radio on at camp when I was a boy. I remember in 1976 when the Sox were double digits out of first place at the All Star break hearing my Uncle Walter say that they had come back to their level and we would not see them in the World Series again anytime soon. Walt was a diehard fan but like many of that era he knew better than to believe. I loved Carlton Fisk at the time but he would tell me he was always getting hurt and that Juan Beniquez, that guy was a comer. We still joked about Juan 25 years later when last I saw him before he died.
I can even remember the sponsors of commercials of my childhood radio Red Sox. I clearly remember Amilee motor oil and I might be misspelling that but I do remember. I would take a radio to bed and listen and summer nights on the West Coast would stay up later than I was supposed to. I remember what spell back in what might have been 77 or 78 when three home runs in one inning, I know Butch Hobson hit one of them led me to turn my flashlight on and twirl circles across the ceiling with the light in celebration until my Dad walking by from some middle of the night trip down the hall suggested I go to bed NOW.
Radio allowed you to make the pictures in your mind. If I allow myself to the different situations and memories can come flooding back. The most clear and consistent memory however is of some neighbors of ours when I was growing up.
About 5 houses down was a little pink house with some older gray haired gentlemen brothers who lived with just each other and their dogs. These men loved the Red Sox. I can remember just like yesterday each and every evening after everyone was in bed, the windows open for any breeze that might stir and you could hear the broadcast of the Red Sox game from their house. I do not know why they had it so loud but it was just a background sound for the whole neighborhood. When my parents would insist I turn off my radio you could strain to hear if not the words the inflection of Ned Martin's call. And if you were fortunate enough to hear " Mercy" from old Ned you knew you could sleep with good thoughts of a Red Sox win.
Now we can see every game on NESN. Recently in the last couple of years we have even started getting the baseball package which allows you to see every game. It is a baseball junkie's dream.
Still and I tell my sons this to no avail, they cannot picture it, that nothing is better than the game on the radio. I love baseball on the radio. I also have XM radio and of course they offer every teams local radio broadcasts. Hearing the local flavor of the announcers, even local commercials makes every game interesting.
Of course the MLB baseball package does the same thing as the Colorado Rockies commercials featuring Carlos Gonzales chowing down at some local Taco joint showed over and over last year.
Radio was how we listened to the majority of the games growing up. This is something the kids do now only if we happen to be traveling somewhere in the summer and their Nana wants us to find the game on the radio. Listening to Joe Castiglione, he of the " It's a pop up " call with such a level of disgust and disappointment you fear him jumping off a bridge is like going back in time to my childhood of listening to Ned Martin.
We would have the radio on at camp when I was a boy. I remember in 1976 when the Sox were double digits out of first place at the All Star break hearing my Uncle Walter say that they had come back to their level and we would not see them in the World Series again anytime soon. Walt was a diehard fan but like many of that era he knew better than to believe. I loved Carlton Fisk at the time but he would tell me he was always getting hurt and that Juan Beniquez, that guy was a comer. We still joked about Juan 25 years later when last I saw him before he died.
I can even remember the sponsors of commercials of my childhood radio Red Sox. I clearly remember Amilee motor oil and I might be misspelling that but I do remember. I would take a radio to bed and listen and summer nights on the West Coast would stay up later than I was supposed to. I remember what spell back in what might have been 77 or 78 when three home runs in one inning, I know Butch Hobson hit one of them led me to turn my flashlight on and twirl circles across the ceiling with the light in celebration until my Dad walking by from some middle of the night trip down the hall suggested I go to bed NOW.
Radio allowed you to make the pictures in your mind. If I allow myself to the different situations and memories can come flooding back. The most clear and consistent memory however is of some neighbors of ours when I was growing up.
About 5 houses down was a little pink house with some older gray haired gentlemen brothers who lived with just each other and their dogs. These men loved the Red Sox. I can remember just like yesterday each and every evening after everyone was in bed, the windows open for any breeze that might stir and you could hear the broadcast of the Red Sox game from their house. I do not know why they had it so loud but it was just a background sound for the whole neighborhood. When my parents would insist I turn off my radio you could strain to hear if not the words the inflection of Ned Martin's call. And if you were fortunate enough to hear " Mercy" from old Ned you knew you could sleep with good thoughts of a Red Sox win.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Is it Time for Wood Chips
They tell us that with this most recent turmoil in the Middle East that the cost of home heating oil could reach five dollars a gallon. Our house is drafty and this would be an extreme addition to our expenses. We have some friends that have a wood chip system and feel strongly that it offers a better and more economical heat.
I am intrigued by the idea, however there are considerations. What are the costs of installation, do they need a chimney to vent, or can you vent thru a wall. Surely the heat would be warmer, the trouble with the cost of oil is with the cost the necessary conservation makes it hard to be warm, not freezing yes, but certainly not warm.
Then of course there is the question of storage of chips, movement of chips etc. We have two boys but my ability is limited to do anything physical. We will have to give some serious thought to this subject this summer.
I do not see anything happening to make the Middle East more stable long term and if one of the big dominoes ever fell we would have a serious oil shock.
It is a concern we all need to be thinking about.
I am intrigued by the idea, however there are considerations. What are the costs of installation, do they need a chimney to vent, or can you vent thru a wall. Surely the heat would be warmer, the trouble with the cost of oil is with the cost the necessary conservation makes it hard to be warm, not freezing yes, but certainly not warm.
Then of course there is the question of storage of chips, movement of chips etc. We have two boys but my ability is limited to do anything physical. We will have to give some serious thought to this subject this summer.
I do not see anything happening to make the Middle East more stable long term and if one of the big dominoes ever fell we would have a serious oil shock.
It is a concern we all need to be thinking about.
The Middle East - Libya's Turn
After limited violence and mostly peaceful protest led to the fall of the dictatorial governments in Tunesia and Egypt did we really think that our old friend Mohomar Khadaffi would go peacefully into the night in Libya.
The violence in Libya appears to be much worse than had taken place earlier. Civil War would be a possibility but it seems Khadaffi's support is very limited and without the mercenaries that he has recruited would be less. A final battle for Tripoli may be the deciding factor on when, not if, Khadaffi falls.
It seems that while the protests are widespread across the Middle East and North Africa the media attention appears to be in a domino theory so one wonders if Libya follows Egypt what cones next. Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all are candidates.
I read an opinion peace that stated that Iran was the biggest winner as the reduction in influence of these stable dictatorships leaves a vacuum that Iran might well be able to exploit. This has to be a concern of the United States and certainly Israel cannot be happy that all of these countries are becoming so unstable.
We really do not where this is going to end.
The violence in Libya appears to be much worse than had taken place earlier. Civil War would be a possibility but it seems Khadaffi's support is very limited and without the mercenaries that he has recruited would be less. A final battle for Tripoli may be the deciding factor on when, not if, Khadaffi falls.
It seems that while the protests are widespread across the Middle East and North Africa the media attention appears to be in a domino theory so one wonders if Libya follows Egypt what cones next. Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all are candidates.
I read an opinion peace that stated that Iran was the biggest winner as the reduction in influence of these stable dictatorships leaves a vacuum that Iran might well be able to exploit. This has to be a concern of the United States and certainly Israel cannot be happy that all of these countries are becoming so unstable.
We really do not where this is going to end.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Attack on Public Employee Unions
Today I watched Fox News Meghan Kelly ( otherwise known as the worst " journalist" in the world) talk to Micheal Reagan about the battle in Wisconsin over the Republican Governor's plan to remove most collective bargaining rights from the state employees.
Reagan commented that " the teachers unions are ruining these country." Talk about being a demagogue.
I consider myself a moderate Democrat. My wife is a teacher. And a great one at that. So I certainly have a dog in this hunt.
State budgets are a mess. Little or no help is coming from Washington. Pensions for State employees are in massive shortfalls all over the country. However it seems to me that that if you or I were part of a union that negotiated a contract and pension that gave us benefits it would be hard to blame us for what we receive.
My wife sees the bad things in the educational system. There are poor teachers and they keep teaching. In a perfect world they would not. However in the same vein if you did not have the tenure system teachers of tenure and this higher salary would consistently be let go to higher younger, cheaper teachers. In a time of budget crisis this would be the first thing to happen. Anyone who does admit that would happen and happen regularly is either not informed or not telling the truth.
During the President's State of the Union address he advised young people watching that they could find few nobler career paths than being a teacher. If a young person is to become a teacher and see him and his cohorts become a punching bag whenever the budget gets tight, or opposite that know that his or her salary rises that their chances of losing their jobs increase why would they want to become teachers.
At some point we have to decide if we just give lip service to placing a value on education or if we really do.
It is not just teachers. Targeting any and all public employees as the problem is simplistic and untrue. It is easy to understand that they are an easy target. Times are hard and many people are suffering. Stating that " all we are asking is for public employees to pay more of their insurance and pension" sounds fine. And truthfully maybe their will have to be negotiation.
However stating that they must accept a proposal or else to try to push through a bill that limits collective bargaining is a joke.
Since FDR Republicans have been attempting to move back union rights, social security or anything else. They continue to do so.
Personally a concern for me is that if these contracts were negotiated in good faith why are these pensions so far behind in their revenue. Certainly there have been market downturns ( and consider what the social security system would be if GW Bush's plan to privatize had happened).
If we all need to buck up and help the system collect itself fine. My wife will pay for more insurance. Incidentally the same people who are saying the cost of insurance increases must be borne by the employees are the same people who are against single payer healthcare which is the only way to slow the long term growth of health care costs. To unilaterally take away collective bargaining rights is wrong.
Issues are legitimate and need to be discussed. But simple demagoguery is not going to accomplish anything.
This is not a new problem. Shared sacrifice has not been asked for in this country in more than a generation. It needs to be. But to simply go after the easiest and largest target is not going to create anything more than antagonism that will make long term answers harder to find.
Reagan commented that " the teachers unions are ruining these country." Talk about being a demagogue.
I consider myself a moderate Democrat. My wife is a teacher. And a great one at that. So I certainly have a dog in this hunt.
State budgets are a mess. Little or no help is coming from Washington. Pensions for State employees are in massive shortfalls all over the country. However it seems to me that that if you or I were part of a union that negotiated a contract and pension that gave us benefits it would be hard to blame us for what we receive.
My wife sees the bad things in the educational system. There are poor teachers and they keep teaching. In a perfect world they would not. However in the same vein if you did not have the tenure system teachers of tenure and this higher salary would consistently be let go to higher younger, cheaper teachers. In a time of budget crisis this would be the first thing to happen. Anyone who does admit that would happen and happen regularly is either not informed or not telling the truth.
During the President's State of the Union address he advised young people watching that they could find few nobler career paths than being a teacher. If a young person is to become a teacher and see him and his cohorts become a punching bag whenever the budget gets tight, or opposite that know that his or her salary rises that their chances of losing their jobs increase why would they want to become teachers.
At some point we have to decide if we just give lip service to placing a value on education or if we really do.
It is not just teachers. Targeting any and all public employees as the problem is simplistic and untrue. It is easy to understand that they are an easy target. Times are hard and many people are suffering. Stating that " all we are asking is for public employees to pay more of their insurance and pension" sounds fine. And truthfully maybe their will have to be negotiation.
However stating that they must accept a proposal or else to try to push through a bill that limits collective bargaining is a joke.
Since FDR Republicans have been attempting to move back union rights, social security or anything else. They continue to do so.
Personally a concern for me is that if these contracts were negotiated in good faith why are these pensions so far behind in their revenue. Certainly there have been market downturns ( and consider what the social security system would be if GW Bush's plan to privatize had happened).
If we all need to buck up and help the system collect itself fine. My wife will pay for more insurance. Incidentally the same people who are saying the cost of insurance increases must be borne by the employees are the same people who are against single payer healthcare which is the only way to slow the long term growth of health care costs. To unilaterally take away collective bargaining rights is wrong.
Issues are legitimate and need to be discussed. But simple demagoguery is not going to accomplish anything.
This is not a new problem. Shared sacrifice has not been asked for in this country in more than a generation. It needs to be. But to simply go after the easiest and largest target is not going to create anything more than antagonism that will make long term answers harder to find.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wins, Losses and Lessons
Watching high school sports as a frequent observer it is easy to see the programs that are strong. They are easy to watch. Camden Hills, Hampden, Bangor, and Calais are communities in Eastern Maine that seem to be consistently strong in basketball for example.
Other programs can just as easily be named that are consistently among those that are on the outside looking in when it comes to tournament time.
Everybody wants to win. It is a trait which we all have and it is a good thing, it leads us to be driven.
However which children learn more. Those that are on programs that more than a couple losses a year are considered catastrophic or those that are on programs where each win is to be savored. Which children, in terms of lessons learned in the sporting field, are being better prepared for the adversities of life.
My son goes to one of the reload not rebuild schools. They are a powerhouse and the first victory won at these schools for the kids is to even make the team. The competition is fierce.
A good friend of mine coaches at one of the schools that struggles. He has started to rebuild a program from the bottom up. His kids for the most part have had a great attitude and seem to stick together very well. This year hopes were high that the program would continue to grow in wins as it had slowly been doing. When that did not happen there started to be some grumblings. For the effort he has put in this was hurtful for him. The team rebounded and split its last six games. Still with expectations comes more potential for adversity.
So what is the adversity. The pressure of having to win or the pressure of not winning. What started out as an article about the strength gained by the adversity of losing might be showing that the diminished expectations of losing might provide less of an adversity.
That however is not true either. In both cases these kids deal with unique situations. Both cases can be very stressful and both cases can be handled in a better way. The key in all things is leadership.
A coach has a huge ability to teach his players lessons on an off the court. I believe that 90 percent of coaches are doing all they can to improve their players experience. My friends team lost a heartbreaking game on a Friday night this past season and 8 hours later met at a food bank and spent a Saturday morning packing up food for those in need. This is as important a lesson as anything learned on the court.
Wins and Losses matter. My son has grown so much as a basketball player playing in the pressure cooker that he plays in. However I would have loved to see a Saturday practice abandoned in December and seen him at the food bank.
Other programs can just as easily be named that are consistently among those that are on the outside looking in when it comes to tournament time.
Everybody wants to win. It is a trait which we all have and it is a good thing, it leads us to be driven.
However which children learn more. Those that are on programs that more than a couple losses a year are considered catastrophic or those that are on programs where each win is to be savored. Which children, in terms of lessons learned in the sporting field, are being better prepared for the adversities of life.
My son goes to one of the reload not rebuild schools. They are a powerhouse and the first victory won at these schools for the kids is to even make the team. The competition is fierce.
A good friend of mine coaches at one of the schools that struggles. He has started to rebuild a program from the bottom up. His kids for the most part have had a great attitude and seem to stick together very well. This year hopes were high that the program would continue to grow in wins as it had slowly been doing. When that did not happen there started to be some grumblings. For the effort he has put in this was hurtful for him. The team rebounded and split its last six games. Still with expectations comes more potential for adversity.
So what is the adversity. The pressure of having to win or the pressure of not winning. What started out as an article about the strength gained by the adversity of losing might be showing that the diminished expectations of losing might provide less of an adversity.
That however is not true either. In both cases these kids deal with unique situations. Both cases can be very stressful and both cases can be handled in a better way. The key in all things is leadership.
A coach has a huge ability to teach his players lessons on an off the court. I believe that 90 percent of coaches are doing all they can to improve their players experience. My friends team lost a heartbreaking game on a Friday night this past season and 8 hours later met at a food bank and spent a Saturday morning packing up food for those in need. This is as important a lesson as anything learned on the court.
Wins and Losses matter. My son has grown so much as a basketball player playing in the pressure cooker that he plays in. However I would have loved to see a Saturday practice abandoned in December and seen him at the food bank.
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