A teacher weeps...

[AmBlue]

A teacher weeps for the future of Wisconsin schools
Vikki Kratz on Thursday 03/10/2011 3:25 pm, (12) Comments, (52) Likes

The morning after the Republicans stripped me of my rights, I stood in the hallway of my school, watching my four-year-olds stream in. They gave me hugs. They ran up to show me things: a new shirt, an extra pretty hair ribbon, a silly band. They wanted to know if it was chocolate milk day. They pointed out that one of their classmates, who had been out sick for a few days, had come finally come back!

And for a little while, normalcy returned to our world. I had spent the evening before at the Capitol, in the crowd of thousands that pushed against the locked doors, demanding to be let in. I think I spent most of the night in shock – not only at how suddenly I could be deprived of everything I had worked for, but of how suddenly the country I thought I knew could become unrecognizable. I was standing with a crowd on the steps in front of the Capitol door when a police officer slammed it shut in our faces. I walked around the building until I found a spot where protesters had lowered a bathroom window. And I watched in disbelief as people began hoisting each other in through the open window, while dozens milled around them. "Ssssh," they warned each other. Don't make any noises that might attract the police.

This was my country now.

<snip>

http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=32719&sid=33fb2dbaa2780bfad6477e736f785c04

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Coming like a freight train to your neighborhood very soon... unless WE stop them!

[HereSince1628]

1. The Shining CIties On America's Hills have been sullied

I say this IN PRAISE OF THOSE WHO SERVE the needs of our communities.

This is NOT your fault. THIS horrible crisis was created by a couple hundred of the wealthiest Americans TO ROB YOU of the little that you have. To PUNISH YOU for your commitment to a BETTER FUTURE. YOU COULD NOT HAVE KNOWN that working for the brightest future of the most needy would be something that would be penalized.

THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT.

But, you know, I BELIEVE IN YOU!

I have no doubt that you will work to fix this horrible mistake.

Because THAT is just WHAT GOOD PEOPLE DO!

[AmBlue]

4. It is not enough...

Not enough to say "we believe" in teachers, although they do need to hear that after they've been so wrongfully targeted. I am the mother of two children in public schools and I strongly believe the responsibility for fixing this wrong is on ALL our shoulders, because nothing less than ALL who believe in a society that educates its children as investment in our future as a nation can fix this. Who are we as a nation if we allow this to stand unopposed?

What has been done in Wisconsin and what will be done to education and to unions in ALL our states by the uber-elites (and no it's not a left/right thing, but ALL OUT class war) is so awful and despicable, but the sad truth is this is only a shot across the bow, a harbinger of what more's to come if we don't stand in the way. Forcefully, aggressively... and en masse.

The tenuous threads of life and society and culture as we know it are slipping away right before our very eyes. This is nothing less than defending our way of life. Class war, plain and simple. This job belongs to ALL of us.

[HereSince1628]

5. I'm not sure what more I can do...

5 trips to Madison?, a week of signature collecting for recalls of Alberta Darling (and I am NOT from her district).

Maybe YOU could COME HERE FROM FLORIDA? Well, no. That's too much to ask...

I know you've got your own Reich-winger in office who you must fight.

Let's not question each other's intentions.

[AmBlue]

8. Thank you for what you're doing...

I'm doing much the same here in Florida with the thug that just bought himself the governor's office. I read your words to mean it's on the teachers' shoulders to fix this and obviously you don't feel that way. My bad...

My kids' teachers are stretched so thin... It's very distressing to watch this national blame-fest take place when all I see are teachers struggling quietly and heroically to keep their noses above water. Under crushing workloads, paying for school supplies out of their own pockets, doing countless little things that go unappreciated, working long hours, and going the extra mile every single day as education funding dwindles and dwindles and dwindles. To see them attacked nationwide for being greedy and the root of our budget ills is just so utterly shocking to me. This goes for our firefighters and police as well. By and large, these fine public servants deserve medals of honor, not scorn.

I'm glad you agree... and sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Bozita]

2. This fight's for all the marbles. All of OUR marbles, but not all of theirs.

[iwishiwas]

3. my sister works in WI Corrections. It wipes out all raises for the

past 14 years she said. Less money to raise the family now each month.

[pacalo]

6. Republi-cons set up teachers & public schools for failure so they could privatize schools.

All for greed. Demographics & individual student hardships should be taken into account when testing student performance. Teachers cannot be held responsible for sad home situations where the children, for whatever reason, aren't getting encouragement & a sense of direction in regard to getting better grades.

[madfloridian]

7. Work hard for kids your whole career...then come the reformers..

and their lies and propaganda.

It is sad, and where is our president?

[roody]

11. lunching with Arnie no doubt

[lib2DaBone]

9. Thanks for your dedication. This is the Teapublican world they have created.....

Their goal is to create a desperate, compliant work force.. that will accept any injustice and go quietly into the night.

[reggie the dog]

15. democrats share the blame too

democrats answer to corporations and denigrate teachers too.

[reggie the dog]

16. dupe

[Uncle Joe]

10. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, AmBlue.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. Those bastards will not rest until they have everything and we have nothing...

...again. Like our ancestors who came here and worked their asses off to build a life for us. They would be sick to see everything they worked for snatched away because people are too stupid to stop voting for people who loathe them. But we out number them. And they know that. That is why they must uneducate (deeducate?) us. So they can control us better.
I don't have much for them. I have a mortgaged house, a couple of vehicles (one of which pays off next year!), a few electronics, a bit of furniture we bought cheap and some personal items. Do I get to keep them or do you want that too, master?

[live love laugh]

13. "This was my country now." The piece reads like fiction. I wish it was. Welcome to Amerikka. nt

[reggie the dog]

14. the usa has been fascist for quite some time

in 1979 my aunt got a year's probation just for having 50 pounds of cannabis in her luggage when coming from Arizona to Chicago. She had to bullshit and say she was just a mule being used by crooks to not go to jail and for what?? those 50 pounds of weed caused less harm than a bottle of gin would. Or me, busted in 1999 and having to face down 10 years demanded by the prosecutor for possession with (they said intent to delivier) 45 GRAMS of cannabis! plus another year for intent to distribute drug paraphanelia (2 packs of rolling papers) which i wasnt trying to sell. This happened in Virginia while i was on vacation, i never sold outside of Illinois. I had to pay a lawyer 10 000 dollars so he could pay a first bribe to get the judge changed then a second when he went golfing with the judge and for what? weed? and you think the country has just turned into a totalitarian shithole this week? how many rights did you willingly sacrifice for the war on some drugs? do you piss in a cup to have a job? explain to me why it is fine to be a tobacco smoking alcoholic who drinks themselves legless each night but you are a criminal if you shoot heroin and take a nap! explain why you are a criminal if you smoke weed and do your homework or read a book! explain why kids have to wear helmets on motorcycles in all but the 3 free states and why adults have to wear them in so many others if the usa is really a free country. explain why what is best for the common person is passé but what is best for multi nationals has been voted into federal and state law for all of my 32 years on this planet! you are not free in the usa, you probably have never been so dont act like this is a new thing. they came for your union now you are pissed off, well i have been pissed off for a while and i share you anger and welcome you to the fight but it is not new.

[reggie the dog]

17. I am a teacher who smokes cannabis.

tell me who to vote for. which party will not attack me for smoking weed? which party will not denigrate my profession?