![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/7\/2011\/02\/althouse-meade.jpg\")
<\/a>\nPhotosource<\/em><\/a>, Althouse<\/a>, taken by Meade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI NEEN<\/em> QUALITY TEACHERS.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n They need teachers who can instruct them to love the qualifiers that denote the character of a quality \u2013 whether it is high-or-low, good-or-bad teachers that they neen<\/em> and want.<\/p>\n But apparently Wisconsin students are being pulled from their necessary classes<\/strong><\/a> in order to help teachers protest \u201cwhatever this dude [Governor Scott Walker] is doin\u2019<\/strong><\/a>. So, at the demonstrations are they saying that we shouldn\u2019t limit children\u2019s educations over concerns about money?<\/em> Because that\u2019s kinda ironic. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yeah! Because public schools neen more money<\/em> and Cadillac-class benefits for teachers of unspecified quality.<\/p>\n As I wrote the other day<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n On some level, what is weak knows that it is weak; it understands that foundationally, it cannot support the weight of its own ideas, much less endure an opposing wind. And because weakness knows this, it goes out of its way to deflect the opposition by sowing confusion, chaos, guilt, fear. These are the by-products of weakness and its attendant insecurity. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n The teacher\u2019s unions have been sowing weakness<\/strong> for far too long, and getting away with it. And now, strength is rising up.<\/strong><\/a> But it needs to be sustained.<\/p>\n Seems to me, all the governors had better learn from the big man, and hang tough<\/strong><\/a> or their office will be meaningless.<\/p>\n Look, I am the daughter of union folk;<\/strong> I appreciate why unions were initially formed. I also understand, however, that for too long unions have overplayed their hands, and we\u2019ve reached a point of unsustainability. The money is not there. Tax revenues may have been at their highest levels in 2006 (as the NY Times even admitted<\/strong><\/a>) but tax revenues are currently (by at least one measure) at 1950\u2019s levels<\/strong><\/a>, and something\u2019s gotta give. The rest of us in the private sector are going without raises, seeing cuts to our benefits, ungodly increases in our insurance premiums and so forth. The unions have to either share the burden or lose the goodwill of the public. They\u2019re right on the edge, right now. Are they going to be smart enough to pull back?<\/p>\n Watch this video<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n We neen more governors willing to lead,<\/strong> and to make the hard turns that are going to be needed if we\u2019re going to avoid hitting an iceberg.<\/p>\n Take a closer look at the top photo<\/strong> and note the hangman\u2019s noose. And the hyperbole<\/strong><\/a>. How is it that the people who are loudly demanding \u201ccivility\u201d on one hand are so quick to paint Hitlerian mustaches on a man over a policy dispute? Jay Nordlinger writes<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n Many of the letters from Wisconsin today have to do with violence: threats against Governor Walker and members of his administration, the increases in their security details, their worries about their spouses and children, and so on. I have heard from people closely connected to the threatened individuals. Their letters are hard to take.<\/p>\n The last few days have made quite clear that, if you cross the public-employee unions, you run risks: and not merely political risks (which are nothing).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Do the public-sector unions<\/strong> want to overturn an election?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Ed Morrissey<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n . . .taking the kids out of classes to march with them underscores another significant concern of the public regarding education. Most of the students marching with their teachers had no idea of the finer points of Governor Scott Walker\u2019s proposal to bring teacher pension contributions in line with the private sector, a position the union called \u201cslavery\u201d just a couple of months before conceding the point. Nor do they understand the budget gap that Walker faces, or the nuances of economic policy, tax burdens, and growth policies. All they know is what their teachers told them \u2014 and that<\/em> speaks to political indoctrination conducted in public schools by activist teachers, and the inability of parents and communities to weed out inappropriate politicking in classrooms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tipping points and overplayed hands;<\/strong> that\u2019s when strength rises up<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Stay strong, Governors. It\u2019s for the children!<\/em><\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/strong> Heh. Irony.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Noisy Room:<\/strong> Obama hasn\u2019t been following Wisconsin but supports the unions.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The flu is still going \u2019round<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/7\/2011\/02\/althousemeade-1.jpg\")
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\nMy favorite observation on this story<\/strong> of schools closing<\/em> so teachers may protest \u2014 and offer their dragged-along students some dubious \u201clessons\u201d \u2014 has been made by Glenn Reynolds<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n
\nMore pictures at Althouse<\/a>.<\/strong> What a messy bunch. But they\u2019re \u201cgreat workers.\u201d<\/p>\n