Nazi Communist TERRORIST Fascist Satanic Pedophile Teachers From Hell

The BBQ Pit
1

Awright, it’s no secret that I hate Bush.

Actually, I don’t even really hate the man. Mostly, I just really, really want him to go somewhere and clip his coupons and get the fuck out of my government and justice system and go be rich and annoying somewhere where I don’t have to listen to him, much less ponder what kind of insane shit he’s done and will continue to do to my country.

But now it’s getting worse. Now his Education head has gone batshit.

Monday, the guy – Education Secretary Rod Paige – described the NEA, a national teachers’ union, as a “terrorist organization.” The upshot is that the NEA thinks that No Child Left Behind can’t work the way it’s written, and even if it could, expecting it to without some sort of funding is insane.

Apparently, Rod Paige really doesn’t like hearing this, and has been wailing about how the NEA does not actually represent the will of American teachers, and the REAL teachers don’t agree with NEA, and blah, blah, blah.

Tuesday, he issued an “apology” that was damn near as insulting as the thing he was apologizing for:

“It was an inappropriate choice of words to describe the obstructionist scare tactics the NEA’s Washington lobbyists have employed against No Child Left Behind’s historic education reforms. I also said, as I have repeatedly, that our nation’s teachers, who have dedicated their lives to service in the classroom, are the real soldiers of democracy, whereas the NEA’s high-priced Washington lobbyists have made no secret that they will fight against bringing real, rock-solid improvements in the way we educate all our children regardless of skin color, accent or where they live. But, as one who grew up on the receiving end of insensitive remarks, I should have chosen my words better.”

So now the NEA is demanding his head on a plate for being an asshole. Oh, sorry, that’s hyperbolic and uninformative. My bad. I should have said, “The NEA is squawking at Bush to fire Paige or press him to resign.”

I wouldn’t normally think Bush would, you know, like, honor the wishes of the people or do the sensible thing instead of protecting his political cronies, but it IS an election year. Wonder what he’ll do?

Y’know, this is starting to approach the surreal idiocy of the Reagan Administration’s James Watt crisis. And we let these people run things WHY?

2

Because they make good hollondaise sauce. Back to the salt mines, you commie pinko. :smiley:

3

Is it possible for you to refrain from using the perjorative Nazi in every thread you start? If not, can you just change your screenname to Nazi Wang-Ka so I can ignore you on sight?

4

Hey, why go to all that trouble to be able to deny legal rights to US citizens by defining them as “enemy combatants” if you can’t use that power to shut up those pesky unions?

5

Well, at the cost of sounding juvenile… made you look.

Unfortunately, it would seem I have failed in making you read, or at least comment on the issue in the OP.

Perhaps you are right. Perhaps the use of the word “Nazi” automatically causes certain people’s brains to immediately lock in on the WORD, as opposed to, like, actually reading the thread, pondering the issue, and commenting on said issue, as opposed to the word “Nazi,” which in this case, was simply shoehorned into the title for effect, and is completely irrelevant.

Either that, or you just don’t give a shit about education policy. But, considering your lack of commentary, I don’t have much way of knowing exactly WHAT you think, aside from the fact you seem to know you ain’t gonna like what you find in here, but you come in anyway for some reason.

I wonder if Jerry Seinfeld ever had this problem when he did the episode about the Soup Nazi? Then again, Seinfeld wasn’t attempting to bring up any kind of serious issues for discussion. Would anyone have griped if Seinfeld had called him the “Soup Terrorist?”

Hey, I wonder if Bush would fire Rod Paige if he’d used the word “NAZI” instead of the word “TERRORIST?”

Gee, let’s try it… “I, Wang-Ka, the Perfect Master, agree to stop using the word “Nazi” to describe members of the Bush Administration, if Bush and his posse will quit using the word “terrorist” to describe anyone except real terrorists. Oh, yeah, and stop this nonsense about wanting to lock up American citizens without trials, evidence, or lawyers and so forth.”

Somebody wake me up when Dubya calls back…

7

Hey, look on the bright side: You have to admit that this administration is offering a graduate-level course in how NOT to run a government. So there is some educational value after all. :smiley:

8

Much appreciated. See, the way I see it, using that word invokes a few thoughts, none of which are at all applicable to anyone in either the Bush Administration or the group in question here, the NEA. It’s nothing more than a loaded term and invariably causes me to jerk my knee, which is of course why you used it and why I commented as I did. After I posted what I did I read your OP, and so I’ll give you my thoughts on that.

So, on to the OP. I think the No Child Left Behind Act is flawed as well. I also think that it is absurd to call the NEA a “terrorist organization”. I also think that Bush should have this guy’s resignation on his desk by 0700 tomorrow morning. In those matters you have my complete agreement.

On the other hand, do we have anything to refute Paige’s assertions? Just because he said something really stupid does not mean that his particular viewpoint is incorrect. If the NEA is getting in the way of the furtherance of good programs, then perhaps they have to go as well.

9

Now if this user gets banned, is that proof that the SDMB is left-leaning? :smiley:

10

You have my apologies, Airman Doors.

The use of the word “Nazi” was intended to get your attention. It was not intended to bring about knee-jerk reactions, or offend, or (in this case, anyway) be considered “name calling.” And, in truth, I wasn’t exactly kidding when I was ruminating about whether the use of the word detracts from the OP; it’s a thought I will keep in mind.

A case could be made that, on occasion, teachers’ unions have not acted in a manner that the members of the union, as a whole, felt was the best way to act. Generally, when this happens, it’s usually a case of the union selling out and endorsing a political candidate or platform that the membership does not necessarily like. Power-brokering. That sort of thing.

On the other hand, there are several teachers’ unions, all in competition for members. Piss off your membership, they’ll quit paying dues and join some other outfit.

I am a teacher, and I don’t know many teachers who have much good to say about the Bush Administration; most of us in Texas feel that he rode into office on our backs. I don’t know ANY teachers who have anything good to say about No Child Left Behind. Most of the teachers and administrators with whom I have spoken, over about five school districts over the past two years, feel that it’s basically intended to score points with voters while being effectively impossible to bring about in any kind of reality; it basically attempts to legislate existing problems out of existence by flogging schools, teachers, and administrators if they don’t magically make the problems disappear somehow. Regular, rigorous testing will determine if the problems have disappeared, and all schools will pay for all this themselves, as no money has been made available for it.

This is basically why the teachers’ unions are lobbying like mad either for something new in ed reform, or to get rid of Bush. Apparently, Mr. Paige has had quite enough of their snippy attitude, and is perhaps due for a vacation…

11

The “Godwin morons” referred to in another recent pit thread will always ignore the issue at hand, and seize on “the word” and think they won the debate. It’s easiest not to use the word, IMO.

12

Fuck you, Revtim. Why don’t I just start referring to everyone with perjoratives? How would you like it if I posted threads with nigger, spic, and kike all over the place? Huh?

Those words have no place in a proper discussion, and unless we’re speaking of the Nazis or some group of systematic murderers, Nazi has no place in a reasonable discussion.

Dickhead.

13

Originally, my thought was, “Yes, and this makes it easy to sort out the morons and trolls from the people with something intelligent to say.”

However, given **Airman Doors’ ** entirely reasonable remarks, and the results of the Godwin thread, I may have to rethink that reasoning…

14

Why would I care?

You might try to understand the point of that Godwin thread, which you obviously missed badly.

Here, let me help:

15

Revtim, do I dare point out that you have yet to contribute any discussion or thoughts about the OP, instead choosing to talk about Godwin and Nazis?

Have you fallen prey to your own theory, here?

16

Well, at least they don’t worship Nyarlathotep.

17

My lad Wang Ka, I want you to stop tossing that word around, and I’ll tell you why.

The fucking Nazis managed to open an entirely new page on how far the depths of humanity was willing to go to maintain power, elicit fear, extract wealth, and converge hatred and violence. It was done by a confusing combination of finesse and blunt brutality which so closely approaches the ideal of true evil on earth that repeated study still requires me to occasionally stand back occasionally and shake my head.

I know it’s easy to toss the epithet around, particularly when the object of your derision is authoritarian, opaque, and disseminating; I’m certainly guilty of doing it myself. But now I believe that “Nazi,” like one or two other words I can think of, should be reserved a completely unhallowed, deep, and unmarked grave, to be saved for the time when such terms truly become relevant again.

By eschewing the blanket slur and going straight for the jugular with honest accusations of dissimulation, deception, incompassion, cromulation, and a few other words I could make up, you’ll educate yourself as well as the rest of us as to how deep the current powerholders are willing to descend into the depths of scurrilism. Do that, and leave the Nazis to the ignorant kids who don’t know what kind of bastards they really were, and someday you might understand exactly how disgusting the Nazis actually were.

18

Good point, my “anti-Godwin idiot” ravings have nothing to do with the OP. My apologies.

19

I don’t think you can really invoke “Godwin’s Law” against this thread.

Given that we’re in the middle of a “War on Terrorism”, and just a few years ago terrorists murdered thousands of American citizens in a devastating series of attacks, I think Paige is the one who has effectively violated Godwin’s Law here, by calling a teacher’s union “terrorist”. (Unless it’s the People’s Armed Educational Liberation Front, and is going around car bombing charter schools and assassinating advocates of phonics.) Master Wang-Ka’s use of the word “Nazi”–and also “Communist”, “Fascist”, “Satanic”, and “Pedophile”–in the thread title just seems to me to be designed to highlight that fact.

And, this being the Pit, while I don’t think it’s fair to compare the Bush Administration to the Nazis, Rod Paige is a fucking idiot who evidently would have no business serving on a local PTA committee, let alone as Secretary of Education.

20

To the best of my knowledge, that does not apply in this case. Unless the National Education Education has changed its charter, it is not actually a union – despite what the news has been saying. It also does not endorese candidates.

It does, however, have a separate PAC that endorses candidates, but no member dues are used for that and membership in the PAC is strictly voluntary.

Further, I have never know the PAC itself to endorse a candidate that was not regarded favorably by the majority of the members of the NEA.

If I am mistaken on any of this, I don’t mind being brought up to date with cites.

Do you know of any national teachers’ union other than the American Federation of Teachers?

21

There are several, although at this late hour, I can’t say I’m inclined to go hunting for cites… particularly considering that several of these organizations are not, in the strict sense of the word, “unions.” “Advocacy groups” might be a better term.

Their purpose includes providing insurance coverage for teachers, acting as advocates and arbitrators on behalf of teachers in situations where a union would normally step in when asked*, and, yes, lobbying in Congress on behalf of its members. This is especially true in Texas, where the Open Shop Law makes the operation of any kind of traditional union frankly unworkable. On the other hand, we’d be nuts NOT to belong to one or the other, given the benefits and protection involved…

(*a couple years back, a male teacher of my acquaintance was accused by a female student of molestation. The then-administration called the guy in, interrogated him, and then demanded his resignation… no investigation, no nothing. The teacher contacted his union/organization/advocacy group, who sent a representative and a lawyer. The lawyer threatened legal action on behalf of the teacher, unless some manner of investigation was made. The school investigated. The charges were found to be provably untrue. The administrators cheerfully retracted their demand for his resignation… then put a reprimand in his permanent file for “refusing a direct order from an administrator,” without exactly stating what that direct order was. He called the union again, and filed a grievance. Again. Some administrators are leaders, and some are twits, you know? And this didn’t even involve the federal government…)