Got popcorn?

In Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union, one of Barack Obama's most loyal Brownshirt organizations, just went on strike against the taxpayers and Obama's buddy and former Chief of Staff, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel.

357,000 kids are not in school today, which might be a bad thing if Chicago didn't have one of the worst school systems in urban America. But the union drones that were hired to babysit teach the kids are instead forsaking the jobs that they once begged for and just standing around in new union-purchased T-shirts and carrying union-purchased picket signs. Their grievances? The want more money, more contributions from the taxpayers into their pension fund, and an end to the new teacher evaluation program that could result in the termination of under-performing teachers after a couple of years of sub-standard evaluations and attempts at remediation.

In other words, they want more money for doing the same bad job, and an assurance that the bad ones won't be fired no matter how poor their work performance is.

Oh, and did I mention that Chicago teachers are the second-highest paid in the country, averaging $76,000 a year for a 180-day work-year, and that this week-end they just turned down an offer of a sixteen percent raise over the next four years because it wasn't "good enough?"


Screw them. each and every one of them. For every one of these losers out there on a picket line eating union-purchased hot dogs instead of working, there are several other teachers out there across America who would love to have those jobs. What we need here is a Reagan-style leader who will say to the union stooges: "Get back in those classrooms right now, or new non-union teachers will be hired and you can stay out there for good." And the next morning, pink slips should begin flowing, going first and foremost to those teachers involved in union leadership. I predict that that strike would be over that very day.

But the city won't do that. Emmanuel is too scared of the unions to stand that tall on his own, and Obama isn't going to support him because he wants the votes of every union cheese-eater in the country and if he even appears to side with his former side-kick, he'll be toast in November. So the kids in Chicago are roaming the streets today instead of sitting in classrooms. Extra police have been called in to supervise them (because in the Obamanation, we can't insist that the parents supervise their own kids) and the property owners who pay the taxes for those schools are looking down the barrel of another massive increase all due to this war between the union and the Dem leaders who over-promised and under-delivered. No matter which way this goes, at least one voting bloc is going to be butt-hurt and angry going into the November elections. But that's ok, because when the Democrats are upset with one another, that's usually good for productive America.

Meanwhile, in other Chicago news, the non-union charter schools are open and teaching, and Democrat Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is still not back to work, but is reportedly grateful for the paychecks that keep arriving every two weeks and he looks forward to being re-elected in November.