Democrat move to take food stamps for Edujobs bailout hits home in Florida

Democrats, courtesy of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (Calif.) latest call to come home and spend more taxpayer dough, dispensed billions of crisp new federal dollars to bail out the corporate education industry. Fox News explains how President Barack Obama’s administration described the latest bailout bill’s purpose. It's for “school districts to rehire laid-off teachers or ensure that more teachers won't be let go before the new school year begins…”

Florida might get some of those funds because our governor is passionately schmoozing Democrats. The Florida Times-Union said a Clinton strategist is holding a fundraiser in Washington for our governor's alleged indie run for the US Senate, so the schmoozing seems to be paying off.

But some are upset by the means of paying for this bailout Ben Boychuk at The Heartland Institute called ‘Edujobs.’

The Edujobs bill, said Fox News, “…requires that $12 billion be stripped from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, to help fund the new bill, prompting some Democrats to cringe at the notion of cutting back on one necessity to pay for another.”

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) suggests we shouldn’t worry because those cuts don’t come until 2014.

Obviously our government is still spending and pushing debt into our future—that’s what Washington does best and nobody can top a Democrat when it comes to that practice. Dems could use unspent ‘Stimulus’ money for their latest bailout. But I figure they’re hanging onto those funds to put them to good use in crony politics ahead of the November, 2010 elections.

Meanwhile in Florida’s Duval County the TU said the school board is considering “reducing or eliminating annual raises for teachers and others.”

Here’s the strange part. Remember how Obama and Democrats in general like to talk about wage disparity in the private sector? Fact is, there’s a lot of it in the corporate government sector too. The TU points this out:  “new teachers get as little as a $139 raise and teachers with 22 years’ experience can get a $8,249 raise.”

That’s a wee bit unbalanced, wouldn’t you say? You’d think the union would do something about that disparity.

By coincidence I heard an anecdote about teachers’ union members a couple days ago. I’m not naming the teacher because s/he would pay a heavy price. The teacher pulled into a parking lot for an education meeting related to the job. That teacher’s car sported  a bumper sticker for a Republican candidate. First a couple union members berated the teacher about that bumper sticker. Then that teacher had to sit through a one-hour union presentation during what was supposed to be a professional meeting.

Is that legal? I’m sure Democrats could care less, but this Republican would like to know.

The Edujobs bill is nothing more than a means of buying votes, in my opinion. Union cronies--a de facto corporate body-- are tops on Democrat lists and if it means taking food away from out-of-work or low income Americans, maybe they can just go eat some cake.

Education budgets are strapped across the nation and the federal money will eventually run out. The Edujobs bailout hits home in Florida where one day there will be no other choice than to cut nonessential spending and get real. That, by the way, would be actual change as opposed to the status quo Dems are stuck on at present.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Aug. 11, 2010)