It only seems like yesterday that Waura, a former teacher, was scampering around the talk shows telling us that teachers need our compassion while they cope with the nightmare of terrorism. But now it's an election year and our noble, nuturing teachers, have become terrorists. That's according to Secretary of Education, Rod Paige.
Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" Monday, taking on the 2.7-million-member National Education Association early in the presidential election year.
Paige's comments, made to the nation's governors at a private White House meeting, were denounced by union president Reg Weaver as well as prominent Democrats.
He's got to get fired and every union in the country should be leading the call for it to happen before the end of the week. It's out there now. The BushCo administration considers unions terrorist organizations. It doesn't start or stop with the teachers' unions. Paige felt like he could use such extreme language to describe the NEA because they're the most powerful and they stand in the way of rampant privatization of education in this country. It's not funny. It's not pardonable. Every working person in this country should know about it.
I'll look for the story and reporting about the reaction around the country as well as the implication of the comments on the front pages tomorrow. I'll also be looking around the various union websites for expressions of support for the NEA and outrage.
UPDATE: The NYTimes did put a mention of the Paige comment on the front page - story on A20. The coverage of the issue started to get off the ground. Now, of course, we'll all be on the anti-marriage amendment. It's really up to the unions to keep this story front and center, where it belongs. John J. Sweeney had a quote in the NYTimes story. I haven't seen or heard from any other union leader.
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