What People are saying about ISSUE 2 in OHIO: DIANA FREY GUILTY!!!!!!!!

Today, Diana Frey the former President of CODE, a public sector union she started, submitted a plea of guilty to stealing over $750,000 from her members. Without question, Frey represents what’s wrong with public sector unions, and reveals the tip of an iceberg of the amount of money that gets swallowed up by chaos, confusion, and centralized bureaucracy centering on public sector unions. More often than not, these union leaders do not get caught, and it is the tax payer who replaces the money lost with increased taxes.

American Thinker recently published an article I wrote about the situation surrounding Issue 2 in Ohio, which seeks to correct this public union mess. For a review on what Issue 2 is CLICK on this hot link to learn more. I am happy with the article, and even more pleased that I received positive comments and email from as far away as South Africa, and Nigeria. People living in those places can see how the situation in America is shaping up. To understand what exactly that situation is, CLICK HERE to learn the specifics. To read the original article I wrote for the American Thinker click the link below.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/the_barbarians_of_issue_2.html

What I found fascinating was the comments accumulated over the first 24 hours. American Thinker is widely read all over the nation, and apparently all over the world so it was interesting to get some outside perspective on how they view Issue 2, so I am posting the comments obtained over the course of the first day, because they say a lot about how a vast majority of the people truly feel. I include those comments in their entirety below. They appear as they do at the link above, but I feel they deserve their own isolation as a study specifically unique to the topic of Issue 2.

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COMMENTS ON AMERICAN THINKER
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kentfromohio Yesterday 06:55 AM

• As my name indicates, I live in Ohio. Northern Ohio to be exact. It is an area that is following the trailblazing path set by Detroit in terms of political leadership, and its embrace of dependency on the government for all. John Kasick and Republican legislature altered the course of Ohio from economic despair back toward hope one year ago in the same way that Scott Walker led Wisconsin back from brink. Issue 2 is Ohio, as a state, attempting to make the destiny of the entire state what Cleveland sports fans are accustomed to feeling – utter despair. Issue 2 is the state having on the ballot a chance to turn the wheel again so that we are driving off the cliff. Issue 2 will offer the voters the chance to undo all that has been done to save the state in the past year. It is a complete roll of the dice taking away the power of the valid elections we just went through and asking the voters for their input on what our elected officials just did in passing Senate Bill 5. Will the voters be fooled by millions of dollars in paid political lies? Who knows?…
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Quartermaster Yesterday 08:02 AM

• I used to live in Ohio and left when I could not find work. I hope that the voters of Ohio sustain SB 5, but I have little hope they will. The rust belt exists in Ohio because of militant unionism, and the state has been dominated by union interests for many years. Here’s hoping that’s changed.
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Ron Kozar Yesterday 08:19 AM

• Mr. Hoffman’s article is superb. My only quibble concerns his portrayal of JFK’s executive order establishing public-sector collective bargaining as “well-intentioned” when, in fact, the intention was to reward big labor for its loyalty to the Democratic Party.
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Juannieboy Yesterday 08:52 AM

• Setting the fear tactics on the TV commercials aside, I believe many working class Ohioians will vote to repeal this common sense law even though it is in their own best interest not to. Too many voters have sons, daughters, family members, neighbors, etc. that work for the government…..Sadly, they will vote with their hearts and not their heads.
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Questioning Yesterday 09:12 AM

• “When President Kennedy signed Order 10988 into law…” Actually it isn’t law and I strongly urge President Palin to make rescinding this mess her first official action. I also question the ‘heroism’ of the police and fire fighters that are saying, in effect, they must be compensated for something that is inherent in their jobs? Something they knew about before they went through the very stringent testing and training to get the job? Seriously? First off, they aren’t heroes. This is a very misused term today. Being in the military or working as a firefighter or policeman doesn’t automatically make one a hero. Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t heroes in this mix, there most decidedly are; but they are in the distinct minority. And that is as it should be. And no REAL hero ever ASKS for money!!!!! OMG; most are embarrassed they got into such a stupid position in the first place. Do we need to acknowledge heroism in America? Absolutely, but let’s not get carried away. Let’s stop cheapening the actions of true heroes. True heroes respond to a heartfelt ‘thank you’, not a check.
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Keith Vlasak Yesterday 09:41 AM

• I live in Ohio too. The ads I’m seeing do not frame the issue very clearly — and I’m also seeing a dozen ads for the unions for every one that isn’t. And the Cleveland news media is all in arms about how poor teachers (that is, the most devoted humanitarians to have ever walked the earth) are being laid off. No one seems to be making the connection. People are sick of schools asking for more money all the time and vote down levy after levy … and no one is explaining that Senate Bill 5 is a tool to get the spending increases every year under control.
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Lizzie Yesterday 10:09 AM

• You need to fight the unions with facts. Here in my little town in Wisconsin, we turned the tide via a letter to the editor of the local paper publishing the salaries of every teacher in town. In Madison they published the salary of a bus driver who made more than the Mayor or Chief of Police. The unions may want to run a fact-free campaign but that’s only because the facts are their worst enemy. Don’t let them get away with it.
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Gunny G Yesterday 11:08 AM

• I have no sympathy for anyone or any state still embracing unionism. I was in Lima Ohio 4-5 years ago and it was a wasteland and the moniker of “Rust Belt” is highly appropriate. ANY city that is highly unionized is either toast or about to be toast yet people continue to support them.

Liberalism, like insanity, is doing the same thing over and over and over, with it failing each time, but they expect a different outcome the NEXT TIME they try it.
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Gatorgirl Yesterday 11:30 AM

• The ‘we are at the gate, man’ comment went right over Boehner’s head. Sometimes the repubs are stupid. Ohio has a chance to save their state, let’s hope they realize that.
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pyeatte Yesterday 11:32 AM

• The public-sector collective bargaining unions are a true cancer. Why they are allowed to exist is a mystery to me. Even that old liberal FDR advised that we never allow public employees to form unions with collective bargaining. He knew the of the evil corruption that would fester between politicians and public unions. The first act of fumigation is for the state to not collect dues on behalf of the union and of course not require union membership as a condition of working for the state.
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Keith Vlasak Yesterday 12:38 PM

• The ads I’m seeing on Cleveland and Toledo TV from the firemen are about how the “politicians” want to keep the firemen from negotiating for enough firemen to do the job (with pictures of one fireman running in and out of a burning building. Nowhere do they say what they mean is they want to negotiate “No Layoffs.” Isn’t that what’s causing the Post Office to go bankrupt?
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wigman Yesterday 02:48 PM

• When governments take about 50% of ones income in taxes and it’s just not enough, I say stop. It’s more than enough. The public is tired of funding your vote buying scheme. Stop now lest the majority become enslaved to the fewer and fewer.
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rephil Yesterday 03:05 PM

• Pa state employee 20 years, union steward, and a conservative, just today tried convincing fellow employees we are tying our own noose. When the public finds out and they will, some of the benefits and some of the abuses of benefits, we will have walked up the steps to the gallows uncuffed. In the 1990′s the family medical leave act was signed into law, well deserved. Now 15 years later the majority of employees where i work have a green light to miss work with benefits and pay without consequence. This has created an overtime nightmare, and management wants a way out. The union only digs in deeper and always backs a member whether they are right or not. Cooler heads are not prevailing and I fear the final outcome is another well paid job gone before the next guy can support his family as I have.
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teachkids Yesterday 03:20 PM

• As an Ohio teacher, I teach in a state that mandates teachers of the public schools to join a union. I favor Issue 2 because, if passed, I no longer need to pay “my fair share” to those unions which support candidates and issues that are contrary to my personal beliefs.
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teachkids Yesterday 03:39 PM

• As a public school teacher in Ohio, I must join the teachers’ unions or pay what they call my “fair share” of the dues if I choose not to join the unions. The difference between the full dues and the fair share is miniscule. I favor the passage of Issue 2 because I will no longer send my money to organizations which support issues and candidates that are contrary to my personal and religious beliefs.
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Patriotsharon Yesterday 04:27 PM

• We must understand that the taxpayers can no longer sustain the payouts in pensions and healthcare. We are all broke and need to level the playing field so it is fair to all. We love all of our public employees and appreciate the services they provide but unless we can control the escalating cost of these services we will be force to massive layoffs. PLEASE VOTE YES ON ISSUE 2 TO TURN OHIO AROUND!!!!!!
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cheech Yesterday 07:20 PM

• Living in Ohio also I do not share the optimism others from Ohio have expressed. Ohio voters are as ignorant of the facts behind issues as others around the country, more so I believe. SB5 will go down in flames and the voters won’t realize what they’ve done till the day of reckoning arrives and taxes will have to be raised to meet the growing demands of the Unions.
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NoHyphenJustAmerican Yesterday 10:25 PM

• I read the back and forth from the good citizens of Ohio. Tough situation. Looks like Gov. Kasich is about to be tested in his own “finest hour” to lead the good guys to victory. All over the USA we’re praying for you.
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squareknot Yesterday 10:39 PM

• I simply note that a mere observation that if Mr. Obama asks folks to pair their fair share” than I see no problem in unions doing what their “boss” requests of them (and others) ..pair their fair share under Issue 2.
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Sutzinger Yesterday 11:38 PM

• I live in Dayton, Ohio, home of the uber-lib Dayton Daily News, the only newspaper in town. Each day of this week, according to the front page story on Sunday, the DDN will use one union, ex. Monday Firefighters, Tuesday Policemen, Wednesday Teachers – you get the drift, to attack and thoroughly discredit SB5 (Issue 2). No alternative views will be printed. The Gestapo will not allow any dissension. If you read the paper and watched the horrific ads the unions are running, you would believe that if Issue 2 passes, we will have no fire fighters and all our houses will burn down.

In the editorial page on Sunday, a comment was made that certain union members ALREADY PAID the princely amount of 15% of their own health care. Neglected is the fact that the rest of the non-union world, should we be fortunate to be able to buy health insurance, pays at least 50% of the cost. So the union members, who pay 15%, ignore the fact that the remainder is paid by us the taxpayers.

I hate libs, I hate unions, I hate the DDNews. Pray for our state. No suggestion is made in any of the issues this…
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inthisdimension Yesterday 11:49 PM

• This isn’t hard. In about April, 2012, the House needs to pass legislation as follows: recognizing that Federalism precludes the passage of National Right-to-Work, the Feds simply rejects any Block Grants, highway or other infrastructure spending to all non-RTWStates. The States can do what they want, but Fed money won’t be coming your way. And, yeah, that includes the abolition of prevailing wage laws…
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Sandra45036 Today 02:27 PM

• A YES vote should be the choice of all people who favor freedom and the American way of life. The current mandates are unsustainable. The public sector worker’s unions spent millions of dollars of union member dues to guarantee the election of a democratic governor, senate and house so that in 1983 all of the union demands were put into the Ohio Revised Code. These union mandates are completely bankrupting the state. Eventually the state will run out of “other people’s money.” The unions seem to believe that they are entitled to receive everything they ask from us. If we object, then we must face the consequences of their wrath. It is one thing to go after adults, but when they use the children in the classroom they go too far. Few know that unions are not accountable for retaliation, intimidation and violence. Currently the Department of Labor and the Obama administration are proposing a regulatory change on newly classified “persuaders.” One study lists over 9,000 reported incidents of union violence.

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The sum of what I read among those contributors is that most everyone agrees that Issue 2 is something that is necessary for the health of Ohio, but most are skeptical as to whether or not Ohioans can overcome the Public Union Empire to hold on to the law. The public unions clearly do have an empire that actually involves a large sector of the media. The discussions about the Dayton Daily News should come as no surprise. James M. Cox who was the founder of the Dayton Daily News, and was born in the same county (Butler) as I currently reside and was a major progressive who ran for President on the Democratic ticket and even supported Woodrow Wilson and FDR, so it is no surprise that publications under Cox support his politics, just as union members tend to vote in favor of their pay checks, even if their position is wrong.

Read more about James Cox here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Middleton_Cox

People like Cox, who would go on to become Governor of Ohio are the architects of this Public Union Empire, and yes, the media does not want to learn that their leader was wrong, just like members of the media have a hard time understanding that Walter Lippmann was out-of-his-mind wrong on many of the progressive ideas he advocated. Those media types carry much of the blame because they stood behind the expansion of public unions, and helped perpetuate the current crises.

But without question, regardless of how those in a public union feel about it, the state of Ohio cannot afford to carry the number of employees that it has who are making 43.4% more than everyone else with overall compensation, the math just doesn’t add up. The more government employees there are, the harder it gets to compensate them what they expect. The fault rests on all members of the Public Union Empire who advanced a progressive agenda without considering what would happen when the whole house of cards started to collapse. They never thought that far ahead to their peril.

That leaves those of us with reason to vote in November to keep a law that will allow us to manage the costs of this massive Empire. Of course the members of that Empire won’t be happy. They would like that Empire to continue forever. But it can’t.

The only question is when the Empire gets dismantled, do we get the opportunity to manage it or does it collapse under its own weight? If Ohio votes to keep Issue 2, then we can avert a major economic disaster this year, while there is still time to save the structure of the services we employee in those sectors. If we do not maintain Issue 2, and lose it to the Public Union Empire, then financial catastrophe is on the horizon for every single tax payer in Ohio, because it will either require massive layoffs of public sector jobs, or major tax increases. There isn’t any middle ground.

So what will it be? I can say for myself, I will vote YES, and regardless of the outcome, I will know that I did the right thing, even if it is hard to do.

For the answer to everything, CLICK THIS LINK:

http://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/the-answer-is-c-who-runs-society-the-engine-or-the-boxcar/

Rich Hoffman
http://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com