More than two-thirds of stimulus jobs at Department of Education

BigGovernment.com's Veronique de Rugy has a great story up about where the stimulus money was really being spent. According to her analysis of Recovery.gov, which monitors stimulus spending, more than two-thirds of the jobs alledgedly "saved" or "created" were with funds from the Department of Education.

The stimulus, then, was creating lots and lots of new teachers. As de Rugy points out, a third of all union jobs are in the education sector, and 33% of the education sector is unionized. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, the two biggest teachers unions in the country, both heartily supported the stimulus bill.

Obama originally advertised that stimulus funds would be creating blue-collar "shovel ready" jobs. So far, most of those jobs have gone to the schoolhouse bureaucracies.

The Obama administration's outrageous Toyota fearmongering

Barack Obama's administration continues its disgusting war on Toyota. Last week the auto giant recalled millions of cars after being pressured by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The excuse was that too many complaints had been filed about Toyotas suddenly accelerating and crashing. Of course, there had also been complaints about government-owned GM and Chrysler cars, but strangely enough only Toyota was singled out.

Today, LaHood went a step further, urging drivers of affected Toyota models to return their cars to their dealership. Yes, during the worst recession since the Great Depression, a presidential administration actually asked people to send back their cars...even though the vast majority of Toyotas run wonderfully. Predictably, Toyota's stock plummeted.

Previously, Toyota had been the most successful competitor against GM and Chrysler. Its workforce also wasn't unionized, the Original Sin in the minds of liberals. Now Toyota's business has taken a severe hit and its executives are taking orders from the government. Welcome to Barack Obama's America.

NEA recommended reading: Saul Alinsky

The National Education Association is one of Barack Obama's favorite unions (and that's saying something). Last weekend Obama announced he would be restructuring the No Child Left Behind Act around NEA concerns.

Well guess what has turned up on the NEA recommended reading list?

Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. The book is a radical community organizer's how-to guide for tearing traditional society down. It inspired Obama as a young activist in Chicago. The NEA's website has a glowing review of Rules for Radicals, calling Alinsky "the voice of experience" who encourages "positive social change" and is "[a]n inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community!" The book is recommended for all NEA employees.

Obama disowns another radical with a wink and a nudge

Barack Obama has become the master of a political two-step. Disown radical friends and business partners to the public while soothing their nerves in private.

Last week, SEIU union boss Andy Stern said that opponents of health care reform and card check like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson were "terrorists". Obviously Stern has been feeling the pressure as majorities of the American people turn against his radical liberal agenda. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs firmly repudiated Stern's comments and said they "make no sense."

It's a pattern with this president. When his friendship with Bill Ayers surfaced during the campaign, he condemned Ayers. When his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright came to light, he gave an entire speech distancing himself. Then several months into his presidency, the White House guest list came out. Ayers and Wright were both on there. The newest offender, Stern, was the most frequent guest.

So the president may pretend to regret Stern's radical comments through his press flack. But no doubt the two of them will remain attached at the hip going forward.

Obama chooses the unions over school students

Barack Obama has always been a tool of the unions, from the SEIU to the AFL-CIO. His latest union cave came today when he decided to redesign the No Child Left Behind Act at the behest of the teachers' unions.

For years, teachers' unions have been complaining that NCLB tests schools and gives them a pass/fail grade based on teacher performance. (Heaven forbid.) Today, Obama announced that requirement will vanish as the president tries to broadly change America's education system. Instead, Obama is shilling out taxpayer money in the form of grants to whatever schools he chooses. In other words, spending, not standards.