Opedipus Rex, Hamlet and Judy Ancel

Blogodidact: A pause for the cause and shoring up the foundations

An education on our current state of affairs.

Is Sacrificing Cats to Achieve Labor Demands an Example of Strategic Planning at the Institute for Labor Studies at UMKC?

The University of Missouri system has been questioned about the Labor Studies program in the Kansas City and St. Louis locations as video shows lecturers advocating violence and criminal mischief to accomplish labor goals. Judy Ancel, director of the Institute for Labor Studies in Kansas City is one of the lecturers, so what exactly what does the ILS promote and teach?


Here is the link to the ILS. The Fall Credit courses begin in September 2011 and help fulfill the requirements needed for a labor certificate:

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CERTIFICATE IN LABOR STUDIES.

Get the education and skills you need to be a leader and confront the challenges of the changing workplace and the global economy. Earn a certificate in Labor Studies through UMKC by taking six courses - 18 units - on the University's Interactive Video Network. You can take up to two courses a semester, evenings and Saturdays. For a brochure, call (816) 235-1470 .

Sign up now to:

• Develop your skills of advocacy and representation to serve your members more effectively.
• Deepen your knowledge of the labor movement -- past, present and future.
• Learn what others are doing across Missouri, the nation and the world to face the challenges posed by downsizing, restructuring and globalization.
• Hone leadership and organizing skills to speak and motivate, do strategic planning, direct campaigns, increase participation and community involvement.
• Learn from faculty with labor education expertise using resources from across the state in an interactive environment. Start on or continue that college education you always wanted.

View current course offerings

The Labor Studies Certificate Program will give current and future union leaders, representatives and activists the background and skills they need to confront the changing workplace and economy. With a grounding in history, political science, law and economics, you will develop skills of analysis, leadership and organizing that will put you on an equal footing with your counterparts in the corporate and political world.
By participating in the program, you will earn 18 credit hours toward a degree and a Certificate in Labor Studies verifying your expertise.
Six courses, three credit hours each, will be offered, two per semester, all at convenient times and locations for working people. Courses will be offered through the University of Missouri Video Network as live, two-way interactive video. At some courses, you'll have a teacher in your classroom; at others, the teacher will be on another campus teaching through a two-way television hookup. You may attend classes at the campus closest to you.
Classes will be participatory and will take advantage of new technology to bring together students from across the state of Missouri to share experiences and discuss solutions to common problems.

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The course descriptions don't go into specifics on exactly how goals and skills will be put into place, but Ms. Ancel recounted previously in class, an effective union technique in Peru used was placing feral cats into power plants to wreak havoc. I was curious about Ms. Ancel's reference to a union using animals and possibly sacrificing their lives to justify an end to human demands. Do unions have a history of violence against animals and other human beings? Is violence an acceptable business practice?

On the website there are several links to various areas: radio shows about labor issues sponsored by the KC public radio station, mission statement, staff members...and a tab labeled "Links". There are 3 National labor unions and 19 local/regional unions listed under this tab. This Wikipedia link provides a rather detailed history of union violence (it has been suggested it be renamed "industrial violence"):

When Union violence has occurred, it has frequently been in the context of industrial unrest. Union violence is generally a defensive measure carried out against guards or strikebreakers during attempts to undercut strikes. Violence has ranged from isolated acts by individuals, to wider campaigns of organised violence to further union goals within an industrial dispute.

According to a study in 1969, the United States has had the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation in the world, and there have been few industries which have been immune.

This link mentioned civil mischief, arson, looting, killing, bombings, intimidation, sabotaging industrial equipment, assault, and bullying used by unions in disputes. I didn't see mention in this link of using feral cats to interrupt power plants in South America. It would be a noteworthy entry under "sabotaging industrial equipment" into this Wikipedia article. The focus today is the "global union" and the "global economy", so perhaps this tactic helps illustrate one of the stated goals of the course:

Learn what others are doing across Missouri, the nation and the world to face the challenges posed by downsizing, restructuring and globalization.

Curriculum Has Consequences

On Tuesday night boisterous, chanting high school students took over the Tucson Unified School District boardroom to protest the district's changing the Mexican American Studies course from an accepted core history course to an elective. Some protesters chained themselves to board members' chairs, effectively preventing the board from meeting. The students’ anger is apparent in the video.

The students were part of UNIDOS, a youth coalition that was formed in response to HB 2281. UNIDOS first started out as a simple meeting that just trained students about more organized protest. A student from Pueblo High school said, “When we saw how big and how powerful our group could be, we decided to start meeting more often.”

It is not clear yet what role MECHa may have played in this protest. MEChA is an Hispanic separatist organization that encourages anti-American activities and civil disobedience. The radical members of MEChA who refer to themselves as "Mechistas," romanticize Mexican claims to the "lost Territories" of the Southwestern United States -- a Chicano country called Aztlan.

These anti-American "Mechistas" live with the false illusion that they are being racially discriminated against because they are Latinos while totally dismissing the idea that maybe it is their ideology that is being discriminated against.

The myth of Aztlan can best be explained by California's Santa Barbara School District's Chicano Studies textbook, "The Mexican American Heritage" by East Los Angeles high school teacher Carlos Jimenez. On page 84 there is a redrawn map of Mexico and the United States, showing Mexico with a full one-third more territory, all of it taken back from the United States.

Books included as required reading in the Raza Studies or Mexican American courses: Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian Marxist. From the book, “This then is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.” Sources include Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Mao, Herbert Marcuse, and Vladimir Lenin. Also required is Occupied America by Rodolfo Acuna, a professor emeritus of Chicano studies at California state U in Northridge . It includes an image of Fidel Castro on the front cover and Castro and Che Guevara on the back. In it are references to white people as gringos and actually includes a quote from Jose Angel Gutierrez of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MATO) who was angry over the cancellation of a government program. He said, “We are fed up. We are going to move to do away with the injustice to the Chicano and if the gringo doesn’t get out of our way we will stampede over him.”

http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/Ayers_and_Mexican_youth.pdf

A steady diet of this stuff in school leads to the over the top angry protest you see in this video.

What is Communist Theory and Should Your Tax Dollars Support Communist Speakers in the Missouri University System?

Libero Della Piana, Director of Communication for the National Communist Party spoke to Mizzou students on April 27. If you read the links from the previous post, Della Piana believes in the defeat of the ultra-right and the transformation of America from a capitalistic system to a communist system.

Do college students today understand the tenets of Communism? Della Piana has stated:

We are not a large party anymore, but we have influence in certain segments of the labor movement and the peace movement and remain one of the most important groups on the Left. And we have new appeal among young people who don't even remember the Soviet Union. No other progressive organization, I think, left a greater mark on the country (from culture, literature, film, politics, race relations, etc.) than the CPUSA.

There is not a more appropriate place for Communist leaders and lecturers to deliver their message...college audiences that don't remember the massacres of Mao, Stalin and Che Guevera.

Let's examine the definitions and examples of communism:

Here is one fairly straightforward explanation:

Modern day Communism is based on the writings of two German economists, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, who answered the question “What is Communism?” in their collaboration, “The Communist Manifesto” published in 1848. In it they declare that many problems in society are due to the unequal distribution of wealth. To bring about happiness and prosperity for all, the distinctions between the rich and poor of society must be eliminated. And since the rich will never give up their goods or status voluntarily, a rebellion of the poor -- the working class -- is necessary.

Thus, Communism is a distinct socio-political philosophy that is willing to use violent means to attain its goal of a classless society. If capitalism is defined as a social system based on individual rights (and individual wealth), then communism is its direct opposite. Communism believes in equality through force. In its system, individual rights are ground to powder and used to build its idol of absolute government control. It is indeed like the tusk of the elephant. It is sharp. It is dangerous. And it has gored millions of men in its rage through history.


Here's a site that is pro-Communism and answers questions about Communism and Socialism. Here are some excerpts on the goals and ambitions of these political theories:

Will there be democracy and elections under socialism, and will dissent be allowed?

Communist leadership will unleash diverse thinking and action from the bottom up and everywhere else. It will foster dissent, including opposition to the government itself, and provide the means for such viewpoints to be heard. Elections will have a role as one way of selecting and developing leadership, and keeping it accountable to the masses.But one thing that will not be up for vote is whether society should go back to capitalism. A revolution to completely change society requires firm and visionary leadership to enable the masses to hold on to power and to guide the challenging and liberating struggle to get to a communist world:where the division of people into ruler and ruled, and between leaders and led, is finally overcome.

Will people be able to practice religion under socialism?

Yes. People will have the right to worship and hold religious services (and the right not to believe in god). But the schools, and the government generally, will promote a scientific materialist understanding of the natural world and of human society. People will not be forced to give up religion, but there will be society-wide ideological struggle to help people voluntarily cast off enslaving religious belief.


Just from these three excerpts, it is evident when and if the revolution is successful, America will be able to have elections for leadership but not for the style of government. Once this is instituted, we will be ruled by leaders hand picked by the party system (not the people) and we will be perpetually in a system of a communist world. We will be able to have our religion, but we will soon be indoctrinated to understand our religion only enslaves us; it is the government that truly frees us.

And say good bye to the concept of American exceptionalism and individual destiny:

Won’t socialism or communism come up against the realities of human nature and selfishness?

There is no innate or unchanging “human nature.” People’s thinking, behavior, and values are shaped by the economic structure and corresponding institutions and culture of a given society. Ancient Greek society and America’s “founding fathers” regarded slavery as perfectly “normal.” Capitalism is organized around the private accumulation of profit and economic competition. Selfishness, greed, and individualism are rewarded by the workings of capitalism and promoted by the institutions of capitalist society. They are not “hard-wired” into our genes, and neither is racism or male supremacy.


Taxpayers of Missouri, you need to know what your tax dollars are promoting. If you don't like Communist party members and leaders lecturing students urging the overthrow of America and a call to violence as a viable tactic, call the chancellors and the governor's office and voice your displeasure on the use of tax funding for this rhetoric.

National Communist Party Leader Speaks to Students at Mizzou

The content of lectures in University of Missouri classrooms has been of concern to many Missourians as released videos of classes at UMKC and UMSL portray professors advocating violence to achieve labor goals.

There is a video of Tony Pecinovsky, Missouri and Kansas director of the Communist Party of the USA explaining his organization's view that "capitalism is the systemic problem in America". In the video he differentiates the CPUSA from other Marxist organizations and explains how CPUSA understands the necessity of not just working against the state but working within the state.

Mizzou students in Columbia were invited on April 27 to hear Libero Della Piana, Communications Director of the Communist Party USA speak about injustice:

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Social Justice Journalism with Libero Della Piana April 27, 6:30pm, Memorial Union N201

Apr 27, 2011 - Apr 27, 2011

6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Location: Memorial Student Union

Room/Hall: N201

Price: n/a

Sponsor: ORG- Organization Resource Group

There are two sides to many news stories: the people who get rich, and the people who get ripped off. Journalists and others interested in shining a spotlight on injustice, the people who commit it, and the people who fight back will definitely want to check out veteran journalist and political organizer Libero Della Piana's presentation in Memorial Union N201 on April 27 at 6:30pm. Mr. Della Piana is the Communications Director of the Communist Party, USA, and his writing has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Colorlines, Black Commentator and the People's World.

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Here is some information on the speaker:

Della Piana looks beyond Obama. He sees the election as a chance to shift the whole U.S. government to the left. By electing more leftist Democrats, the CPUSA hopes to tilt the direction of the U.S. government towards socialism. The Communist Party USA, through their influence in the U.S. union movement wants to completely alter the U.S. political landscape-and to change the world.

Of course, deeper Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and in an increase in progressives in the Congress will also shift the terrain in Washington, opening the way for legislation to turn-back the damage of the Bush years, and to repair the country from 30 years of right-wing rule. This is no time to sit out the election.

We not only have a chance to undo the Bush Agenda, but to win big transformative victories and set the stage for higher levels of struggle. A decisive electoral victory in November will lead the way to passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, the end of the occupation of Iraq and implement some form a of national health care. The working-class has been on the defensive for decades, this election has the chance to put the movements back on offense, to set the agenda for the country.

A big people’s victory in November is not the end of the struggle, but a new beginning on more favorable ground. The mass movements of the people: the peace movement, student movement, civil rights movement, women’s movement, and labor movement have to keep the pressure on to ensure a new Democratic Administration and Legislature keep the promise to meet the people’s needs.

Change the U.S. government and world revolution has no significant opposition.

Together, we can win in November and together we can go on the to change the world.

Do you remember Tony Pecinovsky's stated goal in the CPUSA? The defeat of the "ultra-right" is of utmost importance. Communist members work very closely with unions to achieve their goals. This is the same information Della Piana tells us in his own words.

I wasn't at the speech last night, but based on the philosophical foundation of the Communist Party in the USA, it wouldn't be surprising if this fundamental transformation of the US government was mentioned. "Change the world"...where have I heard that before? Maybe Della Piana was recruiting people of color into a training program which he attended, the Movement Activist Apprenticeship Program. You can read more about Della Piana's beliefs here from a speech he delivered at a US Social Forum in June 2010 in Detroit.

We'll be contacting the University of Missouri to determine if they have had any speakers from the more conservative side of the aisle so their students are exposed to diverse political theories.

Call the chancellors and president of the University of Missouri system. Call the governor's office. Ask them if they are aware of these theories being taught in classrooms and lectures and if this is the standard political teaching present at these campuses. Ask them if there are speakers and lecturers extolling the exceptionalism of America and the protection of the United States Constitution, rather than lectures promoting violence, criminal mischief, and the overthrow of the United States government.

U of M Insitute for Labor Studies Teaches Violence and Communist Goals

The University of Missouri system is receiving more than its fair share of national attention this week. Calls for an end of the Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri KC have come from many fronts recently as videos have emerged showing ILS professors advocating the occasional need for violence and industrial sabotage as acceptable methods for "corporate/union negotiations" as well as outlining specific tactics that can be used.

See more at http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/04/25/union-official-professor-teach-college-course-in-violent-union-tactics/and

This is not the first time the UM ILS has been poised under the chopping block. In 2007, in an interview with KC online, then Chancellor Bailey said elimination of the Institute for Labor Studies was being considered "in an effort to comply with a mandate from the University of Missouri Board of Curators that each of the four campuses — Kansas City, Columbia, St. Louis and Rolla — cut spending by 1 percent each year for the next three years to help fund salary increases for faculty." Then state Sens. Victor Callahan and Chris Koster were part of a meeting with UM staff to talk about possible restructuring of the Institute to save it. UofM staff salaries have been frozen since 2009, but clever "structuring" of the pay scale has meant that salary increases have continued, only in the form of promotions that come with automatic pay increases. The Institute survives today, but it seems a shift in message is called for more than a restructuring.

Professor Ancel has had a long consistent history of supporting the unions and a view of the future with unions running the show. Her communist support is apparent. She wrote in a 2009 article for LaborNotes.org "When unions side with nationalism they confuse workers about who our allies are, who our enemies are, and what will advance our own interests. Without alternative strategies economic nationalism seems logical, but our history suggests it will take us onto the rocks...This is the wrong debate, where the alternatives are either corporate-led globalization, with multinationals roaming the world for cheap labor, or protectionist nationalism, with these same multinationals distracting us with a phony show of patriotism to divide us from other workers....Unions gained leverage in the U.S. when we could take wages out of competition by organizing entire industries. In today’s global labor market wages are again in competition, and it’s still our job to equalize wages so that corporations can’t whipsaw us."

She still sees the world as an Us vs Them scenario, where there are allies and enemies. Yet she paints the future of the worker as one where we're all in this together. We'll all receive the same pay, no matter where we go or, by the way, how good we are or how hard we work. In this world one must have an enemy. And, since it is human nature to rationalize doing anything to an enemy, violence against the enemy du jour is totally acceptable. And in her world, that enemy will always be whoever disagrees with the union.

The video shows how far this line of reasoning can go. When asked when something stops being a terrorist action and starts being a revolution, Ancel casually laughs, "When it succeeds, it's a revolution." This is the Saul Alinksy doctrine of the ends justifying the means and results in the escalation of violence until they are successful. And if you really want to be scared, her co-teacher on this online course, Don Giljum, who says industrial espionage has its place, is the Business Manager for the Union that represents workers at the Callaway nuclear plant and all of Ameren UE in Missouri.

Bill Hennessy of Hennesseysview.com and the St. Louis Tea Party, has written to Governor Nixon demanding:

1. Shut down Labor Studies until the department’s been purged of anti-American radicals
2. Fire Missouri state employees who invited Don Giljum and that communist [Tony Pecinovsky] into classroom
   
3. Apologize to Missouri taxpayers who pay $400 million a year for that university system
   
4. Apologize to the students and their parents who sat through that filth

Is Ancel's and Giljum's message one you want delivered in your tax payer funded university system? If not, contact the interim President, Steve Owens, and ask that the ILS be investigated and defunded until its violent anti-American curriculum is removed. Steve Owens, Interim President 321 University Hall Columbia, MO 65211 (573) 882-2011. Or, in case you're having trouble reaching him, try your senator or representative and ask that they investigate how your tax money is being used at the ILS.

University of Missouri Student Lecture: "Capitalism is the Systemic Problem in America" from Communist Party Representative

The Washington Post reports more labor-friendly lectures at a University of Missouri campus. This time it was not a professor:

Tony Pecinovsky, a Communist Party USA representative who is serving as the Communications Workers of America Secretary and Treasurer in St. Louis, spoke to students at the University of Missouri in St. Louis.

Pecinovsky (left) spoke about how important it is support candidates that share the same values as the Communist party. Who has he supported in the past in Missouri elections? Congressman Russ Carnahan and Senator Claire McCaskill.

This is not the first time CPUSA has addressed the University of Missouri. In 2008, CPUSA's Vice Chairman spoke to students about the election of Barack Obama:

"He's only the beginning," Tyner said. "I think he's a transitional president. I think somebody else is going to come in and take it even further."

Pecinovsky was explicit discussing the tenents of the party's beliefs in the St Louis area campus:

• The idea of the American flag is racist
• America is the "belly of the beast"
• Internationalism is defined how the party can effectively isolate and defeat the ultra-right...comrades in other countries want to defeat the ultra-right"
  
• The progressive wing is uniting to defeat America at home and abroad
• The progressive movement is part of a “larger movement." (He states): “Almost every member of our (communist) organization is a member of a union, is a member of a coalition, is a member of neighborhood association. Is a member of a peace organization.”
• It is important to infiltrate groups already in existence; in fact, the party believes it is necessary to work even in "conservative and reactionary" trade unions
• The systemic problem in America is capitalism. Capitalism is the ultimate enemy
• The main focus of the CPUSA is to build coalitions with organizations that have broad bases and memberships and money such as "Jobs with Justice" and the unions

An important distinction Pecinovsky makes between CPUSA and other Marxist organizations is this: CPUSA does not have the same nuanced view of politics that the other organizations have; CPUSA understands the necessity of not just working against the state but working within the state.

Is that called "gaming the system"? Are politicians such as Carnahan and McCaskill pawns to an end? It might be a good idea to call their offices to determine how connected they are with the Communist Party agenda. You also might ask them if they would make an official statement distancing themselves from this rhetoric.

While you are calling Carnahan and McCaskill, you also might want to call the office of Representative Clem Smith (pictured above on the right). CPUSA certainly has accomplished its goal of electing officials with union ties...who have connections to the Communist Party. Does Representative Smith believe that capitalism is the ultimate enemy? I wonder what the business owners in his district (as well as Carnahan's district) think about this CPUSA belief? Here is a brief description of the party Smith and (now) retired State Representative Rita Heard Day attended last year sponsored by the Missouri Communist Party:

The Missouri Communist Party’s Friends of the People’s World hosted their 18th annual ‘Hershel Walker Peace and Justice Awards Breakfast’ Saturday, May 8, 2010, at the CWA Local 6300 Union Hall, 2258 Grissom Drive , St. Louis.

Newspaper Guild International President Bernie Lunzer was the main speaker for the event.

The honorees were:

• Tony Harris, President American Postal Workers Union (labor)
• Martin Rafanan, Ex. Director Gateway Homeless Services (community)
• State Senator Rita Heard Days, D-14 (public service)
• Clem Smith, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (civil rights)

Missouri Communist Party leader Tony Pecinovsky worked on Clem Smith’s successful 2010 campaign – a service he has personally performed for several other Missouri elected officials.


You can call Pecinovsky yourself if you have any questions about his goals for the party and his vision for America. Check out the 6:42 mark on video 6. He gives his phone number and email address.

This administration insists we have education that will make us "globally competitive". Will speakers from the Communist Party that call for the destruction of capitalism accomplish that goal?

Do we have any politicians in Jefferson City that will start an investigation on why a Communist party official is speaking in a public university lecture class for the purpose of destroying our capitalistic system? Why are taxpayers paying for this indoctrination that furthers a political agenda?

Freedom of Speech is Condoned for UMKC Labor Professor by the KC Star...but Not For Readers

Read the experience of "freedom of speech" from Blogodidact. If you are a commenter in the Kansas City Star, it might be best if you lean to the progressive left if you want your comments published.

That tactic worked for Judy Ancel, director of the Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City who was featured as a guest columnist on April 25, 2011. In this particular piece she neglected to mention her teaching includes violence and disruption is an acceptable behavior in labor disputes. Here is an example of her teaching:

She goes on to tell a story of a friend who worked for a utility company in Peru, where it’s illegal to strike.

“They couldn’t get access to” strike, “but they had a lot of cats and they succeeded in putting cats in powerhouses,” she said. “And the cats — now, don’t think about the cats, OK? The cats would run around inside and short out the system and cause power blackouts. And that created enough chaos in the system” to get to “a negotiating position.”

Plus, she joked, they “got rid of a lot of feral cats.”

Apparently the Kansas City Star isn't interested in publishing comments from a taxpayer who, by the way, contributes to this woman's paycheck.

I wonder if the Kansas City Star would publish an opinion piece by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) decrying this professor's use of labor tactics? If PETA goes after people who wear fur, then I would think they would condemn a radical professor espousing violence and disruption that includes killing cats, even if they are feral.

Is teaching violence and criminal mischief for labor goals acceptable to the Star? Maybe the editorial staff didn't know about Ancel's remarks on video before the column was printed. It does now. It doesn't seem to matter to them based on the scrubbing of the taxpayer's comment. So I would take that as a tacit agreement to this professor's methods of violence.

New Course Offering from University of Missouri: Industrial Sabotage 101

Missouri college students and/or union workers may very well be learning violence is acceptable and encouraged behavior in labor disputes.

Your tax dollars are paying for this call for violence and industrial sabotage. Contact the University of Missouri system at this email address to demand the firing of the professor and this content be pulled immediately from labor studies coursework:

To: web_office@umsl.edu

Here is some of the latest information from the Columbia Tribune:

Videos showing two University of Missouri instructors advocating for union violence are making the rounds online.

VIDEO

Biggovernment.com Video: Union Official, Professor Teach College Course in Violent Union Tactics

VIDEO

Biggovernment.com Video: How to College Course on Violent Union Tactics

The videos — first posted on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website — capture Judy Ancel, director of UM-Kansas City’s Institute for Labor Studies, telling a class “violence is a tactic, and it’s to be used when it’s the appropriate tactic.” She goes on to tell a story of a friend who worked for a utility company in Peru, where it’s illegal to strike.

“They couldn’t get access to” strike, “but they had a lot of cats and they succeeded in putting cats in powerhouses,” she said. “And the cats — now, don’t think about the cats, OK? The cats would run around inside and short out the system and cause power blackouts. And that created enough chaos in the system” to get to “a negotiating position.”

Plus, she joked, they “got rid of a lot of feral cats.”

The course, Labor in Society & Politics, is offered as part of the labor studies certificate. It’s team-taught by Don Giljum of Operating Engineers 148, and Dave Robertson, a UM-St. Louis instructor. It’s unclear whether those in the class are adult workers or college students. The UM System declined to comment, and Ancel was not available Monday afternoon.

In the videos, Giljum advises students to get creative with union strategies. Giljum, who represents Ameren workers, explains how workers at one company printed articles off the Internet about sabotaging equipment and spread them throughout the plant. Additionally, workers would “end up at the same shopping center or church” as the CEO of the company — so much so that he became paranoid and began wearing protective jackets and helmets inside the plant “because he was afraid of being shot,” Giljum said. “There are all kinds of things you can do to be creative.”

Finally, the FBI was called in and the plant became a potential crime scene, giving workers paid time off. In another instance, he said he was charged with instigating riots that “destroyed several police cars.”

Violence is not only a part of union history, he said, violence and sabotage has its place.

The video also shows a student asking when terrorism becomes a revolution, to which Ancel responds that it’s “terrorism until it’s successful. Then it’s a revolution.”

Reach Janese Silvey at 573-815-1705 or e-mail jsilvey@columbiatribune.com.

Easter and Spring vs Nudging and Compliance.

I've been trying to put into words why the current government push toward indoctrinating children bothers me so. We've written about how students are being told plastics are bad, to boycott and petition big business; children are expected to dance in Michelle Obama's project without parental knowledge; students in Chicago at the Little Village School cannot bring lunches from home because their parents don't make lunches that are healthy enough.

It doesn't stop with children; the mayor of Boston has banned sugary drinks from all governmental buildings. He states he wants to direct changes in behavior; it is his civic duty.

This is not manipulation of behavior for American citizens by politicians and bureaucrats, this is nudging of our rights out of our lives. This is the antithesis of what Easter and springtime represent: the springing of hope and of new life.

What does hope and new life bring to people? It brings anticipation of a better life. It brings a sense of freedom and purpose. It allows people to think for themselves and gives them a direction to their beliefs. People who experience this hope and springing of new life have a great deal of self-direction and don't appreciate or need governmental authorities mandating their thought processes and personal behavior.

Refer back to the mandates, policies, rules and regulations mentioned above. Do they encourage individuals to think for themselves? Do they allow freedom of expression and thought? Do American children and adults need to be "nudged" to behavior acceptable to the government?

As Anngie stated in her latest posting:

It is one thing to be a watchdog. But we also need people to act.

Remember Easter and springtime and what they represent. Take the hope of new life and new beginnings and refuse to be nudged by a system that represents the nanny state of mandates, rules, regulations and oppression. Isn't this why we broke away from England? Didn't our founders believe that people could and should make their own individual decisions, no matter how mundane they may be (i.e., choosing your own lunch, drink, whether to join in a dance or if you want "paper or plastic")? It is becoming increasingly apparent the Federal, State and local governments believe you, the taxpayer, who pays the taxes that allows these systems to operate, is too ignorant to live your life and make good decisions for you and your family. They will cheerfully take your money...and your rights along with those mandated taxes.

What's happened to us that we (and our politicians) allow ourselves to be "nudged" into a governmental idea of acceptable behavior? What are you going to do about it? You could go to school board meetings or sit on a curriculum committee. Volunteer to go on field trips to determine exactly where your child is going and what he/she is hearing. Ask your child about his/her activities and what was learned that day in school. Start paying attention and if need be, start "nudging" back.