WI teacher charged with sending death threats to Republican lawmakers

Do you remember that really ugly death threat that was emailed to some Wisconsin Republican lawmakers three weeks ago? It went something like this:

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

Well the author of the email has been charged.

JS Online: Madison - A 26-year-old woman was charged Thursday with two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts for allegedly making email threats against Wisconsin lawmakers during the height of the battle over Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill.

Katherine R. Windels of Cross Plains was named in a criminal complaint filed in Dane County Criminal Court.

According to the criminal complaint, Windels allegedly sent an email threat to State Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) March 9. Later that evening, she allegedly sent another email to 15 Republican legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). [...]

According to the criminal complaint, Windels told investigators “I sent out emails that I was disgusted and very upset by what they were doing.”

Asked if she intended to follow through on any of her threats, Windels told the investigators "No," according to the complaint.
Windels was charged with two felony counts "bomb scare" and two misdemeanor counts of "computer message-threatening injury/bodily harm." If convicted, each felony count carries a maximum penalty of three years and six months in prison and a $10,000 fine, and each misdemeanor count carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in prison and a $1,000 fine.

The story doesn't end here. What the Journal Sentinel leaves out of their story is that Ms, Windels is a teacher. Not just a plain old teacher but an early childhood development teacher. The Underground Conservative has all the details here.

In a sane world Ms. Windels would be terminated immediately. No one who can spew that kind of hate and show such amazing stupidity should ever be allowed within 2 feet of a young and impressionable mind. One can only imagine what might happen if Ms. Windels became "disgusted and very upset" by an unruly pre-schooler.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Journal Sentinel

Via: Underground Conservative

Video: To Surly, With Love: Are Teachers Overpaid?

To be fair, I am not sure we can actually say the rude people in the video are teachers.  There are all types of leftist at the pro-union rallies.  


However, what cannot be in dispute are the statistics.

Reason TV: It's little wonder that parents with little or no choice report the lowest-levels of satisfaction (about 90 percent of K-12 students attend public schools). Despite all the extra resources devoted to public school teachers and students, student achievement has been absolutely flat over the past 40 years. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is "the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas." When it comes to 17-year-old students (effectively, high-school seniors), nothing has changed since reporting began in the early 1970s. In 1971, 17-year-old students averaged 285 points (out of 500) in reading. In 2008, that had risen to 286. For math in 1973, the average score was 304 (out of 500). In 2008, it was 306.

This is why teacher's unions are about to become the whipping boy all across the nation.  No matter what excuse teacher's unions come up to justify their salaries, it is the mediocre product they produce that will cause them to fail under these tight economic times.


How do you justify so much money for absolutely no change?


Via: Memeorandum
Via: Hit and Run

Lifestyles of the rich and famous: The United Federation of Teacher's lavish spending

Question: With 5,000 city teachers facing possible layoff, what do you thing the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) would do?  
Answer: Party like it is 1999, of course!

New York Daily News: As nearly 5,000 city teachers face the ax, their union shells out millions of dollars on feasting, boozing and partying, the Daily News has learned.

Free-spending United Federation of Teachers brass last year spent nearly $1.4 million for the UFT's 50th anniversary gala at the Hilton - complete with a movie, a book and a paperweight.

Records show they:

• Ponied up $514,000 to 16 separate caterers.

• Dropped $278,417 on the annual Teachers Union Day ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria.

• Bought $6,100 in gift baskets from a lower East Side candy store - and plowed $179,000 into training retreats at a Connecticut resort boasting golf, scuba diving and aqua aerobics.

In one amazing feat of spending, they shelled out $114,870 for annual "coffee supplies" at their five offices across the city - paying the Coffee Distributing Corp. on Long Island $324,000 over three years, records show. [MORE]

That is just the tip of the iceberg, see the rest of the abuses in the full article.  The best part is the UFT's president's response:

"I'm not going to apologize for spending money to service our members," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

"These people are heroes dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our children. They never get the respect they deserve. A cup of coffee, a bottle of water and a few parking spots is the least we can do for them."

Funny how all you hear about in NYC is how the teachers have no money, yet here is their union throwing  lavish parties at the Waldorf_Astoria!  Perhaps these teachers would have a little more money if they weren't blowing big bucks on union dues. 

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Daily News

UPDATED: YAWN! Palin and the Alaskan Teacher

 

Politico: Palin was greeted in the town by Kathleen Gustafson, a self-identified teacher, who was holding a sign that read: “Worst Governor Ever.”

After seeing the sign, Palin walked over to speak to Gustafson. The video is spreading quickly Monday on several liberal blogs.

“You swore on your precious Bible that you would uphold the interests of this state, and then when cash was waved in front of your face, you quit,” Gustafson told Palin after the former governor walked over to ask, “What’s up?”

“Oh, you wanted me to be your governor,” Palin responded, sarcastically retorting, “I’m honored! Thank you!” 

The left is making big hay over this video. They are even suggesting Palin rolls her eyes when she hears the woman is a teacher.  Quite frankly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. The woman wanted Palin to finish her term and is now feeling “jilted”.

If this is suppose to be a gotcha moment for Palin, then the left has lowered it standards considerably.  Check out this gotcha moment with Mitt Romney and tell me if Palin is anywhere near as sloppy with the confrontation.

Palin and the teacher actually reach common ground with their discussion about both their husbands being commercial fishermen. That is hardly anything like the dustup the left is making this video out to be.

Needless to say, Palin had a few choice words for the media about this video on her Facebook page. 

The LSM has now decided to use this brief encounter for another one of their spin operations. They claim I – wait for it – “appear to roll my eyes” when the lady tells me she’s a teacher. Yes, it’s come to this: the media is now trying to turn my eyebrow movements into story lines. (Maybe that’swhy Botox is all the rage – if you can’t move your eyebrows, your “eye rolling” can’t be misinterpreted!) If they had checked their facts first, they would have known that I come from a family of teachers; my grandparents were teachers, my father was a teacher, my brother is a teacher, my sister works in Special Needs classrooms, my aunt is a school nurse, my mom worked as a school secretary for much of her professional life, we all volunteer in classrooms, etc., etc., etc. Given that family history, how likely is it that I would “roll my eyes” at someone telling me that they too work in that honorable profession? Stay classy, LSM. 

All in all, the Palin Haters will have to wait for another gotcha moment with Palin, because this one ain’t it.

UPDATE: Liar YES, Teacher NO

What is it about Palin Haters that make them so damn over the top?  It turns out that the “teacher” (Kathleen Gustafson) Sarah Palin confronted really isn’t a teacher after all. She is a singer in a drag queen band. 

Gateway Pundit: The leftists were outraged that Sarah Palin had the nerve to confront this angry “teacher.” Teachers should be respected.

It’s just too bad she’s not a teacher.

Kathleen Gustafson is a singer in a drag queen band.

(HOMER TRIBUNE/Randi Somers) – Director Kathleen Gustafson (left) steps in to provide harmony as Hedwig (Atz Lee Kilcher) polishes up his performance at Pier One on Aug. 28.

Kathleen Guftafson is not a teacher. She’s a theater tech… And a liar.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Gustafson must have said she was a teacher thinking that gave her some authority and sympathy. NOT! Teachers, just like everyone else on the planet come in two flavors, nice and nasty.  I think it is fair to say that Ms. Gustafson can go in the nasty column. 

So the great gotcha moment the left was hoping for has now turned out to be a complete flop. Ms. Gustafson turns out to be just another leftwing loon. Move along folks, nothing to see here.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Politico

Via: The New Yorker

Via: The Last Tradition

Via: Sarah Palin’s Facebook Page
Via: Gateway Pundit