James O'Keefe is at it again. Alissa Ploshnick is a public school special education teacher working in Passaic, New Jersey. In 1997 Ploshnick jumped in front of a speeding van outside her school to save students from harm. Ploshnick was hospitalized with; broken ribs, bruised pelvis, broken wrist, and glass cuts in her eyes. Ploshnick was recorded without her knowledge, quoting a racial slur someone else said by a wingnut operative, who was buying her drinks. Apparently plying her with alcohol to get her to say incriminating things.
One would think that a special ed teacher who was hospitalized protecting students from a speeding car would not be a target of such malice. But that was before New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's angry crusade against teacher's unions. The wingnuts have produced a video (I will not name here, not giving them any free publicity), and the controversy over Ms. Ploshnick quoting someone else's racial slur has gotten her in trouble with her school district. Please read that enough times to sink in. A political operative sidles up to this teacher, on her own time having a drink with friends, plies her with drinks to get her to say something incriminating about teachers, she quotes what some racist says, and she is taped without her knowledge and now she is in trouble with her employer.
A reasonable person would assume Governor Christie would condemn his disciples for such dishonest methods. But no. Star-Ledger columnist Bob Braun quotes Christie
Christie recently praised O’Keefe’s secret taping of Ploshnick and others and said: "If you need an example of what I’ve been talking about for the last nine months — about how the teachers union leadership is out of touch with the people and out of control — go watch this video.’’"
It gets worse. According to the Star-Ledger newspaper articlehttp://blog.nj.com/...
O'Keefe's political operatives have been to Ploshnick's apartment uninvited to attempt to ambush her more. I am not a lawyer but I would call that harassment. Interesting behavior when you consider that the wingnuts call union members (primarily school teachers) "thugs". That begs the question of who is a thug.
Something is wrong with our state, our country, our society, when political operatives stalk, harass, and surreptitiously record teachers, and then call said teachers "thugs". This is not the same America I grew up in, in my humble opinion.
Found this quote by Martin Niemoller, think it's appropriate:
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.:
Well now the wingnuts are coming for the teachers. Not in the send them to a camp sense, but they are stalking and harassing them. I am not a teacher, but maybe my union will be next? Or Democrats next? Let's stop this now.