Joy Woodhouse for President!

It's not all that often that you see two brothers as elected officials on opposite ends of the aisle, but that's exactly what we have with Brad Woodhouse and Dallas Woodhouse. They are popular guests on shows because of their feisty in-fighting. 

Things got interesting on C-SPAN this week when Joy Woodhouse -- the mother of Brad and Dallas -- called into C-SPAN when her two sons were arguing. 

She took them to task for bickering, and both sons bow their heads in shame. She hopes that they will be friendly when they all get together for Christmas later this month, but the real winner here is Joy trying to nurture bipartisanship harmony within her own family.  Enjoy the clip.

On The Eve of Election Night

Oh, Monday.

With the election only a day away -- and the end of the incessant robocaller campaigns ready to return my landline into the cobweb-riddled state that it deserves -- I want to offer up some food for thought.

Your guy isn't that good. The other guy isn't that bad. No matter who wins, the economy should be in a better place in four years, and if it's not this great nation has the power to vote the president out if more than half of the country's voters agree with you.

Oh, and spoiler alert: Four years from now, your candidate still won't be that good -- and the other candidate still won't be that bad.

 -- Bipartisanship.com

Trick or Treating with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama

It's Halloween -- and what kid wouldn't like to have his or her candy bag stuffed with campaign literature for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

Taking bipartisan jabs at both political parties, this sketch -- performed by Miami's Just The Funny for its FearProv IX show on 10/27/12 -- skewers both agendas using candy and Halloween as triggers for the satire.

Enjoy, kiddos!

You're Missing the Point On Replacement Refs

It was a rare sight last night as football fans were applauding the pinstripes. The return of the unionized NFL officials after three challenging weeks for the replacement refs has been praised as a victory for the game. However, after reading accounts comparing the league's union-fueled victory on the gridiron to what transpired in Chicago earlier this month with the powerful teachers' union, I have to speak up.

One of the sticking points with negotiations for both the NFL refs and the Chicago teachers was that the unions wanted to protect their most tenured members. Neither union wanted to make it easy for the league or Chicago to let go of ineffective employees. 

"First In, First Out" is a common union objective. Fire the newbies first. It doesn't matter that they collect smaller paychecks or that they may be more passionate about the profession. Merit be damned. 

It doesn't seem to matter that 40% of the students in Chicago's public schools fail to graduate. Don't you dare suggest letting go of the older, costlier, and less effective educators. 

Now do you see why the comparisons don't hold up? The reason why fans were irate with the replacement officials -- even though the real zebras make plenty of mistakes of their own -- was because they made bad calls. The fans wanted accountability, and that's something that the very officials replacing the replacements -- and the teachers returning to work in Chicago -- don't have to face. 

Teachers are awesome. NFL refs are, well, they're not bad. However, there has to be accountability. There has to be fiscal responsibility to make sure that the quality is commensurate with the pay. The replacements blew a few calls, and as a result the entire lot was forced to fall on the sword. Don't bet that unions would ever let that happen.