April 17, 2010

Jason Levin, that "Crash the Tea Party" guy, is a middle school teacher — and he's been put on suspension.

Harsh?
Levin has said he would seek to embarrass Tea Partiers by attending their rallies dressed as Adolf Hitler, carrying signs bearing racist, sexist and anti-gay epithets and acting as offensively as possible -- anything short of throwing punches....

Now, the source said, parents have become outraged by the severity of his political activism, and many have told the school board members that it has no place in a public school system.
He didn't do it in the school system, did he?

105 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kind of like the "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS" guy wasn't at school. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

AllenS said...

School athorities are looking into whether or not he used a school computer. Don't worry, nothing will happen to him.

Mr. D said...

The entire world now knows he's a moron, but will forget about him entirely in Warhol's prescribed 15-minute interval. On to the next story.

Republican said...

Another example of how a Lefty is willing to engage in unethical and dishonest behavior because of retarded political beliefs.

(to the point he is activating instead of working)

GMay said...

Publicly encouraging people to engage in patently dishonest behavior strikes me as a poor example for a teacher to set.

YMMV

Kevin said...

He didn't do it in the school system, did he?

Actually, he did - there was HTML code on his web page (before he took it down) indicating that the web page had been created or modified on a school computer - he was also posting to the web page during school hours.

He'll get bounced for using school equipment inappropriately. Also, twittering about how dumb your students are is probably a bad idea...

Anonymous said...

"He didn't do it in the school system, did he?"

Yes, he did.

He used school time and school computers to organize his fraudulent activities and to make money selling T-shirts and bumper stickers and to accept PayPal donations (which was his real motive.)

Garden variety public employee fraudster using public funds, time and equipment to engage in fraudulent, illegal activities.

Pastafarian said...

Is the decision to suspend him for an investigation, no doubt with pay (I didn't see this in the article) harsh?

No. I wish I could get suspended with pay. Those of us who do actual productive work for a living refer to that as "vacation".

Would it be harsh if they fired him? Yes, it would. He announced his intentions to do something clearly unethical. but it's legal. So firing him in the middle of the school year would be inappropriate.

Would it be too harsh if the school decided not to renew his contract for next year? Hell no. We don't need more teachers with ethical blindspots. If I thought this little shit would be teaching my son 8th grade history, I'd raise hell. Anyone who would go out in public in a Hitler outfit for ANY reason (other than participating in a play, say) shouldn't be in a position to teach children -- let alone someone who does it to sabotage a peaceful demonstration of citizens agitating for a return to the original principles of a constitutional republic.

Pastafarian said...

OK, if Kevin and NewHam are right, and he did this crap at school, then he should be fired. I stand corrected.

FloridaSteve said...

Not harsh at all.

As the father of an 8 year old I don't go investigating the behavior of her teachers. I introduce myself and "size them up" and usually feel fine about them. I generally trust the school board to handle who they hire and if they fail in their duties there are elections every few years to handle that.

This is entirely different. He put himself out there willingly and more importantly he tried to do it in secret. In doing so he obviously felt there was something inappropriate about his desired goals. I'd have had more respect for him if he'd been open about it but in either case thee is no way I would allow the school system to put my daughter in his class.

Big Mike said...

Or perhaps Levin has always been a jerk that the parents have been trying to get rid of for years, and now they've got something solid and irrefutable that they can use.

If he was a good teacher the parents would be defending him.

Anonymous said...

Check out the obese moron on Fox ... actually holding up one of his T-shirts that he was selling using public school computers and on his school time.

Taxpayers are fucking fed up with liberal Democrats using public funds to undermine Americans who are merely organizing themselves to participate in the political process.

You criminal Democrats need to be warned: We're going to use the law to come after you in your places of work and strip you of your ability to earn a living. You had better think long and hard before you try to organize against us.

Unknown said...

Yes, it was my understanding he did this organizing from the school media center.

It's not the school that's angry--they probably are of the left--but the parents. I guess they're wondering how he's indoctrinating their kids rather than what computer he's using.

Anonymous said...

Today, in fact, the only remaining part of his website still up is his CafePress T-shirt store. He's encouraging people to buy T-shirts to show their support for his "cause."

This was a private money-making stunt from start to finish by a government official using taxpayer-funded computer systems to privately enrich himself.

He should be fired, then arrested for fraud and misprision of funds.

mRed said...

Time/date stamps show he did work this from the school. He also seems to have done a lot more from school:

If school was in session at 9:04 AM on January 14 that would mean he was Twittering NSFW video on school time.

shares NSFW! Topless Skydiving Models http://tinyurl.com/yetuvja http://plurk.com/p/3ddydi

9:04 AM Jan 14th via API

I'm sure it was educational.

SteveR said...

In any case he could have done what he was going to and accomplish whatever he was going to accomplish, without calling attention to himself. Just do it. Idiot.

TJ said...

There is, or should be, an expectation of standards.

When you have a child in school and under the authority of a teacher
who would behave in the way indicated, it undermines respect for the system.

I would look at that incident and think "this is what I am paying $6000.00 a year for in property tax for?" It makes the school system look like a joke.

If I was a parent in this district, I would be agitating to get this guy fired, as a message to other would-be assholes.

Their are plenty of openly activist rent-seekers at the higher levels of academia (see most of the staff at Duke).

The schools should be hiring serious people who understand a certain decorum. They should, at the grade school through high school level, be made to agree to represent the district on duty or off duty in a certain manner.

The message should be that when you take on a job for the community, you have to leave your asshattery at the door.

Trooper York said...

Just another example of why all teachers should be fired and replaced by computers with electric wires attached to the children to schock the shit out of them when they answer something wrong or misbehave.

The future is now.

Anonymous said...

"Their are plenty of openly activist rent-seekers at the higher levels of academia ..."

One wonders how many American Idol blog posts have been made from the computers of the University of Wisconsin throughout the many years.

Kakashi said...

Wouldn't want that guy teaching my kids, if I had kids.

Anonymous said...

"They should, at the grade school through high school level, be made to agree to represent the district on duty or off duty in a certain manner."

The fact of the matter is that this school district already expects that of its teachers.

They've placed this moron on a much-needed administrative leave while they confiscate his office computer to perform an analysis of precisely the illegal criminal acts he's been performing on their dime.

The school district should be commended for removing this criminal from amongst the midst of its students. Levin is obviously mentally unhinged and unhinged people pose a physical danger to those they are allowed to walk amongst.

We should give the district time to properly investigate his illegal activities and to respond accordingly.

Now, if they try a whitewash ... if they try to cover for the guy ... different story.

But if they do the right thing and fire this guy and turn over the results of their investigation to the proper legal authorities, then we should commend the school system for doing the right thing.

The district has rules in place to prevent this sort of illegal activity and they appear to be doing their level best to properly discipline this rogue government official.

Let's give them time to do a proper job of eviscerating this asshole.

And let's all be on the lookout for any other rogue government officials using their official capacity to undermine Tea Party efforts so we can go after their jobs too.

The Drill SGT said...

Beyond the miss use of assets, F'ing off when he should have been working, running a business from school, and encouraging or conspiring to commit identity theft, I'll bet the school has a code of conduct for its staff.

Want to bet that a guy that marched in demonstrations or ran a web site that was homophobic, or neo-nazi or racist (I repeat myself) would get fired in 60 seconds?

So isn't portraying others wrongly in that fashion worse?

Anonymous said...

The burning question I have for Mr. Levin today is this:

How do our balls taste today?

Peano said...

"He didn't do it in the school system, did he?"

What if he didn't? When a teacher gains notoriety by dressing as Hitler and carrying signs with racist epithets, his moral character certainly is in question.

If he didn't do those things in school, he will still be in school and serving as a role model for the kids. Their parents are right to complain and object. If I were in their place, I would raise hell.

Christopher said...

Levin planned to smear the Tea Party through a hoax, motivating people to masquerade as racists.

How much better would this really be if he did it only on his own time?

Isn't that fundamentally different than saying "I, Jason Levin, think the Tea Partiers are racist, sexist, homophobic morons" ?

Even if he'd done it on his own time, I'd have no problem with a school board at least suspending such a teacher without pay for awhile. I don't classify this as something done by a charming merry prankster. I certainly wouldn't want someone teaching my nephews if they falsified my political associations, smearing me with some of the most hateful slurs in American culture.

Phil said...

I'm betting they find he did something at school to dismiss him over.

From the school website:

"WHO DA BOSS?

You Da Boss!

You may have heard the buzz about our new school initiative- PBS!

Positive Behavior Support is a program to promote and maximize academic achievement and behavioral competence. It is a school-wide strategy for helping all students achieve important social and learning goals. We know that when good behavior and good teaching come together, our students will excel in learning.

The Conestoga behavior expectations are:

Bring it: Responsibility

Own it: Accountability

Show it: Respect

Share it: Compassion

Students are encouraged to be their own B.O.S.S.

Ask your CMS student to tell you about the school-wide expectations as well as B.O.S.S. Bucks. We are pleased and excited to have this proven-effective program at Conestoga."


Schools enforcing moral codes including things like compassion has always been interesting to me, but as long as they engage in it, can teachers requiring students who are required to be there to be measured by these standards really justify not holding themselves to the same code in and out of school considering they are public employees engaged in public acts.

If it was only free speech I'd have sympathy, but since it was fraud and hate speech he was encouraging, I won't be bothered when they throw him under the bus.

Anonymous said...

The trouble with the Hitler stuff is... Hitler was a leftist.

It was the National Socialist Party. Note the work "socialist."

The constant attempt by the left to attribute Nazism to the right is ridiculous.

Nazism belongs to the left.

In fact racism as an official governmental policy belongs to the left. The Democratic Party was the enforcer of Jim Crow.

To this day, the Democratic Party remains the party of racism. Witness its enforcement of racial quotas.

Jeff with one 'f' said...

If the personal is political then the where and when is irrelevant.

I don't personally believe this, but if the left lives by the sword it must needs die by the sword.

George said...

"He didn't do it in the school system, did he?"

Very weak. So, is the ONLY justification for termination an actionable offense committed IN the school system? Seriously? You can't think of anything that might be committed outside the system that would justify termination?

TJ said...

Peano "If he didn't do those things in school, he will still be in school and serving as a role model for the kids. Their parents are right to complain and object. If I were in their place, I would raise hell."

I would add - "until he was gone."

Property taxes are not optional; because of this the public has a right to expect the highest levels of conduct.

It is difficult to express your displeasure with the local public school financially, which is why they act the way they do, in some cases.

traditionalguy said...

The dummy exposed his career as a middle school teacher to be a false flag operation too.

Jason (the commenter) said...

He didn't do it in the school system, did he?

It says right in the article that that is what the investigation is trying to determine.

In the meantime, the school is paying him and giving him free time to try and sabotage tea parties.

Unknown said...

If it were Texas, the guy would be history, but a union teacher in Oregon?

Back in time for granulation.

Fen said...

George: So, is the ONLY justification for termination an actionable offense committed IN the school system? Seriously? You can't think of anything that might be committed outside the system that would justify termination?

I agree with George. Just because Al Capone was collared for tax evasion doesn't mean we should overlook his more serious offenses. Its a cop out.

So lets assume Jason Levin did NOT post from campus computers. Is there a valid reason to fire him? Should anything teachers do outside of the classroom disqualify them mentoring minors? And what about the legitimate fear of a Bill Ayers indocrinating immpressionable young minds?

My first reaction is to fall back on a "moral turpitude" clause. But it has a history of abuse at the expense of Liberty. And we know how Leftist Academia would twist it to run any remaining conservatives out of our schools.

Thats where I think Ann is heading with her question. And I'm curious to see how the crowd here will respond.

sane_voter said...

NewHam said
The burning question I have for Mr. Levin today is this:

How do our balls taste today?


Mr. Levin said he would like some ketchup

Trooper York said...

"He should be fired for being incompetent."

Most teachers are incompetent. They can't survive in the real world.

"Those that can't do, teach."

Just sayn'

Fen said...

In a now deleted post on his "Crash the Tea Party" Web site, he called on his supporters to collect the Social Security numbers -- among other personal identifying information -- about as many Tea Party supporters as possible at the numerous rallies that took place on Thursday, Tax Day.

You know what, forget my earlier post. He belongs in jail. Call it Protective Custody if you have to. What a little hitler.

Rialby said...

Uh huh, I'm sure he leaves his politics at the school house door. Just like my 12th grade Government teacher who, during the Oliver Stone-fueled JFK-assassination fever of 1991, had us write about "our favorite conspiracy theory". I just made one up to screw with him - pointing out that there might have been a shooter on a completely different building. He loved it. Moron.

Trooper York said...

A teacher in New Jersey led a prayer for the death of Governor Christie because he wanted to freeze their pay raises.

Fire them all.

Peter V. Bella said...

Correction, he was put on paid suspension. He gets paid to stay home. He won't be punished- lose pay- until they determine what rules he violated.

Seeing it is Oregon, he is a teacher(NEA=radical leftists) and the school board is investigating versus competent law enforcement, his only punishment will be a paid vacation.

Opus One Media said...

Gotta watch that free speech stuff. Some people think it applies to everyone.

The nerve. Ya'betcha.

Opus One Media said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Opus One Media said...

Geese I hate posting after Peter...its like marching in a parade after the elephants and horses.

Fen said...

Libtard: Gotta watch that free speech stuff. Some people think it applies to everyone.

You mean like... the parents? The people that are paying his salary?

Yes, hdTard, even they have a right to express their anger.

Unknown said...

HD: Mr Levin has not been deprived of his free speech; there seems to be a certain amount of (as yet unproved) evidence that he was exercising his freedom of speech on the taxpayer's dime. When I was a serving military office, and was engaged in the things Mr Levin is accused of, I am sure you would have supported my free speech rights.

You really are a fool, ya betcha.

Anonymous said...

Even if this person had done nothing at school, I think it's the right thing to suspend him. Two reasons:

1. A public school teacher -- like a police officer or a city planner -- is a position that brings with it rules of decorum and certain stipulations. If you don't like it, be a plumber.

2. Somewhat related to #1, people are compelled by law to send their children to public school if they cannot afford private schools or afford the time for home schooling. (As an aside, people very much like Josh Levin usually hate home schooling.) Therefore, given the compulsory nature of education, citizens in a community have and should have a large part in deciding who is doing the educating.

Anonymous said...

HD -- How has Levin been prevented from speaking freely?

Fen said...

Can we put used teabags in the mail?

(don't want to run afoul of any hazardous substance rule the Post Office has)

MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...

Why is it harsh to put him on paid admin. leave while an investigation is conducted to determine if he inappropriately used public equipment while on the public payroll to spread his personal political views?

It seems fair to me.

Daniel Fielding said...

They ought to make sure that he isnt a pedophile too, after the yare done investigating him for his pro-Obama activities.

victoria said...

Mr D, maybe he will join "Joe the Plumber" and Sarah Palin in that 15 minutes.
I think it's funny that, since the guy was caught and will probably (rightfully) be terminated from his job, you righties are still bellyaching. The guy was caught!!! HE is going to be fired!!! Stop it, already. This stuff is done on both sides and the guy was caught!! Get over it.

Believe me, Republican, there are plenty of "retarded" republicans who stray outside the confines of ethical and honest behavior. You just don't want to acknowledge that they exist. You live in rightie world, where you are good and they are bad. Doesn't work, dude.

Vicki from Pasadena

gk1 said...

He won't be coming back next year, that is for certain. The school district would have to have rocks in their head to re-up his contract. The only question is if his teacher's union is going to launch any action to defend this ass-hat or quietly give him the sack this summer. Time will tell.

Fen said...

They ought to make sure that he isnt a pedophile too, after they are done investigating him

That would be poetic. The parents should falsely claim that Jason Levin is a child molestor. Do unto him as he has done onto others.

Of course, none of them would stoop as low as he has.

But I tell you what, if Levin ever gets sent to prison, I'm going to write to everyone in his cell block and let them know about his racist nazi child-molesting history. Good. Goose. Gander.

Peter V. Bella said...

Gee House,

If he was a conservative public school teacher- if any exist- who did the same to, say Code Pink, you would want him indicted and imprisoned.

You reek of the hypocrisy of your ilk. The stench is overpowering.

Fen said...

victoria: I think it's funny that, since the guy was caught and will probably (rightfully) be terminated from his job, you righties are still bellyaching.

Well then, you're an idiot. He wont be terminated from his job. At worst, he'll be relocated out of the spotlight.

What we're complaining about is the larger problem he represents. See my 11:44AM post:

"So lets assume Jason Levin did NOT post from campus computers. Is there a valid reason to fire him? Should anything teachers do outside of the classroom disqualify them mentoring minors? And what about the legitimate fear of a Bill Ayers indocrinating immpressionable young minds?"

Of course, you're free to ignore that and instead parrot more innane partisan knee-jerk swill.

Believe me, Republican, there are plenty of "retarded" republicans who stray outside the confines of ethical and honest behavior. You just don't want to acknowledge that they exist. You live in rightie world, where you are good and they are bad.

Oh Bullshit. If Republicans are known for one thing, its that we are quick throw our own under the bus when they screw up.

Its the Democrats who have situational ethics [see: Clinton; Jones, Lewinksi, Wiley]

Anonymous said...

Victoria -- I don't think your argument is convincing. You need more exclamation points and general fulmination.

Jeremy said...

Freedom of speech?

Jeremy said...

Republican said..."Another example of how a Lefty is willing to engage in unethical and dishonest behavior because of retarded political beliefs."

You don't believe in freedom of speech?

Fen said...

Jeremy thinks freedom of speech only applies to Jason Levin.

How cute.

And look how naked Jeremy is without today's talking points: "Freedom of speech! Quaaaack! Freedom of speech! Quaaaack!"

Fen said...

Freedom of Speech: PhotoShop Jason Levin into a NAMBLA rally and send it to his employers.

Fen said...

Freedom of Speech: "call on supporters to collect the Social Security number and other personal identifying information" of Jason Levin.

Anonymous said...

How has anyone's freedom of speech been prevented in any way whatsoever? What can Jason Levin not say and what inalienable rights has he lost or will he lose if he says those things?

I love the utterly vacuous leftist vent about freedom of speech. As if you can just throw it out there magically without a scintilla of argument or evidence than any freedom has been taken by the government or, for that matter, anyone else.

If it wasn't so embarrassingly stupid, it would be funny. Or, at least, funnier.

Fen said...

Whats wrong Jeremy? FAX machine eat today's talking points?

Its really SAD that you are intellectually helpless without HuffPo spoonfeeding you.

Make an argument. On your own. [snicker]

Revenant said...

If he violated the conditions of his employment, he should be suspended or fired. If he didn't, he shouldn't be.

But I share the parents' anger at having their tax money go towards the salary of someone they loathe.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps what our shrill leftists are missing is the obvious fact that a public school is not the government in any way.

Revenant said...

Whats wrong Jeremy? FAX machine eat today's talking points?

Nice one. :)

Anonymous said...

"Yes, hdTard, even [teachers] have a right to express their anger."

Not on our fucking dime they don't, buddy.

What teachers and other government officials do after school hours is their own business, but if they get into our shit during school hours using government computers then we're going to take their jobs from them and ruin their careers.

Got it?

Revenant said...

a public school is not the government in any way.

I wouldn't go that far. But what would be wrong with requiring that all employees of a democratic government be acceptable to a majority of the population? Sounds an awful lot like... er, democracy?

If the majority of the population doesn't want their tax money used to employ you, why should they have to employ you?

Anonymous said...







PITTSBURGH -- A state trooper with Ben Roethlisberger the night he was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student in a Georgia nightclub is subject to the agency's code of conduct regardless of whether he was working for the Steelers quarterback, state police said.

An ongoing internal investigation will determine whether Trooper Ed Joyner did anything "that could reasonably be expected to destroy public respect for the Pennsylvania State Police or confidence in the state police," said Lt. Myra Taylor, a state police spokeswoman.


What's the employment difference between a state trooper and a teacher, other than the fact that teachers have the chance to brainwash your kid each and every day?

Anonymous said...

Rev -- I would definitely go that far. A public school has no ability to jail, tax, fine, or harass.

However, as the Supremes often say, we need not reach the merits of the case because your argument is just fine as well.

rhhardin said...

You can't boycott the school system since you're forced to pay for it.

You could, say the guy were a barber, boycott his business; preferring on the evidence to do business with somebody else.

People tolerate lefties, but not underhandedness.

Trooper York said...

"What's the employment difference between a state trooper and a teacher?"

One arrest criminials, the other creates criminals.

mariner said...

HDHouse:
Geese I hate posting after Peter...its like marching in a parade after the elephants and horses.

Just think of what posting after you must be like.

former law student said...

I am shocked, shocked, that public school teachers favor taxing the well off. And I surely hope that the professor does not use any Wisconsin state resources to produce this ever more rightward-leaning blog.

Why does she not stick to discussing the law, like those nice Volokh boys do?

Anonymous said...

I surely hope that the professor does not use any Wisconsin state resources to produce this ever more rightward-leaning blog.

It would surely be within the state of Wisconsin's rights to tell Althouse to can it. But they'd be idiots. Law students aren't seventh graders. Nobody is forcing you to go to law school. Law is an inherently political subject unlike, say, Computers for Seventh Graders.

former law student said...

7M: I've only seen the use of school resources issue raised. Not the propagandizing America's youth issue.

vw: bablabla - has blogger already prejudged my thoughts?

Revenant said...

I agree with Seven; if Althouse is employed with public funds and the public wants her dismissed, she should be.

But they don't want her dismissed, and it isn't even clear that she's employed with public funds (as opposed to tuition and grants). So, happily, it hasn't come up so far.

Ken Pidcock said...

If you complain persistently enough, you can get a school district to do anything.

Funny the chap didn't understand that going in.

Rick67 said...

If he used school equipment to do all this then one might argue discipline is in order.

But this is a teachable moment - for conservatives to *defend* his freedom of speech and association. Fire him because he's an obnoxious lefty jerk?

Nay! Discipline for misuse of school equipment and time maybe. But nothing more. Is that not precisely what conservatives are sick of? Being punished because we hold the wrong views?

Revenant said...

Funny the chap didn't understand that going in.

Well, from his comments it sounds he drank the Democratic Kool-Aid about the tea party movement being nothing but a bunch of right-wing kooks. Add in the fact that his district is overwhelmingly Democratic (Obama got 61% of the vote in '08) and he probably didn't think there were enough Tea Party supporters in his district to raise a stink.

Unfortunately for him, the Tea Party movement really DOES have supporters from all across the political spectrum. Oops!

Revenant said...

But this is a teachable moment - for conservatives to *defend* his freedom of speech and association.

Nobody's restricting this guy's freedom of speech. He can say whatever he likes and suffer no criminal or civil penalties for it. All we're saying is that his employers would be within their rights to exercise THEIR right to freedom of association -- by firing him.

And before you ask, yes, if the public hated right-wingers and didn't want people with right-wing beliefs employed by the government, that'd be fine too. So long as they don't pass laws forbidding people with those views from finding employment with people willing to employ them, there's no problem.

Bruce Hayden said...

Let me also suggest when comparing someone like our noble leader here, Prof. Althouse, and Mr. Levin, that their level of academic freedom is very different, as it should be. Althouse teaches (mostly, presumably) adults, while Levin teaches children. By the time you are in graduate school, you can be assumed to have developed enough of your own identity that dealing with the politics of your professors should not be of that great a concern. Much different for K-12. Add to that, that the kids in K-12 public education are there by fiat and to some extent, under duress. Presumably, that is rare in the case of Prof. Althouse's students (though, I have known of law students who were heavily bribed to go to LS, but that isn't the same).

I think that that difference extends to what the two can do during their work hours. Maybe there might be a problem if the noble professor were to blog during a lecture. But back in her offices? She is on salary, and the distinction between work and non-work is quite fuzzy. A public school teacher, on the other hand, has a much more regimented job.

JAL said...

Depends.

As Allen S notes -- the school system is checking into whether Levin's political activism involved school property and/or time.

That would be a no-no.

And as a school teacher he should know that.

Of course, the Lower Merion school officials did not realize turning on webcameras in people's houses without their permission or knowledge was a no-no either.

Whatever are they teaching in schools these days?

Community action!

William said...

He is much closer to the beating heart of the Democratic Party than McVeigh is to that of the Tea Partiers.....He is even more of a typical Democrat than Joe the Plumber is a typical Republican....Give him his fame. Put him on talk shows. Let him sell his t-shirts and tell the world how clever he is. Let him put in a good word for the teacher's union who will undoubtedly save his job. This man is a national resource and needs to be utilized.

Paco Wové said...

Only a dick would use a phrase like "teachable moment".

William said...

Has anyone considered the possibility that Levin is a plant? Perhaps the devious Tea Partiers planted him in our school system to descredit the Democratic Party.

former law student said...

a public school is not the government in any way.

I forget the cases that set boundaries on how governments can limit the speech of their employees. But that public schools are the government is established by a line of First Amendment cases and a line of search and seizure cases.

dick said...

William,

Given the policies of the current administration and congress, how is it possible to discredit the Democratic party more than they have done.

Cedarford said...

I assume that teachers contract and state law protects a worker in the exercise of their off-hours free speech. And conduct, provided it doesn't breach some "moral turpitude" or criminal standard.

Otherwise we would have employers inc. government free to investigate and terminate people for "incorrect thinking". I believe there is execption for things like advocacy of terrorism and other crimes, advocating violent overthrow of gov&constitution, etc.

John henry said...

Since he does seem to have used school equipment, it does make firing this turkey more justifiable.

On the other hand, what happens if the next one down the pike is smarter and uses his own equipment? Should we try to get him/her fired too?

You betcha.

Plumber them.

John Henry

Anonymous said...

Everybody seems to think dumb athletes are role models. Shouldn't government teachers be held to the same standard as a running back?

Anonymous said...

Rick -- How has this teacher's right to free speech been in any way impugned? It hasn't. Thus, there is no free speech to defend.

FLS -- I wager that the cases you are talking about involve students, not teachers, and I would suggest that the rights of students to free speech at school have been curtailed by that line of cases.

Fen said...

Has anyone considered the possibility that Levin is a plant?

That was one of the first things checked. But Levin has a history of posting his vitriol rants on sites like Dem Underground, HuffPo, etc.

He's the real deal - your typical liberal brownshirt fascist pig

LakeLevel said...

If the Oregon teachers union stands up for him, we should send plants around to their union events, wearing union shirts and buttons, holding signs advocating for lowering the age of consent. That would be OK right?

Anonymous said...

Lake -- No. That free speech would not be allowed.

LakeLevel said...

Lake -- No. That free speech would not be allowed.
Exactly. I can't believe admitted conspiracy to engage in defamation by a public school teacher can be tolerated.

Anonymous said...

Just to be clear: I don't think there's anything wrong with what this guy is doing. Politics ain't beanbag.

However, you make choices in this life. You can be a junior high teacher and live by the decorum necessary for that, and not do your politics on the clock. Or you choose any of thousands of other occupations and go defame people you disagree with politically (and by defame I don't mean the tort). But you can't expect to have both in a typical American community.

I don't see Joe the Plumber getting fired. I don't see Keith Olberman getting fired.

Fen said...

Start a website on Jason Levin. Every background check, every google search by prospective employers... will bring up evidence of Jason Levin's history of racism, nazism and homophobia.

Run this asshole into the ground and ruin his life. An object lesson for all the other leftist brownshirts out there.

Charlie Martin said...

It's really not that difficult, it seems to me. Levin is entirely entitled to say anything he likes on his own time. I might not like it, but I can promise you there are people here in Boulder who wouldn't like I what I write in my free time.

On the other hand, if he was doing this with school facilities and on school time, then it's certainly appropriate to discipline him for that, for the reason a lot of people have sort of implied without quite taking it through: by using school facilities, he's engaging in political action on tax money. Apparently the school has a policy against that, and I wouldn't be too surprised of Oregon has a law against it too.

Anonymous said...

"You know, I've been thinking about this, Mr. Hand. If I'm here and you're here, doesn't that make it our time?"

Mian said...

Harsh?

Maybe...but I wouldn't want that asshole teaching my kid. I remember too many like him when I was a student.

Lyle said...

Yeah, it's harsh. Who knows what grounds the school board can use to suspend him and fire him. He's got the right to his own politics. Nothing wrong with that, even if it is planned deceitfulness.

Anonymous said...

Teachers and anyone else should be free to participate in any law-abiding demonstration or other form of political activism they like, on their own time.

If they are out demonstrating when they are getting paid tax dollars for working, or they are using computers and Internet connections paid for by tax dollars to promote their activism, then they should be crushed like bugs.

And these government-job types should assume that we right wingers will nowadays always attempt to crush them for such crimes, too. We have read our Alinsky and we will use any means at hand to attack the Left without mercy. The days of ignoring politicized do-nothing government slugs who use our own tax dollars to work for our enslavement are gone forever.

We will embarrass them, we will ridicule them, we will publish their names and faces to the community, we will try to get them fired, and we will do all in our power to drive them to personal bankruptcy and suicide, because they are our enemies and we hate their guts and they would do the same to us.

Fen said...

I'm saddened so many here seem to believe that setting up people to be falsely identified as racists and nazis is legitimate protest.

Same for harvesting their SSNs for future mischief.

Methadras said...

This is why leftards are the dumbest people on earth. This fool would dress as one of the most reviled creatures that ever existed, while shouting bigoted, racist, homosexual epithets, to try and discredit a group of people he thinks have done the same thing? There is irony in there somewhere. This man is not a student of Alinski. I'd give him an F.