Barack Obama has the teacher's union's thongs in a wad after his speech on education. He said some good things .. and he said some not-so-good things. Like the fact that he believes that spending money on laptops for teachers is going to stimulate our economy. And then there's his belief that the government should get its hands on your children at an earlier age.

But there are two ideas I support. First is merit pay for teachers. The teachers unions despise this one. Unions in general hate the idea of paying for performance. They believe that once they get a job as a teacher, their performance should not be held accountable because they are entitled to keep that job. That's what the teachers unions are there for - to make sure that government teachers remain government employees no matter what. And the idea of being paid on how well you perform goes against the very nature of unions. Unions generally deride anyone who is willing to stand out, work harder, work faster, and try to get the job done in the most efficient way possible.

The second positive? Obama spoke favorably of charter schools. While he won't support school choice, Obama says that charter schools work and they should be encouraged. This, too, is not good news for the teachers unions. They complain loudly that charter schools are competition for them. The government school teachers don't want to have to compete for students and tax dollars. They are entitled to that money! They work for the government! Government, after all, is why America is great!

Here's a little look at what the teachers unions are up to. This story comes from Northeast Pennsylvania. Democrat state legislatures are introducing a bill that would make religiously affiliated schools subject to state labor relations laws. It all started because the Catholic diocese would not recognize the teachers union as a collective bargaining unit.

So this bill would allow teachers and employee at religious schools the option, by a majority vote, to be represented by a union. If this were the case, the unions of religious schools would be able to bring their grievances to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. As of now, the Labor Relations Board does not have jurisdiction over issues in religious schools.

The union argues that by religious schools not recognizing teachers unions, this puts the teachers "at the will of their employer." Oh, the horror! If you don't want to be "at the will of an employer," get out there and create your own job!

The local Catholic diocese says that this bill would mean the end of Catholic schools in the district, which would cost local communities $73,880,400 each year to educate these students. Maybe that's the goal! The more students who are removed from parochial schools and placed into the government school system the more powerful the teacher's unions become.

The American Federation of Teachers, the largest teacher's union, wants your children in their classrooms at an even earlier age. The union says that children as young as three years old should be in government pre-school programs.

Now here is the deal. These teachers unions believe that government is the solution. Government is best and can do it better. And they feel like the sooner you can get your child into the government education system, the better off you are for it and the earlier they can start the "government is great" indoctrination process on your carpet crawlers.

Former Assistant Education Secretary Susan Neuman says, "The reality is that most of our children need child care, regardless ... Many parents are lucky enough to be home for the day. But more often than not they will need child care." What she means, of course, is GOVERNMENT child care. So there you go. We are admitting that this isn't about education, this is about child care. A government-sponsored, taxpayer funded baby sitting service.