From time to time, one of our

misguided loved ones forwards an e-mail containing an inane urban myth,

those stories people swear are true but really aren't. You know the ones

I mean

People have been killed by

cyanide-laced ATM deposit envelopes.

Albert Einstein made a guest

appearance on television's Gunsmoke.

Osama bin Laden owns Snapple.

Michael Jackson has a prosthetic

nose, and it fell off during a recent TV special.

A new video game requires that

players steal underwear from models.

OK, that last one is true,

but there remains one pervasive urban myth, the truth of which people

still struggle to grasp: The National Education Association (NEA) is an

organization dedicated to improving schooling for children.

Like many urban myths, there

are variations on the story, but that remains the most persistent. Yet,

recent evidence reveals the NEA for what it is: a powerful labor union

surreptitiously committed to increasing its political power. Once upon

a time, the NEA concerned itself primarily with representing its members'

interests, but the union's political agenda has now supplanted even that.

The recent evidence began last

year with the Landmark Legal Foundation's complaint to the IRS. Landmark

Legal charged the NEA used tax-exempt funds for political purposes and

extensively coordinated campaign activities with the Democratic National

Committee (DNC). If a non-profit organization expends funds for political

purposes, they must report it to the IRS and pay taxes. Landmark Legal

contends the NEA did neither. Landmark Legal continued its whistle-blowing

this year with a similar complaint filed with the Department of Labor.

The reason for the NEA's alleged

failure to report the political expenditures transcends simple tax evasion.

In fact, the real reason strikes at the heart of the NEA's source of political

power money. If the NEA spent members' dues for political purposes, union

members would be entitled to a refund, just as the NEA's Washington State

affiliate had to do earlier this year.

In further evidence dispelling

the NEA urban myth, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

slapped down the NEA for its harassment of religious objectors. Under

the Civil Rights Act of 1974, people of faith may divert forced union

dues to a charity of their choice if their religious convictions diverge

with those of their union. Recognizing the implications of losing those

funds, the NEA put religious objectors through an inquisition of sorts

to prevent losses. With the EEOC's decision, the NEA could be hauled into

court if it fails to stop its harassment.

On the heels of this announcement

came news from Washington State that a county judge unwisely gave the

NEA's state affiliate more leeway to conduct political activities on public

school property. The judge ruled that restricting on-campus political

activity violated the First Amendment.

Before, union representatives

could distribute political materials, but only during non-work hours in

lunchrooms and break rooms used by staff. Now, among other things, union

officials may hand out campaign literature in public areas, such as hallways,

and use the school's internal mail and e-mail for political purposes.

Does this sound like an organization dedicated to improving education

for children?

Please understand I do not

quibble over the NEA's desire or even their right to act as a labor union.

I may disagree with forcing teachers to join the union, which many states

do, and I certainly find unconscionable the aforementioned practice of

politicking, but I don't dispute a union acting like a union.

I do, however, find it repulsive

when one of the single most powerful labor unions in the world hides its

activities behind the welfare of children. When I hear leftist politicians

or activist groups, like the NEA, say they are "for their children,"

I know one thing to be true: They are for the children in so much as they

can stand on the backs of children to further their own radical, left-wing

political and social agenda.

How else could the NEA explain

its support for abortion, the homosexual/bisexual/transsexual agenda,

nuclear freeze, statehood for Washington, D.C., reparation of Native Americans,

a world court, and blocking telemarketing?

Make no mistake the National

Education Association is a labor union that seeks to expand its political

power wherever possible. It is not "for the children." Its primary

goal is not improving education. When I hear such statements, I often

wonder which urban myth is more ridiculous the NEA's child-centered mission

or the one that says Frank Zappa's father played Mr. Greenjeans on Captain

Kangaroo.

[Dr. Dick Carpenter is an

education policy analyst in the Department of Legislative and Cultural

Affairs at Focus on the Family, a Christian ministry based in Colorado

Springs.]