Obituaries

Actor Andrew Koenig, 28, a suicide:

Andrew Knoenig reportedly hanged himself from a tree in Vancouver's Stanley Park.

A source close to the Koenig investigation revealed to E! News that the 41-year-old actor, best known for playing Boner in "Growning Pains," was found Thursday hanging from a tree.

Koenig, who went missing on Feb. 14, had been clinically depressed and sent his father a "despondent" letter on the 16th.

During a private search conducted by 11 family and friends, the actor's body was found so deep in the forest that the source told E!, "Andrew didn't want to be found."

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Michael Blosil, 18, son of singer Marie Osmond, a suicide:

L.A. authorities today continued their investigation into the apparent suicide of Michael Blosil, the 18-year-old son of entertainer Marie Osmond.

Details about the case -- including where he died -- remain unclear.

Los Angeles Police Department officials told KTLA News that officers responded to a report of a suicide at the 900 block of South Flower Street about 10 p.m. Friday. Traffic in that area was diverted during the investigation, but more details were not immediately available.

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I Fully Agree Obama is Being Set Up for a Fall

thanks to antics like Jim Bunning trying to hijack UI extensions. Make sure Obama fails on the economy, the economic mess the GOP created, thus helping the GOP get back in power.

But of course the reason the media and the GOP wanted Obama in the first place was because he was inexperienced and seemed to be in over his head. Then, when the economy tanked during the fall of 2008, the GOP basically threw the election to the Democrats, just KNOWING Obama would screw it up or else things would not improve.

Unfortunately, the voters are still too stinking ignorant to know what is going on.

The Education Wars: Eli Broad's Bullshit

More bribery money to get states to lengthen the school year, so that teachers work like 9-5 drones, 12 months a year, with no time off, which of course has nothing to do with the reality of teaching:

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has awarded $1.5 million to the National Center on Time & Learning to ensure that 1 million American public school students within the next 10 years have access to high-performing public schools that offer internationally competitive academic learning time through longer, modernized school calendars, the foundation and center announced today.

The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) is the leading organization helping public schools across the nation expand academic learning time. NCTL works with local, state and national education leaders to ensure that longer school day and year schedules – which research shows is a core strategy widely used by other nations and many successful U.S. public charter schools to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps – are likely to yield student gains.

"We must stop shortchanging our children. American students receive only a fraction of the academic time of many of their international counterparts. As a nation, we cannot afford to allow our children to be at a competitive disadvantage in the 21st century global economy," said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which in 2007 provided more than $1.1 million to NCTL's sister organization, Massachusetts 2020. "We are encouraged that a growing number of states and districts are choosing to modernize their school calendars, thanks to the Obama administration, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and the founders of NCTL, Jennifer Davis and Chris Gabrieli."

This what clueless bastards these billionaires are. Continue with the discredited and debunked A Nation at Risk nonsense and screw teachers and kids over more.

So will teachers be paid more? I doubt it despite the claims in the article MORE hours would be a boon for teachers, since their unions would bargain for more money.

Duncan believes teachers should work year round like people in private business, totally ignorant of how absolutely labor intensive teaching is, not to mention their workday will be much longer than it is now. This piece was from last April:

During his visit, Duncan said American schools should be open six days a week, at least 11 months a year, to improve student performance.

"Go ahead and boo me," Duncan told about 400 middle and high school students at a public school in northeast Denver. "I fundamentally think that our school day is too short, our school week is too short and our school year is too short."

"You're competing for jobs with kids from India and China. I think schools should be open six, seven days a week; 11, 12 months a year," Duncan said.

There is NO evidence our schools are worse than those in China or India. I laugh because those two countries are at the heart of the low-wage sector worldwide.

Duncan is a fucking idiot.

Unions won't even exist if Central Falls, Rhode Island, becomes the national norm.

Misc Articles

Just what is former Cosmo model and now U.S. senator Scott Brown all about?

Is there a method to his madness, or is he just another GOP airhead who may be a rising star in the party?

So far it appears he has antagonized the "tea party" bunch, so he may not be that terrible after all.
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Thanks to all of the one-year-only teachers they have hired, WCSD won't be laying off any standard contract teachers.
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News--Earthquakes

Some 2 million people have been displaced following yesterday's earthquake in Chile:

While this earthquake was far stronger than the 7.0-magnitude one that ravaged Haiti six weeks ago, the damage and death toll in Chile are likely to be far less extensive, in part because of strict building codes put in place after devastating earthquakes.

The quake Saturday, tied for the fifth largest in the world since 1900, set off tsunami waves that swamped some nearby islands before moving across the Pacific. Hawaii began evacuations before dawn, but by early afternoon there — more than 15 hours after the earthquake first struck 6,500 miles away — the fears of a destructive wave had passed. Countries including Japan and the Philippines were on alert and ordered limited evacuations in anticipation of waves hitting Sunday.

Chileans were only just beginning to grapple with the devastation before them, even as more than two dozen significant aftershocks struck the country.

People there are lucky the codes are in place; while it is tragic hundreds died regardless, it could have been in the hundreds of thousands as what happened in Haiti.
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At least two are dead from an earthquake off the coast of Argentina. Yesterday's quake measured 6.3 on the Richter scale.
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An explanation of the Chilean earthquake:

The Education Wars: Alternate Testing

Virginia wants to crack down on wrongful use and misuse of alternate testing for special education students.

It's pretty clearly spelled out in NCLB that only the students who are the most cognitively disabled take the tests. The tests aren't supposed to be used to inflate overall school test scores.

It is administrators, like the asshole I worked for at a middle school in Washoe County School District, who pressure teachers to cheat with this testing in order to inflate test scores. In my case, I adamantly refused, and ultimately paid for this with my career:

The effort by state lawmakers and education officials targets "portfolio" tests, which have helped increase passing rates at many schools by allowing students to avoid the multiple choice tests in favor of more flexible, individually tailored assessments. Critics have said that the alternative tests undermine Virginia's widely praised accountability system and overstate the progress districts are making in closing achievement gaps between racial groups.

State leaders say they are worried that portfolios, intended to help a select group of special education students who are learning grade-level material but cannot demonstrate what they know on a multiple choice test, are being overused.

"When you look at the growing numbers across the state, it appears there really is a problem here," said Del. John M. O'Bannon III (R-Henrico).

News

This is just horrible. The big news today, of course, is that massive, massive earthquake which struck Chile.

There is a tsunami watch for as far as Hawaii.

I am surprised there are relatively few deaths reported so far:

A Department of Homeland Security official said early Saturday that FEMA was monitoring the situation and was in contact with state emergency personnel in Hawaii, which is under a tsunami warning. But the decision to evacuate coastal areas and handling this evacuation is the responsibility of state and local officials in Hawaii, the Homeland Security official said.

The quake downed buildings and houses in Santiago and knocked out a major bridge connecting the northern and southern sections of the country.

It struck at 3:34 a.m. local time and was centered about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The epicenter was some 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live.

Phone lines were down in Concepcion as of 7:30 a.m. and no reports were coming out of that area. The quake in Chile was more powerful than the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that caused widespread damage in Haiti on Jan 12, killing at least 230,000, earthquake experts reported on CNN International.

The quake measured 8.8 on the Richter scale, which is almost as powerful as it gets.
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I hope the feds ignore the GOP idiots in the Nevada congressional delegation regarding national monuments.

The U.S. Interior Department recently listed the Owyhee Desert in Nevada and Oregon and the "Heart of the Great Basin" in Nevada's Nye County as possible candidates for federal designation.

A draft memo said the Owyhee is worthy because it is one of the most remote areas in the continental U.S. and the Great Basin is "one of North America's least appreciated wildland mosaics."

The Elko County Commission voted Thursday to send a letter to Gov. Jim Gibbons, Nevada's congressional delegation and the White House to oppose any such move.

They're dumber than dirt.

Not That It Persuades the Paranoid,

but one parent writes regarding that silly lawsuit against Lower Merion (PA) School District over a "spycam" and the resultant media hype might both be a rush to judgment:

In the case as it is described in the complaint, we are presented with vague allegations leaving much to inference. Nowhere does it state basic facts like who took the alleged photo, what it showed or where the school district saw it, or whether the feature was activated because the computer was reported lost or whether there was a deliberate attempt to spy on a student in legal possession of a computer. Rather it omits these vital facts with bearing on the merits of the case, and jumps to inferring cyber spying with a view toward pedophilia.

In the larger context, we have a student whose school record and whose previous use (or abuse, if such there was), of the loaner laptops, are not part of the discussion, even if such information has a bearing on the veracity of the statements made by him and his parents and may even significantly undercut the entire basis of the allegations. Even more baffling is the fact that there is now a Federal gag order on the school district which prevents any administrator from speaking about any aspect of this case, or laptops, without prior consultation with the lawyer for the plaintiffs. According to that lawyer, Mark S. Hartzman, quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer (February 23rd, 2010), says he "wanted to make sure the district didn't spread falsehoods about his client, 15-year-old Blake Robbins." He also mentioned that he wanted "a fair opportunity to talk to our clients," meaning other students and parents who might have been affected by the laptop-security program." And yet, no other district parent or student is named in the complaint, and neither parents nor students have rallied en masse behind this suit, quite the contrary; in a matter of hours, nearly 500 rallied, publicly, behind the school district. Besides, is it fair, for anybody anywhere, including this family or their lawyer, to be free to spread any rumor they liked about this school district from neighborhood conversations to national TV? Even though some of the most hard-hitting statements made in the case are contradicted by what is now common knowledge?

From where I sit the lawsuit is a load of shit. I suspect the family wants the money to pay off enormous debts:

Haltzman's federal suit makes clear that the family is not necessarily expecting a large payout. "Since the damage suffered by individual class members may be relatively small," the expense of individual litigation might not be affordable without a class action, it says.

Certainly not for the Robbinses.

According to court records, their unpaid debts range from $62,692 owed to the IRS to lesser debts of a few thousand to their dentist, their former synagogue's preschool, and a Montgomery County lawyer.

The Peco bill still stood at more than $29,000 a few weeks ago. But after reaching a new agreement with the utility, the family paid off half of it last week, Wood said.

Haltzman has not made the Robbins family available for extensive interviews, saying the family members' personal life is irrelevant. In a statement issued by the family yesterday, the Robbinses said their lawsuit "is not about . . . us."

It's entirely relevant.

The End of Handwriting

It is SO important for parents and teachers to instill handwriting skills so that students don't need occupational therapists to help them develop fine motor skills.

Cursive handwriting is especially important for children to learn; they shouldn't just be instructed in manuscript writing.

From the article:

For some grade-school children, occupational therapists are also filling the void left by schools, many of which no longer provide instruction on the mechanics of handwriting. According to a survey conducted by the American Occupational Therapy Association, about 30 percent of their members now work in schools, up from 18.6 percent in 1999. Those therapists, said Ms. Berg of Washington University, tend to spend the bulk of their time helping children write legibly.

“Many teachers don’t know how to do it,” Ms. Berg said. “O.T.’s can help.”

Linda Tulloch waited in vain for teachers at the North Street School, a public elementary school in Greenwich, Conn., to provide her son, Jack, now a fifth grader, with handwriting instruction. “As early as second grade I could see he needed help shaping his letters and numbers,” she said.

ANY teacher who believes handwriting is "old hat" or doesn't know how to teach it has NO business working in a school.

The Education Wars: "Turnaround" at Chicago Public Schools

Central Falls, Rhode Island, isn't the only school district pushing mass firings of teachers:

"This is a sad day for public education," said Alderman Pat Dowell, who sponsored a one-year moratorium resolution in the City Council. "I don't think neighborhood schools should be punished." Although one school in Pat Dowell's third ward (Mollison Elementary) had been removed from what critics called the 'Hit List', two others, McCorkle Elementary School and Phillips High School were still on the agenda when the vote came in late afternoon.





Bradwell, Curtis, and Deneen Elementary schools and Phillips and Marshall High Schools will fire their entire staff under "turnaround." Although the original agenda called for all of the schools facing "turnaround" except Marshall High School to go to the controversial "Academy for Urban School Leadership" (AUSL), the Board deferred consideration of the Board Reports that would have given the schools to AUSL. All the turnaround schools except Marshall were supposed to be outsourced to the AUSL management company to run the schools.

CPS communications officials confirmed at the time of the vote that some of the AUSL turnarounds had been postponed but had no explanation. Not all of the schools are facing "turnaround." Schneider Elementary School will be phased out, and McCorkle Elementary School will be consolidated into Beethoven school. The De Las Casas Occupational High School will be closed and the students sent to private operators.

Seventh Ward Alderman Sandi Jackson (above) asked the Chicago Board of Education not to subject Bradwell Elementary School, in her ward, to "turnaround." Alderman Jackson had earlier joined teachers, parents, students and the principal of Bradwell in presenting a case that the school should not be subjected to "turnaround" based on the Board's own criteria. Nevertheless, the Board of Education ignored Alderman Jackson's plea and voted unanimously and without debate to approve Ron Huberman's "turnaround" proposal. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.

...

In January 2009, Huberman announced a list of 22 schools facing various kinds of termination. That list had been prepared by Huberman's predecessor, Arne Duncan, who had been selected by President Barack Obama to become U.S. Secretary of Education. After hearings, Huberman reduced the number of schools on the 2009 Hit List to 16. Schools that protested loudly and effectively last year include Holmes Elementary School, Peabody Elementary School, and Las Casas Occuptational High School. Holmes and Peabody were still off the 2010 list, but Las Casas was back on this list, this time with a different reason for being closed.

I don't see any reversal of this evil trend to destroy public education and thus democracy.

More

Jimbo Eruptions

Photos have surfaced, including this one, of Kathy Karrasch and her "good friend," the governor of Nevada, having a great time in D.C. last week.

Mark Sanford was one such liminary to pose for a picture with the happy couple. It is not known whether they joined Sanford on a hike on the Appalachian Trail.

Meanwhile, Jobless Claims

continue to go upward, doubtless aided and abetted by lousy weather back east.

The Labor Department’s four-week moving average of first-time jobless claims, which is meant to iron out weekly anomalies in the data, also rose to by 6,000 to 473,750, the highest rate in three months. Any figure over 400,000 shows a deteriorating employment situation.


“The progress toward an ‘improving’ labor market climate (initial claims below 400,000)—as opposed to a ‘less-bad’ climate—has come to a halt,” concluded Ken Mayland of ClearView Economics.


Continuing claims—by unemployed workers who have received more than a week’s jobless benefits—rose by 6,000 to 4.62 million for the week ending February 13, and the four-week average of continuing claims also rose to 4.6 million.

I Wrote About Senator Bunning Last Night

and his obstructionist tactics regarding extended unemployment compensation. Nobody should be allowed to hold up much needed legislation because of some nonsense, similar nonsense that held up the EUI last fall.

And when Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) begged him to drop his objection, Politico reports, Bunning replied: "Tough shit."

Bunning says he doesn't oppose extending benefits -- he just doesn't want the money that's required added to the deficit. He proposes paying for the 30-day extension with stimulus funds. The Senate's GOP leadership did not support him in his objections.

I think he has been hit in the head by too many baseballs.

The Education Wars: The Central Falls Teacher Firings

The union is going to try and appeal the decision by Frances Gallo to fire all of the high school teachers in this tiny Rhode Island district to the city's board of trustees, and of course they are going to fail.

Nobody goes up against school administrators, no matter how corrupt they are. And there is a so-called "Democratic" administration which is cheering on union busting.

I want Obama NOT to get the nomination in 2012. We cannot afford another neoliberal in this country.

Snip:

Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers' Union, says union members will be appealing their dismissals to the city's board of trustees. She plans to meet with union representatives and attorneys in the coming days to consider taking other legal steps.

School officials say they will proceed with the firings. No more than half of the teachers fired could be hired back.

The Education Wars: Oh, Isn't THIS Lovely?

Corruption, they name is BloomKlein:

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein often lauds a small
group of Harlem charter schools founded by former
City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz.

But few New Yorkers are aware of the access
Moskowitz has to the chancellor or the special
support he has bestowed on her program, whose
four schools enroll just 1,300 of the city's more
than 1 million public school students.

...

- Secured the chancellor's help last year in landing
a $1 million donation from a private Los Angeles
foundation.

- Got Klein to intervene on her behalf in clashes
she had with his subordinates.

- Boasted to him of organizing parent "armies" to
advocate for Mayor Bloomberg's educational
policies - and of flooding politicians with
thousands of pro-charter school postcards.

Public education is SO screwed in this country.

Clue Phone to that Dumb Shit Dean Heller:

NOT everybody in Nevada is like you and is a Mormon who can sponge off the church when you're down on your luck.

Since YOU are part of the problem of not helping to create jobs in this country, you can shove it up your ass about extending unemployment benefits.

It appears the House has voted by voice vote to extend the deadline for EUI for 30 days while a more comprehensive bill can be worked out.

I just hope Harry Reid doesn't screw things up in the Senate.

Spoke too soon. Jim Bunning has decided to hold things up:

The benefits are part of a larger package of government programs, from highway funding to loans for small businesses, set to expire Sunday because senators couldn't agree on how to pay for an extension.

The House passed a bill Thursday extending the programs for a month while lawmakers consider how to address the issues long-term. Senate Democrats repeatedly tried to follow suit Thursday night but they couldn't overcome the objections of a single lawmaker, Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, that the $10 billion bill would add to the budget deficit.

I hate that stupid Senate.

The Education Wars: Central Falls Wants Scabs for America

We might as well call it what it is: Teach for America is a scab organization, and public school are destined to be little more than daycare centers, with huge turnover, lousy pay, and few benefits.

Unless or until people wake up to what this administration is doing, in partnership with the "venture philanthropists," in destroying American public education. Students need to avoid teaching careers like the plague. The fact they are a dime a dozen is why rogue administrators like Frances Gallo pull the crap they do.

From deep inside the article:

“It makes you feel like all of your expertise, all that you know, any degree you might have, is worthless,” Ms. Evanoff said. “I’ve never been fired from anything, and to be fired, it’s devastating.”

The faculty members have been offered counseling by the district, according to one of the fired teachers.

The Central Falls Teachers Union plans to fight the plan, saying it comes in the middle of a three-year contract.

Dr. Gallo said the district was “looking for partners” like Teach for America to provide teachers for the school, which has also been receiving “résumés from all over the nation” as news of the plan spread.

Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, a Republican and a former math teacher, said he supported the board’s decision, calling it “courageous,” and he criticized the union as being an “obstacle” to change.

“We can no longer stand by as our schools underperform,” Mr. Carcieri said in a statement.

link

The Education Wars: Hypocrisy by the Administration and the NYT

I hope there would be widespread outrage over what a rogue administrator is doing in Rhode Island, encouraged by an administration which openly despises teachers.

It's exactly like what Ronald Reagan did to the air traffic controllers.

Nonsense in NCLB does NOT overrule teacher contracts.

Snip:

It's crazy. There are about a hundred teachers at this poverty-ridden community school in Rhode Island and if you added their salaries together and multiplied by a hundred you would not be even close to Blankfein's bonus. And even after the school's parents and the teacher's families and loved ones turned out in huge numbers to plead for justice. And even after it has been established beyond all doubt that a perfect correlation exists between a child's economic station and academic achievement as it is measured by standardized tests, these teachers are going to be destroyed.

Destroyed is a strong word but suggest another one for arbitrarily and unfairly taking a working mother or father's livelihood, men and women without stock options and investment portfolios to tide them over until another job comes along. The school's students are living in the most desperate circumstances Rhode Island suffers. But no excuses, dammit! Accountability will be served, as long as you don't summer in a Swiss chalet.

As a teacher in a "failing" inner city high school for 27 years now, I'm as powerless and vulnerable as my brothers and sisters in Rhode Island, but a warning to those hurting people whose only sin is to teach the children of the working poor. If you are making these decisions President Obama, then be warned. If you are making these decisions, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, then be warned. If the oligarchs, Gates, Broad, Bloomberg, are making these decisions, be warned. If the banks on welfare or the men of the Business Roundtable are making these decisions, be warned.

The Education Wars: Support for the Central Falls 100

Although I personally think it is a good idea for teachers nationwide to show solidarity with the fired teachers from the Rhode Island high school, the chances of it happening are virtually nil.

After all, in many states it is ILLEGAL for teachers to strike. There are too many scabs wanting teaching jobs for many teachers to risk their own livelihoods to support others.

It was the summer of 1962 and I was seventeen and working as a summer replacement for those steelworkers who were on vacation. I was just out of high school and the world of work was new to me. I was working in the five-stand. It was a huge machine that squashed flat plate steel into thinner rolls at the US steel plant in Pittsburg, California. I turned around suddenly to hear a foreman yell at a worker for moving too slowly and in a fit of anger told him to get the hell out and go home. Head down, the diminutive worker headed out of the five-stand area towards the front of the plant. Word quickly spread among the other workers of what had happened to their union 'brother.' In what seemed like a flash, but was more like an hour the head roller slowly shut down the line as the foreman screamed orders to get back to work. All to no avail.

The other 10 or so workers, including myself--even though I did not quite understand, began to head to the front office. In doing so they gathered other workers along the way--all the other workers--in the sheet metal part of the plant. All of whom initiated what was then called a 'wildcat' strike. Although forbidden by their contract these steelworkers were yelling, screaming and cussing about the unjust dismissal of their fellow union 'brother.' As the leaders of the group went into the front office most others and I stood outside. As a neophyte I listened to the passionate exchanges that were taking place between these men. The bottom line was that they were not going to go back to work until their 'brother' was back at their side on the line. At that time there were three shifts at the five-stand. As my dad and uncles who worked at the plant later told me, all the shifts refused to work until the worker returned. Within two days he had came back with no reduction in pay and the foreman was reprimanded.

What I learned about camaraderie and mutual support of a fellow worker--a union brother-- was burned into my being. I then remembered the many years of union strikes my father endured to fight for better working conditions and more just benefits and hourly salaries At those hard times when he would work two or three other jobs to make ends meet while on strike.

As I watched the ABC newscast tonight I saw 100 of my fellow teachers from Rhode Island being fired from their teaching and counseling positions. Arne Duncan was quoted as approving of this action. He approved of it! I saw their pain and that of their students. There was no due process for each individual, just a mass firing. The foreman just yelling at them to go home. I immediately recalled what I had experienced over 48 years ago. Although I have taught for over 38 years and am now retired, my soul screamed for justice. There were my teaching brothers and sisters stark and alone.

I think what would happen if the other 6 million teachers, public, private, charter, university and retired refused to teach until these 100 were reinstated? How can we stand by and watch this abomination happen? Where is our outrage and our courage?

Jimbo Eruptions

Now that Kathy Karrasch and her "good friend" the governor of Nevada have been caught in a brazen lie, she has decided to talk about her memorable trip to the nation's capital last week:

On Karrasch’s Facebook page, she lambasts Humbert’s line of questioning, saying if he had asked whether she attended the NGA’s White House dinner, her answers would have been different.

“If you would have asked the question “Did you attend a White House dinner?”, I would have answered yes. But, you kept asking the stupid question, “Did you, in any way, shape or form, attended the Governor’s convention,” she wrote.

Karrasch confirms attending the dinner on her page, writing “Had a great dinner at the White House and was entertained by Harry Connick, Jr. Great night!!”

She goes on to say, “Met President Obama, his wife, V.P. Biden, and a slew of Governors. Yes, even the Terminator! Pictures to follow. However, pics of Pres and VP will be in about a month. Those pictures are coming from the White House photographer.”

Good old weasel words. She should consider a career in politics.

The legendary video, for those who didn't see it:

The Education Wars: Time to Fire Arne Duncan

This stupid shit thought it was okay that a rogue superintendent fired experienced teachers at a high school, forcing them to "reapply" for their jobs, and never mind the contract.

This bastard is a union buster. And Democrats are praising Obama for destroying public education.

Unreal.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has "applauded" the move to fire every teacher at Rhode Island's Central Falls High School, the Providence Journal reports.

Central Falls, the smallest and poorest city in Rhode Island, is also one of the state's most troubled school districts, with more than half of the students at the high school not making it to graduation.

Union members are fighting for the teachers' jobs, arguing that the move to fire the school's 70-plus teachers will harm students. George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, said at a rally Tuesday that the action was "immoral, illegal, unjust, irresponsible, disgraceful and disrespectful," according to the Journal.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

I hope the union sues the superintendent's and school boards' asses.

The Education Wars: Lies About Teachers' Unions

As yours truly can attest, not only is it easy to fire teachers, but teachers' unions aren't even effective in representing teachers during these rigged "due process" hearings, which are a complete waste of time for teachers.

They STILL have to fight terminations in the courts, provided they can find lawyers willing to take their cases, which drag out for as long as ten years.

Anyway, this is a good piece:

Fact: Teachers can be fired. Who honestly believes a teachers’ union—whether in California, Oregon or Connecticut—has the authority to insist that management keep unqualified teachers? Since when does a labor union dictate to management? Since when does the hired help tell the bosses what to do? The accusation is absurd on its face.

Fact: During the first two years of employment, any teacher in the LAUSD can be fired for any reason, with no recourse to union representation and no access to the grievance procedure. Two full years. If the district doesn’t like you for any reason, they fire you. No union. No grievance. Nothing. Could any arrangement be more favorable to management?

Yet, the myth persists, the myth of the Unqualified Teacher. Instead of identifying the real problems facing California’s schools (daunting as they may be), and trying to solve them, people stubbornly insist that thousands of our teachers—every one of them college-educated, credentialed, and having survived two years of scrutiny—need to be fired.

...

Fact: The fault for unqualified teachers remaining on the payroll lies entirely with the school administrators. These overpaid, $120,000 a year, gutless bureaucrats want us to believe that we live in a world turned upside down. A world where, fantastically, the bosses answer to the employees.

Arguably, the problems facing America’s public schools are staggering. But because politicians are essentially spineless—fearful of doing or saying anything that would risk antagonizing their “base”—they refuse to address the real issues. Instead, they play little mind-games with the voters. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s where we stand.

The fact is principals answer to NO ONE. They can do whatever the hell they want, comfortable with the knowledge school districts--and taxpayers--will support them throughout the legal system.

Jimbo Eruptions: Time for Spin

After Jimbo got caught redhanded in a brazen lie by KLAS-TV regarding Kathy Karrasch (and this happened after his deposition where he claimed he hadn't had sex in 15 years), he's feverishly trying to spin it.

Unfortunately for him, this isn't helping at all with his divorce case:

After her husband filed for a no-fault divorce in May 2008, Dawn Gibbons moved to an apartment in a building next to the mansion. She has continued to perform the duties of first lady, even hosting events earlier this month.

Cal Dunlap, Dawn Gibbons' lawyer, said the fact that the governor traveled with Karrasch will not affect the divorce "other than he may have been spending money that rightfully should have gone to his wife."

Jim Gibbons, under the divorce order, must pay Dawn Gibbons $265,000 by the end of the month.

Dunlap said there are "a lot of controversies remaining" before the divorce becomes final. He could not give a date when the divorce will be completed.

Gibbons whined that the report was nothing but salacious gossip designed to destroy his reputation, as if it could be rehabilitated anyway.

The Education Wars: More Teacher-Trashing Twaddle

from the New York Times, which appears to be completely in bed with BloomKlein.

Here is what I wrote on a discussion board when somebody wrote his tale of woe about a "terrible" teacher who he claimed was almost impossible to get rid of:

It is fucking laughably easy, and districts will commit every act short of murder to get rid of a teacher it doesn't want.

I've been there. I have been fired--illegally. Don't hand me any goddamned shit it is "hard" or that a teacher deserves it. You haven't been there. I have. A teacher faces a complete stacked deck in these "due process" hearings: No witnesses allowed, perjury, subornation of perjury, falsification of documents, bribery, the whole ball of wax. And the union and its lawyers cut deals with the district to make sure a principal keeps his or her job at the expense of the teacher. This despite the fact a teacher will spend hundreds of dollars a year in union dues. That was what happened in my case.

I have NO career anymore because of what a negligent piece of shit of a principal did to me because she was pressured. See, when you're fired, you can NEVER teach again anywhere in the United States. It is serious business to fire a teacher--it is NOT like private sector work where your livelihood isn't destroyed forever. Meanwhile, this dirtbag of a principal gets to go on fancy vacations scuba diving in Hawaii and bragging about it on Facebook. This person pulls down over 100K a year in salary and benefits even though she has NO business whatsoever running a school. Not to mention she has utterly NO conscience whatsoever over what she did to me and committed perjury at my hearing--four times.

The ONLY reason firing was uncommon in the "old days" was because principals back then had ETHICS and understood that firing teachers willy-nilly would undermine staff morale and destroy kids' rights to a stable educational environment.

Principals now don't give a shit because they KNOW the district--with help from the taxpayers--will support them throughout the due process hearing garbage clear up to the Court of Appeals. Principals, unlike supervisors anywhere else in the economy, have TOTAL power over teachers and there is NO real oversight over their actions.

Education is NOT a fucking business and teachers should NOT be treated like shit. I wish people around here would get a clue and quit repeating lies from the privatizers.

Just because firing teachers in the "old days" was uncommon doesn't mean it was impossible to get rid of them. It's just the fact principals were much different then than they are now. Nowadays they don't know their asses from holes in the ground how to deal with subordinates.

Jimbo Eruptions: Jimbo to Reporter: "You're Full of Shit."

KLAS-TV has the raw video of both Jimbo and Kathy Karrasch arriving to Reno from Washington via Las Vegas.

Jimbo to reporter: "You're full of shit."

That Gibbons. Always a class act.



link

Gibbons later admitted he DID take Karrasch to Washington.

He also apologized to reporter Jonathan Humbert:

"I apologize for any ambiguity or confusion caused by my answers to your questioning of me late last night. I had just finished three days of arduous meetings and a cross-country flight when I was suddenly confronted with your questions. I admit I was briefly stunned to face your brazen inquiries about my personal life and, I hope understandably, I became defensive. Again, I apologize.

"I would like to set the record straight. Over the weekend I attended the National Governors Association (NGA) Conference in Washington DC. I am Vice-Chair of the Natural Resources Committee and the topic of discussion was the future of renewable energy. It was important for me to be there as Governor of Nevada.

"Kathy Karrasch accompanied me on this trip. Her expenses were NOT paid by the state. She did NOT attend any of the NGA meetings. The fact that she accompanied me added absolutely no taxpayer expense. Kathy Karrasch has been a long time friend of mine and will continue to be a friend of mine. Kathy Karrasch lives near my home in Reno. The fact that I gave her a ride home and a dignitary protection officer helped her into the vehicle is a matter of common courtesy.

"What I do in my private life has nothing to do with my duties as governor. I would like to keep my private life just that—private. I am deeply disappointed that you and KLAS TV would stoop to such a low level for something that is obviously not a news story and is merely meant to smear my name and reputation.

"This is all I intend to say about this and any other matters of a personal nature. I would encourage you, for the benefit of your viewers, to focus on the pressing issues involving the current state budget."

He said in a deposition he hasn't had sex in 15 years, which is very hard to believe:

) According to a recent deposition given by Republican Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, he has not had sex in 15 years, he didn't sleep with a former Playboy model, and perhaps most surprisingly, he doesn't tell jokes very well.


CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reports that Gibbons was recently deposed regarding allegations of an assault that occurred in 2006. The federal civil suit was brought by Chrissy Mazzeo, a cocktail waitress who says that Gibbons assaulted and groped her in a parking lot after spending hours drinking at a Las Vegas restaurant. The alleged assault never resulted in any criminal charges, but on February 5 of this year, the governor was deposed for four hours by Mazzeo's attorney, Bob Kossack. During the deposition, Gibbons claimed that he hasn't been sexually intimate with any woman since 1995, and that he's "living proof that you can survive without sex for that long."

The Education Wars: Eli Broad Big Mouths

Kansas City Superintendent and Eli Broad hack John Covington trashed his school district, saying the diplomas weren't worth the paper they're written on, and he's not apologizing for being an idiot:

Covington made the statements amid controversy of his proposed plan to close half of the district's schools to avoid bankruptcy. He says both the bold statements and the closures are vital to fix the troubled district.

There is a video for those who are interested in listening to his remarks.

News

It's a hell of a choice for some GM workers, but they believe the extra long commutes are worth it for retirement benefits and health insurance.

Here is one person:

In the early dawn, after another week building cars, Michael Hanley leaves his job in Kansas. He quickly zips into Missouri, then heads up a ribbon of highway past grain silos and grazing deer, across the frozen fields of Iowa, over the Mississippi River and into the rolling hills of Wisconsin. Finally, he pulls into his driveway — 530 miles later.

It's one heck of a haul: more than 1,000 miles roundtrip, 16-plus hours of driving, every week.

"I like to say I gave up an eight-minute commute for an eight-hour commute," he says wearily, running a hand though salt-and-pepper hair as he watches his two sons play basketball for the first time this season.

After the aging General Motors plant where he worked for 23 years was idled about a year ago, Hanley faced a Hobson's choice: Stay with his family and search for an autoworker's salary ($28 an hour) in a county where more than 40 percent of its manufacturing jobs disappeared from 2006 to 2009. Or hang on to his GM paycheck and health insurance and follow the job, no matter where it leads.

Jimbo Eruptions: Jimbo's "Confrontation"

with a KLAS-TV reporter. Video:



I hope this footage stays here.

link to video


There is supposed to be more footage this afternoon and evening.

The Education Wars: Central Falls Layoffs

Former RI senator Lincoln Chaffee calls for mediation in the attempt by an unscrupulous superintendent to lay off teachers in Central Falls:

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee wants negotiations instead of mass teacher layoffs at chronically troubled Central Falls High School.

Chafee said Monday the teachers’ union and the school district’s Board of Trustees should reconsider other reform models before resorting to firings.

Chafee, who is running for governor as an independent candidate, offered to mediate the dispute himself. He also suggested a retired judge or college official could do the job.


Central Falls Superintendent Frances Gallo said she wanted teachers to agree to extra training over the summer, offer after-school tutoring, lengthen the school day and agree to more rigorous evaluations. Gallo plans to fire every teacher, although some may be hired back.

However, the state's head honcho says it's okay for Gallo to do whatever they fuck she wants:

Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist Tuesday approved a proposal to turn around the failing Central Falls High School.

Over the next three months, the Central Falls School Department and community members will work together to improve learning for the students, Gist said.

Schools Supt. Frances Gallo last week submitted a "turnaround" model to reform the high school.

The turnaround model requires a new principal, expanded learning time, staff screenings and teacher layoffs. Under the proposal, the district can rehire no more than 50 percent of those fired. The plan also calls for better use of instructional data, community-oriented services and support for students.

This comment following the second article is worth putting here:

Pianotuna said:

After about 4 minutes of research, it seems that the world's fastest kisser attempted to pull pretty much the same stunt in D.C. where her attempt was thwarted by District lawyers. The same thing will happen here. The No Child Left Behind Law will not trump current contracts or State Tenure laws regarding teachers. The panel that hired her should have checked into her tenure in D.C. a bit more, or maybe they did and figured they could give it a try here in R.I. When are these people going to stop bringing in these carpetbaggers and address the real problems which are social/economic issues rather than solely educational problems. The powers that be are always bringing in throwaways so they can hide and not have to face the problems in our society.
Link | February 23, 2010 2:31 PM

Labor is outraged over the firings, and I don't see how the superintendent's move will hold up in court.

Jimbo Eruptions

The hits just keep coming for the beleaguered Nevada governor:

A Las Vegas TV news station covering the special session is reporting an "explosive confrontation" with Gov. Jim Gibbons and a lady friend at the Reno airport last night. KLAS so far isn't reporting many details.

Gibbons spent the weekend in Washington D.C. at the National Governor's Association. He was spotted in the Reno airport on the way to D.C. with Kathy Karrasch, the woman he exchanged more than 800 text messages with on his state phone shortly after being elected governor. The source at the airport said she didn't know whether they were traveling together.

Whether he went to on an official state trip with Karrasch was been the subject of much hallway chatter at the Legislature yesterday, with many legislative leaders irritated that Gibbons wasn't in town in the critical days just before the session began.

KLAS-TV isn't afraid of any lawsuit threats by the governor, apparently.

This:

Nevada's financial crisis is supposed to be front and center today. But it's another story out of Carson City that's generating all the attention.

It involves Governor Jim Gibbons being seen with another woman.

Last night, Governor Gibbons and Kathy Karrasch came off a flight together in Reno. Karrasch is the woman the governor sent more than 800 text messages to earlier in his tenure.

Gibbons was in Washington D.C. for a governor's summit and gala and Mrs. Karrasch may have met him there.

The governor at first denied Mrs. Karrasch was even in the airport, despite footage proving otherwise.

He now admits he went to D.C. with Karrasch.

The Education Wars: Michelle Rhee's Fuzzy Math

Remember Rhee's notorious remarks regarding having RIF'd teachers who were accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with kids? Well, it appears that wasn't true at all.

It's pretty tough to be caught in a lie. After all, what Rhee REALLY did was fire people with experience AFTER she had hired too many new teachers to begin with.

Here is the article from Rhee's major media cheerleader.

I STILL Don't Understand Harry Reid

This:

Meanwhile, a jobs bill that was wending its way through the Senate was sideswiped by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Reid erased near $70 billion worth of tax breaks for businesses and individuals, including unemployment benefit extensions. The bill would allow a break on Social Security payments for businesses on new hires and a $1,000 tax credit for any new workers who were still employed a year from now. It also sent $20 billion to the highway trust fund.

The irony of Reid's taking away the unemployment extensions is that he lobbied for them only last month but was kept from it by a lack of votes.

At the same time, Ohio and other manufacturing states are struggling to keep their unemployment systems afloat. Ohio's unemployment was at 13.6 percent in December, the last month for available data. But that is only what is called the U-3 number.

And then there is this:

Without another extension, people losing their job -- and their COBRA coverage -- as of March 1 won't get the 15 weeks of health care payments and people out of work now will only get to finish their current tier of unemployment insurance, without extra checks.

Norm Isotalo, a spokesman for the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency, said Monday that 290,000 Michigan workers on one of the four tiers of the federal emergency program that provide up to 53 weeks of benefits beyond the initial 26-week period would see benefits end between now and July without an extension.

And another program with an another 20 weeks of benefits would disappear by late March without more federal funding, he said.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., appeared prepared to try to move a short extension -- one of perhaps up to 15 days -- to give Congress breathing room to pass a longer one soon thereafter.

Now he's proposing to extend jobless aid through December:

Majority Leader Harry Reid is pressing to extend unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless through December as he and Republicans try to figure out a way to clear the Senate’s plate of business left over from last year.

Reid also hopes to keep helping cash-strapped states with their Medicaid budgets, he said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

The Nevada Democrat is in talks with GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky over what to include in catchall legislation to help the long-term unemployed, extend several expired tax breaks and prevent doctors from suffering a big cut in their Medicare reimbursements.

The Education Wars: Nevada

Three education "leaders" in Washoe County, one each from UNR, TMCC, and WCSD, are hoping lawmakers are listening to what they have to say about education and budget cutbacks.

As many as 1,000 teachers will be laid off:

As many as 1,000 teachers statewide and 150 in Washoe County could lose their jobs after the expected route of the special session of the Legislature, said Keith Rheault, the superintendent of public education for Nevada.


“I’m guessing roughly it will be 600 to 1,000 teachers,” Rheault said Tuesday during the opening day of the special session in Carson City.

What in the HELL is the Matter with Harry Reid?

Is he really THAT out of touch that he doesn't understand MILLIONS of people are desperate and need assistance on unemployment.

I think I am okay on EUI; I talked with somebody from Nevada's state employment, and if I can get a check this week before Friday and have "zero" in my account, I will be able to get on Tier III.

I sent out my claim yesterday, but since I am in Oregon and can't get back to Nevada for a few days thanks to the crappy weather in Reno, I don't think the claim will get there in time for the cutoff Friday. So what I did was send in a duplicate claim by FedEx. It is supposed to be in Carson City on Wednesday. I SHOULD--SHOULD--be okay to go on Tier III federal.

But the extension date should go clear to December 31 at the earliest; things are horrible, positively horrible out here in the real world away from Congress.

Extending the date by two weeks is just stupid as hell.

More from the Nation:

Moreover, the shortness of the extension guarantees that, in two weeks, workforce agencies will once again have to prepare to send out letters and Congress will once again scramble for another extension.

A short-term extension is not the answer. So, tomorrow, Tuesday, February 23rd, the new group started by my friend Mary Bottari, BanksterUSA.org, is staging a National Day of Action to Save Unemployment to make clear to Congress that UI benefits need to be extended until the end of 2010. Join the call. Other shorter term stop-gap measures currently being debated just won't help.

The Education Wars: No Shit, Arne

Gee, the suckretary of education has just noticed there will be teacher layoffs, which makes him pleased as punch. He says he's "concerned," but we know better, or at least I do.

That way, teachers don't have to be fired for being too old and too expensive.

Arne:

"I am very, very concerned about layoffs going into the next school year starting in September. Good superintendents are going to start sending out pink slips in March and April, like a month from now, as they start to plan for their budgets," said Arne Duncan, referring to the slips of paper included in some paychecks to notify a person of being fired.

As tax revenues in most states continue to plummet because of weak economies, states and cities are considering cutting education to keep their budgets balanced. Every state in the union except one, Vermont, is required to balance its budget.

So much for a teacher "shortage."

The Education Wars: Cortines

School district officials are ALWAYS slow on the take when it comes to conflict of interest.

Hell, school board members routinely have conflict-of-interest problems with relatives being employed by school districts, by having been school employees previously, let alone have anything as egregious as what Cortines did.

Conflict-of-interest and other forms of corruption are routine in public school districts:

Now, there's no denying that Cortines is an experienced educator, one who knows a lot about instruction, and who would have much valuable input to give a publisher of school texts. But it's obviously inappropriate for the chief of the second-largest school district in the nation, which just so happens to have done $16 million worth of business with Scholastic over the last five years, to continue to sit on the board of a vendor and receive a six-figure salary.

Cortines did the right thing by stepping down. Too bad it was for the wrong reasons. A superintendent who is both savvy and ethical would have recognized long before getting outed in the media that such an arrangement had potential danger in his current position, and have nothing to do with it. But not Cortines. Nor,
for that matter, the school board, which failed to investigate Cortines' outside employment before promoting him to the district's top job, and then shrugged off his relationship with Scholastic.

Note to Obama: FORGET Health Care "Reform"

There needs to be a serious attempt to restart this economy instead of being so on the take from the corporations and wealthy individuals.

People are HURTING out here.

The Education Wars: "National" Standards

Once again Obama and others in the federal government push things they know absolutely nothing about:

The proposal, part of the administration’s recommendations for a Congressional overhaul of the law, would require states to adopt “college- and career-ready standards” in reading and mathematics.

The current law, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, requires states to adopt “challenging academic standards” in reading and math to receive federal money for poor students under the program known as Title I, but leaves it up to states to decide what qualifies as “challenging.”

Read MORE dropouts and pushouts and more of an underclass.

The Education Wars: Sanity in Alabama

Alabama, of all places, has decided to not allow charter schools in the state. That may jeopardize its chances for Arne's blackmail money, but oh well:

Leaders on both sides of the issue - Dr. Joe Morton, state school superintendent, and Dr. Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association - agreed the bill is dead for the 2010 session.

Democratic opponents on the committee argued that Alabama was unlikely to receive much in education stimulus money because the state's Republican-dominated congressional delegation steadfastly opposed it in Congress.

Alabama is only one of 11 states that does not have charter schools, which are public schools overseen by a group or organization under a charter with the state usually granted by a local school board.

Morton disagreed with opponents on the committee who argued that charter schools tended to set up dual school systems and foster segregation.

"It's just another tool a local school board can utilize if the legislation is passed to enable people to address unique ways to educate children," he said.

News

Not that it will convince the paranoid, but the school district accused of some kind of "spycam" has tried to put the worries to rest.

Of course a student and his parents, assisted by a greedy lawyer, have filed a federal lawsuit, which means that they will most likely get a big, fat insurance settlement.

Canine Heroics

A dog takes a bullet to save his human family and somehow survives:

 

Link to the story is here.

Oh, My God.

I am glad I am up here in Medford, Oregon, rather than in Reno this weekend. It snowed like gangbusters there.

In some areas there was up to two feet of snow. However in Truckee, California, it snowed only about one inch.

The Education Wars: A Teacher's View

This one from a teacher from the Central Falls, Rhode Island, school district whereby the superintendent plans to fire all of the teachers at a high school because the union didn't agree with what she wants:

But now there is this storm of educational reform striking the high school and threatening to do away with those close relationships built up over the years. A new breed of administrator with few close ties to the community and, in some cases, few hours spent in a classroom, is moving in to work by the numbers and probably not stay long. And teachers are seeing the personal investment in their jobs diminished.

...

The showdown will surely end up in court. Central Falls High School is getting attention from people who didn’t know the city existed six months ago.

George McLaughlin sees a meanness of spirit at work, an effort to make “fat cat” teachers the cause of problems that begin a long, long way from the high school. He has been in education for 32 years. He has degrees from three colleges and five teaching certificates. And he has never seen anything like this.

There will be many, many more teachers thrown out. As long as there are too many teachers out there chasing too few jobs, nothing will change for the better.

Since Our Elected Officials in Washington

refuse to do one damned thing about the job situation, millions of people, including yours truly, face years of unemployment because of their inaction.

Obituaries

Singer and actress Kathryn Grayson, who starred in many MGM musicals in the 1950s, died February 17 at the age of 88. No cause was given.

More:

Zelma Kathryn Hedrick was born Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C. Her father was a building contractor and real estate agent who moved frequently, eventually settling in St. Louis and later Los Angeles, so Ms. Grayson could have more professional training. She came to the attention of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, who had been searching for a young soprano to rival Universal's Deanna Durbin.

After her movie career ended, Ms. Grayson finally realized her long-held ambition to sing opera and starred in stage productions of "The Merry Widow," "Rosalinda," "Naughty Marietta" and "Camelot." She and Howard Keel toured extensively in "Man of La Mancha" and appeared together in Las Vegas.

News

The nutjobs at PETA are at it again:

PETA contends that donkeys ridden by players in the offbeat games are often dragged, kicked, or hit by stray balls, and are sometimes seriously injured in falls.

As always, PETA is full of shit.

Amy Bishop

By just about all accounts, the accused killer of UAH had anger issues, and she would go just about to any length to retaliate against perceived wrongs against her:

But in 2008, Dr. Bishop seemed to be riding high. She and her husband had developed an automated cell incubator that was supposed to keep finicky cells, like nerve cells, alive longer and make experiments easier. The university, which would share in any proceeds, was trying to market the device, and the university president, David B. Williams, predicted that it would “change the way biological and medical research is conducted,” according to The Huntsville Times. In the winter of 2009, a smiling Dr. Bishop was shown on the cover of The Huntsville R & D Report.

Prodigy Biosystems, where Mr. Anderson now works, ultimately raised $1.25 million to develop the product.

In March 2009, however, Dr. Bishop received word that her bid for tenure had been denied because her research and publication record were not strong, colleagues said. Such denials are rare, faculty members said, because the university reviews tenure-track professors annually, alerting them to areas that need improvement.

Even though faculty members, including her department chairman, counseled her to look for another job, Dr. Bishop appealed the decision.

“Her attitude was not, ‘I’m going to have to go find another job,’ ” said Eric Seemann, an assistant professor of psychology. “It was more like, ‘When are these idiots going to clear this up?’ ”

The Education Wars: Mandates

Georgia is already suffering from a major cheating scandal, and this state's governor wants "merit pay" based in part on test scores?

Talk about a recipe for even more cheating:

Our teachers are being cheated; cheated out of the opportunity to teach, not teach to a test, or teach about a test, but to educate our youth and teach them to think about things that matter.

Principals are also being cheated. Instead of being out and about in the community communicating with parents, at a football game or in the hallway greeting and supporting students, they are, instead, burrowed away in small “war rooms” with reams of test data taped to all four walls, trying to come up with ways to increase standardized test scores so they can find equitable ways to implement a law that is very underfunded. If their schools do not make AYP there is a great chance they may lose their jobs.

Teachers and principals are often vilified in the media and made scapegoats by politicians and pundits who do not want to commit to the costly measures of real education reform: Those who do not want to pay the high cost of things that actually increase student achievement, like smaller class sizes, extracurricular activities, parental involvement programs or teacher aides. Instead we give tests; then place the blame for poor school performance on principals, teachers and students instead of looking at the actual culprit, which is, in part, the yearlong test prep our students are receiving in lieu of an education.

And now, with the punitive “pay for performance” suggestion by Gov. Sonny Perdue, the amount of pay a teacher receives could be influenced by these same standardized test scores. This in itself could be cause for even more widespread cheating! The very thought is ludicrous.

Meanwhile, States Continue to Slash Medicaid

for the poor. Of course, Medicaid isn't what it is all cracked up to be, for it is the "right" of having health care in exchange for having liens placed on your property or future property.

The only way I would ever go on it is if I were in a nursing home and all of my possessions were sold. Otherwise, forget it.

Obituaries--Alexander Haig

Former secretary of state Alexander Haig, 85, has died. According to his family, he died as a result of complications from an infection.

Haig was once rumored to be the fabled "Deep Throat" of Watergate infamy before the real one, the late Mark Felt, was outed.

He attained infamy for not keeping his mouth shut:

Haig's long and decorated military career launched the Washington career for which he is better known, including top posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. He never lived down his televised response to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

Hours after the shooting, then Secretary of State Haig went before the cameras intending, he said later, to reassure Americans that the White House was functioning.

"As of now, I am in control here in the White House, pending the return of the vice president," Haig said.

Some saw the comment as an inappropriate power grab in the absence of Vice President Bush, who was flying back to Washington from Texas.

Haig made a run for the presidency in 1988, but he failed.

The Education Wars: 20/20 "Vision"

Here we get another inflammatory article about how it is these lazy, veteran teachers need to go in budgetary times and keep these young, "innovative" teachers on the payroll.

There is a reason for "senority rules," especially in public education. It's to protect those who are older, more experienced, who however may not be the preference of the idiot principals. Besides, if these principals hired these "ineffective" teachers in the first place, how they can be entrusted with laying them off?

What abolishing seniority rules is about is age discrimination and saving a few bucks by hiring or keeping on the "20/20" or "two-fer" teachers: twenty-somethings at 20K a year (or a little bit higher given inflation), or two cheapo bimbos for the price of one experienced, older teacher.

Obituaries

Canada's last World War I vet, John Babcock, has died at the age of 109:

The last Canadian veteran of World War I has died at the age of 109.

John Babcock enlisted at the age of 15 after lying about his age. He trained in Canada and England but the war ended before he reached the French frontline.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Mr Babcock was Canada's last living link to the Great War.

Only two or three are still alive, including 109-year-old American Frank Buckles.

Older article is here.

The Education Wars: Central Falls Schools

There is disagreement over the "school reform" proposals pushed by its overpaid superintendent:

School Supt. Frances Gallo and the city’s teachers union gave conflicting accounts Thursday of how talks to reform the struggling Central Falls High School broke down last week, leading to the dramatic decision to fire the entire staff.

Gallo said she offered the high school’s 74 teachers “100-percent job security” for the 2010-11 school year, if they’d agree to her six conditions to transform the low-performing school.

But teachers union President Jane Sessums said that while the issue of job security certainly came up in negotiations, Gallo never promised to protect every job.

In the wake of their failure to reach agreement, Gallo mailed letters Thursday afternoon to every teacher at Central Falls High School informing them that she is recommending their termination at the end of the current school year. The school district’s Board of Trustees will vote on Gallo’s recommendation Feb. 23.

You can bet the school board is in the pocket of the superintendent. It's supposed to be the superintendent is a servant of the school board, who in turn are servants of the taxpayers.

The Education Wars: CPS

Special education students are about to get the shaft in Chicago because a school designed for sped students is being sabotaged:

Supporters of one of the most unique public schools in Chicago, Montefiore, held a press conference on February 18, 2010, at the school, to outline their growing concern that Chicago Schools Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman and his administrative staff are continuing a sabotage of the school leading to what a growing number suspect will be a CPS attempt to give the building away to one of Chicago's charter schools.

The Montefiore special school, at 1310 S. Ashland Ave., has been in operation for 80 years, serving some of the most challenging students in Chicago. For its entire history, Montefiore's specialty has been students who are facing extreme emotional and behavioral challenges. The school, which has been recognized for the better part of a century, has found itself struggling for its very existence under a regime at both City Hall and the Chicago Board of Education that has been trying to privatize as many public services as possible, even though privatization is more costly and much less effective than well organized professional public services.

Speaker after speaker at the press conference listed the reasons why the community now believes that top officials at the Chicago Board of Education are deliberately undermining the school so that its building can be vacated. In the eyes of some at the school, former Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan had already promised the unique facility to a west side charter school, and that the current policies of CEO Ron Huberman, who succeeded Duncan after Duncan became U.S. Secretary of Education in January 2009, are simply a continuation of those policies.

I suspect these kids will be eventually dumped into regular schools.

Obama Keeps Trying Not to be Re-elected

when he continues to act like a Republican. Now he wants to do the GOP's dirty work of destroying social programs which benefit millions.

He touches my Social Security, he can kiss off my vote. He can kiss it off anyway given his attitude towards public education.

President Barack Obama’s establishment by executive order of a bipartisan commission on deficits on Thursday is the latest step in his administration’s attack on health care and retirement programs upon which millions of Americans depend.

The 18-member panel will propose measures to slash government spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. It will also consider a series of regressive taxes, including a consumption or value added tax, to force the working class to pay for the budget deficit. Its aim, according to the White House, will be to reduce the deficit from its current level of over 10 percent of gross domestic product to 3 percent by 2015.

Speaking on Thursday, Obama repeated a theme that has been a constant refrain of his administration—that partisan divisions between Democrats and Republicans are blocking the implementation of policies deemed necessary by the financial and corporate elite. “For far too long, Washington has avoided the tough choices necessary to solve our fiscal crisis,” he said. “Everything is on the table,” he added.

The movement to destroy social programs for the masses while keeping the goodies for the rich continues:

Like a zombie tromping through a Hollywood gorefest, the idea of privatizing Social Security still walks among us.

The last promoter of the idea that people should personally invest their Social Security assets in the stock market was President George W. Bush, in 2001. With the dot-com crash still ringing in people's memories, the idea died in 2005.

The market hasn't yet recovered from its most recent crash, but the monster unaccountably is back on its feet. This time it comes dressed up as part of the "Roadmap for America’s Future" recently unfurled by Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), the ranking GOP member of the House Budget Committee.

The Roadmap is a retort to the charge that the Republican Party contributes no ideas to the national debate on fiscal issues, only "no" votes in Congress. It's a road map to the dismantling of federal social programs under the guise of making them fiscally sound, while cutting taxes for the rich. (The plan eliminates taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.)

Social Security comes in for particular abuse. Ryan states that "Social Security's shrinking value and fragile condition pose a serious problem. . . . To maintain the program's significant role as a part of the retirement security safety net, Social Security's mission must be fulfilled . . . without bankrupting future workers."

One doesn't want to be picky about an elected congressman's words, but with all due respect, these words are pure bilge. They come straight from the talking points of Social Security's historical enemies: conservatives who have never believed that the government should play such an important role in people's retirement planning, and mutual fund and insurance companies that hanker for the business generated by millions of Americans looking for a profitable place to park their retirement assets.

Social Security's value to the average American isn't "shrinking" -- it’s expanding. In 1962, it accounted for 30% of the income of Americans aged 65 and older; in 2007 that figure was 36%. (These numbers come from the Social Security Administration.) Given what's happened to most families' financial assets since 2007, the percentage probably is even higher today.

Its "fragile condition"? Social Security runs an annual surplus and has done so since 1983; no other government program can make that claim.

By the way, even when the program starts paying out more in benefits than it collects in payroll tax, that's not a "crisis," as it's often portrayed -- it's the expected outcome of changes implemented after 1982, when the tax was raised sharply to provide a cushion against the coming wave of baby-boomer retirements. The accumulated surplus in the program's trust fund at the end of 2008 was $2.4 trillion.

Obama should know better than to dare tinker with this program.

News

Senator Lautenberg has curable stomach cancer. He is 86 years old.
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"I'm Sorry, So Sorry."

Naturally I missed the most important announcement of my lifetime:

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

Summary: He cheated on his wife, he's sorry he's disappointed so many people, he's going back to therapy, he's going back into Buddhism, he won't be returning to golf for awhile, at least, and Elin didn't beat him up.

More


Elin shouldn't take her scumbag husband back.

The Education Wars: Jimbo's Stupid Reform

Now people who want to help out teachers can donate money towards their salaries, thanks to an absolutely stupid proposal by Governor Jim Gibbons, soon to be retired from office.

The Education Wars: ESEA Reauthorization

The U.S. House will start hearings next week on the reauthorization of ESEA, which includes the despicable No Child Left Behind law, which has created this mess public schools are in and Obama/Duncan have accelerated.

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is getting kicked into high gear with the announcement today that the House will start holding hearings next Wednesday, with the first meeting focused on charter schools.

In a joint statement, the top Democrats and Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee said they were launching a "bipartisan, open, and transparent effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind," the current version of the ESEA.

Of course, take note that this is a bipartisan group in the House; the Senate has been mum. But given the failure so far to get passage of health-care reform--a top domestic priority for the Obama administration--many have hoped the ESEA would provide an opportunity for bipartisan support, and a success for President Obama.

They don't need to "rewrite" NCLB--they need to throw it in the trash.

But of course the billionaires aren't going to allow that.

The Education Wars: Conflict of Interest

In response to the uproar over his flagrant conflict of interest, L.A. Unified School District superintendent Ramon Cortines has resigned his post at Scholastic, Inc.

I don't know how in the world he thought he would get away with something this brazen:

L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines resigned Thursday from the board of Scholastic Inc., a position that paid him compensation worth more than $150,000 last year.

Cortines’ dual role with the company and the district received scrutiny in the wake of an article on that subject last week in The Times. In defending his position with Scholastic in a recent interview, Cortines said he avoided any issue at the district involving the leading educational publishing company. And his senior staff said this recusal included any decision involving academic intervention programs.

Scholastic provides the district’s primary reading intervention program for high schools. And, as of this year, Scholastic’s program also became a key component for middle schools. The company has earned more than $5.2 million from the L.A. Unified School District since Cortines joined the school system as its No. 2 administrator in April 2008. He became superintendent in December 2008.

Cortines is paid $250,000 a year by L.A. Unified.

News

Conspiracy theorists all over the world are trying to find significance in today's story of a nutjob who finally went off the deep end by burning his house and then crashing his plane into an Austin, Texas, building.

Apparently this guy was mad at the IRS.

The Internal Revenue Service has offices in the Echelon building, including its civil enforcement and criminal investigations divisions, said Special Agent Michael Lemoine, a spokesman for the criminal investigations division.

He said that some IRS offices are on the first floor, which Lemoine said was hit by the plane.

William Winnie, an Internal Revenue Service agent, said he was in a training session on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single-engine plane coming at the building.

“It looked like it was coming right in my window,” Winnie said. He said the plane veered down and to the left and crashed into the floors below. “I didn’t lose my footing, but it was enough to knock people who were sitting to the floor.”

The wackadoodle posted an anti-IRS screed just before taking matters into his own hands.

Video:

Media Gossip

I might as well include this story about a purported affair between married legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and the daughter of another CNN flak, Jeff Greenfield.

Supposedly there was a baby produced from the illicit affair:

The ex-lovers barely spoke in the waiting area before joining their lawyers behind closed doors with a court referee to hash out custody and money issues.

Toobin, who glumly sat several rows away from Casey Greenfield before the hearing, is said to have privately admitted to fathering the child, believed to have been born last summer, sources said.

A friend of Greenfield's said the outspoken Toobin has resisted putting his name on the infant's birth certificate and hasn't given his former lover the child support she's requested.

Greenfield, who wore a magenta blouse and dark tailored suit, has responded by refusing to let Toobin see the baby, the source said.

The ex-lovers and their lawyers declined all comment.

"Respectfully, I have nothing to say," said Toobin, who was nattily attired in a spread-collar tattersall shirt, striped tie and blue suit.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/02/18/2010-02-18_cnn_legal_eagle_in_baby_mama_drama.html#ixzz0fuiPqa8z

I'd be speechless too if I were he.

The Education Wars: Well Isn't THIS Something?

You almost NEVER see this:

A union representing Clark County School District administrators is asking the School Board to rescind contracts for the five most highly paid employees who report to Superintendent Walt Rulffes.

The Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees noted that the new perks and benefits awarded to the five top-level employees will cost more than $100,000 at a time other employees are being asked to make a "shared sacrifice" because of the economic crisis facing state and local governments. Gov. Jim Gibbons has called a special session to deal with an $887 million state budget shortfall that's almost certain to result in cuts to public education.

The union is also alleging possible unfair labor practices and open meeting law violations because of the way the contracts were approved.

The Clark County School Board voted on the contracts at a midday workshop on Oct. 7. The union argues that the vote on two-year contract extensions wasn't properly posted for Charlene Green, deputy superintendent of support services; Bill Hoffman, district general counsel; Lauren Kohut-Rost, deputy superintendent of instruction; Martha Tittle, chief human resources officer; and Jeff Weiler, chief financial officer.

The Education Wars: More About "Tuckerism"

Kids will now be tracked, and those who can "pass" 12th grade-level work in 10th grade will be "allowed" to graduate early and attend community college.

Of course this is nothing but an attempt to force more kids out of school to save money, and, since schools will up the ante in what is required to graduate and force kids to learn more curricula at an earlier and inappropriate age, more kids will be pushed out of school altogether. They will NEVER be able to have a right to go to college.

These "reformers" like Gates want to fucking TRACK students, and people like Gates and Tucker and Broad have NO fucking concept about education.

And then there is this: The MISSION of high schools is in large part to prepare students for VOCATIONS NOT requiring a college degree. Gates and company want to abuse the community college system as vocational ec training program. MOST jobs do NOT require ANY education beyond high school, yet this fucker wants to pervert the mission of high schools to be nothing but elite little academies like he went to before attending--and dropping out of--Harvard.

There needs to be MORE vocational education in HIGH SCHOOL--NOT LESS.

The Education Wars: Ugliness

Thanks to Nevada's economy going south, Nevada's schools are negatively impacted, and things are about to get much uglier. To hell with the kids:

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has suggested a 10 percent cut to education in his budget plan, released Tuesday. Gibbons also called for a 1.75 percent reduction in wages for all state workers, including those on the Washoe County School district payroll.

According to Morrison, this would mean between $30 and 40 million would have to be cut from the Washoe County School District’s budget. For the Washoe County School District, the 10 percent scenario could mean four more students added to each classroom and about 400 teachers could possibly lose their jobs, according to school district spokesman Steve Mulvenon. However, both Mulvenon and Morrison have emphasized the unknown in these projections.

“I was talking to a local TV station today and they were grilling me hard about the specific scenarios for the cuts,” Morrison told a father in the town hall crowd who asked for specifics. “We have a lot of staff who haven’t seen a weekend in a while working on that exact question. But am I prepared to share them (the cut scenarios)? Here is the problem. We don’t know what we are going to have to cut.”