but it is even worse, if that is possible, for a Secretary of Education, who has NEVER taught a goddamned day in his life and has a useless sociology degree from Hahvahd, to dictate to states which teacher preparation programs are "effective." Worse yet, he wants standardized test scores, which measure NOTHING at all about how well a teacher teaches, to be used to evaluate colleges of education.
At the same time, this dickhead promotes Teach for America, an organization that puts unqualified people with only five weeks training into low-income schools, which in turn violates civil rights laws embracing the concept of equality of educational opportunities. These students, more than any others, NEED fully certified, EXPERIENCED teachers, not a bunch of know-it-all Ivy League bimbos. Low-income schools are by and large populated by hispanics, blacks, and other minorities. TFA and similar temp teacher outfits should be outlawed for violating students' educational rights.
Eli Broad has a phony "academy" for superintendents or would-be superintendents who apparently can skirt certification laws and become "superintendents" with just a few weekends of training. Granted, many of the "graduates" are qualified on paper and fully certified in their states, but the results are still shitty.
Idiot Arne thinks the problem in education is with teachers when in reality it is with administrators like him who haven't a fucking clue but use their jobs as a way to line their corrupt pockets.
link
Friday, September 30, 2011
Obituaries
The media has made much of Sylvia Robinson being a "founder" of hip-hop music, but actually she was better known to me and many others as the second half of the R&B duo Mickey & Sylvia, who came up with the classic 1957 song "Love Is Strange."
In case you have lived in a cave since 1957:
Robinson died of congestive heart failure at the age of 76.
Mickey Baker, the other half of the duo, is still alive and will be 86 years old this October 15.
______
Some weeks ago, I was writing about my opinion of the 1939 French film Rules of the Game and noted at least two of the cast members were still alive. One of those two, Paulette Dubost, who played the chambermaid in the film, has died at the age of 100. She would have turned 101 on October 8.
Here is an obituary:
Johnnie Wright, 97, country singer, manager and husband of country music legend Kitty Wells, has died. They were married close to 75 years, one the longest marriages in show business history.
_____
Gospel singer Jessy Dixon, 73.
_____
Character actress Frances Bay, 92.
In case you have lived in a cave since 1957:
Robinson died of congestive heart failure at the age of 76.
Mickey Baker, the other half of the duo, is still alive and will be 86 years old this October 15.
______
Some weeks ago, I was writing about my opinion of the 1939 French film Rules of the Game and noted at least two of the cast members were still alive. One of those two, Paulette Dubost, who played the chambermaid in the film, has died at the age of 100. She would have turned 101 on October 8.
Here is an obituary:
Although Paulette Dubost, who has died aged 100, appeared in far more films than the number of years she lived, most cinemagoers know her best as Lisette, the coquettish chambermaid in Jean Renoir's La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game, 1939), one of cinema's masterpieces. Lisette, who attends the Marquis de la Chesnaye during a lavish weekend party at a country chateau, flirts dangerously with a poacher turned servant (Julian Carette), while her overly jealous gamekeeper husband (Gaston Modot) tries to catch them at it._____
Dubost and Carette play a deliciously sly and comic cat-and-mouse game with the absurdly rigid Modot, especially during the after-dinner entertainment, a breathtaking sequence, described by the critic Richard Roud as something from "a Marx brothers film scripted by a Feydeau who suddenly acquired a tragic sense". It is Lisette's behaviour that is the catalyst for the tragic ending of the film.
Johnnie Wright, 97, country singer, manager and husband of country music legend Kitty Wells, has died. They were married close to 75 years, one the longest marriages in show business history.
_____
Gospel singer Jessy Dixon, 73.
_____
Character actress Frances Bay, 92.
The GOP, Always Hating the USPS,
wants to destroy it altogether and make mail delivery, still depended upon by millions and millions of people and businesses and agencies, a private outfit despite the constitution.
It has been mentioned by others that perhaps the REAL reason to gut it is to destroy vote-by-mail in Oregon and Washington, both blue states, and nip in the bud other efforts to do the same thing in other states.
After all, expanding the franchise and making it less likely for election fraud to occur is NOT in the fascists' best interests.
It has been mentioned by others that perhaps the REAL reason to gut it is to destroy vote-by-mail in Oregon and Washington, both blue states, and nip in the bud other efforts to do the same thing in other states.
After all, expanding the franchise and making it less likely for election fraud to occur is NOT in the fascists' best interests.
Etc. and News
A billionaire idiot pontificates about something she knows nothing about, and it shows.
_____
Obama needs to step down because he has sold the Democratic Party rank-and-file down the river, along with everybody else but Wall Street and the filthy rich.
Note who is being targeted for donations.
_____
_____
Obama needs to step down because he has sold the Democratic Party rank-and-file down the river, along with everybody else but Wall Street and the filthy rich.
Note who is being targeted for donations.
_____
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Etc. and News
Don't expect the "Occupy Wall Street" "movement" to amount to much.
_____
Teachers are supposed to trust know-nothing billionaires with education. Yeah, right.
_____
Teachers are supposed to trust know-nothing billionaires with education. Yeah, right.
The United States is Posed to Be Number One
in the worst poverty rate in the world if it keeps up with ruinous neoliberal economic policies.
In most of the developing world, the cost of living is a whole lot cheaper than it is in the United States, which people tend to forget.
Anyway:
There is no political party standing up for workers. None at all.
In most of the developing world, the cost of living is a whole lot cheaper than it is in the United States, which people tend to forget.
Anyway:
With the full backing of the Obama administration, US and foreign-based corporations are exploiting levels of mass unemployment and poverty not seen since the Great Depression in order to transform the US into a cheap labor platform in direct competition with Mexico, China and other low-wage countries.
Tennessee, like nearly half of all US states, has an unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, and its real jobless rate is probably double. When Volkswagen began taking applications for 1,700 jobs in Chattanooga, it received over 65,000 responses in the first three weeks. On the basis of cutting labor costs by at least a third at its US factory, Volkswagen is able to sell cars for $7,000 less than comparable models made in Germany.
Aided by the plummeting dollar, the wage gap between American workers and their brutally exploited counter-parts in Mexico and Asia is increasingly being narrowed. Asked by a New York Times columnist why Siemens chose to build a new plant in Charlotte, North Carolina instead of China, a spokesman said that for highly skilled work, the labor cost differential wasn’t very big. “For this kind of manufacturing,” he said, “the US can compete with China.”
There is no political party standing up for workers. None at all.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
As Always, the Media Focuses on the Elites,
especially women elites, who can afford to postpone childbearing until their late forties and even their fifties as if this is any big trend at all. The only reason anybody is doing this is because the technology is there to do it; otherwise, women would still be unable to have children that late in life. They would adopt if possible, or simply move on with their lives.
Whatever floats one's boat, I guess, but one must realize these first-time parents are responsible for a tiny number of births in the United States, a few hundred at most. It is hardly an epidemic.
link
Writing about a few hundred births like it is an explosion is dubious at best, especially when it is only the wealthy who can do this.
Whatever floats one's boat, I guess, but one must realize these first-time parents are responsible for a tiny number of births in the United States, a few hundred at most. It is hardly an epidemic.
link
The age of first motherhood is rising all over the West. In Italy, Germany, and Great Britain, it’s 30. In the U.S., it’s gone up to 25 from 21 since 1970, and in New York State, it’s even higher, at 27. But among the extremely middle-aged, births aren’t just inching up. They are booming. In 2008, the most recent year for which detailed data are available, about 8,000 babies were born to women 45 or older, more than double the number in 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Five hundred and forty-one of these were born to women age 50 or older—a 375 percent increase. In adoption, the story is the same. Nearly a quarter of adopted children in the U.S. have parents more than 45 years older than they are.
Writing about a few hundred births like it is an explosion is dubious at best, especially when it is only the wealthy who can do this.
What's in a Name?
There was a time, not too long ago, that when aspiring actors or other entertainers were on the "way up" the career ladder, their managers or, especially during Hollywood's "golden age," the execs, demanded their names be changed to be more "box office" friendly or they were too long or just downright ugly names. Some actors, like Stewart Granger, had to have his professional name changed because his real one was identical to movie icon James Stewart's. He was called "Jimmy" in his offscreen life. The ugly names like Spangler Arlington Brugh and Archibald Leach were changed to the more acceptable names Robert Taylor and Cary Grant, respectively. Others merely dropped their first names, such as William Clark Gable. Still others were like Ira Grossel, who kept his real name legally while using the stage name of Jeff Chandler. Still others had names good enough for the box office or they weren't duplicates of somebody else's names, so they got to keep them professionally as well as personally.
My mother told me once she thought one of the reasons movies were not like they once were was because name changes were largely stopped once the studio era ended. The names of performers tended to be more bland and therefore THEY were more bland despite "method acting" and such. I felt she had a point, and this morning, when I happened to look at television on one of the ESPN networks, I thought of my mother. How in the HELL did ESPN allow somebody to broadcast on their network using a name like "Colin Cowherd" that is so easily the butt of jokes?
Take a look at this Google search if you don't believe me. I wasn't the ONLY one who called him "Colon Cowturd":
link
He pronounces his first name like "Collin" so that nobody will tease him when the correct pronunciation is with a "long o" and not a short one. It doesn't work, of course, when the last name is just as open to ridicule.
Yep, I do yearn for those days of yore when godawful names like this were forced to be changed before radio personalities could be in broadcasting.
My mother told me once she thought one of the reasons movies were not like they once were was because name changes were largely stopped once the studio era ended. The names of performers tended to be more bland and therefore THEY were more bland despite "method acting" and such. I felt she had a point, and this morning, when I happened to look at television on one of the ESPN networks, I thought of my mother. How in the HELL did ESPN allow somebody to broadcast on their network using a name like "Colin Cowherd" that is so easily the butt of jokes?
Take a look at this Google search if you don't believe me. I wasn't the ONLY one who called him "Colon Cowturd":
link
He pronounces his first name like "Collin" so that nobody will tease him when the correct pronunciation is with a "long o" and not a short one. It doesn't work, of course, when the last name is just as open to ridicule.
Yep, I do yearn for those days of yore when godawful names like this were forced to be changed before radio personalities could be in broadcasting.
The Concept of the "Public Good" is Being Destroyed,
and nowhere is this more obvious than in the area of public education. It is being assaulted because of an ideology that says public institutions are bad because they are public, not because they are "inefficient"--everything is supposed to be run on market forces, no matter how ill-suited. They are also being assaulted because the proponents of privatization don't believe in democracy.
There is are at least two reasons why there are public institutions. One is they exist because the private sector cannot adequately perform the functions required to maintain public institutions, as the private sector must operate on the bottom line. The public sector can and does run efficiently most of the time because of no bottom line, thanks to the system of taxation. When it comes to education, private schools are not a real option for the masses; these schools basically cater to a niche "market" such as religion and cannot even begin to absorb the population that public schools educate. Two, there is the concept that we are all in this together as a democratic society, and education is seen as the key institution for instilling and preserving democratic values without which this country and others could not survive.
But some 40 years of propaganda against public institutions, including and especially education, have taken their toll:
Not just that, but these "reformers" are astoundingly stupid despite (or perhaps because of) being rich.
There is are at least two reasons why there are public institutions. One is they exist because the private sector cannot adequately perform the functions required to maintain public institutions, as the private sector must operate on the bottom line. The public sector can and does run efficiently most of the time because of no bottom line, thanks to the system of taxation. When it comes to education, private schools are not a real option for the masses; these schools basically cater to a niche "market" such as religion and cannot even begin to absorb the population that public schools educate. Two, there is the concept that we are all in this together as a democratic society, and education is seen as the key institution for instilling and preserving democratic values without which this country and others could not survive.
But some 40 years of propaganda against public institutions, including and especially education, have taken their toll:
Education has become the political weapon of choice for conservatives, and they have had astounding success in using the mainstream and new media to drown out the voices of more progressive critics. The evidence is everywhere. For instance, The New York Times is currently advertising its Watch Education Take Center Stage initiative and the keynote address is being given by the politically and morally discredited champion of neoliberal education, Lawrence Summers. Given his failed presidency at Harvard, his utterly shameful role in contributing to the financial crisis of 2008 and the failure of Obama's economic policies and his crude instrumental view of education, why would The New York Times select him as an educational leader and beacon of hope for any kind of educational vision designed to address future generations? Other speakers include the likes of Chester Finn, whose views on public education are as politically reactionary as they are theoretically bogus. Another example can be found in the ongoing Education Nation series sponsored on a number of platforms by NBC. It's endorsement of market-driven anti-public education policies are evident in its parading of the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates and their utterly anti-public, charter school, privatized and technocratic vision of education. Also included are the usual list of charter school, corporate funded anti-union, public school cheerleaders for defunding and privatizing American education. Of course, missing from these dog-and-pony shows are progressive public school reformers such as David Berliner, Stanley Aronowitz, Jonathan Kozol, Marian Wright Edelman, Donaldo Macedo, and others who have been fighting for real educational reform for the last few decades. Nor is there any mention of the many local struggling social movements fighting for public education and the ever-dissolving protections of social contract inherited from the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society programs. Education at all levels is firmly in the hands of the rich, reactionary and the powerful. Is it any wonder given how invisible progressive forces are in this country that young people are not in the streets as they were in the sixties, refusing the future being offered to them by Wall Street and the moralizing Christian fundamentalists?
Not just that, but these "reformers" are astoundingly stupid despite (or perhaps because of) being rich.
News, Etc.
Since Mitt Romney will be the next president of the United States, why in the hell WOULD that awful governor Chris Christie of New Jersey want to run for the office?
It's a waste of time.
_____
It's a waste of time.
_____
As We Know From the O.J. Simpson Criminal Case,
if the defense has no case at all, and they didn't, they simply played the "race card," which worked in that instance, at least for a time.
The same cynical nonsense is at play with the lamebrained support of Barack Obama despite his lousy record as president. I would go further and say he is the Clarence Thomas of the Democratic Party in that he is proposing policies that are anathema to liberalism or to any group of people who were and are the traditional constituents of the Democratic Party, including African Americans, yet his "race" is supposed to inoculate him from criticism.
As the link points out, Carter and Clinton were NEVER the "darlings" of the "left," what "left" there was left after the 1960s and early 1970s. They were way to the right politically, especially when it came to matters like trade and deregulation. Obama, however, is far, far worse. But at least they made some stabs at being traditional Democrats, and for Clinton, he was victimized an an attempted coup by the right with those ridiculous "scandals." Obama is openly neoliberal, a University of Chicago flunkie, and neoliberals are the enemies of the United States. They are in both political parties, but they have infiltrated the Democratic Party to the point that there really is no fundamental difference between that party and the Republicans on matters of economics, social programs, and foreign policy.
We have a crook to thank for that, Robert Rubin, who should be wearing an orange jumpsuit instead of buying off politicians, putting up puppets as economic advisers, and still getting rich at taxpayers' expense.
But what do I know despite following American politics, which I have followed closely since 1968? I am a filthy racist.
Amazing I can write tripe that is truthful and I don't make a dime from it (not even BlogHer has paid me this year), but this woman writes unabashed horseshit and gets paid for it.
The same cynical nonsense is at play with the lamebrained support of Barack Obama despite his lousy record as president. I would go further and say he is the Clarence Thomas of the Democratic Party in that he is proposing policies that are anathema to liberalism or to any group of people who were and are the traditional constituents of the Democratic Party, including African Americans, yet his "race" is supposed to inoculate him from criticism.
As the link points out, Carter and Clinton were NEVER the "darlings" of the "left," what "left" there was left after the 1960s and early 1970s. They were way to the right politically, especially when it came to matters like trade and deregulation. Obama, however, is far, far worse. But at least they made some stabs at being traditional Democrats, and for Clinton, he was victimized an an attempted coup by the right with those ridiculous "scandals." Obama is openly neoliberal, a University of Chicago flunkie, and neoliberals are the enemies of the United States. They are in both political parties, but they have infiltrated the Democratic Party to the point that there really is no fundamental difference between that party and the Republicans on matters of economics, social programs, and foreign policy.
We have a crook to thank for that, Robert Rubin, who should be wearing an orange jumpsuit instead of buying off politicians, putting up puppets as economic advisers, and still getting rich at taxpayers' expense.
But what do I know despite following American politics, which I have followed closely since 1968? I am a filthy racist.
Amazing I can write tripe that is truthful and I don't make a dime from it (not even BlogHer has paid me this year), but this woman writes unabashed horseshit and gets paid for it.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
An Eli Broad Flunkie
has been given permission to destroy Detroit's public school system and make an obscene amount of money in the process:
Of course it will be a disaster, but these "reformers" don't care about schools or kids. It's all about money for them.
Covington will receive a salary of $225,000, plus a $175,000 signing bonus. In addition, he is reportedly eligible to garner performance-based incentives that could push his payoff to more than $1.5 million a year. This grotesque sum—paid by state, private foundation and corporate sources—is being given to a man who will oversee schools in an impoverished district where the median household income is $26,000 and students are so poor they all get free breakfast and lunch.
His main task is to destroy the jobs, workplace protections and living standards of teachers and other public school employees who have lost tens of thousands of dollars in wage and benefit concessions over the last decade. In doing so, he is counting on the continued collaboration of the Detroit Federation of Teachers and other unions.
Covington will head the EAS (Education Achievement System), created last June by the Republican governor—a former venture capitalist and computer corporation executive—and Emergency Financial Manager Roy Roberts—a former General Motors executive. The purpose of the plan is to further dismantle the public school system and hand over its assets to privately run charter corporations.
Of course it will be a disaster, but these "reformers" don't care about schools or kids. It's all about money for them.
Rupert Murdoch Joins the Ed "Deform" Movement
These people who are so big on online learning will never be able to design curriculum that adequately involves students with hands-on activities such as music, art, p.e., writing, and science, for starters. Projects would still have to be turned in, but there is no real way an online teacher can check for understanding the way a teacher in a real school can. There is no way a teacher can find out if the student had help at home from his or her parents, so the projects would never be reliable indicators of learning. Of course some online "schools" would actually be instituted in real buildings instead of at home, but most are not.
Online education is good for some things, but basically these are good only for at least high school-age students such as credit recovery courses and mostly adults who for scheduling or geographical reasons can't take courses during the day. I have taken online courses, which are at least as difficult as those on-campus, but it is not the same or quite as good because I missed the in-person interaction with the professor and the other students. Younger students need interaction with adults and their peers to be fully rounded, psychologically healthy individuals. Parents simply can't do it all.
The potential for psychological damage of forcing through online learning for K-12 students is great. Not that Rupert or Bill or Eli gives a shit. It's all about money for them, and political ideology for the neolibs hellbent on privatizing everything.
Online education is good for some things, but basically these are good only for at least high school-age students such as credit recovery courses and mostly adults who for scheduling or geographical reasons can't take courses during the day. I have taken online courses, which are at least as difficult as those on-campus, but it is not the same or quite as good because I missed the in-person interaction with the professor and the other students. Younger students need interaction with adults and their peers to be fully rounded, psychologically healthy individuals. Parents simply can't do it all.
The potential for psychological damage of forcing through online learning for K-12 students is great. Not that Rupert or Bill or Eli gives a shit. It's all about money for them, and political ideology for the neolibs hellbent on privatizing everything.
Monday, September 26, 2011
What Do You Mean
"Obama is not in charge"?
No surprise when the Rubenesque crowd has actually been calling the shots on the economy when the entire bunch ought to be in jail right along with the banksters:
At least we knew who was in charge when Bush II was in office, but we were lead to believe Obama was nothing like Bush.
Instead, he's just like him, with somebody else calling the shots.
No surprise when the Rubenesque crowd has actually been calling the shots on the economy when the entire bunch ought to be in jail right along with the banksters:
According to this report, the “uninvited” US Treasury Secretary showed up at the ECOFIN conference and engaged in what can only be described as a “temper tantrum” where he slammed Europe’s economic policy makers for their intransigence in provided further bailouts to Greece and when queried by European Central Bank (ECB) Chief Jean-Claude Trichet as to if this was “Obama’s position too” was told by Geithner, “He’s (Obama) not in charge, I am.”
,,,
This shocking revelation as to who is actually running the United States comes on the heals of further allegations that Geithner deliberately ignored Obama’s orders to prepare a plan to “wind down” the mammoth international banking group Citigroup Inc. in order to help save the American economy, and as we can, in part, read as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle:
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner ignored an order in 2009 from President Barack Obama to prepare a plan to “wind down” Citigroup Inc., once the biggest bank in the world, according to a book to be released next week.
At least we knew who was in charge when Bush II was in office, but we were lead to believe Obama was nothing like Bush.
Instead, he's just like him, with somebody else calling the shots.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Etc. and Outrages
No education "reform" will EVER work as long as it blames teachers and doesn't even get to the root of the problem, which is with administrators.
The problem in Nevada, of course, is there are no real unions, just "associations" that are completely in bed with the school districts.
The same situation is true around the country.
_____
No surprise one-time entertainer Sly Stone is basically homeless. He has had some serious mental health issues for years. Still, it is tragic.
From the picture here it looks like he is living in a Class B motorhome rather than a van, and this type of "camper" is NOT cheap. These vehicles can cost up to 100 grand or more.
_____
Is the protest on Wall Street a good sign that the days of the robber barons may be numbered?
_____
A sad anniversary was noted earlier this month:
The problem in Nevada, of course, is there are no real unions, just "associations" that are completely in bed with the school districts.
The same situation is true around the country.
_____
No surprise one-time entertainer Sly Stone is basically homeless. He has had some serious mental health issues for years. Still, it is tragic.
From the picture here it looks like he is living in a Class B motorhome rather than a van, and this type of "camper" is NOT cheap. These vehicles can cost up to 100 grand or more.
_____
Is the protest on Wall Street a good sign that the days of the robber barons may be numbered?
_____
A sad anniversary was noted earlier this month:
Martha was found dead in the bottom of her cage on Sept. 1, 1914, at the age of 29. She had been born in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1885, and scientists had tried frantically to breed her once the plight of her species became clear.
But it was too late, and Sept. 1 now marks the extinction of passenger pigeons, which had been one of eastern North America's most iconic animals. In 2010, the conservation group WildEarth Guardians declared Sept. 1 "Passenger Pigeon Day" in honor of Martha's death.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Quote of the Year
It appears George W. Bush has some competition in the eloquence department:
Not that he was going to be the GOP presidential nominee, but he made Mitt's chances so much easier.
Video clip of the classic debate is included here about 2:40 into it:
Is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of--against the Second Amendment before he was for the Second Amendment? Was it--was before--he was before the social programs from the standpoint of--he was for standing up for Roe v. Wade before he was against first--Roe v. Wade? He was for Race to the Top, he's for Obamacare and now he is against it. I mean we'll wait until tomorrow and--and see which Mitt Romney we're really talking to tonight.--Current and future Texas governor Rick Perry, whose disastrous performance in Thursday night's debate will forever be the butt of comedians' jokes.
Not that he was going to be the GOP presidential nominee, but he made Mitt's chances so much easier.
Video clip of the classic debate is included here about 2:40 into it:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Etc.and Outrages
Blaming teachers for any "failures" in public education doesn't get to the heart of the problem.
_____
The suffering of the rich in this country is so pervasive, the rest of the population must part with their wallets even more to make sure these same rich don't suffer further. The rich holler "class warfare," and never mind the fact THEY are the ones waging it.
After all, this class is the "job creating" class, despite the fact it is DEMAND which creates jobs.
Look how they are suffering:
The lowly masses are what create a parasitic class to begin with.
_____
An L.A. teacher has had enough this early in the year and walked out of his classroom.
_____
OF COURSE NCLB (and RTTT) is a part of the conspiracy against public education, simply because it is PUBLIC.
Yep. And there are a ton of stupid comments following the piece.
_____
The suffering of the rich in this country is so pervasive, the rest of the population must part with their wallets even more to make sure these same rich don't suffer further. The rich holler "class warfare," and never mind the fact THEY are the ones waging it.
After all, this class is the "job creating" class, despite the fact it is DEMAND which creates jobs.
Look how they are suffering:
On one side, we have the claim that the rising share of taxes paid by the rich shows that their burden is rising, not falling. To point out the obvious, the rich are paying more taxes because they’re much richer than they used to be. When middle-class incomes barely grow while the incomes of the wealthiest rise by a factor of six, how could the tax share of the rich not go up, even if their tax rate is falling?
On the other side, we have the claim that the rich have the right to keep their money — which misses the point that all of us live in and benefit from being part of a larger society.
Elizabeth Warren, the financial reformer who is now running for the United States Senate in Massachusetts, recently made some eloquent remarks to this effect that are, rightly, getting a lot of attention. “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody,” she declared, pointing out that the rich can only get rich thanks to the “social contract” that provides a decent, functioning society in which they can prosper.
The lowly masses are what create a parasitic class to begin with.
_____
An L.A. teacher has had enough this early in the year and walked out of his classroom.
_____
OF COURSE NCLB (and RTTT) is a part of the conspiracy against public education, simply because it is PUBLIC.
I struggled with the rest of you as to why NCLB would go to such great lengths to make public education appear to be such a failure, to set up a system that would guarantee failure for practically every public school as we advanced toward that magical 100 percent level and provide no tangible rewards for success and such punitive actions for not meeting arbitrary goals. On top of all of that, I failed to recognize why our nation’s legislators so nimbly avoided even the discussion of reauthorization to change what everyone knew was a failed policy. One day it finally hit me.
They didn’t want to change the policy, because the policy was designed in theory and in fact not to aid education but to create an image of a failed public school system in order to further the implementation of vouchers and the diversion of public education funds to private schools.
Yep. And there are a ton of stupid comments following the piece.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Movie of the Week: Meltdown
Al-Jazeera has a documentary up about the crooks who crashed the economy and have never had to account for their actions. It is in four parts and is titled Meltdown:
Part One
The other three parts are on the sidebar. Each part is about 42 minutes long.
Update: The other three parts have not yet been uploaded.
Part One
The other three parts are on the sidebar. Each part is about 42 minutes long.
Update: The other three parts have not yet been uploaded.
Obama Should Do America a Favor,
take stock of his total failure as president, and call it a day.
It isn't too late for him to do it, and he could salvage the Democratic Party by opening the door to another candidate (unlike Street, I doubt it would be Hillary Clinton).
I have no doubt that at this moment Mitt Romney is well on his way to being the 45th president of the United States. I have believed this since 2008. He does have crossover appeal, despite his wishy-washy record not unlike the current president, and I don't think he would do a worse job.
Street:
It isn't too late for him to do it, and he could salvage the Democratic Party by opening the door to another candidate (unlike Street, I doubt it would be Hillary Clinton).
I have no doubt that at this moment Mitt Romney is well on his way to being the 45th president of the United States. I have believed this since 2008. He does have crossover appeal, despite his wishy-washy record not unlike the current president, and I don't think he would do a worse job.
Street:
The president is starting to look like the potential victim of a landslide in November of 2012. The Democratic base is widely disillusioned with him. Even many among his fake-progressive pseudo-liberal dead-end defenders sometimes squawk about his conservative corporatism and unwillingness to govern in accord with his idealistic campaign promises. Liberal and progressive Democratic elected officials in the House and Senate have been grumbling about his center-right proclivities for some time now. It is one thing to rightwardly triangulate on the backs of welfare mothers and declining unions in the mode of Bill Clinton; it is another thing to do so at the expense of the broadly popular programs Social Security and Medicare, all while passing on hyper-regressive Republican tax cuts for the obscenely rich and powerful.
News, Etc.
A deformed puppy gets a second chance at life:
_____
Tacoma, Washington, teachers won a victory against the school district, and their strike is over. The contract was ratified.
_____
One only has to look at the Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans to know just how screwed up this country is with income inequality:
Yep. Parasites leeching off the taxpayers.
_____
Here is a behind-the-story story of the Rauh video voyeur case, where he was sentenced to three yesrs in jail last week:
The woman pressed the issue and the man opened — and gave her — the contents of the bag. Inside was a puppy so deformed that it couldn’t walk or hold up its head. Shelter workers and veterinarians grimaced when they saw the dog and came to the same conclusion: It really should be euthanized.
This is how Harper looked when she was rescued. Born with a condition commonly called "swimmer puppy syndrome," Harper had a flattened chest wall and could not walk or hold her head up.
That’s when Daniel, a regular at the local animal shelter, stepped in. She decided to take the puppy home for one full and final day of unabashed affection. “I had to show her what it was like to be loved,” Daniel said. “I’d planned on taking her home that night, letting her sleep in bed with us, and having her humanely euthanized in the morning.”
What a difference a day can make. Today, Harper is not only alive — she’s thriving. The frisky gray puppy is gaining more and more mobility each day, to the astonishment of onlookers and medical professionals.
_____
Tacoma, Washington, teachers won a victory against the school district, and their strike is over. The contract was ratified.
_____
One only has to look at the Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans to know just how screwed up this country is with income inequality:
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the sector with the largest representation by far in the ranks of the super-rich was “investors,” that is, individuals whose primary occupation is speculating in financial markets. There were 96 such individuals on the list, compared to only four for manufacturing.
Typical of this social layer, utterly parasitic in its relationship to society as a whole, was hedge fund manager John Paulson, who ranked 17, with a wealth of $15.5 billion. Forbes commented on the “Paulson paradox”—the fact that Paulson’s personal fortune has soared 25 percent even though the main hedge fund he operates has fallen 30 percent due to bad bets on Bank of America and other stocks. Last year, Paulson took in a personal income of $4.9 billion.
The increasing wealth of this layer is a direct product of the infusion of trillions of dollars into the financial system, orchestrated by the Obama administration. Three years after rampant speculation led to the greatest world economic crisis in generations, the speculators are doing better than ever.
Yep. Parasites leeching off the taxpayers.
_____
Here is a behind-the-story story of the Rauh video voyeur case, where he was sentenced to three yesrs in jail last week:
It should be noted that while his mother's September 2009 death was given as THE motivating factor to the crimes ... authorities discovered that TWO YEARS EARLIER Rauh installed a secret camera under his male peer's desk. They found the footage from it on his home computer where they also found the following: footage from "pinhole" mini cameras Rauh wore at school - hidden on his necktie - that recorded the man on school grounds and having conversations with Rauh; that he installed spyware on the man's school computer, that he took photos of the man on the playground and during school assemblies and of course, the bathroom footage; and pictures Rauh stole from the man's computer that depicted him on family vacations. Rauh got those pictures after he broke into the man's home while he was out of town with his family ... he was arrested days later after he was busted for the bathroom footage.
All these crimes Rauh committed against the man (except for the bathroom pics) were not charged. He was basically secretly stalking him for years. If he last burglarized the man's home, what was he going to do next?
One witness claimed the death of his mother liberated Rauh to act out on his sexual obsessive compulsions because he had never told anyone he was gay, while others said the instant gratification of watching the videos temporarily elevated his depressed mood over the death and provided him an "outlet" for his grief.
Nevada Elected Another Idiot As Governor,
and this one, a private school brat, thinks he knows all there is to know about public education "reform." I suspect, however, this is a way to get federal money through RTTT by trying to institute "reforms" whereby it will be even easier to dump teachers than it is now, and it is laughably easy for school districts to do it.
"Bad teachers" means "older, more expensive teachers," by the way, judging from the antics of other school districts in the United States.
Also note only two people on this panel will be teachers with another two as administrators. The rest will be know-nothings, including education "reformers."
link
"Bad teachers" means "older, more expensive teachers," by the way, judging from the antics of other school districts in the United States.
Also note only two people on this panel will be teachers with another two as administrators. The rest will be know-nothings, including education "reformers."
link
Thursday, September 22, 2011
I Hope Someday (Like Today) Elizabeth Warren
will be the next president of the United States. She tells it like it is, and I don't think she can be bought, unlike Obama.
Horatio Alger was always a lie. There is no such thing as a "self-made man":
The Horatio Alger myth is probably the most destructive ever created because it simply isn't true that "success," meaning being rich, depends on "hard work."
Horatio Alger was always a lie. There is no such thing as a "self-made man":
The Horatio Alger myth is probably the most destructive ever created because it simply isn't true that "success," meaning being rich, depends on "hard work."
Etc.
Quite honestly, the "smart" principals from any district in the USA bailed out of the profession a long time ago, leaving only the dregs in charge.
_____
We are truly screwed.
Leaving the economy in Congress's hands is a surefire way to tank it completely.
_____
_____
We are truly screwed.
Leaving the economy in Congress's hands is a surefire way to tank it completely.
_____
Thanks to Our Wonderful Bureaucracy,
inmate Troy Davis was executed last night, facts or enormous reasonable doubt be damned. Somebody in the legal/criminal justice system had to be protected, so what's another murder in the mix? I hope Davis's family sues the shit out of the state of Georgia over this.
The least the criminal "justice" system there should have done was commute his sentence in order to review the case while not killing him. If he actually did it, he would have spent his life in prison. There were enough holes in it to drive an 18-wheeler through.
But it doesn't matter. Retribution is a lot more important, even if somebody executed may ultimately be proven to have not committed the crime:
Those justices are murderers, pure and simple.
The least the criminal "justice" system there should have done was commute his sentence in order to review the case while not killing him. If he actually did it, he would have spent his life in prison. There were enough holes in it to drive an 18-wheeler through.
But it doesn't matter. Retribution is a lot more important, even if somebody executed may ultimately be proven to have not committed the crime:
The barbarism of the process reached its epitome Wednesday night. In the hours before the lethal concoction was delivered, originally scheduled for 7:00 pm, Davis remained strapped to the gurney, while the high court deliberated. Family members and supporters stood in agony outside prison walls, waiting for news. The ruling came in the form of a one-line denial, without explanation or dissent.
It would have taken only five justices’ votes to stop the killing going forward. In the end, even this temporary measure was rejected by the black-robed executioners.
Peaceful protesters outside the prison, at one point numbering in the thousands, were surrounded by hundreds of police officers, some decked out in riot gear, while helicopters circled overhead. Earlier in the evening several demonstrators who crossed the road running past the prison were arrested and taken away.
Davis issued a written statement before his execution, which read: “The struggle for justice doesn’t end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me.”
Those justices are murderers, pure and simple.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
No Wonder I Am Completely Disinterested
in the 2012 election. It is simply a matter of which one of the two is the less odious, and both of them are or will be.
Of course the elite wants us to be "horrified" at the prospect of a batshit loon as the GOP nominee so that we will vote for the man they REALLY want, Obama.
Of course the elite wants us to be "horrified" at the prospect of a batshit loon as the GOP nominee so that we will vote for the man they REALLY want, Obama.
From their standpoint, Obama needed, and continues to need two things. First, Obama needs running room to his right. In order for Obama to enact the neoliberal policies of his militarist and bankster sponsors, the policy demands of Republicans had to move further and still further rightward. In other words, he needs Republicans to play crazy and crazier, so that wherever he lands can credibly be claimed to be a little better than what might have been under a Republican regime, even when Obama's position is actually to the right of Bush or Reagan. Secondly, the bankster favorite Obama needs to distract the attention of his voter base with a loud and persistent clamor over cultural issues and sustained furor over instances of personal (but not institutional) racism among Republican candidates and supporters. Like in any production, every actor has a job to do, and everybody does their job.
News, Etc.
A group called "Parent Revolution" is nothing more than another front group backed by the usual suspects:
Enough said.
____
A possibly innocent man on Georgia's death row is likely to die.
What a farce the death penalty is.
It appears somebody's butt is being covered, so somebody else has to die for it.
_____
Of course any proposal to forgive student loan debt is dead in the water, but people can sign a petition in support of it anyway.
_____
Surprise, surprise!!! The dynamic duo of the Koch brothers have tied for fourth place on the Forbes list of richest Americans.
_____
With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wasserman Foundation, the Eli and Edyth Broad Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, Parent Revolution has more than enough dinero to keep up the rhetoric and the supporting antics. But that obscures real educational issues and keeps their followers from asking about the group’s real agenda, which unfortunately is all about charter schools, and not about Julio and Jamal or their sisters and brothers ever becoming educated.
Enough said.
____
A possibly innocent man on Georgia's death row is likely to die.
What a farce the death penalty is.
While 51 members of the US Congress have gone on record opposing the execution of Troy Davis, there has been no significant effort from politicians of either big business party to call a halt to it. Barack Obama has made no comment on the impending execution, and his press secretary has referred media questions about the case to the Justice Department.
Obama is an open supporter of the death penalty, writing in his memoir that while he thinks capital punishment “does little to deter crime,” he supports it in cases “so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment.”
In recent years, the US Supreme Court has ruled that executions of the mentally impaired and those convicted of crimes as juveniles are unconstitutional, but it has done so to uphold the system of capital punishment overall, a barbaric practice outlawed by the vast majority of industrialized nations.
It appears somebody's butt is being covered, so somebody else has to die for it.
_____
Of course any proposal to forgive student loan debt is dead in the water, but people can sign a petition in support of it anyway.
_____
Surprise, surprise!!! The dynamic duo of the Koch brothers have tied for fourth place on the Forbes list of richest Americans.
_____
Good Interview (Though the Answers Are Too Short)
with teachers who discuss about what happens if and when they speak out.
This despite first amendment guarantees.
Teachers are hamstrung. Yes, a few have good administrators who don't retaliate, but I suspect they are in the tiniest minority. Most administrators care only about their image, and teachers who "embarrass" them are targeted.
This despite first amendment guarantees.
Teachers are hamstrung. Yes, a few have good administrators who don't retaliate, but I suspect they are in the tiniest minority. Most administrators care only about their image, and teachers who "embarrass" them are targeted.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
News, Etc.
The neoliberal vultures of the IMF and EU are circling around Greece in attempt to feed on any austerity measures implemented in that country.
This is solely to bail out the idiots who created the economic mess in the first place.
_____
Of course a "Democrat" is trying to do the same thing in the United States:
D.C. is completely and hopelessly corrupt.
_____
Principal abuse is the main reason so many teachers transferred out of a high-profile Bronx school.
Naturally the district will NEVER remove the administrators.
This is solely to bail out the idiots who created the economic mess in the first place.
_____
Of course a "Democrat" is trying to do the same thing in the United States:
Obama’s cynicism and dishonesty are perhaps most clearly revealed by his tax proposals, which are being presented by the media as an effort to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations. In fact, the administration is strongly backing comprehensive “pro-growth” tax reform, which would significantly reduce the top income tax rate and the corporate tax rate in exchange for the elimination of certain loopholes in the tax code.
The administration’s plan, “Living Within Our Means and Investing in Our Future,” was presented to the “super committee” of six Republican and six Democratic congressmen that is tasked with submitting a proposal by December for at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. Any agreement reached in the coming weeks will inevitably be even more directly tailored to the interests of the corporate elite than Obama’s plan.
D.C. is completely and hopelessly corrupt.
_____
Principal abuse is the main reason so many teachers transferred out of a high-profile Bronx school.
The complaints by the Bronx Science social studies teachers are reminiscent of those made in a special complaint in 2008. At that time, 20 of the school’s 22 math teachers accused Rosemarie Jahoda, the math assistant principal, of harassing and intimidating new teachers. In 2010, an arbitrator ruled that both Ms. Jahoda and the school’s chapter leader, Peter Lamphere, should be transferred to other schools. City education officials did not follow the recommendation.
The years of turmoil and infighting have not failed to attract the attention of administrators at other high schools.
“It was a constant question in interviews: ‘Why are you leaving Bronx science?’” said a former social studies teacher who left this year. “A lot of the other administrators already knew why we were leaving, they just wanted to hear the story.”
Naturally the district will NEVER remove the administrators.
Air Races
Oh, sure there will be lawsuits filed against a number of outfits and individuals over the Reno National Championship Air Races, and likely the outfits will settle, but the fact is the spectators put themselves at risk for even being there.
That's what any defense would argue; my understanding is the tickets had a disclaimer on them saying to the effect they weren't responsible for any injuries, etc., that people entered the site at their own risk. The publicity, of course, would force the proprietors to settle any case.
link
The death toll has now risen to 11.
_____
That's what any defense would argue; my understanding is the tickets had a disclaimer on them saying to the effect they weren't responsible for any injuries, etc., that people entered the site at their own risk. The publicity, of course, would force the proprietors to settle any case.
link
The death toll has now risen to 11.
_____
Monday, September 19, 2011
Lies About Social Security, Part 10,000
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas gets caught in a lie about Social Security.
There is NO substitute for a social insurance system. None.
_____
There is NO substitute for a social insurance system. None.
_____
News, Etc.
Modifications were made on the plane which crashed at the Reno National Championship Air Races, which have now killed ten people.
So far five of the victims' names, including the pilot's, have been released.
_____
Obama, unmasked by all but the stupidest as nothing more than stealth Republican, tries his damnedest to get even more neoliberal hogwash passed in Congress.
_____
Obituary: Singer Dolores Hope, 102, died this morning. She had been in good health until recent months.
She was an accomplished singer when she had met comedian Bob Hope. They were married February 19, 1934, and stayed together until his death at 100 in 2003. She revived her singing career when she was in her late 80s.
It's quite unusual to find married couples where both of them reached the century mark.
link
_____
If you're desperate for work, there is always Amazon.com to work for--if you can survive the oppresive working conditions:
So far five of the victims' names, including the pilot's, have been released.
_____
Obama, unmasked by all but the stupidest as nothing more than stealth Republican, tries his damnedest to get even more neoliberal hogwash passed in Congress.
_____
Obituary: Singer Dolores Hope, 102, died this morning. She had been in good health until recent months.
She was an accomplished singer when she had met comedian Bob Hope. They were married February 19, 1934, and stayed together until his death at 100 in 2003. She revived her singing career when she was in her late 80s.
It's quite unusual to find married couples where both of them reached the century mark.
link
_____
If you're desperate for work, there is always Amazon.com to work for--if you can survive the oppresive working conditions:
Workers said they were forced to endure brutal heat inside the sprawling warehouse and were pushed to work at a pace many could not sustain. Employees were frequently reprimanded regarding their productivity and threatened with termination, workers said. The consequences of not meeting work expectations were regularly on display, as employees lost their jobs and got escorted out of the warehouse. Such sights encouraged some workers to conceal pain and push through injury lest they get fired as well, workers said.
During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress. Those who couldn't quickly cool off and return to work were sent home or taken out in stretchers and wheelchairs and transported to area hospitals. And new applicants were ready to begin work at any time.
An emergency room doctor in June called federal regulators to report an "unsafe environment" after he treated several Amazon warehouse workers for heat-related problems. The doctor's report was echoed by warehouse workers who also complained to regulators, including a security guard who reported seeing pregnant employees suffering in the heat.
Anyone Who is Anti-Public Education is Anti-American,
and that holds especially true with the politicians in Washington, including the White House. Now the neolibs are working to further dismantle public education by proposing to expand charter schools, which are nothing but private schools that take public money without any real accountability strings attached.
After all, these assholes in Congress send their kids, if they have any of school age, to "great" private schools like Sidwell Friends, schools that don't have any of the rifraff of special education students or ESL students, which "cook the grades" so that parents don't go elsewhere. They wouldn't deign to send their kids to schools where the vast majority of students go.
The ULTIMATE goal of the privateers is to make ALL schools for the masses online schools with inferior curriculum and no opportunities for kids to socialize, and with "teachers" thousands of miles away making pennies an hour or no teachers at all but with cheap-assed teacher aides monitoring the work.
The privatizers are already hard at work trying to change certification laws so that any moron can "teach" kids with just five weeks of training and with no background at all on classroom management or child development.
What a fucking disaster.
After all, these assholes in Congress send their kids, if they have any of school age, to "great" private schools like Sidwell Friends, schools that don't have any of the rifraff of special education students or ESL students, which "cook the grades" so that parents don't go elsewhere. They wouldn't deign to send their kids to schools where the vast majority of students go.
The ULTIMATE goal of the privateers is to make ALL schools for the masses online schools with inferior curriculum and no opportunities for kids to socialize, and with "teachers" thousands of miles away making pennies an hour or no teachers at all but with cheap-assed teacher aides monitoring the work.
The privatizers are already hard at work trying to change certification laws so that any moron can "teach" kids with just five weeks of training and with no background at all on classroom management or child development.
What a fucking disaster.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
What a Steaming Pile of Shit
The LAST thing this country needs with so few jobs available is MORE college graduates. I can't even believe somebody would write such a stupid pile of shit column as one supporting the existence of for-profit schools.
By the way, many if not most traditional colleges nowadays offer online or distance courses, and more of them offer courses at night. My old college, UNR, was one of the first universities to actually start catering to working adults, offering degree programs in a variety of areas so that students wouldn't have to go into tons of debt to finish by being forced to take day courses.
For-profit colleges exist for one reason only, and that is to scam the federal government on grants and loans. Their "degrees" aren't worth the paper they are written on. Unfortunately, students who have been conned to go to these "colleges" find themselves saddled with monstrous debt, which they CANNOT discharge in bankruptcy.
It is much better for students to go the community college route, then university, if they are so inclined.
But in any case, a college degree is a piss-poor substitute for a union card.
By the way, many if not most traditional colleges nowadays offer online or distance courses, and more of them offer courses at night. My old college, UNR, was one of the first universities to actually start catering to working adults, offering degree programs in a variety of areas so that students wouldn't have to go into tons of debt to finish by being forced to take day courses.
For-profit colleges exist for one reason only, and that is to scam the federal government on grants and loans. Their "degrees" aren't worth the paper they are written on. Unfortunately, students who have been conned to go to these "colleges" find themselves saddled with monstrous debt, which they CANNOT discharge in bankruptcy.
It is much better for students to go the community college route, then university, if they are so inclined.
But in any case, a college degree is a piss-poor substitute for a union card.
Video Voyerism
Good thing the teacher pleaded guilty to unlawfully filming teachers while they were using the restroom, for the case was even worse than previously reported or thought:
Basically this guy was a stalker. He was also caught in a web of lies.
He got three years in jail for his crimes. Good riddance. Teachers without family connections in WCSD have been fired and had their lives destroyed for basically no reason at all except to cover up administrator incompetence/malfeasance.
Rauh's family and friends told Adams that they felt the death of his mother in 2009 and keeping his homosexuality a secret his whole life led him to make the illicit bathroom recordings. Some said the trauma caused him to use the recordings as an outlet to receive immediate gratification and forget his loss, while others felt his mother's death gave him license to act on his sexual desires.
But court testimony revealed Rauh had been filming his male colleague since 2007, which escalated in April 2010 to Rauh breaking into the man's home while the man was on vacation and then downloading the man's family photos from his computer onto a portable flash drive. Rauh later downloaded the stolen pictures to his home computer, Deputy District Attorney Luke Prengaman said.
Files on Rauh's computer showed in 2007 he had downloaded pictures of the same man's genitals that had been taken by a camera Rauh secretly placed under a desk at the elementary school. Prengaman said investigators also discovered on Rauh's home computer that he had been using a "pinhole" camera, clipped on his clothes, to capture the man on school grounds as well as the conversations he held with him. Rauh also installed spyware on the man's computer.
Basically this guy was a stalker. He was also caught in a web of lies.
He got three years in jail for his crimes. Good riddance. Teachers without family connections in WCSD have been fired and had their lives destroyed for basically no reason at all except to cover up administrator incompetence/malfeasance.
Air Races
Some of the victims of Friday's fatal air crash at the Reno National Championship Air Races are being identified, including a Washington man and a man from Arizona.
The second story is particularly tragic:
Just terrible.
In the end, the insurance companies are going to call the shots as to whether this event, the ONLY one of its kind in the world, will be allowed to continue.
The second story is particularly tragic:
The news came in a phone call Saturday at 1 a.m., but his brothers had been trying his cellphone for hours, all gathered at their mom’s house, unsure whether to worry or hope.
“Everybody please pray,” the oldest wrote on Facebook. Their brother had been so excited before this trip.
Michael Wogan, 22, was among the nine people killed when the pilot of a 1940s-model P-51 Mustang crashed into the crowd Friday at the Reno National Championship Air Races. His father, Bill Wogan, was with his son, and lost his right eye, some of the fingers on his right hand, suffered over 100 fractures to his face, and was in critical condition at a Reno hospital.
He was the third of four sons, and the number three meant a lot to this Phoenix area family: three wheelchairs, three big vans, three of the brothers with congenital muscular dystrophy. With those kinds of numbers, brothers are what you need.
Just terrible.
In the end, the insurance companies are going to call the shots as to whether this event, the ONLY one of its kind in the world, will be allowed to continue.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Grand Theft
Of course the corporate culprits who decided to rob and destroy company pensions have not seen a day in prison where they belong.
How did this happen? A new book about pensions attempts to explain it:
How did this happen? A new book about pensions attempts to explain it:
I kept on thinking about the market crash of 2008, where bankers were partly saved from public outrage because the public really didn't understand how the system worked. I remember thinking, "This is so complicated that I can't even really get angry about it, because I don't know how it all breaks down."The retirees didn't understand this was being done to them. They just assumed, "Oh well, this company is affected like everyone else by the economy." They didn't see the role the companies played [in deceiving their employees]. The federal courts found Cigna documents that made it clear that the HR executives were discussing how, if the cutting of employees' benefits was handled right, there wouldn't be an employee backlash because the people wouldn't understand what was happening. And it's a pattern that has existed at a number of other companies.It may seem odd to you that a person wouldn't know their pension is being cut, from, for example, $20,000 a year to $15,000 or $10,000. But companies have various ways of masking it. One way is to pay people a lump sum when they leave, saying, "Here's a lump sum so you don't need to wait until you're 65 to get a payment." Almost everyone who was attracted to that assumed it was the equivalent amount to a pension because they didn't know about the time value of money and discount rates and so forth.
Obituaries
Former Illinois senator Charles Percy, one of the good Republicans back in the days when there WERE good people in the party who actually cared about others besides the filthy rich, has died. He was 91 years of age and had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for a number of years.
One of his twin daughters was murdered back in the sixties, while the other one married Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.
Rockefeller's office announced the death.
Snip:
He was a good guy, and what a shame the GOP turned into such a shithole party.
_____
Kara Kennedy, 51, daughter of the late senator Ted Kennedy and his first wife Joan, of a heart attack following a workout.
Kennedy had also battled cancer.
link
_____
Eleanor Mondale, also 51, daughter of the former vice president, of brain cancer. She had been battling the disease for six years.
Mondale had worked in Hollywood as an actor and as a journalist.
_____
Former Wyoming senator Malcolm Wallop, whose background was rather interesting and was more of an aristocrat than many of his GOP colleagues, after a long illness. He was 79 years old.
_____
One of his twin daughters was murdered back in the sixties, while the other one married Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.
Rockefeller's office announced the death.
Snip:
Mr. Percy briefly considered a bid for the White House only once. In June 1973, he formed an exploratory committee to look into a 1976 candidacy. But he closed it down after Nixon resigned in August 1974 and Vice President Gerald R. Ford became president. Within a week, Mr. Percy said Ford had gotten off to an excellent start and was likely to be nominated in 1976, as he was.Mr. Percy’s clash with Nixon came in the spring of 1973 as the president was trying to contain the Watergate scandal, set in motion by the break-in at the offices of the Democratic opposition by a White House team of burglars and aggravated by the administration’s efforts to cover up the crime.On May 1, the day after Nixon announced a staff shakeup and authorized a new attorney general to “make all decisions” relating to Watergate prosecutions, Mr. Percy proposed a Senate resolution demanding an independent prosecutor “of the highest character and integrity from outside the executive branch.”
He was a good guy, and what a shame the GOP turned into such a shithole party.
_____
Kara Kennedy, 51, daughter of the late senator Ted Kennedy and his first wife Joan, of a heart attack following a workout.
Kennedy had also battled cancer.
link
_____
Eleanor Mondale, also 51, daughter of the former vice president, of brain cancer. She had been battling the disease for six years.
Mondale had worked in Hollywood as an actor and as a journalist.
_____
Former Wyoming senator Malcolm Wallop, whose background was rather interesting and was more of an aristocrat than many of his GOP colleagues, after a long illness. He was 79 years old.
_____
Air Races
The pilot and the plane involved in the horrible accident at the National Championship Air Races in Reno were the oldest participants in the event.
Some of the initial reports had ageist tones to them, but it is clear Jimmy Leeward was a highly experienced pilot and has been credited for being able to steer his plane in an instant to avoid the grandstands, thus saving hundreds of lives. The air races are one of the two biggest events in Reno, with the other being Hot August Nights. Reno has many major events during the summer beginning with the Reno Rodeo, so the cancellation of the air races is a major blow to the already economically depressed area. However, this was the only course of action despite Leeward's family insisting the event go on.
A clip of Leeward and his plane from a couple of days ago can be seen here.
There have been other fatalities over the years, but none of these had ever involved spectators.
I believe the air races will continue, but more safety measures will probably be put in. However, something like this was unavoidable, just like car crashes are unavoidable in the Indy 500.
Update: At least nine have died as a result of injuries in the crash including pilot Leeward.
Some of the initial reports had ageist tones to them, but it is clear Jimmy Leeward was a highly experienced pilot and has been credited for being able to steer his plane in an instant to avoid the grandstands, thus saving hundreds of lives. The air races are one of the two biggest events in Reno, with the other being Hot August Nights. Reno has many major events during the summer beginning with the Reno Rodeo, so the cancellation of the air races is a major blow to the already economically depressed area. However, this was the only course of action despite Leeward's family insisting the event go on.
A clip of Leeward and his plane from a couple of days ago can be seen here.
There have been other fatalities over the years, but none of these had ever involved spectators.
I believe the air races will continue, but more safety measures will probably be put in. However, something like this was unavoidable, just like car crashes are unavoidable in the Indy 500.
Update: At least nine have died as a result of injuries in the crash including pilot Leeward.
Friday, September 16, 2011
News, Etc.
Teachers in Tacoma, Washington, have made a gutsy move and continue to strike despite a judge's order to return to work.
_____
Obama continues his assault on health care.
_____
Rahm Emanuel is an idiot and a bigot. "Obesity" isn't a matter of eating too much or exercising too little--most of it is genetic or is a result of an underlying disease such as hypothryoidism, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, or diabetes.
"Dieting" is a failure because it goes against nature and doesn't address possible other causes for weight gain and fluid retention.
Singling out people to penalize them is discriminatory and ignorant. Washoe County School District had one of those stupid "wellness" programs in there. I doubt they saved any kind of money; they just simply fired people when they used FMLA.
_____
In all of the years I lived in Reno, I never had any desire to go to its signature event, the National Air Races. I always went to the balloon races, but not the air races.
There was a horrible tragedy there this afternoon:
A spokesman describes the scene as a "mass casualty situation." link
At least 3 are dead, including the 80-year-old pilot, with at least 75 injured, and of those, 25 are critical.
_____
Rahm Emanuel is an idiot and a bigot. "Obesity" isn't a matter of eating too much or exercising too little--most of it is genetic or is a result of an underlying disease such as hypothryoidism, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, or diabetes.
"Dieting" is a failure because it goes against nature and doesn't address possible other causes for weight gain and fluid retention.
Singling out people to penalize them is discriminatory and ignorant. Washoe County School District had one of those stupid "wellness" programs in there. I doubt they saved any kind of money; they just simply fired people when they used FMLA.
_____
In all of the years I lived in Reno, I never had any desire to go to its signature event, the National Air Races. I always went to the balloon races, but not the air races.
There was a horrible tragedy there this afternoon:
A spokesman describes the scene as a "mass casualty situation." link
At least 3 are dead, including the 80-year-old pilot, with at least 75 injured, and of those, 25 are critical.
Marshall Carter was working on some fuel tanks nearby said he saw the plane pull up, "and it looked like he had major mechanical malfunction, like the controls failed."
Carter said the plane was about 100 feet off the ground and was rolling over at that point. It appeared he purposely pulled back on the stick so the plane went into the ground, instead of the stands, saving hundreds of lives.
Greg Erny, 57, who was sitting in the VIP section, said the plane disintegrated as its pieces flew into the crowd.
"It was the most sickening thing I've ever seen just watching the plane, there was no plane left," he said.
Michael Haughton, the president and CEO of the National Championship Air Races, said the rest of the event is canceled.
Leeward was 74, not 80 as earlier reported. The latest report says 54 were injured.
_____
Robert Rubin Puppet Obama
needs to fire himself alongside the gang of crooks who continue to send this country down an economic shitter.
Nobody should claim he or she is "shocked" by Obama's "betrayal" of Democratic Party principles when he never did paint himself as any kind of Democrat.
Nobody wants to admit he or she was taken in by a monstrous media con.
Elizabeth Warren might be what this country needs. She plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat now occupied by one-time centerfold Scott Brown.
Nobody should claim he or she is "shocked" by Obama's "betrayal" of Democratic Party principles when he never did paint himself as any kind of Democrat.
Nobody wants to admit he or she was taken in by a monstrous media con.
Elizabeth Warren might be what this country needs. She plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat now occupied by one-time centerfold Scott Brown.
Someone who knows a great deal about that sort of scam is Elizabeth Warren, the consumer advocate and Harvard law professor pushed out of Obama's inner circle. In launching her campaign for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts this week, Warren posted a video that clearly defined the enemy:"Washington is rigged for big corporations. A big company, like GE, pays nothing in taxes, and we're asking college students to take on even more debt to get an education?"Obama in appointing Immelt last January praised him as a business leader who "understands what it takes for America to compete in the global economy." Apparently, what Immelt understands is that what it takes to satisfy corporate interests instead of national needs is conning a president into looking the other way while you send jobs abroad.
When It Comes to Social Security,
Obama can't be trusted as far as one can throw him.
The "supercongress" worries the hell out of me because you KNOW Obama and his buddies on Wall Street and the IMF want "austerity measures" put on the American people in order to bail out the crooks who tanked the economy.
The "supercongress" worries the hell out of me because you KNOW Obama and his buddies on Wall Street and the IMF want "austerity measures" put on the American people in order to bail out the crooks who tanked the economy.
If You Are a "99er," By Definition You Are Not "Gaming the System"
because you have STILL not found employment after your UI runs out. Let's quit feeding the liars on the right who want people to be so desperate they would take any piece of shit work, even work for nothing, just so these "taxpayers" don't have to foot the bill for UI, food stamps, etc.
There aren't any JOBS, period, of any consequence, and what few there are have intense competition. That's because of deliberate Washington policies which seek to destroy the middle class in order to put us on "equal footing" with the Chinese in terms of slave wages and nonexistent benefits.
Until there is a formal policy of "demand-side" economics, this dire state of affairs will NOT change.
There aren't any JOBS, period, of any consequence, and what few there are have intense competition. That's because of deliberate Washington policies which seek to destroy the middle class in order to put us on "equal footing" with the Chinese in terms of slave wages and nonexistent benefits.
Until there is a formal policy of "demand-side" economics, this dire state of affairs will NOT change.
Call Me a Cynic,
but I seriously doubt WCSD's "graduation rates" have actually improved one iota and certainly have nothing to do with an "economic recovery" whereby unemployment there is still around the 13-percent range.
Morrison would have you believe that as soon as he took over the superintendent job from Paul Dugan in August 2009, miracles started happening in the district thanks to Morrison's "reforms."
This is Michelle Rhee-style cooking the books so that the district looks good. I never did believe the dropout rate was that high in WCSD given the fact there has always been a huge transient population--many, many students move from place to place as their parents find other opportunities elsewhere or they get evicted quite a bit. Not that many students in Title I elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools stay put for the entire twelve years. If there really is any "improvement" in the graduation rates, it is because many transient families have left Washoe County in search of better employment opportunities.
Morrison is a shameless publicity hound, and the media follows suit by publishing "reports" that are nothing but rewrites of the district's press releases:
Morrison would have you believe that as soon as he took over the superintendent job from Paul Dugan in August 2009, miracles started happening in the district thanks to Morrison's "reforms."
This is Michelle Rhee-style cooking the books so that the district looks good. I never did believe the dropout rate was that high in WCSD given the fact there has always been a huge transient population--many, many students move from place to place as their parents find other opportunities elsewhere or they get evicted quite a bit. Not that many students in Title I elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools stay put for the entire twelve years. If there really is any "improvement" in the graduation rates, it is because many transient families have left Washoe County in search of better employment opportunities.
Morrison is a shameless publicity hound, and the media follows suit by publishing "reports" that are nothing but rewrites of the district's press releases:
The school district’s improved graduation rates have earned it a place as a finalist for a national education award.It's all about him and how he looks. Disgusting.
In just his third year on the job, Morrison has brought enormous success to the school district, but the work doesn’t stop there, he said.
Alternative education programs and re-engagement centers are part of a wide net cast to support students inside and outside of school. In addition, WCSD officials said they intend to improve college and career readiness by enrolling more students in more rigorous classes, including Advanced Placement courses.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
News, Etc.
A typical Republican nitwit asserts that the unemployed should be discriminated against in hiring. This nitwit has decided to introduce a toxic GOP-version of what Obama is trying to sell.
Of course the nitwit offers nothing in the way of alleviating the dire national jobs situation.
_____
This link has fantastic color photographs from the early 1940s of New York City scenes.
_____
Stalinist Russia is alive and well in the form of teacher "due process" hearings.
Of course the nitwit offers nothing in the way of alleviating the dire national jobs situation.
_____
This link has fantastic color photographs from the early 1940s of New York City scenes.
_____
Stalinist Russia is alive and well in the form of teacher "due process" hearings.
America: Land of the Greed and Home of the Slave
As everybody knows, poverty rates have shot up to at least 15-percent of the population, and the figure is most likely conservative.
Some "recovery."
As it is the government’s poverty threshold—about $22,000 for a family of four and $11,000 for a single person under 65—is insufficient to maintain a decent standard of living. A more accurate measure would be twice the official poverty line, or about $44,000 for a family of four. More than 100 million Americans—one in three—are below this threshold.The main factor behind the growth of poverty is the jobs crisis, which has only gotten worse since 2010, the year after the recession supposedly ended. Tens of millions of workers are jobless or forced to work part-time, low-wage jobs that are insufficient to keep them out of poverty.
Some "recovery."
Tuesday's Special House Elections
in New York and Nevada were a direct result of sex scandals: In New York, it was Democrat Anthony Weiner's idiocy, while in Nevada, it was John Ensign's real sex-and-payoff scandal which forced an election there.
In Nevada's case, the GOP made sure it had all its ducks in a row before Ensign decided to step down. Congressman Dean Heller took over, and then his safe CD-2 seat was open. The GOP made sure nobody like Sharron Angle would be the nominee and instead Mark Amodei, whose record isn't anywhere as crackpot as Angle's, got the establishment GOP nod.
Nevada's CD-2 seat really wasn't competitive for Democrats and never will be simply because of the way the district is drawn up to include all of the counties in Nevada including a bit of Clark County, while the other two districts are completely in Clark County. In other words, CD-2 is largely rural, and these voters have been Republicans for generations. They aren't ever going to change. Jesus Christ could run as a Democrat there, and the rurals would still vote for the Republican.
It is a hopeless seat. I doubt a new congressional seat in Nevada will change the dynamic in CD-2.
The NY race was a lot more interesting, but I suspect a low voter turnout, plus general disgust of Weiner's antics as well as with Obama, played a huge role there.
WSWS link
In Nevada's case, the GOP made sure it had all its ducks in a row before Ensign decided to step down. Congressman Dean Heller took over, and then his safe CD-2 seat was open. The GOP made sure nobody like Sharron Angle would be the nominee and instead Mark Amodei, whose record isn't anywhere as crackpot as Angle's, got the establishment GOP nod.
Nevada's CD-2 seat really wasn't competitive for Democrats and never will be simply because of the way the district is drawn up to include all of the counties in Nevada including a bit of Clark County, while the other two districts are completely in Clark County. In other words, CD-2 is largely rural, and these voters have been Republicans for generations. They aren't ever going to change. Jesus Christ could run as a Democrat there, and the rurals would still vote for the Republican.
It is a hopeless seat. I doubt a new congressional seat in Nevada will change the dynamic in CD-2.
The NY race was a lot more interesting, but I suspect a low voter turnout, plus general disgust of Weiner's antics as well as with Obama, played a huge role there.
WSWS link
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Election Year Showboating
Of course Congress will never vote to make the "unemployed" a protected class and be able to sue employers given the attitude of the GOP and neolibs.
Unlike race and especially age, it would be MUCH easier to prove employers are discriminating against the unemployed. Just get the records and compare those hired having already been employed when hired with those not hired and not having been employed.
The main reason employers screen out the unemployed is to cut the applicant pool to a manageable number. Otherwise, it makes no fucking sense.
Obama is just in campaign mode by throwing a bone to Democrats; he knows it hasn't a chance of passing Congress.
Unlike race and especially age, it would be MUCH easier to prove employers are discriminating against the unemployed. Just get the records and compare those hired having already been employed when hired with those not hired and not having been employed.
The main reason employers screen out the unemployed is to cut the applicant pool to a manageable number. Otherwise, it makes no fucking sense.
Obama is just in campaign mode by throwing a bone to Democrats; he knows it hasn't a chance of passing Congress.
News, Etc.
Unless or until the Nevada second congressional district is redrawn so it is not overrepresented by the so-called "cow counties," no Democrat will EVER win that seat no matter how good or qualified.
The Republicans could run a chimpanzee for that seat, and the rural voters would overwhelmingly vote for it. After all, voters put a "gibbon(s)" in there after Vucanovich retired.
_____
Obituary: Mountaineer Walter Bonatti received belated fame as being one of the people involved in the first ascent of the notoriously dangerous mountain K2 and lived to tell the tale. He has died at the age of 81 of undisclosed reasons.
link
_____
Of course anybody with a brain knows Obama is a neoliberal and not a liberal.
The Republicans could run a chimpanzee for that seat, and the rural voters would overwhelmingly vote for it. After all, voters put a "gibbon(s)" in there after Vucanovich retired.
_____
Obituary: Mountaineer Walter Bonatti received belated fame as being one of the people involved in the first ascent of the notoriously dangerous mountain K2 and lived to tell the tale. He has died at the age of 81 of undisclosed reasons.
link
_____
Of course anybody with a brain knows Obama is a neoliberal and not a liberal.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Alan Grayson Was Right
If you are uninsured or otherwise needy, the "Tea Party" types and libertarian/fascists believe you should just die:
Unfortunately, Obama isn't much better.
Unfortunately, Obama isn't much better.
Actually, There Are More Than a Few
who have talked about the so-called "jumpers" who in panic leaped from the Twin Towers to avoid death by fire or smoke inhalation only to face certain death below. Of course these people weren't thinking rationally; otherwise, they wouldn't have put first responders and others on the street at risk or create trauma to those who have witnessed the falls. Of course these weren't suicides; they were forced out of the building thanks to the terrorists who put them in the situation.
They were murder victims, pure and simple, not "jumpers."
Last night I looked at the documentary called 9/11: The Falling Man, which discussed the "jumpers" and revealed the (likely) identity of the poor soul who was photographed by an AP photographer in "mid-flight."
Here is an article with the photograph published. The documentary is very hard to take in places because the interviewees were suffering so badly from the trauma of losing family members and friends.
Part one of the YouTube (the other parts are in the sidebar):
This and any of the original news coverage is very hard to take.
They were murder victims, pure and simple, not "jumpers."
Last night I looked at the documentary called 9/11: The Falling Man, which discussed the "jumpers" and revealed the (likely) identity of the poor soul who was photographed by an AP photographer in "mid-flight."
Here is an article with the photograph published. The documentary is very hard to take in places because the interviewees were suffering so badly from the trauma of losing family members and friends.
Part one of the YouTube (the other parts are in the sidebar):
This and any of the original news coverage is very hard to take.
Group Job Interviews
I was supposed to have an interview today with an employer for a tutoring position, but when I found out it was a group interview, I cancelled it. No way will I ever go through one of those.
I have had one-on-one interviews and usually panel interviews, and those are intimidating enough without being degraded and demeaned into a competition for a job that doesn't pay squat. Furthermore, I don't want to know who the "competition" is, and given my age, the odds are very good these people are about 30 years younger.
Forget it.
I have had one-on-one interviews and usually panel interviews, and those are intimidating enough without being degraded and demeaned into a competition for a job that doesn't pay squat. Furthermore, I don't want to know who the "competition" is, and given my age, the odds are very good these people are about 30 years younger.
Forget it.
News, Etc.
When it comes to Social Security (and a lot of other issues), one can trust Obama as far as he can be picked up and thrown.
_____
The Bank of America has shed or will shed some 30,000 positions, while Obama is trotting around the country trying to sell the public on his Republican-style "job creation" initiative which will do NOTHING to create demand.
_____
Michael Lind discusses the decline of American foreign policy. The ruinous economic policies of offshoring jobs to other countries to make items for AMERICAN consumption and the tendency of this country to be involved in ever more expensive and fruitless wars are key to America's decline.
The decline in nation-states is most worrying because it appears countries will be merely tools of the international capitalists and their neoliberal minions.
_____
Nevada's Brian Sandoval continues to make an ass of himself.
It makes one almost nostalgic for former governor Gibbons.
_____
The Bank of America has shed or will shed some 30,000 positions, while Obama is trotting around the country trying to sell the public on his Republican-style "job creation" initiative which will do NOTHING to create demand.
_____
Michael Lind discusses the decline of American foreign policy. The ruinous economic policies of offshoring jobs to other countries to make items for AMERICAN consumption and the tendency of this country to be involved in ever more expensive and fruitless wars are key to America's decline.
The decline in nation-states is most worrying because it appears countries will be merely tools of the international capitalists and their neoliberal minions.
_____
Nevada's Brian Sandoval continues to make an ass of himself.
It makes one almost nostalgic for former governor Gibbons.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Etc,
The 9/11 tragedy was horrible enough, but then it was used as an excuse to implement all kinds of ruinous foreign policy initiatives. link
_____
The unemployed could exercise their clout if they only knew their history.
Snip:
_____
The unemployed could exercise their clout if they only knew their history.
Snip:
Today, the question is: As the new unemployment "norm" rises, will the "99ers" remain just a number, or will anger and systemic dysfunction lead to the rebirth of movements of the unemployed, perhaps allied, as in the past, with others suffering from the economy's relentless downward arc? Keep in mind that the extent of organized protest by the unemployed in the past should not be exaggerated. Not even the Great Depression evoked their sustained mass mobilization. That's hardly surprising. By its nature, unemployment demoralizes and isolates people. It makes of them a transient and chronically fluctuating population with no readily discernable common enemy and no obvious place to coalesce.
Another question might be: In the coming years, might we see the return of a basic American horror at the phenomenon of joblessness? And might it drive Americans to begin to ask deeper questions about the system that lives and feeds on it?
After all, we now exist in an under-developing economy. What new jobs it is creating are poor paying, low skill, and often temporary, nor are there enough of them to significantly reduce the numbers of those out of work. The 99ers are stark evidence that we may be witnessing the birth of a new permanent class of the marginalized. (The percentage of the unemployed who have been out of work for more than six months has grown from 8.6 percent in 1979 to 19.6 percent today.) Moreover, our mode of "flexible capitalism" has made work itself increasingly transient and precarious.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
News, Etc.
In L.A. at least, labor is not on the wane, which is good news for a change, unless, of course, you are talking about LAUSD. link
_____
As much as I don't care to say this, Mitt Romney wouldn't be as destructive a president as Obama.
The Democratic Party, at the insistence of the media, screwed the pooch or jumped the shark when Obama was put in as nominee despite warnings from many quarters what this guy REALLY is.
I am afraid Obama isn't on the same plane as other one-term presidents who were good at their jobs. He's more like a Hoover or Coolidge.
_____
It's that anniversary again, and I REFUSE to watch the media's hype over it. The "best" way to remember this tragedy is to see the original television footage as it happened. Somebody on YouTube posted ALL of the networks' footage (including Fox and CNN) of the original reports for people to see. This link is to part one of CBS's, but the sidebar has a slew of links of the other network reports.
It's history, after all, so it is important.
_____
As much as I don't care to say this, Mitt Romney wouldn't be as destructive a president as Obama.
The Democratic Party, at the insistence of the media, screwed the pooch or jumped the shark when Obama was put in as nominee despite warnings from many quarters what this guy REALLY is.
I am afraid Obama isn't on the same plane as other one-term presidents who were good at their jobs. He's more like a Hoover or Coolidge.
_____
It's that anniversary again, and I REFUSE to watch the media's hype over it. The "best" way to remember this tragedy is to see the original television footage as it happened. Somebody on YouTube posted ALL of the networks' footage (including Fox and CNN) of the original reports for people to see. This link is to part one of CBS's, but the sidebar has a slew of links of the other network reports.
It's history, after all, so it is important.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Obituaries
Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson, 88, died today of natural causes.
In addition to his acting skills, he was married for a number of years to heiress Dina Merrill.
In addition to his acting skills, he was married for a number of years to heiress Dina Merrill.
Robertson never elevated into the top ranks of leading men, but he remained a popular actor from the mid-1950s into the following century. His later roles included kindly Uncle Ben in the "Spider-Man" movies.He also gained attention for his second marriage to actress and heiress Dina Merrill, daughter of financier E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post cereal fortune and one of the world's richest women.
Talk is Cheap, Mr. President
Here was that damned speech Obama gave the other night in front of both houses of Congress:
It's just a bunch of rhetoric. Obama has no intention of creating jobs.
It's just a big con.
He subscribes to the Friedmanite crackpottery of the Chicago School of "Economics."
Businesses are saying the plan is worthless because of a lack of demand. Because there is a lack of demand, private industry can't spur it. The government has to do it.
Unfortunately, since Obama is a neolib, he won't do one goddamned thing about it.
It's just a bunch of rhetoric. Obama has no intention of creating jobs.
It's just a big con.
The claim by Obama and the rest of the political establishment that there is “no money” to fund real jobs programs or social benefits is a lie. The cash currently held by the giant corporations and banks is itself sufficient to wipe out the combined deficits of federal, state and local governments, and enough to hire every unemployed worker in America at a decent wage with benefits.The liberal and liberal-left establishment predictably hailed Obama’s speech, presenting its combination of half-measures and social attacks as a serious jobs program. The New York Times called it “an ambitious proposal—more robust and far-reaching than expected.” The newspaper’s economics columnist, Paul Krugman, wrote, “I was favorably surprised by the new Obama jobs plan, which is significantly bolder and better than I expected.”
He subscribes to the Friedmanite crackpottery of the Chicago School of "Economics."
Businesses are saying the plan is worthless because of a lack of demand. Because there is a lack of demand, private industry can't spur it. The government has to do it.
Unfortunately, since Obama is a neolib, he won't do one goddamned thing about it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)