Etc.

Will OWS go the way of the Tea Party and continue to lose support among the general voting population?

It looks that way.
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More lawsuits are coming out of the woodwork against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.

It sounds like a civil suit, so people are quick to cash in.
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Hey, Even Millionaire School Superintendents Can Fall on Hard Times

I expect Hannity, O'Reilly, and all the rest to wax eloquently about the bums who collect unemployment insurance and game the system.

Oh wait. It is a millionaire school superintendent who has applied, so it is okay:

The school district confirmed yesterday that Ackerman applied for benefits this month.

Considering her salary of nearly $350,000 in her final tumultuous year leading the district, Ackerman will likely be eligible for $573 a week, the highest weekly benefit provided by the state.

Those benefits would then be reduced based on any pension payments she is receiving from her 40-year career in education, said a spokesman for the state department of labor and industry.

The district agreed not to fight any unemployment claims filed by Ackerman as part of the separation agreement her lawyers negotiated in August.

This means she won't be getting anything at all. Her pension far outweighs any UI she could possibly get.

I don't know why she even bothered applying.

SUPES Academy

Here is a link to the "training" outfit dedicated to making principals and other administrators even worse than they already are.

I suspect it is a privatization outfit like the Eli Broad superintendent "academies." Principals especially don't get to be principals unless they are certified in educational leadership. They already have been trained how to run a school whether or not they have the talent or ability to do so. I believe the SUPES deal is about trying to force administrators into being equivalent to middle management in business by adopting a corporate mindset. They are totally unrelated fields, but the privatizers don't care.

Here is a letter spelling it out. It is full of propaganda. When you allude to the Reagan administration's fraudulent A Nation at Risk, then you have pretty much outed yourself as a privatizer not interested in improving public schools.

Making Silk Purses Out of Sows' Ears

It seems WCSD is putting new principals through some sort of "leadership academy," which reminds me of the "academies" NYC's mayor Mike Bloomberg put his inductees through.

In other words, it's teaching these new principals how to create fear and distrust among teachers while at the same time getting away with murder.

Of course it is some kind of Eli Broad-endorsed nonsense.

All of the "training" in the world isn't going to make a silk purse out of sow's ear principal or other administrator. What the public doesn't know is that principals and higher-up administrators are for the most part failed or burned-out teachers who wanted to get away from the classroom. They don't have and don't demonstrate innate talent for "leadership." Most of them have "talent" for knowing the right people or have been related to somebody in a school district. In times past many principals WERE good or at least tolerable because they had years of apprenticeship as teachers and became principals near the end of their careers. They were near retirement age, not in their twenties or thirties or forties lacking maturity and intelligence. However, all of these principals got out of the system when NCLB put a stranglehold on school districts. What districts are stuck with are the dregs, quite frankly.

I could list the names of principals in WCSD--and there are many--who have no business running a school. Instead, they should be fired, not trained, not reassigned, not promoted, not demoted. This is par for the course nationally. What people need to know is teachers, who are at the bottom of the chain, are held to all kinds of accountability yet get paid nowhere near what they are worth while principals, who make professional salaries, are held to NO standards of accountability whatsoever. No, they aren't held accountable to parents, they aren't held accountable for test scores, nothing, because nothing ever happens to them unless a third party raises a stink to the superintendent personally about sexual misconduct or some other serious offense. And even then, the principal merely gets demoted, not fired.

It's a disgraceful state of affairs, but people have been so conned into believing the problems in schools are with teachers and not with administrators, it's hard to get the truth out.

It's Clear By Now Joe Paterno Was Treated Like Shit

not just by Penn State, which wanted to get rid of him anyway, but also by the despicable and hypocritical media.

It is becoming more outrageous now that a new scandal has erupted, this time from Syracuse U. It appears ESPN was neck deep in the coverup.

More about the Bernie Fine scandal:

Although federal authorities have taken the lead in the investigation - Fine, the former Orange assistant men’s basketball coach, is accused of molesting at least three boys - allegations of the abuse were brought to the Syracuse Police Department’s attention in 2002, according to current police chief Frank Fowler. But Fowler said in his statment Tuesday that an investigation of Fine was never launched then because the statute of limitations had expired.

Bobby Davis, a former Syracuse ball boy, and Davis’ stepbrother, Mike Lang, claim they were molested by Fine more than two decades ago. A third person, Zach Tomaselli, has come forward and claimed that he was molested by Fine in a Pittsburgh hotel in 2002, when Tomaselli was 13.

His wife has denied the authenticity of the taped telephone call, which sounded pretty damning, by the way.

And WHERE Are the Constitutional Challenges

to the whole concept of privatized prisons? It is an outrage companies are making money off the misery of others, including the victims of crime.

There are certain things that in a civilized country that should NEVER be left to for-profit corporations: health care, education, and the criminal justice system. Only third world countries have these corrupt schemes.

Sounds like the United States is rapidly going the way of Chile in the 1970s.

Cheap for America

is found to be quite "profitable" for the New Orleans school district.

Remember, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan once said Katrina was the best thing for education "reform" efforts.

Best for whom, Arne? Dingbat Duncan later apologized, but it was too little, too late.

Same is true for New Orleans:

As with so much else that defines the post-Katrina school system, the group's ubiquity in New Orleans sets the city apart, but also places it squarely at the center of national debate over the future of the teaching profession. With its profile in Louisiana growing, the same questions that have dogged the group since its founding are echoing loudly around the state.

Do its members ever stick around past their two-year teaching commitment? Are they really prepared for the grinding challenges of an inner-city classroom? And what makes TFA alumni, with only two or three years teaching experience and no formal degree in education, fit for the most important education jobs in the state?

Of course these people are unqualified and many unfit for the teaching profession. But hey, who cares about a bunch of African American kids, as the "public" schools in NOLA are comprised mostly of minorities anyway?

Where in the hell are the court challenges against this program which is obviously racist in its implementation?

The Only People Who Would Think Austerity is "Fun"

are those who are being bailed out by the taxpayers for having run the economy into the ditch.

Everybody else can go hang as far as they are concerned.

Libertarianism Is Always About Protecting the Privileged

at the expense of the masses. The key to its success is how well it can con the masses into supporting something so antithetical to their interests.

The way they do it is to wrap their elitist fascism into a facade of populism. Use all the right buzzwords to get the "people" to support you yet have utterly no intention of doing anything right by them.

Ron Paul fits this to a tee. I am surprised there are people who fall sucker for it.

News, Etc.

Obama should just hang it up and decline to run for another term. If you think you've screwed up, why in the hell torture yourself and the American people by allowing yourself more?
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Sirhan Sirhan needs to shut up and spend the rest of his life in prison where he belongs.

Blaming others for his killing RFK will win him no admirers outside of the conspiracy theory crackpot industry.
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Herman Cain's quest for the presidency is just about over with.

Her name is Ginger White:

Ginger White says she met Herman Cain in the late 90s in Louisville, Kentucky, when as president of the National Restaurant Association, he made a presentation. She was impressed. She says they shared drinks afterwards and he invited her back to his hotel room.

“’I'd like to see you again,’” White said Cain told her. “’You are beautiful to me, and I would love for us to continue this friendship.’”

She says in his hotel room, he pulled out a calendar and invited her to meet him in Palm Springs. She accepted, and she says the affair began.

Do Principals With Principles Exist?

Apparently there are quite a few in New York who are upset to no end about the "reforms" involving teacher and principal evaluations.

Or else they are pissed off because now THEY have to be evaluated. There wasn't all the hue and cry when teachers were targeted.

Principals better face the fact that they will no longer have cushy jobs for life and will be disposable just like teachers.

People like Eli Broad believe principals shouldn't be educators anyway but instead have MBAs. Talk about insane.

The dynamic duo of Obama and Duncan may start an "Occupy Public Education" movement:

As of last night, 658 principals around the state had signed a letter — 488 of them from Long Island, where the insurrection began — protesting the use of students’ test scores to evaluate teachers’ and principals’ performance.

Their complaints are many: the evaluation system was put together in slapdash fashion, with no pilot program; there are test scores to evaluate only fourth-through-eighth-grade English and math teachers; and New York tests are so unreliable that they had to be rescaled radically last year, with proficiency rates in math and English dropping 25 percentage points overnight.

Mr. Kaplan, who runs one of the highest-achieving schools in the state, has been evaluating teachers since the education commissioner was a teenager. No matter. He is required by Nassau County officials to attend 10 training sessions, as is Carol Burris, the principal of South Side High School here, who was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State.

“It’s education by humiliation,” Mr. Kaplan said. “I’ve never seen teachers and principals so degraded.”

It's early yet. Just wait until the privatizers have their way.

Obituaries

Lana Peters, daughter of Joseph Stalin, died of colon cancer on November 22. She was 85.
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Journalist and columnist Tom Wicker, 85, has died of a heart attack, according to his wife.
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Controversial director Ken Russell has died at the age of 84.

The director of Tommy, Women in Love and Altered States was known for a florid adaptations of classic literature and over-the-top biopics that ranged from perverse to merely provocative — and an indelible nickname: "Kinky Ken Russell."

In the 1971 film The Devils, Vanessa Redgrave played a nun who is vividly tortured. The church objected, as did a legion of critics disgusted by the film's excesses and sadomasochism.

But Russell, a Catholic convert, defended his films.

Conflict of Interest

is the name of the game when it comes to education of all kinds.

The Washington Post has been one of the biggest boosters of school privatization, including for-profit colleges. These "colleges" are nothing more than scams designed to rip off the federal government of Pell grants and the like.

Third World America

Here is a 60 Minutes report on homeless families. This is a national scandal:

Virtual Schools for K-12 Should Be Outlawed

except in extremely limited circumstances like credit recovery and teaching rural students.  Such programs should be done only through school districts, NOT through private or charter schools.  It is just as important for students to be able to socialize with peers and learn to work together as it is to learn academics.

You HAVE to have interaction with others to be fully rounded as a functional adult.  Virtual schools are being used by cynics as a way to gut teachers, librarians, and others for cost-saving reasons.

The "teachers" can be outsourced to India or China and make pennies a day.

It’s an appealing proposition, and one that has attracted support in state legislatures, including Virginia’s. But in one of the most hard-fought quarters of public policy, arising chorus of critics argues that full-time virtual learning doesn’t effectively educate children.

“Kindergarten kids learning in front of a monitor — that’s just wrong,” said Maryelen Calderwood, an elected school committee member in Greenfield, Mass., who unsuccessfully tried to stop K12 from contracting with her community to create New England’s first virtual public school last year. “It’s absolutely astounding how people can accept this so easily.”

The Idiocy of College for All

was always apparent when in fact few jobs have ever required much more than a high school diploma.  Because more and more people were going to college, businesses merely used that as a screening device.  A degree, however, is a piss-poor substitute for a union card.

Even when college degrees are required, more and more businesses are trying to "outsource" jobs to other countries, even some medical  and legal work.  Eventually education will go that way too once the privatizers are allowed to put through online schools for K-12 without restrictions.

One of the greatest changes is that a college degree is no longer the guarantor of a middle-class existence. Until the early 1970s, less than 11 percent of the adult population graduated from college, and most of them could get a decent job. Today nearly a third have college degrees, and a higher percentage of them graduated from nonelite schools. A bachelor’s degree on its own no longer conveys intelligence and capability. To get a good job, you have to have some special skill — charm, by the way, counts — that employers value. But there’s also a pretty good chance that by some point in the next few years, your boss will find that some new technology or some worker overseas can replace you.

Our worthless and corrupt Congress, in love with the debunked and discredited theory of neoliberalism--will see to it that it happens.

There Are So Many Unemployed Teachers

who are qualified, yet TFA is going to be given the go-ahead to expand?  This is absolutely crazy.

Thank a "Democrat" like Obama or Duncan for this latest scheme.

This is all about saving money on salaries and pensions.

Time to outlaw it because of the discriminatory nature of this program.  You don't see TFAs in wealthy neighborhoods.

Wildlife Images Rehabilitation & Education Center

Located near Merlin, Oregon. Spent the day there and in nearby Grants Pass shopping.

The Paper Should Never Have Published This Story

of a fired teacher, provided there were no criminal charges filed against her. Instead, she was considered "grossly negligent of duty" and accused of"unfitness." Of course state statutes are intentionally vague about what these terms mean, so they mean whatever a school district administrator says they mean.

link

My comment:

I also think the teacher can appeal the termination to the state panel (not TSPC), so that may be why any details have not been disclosed. But given how easily teachers are removed, even in a state like Oregon where presumably teachers have "rights" (though they really don't), the story still shouldn't haven't been published.

The MT and other media need to be aware of just what teachers go through, and that contrary to privatization propaganda, they are easily removed. Administrators unfortunately are not. Even one principal I had in Nevada wasn't fired outright although he should have been for committing sexual misconduct with a subordinate. Instead, he was demoted to teacher and moved to another school. The principal who wrongfully terminated me and neglected to do her job wasn't fired but should have been but instead was reassigned to another school as "punishment" for her misdeeds. She is still making the same obscene pay and taking fancy vacations. She was and is totally unfit to be a principal. But the district went out of its way to destroy me to cover both her hind end and that of the chief of human resources.

The MT also needs to be aware that state administrative statutes aren't worth the paper they are written on. They are purposely written vague so that school district administrators can do whatever they want to teachers. These statutes give teachers a false sense of protection but in fact the statutes are written to protect school districts and their administrators.

Make It the 99.9 Percent of the Population

since the majority of the top one percent is hardly in the same league as Kochs and the other filthy rich.

And who are the people who comprise the one-tenth of one percent besides the hereditary rich?

For who are the 0.1 percent? Very few of them are Steve Jobs-type innovators; most of them are corporate bigwigs and financial wheeler-dealers. One recent analysis found that 43 percent of the super-elite are executives at nonfinancial companies, 18 percent are in finance and another 12 percent are lawyers or in real estate. And these are not, to put it mildly, professions in which there is a clear relationship between someone’s income and his economic contribution.

Executive pay, which has skyrocketed over the past generation, is famously set by boards of directors appointed by the very people whose pay they determine; poorly performing C.E.O.’s still get lavish paychecks, and even failed and fired executives often receive millions as they go out the door.

Meanwhile, the economic crisis showed that much of the apparent value created by modern finance was a mirage. As the Bank of England’s director for financial stability recently put it, seemingly high returns before the crisis simply reflected increased risk-taking — risk that was mostly borne not by the wheeler-dealers themselves but either by naïve investors or by taxpayers, who ended up holding the bag when it all went wrong. And as he waspishly noted, “If risk-making were a value-adding activity, Russian roulette players would contribute disproportionately to global welfare.”

So should the 99.9 percent hate the 0.1 percent? No, not at all. But they should ignore all the propaganda about “job creators” and demand that the super-elite pay substantially more in taxes.

If There Is Anything Worse Than No Child Left Behind

it is the Obama-sponsored Race to the Top nonsense. It is putting impossible demands on schools and administrators, and they are both overwhelmed with paperwork right now.

And that isn't even including the fact administrators overall are the least qualified people to judge teachers being failed teachers themselves for the most part.

The state of Tennessee is in a state of confusion since receiving Arne's "award."

Etc.

The New York Times has an editorial about the legions of poor and the so-called "near poor" which total some 100 million people and counting.
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Another frivolous lawsuit is waiting in the wings now that a school has reported an "assault" in the form of two 12-year-olds kissing.
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News, Etc.

It appears the Amish aren't the quiet, low-key type of people after all.

Of course the paper describes this group as a "renegade" group.
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Newt goes out of his way not pleasing anybody who isn't a mistress. Not only did he offend most people with his child labor nonsense, he has pissed off the right by saying some illegals should be legal.

Both stands make sense if you subscribe to the notion that living standards should be lowered to the very bottom of the barrel.
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Blago-Obama flunky Tony Rezko is sentenced to 10 1/2 years in the big house.

Oregon Will Halt Executions

Not that any have been carried out since 1997 and only two since 1984, but at least this rather dipshitty governor Kitzhaber has done the right thing.

It'll likely cost him politically, but the death penalty IS a complete waste of money. Not to mention innocent people have lost their lives because of lousy counsel or crooked police/prosecutors or lying witnesses.

link

The moratorium will last as long as Kitz is in office.

Snip:

The governor, a physician who served two previous terms, from 1995 to 2003, noted that he had allowed the two earlier executions to go forward under his watch.

“They were the most agonizing and difficult decisions I have made as governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again during the past 14 years,” Governor Kitzhaber said. “I do not believe that those executions made us safer; certainly I don’t believe they made us more noble as a society. And I simply cannot participate once again in something I believe to be morally wrong.”

First, We Kill All the Lawyers

Sound advice given how many scumbags flock to this line of work:

A 6-year-old Grant County boy has been accused of first-degree sexual assault after playing "doctor" with two 5-year-old friends.

Now, a federal lawsuit has been filed against the prosecutor, who attorneys said is trying to force the boy to admit guilt.

The boy's parents had planned to speak with WISC-TV on Monday to discuss the emotional toll the prosecution has taken on their son. But the prosecutor, Grant County District Attorney Lisa Riniker, on Monday morning asked a judge for a gag order in the case and was granted it. The gag order prohibits the boy's parents from talking about the case.

It is a bunch of shit, but as I understand it, minors don't have any fifth amendment rights. After all, the kid accused of "rape" in that bullshit civil case where I am named as a defendant was questioned without a lawyer, and the principal of the middle school (now demoted thanks to sexual misconduct with a subordinate) was told by the police not to tell his parents why he was being investigated. Disgusting.

Of course criminal charges were never filed, but the mother of the kid who lied to her filed a civil claim and will probably get a nice settlement. She's out shopping around for a place out of Nevada to retire. It isn't about her "poor son," it's all about getting enough money to be able to retire from low-paid security guard work. She wouldn't be out shopping around for a place to live either in southern Oregon or northern California with few or no jobs available unless she planned to strike it rich as a result of insurance fraud.

Blame Teacher Abuse

for the dire situation at this and other elementary schools.

link

Teachers are punished if they dare confront principals, the latter of whom hold ALL the cards.

More if you subscribe to the paper.

Note these comments:

STILLHEREAFTERALLTHESEYEARS
9:18 AM on 11/22/2011
How do you know that no teacher sounded the alarm? District gossip is that they did and no one would listen. You might want to see if there was a complaint made to the state... that is what other teachers are hearing. Most of us had heard of her "management style" as the editioral staff is so fond of calling it.

This is what you get when all avenues of real communication are dismanteled and turned into a show for the public. Teachers really have no means of reporting since AD's are also promoting this since their paycheck also depends on "scores" and that is all. Teachers are treated like hourly employees and so everyone seems surprised when the act like it and do as they are told to keep their jobs. Make no mistake about it, teachers are bullied all the time and since most are the breadwinners of their families they must keep their jobs. It sounds so easy to sound the alarm yet check to see what has happened to the teachers who have? I bet you will be surprised! Teachers on the other hand won't be. The only teachers to sound the alarm will be ones who are retiring or leaving teaching altogether. No one will risk thier income for retribution from administrators.

Who hold ALL the cards. Teachers have NO chance in such a corrupt system.

More:

KAHDallas
1:18 AM on 11/22/2011
"Until the formal inquiry began, no teacher at Field had sounded the alarm and no administrator seems to have had a clue that this extreme policy was in place."

So the DMN is aghast that teachers didn't sound the alarm at Field Elementary? Really? Really?

Go back through ALL your editorials advocating school change and reflect on your bias against teachers. Revisit your promotion of "business" models that promote more power to principals over those pesky teachers. Applaud your stance on increasing teacher accountability (DISD is spending $1.2 million to develop a new evaluation model) with no mention of increased pay.

This paper, the State of Texas, the DISD trustees, the business community, and the public have subjugated teachers to the status of factory labor (with no right to strike!) and are then incensed when they don't rise to report abuse of policy! You want top-down management of education but are bewildered when events unfold as they have at Field Elementary. You want teachers to shut up and do as they're told and then fulminate when they protect their income rather than speak up. You asked for this mess and now you've got it!

And here's another news flash: The practices at Field Elementary are MUCH more the rule than the exception in DISD schools than anyone outside the system dares to imagine.

Since another ingrained DISD policy is to intimidate whistle-blowers and protect management at all costs, guess we'll just have to rely on the integrity of those in administration and the trustees to set the standard for a high level of integrity in the schools. ...how's that been workin' for ya so far?

Cartoons of the Day

A few of them about our stupid Congress and the unconstitutional supercommittee:

Etc.

I would call it good news that the unconstitutional "supercommittee" has failed to reach any agreement on the budget.

It's a bunch of shit anyway.

While the corporate-controlled media incessantly proclaims that the public is demanding austerity and cuts in federal spending, opinion polls show the direct opposite: a growing fear among the American people that the social programs on which they rely are being shredded.

According to a Battleground poll published last week, 91 percent of likely voters said they were concerned about across-the-board cuts to domestic spending, including Social Security and Medicare. Of those polled, 89 percent favored closing tax loopholes for the wealthy. Asked to rank options for the coming budget cuts, 31 percent said cutting Medicare and Medicaid would be the worst option, while 25 percent thought cutting Social Security was the worst option.

Of course the media will be in bed with what the billionaires want. The masses have nothing to do with this.

How Did the GOP Get So Screwed Up

that it became solely the part of the rich?

In the old days, the party actually tried to work with Democrats by finding some common ground. But ever since the birchers took over the Republican Party and put Ronald Reagan in the White House, neoliberal economic policies have wrecked this country's economy.

There is no hope for the GOP. There is almost no hope for the Democratic Party, thanks to neoliberal infiltration there.

Coverups Are Rampant in Public Education

A special education teacher reported alleged abuse by a colleague and found herself sued in court by the colleague, who was forced to resign. She will be able to press her case.

Interesting Trial in Portland

regarding a whistleblower complaint by a Portland Public Schools former special education administrator who alleges retaliation for standing up for her students.

School districts typically fight employee lawsuits to the death, unlike parent lawsuits, which they usually settle.

Details:

In 2009, Stacey Sibley, founding principal of Portland's Pioneer Special School Program schools for students with severe disabilities, was moved to a do-nothing central office job for a few months then named assistant principal of Ockley Green School.

Sibley says in her lawsuit that's because she clashed repeatedly with her boss, then-special ed director Joanne Mabbott, over Sibley's concerns about student and staff safety at the schools and complained to Mabbott's bosses when Mabbott wouldn't take action. She's seeking $772,000 in damages.

School district leaders counter that budget pressures forced them to eliminate many administrator positions that year and Sibley could have remained at Pioneer if she had accepted additional job responsibilities, but she refused. Ockley Green needed a seasoned assistant principal knowledgeable about special ed, and Sibley did a great job in the role, they say.

National Board Certification

It was created in the 1980s as a response to the Reagan A Nation at Risk report, which was later to be shown as a fraud. Some nitwits decided they and only they could determine who is a "superb" teacher and who isn't, but of course it is a subjective concept that can never be quantified.

Teachers waste a year of their lives and thousands of dollars (instead of actually working on master's or doctorates which never expire) on a process to join an "elite club," but it appears the Board Certification misses the whole essence of what teaching is supposed to be about.

Not to mention plenty of shitty teachers cheat during the process.

In short, it is a scam, as the comments following this piece note.

Spend the money on an advanced degree instead.

To Call People Who Own Houses, Especially If They Own Them Outright,

"near poor" because they claim they are "barely" scraping by is an insult to those of us who have NO fucking assets to speak of at all and are literally hanging on by a thread.

If a woman and her husband can get into a $230,000 house, they aren't nearly poor. I made as much money as those two did combined as a teacher, and I never could afford a house.

Cry me a river.

Enough is Enough

Why in the hell is the L.A. Sheriff's Department bothering reopening the Natalie Wood drowning case from 1981? It all sounds like a publicity stunt.

If no foul play is suspected, then why bother with it?

It was an accidental drowning, pure and simple.

Let her rest in peace.

Gene Lyons is Right About Public Education

It is far better than the critics think it is, but states like Tennessee continue to try and put in "reforms" that are pathetic if they weren't destructive to teaching as a profession:

Dubbed “First to the Top” by Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, the plan reads like something from Joseph Heller’s satirical novel “Catch-22”—a bureaucratic morass so confounding as to invite disbelief.

Surely Winerip’s exaggerating. Anybody who thinks about it for 30 seconds can readily see problems in evaluating teachers according to their own students’ test scores. But basing tenure decisions and pay raises on how other people’s students perform? Yet that’s exactly what Tennessee’s doing.

In deference to the bureaucratic god of false objectivity, Tennessee demands hard numbers where none exist. Little kids have no standardized test scores. So kindergarten through third grade teachers there are evaluated by fifth graders’ results. Seriously.

How in the HELL Will States Like Tennessee EVER Have Teachers

if school districts decide they don't want to take on student teachers? The arguments made by current teachers don't cut it--they, too, were once student teachers.

Of course this is the result of idiotic evaluation systems based on test scores. Teachers are too afraid to take on student teachers.

Again, where in the HELL do would-be teachers get the chance to get classroom experience if they are shut out?

This is insane.

Student teaching is a requirement for graduation in teacher education programs. For districts, it can be an extra set of hands to help busy teachers and provide a pool of future employees to recruit.

The teaching candidates work daily in schools, starting off by observing students, moving to one-on-one student help and then, by the middle of their placement, doing co-teaching and co-planning of lessons.

"We absolutely understand the stress that teachers are feeling -- we don't feel insulted, we just want to figure out ways that we can guarantee student teachers are an asset," Singer-Gabella said. "If we can't place student teachers in Williamson County, we have to go elsewhere -- we will look at other districts, and we will probably begin to look at charters"”

Commit Food Stamp Fraud, Go to Jail for Three Years

despite having paid back the money wrongfully obtained. Commit financial crimes against the American people, as the banksters have done, and you get a gigantic bailout.

The difference here is the woman doesn't have the clout to bribe Congress while the banksters do.

But white-collar criminals of the type we’ve seen in recent years on Wall Street – both the individuals and the corporate "citizens" – do not suffer these ramifications. They commit crimes without real consequence, allowing them to retain access to the full smorgasbord of subsidies and financial welfare programs that, let’s face it, are the source of most of their profits.

That doesn't get the wingnuts upset because they ASPIRE to be rich like these crooks. Welfare recipients, however, are the scum of the earth, especially those illegals.

Obama Might Win the 2012 Presidential Election by Default

at the rate the Republican candidates are being buried by scandal, gaffes, or whatever. The GOP might actually be throwing this coming election to the Democrats as they did in 2008. After all, Obama gives them what they want anyway.

The latest "victim" of media scrutiny is Newt Gingrich, and this has nothing to do with his failure to keep his pants zipped.

link

A think tank founded by GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich collected at least $37 million over the past eight years from major health-care companies and industry groups, offering special access to the former House speaker and other perks, according to records and interviews.

The Center for Health Transformation, which opened in 2003, brought in dues of as much as $200,000 per year from insurers and other health-care firms, offering some of them “access to Newt Gingrich” and “direct Newt interaction,” according to promotional materials. The biggest funders, including firms such as AstraZeneca, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Novo Nordisk, were also eligible to receive discounts on “products and workshops” from other Gingrich groups.

The health center advocated, among other things, requiring that “anyone who earns more than $50,000 a year must purchase health insurance or post a bond,” a type of insurance mandate that has since become anathema to conservatives.

Newt will be tossed under the bus.

Etc.

We knew "officials" would try and shut down Occupy Wall Street, and you can bet the Obama administration is playing a role.

It's an election year, and Obama doesn't want to alienate the Republicans and "independents" who might vote for him.
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A city capitulates, as always: A cop has his career ruined by a liar, and she gets money for it.

Or rather a lawyer gets it, as the 58k includes lawyer fees.

She says she is planning to be a lawyer--lotsa luck in that. She'd be better off working in a strip club.
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Is Mike McQueary Really Credible at This Point?

I mean the story seems to be changing by the hour. No, McQueary didn't stop the alleged assault of Victim 2 by Jerry Sandusky, yes, he did stop it, no, he didn't call authorities, yes, he did call authorities.

The longer the media goes on with this whole Penn State mess, the more it is looking like this is another Duke lacrosse case.

Although there are other alleged victims in the grand jury case and more coming out of the woodwork to get "justice" or to get a piece of the Penn State insurance carrier pie, I am getting closer and closer to calling bullshit on the entire thing.

As for Sandusky, watching the Costas interview the other night, I was struck at how similar in demeanor the former coach was to Michael Jackson in the latter's interview for that despicable Martin Bashir's documentary on him. Bashir kept insinuating Jackson was some kind of child molester or put himself into harm's way with lawsuits and such, but Jackson clearly didn't ever harm kids in any fashion. In the documentary, he said that during the sleepovers at Neverland, he slept on the floor while little kids shared his bed. Jackson acted like a big kid because he never had a childhood and felt very comfortable around young people.

Now with Sandusky, we don't know his background including his childhood or whether he had ever been the victim of abuse. What was obvious in the interview with Costas was he had a childlike demeanor himself and probably saw nothing wrong with showering with young kids in a locker room despite being told not to do it. Of course he is going to get some kind of jail or prison sentence for at the very least inappropriate behavior with children. What Sandusky really needs now is a top-flight lawyer to represent him.

Etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if neolib Obama is behind the crackdowns of the various OWS protests. After all, he isn't a Democrat anyway.

Even if he isn't, I am still not voting for him--ever again.
_____

If You're a Republican,

the more baggage you have, the better you do in the polls.

I don't give Newt a chance to get the nomination. He's smart and ruthless, but his sexploits from the past will catch up with him.

_____

WSWS Can Always Be Counted On

to give a good perspective on cultural issues and events, and this piece about the Penn State scandal is no exception:

How is any purpose served by demonizing Sandusky? Blather about his “lust” and accusations that he set up his charity simply so he could “prey” on the boys in question are easy enough, but they don’t contribute anything intelligent to an understanding of the horrifying events or the treatment of such psychological maladies.

Some special sub-circle of Hades should be reserved for American sportswriters. Mainstream journalism in the US as a whole is presently a disgrace, but the stupidity, opportunism and shallowness of the sportswriters elevate them to a category in itself. Armed with endless predictions, which are never checked against reality, full of inflated praise for this or that player or team, but ready to turn on a dime at the first sign of faltering, cynical and malicious to a fault, but maudlin and sentimental when immediate needs require it…

The sportswriters, who encourage blind, fanatical devotion to teams and events 99 percent of the time, take the opportunity on such occasions to moralize about how sports should be “put in perspective” and how football or basketball “is not important” in the face of these tragedies. So we get Mitch Albom in the Detroit Free Press writing: “This is not a football story. This is not a Joe Paterno story. This is a daily story, an American story, an international story, a human tragedy,” etc. Albom and the rest will be back to business as usual, the present disaster forgotten, within the week.

Yep, they ARE hypocrites, aren't they?

What If Sandusky Didn't Do It?

At the very least he is guilty of putting himself into situations, as in showering with children, where lurid charges could be leveled at him. But I saw the interview he gave with Bob Costas of NBC last night, and now I am not so sure I am ready to string him up. He does come across as a stereotypical dumb jock, I will have to say that, and fairly creepy in talking about showering with kids.

Sandusky's lawyer had interviewed with Anderson Cooper, and his remarks didn't help his client at all; he should have shut his mouth. However, the Costas interview was really interesting.

A little clip of the interview:

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Ninety percent of the public outrage has been over Victim 2 and the alleged rape supposedly witnessed by Mike McQueary. Sandusky's lawyer said they know who the victim is, and this victim says nothing of the sort happened in the shower, just horseplay. Remember, several people got fired over the aftermath, including former coach Joe Paterno, and they all believed there was horseplay in the shower and not rape. It would be one hell of a note if they were fired basically over nothing worth being fired over.

So far Victim 8 has not been identified, but there is a problem here, as there is no credible eyewitness proof any oral sex encounter happened. The alleged eyewitness suffers from dementia and is incompetent to testify; all other "witnesses" offer only hearsay. That just doesn't prove anything in court.

Of course there are six others who have gone on the record has having alleged improprieties by Sandusky, but the two mentioned above are the sources of 99 percent of the public outrage.

I guess we will have to wait and see how this all turns out.

McQueary, meanwhile, says he didn't just cut and run.

Here is a piece about the "brutal truth about Penn State," assuming any of the allegations in the grand jury summary is true.

As I said, I will wait and see how this turns out. I am less inclined to want to hang Sandusky right now, but it is subject to change without notice.

Photo of the Day

I picked this up at yesterday's flea market. It's a conversation piece, to say the least:

Our Crooked Congress

The law is for thee but not for me. Unbelievable how corrupt both political parties are:



So much for the OWS groups. They might just as well be pissing in the wind. Congress isn't listening to anybody but their cronies.

What Did You Expect?

Of course the teacher will always get into trouble for "insubordination" or whatever made-up rot administrators come up with if a teacher dares to speak out.

My big problem with the evaluator isn't with the fact he has taught elementary grades--his big problem is he is too fucking young at 29 to even have a CLUE what "effective" teaching is.


The teacher is a little off-base when he complains about the subject area difference, but you are never evaluated on subject area knowledge anyway. After all, if you don't know the subject as a secondary-level teacher, you wouldn't be certified in the first place. The problem is the evaluator doesn't have the experience to judge "effective" lesson planning and delivery of content.

Snip:

A veteran teacher was suspended Thursday for rejecting the evaluator chosen for him under a Gates-funded initiative that is revolutionizing the way the Hillsborough County School District assesses its teachers.

School and union officials believe this is the first such act of defiance under Empowering Effective Teachers, a complex system of mentoring and evaluation funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

He should also complain about the Gates' sticking their noses into an area they know nothing about.

link

Etc.

The so-called "super committee" is completely unconstitutional, but it is giving cover to what Obama really wants, and that is to fuck over Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

If he carries out what they want he should be voted out of office regardless of whom the GOP nominates.

_____

Why did the Sandusky case take so long?

_____

Paying the Piper: Ronald Reagan wasn't all that in the sack.

Thanks to Neoliberal Economic Policies,

the 1 percent have been the biggest wealth destroyers in history.

If it weren't for the politicians bought and paid for, we wouldn't be in the horrible shape we are in.

Snip:

What has happened over the past 30 years is the capture of the world's common treasury by a handful of people, assisted by neoliberal policies which were first imposed on rich nations by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. I am now going to bombard you with figures. I'm sorry about that, but these numbers need to be tattooed on our minds. Between 1947 and 1979, productivity in the US rose by 119%, while the income of the bottom fifth of the population rose by 122%. But from 1979 to 2009, productivity rose by 80%, while the income of the bottom fifth fell by 4%. In roughly the same period, the income of the top 1% rose by 270%.

Uncle Miltie and his University of Chicago crew are mostly at fault for having their crackpot theories taken seriously by American politicians--especially in the light of the fact South America has been a disaster when Friedmanite policies were put in.

Etc.

Not surprised about the pensions of Sandusky and Schultz, especially the latter.

Huge pensions are the rule, not the exception, for school administrators of all kinds.
_____

Michele Bachmann was wrong--surprise!--about China. It seems they do have a social insurance system and "relief" for food expenses and such.
_____

Etc.

I would bet the Penn State-Nebraska television ratings went through the roof. There was something like 108,000 spectators today.

Nebraska prevailed over Penn State, with a score of 17-14.
_____

I think there will be social unrest long before the U.S. is officially a third world country.

I wouldn't be so quick to brag about European countries--they too will go the same way if the neolibs aren't stopped.

It is supposed to be a race to the bottom of all countries, with the filthy rich and multinationals running the show. Countries won't even exist if the neolibs have their way.
_____

Somebody who refused to put his or her name on the article actually read accused child molester Jerry Sandusky's autobiography Touched. Some of the passages quoted are enough to make one throw up.

Etc.

Since assistant coach Mike McQueary has received death threats thanks to his negligence in calling authorities when he witnessed a child rape by Jerry Sandusky, he will not be at the Penn-Nebraska game Saturday.

He'll probably end up resigning if not fired outright.

Update: He has been put on paid administrative leave for a undefinite period. I doubt he will coach again.

By the way, these "lawyers" have no clue what whistleblower laws are. McQueary did not whistleblow anything. He stupidly refused to intervene after witnessing a criminal act. Telling your daddy or your superior is not "whistleblowing."
_____

There were many missed chances to investigate Jerry Sandusky's pedophilia dating clear back to 1995:

The earliest documented report of possible abuse at the hands of Sandusky is in 1995, when his now-legally adopted son was still a teenage foster child in his home.

The adoption file for Matt Sandusky, who had a different name at the time, contains letters of concern from his mother to children and youth officials and to a Centre County judge.

Matt’s biological mother, Debra Long, testified before the grand jury.

Matt, 33, is not one of the victims in the grand jury presentment, but he did testify before the grand jury.

Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, said Long is upset with Sandusky for helping her son and her allegations are not based in fact. Matt went to live with the Sandusky family after he was caught setting fire to a barn in 1995.

Children and Youth Services placed him with the Sandusky family at Jerry Sandusky’s request. He knew Matt through The Second Mile.

_____

What is a "leader"? Don't look at Mike McQueary as an example.
_____

Because "austerity" is an idea coming from a bankrupt political/economic ideology called neoliberalism, it's been a failure everywhere it has been tried.

Cheap Shot

Who gives a flying shit if Paterno and Sandusky were/are registered Repubilcans? That has nothing to do with anything.

I say the same thing about Keith Olbermann last night taking a cheap shot through his "Worst Person" segment at former senator Rick Santorum for giving some kind of award to Sandusky clear back in 2002. How in the hell would Santorum have known at the time about Sandusky's alleged pedophilia and the cover-up? He wouldn't.

The scandal is monstrous enough without resorting to cheap shots.

Another Reason Why I Will NOT Vote for Obama

He is now assaulting Head Start, a proven success story, in order to turn preschool into some kind of competition.

He's a no-good Republican fucker.

Instead of having their funding renewed automatically, “for the first time in history,” Head Start centers would have to compete for funds, Obama announced in a public appearance at the Yeadon Regional Head Start center in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning. “We’re not just gonna put money into programs that don’t work,” Obama declared.

Under the plan, centers that rank among the bottom 25 percent in teaching benchmarks defined by the administration will have to compete with private pre-school companies. “If a program isn’t giving children the support they need to be ready for school,” the president said, “then other organizations will be able to compete for the grant.”

Under the president’s new rules, Head Start grants will be good for five years. Afterwards, each program’s performance will be re-evaluated to determine whether it is meeting the benchmarks or must compete for another grant. Administration officials estimate that about one third of Head Start programs will be affected by the new standards.

This is RTTT for preschoolers. Abominable.

The End

Amazing this guy was ever considered a serious candidate:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Civilization Has Hit Rock Bottom

Students at Penn State, or at least a lot of them, thought supporting former coach Joe Paterno was more important than the safety of minor children.

The mentality is distinctly sick. Paterno, especially after arrogantly announcing his retirement, asked to be fired because he put football first over his legal and moral failings.

Photos of the riots are here.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised about riots over sports matters. It's done all the time at soccer games in other countries.

By the way, the alleged victims' civil lawyer is wrong to criticize the Board of Trustees' action. Paterno is every bit as responsible for this scandal as the others.

Penn State's Board of Trustees Cleans House

Coach Joe Paterno is out, and the college president steps down:

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has been forced to resign immediately and will not coach another game, the Board of Trustees announced after Wednesday night's meeting at the Penn Stater Hotel.

John P. Surma, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, made the announcement at a press conference following the meeting.

Paterno was notified of the move over the phone earlier this evening.

Longtime defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has been named as interim coach. Bradley will coach the Nebraska game this Saturday.

Paterno was head coach for 46 years and worked at Penn State for 61. He was considered a class act for decades. All of that hard work is all for nothing. He will go down in history as the man who looked the other way when a serial pedophile was on the campus destroying young boys' lives, the man who was at the center of perhaps the biggest scandal in the history of college sports.

Just So You Know

An administra­tive law judge is NOT a real judge. They are typically arbitrator­s who are basically in bed with school districts. They are paid by the school districts or states and have a vested interest in supporting school districts. Few teachers ever win these rigged proceeding­s. No doubt a principal wanted to get this teacher out of the way and decided to oust her on trumped-up nonsense. This teacher will likely sue in a real court, probably federal court, and will prevail.

Teachers should NEVER use union attorneys or even avail themselves to these fake "due process" hearings. I know what I am talking about because I, like many teachers, lost my job on trumped-up charges and had my due process rights violated.

I'd like to know how these "reporters­" got this informatio­n; typically these rigged tribunals are secret and the "awards" are unpublishe­d. I suspect a vindictive school district released the informatio­n.

link

Original article here.

The school district is absolutely filthy and vindictive.

Etc.

More Americans than ever before, including yours truly, are living in poverty.

_____

Of course Obama is a Republican in all but name.

That is hardly news.
_____

The Love of Money Is the Root of All Evil

Penn State coach Joe Paterno and ALL of the people involved in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal should be fired--like yesterday.

He should NOT be on campus. However, the university apparently worships money over safety of minor children. Paterno and his team are major cash cows for State College, Pennsylvania.

It is despicable.

It appears this was HIS decision--not the board's--to retire. Let's hope they decide to "retire" him early.

Snip:

"I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case. I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief," Paterno said in a statement released just after initial reports confirming his pending retirement.

"I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today.

"That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.

"This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more. My goals now are to keep my commitments to my players and staff and finish the season with dignity and determination. And then I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to help this university."

You should have thought about that ten years ago, when Sandusky was raping kids in the college showers. I am not even going to say "alleged" in this case--Sandusky is guilty as sin for this.

God knows how many victims he abused since or even before 1977, when he founded his organization.

It Was a Good Day Yesterday for the American People

Mississippi, of all places, soundly rejected a fetal/embryo "personhood" amendment, which should, but probably won't, derail the anti-abortion movement in the United States.

It's all a bunch of crap anyway. If after 38 years Roe v. Wade hasn't been overturned (although it has been chipped at over the decades), it is NEVER going to happen.

Of course the GOP knows this, but it makes a good wedge issue for gullible voters to be distracted while it and neoliberal Democrats continue to pick their pockets.
______

The other major victory was in Ohio, where voters there soundly rejected the right-wingers like Kasich and said no way in hell is the state going to undercut collective bargaining there.

The big problem the Democrats have is they are still infiltrated with neolibs, including the man at the top of the heap.
_____

I Just Don't Get It

No, Joe Paterno didn't do the right thing. Neither did the janitor or the graduate assistant, identified as Mike McQueary,both of whom were eyewitnesses to Sandusky's alleged crimes against children. No, the administrators didn't do the right thing. Nobody did the right thing at the time. Everybody was playing CYA, and to hell with the kids involved, assuming these allegations are true. Even if the allegations are eventually proven false, it STILL doesn't matter because the people involved STILL have to report it as soon as they are made aware of it. It is not up to them or their superiors to decide whether somebody is telling the truth--that is up to law enforcement, child protective services, and the courts. It is not up to them to cover their asses or worry about their jobs if they do the right and legal thing. My God, people, this isn't rocket science.

I find it very hard to believe law enforcement thinks Paterno met his "legal obligation" to report to school authorties when in fact he was supposed to call the cops/child protective services. Sandusky would have been arrested on the spot in 2002, and other kids would not have met abuse.

The ONLY correct and legal thing was for ANYBODY, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY INVOLVED, TO HAVE REPORTED THE ALLEGED CRIMES TO POLICE AND/OR CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES IMMEDIATELY. This is true in virtually all states in the United States. It does not matter if you are a public school teacher, a college coach, a psychologist, whatever. If you even suspect child abuse, you--not your superiors, not your neighbor, YOU--must report it.

It's one thing if you are like me and were falsely accused in a bogus civil action of "failing to report" something that never happened in order for the plaintiff to cash in, but the Penn State thing is something else altogether. This is a criminal matter, and it appears there is enough evidence to go forward with it. It's probably just the tip of a huge iceberg, as Sandusky's Second Mile organization was founded in 1977--a kind of Boys & Girls Club outfit helping disadvantaged youth, not just boys by the way, according to the organization's webpage--and probably as a scheme to lure victims into his pedophile web. There may be dozens, if not hundreds, of victims. We will never know.

Penn State must completely clean house--from the president on down--as soon as possible.

A couple of the mothers of the alleged victims speak out.

It's just unbelievable.

Obituaries

Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, 67, after a very brief bout with liver cancer.

He was responsible for Muhammad Ali's first defeat in the ring. The two eventually sparred in three epic bouts in the early 1970s.

Mr. Frazier was labeled the "official" champion. He lobbied privately for Ali's return to boxing and even loaned him money. But as a match between the two became inevitable, he found himself in a mean-spirited psychological battle with the media-savvy Ali, who goaded him, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and a "gorilla." Mr. Frazier, who preferred to speak through his actions, called Ali a draft dodger and referred to him by his original name, Cassius Clay.

The two came to represent the wider rifts in the nation during a turbulent era.

"Joe was a champion - and Ali was a hero," Merchant recalled. "Joe was an ordinary guy, and Ali was an exceptional guy. . . . People lined up on both sides."

Mr. Frazier's 1971 win over Ali at Madison Square Garden was his crowning achievement.

"He said if I whipped him that night, he would get on his knees, crawl across the ring, and say: 'You are the greatest,' " Frazier said. "But he didn't do that. I think he was trying to get to the hospital."

The Ali-Frazier fights probably won't remain on YouTube, but here they are:

Ali-Frazier I:



Ali-Frazier II:



The "Thrilla in Manila":



_____

Actor Sid Melton, who apeared on seemingly every sitcom in the 1970s, including Green Acres,, died at the age of 94.

Mr. Melton’s acting career covered more than 70 years, from his stage debut in a road production of the Broadway play “See My Lawyer” in 1939 to a recurring role as the husband (deceased, appearing in flashbacks and dreams only) of Sophia, the mother of Bea Arthur’s character, on “The Golden Girls,” between 1985 and 1992.

Etc.

The Koch brothers are up to no good as usual:

The secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers are close to launching a nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views, a move that will further enhance the tycoons' political influence and that could prove significant in next year's presidential election.

These nitwits have too much money and time on their hands. They are living examples of the cliche of being born on third base and thinking they hit a triple.
_____

Tennessee teachers are under the gun.

By the way, principals, no matter how seemingly "good" they are, can NEVER be trusted to do the right thing. They certainly can't be trusted with these new "reforms."

It's a bit like Vegas, and if you pick the wrong academic subject, you lose and get a bad evaluation. While this may have nothing to do with academic performance, it does measure a teacher's ability to play the odds. There's also the question of how a principal can do a classroom observation of someone who doesn't teach a classroom subject.

The answer is, the principal still has to observe them teaching something. Erin Alvarado, a librarian at Central Magnet, a combined middle and high school, picked eighth-grade descriptive writing. One of the rubric variables is how well the teacher knows her students. There are 938 students at Central, and she knew few in that class by name. "Fortunately, the teacher put all the names on index cards for me," Ms. Alvarado said. "I'd take a quick peek down at the card, pick a name, look around and hope the student was there."

This would all be hilarious, except these evaluations can cost people their jobs.

_____

Fairbault Woolen Mill Company has reopened for business. It closed down in 2009, but now it is rebounding thanks to new ownership.

I'd like to see a new trend here of things actually being made in the United States.
_____

The HLN goons are dancing a jig now that Conrad Murray has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the Michael Jackson case:

The verdict against Dr. Conrad Murray comes after a jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about nine hours over two days. The 58-year-old cardiologist, who was charged with the lowest possible homicide offense, faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison and a minimum sentence of probation.

Murray now also faces the probable loss of his medical license. California authorities already suspended his right to practice, but medical boards in Nevada and Texas agreed to wait to evaluate licenses he holds in their states until after the criminal case.

_____

If Penn State survives the child molestation scandal, it will be a miracle.

More

The grand jury report is truly sickening to read.

Loan Sharks Circling the Economic Waters

Loan sharking is doing better than ever, and much of it is backed by the same Wall Street crooks who have tanked the economy overall.

They "invest" in check cashing places and car title loan places. Now is a new twist on the loan sharking game called "buy here, pay here" used car lots. These lots supposedly help bad risk borrowers by circumventing the banks, but the banksters are involved up to their eyeballs in these schemes.

The Los Angeles Times had a good three-part series on this newest predatory practice, but true to form, most of the commenters, especially after the third installment, were bitching about how "stupid" the woman mentioned in the story was for getting a Chrysler Sebring or didn't check around for cheaper cars rather than complaining about what the story was REALLY about, and that is the new loan sharking scheme.

Here is how it works, from the article:

In this little-known but fast-growing corner of the auto market, dealers command premium prices for road-worn vehicles and finance the sales at interest rates that can top 30%.

In a kind of financial alchemy, they have found a way to turn clunkers into cash cows and make money off the least creditworthy customers: the millions of Americans who are stuck in low-paying jobs, saddled with debt and unable to qualify for conventional auto loans.

For most of those people, having a car is the only way to stay employed, and they'll accept almost any terms to get one.

Buy Here Pay Here lots sold nearly 2.4 million cars nationwide last year, up from 1.3 million a decade ago, according to CNW Marketing Research.

Link, with sidebar of links from the series and extras:

link

Breeders' Cup Day Two

As promised:


From Churchill Downs. Trevor Denman, one of the best announcers in the business, calls the races. Video source: BC World Championships You Tube


Breeders' Cup Classic: Drosselmeyer





Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: Caleb's Posse





Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint: Regally Ready








Breeders' Cup Mile: Court Vision






Breeders' Cup Turf: St. Nicholas Abbey






Breeders' Cup Spring: Amazombie






Breeders' Cup Juvenile: Hansen






Breeders' Cup Marathon (injury to one horse): Afleet Again

Etc.

The protest movement against the elites has gone global.

_____

Former heavyweight champ Joe Frazier is in very bad shape with liver cancer. He is now under hospice care.

"We have medical experts looking into all the options that are out there," Wolff said. "There are very few. But that doesn't mean we're going to stop looking."

Wolff, who has been Frazier's manager for seven years, said the boxer had been in and out of the hospital since early October and receiving hospice treatment for the last week.

"We appreciate every prayer we can get," Wolff said. "I've got everybody praying for him. We"ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for a miracle."

He's just 67 years old. It feels like it was only yesterday when he had those epic matches with Muhammad Ali.

Of course Ali is in bad shape himself.

Yes, Obama Is Toast

He is toast for the simple reasons he has alienated everybody who is not a Wall Street type, and he is toast for failing to do a damned thing about the economy and jobs because he is a tool of Wall Street.

Now presumed GOP nominee Mitt Romney has a slew of problems himself, but Obama is going to be the issue, not Romney.

That's why Obama is sure to lose barring a miracle.

He would do us all a favor to step down and let a Democrat run for president.

There are a few of them left, you know.

Breeders' Cup Day Two

Drosselmeyer overcame 14-1 odds to win this year's Breeders' Cup Classic.

Mike Smith got redemption of sorts for this win as he lost the Classic last year aboard Zenyatta, who experienced the only defeat in her career in this race.


Mile: Court Vision

Juvenile: Hansen

Marathon: Afleet Again (a couple of injuries in this race)

Dirt Mile: Caleb's Posse

More results and video tomorrow...

Breeders' Cup Day One

Juvenile Fillies Turf: Stephanie's Kitten




Ladies Classic: Royal Delta





Filly & Mare Turf: Perfect Shirl





Filly and Mare Sprint: Musical Romance



Juvenile Sprint: Secret Circle





BC You Tube channel is here.

A Bunch of Do-Nothings

from "think tanks" "think" teachers are paid "too much." As always, these bastards have no fucking clue what they are talking about. Most of the comments following this article blast the Heritage Foundation's and AEI's lies.

If teachers were really pulling in the big bucks, why do so many of them leave the profession long before retirement? If they were making big bucks, why are so many prevented from doing so by asshole principals when they boot them out when teachers are past 50? If teachers are so overpaid, why do they take second and third jobs?

The reason private school teachers make less is because these teachers don't have to be credentialed. Most credentialed teachers in private schools are there because they can't get jobs in the public sector. Given how bad the work environment is in public schools in general, they are probably lucky even if they average only about $20,000 or $25,000 a year in salary.

Few if any jobs are as demanding as teaching, and few "professions" exist which do not give their employees latitude in their jobs as teaching. Teachers have little or no say over the conditions of their jobs--they are completely under the thumbs of their principals--who ARE overpaid for what little they do and are not the "best and brightest" in education, generally speaking. But they have unconscionable power over them.

The main reason teaching is low paid is because it is considered "women's work." Women, it has been believed over the decades, don't need to make family wages because they are supported by husbands.

Of course this isn't the reality of people who work in the field, but that is the mentality behind the pay. Teachers will NEVER see high pay in this field because public education salaries are tied to taxation, and taxpayers are loath to pay higher taxes.

By the way, AEI and HF are lying about "I.Q." They are looking at SAT and ACT scores, which measure ONLY preparation for college--NOT ability or I.Q.--as determinants of I.Q. This is a vicious and outrageous lie.