On the Edge

Obituaries

2012-02-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

Don Cornelius, 75, creator of the television series Soul Train, has died an apparent suicide:

“Soul Train,” one of the longest-running syndicated shows in television history, played a critical role in spreading the music of black America to the world, offering wide exposure to musicians like James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Soul Train created an outlet for black artists that never would have been if it hadn’t been for Cornelius,” said Kenny Gamble, who with his partner, Leon Huff, created the Philly sound and wrote the theme song for the show. “It was a tremendous export from America to the world, that showed African-American life and the joy of music and dance, and it brought people together.”

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Four-time Boston mayor Kevin H. White, 82, died a few days ago. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease in recent years:

A Democrat who ran as a reformer, Mr. White served from 1968 to 1984. For much of this period, Boston was torn by public outrage over court-ordered busing to desegregate its schools. Protests turned violent, and some school buses carrying black children were pelted with stones. In this roiling storm, Mr. White was widely seen as a stabilizing presence as he extended protection to the children and imposed order through a heightened police presence.

On another occasion, after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Mayor White, as a way to head off violence in the streets, arranged for a James Brown concert to be shown on public television.

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Actor Robert Hegyes, 60, best known for his role in the seventies sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, of cardiac arrest:

In later years he acted in regional theater and had guest roles on shows including “CHiPs,” “L.A. Heat” and “Diagnosis Murder.”

With fitting symmetry, Mr. Hegyes also taught for several years at Venice High School in California. As he told interviewers afterward, he had a reputation for accepting no absence excuses of any kind.

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Famous boxing trainer Angelo Dundee, 90, best known for training Muhammad Ali, died today in Tampa, Florida:

A master motivator and clever corner man, Dundee was regarded as one of the sport's great ambassadors. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 after a career that spanned six decades, training 15 world champions, including Leonard, George Foreman, Carmen Basilio and Jose Napoles.

But he will always be linked to Ali as one of the most successful fighter-trainer relationships in boxing history, helping Ali become the first to win the heavyweight title three times. The pair would travel around the world for fights to such obscure places as Ali's October 1974 bout in Zaire against Foreman dubbed "The Rumble in the Jungle," and Ali's third fight against Joe Frazier in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, called by promoters as the "Thrilla in Manila."

Being "Very Poor" is Relative

2012-02-01T18:33:00.001-08:00

and when you are a relative of somebody who already had money and has even more money, you don't have much of a frame of reference.

What "safety net," Mitt? The only thing I qualify for is food stamps, and it isn't anywhere near the full amount because I "make too much money" although I cannot afford even to get out of my brother's place.

"Compassionate conservative" Newt, who is so concerned about the poor he wants to bring back child labor and orphanages, has found an issue to tear Mr. Top-One-Tenth-of-One-Percent apart.

Slave Wage U.S.A..

2012-02-01T06:35:00.000-08:00

Indiana is set to become the latest state to shaft its workers now that "right to work" legislation is set to be signed there.

If you work for a unionized employer, it only makes sense you have to join the union; otherwise, you are a freeloader. No union, no job. Of course "right to work" just makes unions weaker because they don't have the resources to fight employers the way they would if they had a closed shop.

Nevada is "right to work," and the workers there are treated like crap. Lousy wage jobs are abundant there, at least what few jobs are left.

This issue has a history. In their initial formation in the 1930s and 1940s, the unions faced the problem of achieving stability in the face of the relentless hostility of the corporations to the struggle of workers. The closed shop and automatic dues check off system emerged as a means of preserving a certain organizational protection under capitalism and combating the union-busting of big business.

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It's Mitt

2012-01-31T16:56:00.001-08:00

in Florida.

Next contest is the Nevada caucuses. Newt and Ron are supposed to be in the Reno area in the next few days, while Mitt and Rick are concentrating on Las Vegas.

Shedding Crocodile Tears for Principals

2012-01-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

When teachers were under the gun, principals by and large were all for "accountability," since it gave them even more obscene power than they already had over teachers they didn't want.

But now it is different. Now "reformers" want principals to be held accountable, even to the point of them doing busy work like observing teachers seemingly 24/7. Principals, who by and large can't be fired from their jobs, want us to feel sorry for them for being overworked:

The direction of education reform – and the requirements of the federal government’s Race to the Top competition in particular – means numerous states are now planning to use tough new evaluation systems based at least in part on student growth, tracked by value-added test scores.

But as the first states begin implementing these systems on a broad scale, some are encountering pushback not just from teachers – which is somewhat expected – but from principals and other administrators.

In some cases they question the practicality of the new system, and in others the entire premise on which it’s built. And even a few supporters of rigorous – and high-stakes – teacher evaluations wonder whether rushing them in might backfire.

Cartoon of the Day

2012-01-31T11:59:00.000-08:00

This cartoon is more true than the cartoonist will ever know:

Etc.

2012-01-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a video from Salon about what it is like to be unemployed in this sinking job market.

Not like I really need to know.
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There is not a "skills" crisis but a greed crisis.
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The principal won't lose her job because she didn't do anything about something she should have done something about.

Of course, stranger things have happened.
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Dr. Heath Morrison is a synonym for ego.

The school district has plunged right into the toilet since he took over. It was already headed there under Dugan, but Morrison has accelerated the process.

Far From Being Do-Gooders,

2012-01-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has its filthy tentacles everywhere and creating destruction in its wake. Of course I am referring to its idiotic schemes of evaluating teachers for "performance."

What is being ignored, of course, is the role principals have in destroying careers and they in turn have utterly no accountability for their actions.

Note Ohanian's commentary:

Through a Joyce grant, and additional funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, NCTQ released State of the States: Trends and Early Lessons on Teacher Evaluation and Effectiveness Policies. This report indicates that Vermont doesn't require any of the "ambitious evaluation plans" mandated by the teacher quality quantifiers:

made policy changes related to teacher evaluations 2009-2011

require annual evaluations for all teachers

require that teacher evaluations include objective evidence of student learning

specify that teacher evaluations are to
be "significantly" informed by student achievement/growth

equire that student achievement/growth is the preponderant criterion in teacher evaluations

require teachers to be eligible for dismissal based on evaluation results

Other state requiring none: Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, West Virginia.

States that require all these things: Colorado, Delaware, D. C., Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee. See anything familiar? Such as recipients of big money from the Gates Foundation and from the US Department of Education?

Needless to say, Vermont's request for RTTT funds was turned down.

The "Mormon" Issue

2012-01-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney's religious background has undergone some scrutiny, but the Mormon church deserves a whole lot more.

No way I would ever belong to a sexist church. This church regards women as nothing more than babymaking machines. Women have to be married to become "goddesses" in the next life; in other words, men needed to save their souls.

What a load of shit. The plagiarisms by Joseph Smith of Solomon Spaulding's writings (Manuscript Found) have gone a lot farther than Smith ever dreamed.

Mitt has the right to believe whatever religion or cult he wants. I would defend his right to believe it. I also have the right to not vote for him.

The War on the Poor

2012-01-30T08:29:00.000-08:00

Since Obama is a neoliberal, any effort he claims that will help create jobs is actually designed to do just the opposite.

It's all about the profits, not about people.

Meanwhile, people who are poor should just die according to fascist Charles Murray. He has a new book out trying to justify the attitude of the top one percent or the top one percent of the top one percent.

Why does this man even get a forum?

Of course he believes people should just die. Only the rich are better.

It's fucking neoliberalism which has created a bigger class of the poor, not more lazy people:

There are so many problems with Murray’s cause-and-effect arguments it’s hard to know where to begin. The marriage and family trends he identifies continued to worsen even after Congress and President Clinton accepted some of the questionable conclusions about the relationship between “dependency” and poverty Murray drew in “Losing Ground,” and abolished with the program he found most disastrous: Aid to Families with Dependent Children. AFDC became TANF, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, 15 years ago, forcing welfare recipients to get work and limiting the amount of time they could spend on the program, and dropping many millions of people from the rolls. Yet the rate of single parenthood among poor and working class people continued to rise.

I also had an enormous amount of trouble with the premise that the rich are more virtuous than other people. I’m blessed to know a lot of rich people as well as a lot of working class people (my extended family), and I’ve never noticed that, at all. I found myself wanting to introduce Charles Murray to Charles Ferguson, whose “Inside Job” chronicled not only the greed and corruption of the Wall Street hotshots who brought us the 2008 banking crash, but their depravity: the hookers, the cocaine, the conspicuous consumption of decadence. I thought Ferguson overdid it in his attempt to prove the complete and utter evil of the Wall Street elite, but it’s a welcome correction to Murray’s pale picture of upright, honest businessmen reaping the just reward of their hard work and self-discipline.

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"Austerity" Doesn't Work

2012-01-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

Everything neoliberals have tried have been disastrous. The "austerity" mania is no exception:

Which is not to say that all is well with U.S. policy. True, the federal government has avoided all-out austerity. But state and local governments, which must run more or less balanced budgets, have slashed spending and employment as federal aid runs out — and this has been a major drag on the overall economy. Without those spending cuts, we might already have been on the road to self-sustaining growth; as it is, recovery still hangs in the balance.

And we may get tipped in the wrong direction by Continental Europe, where austerity policies are having the same effect as in Britain, with many signs pointing to recession this year.

The infuriating thing about this tragedy is that it was completely unnecessary. Half a century ago, any economist — or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson’s textbook “Economics” — could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I’m sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia.

Those peddling austerity couldn't care less whether it works; what they care about is drowning government in a bathtub because that is part of their ideology.

Hogwash Central

2012-01-29T10:53:00.001-08:00

Another rumor should bite the dust.

Anybody who thinks Anthony Summers is any kind of reliable source should have his or her head examined:

The book attempts to buttress the homosexual allegation by repeating rumors that the twice-divorced Rebozo, known as a ladies’ man, was gay. But this claim is secondhand, based on another controversial Nixon book, by author Anthony Summers, that was widely criticized for relying on second- or third-hand sources of dubious credibility. Fulsom provides no independent verification of the sketchy assertion.

Some stories are too good to be true. Others, evidently, are too good to check.

Still, the flimsy report of Nixon’s “gay affair” went viral on the Internet last month after galleys were leaked ahead of the book’s release. When I asked Fulsom about the media reaction, he said that accounts describing his “explosive revelations” that Nixon “carried on a sizzling gay love affair” exaggerated his findings, and he admitted that, without any photos showing Nixon and Rebozo in flagrante delicto, there is “no evidence it actually happened.”

Chickenshits always wait until the principals are long dead before they make their outlandlish claims.

Miscellaneous News

2012-01-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

People who are on disability tend to be concentrated in more rural areas for the simple reason that these areas are less expensive to live.

No explanation is really needed.
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So who is the man who is controlling the purse strings of Gingrich's campaign?
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Movie of the Week

2012-01-28T19:46:00.001-08:00

Newt may be down, but he ain't out. Never underestimate him:

Governor Brownback Wages War on Teachers

2012-01-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

This is the latest outrage from the heartland:

Gov. Sam Brownback has formally introduced his 138-page school finance overhaul, and it includes a provision that Brownback officials had not discussed before publicly: a proposal to evaluate teachers, partly based on student achievement, and post their rankings on the Internet.

That plan received a rough welcome on Thursday from several Republican and Democratic legislators and the Kansas National Education Association.

State Sen. Jean Kurtis Schodorf, R-Wichita, and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, described the evaluation proposal as "pretty toxic."

Just like the L.A. Times "rankings." It's all a bunch of shit to shame teachers into quitting.

Since Obama Thinks He is Better

2012-01-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

because he went to private schools and colleges all his life, he believes ALL students should go to private schools and universities by waging war on public institutions of learning.

He's a walking disaster:

Obama provided more details on his proposals for higher education, comprised of minor tokens, such as a tuition tax credit, and right-wing pro-business measures. The centerpiece is a plan to tie federal student aid to university tuition rates. “Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down” Obama declared.

The thrust of the various proposals is to leverage meager federal assistance to universities and the states into a mechanism for pressing for school “reform” and cuts to programs and pay for faculty. One proposal, a $1 billion grant competition for the states, is called the “Race to the Top for college affordability and completion,” after the K-12 program by the same name that the administration has used to press for charter schools and attacks on teachers.

Watch them try to do away with tenure on the college level.

A Must-Read by Lois Weiner

2012-01-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

Given the ultimate goal of the neoliberals which is to destroy democracy and all its institutions, I am not overly optimistic any resistance will succeed, but at least people are slowly waking up to what is happening to their public institutions, including public education. The question is whether it is too little, too late.

Prof. Lois Weiner, in this new piece, notes the growing resistance against these so-called education "reforms," reforms which are doomed to fail. Unfortunately, once public education is dismantled, it will be virtually impossible to ever get it back. Once it is gone, democracy is dead.

link

If teachers unions are to continue to exist as a meaningful form of workers’ representation, members need to transform them — and fast. The future of the movement depends on activists realizing that they, not staff or officers on the state and national levels, have to be the catalysts for change. Just as there is no escape from building the union at the base, there is no getting around the hard work of developing authentic alliances with parents and community activists, coalitions that acknowledge historic inequalities and support communities in their needs, rather than being paper organizations that are dusted off when the union wants to display community support. Elected officials, from school boards to governors, are violating union contracts with impunity. Lawsuits, by themselves, the favored method of dealing with law-breaking officials, can’t stop this. What can is direct action undertaken with parents and community, as the CTU has done in combating school closings in Chicago.

In contrast, the AFT and NEA national leadership pursue a strategy of cozying up to their "friends" in the Democratic Party, including President Obama. This undercuts the brave activity of many teachers battling in their schools against the policies Obama and Duncan are pushing. For instance, both national unions have accepted use of standardized tests to judge student performance and teachers’ pay, in order, they say, to stay "credible." But "credible" to whom? Certainly not teachers who risk their livelihoods by speaking out against the harm done by education having been reduced to teaching to/for the test. The president of the AFT chapter in his charter school shared with me his outrage and dismay at what occurred when he called the state union for help in dealing with the principal’s demand for pay increases linked to student test scores. He was told the changes the principal demanded were official AFT policy.

The national unions, especially the NEA, have been so busy buying all of the propaganda, they have basically sold their membership down the river in order to curry favor with the powers that be. Teachers better realize that the current leadership in the Democratic Party is just as poisonous to public education and democracy as any proto-fascist in the Republican Party.

And this in a nutshell is why "reforms" won't work to help teachers, parents, or kids:

Although tenure has been dismissed as irrelevant in K-12 teaching, its importance is greater today than ever before. As principals’ pay is increasingly tied to improving test scores, and the noose between teacher pay and student test scores is tightened, teachers who want to give their students a richer diet than test prep are facing the prospect of losing their jobs if they follow their moral and professional principles. Even more chilling is schools’ use of corporate propaganda, obtained through seemingly trustworthy vendors, as occurred with Scholastic Books promoting a fourth-grade curriculum written by the coal industry with its perspective.[7] Even where it still exists in state law, tenure has been greatly weakened because administrators can easily give teachers spurious unsatisfactory ratings due to weakened enforcement of evaluation procedures. In many city schools, principals can and do function without any check on their power, other than what is exercised by distant officials whose only concern is test scores. Over and over one hears of teachers who have bought the anti-union propaganda that is so prevalent in the media, or are too overworked and demoralized to do anything other than what they are told, or are too afraid of retribution to voice a contrary opinion. The union’s presence has been so eroded and its credibility so damaged that "transforming the union" in many districts probably means building it from scratch.

(Emphasis mine)

As long as there is NO accountability held for administrators, none of the REAL problems in public education will ever be solved.

Newt Melts Down

2012-01-27T12:56:00.001-08:00

again, of course. He is upset Mitt Romney was being "dishonest" in last night's debate.

It's the pot calling the kettle black:

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday that the reason he seemed less combative during Thursday’s televised debate was that he was shocked by what he described as rival Mitt Romney’s “totally dishonest” replies to several questions.

In a telephone interview, Gingrich cited Romney’s remarks on immigration, his vote for Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1992 and whether he knew about an ad his campaign is running against Gingrich.

“I think it’s the most blatantly dishonest performance by a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen,” Gingrich said. At several moments during the debate, Gingrich simply leaned away from his lectern and looked down at his feet because he was so stunned by some of Romney’s statements, he said. He didn’t engage Romney at the time, he said, because “I wanted to fact check. I wanted to make sure he was as totally dishonest as I thought he was.”

The Long Version

2012-01-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

In case people missed it, either accidentally or on purpose, last night's bloodbath:

link

Etcetera

2012-01-27T09:13:00.001-08:00

The death of Joe Paterno exposed the hypocrisy of our illustrious media.

The Penn State Board of Trustees, as might be expected, acted hastily and shabbily. Soon after the Sandusky story broke, Paterno announced he would retire at the end of the season—later the same day the university fired him, along with Penn State president Graham Spanier. The trustees and the administration were obviously terrified of the media and essentially decided to make Paterno a sacrificial lamb. There was not even the pretence of a fair process and consideration for the legendary coach’s rights.

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Education Bits

2012-01-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

A son of a bitch governor is trying to force charters on a school district, even if it means not paying its teachers and forcing the district into bankruptcy.
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At least one person saw through Obama's BS the other night regarding how supposedly one "good" teacher can make a difference in lifetime earnings:

As others have pointed out, if you take a classroom of 25 students, and spread $250,000 over their 40 years of earnings, this amount comes to a grand total of $250 a year per student. This is unlikely to represent an escape from poverty. (see more thorough responses to the Chetty report here, and here.)

The second problem is a glaring contradiction, a logical flaw that is huge even though it has been overlooked by almost every journalist apparently too polite to challenge the administration on it. If you do not wish teachers to teach to the test, if you want them to be passionate and creative, then how can you insist that their performance be measured by the use of test scores?

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Hawaii's teachers rejected Obama's blackmail scheme of "Race to the Top." It's a bit funny because Obama was born in Hawaii, unless of course you believe he was actually born in Kenya:

Public school teachers in Hawaii have rejected a contract that called for a move to a performance-based evaluation and compensation system, as required by the Race to the Top grant that the state won from the Obama administration.

The rejection comes shortly after Hawaii was warned by the U.S. Department of Education that its $75 million Race to the Top grant had been put on “high-risk status” — the first state to be so sanctioned — because it had not moved quickly enough to implement specific reforms.

Sixty-seven percent of about 9,000 teachers, counselors and others represented by the Hawaii State Teachers Association opposed the contract, which was seen as a way to move Race to the Top efforts forward and improve its status with Washington. It was the first time in the organization’s 44-year history that members rejected a contract that had been approved by its board, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat.

Unlike other states, Hawaii is made up of just one school district.

Race to the Top is much, much worse than NCLB because it demonizes teachers even more with anti-union rhetoric in its insane quest to privatize public education.
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I Got a Glimpse of Tonight's Bloodbath

2012-01-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

also known as the Florida GOP debate. I caught the part where Gingrich and Romney were talking about immigration, and Mitt appeared to have gotten the upper hand in that exchange:

The clash took place at the opening of the final debate before Tuesday’s high-stakes Florida primary and reprised a long-running argument between the two leaders in the Republican contest. Earlier this week, Gingrich pulled a political ad that had applied the “anti-immigrant” label to Romney, but when asked whether he believed that description was accurate, he said he did.

That brought rebuke from Romney. “I’m not anti-immigrant,” he said. “My father was born in Mexico. My wife’s father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that I’m anti-immigrant is repulsive. It’s simply the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics for too long.”

For all of the squawking about illegals, the GOP really likes illegal immigration because it helps to bring down wages for citizens. They just play the illegal card as another form of the race card.

Ed Etc.

2012-01-26T09:22:00.000-08:00

Another superintendent got caught fleecing the taxpayers.
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Speaking of fleecing, the Koch brothers are at it again, this time peddling the nonsense of "school choice." As anybody with a clue about education knows, the "choice" is entirely up to the school, not the parents.

link

The rich will be goddamned if they are going to pay for "somebody else's" kids when they can pay for their own schools themselves.
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Cartoon of the Day

2012-01-25T10:22:00.000-08:00

The Goal of Human Existence

2012-01-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

isn't good works or having a happy family or even a job you are happy with--if you can get one. The ultimate goal is to have enough money you don't have to work.

Even better is you have enough money for NOT working and living the life of luxury.

I am not, of course, referring to those lucky ducks who are luxuriating in unemployment compensation or food stamps. I am referring to those lucky ducks who are luxuriating in capital gains and other non-earned income.

Hell, a picture speaks louder than words anyway:

One Can Count All of the Lies

2012-01-25T09:27:00.001-08:00

in Obama's speech. Where to begin?

He kept talking about how our workers aren't skilled enough. That's a bunch of shit--there are TOO many people for the jobs out there. THAT is the problem, and Obama won't do anything to change this.

Talk is Cheap 2012

2012-01-25T08:50:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't sit through it last night, just like I didn't:

To summarize, it was more neoliberal claptrap:

The State of the Union Speech delivered by Barack Obama Tuesday night was memorable only as a further milestone in the decay of American democracy.

While billed in advance by the White House and media pundits as a “populist appeal” by the Democratic president, effectively kicking off his reelection campaign, there was virtually nothing in the speech that even acknowledged the acute social crisis in America, let alone offering any solution.

He's just going to make matters worse, if that is possible. Especially if you work in public education.

Some damned choice voters have this year.

Obituaries

2012-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

Actor James Farentino, 73, of heart failure following a long illness.
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Former LAPD detective Philip Vannatter of O.J. fame died at the age of 70. He suffered from cancer.

Kim Goldman, sister of Ronald Goldman, who developed a bond with Vannatter during the Simpson trial, said Vannatter enjoyed horseback riding. "He was trying to get some peace and quiet and rebuild his life," she said. "He was such a family man. It made me feel like he had put some things behind him and was embracing the last stages of his life and that it didn't completely break him down."

In 2008, Simpson was convicted in Las Vegas of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery and using a deadly weapon.

"We got great pleasure seeing him incarcerated. But we didn't need that by then anyway," said Vannatter's wife, Rita.

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Canadian skier Sarah Burke, only 29, following an accident.
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Could Obama Be Re-Elected By Default?

2012-01-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

God forbid he gets another term, but the clowns on the other side are making such fools out of themselves, it could indeed happen.

Newt is throwing yet another one of his famed tantrums by threatening to boycott future debates if crowds aren't allowed to make spectacles of themselves.

In an interview with the morning show “Fox and Friends,” Mr. Gingrich said NBC’s rules amounted to stifling free speech. In what has become a standard line of attack for his anti-establishment campaign, Mr. Gingrich blamed the media for trying to silence a dissenting point of view.

The audience members in the debates have been allowed to be rude and hateful. This is completely opposite of previous years when one could hear a pin drop.

Etc., Etc.

2012-01-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

Former ORU president Richard Roberts thought he saw a 900-foot tall Jesus, and he sped towards it. Unfortunately, he forgot to lay off the sauce before getting behind the wheel and found himself arrested with a DUI.
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What do you expect from a song Francis Scott (off)Key plagiarized?
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In my old district, teachers "won" or prevented a 2.5-percent cut while at the same time administrators continue to make obscene pay, and where there is a seemingly endless supply of make-work jobs for administrators.

At least their worthless union didn't totally capitulate. Or they had an arbitrator who wasn't completely in bed with district administrators.

Newt Gingrich Is Making a Comeback

2012-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

in all senses of the word. He has made a comeback on the national stage, and he has made a comeback into being one of the most reviled people in the country.

However, the issue in this campaign will be Obama, not Gingrich. Obama isn't LBJ; he is one lameassed excuse for a president. He is vulnerable to being the target of demogoguery.

A little bit of populism like what Gingrich is peddling, has gone a long way.

Gingrich is a deeply unpopular figure, dating back to his role as the leader of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in the 1990s, which twice forced the partial shutdown of the federal government in an effort to push through drastic cuts in Medicare and other social programs, and then impeached President Clinton in a scandal engineered by Clinton’s ultra-right opponents.

According to recent polls, Gingrich is viewed unfavorably by 60 percent of the American public, compared to only 26 percent that view him favorably.

That such an individual could seriously challenge for the presidency underscores the dangers confronting working people from the monopoly on US politics exercised by the two right-wing big business parties. The Obama administration has carried out the bidding of Wall Street interests throughout its three years in office, beginning with the extension and expansion of the bailout of the banks begun under George W. Bush. The White House exudes indifference to the plight of the unemployed and poor, thus lending a shred of credibility to Gingrich’s demagogy about Obama as a “food-stamp president”, and not a “jobs president”.

Expect More Stories Like This One

2012-01-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

where longtime teachers are leaving the field altogether because of the insanity of "accountability" including the teaching-to-the-test mania:

I asked my principal what gains we would achieve by demoralizing students and making them feel like nothing but a test score. We debated. He suggested that perhaps, over the break, I needed to think about whether or not I really wanted to be there. Wow. Under the guise of wanting to make sure I was happy in my job, he had once again made it clear that I needed to shut up or leave.

I did think about it. I thought about the new teacher and principal evaluations, based on test scores, coming in 2014, along with a new Social Studies CSAP. I thought about my own daughter, an avid reader, being given a practice reading test every Friday, and wondered how long she would continue to love reading. I thought what would happen to me if I decided to opt her out of the test this year and whether I could truly advocate for my own children in my current position. And I decided it was time for me to go.

This week I let my principal know that I am looking for work outside public education. I am heartbroken and will miss my students dearly, but I realize that I can neither teach them properly nor fight for their education while trapped in silent submission.

Submission is what these administrators want.

It's Not About "the Kids" Anymore

2012-01-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

Yet another teacher is forced out--resigned this time--thanks to administration micromanagement and education "reforms":

Chuck Isner, local president for the Texas State Teachers Association, said Friday many experienced teachers have expressed to him they feel like they are being “pushed out” by the district. He said Cowan’s resignation is evidence. Last semester he received more phone calls from frustrated teachers than he has in his 10 years in a TSTA leadership position.

“To be fair, people don’t call me to tell me how wonderful it is,” he said.

The phone calls, he said, come from teachers in elementary, junior high and high school who teach a variety of subjects. Still, he said he does not want or expect the administration to drop the changes they have made in curriculum and programs due to complaints.

“I can see value in this,” he said of the new district initiatives. “We just asked them to slow down.”

Another issue Cowan and Isner said was teachers do not feel like administration listens to their frustrations.

Duh. Of course teachers are being pushed out; they are a dime a dozen. Reformers and administrators WANT a revolving door teaching force. No more "outrageous" pay, no more having to pay pensions.

link

A Newt Never Changes His Slime

2012-01-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

Anybody who scoffs at Newt Gingrich's chances of winning the GOP nomination, let alone presidency, needs to look at his past history.

Look no further than how he got to be Speaker of the House. He knocked one Democrat after another aside through the art of smear and under the guise of "ethics charges," and then, when there were many retirements by Democrats in the U.S. House in 1994, Newt helped create the "Contract with America" and engineered the first GOP takeover of the body in decades by mostly targeting those vacant House seats:

As nasty as Karl Rove is, he has nothing on Newt Gingrich. Rove also isn't as self-destructive and therein lies the danger of a Gingrich presidency.

Almost as soon as Newt got the speakership, he unraveled. It was really something to watch how he reached the pinnacle of his career, and then it all crashed. His "tantrums" and his attempt to oust Clinton over the bogus Lewinsky nonsense actually HELPED Democrats in the 1998 elections. He was forced from the speakership and the House after those elections. Eventually Tom DeLay, an even more corrupt and ruthless politician than Newt, took over the House via a puppet named Dennis Hastert, and forced through the ridiculous impeachment as "payback" for those congressional losses.

So Newt left Capitol Hill, but I always knew this guy would never completely disappear. He ditched his second wife, got a shiny new model in Callista Bisek, and started reinventing himself ala Richard Nixon. Remember, he has a Ph.D. in history and was a history professor before going into politics, so he knows about historic trends and how they seemed to favor Republicans. He also knows what it takes to get elected, and it has little to do with ethics or truth. Despite his many outrageous statements about various issues, Newt is NOT stupid by any stretch of the imagination. But his self-destructive tendencies whether or not as a result of some psychological problem (and speculated as far back as 1995 by Gail Sheehy) are causing a lot of worry among the big wigs who run the GOP. Or at least those of whom are looking at the electability factor and are banking on Mitt Romney. These big wigs can't be concerned over Newt's extremism, because he isn't any more extreme than Santorum, Paul, or any of a number of other has-beens or never-wases who sought the presidency. The concern is over his psychological stability.

One can draw a parallel between Newt Gingrich and John McCain regarding this issue. Gingrich is more of a concern than McCain ever was because he really thinks he is one of the "great men" or "visionaries" who can make an impact on world history. He has illusions (and delusions) of grandeur.

From the Sheehy piece, required reading for anybody interested in the career of Newt Gingrich:

Under the pressures of his racing internal time clock, Newt is likely to betray the core issues he sounded so passionate about yesterday. "Newt is decisive but changes his mind, so whatever he's doing might change in six months," says Frank Gregorsky. "But when it changes he is blindingly defensive and assertive about it." The biggest change may be yet to come. Newt, who started out as a moderate, may shed another skin when the pain of the budget revolution kicks in. Newt's loyal point man, Congressman John Kasich, head of the Budget Committee, may be the fall guy.

Newt's military mind-set, formed by Bob Gingrich and the battles of his psychic heroes, is deeply ingrained and an essential part of the way he operates. In a recent appearance on the Charlie Rose show, Newt quoted Mao: "Politics," he intoned, "is war without blood." Gingrich's pal Stephen Hanser says that part of Newt's strategy in the House is based on combat theory, namely the German armed-forces doctrine of Auftragstaktik, or "mission orders." The problem is that in the heat of battle subtleties are lost. Standards fall. Atrocities are forgiven. Especially if the action is rapid-fire.

And with Newt, it always is. Speed is unfailingly of the essence. The 100-day Contract with America is the best proof. The Speaker has the tendency to set up accelerated timetables and artificial deadlines, based on the necessity to keep his "frenetic psyche" within some boundaries. In Newt's world, dominated by hungry media perpetually in need of bigger jolts of adrenaline, there is no debate, no moderation. As Marcella Mc Pherson said, "If he wants something, he wants it now."

"I think the manic part of Newt's personality is troublesome," says one moderate Republican in Congress. "The hyperactivity, the racing thoughts. He flits from one subject to the other and sometimes fails to make the connections."

Gingrich is dangerous indeed. Obama's people are begging for a matchup with Gingrich rather than the more electable Romney, but they would get far, far more than they bargained for if Newt becomes the GOP nominee.

It's OBAMA'S campaign that needs to be reading history.

The Media Smears Probably Didn't Help

2012-01-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, 85, died following a short bout with lung cancer.

Despite having done nothing wrong in the Sandusky mess and actually doing what he was supposed to do when whatever allegedly happened in the showers was brought to his attention, he was endlessly smeared by a self-righteous and hypocritical media.

Family statement:

It is with great sadness that we announce that Joe Paterno passed away earlier today. His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled.

He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community.

He has been many things in his life — a soldier, scholar, mentor, coach, friend and father. To my mother he was and is her soul mate, and the last several weeks have shown the strength of their love. To his children and grandchildren he is a shining example of how to live a good, decent and honest life, a standard to which we aspire.

When he decided to forego a career in law and make coaching his vocation, his father Angelo had but one command: Make an impact.

As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact. That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country.

And so he leaves us with a peaceful mind, comforted by his "living legacy" of five kids, 17 grandchildren, and hundreds of young men whose lives he changed in more ways than can begin to be counted.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests that donations be made to the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania or the Penn State-THON, The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.

In Case You Didn't See It,

2012-01-21T17:42:00.001-08:00

here is THE interview:

Not the best quality in the world, and a Ron Paul supporter put it up, but it's still historically important.

The interview didn't stop Newt from winning South Carolina. As one could see in the interview, Newt wasn't above using his daughters from his first marriage, a marriage where he cheated on their mother and didn't pay child support for a time, to trash the second wife for merely criticizing him for not wanting an "open marriage" involving now-wife number three.

Lots of irony there, but when it comes to Newt, EVERYTHING is irony. Or hypocrisy.

Here's the Pious One after his win tonight:

Ends and Odds

2012-01-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

It was the end of the odd as Ben Roethlisberger's insurance company decided to settle the lawsuit filed by Andrea McNulty, the woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her at a Lake Tahoe hotel back in 2008.

Thanks to gag orders ("confidentiality clauses"), nobody is saying how much money McNulty got, if anything.
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It would have been great if "uncommitted" had actually won the Nevada Democratic caucuses, held this morning, for Obama deserves a "no confidence" vote.
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Washington state wrestles with the charter school issue.

Washington, of course, is Bill Gates' home field, and there is no way he and his ilk are going to be denied their right to rip off taxpayers.
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Despite the best efforts of the Ex-Wives Club, it appears Newt has won the South Carolina primary.

The State homepage with election results

Odds and Ends

2012-01-20T17:44:00.001-08:00

Will Marianne torpedo Newt's political career once and for all like we hope?

Or will Newt survive or even thrive after South Carolina's primary and make himself Teflon Man?

When It Comes to Food, Some Sanity Can Be Found in the World,

2012-01-20T17:25:00.001-08:00

and look no further than the kids' wholesale rejection of so-called "healthy" foods in school cafeterias around LAUSD. Who can stand that crap day after day?

Naturally kids are going to bring what they want from home. There is even so-called "black markets" in junk food on campuses around the district.

The faddists and fascists will never get it in their heads that not everybody agrees with their draconian attitude toward food.

The school district is apparently going to give students more of what they want.

What should happen is a return to homecooked meals on school campuses, with real cooks instead of this microwave shit schools have now. The worst damned crap is those potatoes that are smothered in syrup. Talk about nasty, nasty stuff.

Obituaries

2012-01-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

Singer Etta James, 73, after a struggle with leukemia.

Many historians consider “Work With Me Annie” and the string of replies to be the big bang of rock 'n' roll — and a bold invitation for a young African American female singer in 1955. James' explosive voice, coupled with her innocent presence belting out such relatively bawdy lyrics, made for a disconnect that James and Otis took full advantage of.

To say that James was a magnetic presence would be an understatement: It's been speculated that blues legend B.B. King wrote “Sweet Sixteen” with her in mind, and as James grew, her voice and delivery also matured, allowing her a range that nailed ballads with the same passion as rockers.

In fact, despite her rise as a rock 'n' roll singer and her eventual induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, James was called “The Queen of R&B” for a reason: It was in her less raucous, more romantic ballads where she and her voice burned the brightest. Her first Grammy nomination in 1960 was given to her for a heartbreaking ballad called “All I Could Do Was Cry,” where she sings of watching her true love get married as she stands outside the church.

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Johnny Otis, 90, an important influence on early rock music, has died:

But he was much more than a talent-spotter. Often called the “godfather of rhythm and blues”, Otis sang, played drums and vibraphone, and broadcast as a disc jockey. He also wrote songs, notably the 1958 hit Willie and the Hand Jive. With a beat recalling the 1955 hit Bo Diddley, the number was inspired by the British craze for hand jiving, which had originated a year earlier in a coffee bar in Soho.

A trio of black American women singers called Three Tons Of Joy had appeared on the British television pop show 6.5 Special with their version of Ma, He’s Making Eyes At Me. On their return to Los Angeles, they told Otis about the strange phenomenon they had witnessed in the studio, where the audience had hand jived in time to the beat.

Noting that the craze was at its peak, Otis promptly wrote and recorded Willie and the Hand Jive, which became the most successful of his many recordings. Another of his compositions, Every Beat of My Heart, became a debut chart hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1961.

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Musician Jimmy Castor, 71, has died of cardiac arrest:

He covered a wide range of styles during his career — doo-wop, Latin jazz, funk — and this led to his nickname, “the Everything Man.” His 1966 hit “Hey Leroy, Your Mama’s Callin’ You” helped popularize the Latin soul sound that came from the convergence of Latin jazz and rhythm-and-blues in Harlem and came in the wake of similar hits by Joe Cuba and Ray Barretto.

Writing in the New York Times in 1988, music critic Robert Palmer said that Mr. Castor was “something of a broad humorist” in style and that his “band cooked mightily, projecting verve and style with its crisply interlocking rhythms.”

Mr. Castor’s most lasting influence was through sampling — the process, mostly in hip-hop music, where a snippet of music from one recording is featured on a later recording.

While the ID Show "Sins & Secrets"

2012-01-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

tonight has a recap on the Kent Leppink case, a case I have mentioned in previous posts, it sounds like it is the same old shit that 48 Hours had a few years ago, with all of the silliness about one-time accused killer Mechele Linehan's colorful past as a stripper and so on. However, as we know a judge finally threw out her conviction because it was based on inadmissible and frankly nonexistent evidence tying her to the crime. (One could say the same about the late John Carlin, who was convicted of the crime and then cleared when he was killed in prison.)

It appears Mechele was free to leave the state Tuesday, and the prosecution never tried to re-indict her.

Without that silly "letter from the grave" and a videotape of some movie, there was simply no case to pursue.

On Feb. 5, 2010, the Alaska Court of Appeals overturned Linehan's conviction. In part, the court concluded it was improper for the trial court to let jurors learn about a “letter from the grave” Leppink wrote to his parents, Kenneth and Betsy Leppink of Shelby, a few days before his death. The letter said Linehan, Carlin or another man were “probably” responsible if Leppink died under “suspicious circumstances.”

Last month, another judge ruled that it was just as improper for a grand jury to hear about that letter, through testimony about it by Betsy Leppink. As a result, the indictment was dismissed.

Etc.

2012-01-19T06:20:00.000-08:00

It appears Rick Santorum "won" the Iowa caucuses after all.
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It appears Congress has started backing off the proposed internet censorship bills that have generated widespread protests all over the country.
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So what kind of dirt does Marianne Gingrich have on her ex-husband?
_____

Perry's out.

No Newt is Good Newt

2012-01-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

It is rumored Newt's second wife, Marianne Ginther Gingrich, has plenty of dirt to spill on her ex-husband, and it is believed it will air before the South Carolina primary.

All one has to do is read the Vanity Fair article about her to know all of the dirt and more about him.

Marianne Gingrich has said Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981, and they were married six months later. Marianne’s marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000, and Gingrich admitted he’d already taken up with Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide who would become his third wife. The speaker who pilloried President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky was himself having an affair at the time.

Etc., Etc.

2012-01-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

Murder of the Week: The fabled "Hollywood" sign once again is in the news. This time there have been reports of various body parts being scattered about. The head was found first by some dog walkers, who noticed their dogs were playing with the damned thing. It was believed to have belonged to a man.

Hands have since been found.
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A Dumb Jock Needs to Go Back to the Basketball Court

2012-01-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

No matter how much criticism Arne Duncan gets, he ignores it, especially criticism from teachers. And no matter how wrong his ideas are, he continues to spout them all over the country. His "Race to the Top" policy is a thousand times worse than NCLB, and his vow to make school districts compete for scarce dollars compounds the problem.

I don't believe non-teachers should be in charge of the Department of Education anyway, and one only has to look at Duncan to see why.

In an interview with Education Week yesterday, Duncan for the first time foreshadowed what the department's next Race to the Top competition will look like.

"I think we'll use it for the districts," he said. "You can do different things. You can do early childhod as a piece of that, or STEM as a piece of that. ... I don't want to commit, but the bulk of the money will go through districts...what we'll be asking of districts is still very much up for consideration."

Duncan, in a 30-minute, wide-ranging interview, also addressed what he sees as the strength of his department's waiver plan, the weaknesses of congressional attempts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and his desire to stay on as secretary through a second term if President Barack Obama is re-elected.

It's a good reason for Obama not to be re-elected.

Etc.

2012-01-17T06:17:00.001-08:00

Because the presidential race is between Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber, they both will cancel each other out.

Thank God I am not going to vote for either one of them.
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At least one Democratic governor acts like a Democrat when it comes to education.
_____

Etc.

2012-01-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Despite "reformers'" claims to the contrary, good teaching cannot be quantified, let alone over a long time period.
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The trouble with the right wing is they always try to rewrite history, even to the point of the absurdity there was any real economic growth as a result of Reagan/Friedmanite policies.

If anything, they have wrecked the country.
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Most "bests" lists focus way too much on the recent and not enough on the past. This is especially true with television and the movies. Anyway, here is yet another "list" of the best television westerns.

Although there have been fits and spurts of westerns in the past forty years, the genre pretty much died out at the end of the sixties.
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Etc.

2012-01-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

As somebody who has had two Lhasa Apsos in my life, I know of the breed's tendency to do what they want whenever they want to do it.

This dog was lucky to have survived:

Around 9 a.m., a train crew led by conductor Chris Myron and engineer Erik Carey pulled into the BNSF rail yard in Bend. The train, 80 cars long and bound for Pasco, Wash., from Barstow, Calif., was scheduled for a crew shift change. Members of the crew that had been driving the train through the night were planning to head to a local hotel for a few hours of sleep, according to BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas.

Instead of going to the hotel, the crew took a detour out to the Brosterhous Road trestle to check on the dog they'd seen on the tracks coming into town. Myron climbed up on to the trestle and made his way toward Jazzi. The dog wasn't moving. But when Myron touched her, she began wagging her tail and was soon licking his face.

"The crew was shocked that the dog was alive," Melonas said. "They were gratified. They've indicated they couldn't have had a better start to the new year."

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The hunt is over for a presidential candidate despite the fact he was the man most likely to beat Obama in the fall.

There Should Be Hell to Pay

2012-01-14T21:10:00.001-08:00

over this:

More here

Etc.

2012-01-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

Since few bloggers have the training and wherewithal to engage in actual reporting, they are piss-poor substitutes for real reporters.

In fact, their posts for the most part are little more than op-ed pieces.
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With the rise in poverty in the United States comes increasing class tensions.
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There was a big bash in Louisville today celebrating boxing great Muhammad Ali's 70th birthday:

The self-proclaimed "Greatest of All Time" remains one of the world's most recognizable figures, even though he's been largely absent from the public eye recently as he fights Parkinson's disease. Lonnie Ali said Friday that her husband has mixed feelings about the landmark birthday. "He's glad he's here to turn 70, but he wants to be reassured he doesn't look 70," she said.

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God is a Patriot.

At least I will be spared the Tebow hype for another year.
_____

The instituting of mandatory uniforms in public schools is very dubious legally speaking because of the longstanding concept of dress as freedom of expression which in turn falls under free speech. Good ol' WCSD has been sued in federal court over its allowing principals to mandate school uniforms. Naturally it turns out this is not legal in Nevada. Only school boards can mandate uniforms.

I came across this organization opposed to mandatory school uniforms.

I will re-link the lawsuit. There will be a hearing on it in federal court this Tuesday.

link

The Reason the "Five Percent" of "Failing" Schools

2012-01-13T14:45:00.000-08:00

are subjected to being closed and "turned around" is because eventually ALL schools would be on the bottom five percent and be closed. The whole idea behind the neoliberal "reforms" is to dismantle everything designed for the public good and turn it into private profit. This despite the fact it doesn't work and makes matters much worse:

These disparities in school funding also lead to disparities in salaries and working conditions, which create shortages of qualified personnel in high-need districts. A recent study found that in California and New York, for example, the highest-spending districts offer salaries more than twice as high as those in the lowest-spending districts. Even within a single region, the average teacher in high-poverty Oakland earned $54,000 in 2009 while her counterpart in wealthy Portola Valley (home to Silicon Valley industrialists) earned $89,000. Nationally, teachers in low-poverty districts earn one-third more at the top of the salary range than those in high-poverty districts. And the teachers who work in the neediest communities also manage larger classes with fewer books, materials and supports of all kinds.

These disparities are greatest across districts, but they are exacerbated further within most large districts, where resources are unequally distributed. It is no surprise then that the Education Department recently reported that schools serving mostly African-American students are twice as likely to have teachers with only one or two years of experience than schools in the same district serving mostly white students. Because they are less experienced and educated, teachers at schools with more Latino and African-American students are paid $2,500 less on average than teachers in the district as a whole.

Linda Darling-Hammond knows what she is talking about, and therefore she needs to be silenced.

Etc.

2012-01-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

There isn't any case against John Edwards anyway, but the presiding judge has decided to delay the trial because Edwards has a serious heart condition:

In those letters, the judge said the doctors wrote that the condition was treatable and the former U.S. presidential candidate had a good chance of success if the course of treatment were followed.

"The letters from Mr. Edwards' physicians are pretty clear this is a serious condition," Eagles said.

She indicated that his condition has given him problems on three occasions since being diagnosed in December. She said his condition has affected his daily life and makes it difficult for him to drive.

"Certainly the ends of justice are served by continuance, given the seriousness of his medical condition," Eagles said.

Not good, and definitely not good for his kids.

Obituaries

2012-01-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Former governor of South Dakota Bill Janklow, whose career was ruined when he was involved in a car crash in 2003 when he ran a stop sign, killing a motorcyclist, of cancer. He was 72.

At a final news conference in November, Bill Janklow had announced he had inoperable cancer and said his only regret was running a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist. The accident happened less than a year after Janklow was elected to the U.S. House.

"If I had it to do over, I'd do everything I did, but I'd stop at a stop sign," Janklow said.

A fresh incision curving along his hairline from temple to ear, Janklow broke down and cried as he announced he was dying.

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An Alabama judge declared missing teen Natalee Holloway dead.
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Veteran broadcast newsman Richard Threlkeld, 74, was killed today in a horrible traffic accident. He spent most of his career with CBS News.

I didn't know this, but he was married to journalist Betsy Aaron.

More:

The 74-year-old Threlkeld died Friday morning in Amagansett, N.Y., when his car collided with a propane tanker. He was pronounced dead at Southampton Hospital, according to the East Hampton, N.Y., Police Department. He lived in nearby East Hampton.

The driver of the tanker, Earl Fryberger Jr., of Coatesville, Penn., was not injured, said police, who are investigating the accident.

Threlkeld spent more than 25 years at CBS News before retiring in 1998. He was a reporter, anchor and bureau chief who covered the Persian Gulf War and the Vietnam War, the Patty Hearst kidnapping and trial, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, and the execution of Gary Gilmore.

Threlkeld was driving a Mini Cooper, and the collusion did not cause an explosion.

Hot Air

2012-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Since "good teaching" is a subjective concept largely based on one's biases on pedagogy and the teacher in question, no "reform" will ever address these facts.

Besides, the problem in education isn't with teachers--it's with the people running the schools. Outside evaluators are a complete waste of money and will not be objective because they have their own pedagogical biases. Besides, hiring them takes away the power of hiring and firing teachers from principals, and inadequate principals, not teachers, are the problem. Principals will never give up their power without a fight.

Etc.

2012-01-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

Another principal is allowed to resign rather than be fired when he commits misconduct, in this case a criminal misdemeanor:

Criminal misdemeanor charges have been filed against a former southwest Florida high school principal accused of using hypnosis on students.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports George Kenney informed school district officials this week that he'll resign his job, effective June 30.

He'll be able to go to work someplace else because he was allowed to resign rather than be fired.
_____

This one will probably be allowed to resign, too, instead of being fired.
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It's true more older Americans are forced back into the labor force, but it is equally and probably MORE true that more of them are forced OUT and can't get back in or are relegated to temporary or part-time jobs.

Lotsa Luck Dumping Obama

2012-01-12T10:14:00.001-08:00

in favor of Hillary Clinton, but it's too little, too late.

"We are going to take our fight to write in Hillary Clinton to the South Carolina Secretary of State, and if necessary, to the South Carolina Supreme Court," said Steve Rosinski, creator of the national petition to draft Clinton. "We feel that South Carolina voters must be given a choice in this democratic process. Otherwise, it will be just another case of voter disenfranchisement," he said.

Rosinski is pressuring Hammond to change the rule. He is threatening to sue if Hammond doesn't act.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Tell That to Obama

2012-01-12T09:21:00.001-08:00

It wasn't smart of Mitt Romney to talk about how he liked to "fire people," but frankly Obama said essentially the same thing when he thought it was a good thing the Central Falls, Rhode Island, teachers were fired illegally. Both of them are absolutely flippant about how devastating it is to lose one's job, especially if it is through a layoff or it is an illegal termination.

My last principal proved she was a sadist when she "lowered the boom" on me through false pretenses and then had the district bail her and the former head of human resources out when it was discovered she was a lazy shit who never did one goddamned thing she was suppose to do. They prospered at my expense. I still cannot get back on my feet because the "jobs" that are out there are short term or not consistent. I can't really do much subbing because almost all of the assignments require a fairly long commute to Eagle Point, which burns up a lot of gas, which of course is the point. The retirees have all of the plum assignments, all of the jobs which are long term.

Getting back to Romney, Obama doesn't have a leg to stand on because he has the same attitude as Romney toward workers.

This Teacher Should Have Been a Nevada Principal

2012-01-11T14:45:00.000-08:00

and been spared the public embarrassment of not only being reprimanded by the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission of Oregon but also noted in the local media:

The TSPC found Van Beurden’s conduct to be a gross neglect of duty citing lack of professional judgment, using employment time or school resources for private purposes and failure to maintain the dignity of the profession by respecting and obeying the law and exemplifying personal integrity and honesty. Her actions also led to a significant disturbance on school grounds.

The school district was swift to act. In order to avoid an interpretation of favoritism or covering up, a private investigator was hired.

“The investigator did a fantastic job,” said Superintendent A. J. Grauer. The incident occurred on a Thursday and by Monday both of the people involved were no longer employed by the district.

One of the two employees resigned immediately, the other was fired.

The principal I had was merely demoted. He still has a job and with no action done to his license at all as far as I know. He should have been fired for doing the same thing and actually worse because it was with a subordinate.

A Race to the Bottom

2012-01-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

I am not referring to the GOP presidential race, though the description is apt, but instead I am referring to the current push to legalize child labor. This despite the fact there are so many adults who are out of work.

Well, the neoliberal ideal is to have all countries compete with one another in order to get jobs, and the secret to this is to lower the standards to the point that the entire twentieth and even nineteenth centuries are repealed.

Slavery is the ultimate goal of the neolibs, but they haven't thought about the fact that if nobody has any money to buy, their beloved rich won't have anything, either.

The slippery slope on child labor has intersected with the presidential campaign trail, too. Speaking at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government last November, Newt Gingrich promoted quasi-vocational programs for poor school children, to offer “work experience in the cafeteria, in the school library, in the front office.” Besides, he said, “middle-class kids do it routinely. We should give poor kids the same chance to pursue happiness.”

This bootstraps ideology is neither novel nor limited to the Republican Party. The meme of the shiftless, dependency-prone poor shaped the fictive image of Reagan’s “welfare queen.” It also formed a pillar of the Clinton administration’s welfare reforms, which downplayed structural social barriers and aimed to “train” poor people of color through “welfare-to-work” labor programs.

Gingrich’s philosophy on child labor complements Dickensian statements about child welfare during his tenure as House Speaker; he suggested placing children of dysfunctional parents in orphanages, removing them from their parents’ negative influences.

Etc.

2012-01-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

In case you are living in a cave, Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary, which means you are better off living in one.
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I have very little use for the porn industry given how the people in that industry are exploited and mistreated. Another problem with it is that it twists people's minds on how women should look. Men grow up thinking women should appear a certain way that is in no way natural, while women internalize these requirements. First we have all of this silicone or saline inflated breasts on childlike bodies, and now there is the perverted demand that women shave off all their public hair.

What began as a seemingly practical idea of shaving in order to wear swimsuits has now turned into some fetish that isn't far removed from child porn.

The hairless, juvenile trend is not lost on the female partners and would-be partners of today's heavy porn users. They still hope to turn on their cue-conditioned mates. According to a 2010 study, labia portrayed in porn protrude less than labia portrayed in medical textbooks and other sources.

Result? Not just wax treatments, but also labia surgery to eradicate signs of sexual maturity are increasingly common. Using shaving and surgery, women are deliberately neotenizing their genitals, that is, intentionally making them look immature, juvenile.

It's goddamned sick. Don't hand me the crap porn is harmless; that is more seventies Phil Donahue crap.

Another Day, Another Idiot Principal

2012-01-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

Of course the New York's DOE couldn't care less about this guy, and he will keep his job and probably be promoted:

Bronx City Councilman James Vacca also called for the controversial principal’s ouster, but Walcott is sticking by his agency’s decision to leave Chase in charge.

“I’m not going to remove him, but he knows he cannot have any similar type of comments. He is on a very strict line as far as his behavior,” said Walcott, who added that some school staffers want Chase to remain in his post.

This guy merely got a note in his file, and this story will be forgotten.

He has a ways to go to be like ol' Randy Andy, the idiot principal I used to have at WCSD, who finally got demoted--but not fired, of course, like he should have been--thanks to sexual misconduct.

Etc.

2012-01-10T11:22:00.001-08:00

You can tell this country has hit rock bottom when you watch the GOP primary debates.
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Speaking of Republicans: On his way to becoming the 45th president of the United States, Mitt Romney handily won the New Hampshire primary over his rivals:

It took him nearly six years and two attempts, but Mitt Romney Tuesday finally won the support of New Hampshire Republican primary voters Tuesday and became the front-runner for his party's presidential nomination.

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I came across this article from last summer about some Chicago teachers who were given the career kiss of death: the non-renewal or "do not rehire" scheme. Good comments following the article.
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Education Bits

2012-01-09T12:24:00.001-08:00

I get so sick of the nonsense about this degree or that degree is any kind of guarantee of a job. There certainly isn't any low unemployment for teachers because the market so oversaturated and there are layoffs galore.

A degree in order to get a job is a waste of time and money.
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Because the Obama administration is anti-public education, it feels it is perfectly all right to circumvent state officials who rejected an application for a charter school:

The application says that the families served by the New Brunswick schools, which are predominantly black and Hispanic, support the Hebrew charter, even though school leaders and the local N.A.A.C.P. chapter do not.

Since March 2010, community volunteers from Highland Park, Edison and New Brunswick have been battling to stop the school from opening, arguing that it would drain resources from traditional public schools in order to provide a free Jewish education that should be the responsibility of private schools.

For each child who leaves a district to attend a charter, the charter receives 90 percent of the district’s per-pupil spending allotment. In modest-size communities like Highland Park, with a district of 1,500 students, that can take a substantial bite out of a school budget.

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The WSWS has a commentary about the Mary Thorson suicide. She was the teacher who killed herself after going through administrator abuse:

At a December district school board meeting, it became clear Thorson was not alone in feeling threatened by the school administration. Teachers admitted that they are intimidated by school officials, afraid for their jobs and dare not speak openly about the conditions they face. More than one teacher spoke about being harassed for taking sick days. Another teacher noted the irony of having an anti-bullying campaign in the school while the teachers are being bullied.

At the meeting, school administrators pushed back, blaming teachers for not speaking up or citing specifics. School board President Joe Sherman said, “If you guys would have come and brought allegations and we didn’t address it, then you would have every right to say what you need to say.”

Intimidation is a tactic in a nationwide strategy to de-professionalize teaching, as a precondition for the dismantling of public education and the selling off or leasing of its related assets. The so-called educational reforms, begun under the Bush administration and expanded by President Obama, have largely been couched in the highly confrontational language of “accountability,” which implies that teachers are overpaid and undeserving of professional status. This has accompanied a frontal assault on the workplace gains teachers struggled to win throughout the 20th century.

Mayor Bloomberg is Such a POS

2012-01-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Public school teaching isn't remotely like private business or other governmental work. Supervisors in other sectors of the economy don't have the power and the complete lack of accountability public school principals have.

The reason for the proposal is because most principals are clueless, unethical idiots and are hired in the first place because they are clueless, unethical idiots. Just like the mayor.

Etc.

2012-01-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

Of course the Reno paper refuses to ask national superintendent of the year Heath Morrison why his district refuses to reveal the amount of money it settles in bogus lawsuits.

The guy is a total publicity hound, and the district is a pile of corrupt shit. It hasn't changed at all since his arrival.

He's total ego.
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Obituary: Conservative commentator Tony Blankley, 63, has died of stomach cancer.

Some interesting trivia:

Mr. Blankley was born in England and spoke with a trace of a British accent, but he was raised in Los Angeles. As a child, he acted in television shows such as “Lassie” and “Make Room for Daddy” before developing an interest in the law and politics as a teenager.

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Perhaps Hollywood's first and only supercentenarian, Frederica Sagor Mass, 111, has died:

Frederica Sagor was born July 6, 1900, in New York City and studied journalism at Columbia University.

At 20, she was hired as assistant story editor at Universal Pictures in New York. When the bosses she later called "chauvinistic honchos" refused to help her become a screenwriter, she left for Hollywood. She was 23.

Film school was the movie theater, where she watched current releases over and over to understand the "rhythm of the scenes," she told National Public Radio in 1999.

In the late 1920s, she married Ernest, who was her writing partner. Her scripts for silent films include the 1926 movies "Flesh and the Devil" with Greta Garbo and "Dance Madness."

Maas had nearly 20 credits, including "His Secretary" in 1925 and "The Waning Sex" the next year. Both starred Norma Shearer, who was a good friend until Maas unsuccessfully warned her against marrying Thalberg.

Another Reason Why Integrated Curriculum Doesn't Work

2012-01-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is simply outrageous. Don't the teachers even READ worksheets before handing them out?

Both fathers said they contacted the principal of Beaver Ridge Elementary school in Norcross. They wanted to know what the third-grade math teachers were thinking.

Kavanaugh brought that question to Gwinnett County School District officials.

"In this one, the teachers were trying to do a cross-curricular activity," district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said.

Roach explained the teachers were trying to incorporate social studies lessons into the math problems, which is something the school district encourages. But the problem with the questions is there is no historical context.

Math, like science, shouldn't be integrated into social studies curriculum. What jackasses.

Video report:

Obituaries

2012-01-07T09:48:00.001-08:00

Bowling legend Don Carter, 85, a founder of the Professional Bowlers Association. He died of pneumonia and suffered from emphysema.
_____

Brown v. Board of Educatin attorney and later judge Robert L. Carter, 94, of complications of a stroke:

Often toiling behind the scenes, Mr. Carter had a significant hand in many historic legal challenges to racial discrimination in the postwar years. None was more momentous than Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that led in 1954 to a Supreme Court decision abolishing legal segregation in the public schools.

Mr. Carter’s well-honed argument that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional on its face became the Supreme Court’s own conclusion in Brown. The decision swept away half a century of legal precedent that the South had used to justify its “separate but equal” doctrine.

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Fred Milano, original member of Dion and the Belmonts, 72, of lung cancer:

Freddie Milano, as he was known, along with Angelo D’Aleo and Carlo Mastrangelo, were teenage buddies from the largely Italian neighborhood bordering Arthur Avenue in the Bronx when they began blending their doo-wop sounds on street corners and apartment stoops. Originally calling themselves the Belmonts (after the avenue on which Mr. Milano lived), they became Dion and the Belmonts in 1957 when Dion DiMucci joined as lead tenor.

As “The Billboard Book of American Singing Groups” (1992) has stated, they went on to become “one of the best of the late ’50s early ’60s vocal groups.”

Which was true.
_____

Talk show host Lynn Samuels, 69, no cause of death given.
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Noted photographer Eve Arnold, 99, died a few days ago in London:

Ms. Arnold was a leading light in what is considered the golden age of news photography, when magazines like Life and Look commanded attention with big, arresting pictures supplied by adventurous photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, Robert Capa and Margaret Bourke-White.

Acclaimed for capturing celebrities in intimate moments after winning their trust, Ms. Arnold developed a particular rapport with Marilyn Monroe, the subject of a book of Arnold photographs. One image showed Monroe emerging from the black of a nightclub into the white glare of a spotlight with a smiling Arthur Miller, her husband at the time. Another showed her in a pensive moment while on location in the vast Western setting for the 1961 film “The Misfits.”

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Actress and singer Kay Stevens, noted for hanging around the famed "Rat Pack," of various illnesses. She was 79.

Stevens, a longtime South Florida resident, performed with Rat Pack members including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop. She also sang solo at venues like Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room in New York City.
During the Vietnam War era, Stevens performed for American soldiers in the war zone with Bob Hope's USO tour.

Etc.

2012-01-07T08:50:00.001-08:00

You know the standards are low when an Eli Broadie is a finalist for national superintendent of the year.

Gads.
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Rick Santorum isn't going to be the presidential nominee for the GOP, so this column is a waste of keystrokes.
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Accused "fatal attraction" killer Jodi Arias will finally go to trial October 17.

If convicted she could get the death penalty.

Arias is of local (southern Oregon/northern California) interest because she is from Yreka.

Teachers Can Be Such a Wimpy, Stupid Lot

2012-01-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Many people think this is so "great" that teachers in a school district that won't even make a payroll thanks to deliberate budget cuts to bankrupt the district are working for free. It would be a fucking cold day in hell I would EVER stand for that. These teachers and their wimpy unions need to get off their stupid butts and sue. It is unconscionable that anything like this is allowed to happen.

Of course the vast majority of teachers are married, so they can afford to live on one paycheck for the time being. But those who are single can't do it.

Let's just stop the altruism crap. It is not "selfish" to want to earn a living in order to eat.

Total morons.

Etc.

2012-01-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Another school district in Michigan risks a state takeover.
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I don't want to see these ten words or phrases eliminated from public discourse, either.
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More assholism from the NYT regarding "good teachers," whatever they are, and how they are responsible for everything going on in students' lives.

Economists are totally unqualified to study "good teaching" and its impact on student achievement. "Achievement" is primarily the responsibility of the student, after all.

Suicide Isn't the Answer,

2012-01-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

but sometimes teachers who have been abused by administrators and find there is no way to stop the abuse feel there is no other way out. Naturally the school board gives lip service and will continue to allow the administrator to keep his job.

As far as I am concerned, this school board has blood on its hands:

The suicide note that Mary Thorson left centered on frustrations at the school, and her death spurred some of her co-workers to speak out at the public meeting.

Teachers described an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the two-school district, where little things snowballed over time.

"We don't feel like we can speak out because we have been intimidated," teacher Rose Jimerson said at the meeting. "We have signs all over the building about anti-bullying. … Our staff gets bullied."

Co-workers and friends said in interviews that Thorson was deeply upset by her job and was worried she was on the verge of being fired. She had been suspended in April after allegedly striking a student and again a week before her death, records show. The second suspension was for allegedly cursing at a student, a co-worker said.

Trumped-up charges, of course.

Remember, it is very difficult if not impossible to go back into teaching once fired. One has to basically move to another state in order to resume a career, provided a job can even be found.

A College Education is NOT Worth It

2012-01-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

if you think you are going to get a job at the end of it. There are far too many people in college for the jobs available requiring any education beyond high school. The vast majority of jobs don't require any post-high school education. Companies have pulled a con on people because they don't want to pay to train people within their organizations to move up the ladder. Now it is all about people going into monstrous debt in order to supposedly getting a job at the end of the degree.

This is pure insanity.

By the way, the unemployment rate in education has to be much, much higher with the budget cutbacks in all states. It is a piss-poor field to train into. Education is a notoriously oversaturated field, always has been, always will be, until people wake the hell up.

link

Etc.

2012-01-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

Scientist Stephen Hawking, who will turn 70 in three days, is a tough old bird.

He has had ALS for some forty years, which is probably a world record for that disease. People typically afflicted with it live only about three years after diagnosis. Hawking hasn't let it stop him and has led a very productive life, including two marriages and divorces.
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Stewie, the world's longest cat, may have a tumor behind his eye. Hopefully it is only a cyst.
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New Hampshire Republicans were going to end compulsory education in the state, but they changed their minds and tried to put in a less onerous bill which would have given parents more leeway in pulling their kids out of classes and forcing teachers to have alternate lessons.

It's already done anyway in public schools when parents have to give consent for certain subjects like sex ed, movies, field trips, controversial novels, and the so forth.

The issue is moot because the governor is going to veto it anyway.

The Reason There is the Decline of the Public Good

2012-01-05T10:02:00.001-08:00

is because there has been the rise of an ideology which says all public institutions must be abolished because they are public. The reason for this ideology is that it is backed by the very interests that benefits more from the public good than everybody else, but they don't want their tax dollars going out there to help everybody else.

In other words, it is an ideology based on pure greed and selfishness.

ALL Elections Are Exercises in Cynicism,

2012-01-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

but this year is more obvious than previous election years.

I have never been so disinterested in a presidential election since I first followed them beginning in 1968, some five years before I was old enough to vote.

It's just that the power grab by the elite few over both political parties is so nakedly obvious now.

Despite the electoral trappings—caucuses, primaries, debates, rallies, conventions—and the accompanying onslaught of media coverage, there is not a shred of genuine democratic content in the selection of the next American president. The election provides the illusion of choice, but there are no fundamental differences between the two corporate-controlled political parties. Both the Democrats and the Republicans defend the wealth of the super-rich and the worldwide interests of American imperialism.

From the standpoint of working people, it does not matter in the slightest whether Barack Obama is reelected to a second term in the White House or replaced by any of his Republican challengers. The next president, whatever his name or party, will function as the representative of the political, military and corporate elite that controls all the levers of power.

I am not going to feel guilty when I write Elizabeth Warren's name in the blank for president. I am going to exercise my opposition to neoliberalism in all its forms.

Still Crazy After All These Years

2012-01-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Of course Ron Paul has no chance of ever being president, but the following he has generated thanks to his off-the-wall ideas is far more scary than the man himself.

In the end he is just another Texas pol.

So don’t tell me about Paul’s political courage. It’s easy to be a fearless iconoclast when nothing’s at stake. That said, it was heartening to hear the Texas congressman, during a Fox News-sponsored Iowa debate of all places, stress the similarities between the current “bomb Iran” chorus and the 2003 propaganda campaign that led the U.S. to invade Iraq. Paul dismissed as “absurd” Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann’s assertions that the Iranian government’s “theology” would lead it to start a nuclear war for the sake of national martyrdom.

Dennis Kucinich is the Democrats' version of Ron Paul. He can take "courageous" stances because he will never be held accountable for them.

Landslide Mitt

2012-01-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

won the Iowa caucuses last night by an overwhelming eight-vote margin over main competitor Rick Santorum, the latter having no chance of winning the nomination.

Newt and Perry have one foot on a banana peel and the other out the door while Michelle Bachmann packed it in.

Ron Paul was a close third but of course he isn't a serious candidate. Jon Huntsman was an asterisk.

Etc.

2012-01-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

There is a very simple solution to the problem of kids baiting teachers to lose their tempers and recording them on video: simply ban all personal electronics from campus.

If kids are caught with the items, confiscate them and return them only at the end of the school year.

This would also include iPod Nanos and the like, since many of those have video recording capability.
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Ferrets will never be legal in California because they pose such a major threat to agriculture. California, of course, is one of the major areas in the world for agriculture.

More
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Online learning has its place, but the goal for privatizers is to outsource teaching. The masses will have diploma mills while the rich will still have live teachers and real campuses.

Just like they will have real books and tangible music (vinyl, CDs). The rest will never have anything.
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The National Championship Air Races in Reno will continue next year despite the tragedy of last year.
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The Teacher Is Shit Out of Luck

2012-01-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

He isn't tenured, and so therefore he has no right to have his job, and the district can basically get rid of him for any reason. "Misconduct" or "principal dissatisfaction" is whatever a principal says it is.

As we know, even if a teacher IS "tenured" or "post-probationary," districts can screw teachers over just as I was.

Link to suit

More:

Former Spanish teacher Luis Aguilera is suing the Chicago public school district, claiming administrators fired him in 2009 after a parent took issue with his memoir, entitled "Gabriel's Fire," which recounts his own relationship with a teacher in his youth.

The parent had broached what the suit dismisses as a baseless concern about a relationship between her daughter and Luis Aguilera. It says the mother's anxiety appeared directly linked to the content of the book.

Aguilera's memoir is about his coming of age on Chicago's South Side, where at 13, he "began an affair with one of the teachers at the local elementary school," according to a description of the book on website of the publisher, The University of Chicago Press.

What a dumbass:

Aguilera adds: "At the 'investigatory conference,' no evidence was taken, the complaining witness was not present and subject to questioning or cross-examination, there was no impartial hearing officer, and plaintiff was never provided with any specific charges against him. Plaintiff was never told what was his alleged 'misconduct,' was not permitted to counter any charges of alleged misconduct, and was never informed as to why his principal was not satisfied with his performance."

link

You don't have a right to a hearing, stupid. You aren't tenured. Talk about a frivolous lawsuit.

If the teacher had more than shit for brains, he would have never written the book in the first place bragging about his teen exploits. What a doofus.

No sympathy here.

I LOVE Pre-Code Films

2012-01-03T17:24:00.001-08:00

and I'd just as soon watch this flick from 1931 than the results of the Iowa Caucuses:

I Couldn't Care Less

2012-01-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

about the Iowa caucuses because they don't mean much anyway. That is especially true if unelectable candidates like Ron Paul or Rick Santorum come out on top.

I did the caucus thing in Nevada four years ago, the only time I ever participated in it. It was fun in a way, but I couldn't stand the attitude of the Obama supporters. I wasn't going to caucus for him no matter what. I went from Edwards to Clinton and became a Clinton delegate for the county and state conventions.

Results here if you care.

Etc.

2012-01-02T12:42:00.001-08:00

Thank goodness both are okay:

Obituary of the Year

2012-01-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

The middle class in the United States is for all intents and purposes dead. Although the price of homes has come down, it isn't anywhere near enough cheap for individuals and families to buy. Mobile homes are alternatives, but unfortunately, you typically have to pay space rent.

However, it isn't just the price of houses that are out of reach, it is also utility costs, insurance, and all of the other expenses necessary to have and keep a home.

link

The chart from the BLS shows how bad it is:

Stuck in a Time Warp

2012-01-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

You would think after the second and third waves of feminism, attitudes toward women and rape would change, but apparently they haven't changed a whole lot.

The Sigma Phi Epsilon survey validates many people's concerns that rape is normalized within the fraternity culture. Rape also happens in work places, churches, schools, and homes. Sexual violence is a crime that is perpetrated against women, men, teens, and children. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2010, recently revealed results that confirm that sexual violence occurs in our communities at an alarming rate. Nearly one in five women surveyed said they had been raped or had experienced an attempted rape at some point in their lives, and one in four reported having been beaten by an intimate partner. One in six women reported being the victims of stalking.

The "rape culture" still exists. Women are continually told they need to live their lives in paranoia because "the men can't help it" and have to take precautions for their safety. Education should be aimed at men not to rape, to respect women. Women should have every right to move about whenever they want, wherever they want.

Etc.

2012-01-01T09:09:00.000-08:00

Since the USSC completely lacks ethics, or at least the majority do thanks to idiotic decisions like Jones v. Clinton, Citizens United, and Bush v. Gore, naturally the chief justice has to justify it.

There aren't enough votes in Congress, and probably not ANY given how corrupt THAT institution is, to remove any of the justices.
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Cee Lo Green honors John Lennon by saying "Fuck you" with his classic composition "Imagine." The "singing," and I use that term liberally, is about four minutes into this video:

Green's gotten a lot of criticism over his deliberately changing the lyrics:

link
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Of course there is nothing wrong with being left-handed. Why is it even the subject of research?

It isn't any more "abnormal" than being right-handed.
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Murder is always horrible, but when the victim is elderly, it is especially heinous:

But by Aug. 12, Drath’s remarkable life had been hijacked by a man described by those close to her as an eccentric opportunist. More than 40 years her junior, the man had looked to piggyback on Drath’s successes and ride them to social status and importance, several people who knew the couple said.

Drath’s second husband, Albrecht Gero Muth, 47, has been charged with beating and strangling her to death in their Q Street home. In court recently, Muth, who has claimed to be a general in the Iraqi army and a spy for several countries was granted the right to represent himself at trial.

The More Anybody Gives a Crackpot Any of His or Her Time,

2012-01-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

the more "legitimate" that candidate looks despite the crackpot views. Ron Paul isn't going to get the GOP nomination anyway, so giving him any kind of attention is a complete waste of time.

He's no more a legitimate candidate for president than David Duke.

Many People Wrote Off the GOP

2011-12-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

after Obama's win in 2008, but they were sadly mistaken given the fact Obama is weak and too willing to work with the people from the political party of which he REALLY belongs.

Because of Obama's ineptitude and sellout of Wall Street interests, the GOP has returned from the dead.

Thomas Frank:

One of the problems with liberalism in this country is that it’s headquartered in Washington and its leaders are a very comfortable class of people. Washington is one of the richest cities in the country, maybe the richest. It’s not a place that feels the crisis, that feels the economic downturn. By and large, the real estate market stayed OK. The city continued to boom. The contracts continued to flow. What we’re talking about here is the failure of modern liberalism. At one time it was a movement of working-class people. The idea that liberals wouldn’t feel economic pain was ridiculous. That’s who liberals were. No more.

They belong to the same economic class as the GOP officials. The rich have bought off the rich politicians.

I Am All in Favor of Sacking NCLB,

2011-12-30T12:01:00.001-08:00

if the alternative is not a worse policy such as Race to the Top.

RTTT is far, far worse than NCLB and its ludicrous requirements of "proficiency" of ALL students by 2014 because it undercuts all teacher protections in the name of "reform" and does nothing to correct the underlying problems facing education--actually society--at all.

At least one principal agrees with me.

Not That It Will Do Any Good,

2011-12-30T11:46:00.001-08:00

but there is going to be a "vigil" or some damned thing protesting the bigwigs at KGO and Cumulus Media for changing the venerable San Francisco talk show radio station to an all-news one, with the exception of lightweight and overpaid host Ronn Owens. I have no doubt Owens will be gone when his contract is up in a couple of years.

There is even an "Occupy KGO" Facebook page.

I just think it is a complete waste of time. Some of the hosts have found work elsewhere.

Etc.

2011-12-30T09:22:00.000-08:00

If the poll is at all accurate, the American people really ARE that stupid as to think Obama is an "extremist," which translated means "extremist liberal." Unbelievable, but decades of media propaganda have gotten us to this dismal state of affairs.
_____

Space heaters are often used by poor individuals and families who can't afford the outrageous heating bills, thus subjecting themselves to possible injury and death from fires:

A house fire that killed three people in Columbus, Ohio the night of Christmas Eve was caused by a space heater, used by the family after gas was cut off from their home. The heater ignited the mattress they were sleeping on.

Another Crime Involving a Female Killer,

2011-12-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

the Sisco-Harkness double murder, is scheduled to begin next March 5 and run for three weeks.

In a case compared to Betty Broderick's, Dana Chandler is accused of gunning down her ex-husband and his fiancee in 2002 while asleep in their bed by breaking into the fiancee's Topeka townhouse. The families of both victims knew Chandler was the killer, but screw-ups in the police investigation early on meant it would be years and years before Chandler would be arrested. She was arrested this past July in Duncan, Oklahoma.

The late Harold Dow reported on this case for 48 Hours back in 2009:

One of the Murder Cases I Have Been Following

2011-12-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

is the one involving former Yreka, California, resident Jodi Arias, accused in the June 2008 shooting and stabbing death of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander. There have been delays and delays, with the latest scheduled trial date set for February 1 and likely to be pushed back another year at least. She has been having trouble with her defense; she should have simply pleaded insanity and been done with it. Now she faces a possible death sentence, which translated means she will likely die in prison of old age considered capital punishment is such a travesty.

There is no doubt at all she committed the crime. Unlike Alexander's friends, I do hold him responsible in a way because he encouraged her by wanting to use her for sex, yet he didn't think she was suitable enough to be a possible wife. Arias was unstable to be sure, but Alexander was playing with fire. Of course he didn't deserve the hideous death, but his tragedy is a cautionary tale to guys who think they can use and discard women like so much dirty Kleenex.

Arias has some defenders:

On Tuesday, Arias' younger sister, Angela Arias, said her sister's statements during the "48 Hours" interview were lies, and that Alexander's death was an act of self-defense on her sister's part during an incidence of domestic violence.

"She was not under oath when she spoke on TV and yes, she lied," Angela Arias wrote on Facebook after The Huffington Post sent her a request for comment. "But, it was because she was so in love with that man she did not want people to know what a monster he really was. She wanted everyone to believe that he was as amazing as they thought he was."

Nope. And no she's not "crazy like a fox" as Nancy Grace and others seem to think. That interview on 48 Hours, plus the recollection of several of Alexander's friends, show Arias has some serious mental problems that aren't faked.

link

I Don't Think So

2011-12-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Robert Reich seems to think Joe Biden will step aside as VP and Hillary Clinton will take his spot.

I don't think it will happen. I think HRC is done. Besides, there is a lot of bad blood between Obama and her husband to seem plausible.

Of course is Biden remains, he won't be likely to run for president himself in 2016, assuming Obama is actually re-elected. Then it would be a wide open race just as 2008 was.

Fundamental Shifts in the Economy

2011-12-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

helped cause the massive unemployment during the Great Depression, and our stupid shift from manufacturing to service is at least in part why our economy stinks so bad right now:

The parallels between the story of the origin of the Great Depression and that of our Long Slump are strong. Back then we were moving from agriculture to manufacturing. Today we are moving from manufacturing to a service economy. The decline in manufacturing jobs has been dramatic—from about a third of the workforce 60 years ago to less than a tenth of it today. The pace has quickened markedly during the past decade. There are two reasons for the decline. One is greater productivity—the same dynamic that revolutionized agriculture and forced a majority of American farmers to look for work elsewhere. The other is globalization, which has sent millions of jobs overseas, to low-wage countries or those that have been investing more in infrastructure or technology. (As Greenwald has pointed out, most of the job loss in the 1990s was related to productivity increases, not to globalization.) Whatever the specific cause, the inevitable result is precisely the same as it was 80 years ago: a decline in income and jobs. The millions of jobless former factory workers once employed in cities such as Youngstown and Birmingham and Gary and Detroit are the modern-day equivalent of the Depression’s doomed farmers.

"Globalization" was a deliberate attempt by the neolibs to destroy living standards in the United States.

The article is pretty good at drawing parallels between now and the Great Depression.

Video of the Day

2011-12-28T10:47:00.001-08:00

Dumbassed cops is right:

It's a miracle the jogger is okay and not dead.

The Reason Our Washington Politicians in Both Political Parties

2011-12-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

care not one whit about the vast numbers of people suffering economically these days lies in their own shell of obscene wealth:

While the Senate has long been known as a millionaires’ club, the transformation of the House is a relatively recent phenomenon. The median net worth of members of the House of Representatives, excluding home equity, has more than doubled over the last 25 years, from $280,000 in 1984 to $725,000 in 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars. During that same period, the median net worth of an American family fell from $20,600 to $20,500.

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times gave front-page treatment to the data, derived from figures collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. The articles reflect nervousness in the corporate-controlled media over the degree to which the rising personal wealth of members of Congress is discrediting the institution.

Washington politicians and policies are the problem in this country.

Doo-Doo Economics

2011-12-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, Virginia, it is true almost half of America lives in or near poverty.

And with that miserable statistic comes the inescapable fact our politicians WANT it that way.

So total taxes for the poorest 50% are 24 percent of their incomes (3% + 10% + 9% + 2%), as compared to 29 percent for the richest 1% (23% + 5% + 2% - 1%).

Other significant expenses for low-income people, based on the most conservative estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, the National Center for Children in Poverty, the Carsey Institute, and the Economic Policy Institute, include food (10%), housing (27%), transportation (6%), health care (5%), child care (8%), and household expenditures (5%). Expenses for insurance and savings and entertainment, although important to most households, are not being included here.

It's a major scandal, and nothing will be done about it.

Etc.

2011-12-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry if I don't believe this mother's claim about her "autistic" kid being "stuffed" in a duffel bag.

She's hankering for a lawyer to take her case so she can cash in.
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Republicans are guaranteed a Senate seat in Nebraska next year since so-called "Democrat" Ben Nelson is hanging it up.

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Obituary: Cheetah the chimpanzee who was featured in a number of Tarzan films during the Hollywood Golden Age, died of kidney failure during the week of December 19. He was estimated to be somewhere in his eighties.
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Idiot teacher doesn't have a leg to stand on. Private schools, especially the religious ones, can do pretty much what they want and fire teachers who don't subscribe to their beliefs.

She should try to work in public schools and get treated even worse.

The Media Should Be Held Responsible

2011-12-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

for making Ron Paul such a phenomenon by refusing to take this guy seriously and not even looking at his background. Now that this crackpot has made headway in the race for the Republican nomination, his words or the words from his newsletter are coming back to haunt him. This is at least four years later than it should have been.

In short, he should have been vetted and then marginalized.

Just consider the current uproar over the racist political newsletters that were sent out under Paul’s name (and used to fund his political activities) in the early 1990s. The story is hardly new, but to many voters it feels new because — like Paul himself — it’s been ignored by the press all year.

This is a perk of being dismissed by the press as a fringe figure. In 1996, when he made his comeback bid for a House seat in Texas, Paul briefly had to confront the newsletters, but once he was elected and became an entrenched incumbent, the issue was largely dropped by the local press (old news) and ignored by the national media, who saw him as just a gadfly backbencher. And when he ran for president in 2008, it didn’t come up until very late in the cycle, when some staggering fundraising numbers briefly compelled the political world to notice him. But almost as soon as it exploded back then, the story went away, with the media regarding Paul’s relatively weak early primary showings as proof that his base of support was very loud and very narrow and that he wasn’t worth taking seriously.

And that, more or less, was how the media treated Paul’s current campaign until the past few weeks.

Paul shouldn't have been elected to the House, let alone be taken seriously at all as a presidential candidate. He should have had just as much chance of being president as yours truly.

"The American Dream" Has Always Been a Lie

2011-12-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

for many people in this country, many of whom are people of color, but at least for a significant portion of the population (union families, college-educated families), the dream was a reality. This was true particularly in the post-WW II era of 1945-1975. However, thanks to the rise of neoliberalism in this country, the dream is turning into a cruel hoax.

The two main ladders of upward mobility, unions and college degrees, are either being dismantled or being put increasingly out of reach for more and more people. Now they are about to face the reality millions face in third world countries:

More than anything else, class now determines Americans' fates. The old inequalities — racism, sexism, homophobia — are increasingly antiquated [fig. 1]. Women are threatening to overwhelm men in the workplace, and the utter collapse of the black lower middle class in the age of Obama — a catastrophe for the African-American community — has little to do with prejudice and everything to do with brute economics. Who wins and who loses has become simplified, purified: those who own and those who don't. Meanwhile Great Britain, the source of the class system, has returned, plain and simple, to its old aristocratic masters [fig. 2]. Reverting to type, the overlords and the underclass seem little removed from their eighteenth-century predecessors. The overlords preach shared sacrifice from their palaces and the underclass riots [fig. 3] and the middle classes quietly judge. Everybody knows where he stands.

Not in America. In the United States, the emerging aristocracy remains staunchly convinced that it is not an aristocracy, that it's the result of hard work and talent. The permanent working poor refuse to accept that their poverty is permanent. The class system is clandestine.

link

The ultimate goal of neoliberalism/economic libertarianism is to install an aristocracy by means of public policy. The final nail in the coffin is when or if the estate tax is completely repealed.

Most people are still in the dark over what is going on. When there are fuel and food shortages, THAT is when people will finally take to the streets and riot. The "occupy movement" was destined to fail because our would-be aristocrats could easily co-opt or shut them down thanks in large part to the movement's nonviolent nature.