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eaglehttps://sunlightonthewater.wordpress.com
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Chicago: Private Firms Cashing In on the Common Good

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$chools for sale! Public lands, roads, airwaves for sale!

janresseger's avatarjanresseger

Rick Perlstein’s new piece, How to Sell Off a City, paints the landscape of the privatized metropolis.  Privatization is, of course, much broader—wars conducted by what used to be called Blackwater and by Kellogg, Brown & Root—prisons kept packed with folks on long sentences to build the profits of the Corrections Corporation of America —but Perlstein’s panorama is local.

“For over a decade now, Chicago has been the epicenter of the fashionable trend of ‘privatization’—the transfer of the ownership or operation of resources that belong to all of us, like schools, roads and government services, to companies that use them to turn a profit.  Chicago’s privatization mania began during Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration, which ran from 1989 to 2011.  Under his successor, Rahm Emanuel, the trend has continued apace.  For Rahm’s investment banker buddies, the trend has been a boon.  For citizens?  Not so much.”

Chicago is a microcosm…

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Milgram, blind obedience….still relevant today. .

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Even more so, in my opinion….the latest in jaw-dropping blind obedience is this measles hysteria.  It is absolutely true that the media can intensify the desire to follow authority blindly without questioning their motives, their biases, any financial incentives,  and when they make it seem that everyone else is “on board” but YOU.  Yes, YOU there standing all by yourself when everyone else is on their side.  You’re just too stupid to understand.  You’re a troublemaker.  You’re one of those “lone wolves” the terror experts are always talking about….yeah, we’ve got YOUR number!

Business Insider has a good article on the Milgram experiment and its relevance to today.  Incredibly, there are some saying that this happened in the 60s, and we are much more sophisticated now….we would handle things differently.

Um, no.

Survivor, anyone?  Reality shows that gleefully pit people against one another?  The bullying atmosphere of our times that sends young ones into such psychological distress that they commit suicide?  They are all part of the same psychological mindset of getting a thrill on hurting another — whether it be physically or mentally.

I like Matthew Hollander’s take on the Milgram experiment:

Research subjects may say things like ‘I can’t do this anymore’ or ‘I’m not going to do this anymore,’” he said, even those who went all the way to 450 volts. “I understand those practices to be a way of trying to stop the experiment in a relatively aggressive, direct, and explicit way.”

It’s a far cry from Milgram’s idea that the capacity for evil lies dormant in everyone, ready to be awakened with the right set of circumstances. The ability to disobey toxic orders, Hollander said, is a skill that can be taught like any other—all a person needs to learn is what to say and how to say it.

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Alanis Morrissette’s song “Perfect” popped into my head – it captures so well the pressure to be perfect, starting in childhood. Well, being perfect is another way to teach obedience – create your life according to what society deems is important.
For example, women used to wear those tight corsets that made their waistlines look unnaturally tiny.  This was responsible for health issues and fainting.  And yet, women did it out of obedience to what society demanded.
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“We argue that the answer to that question is a matter of identification,” he continued. “Do they identify more with the cause of science, and listen to the experimenter as a legitimate representative of science, or do they identify more with the learner as an ordinary person? … You’re torn between these different voices. Who do you listen to?”

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This again touches on the vaccine hysteria — and whether people have a right to their own autonomy.  The authoritarian stance taken by politicians, the CDC, and with the media helping them by continually spewing falsehoods about it, is hard to stand up to…especially with the psychological abuse of insisting that you would be hurting your community if you did not get a vaccine.  It is hard to stand up to that unless you’re sure of yourself.  They make you feel, as Nancy Pelosi attempted, that you’re stupid and a troublemaker (anti-science, anti-governance) if you question their authority.
It’s George W. Bush’s “you’re with us or against us” all over again.
In the story, there’s a link for a French documentary on the same thing, only it’s not the 60s — it’s recent.  It’s really horrifying how these people were thrilled to deliver the shocks — up to killing the guy.  And the guy that says he “wanted to stop” – I’m sorry, I just don’t buy it.  He was getting some sort of thrill from shocking him or from the audience cheering him on.  Again — being obedient and shocking him meant that the guy doing the shocking was getting some gratification from the approval of the audience, therefore approval of society.
The biggest thing missing from this, I think, is the spiritual factor.  And perhaps that question needs to be asked?  If someone believes there is a Higher Power and they believe in the golden rule of doing unto others as they would have done unto them…and they make an effort every day to actively follow it….my guess is that they are the ones most able to resist blindly following authority and pushing back when asked to do something they know is wrong….even when everyone else is doing it.

Your Saskatchewan: February 2015

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Global News used to publish such beautiful photos….here we have a few of them, but the rest…I can’t figure out why they would think they were exceptional.
Anyway, the robins are baaaack! I heard that familiar warning chirp when I took Pookie out to do her business, and I thought I was hearing things. I waited a few moments…and sure enough, a pair of robins flew overhead. Spring has officially arrived! (Pay no attention to that poor tortured groundhog who, under duress, mistakenly indicated we were in for six more weeks. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Buffalo: Teachers Union Official Thrown Out of Board Meeting When He Tries to Speak

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Quote: Ian Be · Weirdo at BOURBON AND COFFEE
the most disturbing part of this video is the apparent fact that the police officer did NOT remove Mr. Gibson, but rather Mr. Gibson stopped speaking and removed himself after the police officer approached him. there is a paralyzing fear that grows from the regular operation of political processes, especially when the rules are re-arranged to benefit the rulers rather than the ruled. if a man is resigned to silence himself because those he speaks against deny his right to a voice, then nothing can change. effective action does not begin with acceptance of authority.
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I think like most of us, we would have done the same. It’s apparent that if we are to save public education from the profiteers and hedge fund managers, civil disobedience is in order. Mr. Gibson should have sat down in his spot — pushing them to arrest him for…what? Wanting to speak at a public meeting? It would have forced them to acknowledge that they were violating a person’s right to have their voice heard. Mr. Gibson’s eloquent speech in the previous video shows what they were afraid of–he intelligently speaks truth to power. And they can’t have that.

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

Watch the fascinating video embedded in this blog post from Buffalo, New York. Kevin Gibson, the Secretary of the Buffalo Teachers Federation gets up to speak. Board member Larry Quinn (yes, the same board member who was texting as a high school student was speaking at a recent meeting) waves to a police officer and has Gibson escorted out of the Board room. He was not allowed to speak. Democracy in action. Under what interpretation is a representative of the district’s teachers barred from testifying at a public hearing of the Board of Education?

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NBC assigns investigator to look into claims made by anchor Brian Williams

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You know, this is starting to take on the air of “swiftboating”…who did Brian Williams piss off?
Comcast is a sorry company that has the worst customer service record of all the communications companies.
Because, you know, allowing a monopoly on the market is beneficial for the “marketplace of ideas” and better customer service, lower rates….yada, yada, yada…none of which has come true.

Indiana: Where Testing Has Reached the Height of Absurdity

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Legislators have no business deciding what tests are appropriate to determine progress or areas of weakness of a child. Educators are trained for that and are much, much more in tune with children’s needs.
I think it’s time to test the legislators to see if they are qualified to run public education AND if they are competent to govern the citizens of Indiana.

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

Please feel free to email elected representatives in the Indiana legislature if you agree that testing has become the monster that ate education. Does it make sense for children in third and fourth grade to sit for 19-20 hours of testing?

Required testing time:

SAT-3 hours 45 minutes
ACT-3 hours 30 minutes
Indiana BAR-13 hours

ISTEP- 3rd grade:18 hours
4th grade:20 hours 10 minutes
5th grade:19 hours 42 minutes
6th grade:19 hours 55 minutes

To: Sue Errington , Rhonda Rhoades , Jeff Thompson , Jim Lucas , Lloyd Arnold , Vernon Smith , Robert Behning , Edward Clere , Woody Burton , Tony Cook , Dale Devon

, William Fine , Justin Moed , Terri Austin , Senator Earline Rogers , Mrvan , Senator Jean Leising , Senator Carlin Yoder , Chip Perfect , Dennis Kruse , Senator Scott Schneider , Senator Pete Miller , Senator Jeff Ratz , Senator…

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The rape culture…validated by law

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A judge in Oregon has reinforced the rape culture by ruling that a 61-year-old pervert is not guilty of being a pervert.  He had taken upskirt photos of an innocent 13-year-old girl….but the judge says he didn’t violate any laws.  Un-freaking-believable.

It validates the rape culture by once again saying that a woman has no autonomy and a man can do what he wants when he wants.  I can’t even wrap my brain around a judge thinking this is okay.  At the very least, her privacy was violated!

And what was this pervert going to do with those photos?  The article doesn’t tell us.

…and this guy walks away free.

And he’ll do it again.  Guaranteed.  Men who don’t understand boundaries will continue to violate those boundaries.   He’s not sorry for his actions.  He’s only sorry he got caught.