Category Archives: antitrust

Shutting down the media – Russia

by

Global News has this up on Russia blocking websites that favored the ouster of the Russia – leaning president.  More here on Ukrainian-Montrealers protesting outside Russian consulate.

This is another example of why we need Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press and how easily those in power can block them with the claim of national security.

As I listen to and read about the uprising/civil war/revolution in Ukraine, the words I hear the most are about economic factors and standing in the world.  The message is framed to turn the viewers’ gaze on how this is going to effect economic status.

And the sharks are circling…waiting to capitalize on the fallout.

Democracy seems to be an afterthought.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  most folks around the world just want peace; to take care of their families; be healthy; have a purpose in life.  They want a government they elect to represent their wishes…not their economic benefactors.

Pando Daily had posted this a few days ago.  A billionaire funnels money to the opposition in Ukraine.  Ugh…

My first thought that this is wrong, wrong, wrong.

And then I thought of the dark money of the Kochs and Bill Gates, et al, and my second thought was “is it wrong to fund the underdog when up against dark money…?”

But I don’t know that the underdogs in Ukraine are for democracy or for authoritarianism a la Russia.  Reports have been that at first the original protesters were for democratic society, and then the conservatives, leaning towards authoritarianism, had taken over.

So that begs the question of who is Omidyar supporting? Does he care, as long as he can capitalize on whomever wins?

Comments section is lively and make the point that Pando is also supported by billionaires.

They responded with this article.  They make the claim the Omidyar is hands-on involved in the process, while their contributors cannot touch them with a 30-foot pole.

But back to the main theme of billionaires behind upheaval…

I come back to this is wrong, wrong, wrong in that however good intentions are…somebody always seems to twist things around to the opposite.  The dark ones always seem to manage to quash the emerging light.

If only politicians were put on poverty-level wages…then we would be governed by those truly serving out of duty instead of out of their own self-serving interests.  You’d see a mass exodus from government positions…

**A side note~ one of the links provided was to Glenn Greenwald’s behavior.

 

Public Education: The Hunger Games

by

Wow.  This old post by School Finance 101 really drives home the utter madness of school “reform” and draws a correlation between the pitting of kids against each other that Race to the Bottom and Common Core demand in order to receive tax dollars and falsely rate students, teachers, and schools…..and The Hunger Games.

I haven’t seen the movie, but I have seen examples of the pitting of people against one another to “increase production”.  Personally, I have always felt that this was just a sick game by dark ones who enjoy seeing people beat each other up or use underhanded tactics to win.  Kind of like the show “Survivor” put on by “devout Christian” Mark Burnett.  Tell me, Burnett, would Jesus approve of pitting people against one another to win??  Didn’t I read that he fed everyone loaves and fishes…not feeding just a few after making them fight for it??

But, I digress…

I have never understood why business models were held up as some sort of panacea.  If the business model is an elaborate pyramid scheme, how can it possibly be sustainable?  It all depends on making a profit–make that bigger profit.  Greed is the goal instead of sustainability. It just doesn’t make sense.

Phrase of the day:  cannibalistic management practices.

As I’m reading this, I’m thinking of that gym teacher that used to punish the group that lost when we played sports games.  It was punitive and counter-productive–I hated gym class because of it.  It certainly didn’t make me want to exercise more or win more games.  Even if one is good at a particular game, if you have folks on your team who are not, you still lose.  His thinking was that you would shame or bully your teammates to perform better, but that was a stupid, thoughtless gesture that created a negative atmosphere.  It did not allow for some folks being more coordinated and therefore better at sports.  It totally missed the point that it was about getting exercise and making that enjoyable instead of competitive.

It is important to note Microsoft’s copying this insanity…with predictable results.

 

 

Bullying Chicago Teachers, via Byrd-Bennett

by

Fred Klonsky has this up on the heavy handed Barbara Byrd-Bennett.

We must plan for the event that some teachers will be insubordinate and refuse to administer the test.  If the teacher regularly assigned to the classroom has refused that assignment, another teacher or an administrator should be assigned to administer the test.  The teacher who has refused the assignment should be given the option of going home without pay on all testing days or supervising the students who are not taking the test in silent reading activities.  If there are special concerns about a teacher’s conduct, principals should immediately consult with their Talent Generalist at 773-535-2800.

~~~~~~

This is just unreal.  This reads like a handbook for Nazi Germany and Hitler.  What’s next…the police called in to administer the tests?!

Chicago Teachers Union Strike: A Report

by

Jan Resseger has a blog up on the report of the Chicago Teachers Union strike in September 2012.  This, my friends, is what a democratically run union looks like.  Other unions TAKE HEED.

The teacher’s and counselor’s passion is evident in this report.  They care about these kids and what the profiteers are doing to them. Note how the police, fire, parents, and community stepped up and supported them.  Good for them.

 

Alert: Chicago Parents and Public Ed Supporters

by

Fred Klonsky has this up on a rally for Chicago Teachers Union and parents against the testing, testing, testing mentality of the education profiteers and their toadies.

Rally is at 3:30 p.m. at Saucedo Elementary at 2850 W. 24th Blvd.  Wear red in support!

 

Keystone Pipeline Exposed **updated

by

PRESS RELEASE: Tuesday, February 25, 2014
CONTACT: Nick Surgey, nick@prwatch.org, (608) 260-9713

KEYSTONE PIPELINES EXPOSED: NEW FILM REFUTES JOBS, SECURITY, GAS PRICE, TAX, SAFETY, AND CLIMATE CLAIMS

MADISON — Today, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new short film and launched a series of major investigative reports debunking key claims of proponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline, as the State Department solicits comments from the public on its controversial environmental impact assessment.

Over the past seven months, CMD has interviewed experts and activists in Port Arthur, Texas; Detroit; and Washington, DC; and examined detailed tax, safety, economic, environmental, and campaign finance studies in assessing the claims made by proponents of the pipeline, which would carry more than 3/4 million barrels of tar sands oil a day from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries.

“We made this film and investigated the public relations campaign for the Keystone XL pipeline because the fake ‘facts’ about jobs and energy security peddled by industry-funded politicians and uncritical pundits has left too many Americans deeply misinformed,” said Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy. CMD is the publisher of the award-winning “ALEC Exposed” investigative reporting project about the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The film, “Keystone PipeLIES Exposed,” highlights little known facts about the KXL pipeline project such as the corporate exemption for tar sands oil from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and the limits on taxes due for foreign oil imported to foreign trade zones like Port Arthur. The film also includes footage from major tar sands oil spills in the U.S. and Canada that were only briefly in the headlines despite the enormous damages they caused. A short excerpt of the film is available at: https://vimeo.com/87520545

CMD’s short film documents that, despite the claims of politicians and others backing KXL:

—  KXL will not directly create 100,000+ jobs but 3,900 short-term and 50 long-term ones.

— KXL will not produce billions in corporate tax revenues, due to tax loopholes most Americans have never heard of.

— KXL will not be safe from disastrous leaks, but it will be exempt from corporations paying into a key disaster insurance fund because it is “unconventional oil,” which puts taxpayers on the hook for billions.

— KXL will not make America energy independent; and, in fact, most of the tar sands oil is planned for export from the Gulf of Mexico via tankers to foreign countries.

— KXL will not be climate neutral — in spite of that suggestion made in an assessment prepared by an industry-linked group — but it will speed climate change and global instability.

Dave Saldana, the Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and producer of the film, commented: “The Keystone XL pipeline is a phenomenally bad idea. I looked at the claims as a lawyer; what did the evidence show me? The evidence shows that its job creation claims are grossly inflated; that better, greener alternatives would aid America’s energy independence and put more Americans to work for a longer time than the pipeline; and that the pumping of tar sands oil across the U.S. primarily for export to foreign countries poses enormous risks to America’s water supply, food supply, and air quality. And that’s before you even get to what it does to climate change.”

CMD’s film and related documentation are being released in advance of the March 7 deadline the State Department has set for public comments on the government’s recently released environmental impact assessment, which critics believe signals that the State Department is poised to give a green light to the pipeline’s expansion across the U.S.-Canadian border and to the Texas shores. On March 2, activists are preparing for KXL protests across the nation.

NEW RESOURCES FOR THE PRESS AND PUBLIC ON KXL

The production package for “Keystone PipeLIES Exposed” includes a 22-minute film, a fact sheet debunking the main myths about the KXL, seven 3-minute short videos for easy sharing, and other materials about the the experts cited in the film, which you can find at our new website http://www.pipeLIESexposed.org. Follow the conversation at #pipelies.

In addition, five in-depth investigative pieces will be published — each day this week — at CMD’s original reporting site, http://www.prwatch.org. Follow us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/CenterforMediaandDemocracy and Twitter https://twitter.com/PRWatch

~~~~~~~~~~~~

**UPDATED:  Please sign the petition against XL here.

Saving Michigan Public Schools

by

Diane Ravitch has this link up on Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton fighting the good fight for Michigan public schools from the profiteers.

From the link:

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan, who signed his authority over school reform to the experimental EAA for 15 years in 2011, asked to get it back immediately, apparently due to deep concerns about the EAA’s many failures – but EAA Chancellor John Covington refused. Given the crumbling relationship between the EAA and Flanagan, Lipton said the EAA must be brought to a halt, not expanded, as Republicans in the Legislature are seeking to do.

~~~~~~~

and then there’s this:

And why won’t the governor, through his control over the EAA Board of Directors that hired and can fire Covington, demand Covington to immediately return control to Flanagan or be removed from office?”

~~~~~~~

Stunning.   Absolutely stunning that they signed authority over for 15 years to an uproven entity!!  Who does that?!

Of course the Repubs are not only not stopping this, but trying to expand it.  (Probably hoping that it will be harder to stop a speeding train).  Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Koch Brothers, John Arnold, and the billionaires boys club have too much at stake to take their marbles and go home…

 

Charter Schools Gravy Train

by

(hat tip to scathing purple musings)  Forbes, of all places, has this article up that pretty much summarizes all that is wrong with charter school profiteers.

As mentioned here before, the article notes that Bill Clinton allowed them to proliferate by giving them tax credits and not only that, but green cards for foreign investors.  Yep.

As I’m reading about the for-profit scheme and how the author notes that they have not been that profitable…I’m thinking of the “classes” being given to kids via video or online “learning”…so they don’t have to pay a teacher at all.  Or–they have one teacher to answer questions or grade tests for however many kids they can squeeze in….I don’t even know the answer to that and I’m not going to even try to guess.   They don’t really care, anyway, if the child is getting a good education…as long as it looks something like an education, they’re just fine with that…

Lastly, I’m even more impressed with public schools after reading this–the author notes that charter schools can pick and choose their students, so they should be showing better test scores than public…less than a third do that.

So…even with the students that are autistic or mentally challenged, the public schools still outdid the charters.  Here’s to the dedicated and beleaguered public school teachers….::clink::