Category Archives: antitrust

The Education Show

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Seriously, these folks are running schools by script.  Unbelievable. (from Diane Ravitch’s blog)

As Diane says, it’s dangerous to speak out….but this has been going on in the private sector for quite some time–somehow, one’s right to Freedom of Speech stops at the corporate door.

So now it has reached the Education doors….and that is why Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, et al, have tried to destroy teacher’s unions.  It’s much harder to fire a teacher who speaks out against corruption when that teacher belongs to a strong union that stands behind her or him.  That’s kind of the bully playbook—separate people into aloneness, and attack.  It’s much easier to take one down than a group.

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More on Education--this post is just sickening.  Depressing as hell that Pearson has now monopolized the United States Education system.

This post from Mom of Five is alarming:

My daughter’s principal just informed me that she doubts any California district will ever order a textbook again: Everything bought in the future will be digital. Her school has pretty much phased out textbooks already and at my mom’s high school the district just got rid of over 4,000 books from the library. Even though the high school has just been built (3 weeks ago) I find it sad that the library is very small. Instead, there are numerous “student lounges” where kids go to hang out.

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Really disturbing.  Of course, the technology terrorists will wrap this in a “progress” blanket to quash any objections to it.  We’ve been sold this line of garbage that anything new in technology is automatically a good thing and means we are “progressing”.  What does that mean, exactly?  They don’t really say.  All it is is something “new”.  They know that marketers put “new” and “improved” on can labels so that consumers will buy it…doesn’t matter that it’s the same stuff as before and “improved” is a subjective word.

And if you notice the comment of teachingeconomist, the resident troll, he uses the word “nostalgic” as a code word for “you’re so far behind the times clinging to the past…”  to shut people up…

I see farther down the comments that Mom of Five had the same sentiment:

Momoffive

February 8, 2014 at 9:56 am

Oh yeah, I forgot the best part…she let me know that the reason I’m having a problem with all this is because “us older parents” have a difficult time with change and moving into the global 21st century.”

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Diane has probably blogged on this, but with all the information out there, I have trouble keeping up–Valerie Strauss (God love her) has this up on the Bush connection to this education fiasco.

More here from an old post at dailykos.  I think I may have posted this before–but doesn’t hurt to repost…easier to keep up with the octopus of education $$.

 

McSchools

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Diane Ravitch has a great blog up today on one family’s monopoly on charters in Minnesota and the resulting segregation.

A great comment by Reteach for America explains just how charters actually give parents less choice…and less power…when it comes to their child’s education:

Charter schools have no civic responsibility.

[…]

Many parents don’t realize this lack of democratic representation or really any say whatsoever in their children’s school is a serious issue until they have a concern about the charter and the charter tells them they are welcome to shop for another school. When they turn to the district for help, they’re often told the same thing. You don’t like McDonalds? Go to Burger King.

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So, imagine that your town no longer has independent restaurants, but only McDonald’s, Burger King, or any other national chain….you dislike the fast food and wish for a home-cooked meal that fits your diet…none of these chains have decent food, so you no longer have a choice.  You either eat the stuff that resembles food, or you stay home.  They don’t care about you, as an individual, but only YOU as a collective group to profit off of…

….this is essentially what charters like the ones in Minnesota are doing.  McSchools.

The right to raw milk

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…is also a right to decide what goes into our bodies.  Apparently, Americans aren’t the only ones battling the bureaucrats who won’t allow us to know what food contains GMO’s…but tell us that good, natural raw milk with natural enzymes and natural Vitamin A and D (not synthetic, which is questionable)  that help us digest that milk…is bad for us.  Riiiight.  Somebody please explain this backward thinking…’cause I don’t get it…

More here.

Additionally, the right to decide what goes into our bodies has a far-reaching aspect–the right not to be vaccinated.  It never ceases to amaze me that abortion advocates will call you a nutjob for being anti-vaccine while saying that you have a right to choose to have an abortion…but not have a right to refuse vaccination.  Unreal.

 

When ridiculous turns to cruelty

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Indignant Teacher has a story up on the ridiculous test, test, test, mentality of the Department of Education…which turns to cruelty when a child who is dying and a child with only a brain stem must.be.tested.  Good God.

Apparently, my communication through her that he was in hospice wasn’t enough: they required a letter from the hospice company to say that he was dying. Every day that she comes to visit, she is required to do paperwork to document his “progress.” Seriously? Why is Ethan Rediske not meeting his 6th-grade hospital homebound curriculum requirements? BECAUSE HE IS IN A MORPHINE COMA. We expect him to go any day. He is tenaciously clinging to life.

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This just makes me angry.  How utterly insane and cold and unfeeling to put this additional burden upon this mother whom is going through the most horrible thing a mother should ever have to endure–the death of her child.

 

Pipeline rupture report of 2009 buried

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Warrior Publications has this up on a report of yet another pipeline rupture that was buried since 2009.  Accidentally, of course…/snark

Nathan Lemphers says “it’s hard to guess intentions” as to why this report was buried….

…yeah, I’m not buying it, either, that it was an “oversight” that the damning report was never to see sunlight.  There are too many incidents of the oil industry interfering with freedom of the press and freedom of speech for it to be unintentional.

Let’s not forget the Arkansas oil spill that we wouldn’t have heard about, if it were up to the mainstream media. Or the massive devastation of the Gulf that BP tried to hide (and unfortunately, did a pretty good job of interfering with photographers and having dead dolphins carted away before they could document them.)

The tide was turned against the Vietnam war through the media…once one sees how devastating it is, it makes it harder to look the other way.

…and so it is with the devastating effects of the energy companies on the environment….hard to look the other way once one sees how devastating it is to the Earth and to the wildlife.

Neil Young’s song and the accompanying video haunt me–it shows in stark contrast how beautiful this Earth truly is until the oil and gas companies move in…

Ed Shultz (MSNBC)  has now two nights in a row yelled into the screen about how we  should be in favor of the XL pipeline for *cough* safety reasons.  Um-hmmm…

You know, I might have believed him if he wasn’t leaving out one important factor of tar sands:  pet coke.  Pet coke being the highly toxic byproduct of tar sands….which they want to dump in my already toxic state…

He is adamant that the “oil is going to come out, anyway” so it might as well be us, because if China or anyone else does it, well, it’s just not going to be as environmentally friendly.

I say let them.  It will be blood on their hands, not ours.

Better yet, leave the oil in the Earth where it belongs.  As the Sierra Club stated, if the XL is not built, then there is high probability that the tar sands will remain in the Earth.

Additionally, I thought it was disingenuous of Ed Shultz not to mention the Mi’kmaq or other First Nations of Canada whom have rights to the lands that are being destroyed.

Not a peep.  That speaks volumes!

And it also speaks to why MSNBC and Ed Shultz are still trying to convince people, almost on a daily basis, that Hillary Clinton is the front runner for the 2016 presidential race.  Hillary Clinton is all for the XL. 

Lastly,  Ed and his backers would still like to downplay how devastating XL would be on the environment.

He says we “have to” have XL in order to turn on our lights…and other scare tactics.

I don’t think we have *even* begun to truly use our brain cells to discover sustainable ways of creating energy.

…and Ed, we can always light a candle instead of cursing the dark…

Putting an “X” on XL and Enbridge Pipelines

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Idle No More has put up  links to several folks speaking out against XL and Enbridge Pipelines:

Honor the Earth:

Rise Up Mother Earth:

Note how they characterize Mother Earth as crying–Earth isn’t a big ball of dirt, but a living, breathing organism.

Here’s a list of nationwide vigils.

The Black Snake will face mounting opposition.

What did Big Oil know and when did they know it.  Jack Gerard, head of the American Petroleum Institute, thought the pipeline was dangerous to the environment…bwahahahahaha *snort*   /just a little joke there, folks

Finally, Democracy Now! featured the XL in a debate with an industry insider and Friends of the Earth:

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/debate_state_dept_moves_keystone_xl

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/environmental_groups_shocked_by_reports_of

And this on Enbridge’s infamous 2010 Kalamazoo spill, with cleanup still not done.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/michigan_activists_face_up_to_2

ALEC hard at work in Indiana; HB1321

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the destructive policies designed to push for charter schools that will ultimately mean the demise of public schools through siphoning funding away.

By the way, HB1320, has passed.  By the legiscan link, it’s hard to tell whether it passed in the legislature or just the committee.  Either way, it doesn’t look good.

 

U.S. Dept. of Ed. receiving money from Gates

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What a bombshell…the United States Department of Education is taking dirty money from Bill and Melinda Gates.

For a “collaboration conference” April 2012

Another “collaborative” effort to implement Common Core, December 2013

Note the “shared responsibility” white paper….and the focus is on labor collaboration…nothing about a well-rounded education as a robust part of democracy….the focus is on labor and business.

Note the paper states that the Dept. of Ed. is under “immense pressure” to implement labor-management collaborative…um, yeah, I don’t remember asking for more corporate involvement in public schools, have you…?

This sentence is telling:

To advance this collaborative theory of change the Department has been using both its convening and

grant making powers.

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(I have no idea why the font changed to smaller size…must be the pdf.)

…in other words, the Dept. of Ed. has been coercing schools to adopt the policy through grants and legislation…

n February 2012, the Department

announced the launch of the RESPECT Project.
RESPECT stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching.
The project’s purpose is to directly engage with teachers across America in a national conversation about transforming the teaching profession by
dramatically changing the way teachers are recruited,
credentialed, supported, compensated, promoted,
and retained in the profession.
The near-term aim of the RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices in shaping federal,
state, and local policy, with a long-
term goal of making teaching one of America’s most respected professions.

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This is such a joke.  Respect means you pay teachers a decent wage that reflects their professional education and their experience.  Respect means you do not bash teachers and teacher’s unions.

“…the…aim of RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices…”  Unless, of course, those voices are in passionate disagreement with you:

Finally, I found this wonderful video that takes on “Waiting for Superman” and all the false claims made by the education profiteers and their allies:

Supporting Walmart and McDonalds…

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…but not the working poor.

$7 BILLION dollars to the biggest welfare queens…McDonalds and Walmart.

Peter is an unethical toad. He never mentions the $$ executive pay that could easily be cut to allow for a decent livable wage.  And preying on the mentally challenged?  I have no words.

This  LA Times article talks about income inequality and executive pay:

Unlike most SEC regulations, the CEO rule isn’t really designed to provide information for investors. Rather, it’s designed to provide information for the larger community — for society, if you will. Its aim is to provide ammunition for the argument that the share of corporate profits going to top management, and by extension corporate shareholders, has gotten out of control.

That’s a sound argument, shared by many management experts and economists who argue that the diversion of corporate resources from workers to executives and shareholders is a major contributor to rising income inequality in the U.S., as well as to other social and economic ills.
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This information would be very helpful to folks who wish to invest but want to do so with a conscience.  Even if I had the money, I would think twice before investing again–I would not want to invest in a company that paid the execs 350% more than workers, nor one like Johnson, who was sooo overcompensated for….failure.  That’s poor management, in my opinion.
This piece states that companies were supposed to notify shareholders of environmental impacts…it’s been awhile since I had invested in stocks, but I don’t recall ever receiving notice of what a company did environmentally.  And would those reports be worth anything?  If a company is polluting, and does not wish to alert shareholders, they could skew the statistics towards a favorable view.  They could also use jabberwocky language to confuse people.
A better option would be independent inspectors sending stockholders reports of all the above to hopefully get an unbiased opinion.

More bullying by public officials

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Fred Klonsky has this up on Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s threatening letter to parents who wish to opt-out of the testing, testing, testing of their children.

Again, it seeks to usurp parents’ ultimate responsibility towards the welfare of their children.

I would put it back in her lap– show us that these tests are provable measures of one’s intelligence.  They can’t.  Because they’re not.  There is no test that can measure potential.  And the kinds of questions being asked–whether a first grader knows the Code of Hammurabi shows a complete lack of understanding of child development.