Category Archives: bullying

Protestors banned from oil exploration site

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First Nations protestors were banned from interfering with oil exploration on a land reserve.  They consider it sacred ground and they were not consulted by leadership before the leaders gave their approval.  It’s stunning that the tribe brought charges before the court against their own.

What I would like to know is….if it is a land reserve, what the hell are oil companies doing there in the first place…?  It’s a land reserve! 

Just keep tearing up the Earth and polluting it until there is nothing left….small minds.

A scab by any other name

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Diane Ravitch has an excellent link up to Black Agenda’s take on the charter schools takeover.  I am glad there are voices coming from the African American community against charters.  Up until now, I haven’t heard their voice being raised at what is surely a stealth racism of closing public schools in poor and minority neighborhoods and replacing them with deficient charters run by well-paid CEO’s.

I hear plenty against Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel, but I’ve yet to hear any voices raised against Oprah for promoting charters out the wazoo.

The Sky is Pink

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…because the oil and gas industry says so…

Clearly, with all the evidence out there, the oil and gas industry has been allowed to get away with so much because Congress is so beholden to them.

Very little is said about solar or wind power when members of Congress are spouting the latest “the American people want…” schtick….and nobody ever proposes that the American public needs to reexamine their own energy usage.

Funny how during WWII, they didn’t have a problem asking folks “Is this trip necessary?” to save gas and keep tires from wearing out.

But now…?

*crickets*

It’s good to know some Americans are taking it upon themselves to reduce their gas usage by riding bikes.  I know that is not always possible especially for disabled folk…but perhaps that problem could be solved if bikes were designed with disabled in mind? Surely some nerdy engineer could figure out how to design a bike that would be safe and easy for not-so-disabled folk?

Anyway, we are part of the problem, too.  But we still need to tax the hell out of the oil and gas industry, for one–they’re less likely to cause trouble in D.C. with $$$ lobbyists if they don’t have wads of cash lying around…

Cloaking Inequity

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Julian Velasquez Heilig has a post up on the laughable (or not) edumucation mis-counting of school scores…um, yeah, if the Keystone cops could be Keystone Analysts….this is what they would look like–bumbling over themselves.

It’s a miracle…

well, wait a minute…it isn’t…

…yes, yes, it is….

No, no, it isn’t….

Oh, just stop paying attention to facts and think what we tell you to think…!

…oh, and yes, we in Indiana are certainly trying to keep up with Texas….

More letters to Bill and Melinda Gates **edited

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This has got to be one of the most profound letters I’ve read to date.  It is truly a great assessment of the misinformation campaign being run by the Gates Foundation and the others profiting off of our children.    No educators were included in creating Common Core!!   Red flags right there.   Be sure to follow the link that begins “entire body of social science…”  –it leads to a Washington Post article by Valerie Strauss.  In it there is a link to a  protest letter signed by educators and other professionals against Common Core—lots of good information there.

Megalomaniacal Gates seems to think that every child should be manipulated towards a career in the technology field….everyone should be just like himself…?  Probably thinks he’s the new Messiah, too.  God help us.

 

**edited to clarify

Tasers used by bullies

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Every time I think we can’t get much worse in the have-we-sunk-this-low department, I’m yet again stunned by acts of cruelty.

Even worse is the attitude that he should have “just left” his job.  In this economy?  Are you kidding?

The bigger question is why did this happen in the first place and why didn’t management do something to stop it…you know, by firing the ones doing it?

Well….if management was participating by filming the tazing and providing the tasers, then we know the answer to that.

Here again is another example of why our kids are bullying each other….they see adults acting like this and think it is acceptable.

New York State Test Outrage

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From Diane Ravitch:  Peter DeWitt Is Outraged by New York State Tests.

This is such a compelling letter–how can anyone claim that teachers are not dedicated?

I’m angry that I continue to have teachers step outside of the box…very brave teachers, and get pummeled because their children did not do well on state tests…that they were never supposed to do well on in the first place.

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Exactly.  The game has been exposed–kids were never supposed to pass these tests.  It was designed to fail them and their schools.

…just so some hedge fund manager, bankers, etc. could make a fast buck.

 

The Monuments Men

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…is being brought to the big screen this December.

Here is a page that briefly explains who they were and what they did.

I was happy to discover they did not neglect Capt. Rose Valland.  When they called the operation  “Monuments Men”  , the name implies that there were only men helping the effort.  As with most of history, women’s contributions are ignored or downplayed, and unfortunately, that seems to have been the case for Rose, as well.  She died without acknowledgement of her enormous contribution to the success of the operation.  Why is that?

Why did I have to learn in college that if it were not for women gathering nuts, berries, and seeds, human beings would not have survived….because men were not that good at hunting, because at that time, there were no tools? I should have learned this in the history classes I took in elementary, middle, and high school.  Nope. 

Why are women’s contributions to history and to sustaining civilization not seen as important or consequential?  It would take nothing away from men’s contributions….so I’m at a loss to explain it.

More on my blog here.

Forty Years of ALEC

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They’re protesting ALEC in Chicago as I type…the tweets are keeping tabs on what is going on.  Badass Teachers Association is there.  Others have reported rough treatment by Chicago Police.

https://twitter.com/aaroncynic/status/365556308516151297/photo/1

Chicago Teachers Union