Category Archives: children

The weather…what else.

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You know it’s bad when we’re as cold as…Canada.  They’re expecting wind chills to reach -43 below here. Brrrr.

So… pretty much all the businesses and schools in the area are closed.  Canadians? Meh, those poor kids go to school anyway.  Good Grief.

Ah, Rahm Emanuel, his compassion and concern is just…underwhelming.  Good Grief, how callous can one person be?

And, from my own little corner of the world–

Winter storm jan.2014

 

123 years after Wounded Knee massacre

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Warrior Publications has a blog up on the massacre at Wounded Knee.

As I look at the photo of the mass grave, it is a shocking picture too similar to the Jews in Nazi Germany camps.

Something that is really important to know—these Native Americans had laid down their guns.  They had given all their weaponry to the calvary in what they thought was a truce…

…and then they were fired upon…

Unarmed men, women, and children gunned down…

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Warrior Publications also has this up on Carter Camp, of the 1973 Wounded Knee siege.   Treaty after treaty had been broken, and the Native Americans were asserting their right to exist, their right to practice their spirituality–which had been outlawed–and their right to their land.  They were protesting the war-like atmosphere created by Dick Wilson, whom thought of the traditional American Indians as “communists” .  He terrorized the traditionals.

The movie Thunderheart is loosely based on the events at Wounded Knee.  (Pay close attention to the bartender in one of the scenes–Crosby, Stills, and Nash fans will see a familiar face. 🙂

On the message board under portrayal of elders, a commenter talks about Grandpa Reaches being their favorite character in the movie–he was a medicine man, but not full of himself, not holier-than-thou.  He was the genuine deal.

Another commenter was commenting on the scene where Grandpa’s TV and ancient sacred turtle rattle are destroyed–they were trying to explain to someone why Grandpa would be upset about them breaking his TV, but not the sacred rattle.

It struck me odd, too, but trying to think as the Native Americans do about possessions, perhaps it was supposed to be a “letting go” of possessions such as the rattle, because it, too, could be replaced?  Or perhaps Grandpa Reaches thought that the rattle represented connection with the Creator, but he didn’t need an object because he was always connected?  I don’t know the answer, but it’s a good question.

They also talked about what Grandpa Reaches gave Ray Levoi for his sunglasses.  I thought it was probably a stone that Grandpa had blessed?

Anyway, I hope I haven’t given too much away to anyone who hasn’t seen it but wishes to–a really good movie full of twists and historical value.

An Educator for Chancellor…what a concept…

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Bill de Blasio better check with ole’ slick Willy and Hilly to rethink his choice for Chancellor.   He must be mistaken, because Bill, Hillary, Michelle Rhee, Eli Broad, and Bill Gates don’t approve of actual educators being involved in…you know…education administration.  De Blasio obviously didn’t get the memo that he needs to appoint an investment banker, technology terrorist, or some other profiteer to run the schools.  /very snarky

The ripples that come after…

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...Congress cuts unemployment benefits.  I disagree with the writer’s assertion that the Democrats “wanted to continue” unemployment benefits.  Are you kidding me?  These are the same people going along with Third Way mentality that wants to end New Deal social programs….

…meanwhile, they budgeted $500 Billion for the defense budget….a budget that should be reigned in, because they have too many contractors, too much waste,  (want to find money to support the jobless, give food to the hungry, and find homes for the homeless?  $430 MILLION in cutting waste is a place to start)  and an NSA that is running amok.

There is just something very, very wrong when a country spends more money to kill people than save them.

 

 

 

 

Third Way

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You might remember this post with a quote that says the words “third way”.  Not long after I posted it, Ed on the Ed Show (MSNBC) mentioned the Third Way.  I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was negative and the segment intrigued me.

I’ve just now gotten around to doing a bit of research on Third Way.  Whew…do you smell a rat??  Me, too.

Red flags are going off with Elizabeth Warren being attacked by supposed Democrats for…speaking out against selling us out to the 1% by cutting Social Security and other social programs….calling them “populist”. Um-hmmm…that and the word “entitlement” are key words for the “I’ve-got-mine-screw-you” crowd. 

Now, getting back to the previous post with Hillary Clinton’s religious leader saying those words:  third way…and how they wanted to do away with New Deal programs:

It emerged, he [Reverend Don Jones] says, as a third way, a reaction against both separatist fundamentalism and the New Deal’s labor-based liberalism.

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Social Security. Public Schools.  Medicaid.  Medicare.  Public employees like fire fighters, police.  Public Libraries.  A decent living wage.

I know that it’s hard to believe they want to destroy it all, but all signs are pointing towards that very end.

Elizabeth Warren stands in the way of that.

Here’s a humorous video up on it:

Please, please run for President, Elizabeth.  Please!!  I’ll go knocking on doors…whatever needs done to help get you votes.  Hillary Clinton is nothing but a Goldwater Girl doing the dirty work of the bankers, warmongers, education profiteers, Big Oil, Monsanto, and no doubt countless other organizations that don’t give a crap about Americans or America, the poor, the elderly, the children, the environment, nor the middle class.

Please run, Elizabeth.

School Colocation

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Yeah, I didn’t know what “colocation” meant, either. The former post on Bloomberg at Diane Ravitch’s has led to a great discussion on it and there is a   charter school troll there advocating Success Academy, a charter.  A poster supplied a link to an insightful post here.

This is just absolutely wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Another link provided a report on Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy receiving preferential treatment from the DOE.  Good Grief, can they be any more of an enabler?

More  here,

The preceding also has a link to Juan Gonzalez’s column on the sardine-like atmosphere in the colocation schools.  Shocking cannot even describe the overcrowded conditions that led to an autistic child disappearing.  Good God.

…and $1300 on marketing…per child….are you kidding me??  That money could have been used for public schools in more education-oriented ways.  It’s just mindboggling how dense and misguided this misuse of funds is…

…and how the public is being ignored:

Moreover, it is also clear from the abundance of comments at public hearings that the vast majority of parents oppose these proposals – and these parents’ choices are being ignored.  Just check any of the Public comment analyses on the DOE webpage.  In many of these summaries, every single parent who spoke opposed the co-location, as well as representatives of the Community Education Councils and elected officials.

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The public, that pays the taxes for the public schools, is…ignored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bloomberg: if you’re homeless, it’s God’s fault **edited

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Diane Ravitch has a blog up on a homeless girl, Dasani, and the heartless comment about her living conditions by Michael Bloomberg, as self-righteous as they come.

What a smug, heartless little turd.

Jesus has said one can only have one Master–money or God.

Obviously, Bloomberg chose money.

I read stories like this and feel such despair….

**edited to add:  There’s quite a discussion going on at Diane’s blog, and I thought I’d explain my thoughts.  Here’s a comment I left at Diane’s:

Wow, I must have struck a chord. I personally am poor and homeless as I write this. I am nothing like what Bloomberg, et al, would like to characterize the poor as– I’m college educated, once lived an upper middle class lifestyle. Being poor has taught me so much–that I could have and should have done so much more when I was wealthy. If I had money again, I would choose driving a Ford over a Mercedes, and give that difference to the poor.

To me, that is choosing God over money.

Your mileage may vary.