Category Archives: civil rights

Forcing chemo

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This is outrageous.  The child does not want it.  The parents do not want it.  But a gov’t bureaucrat has once again decided they know what’s best for someone else better than they do.

I would want to know their genetic background–most Amish came from Dutch/German stock…so it is possible that this family has the dreaded gluten intolerance and her immune system might be unable to fight off the cancer due to an inflamed gut.  Not to mention whatever chemicals she has been exposed to from industry and farming.

But…no…the medical nazi’s will force her to take a highly toxic chemical that may or may not cure her of cancer.  And they will turn their heads if by chance she is cured of this cancer, but later on develops yet another, more aggressive form of cancer due to the toxic chemicals they are putting into her now.

Like I have said many times–if I am stricken, I won’t go the chemo route, but try to fight it naturally and let nature take its course.

No one should be forced to take any medical treatment.  Ever.

 

Another reason to hate F_cebook **edited

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Creepy guy “friends” high school and junior high kids while pretending to be someone else.  Oh, and he “just wanted to see how friendly” they were is a load of crap.  Good on the Momma Bear who spotted it and followed her intuition.

Oh, and I recently found out that F_cebook “owns” any images one puts up there.   Not own as in has copyright, but they have it in their agreement that they have liberal use of those photos to do with what they wish.  And you don’t even have to belong to the wretched site–if your family or friends put your picture up there, you’re SOL.

**Edited to add this:  Gov’t data requests

Education News

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A Chicago Alderman has proposed drones in Rahm Emanuel’s Safe Passage routes.  I kid you not.  If you continue with the next blog of Fred Klonsky, he questions the “none of your business” attitude of CPS on emergency preparedness plans.  At the end, there is another link “continuing the story” which has this:

In a written statement, CPS officials insisted that every school in the district does, in fact, have a plan but said they were limited to “management level staff within the Office of Safety and Security,” building principals and assistant principals, and officials of the Chicago Police and Fire Departments.

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This is ridiculous.  The schools that I have taught at had plans the teachers knew and the children went through drills so they would know what to do.  It is important because their teacher may be incapacitated, so the children all the way up to the principals need to know the plan.    I found it highly ironic one year when we had a small earthquake while I was teaching.  I asked the kids if they knew what to do in case of an earthquake, which they didn’t, so I told them to stay under their desks until the shaking stopped, and then we would leave the building in the usual emergency route.  One of the regular instructors thought that I had needlessly worried the children….all the while they have been  put in “lockdowns” for some terrorist going to attack the school.  <sigh>
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The Indignant Teacher has a post up on a petition to remove David Koch from the board of WGBH Boston’s PBS station.  I have always admired WGBH and WTTW PBS stations, and now that Kochs are trying to control the media, it is even more imperative to get them out.
More moneyed influence on campaigns of the anti-public school crowd.  Good God, this guy is a liar.  A bold-faced one at that.
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More here on John Pelto’s blog that Diane links to:
The evidence is clear that income inequality is a major factor in educational inequality. Children living in poverty experience prolonged stress that affects their brain development in the regions associated with learning. There is a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and standardized test scores. As proven by Stanford’s Sean Reardon, the widening of the achievement gap results from additional opportunities affluent parents provide their children out of the K-12 environment: high-quality pre-K, tutoring, and after-school and summer enrichment. Reardon demonstrated that the test score disparity between low-income and high-income children is not the result of schools.
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See, the pro-Charter $$ folks would prefer to ignore this important fact that impacts learning….it’s much more fun to blame unionized teachers…and watch them scramble to put out fires the Charter proponents deliberately set.
This is pretty powerful.  He puts it so well–that every child develops in different ways and at different speeds and those differences should be honored, not ridiculed by failure of a “skills” test.  (hat tip to Diane Ravitch)
Finally, a wonderful history lesson here by Diane.  She was there on the March on Washington.

Absolute Immunity

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Never mind absolute power….how’s absolute immunity grab ya?  Good God.

Why is it wrong to shoot down an unarmed black child in Florida, but okay to shoot down brown people in Iraq–especially under the lie of weapons of mass destruction perpetuated by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz??

1/9/03   After nearly two months, UN’s Hans Blix says his inspectors have not found any “smoking guns” in Iraq.

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2/27/03 US diplomat John Brady Kiesling resigns, citing the “distortion of intelligence” and “systematic manipulation of American opinion.“

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3/8/03 On CNN, Joe Wilson says, “I think it’s safe to say that the US government should have or did know that [the Niger documents were] fake before Dr. ElBaradei mentioned it in his report at the UN yesterday.” Decision to discredit Wilson made at a meeting within the Office of the Vice President. [Date the public knew: 5/3/04]

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I saw where the President was going to hand out yet another Medal of Honor.  I couldn’t stand to watch it.  I’m sure this veteran should have been a better candidate for the Medal of Honor.  He actually knows right from wrong.

Go Virginia!

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Virginia has had enough of dismissive politicians who circumvent the people whom they represent and they have filed suit against what is basically taxation without representation.

 

In other education news,  Diane reposts about the Gesell Institute’s take on Common Core…waay back in 2010.

From the statement:

We urge the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to respect the individual developmental differences of children and revise the K-3 standards based on research and the advice of experts in the field of early childhood.

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In the comments, someone provided a link to Bill Moyers’ program on Glitz and Greed in D.C.  I haven’t viewed it yet, but knowing Bill Moyers, it will be eye-opening.

Segregation persists in Texas schools

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Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig has a post up on his findings of segregation in Texas schools.  He asserts that there is a third segregation–by language.  Non-English speaking children are in the low socioeconomic group and racially segregated schools.  Poverty is the number one reason children don’t do well in school–it’s hard to think when you’re hungry or your family may have to move that night to another area….and another school district.

And if you cannot understand English, it’s a given that you’re not going to learn.  It’s hard to learn anything when your teacher sounds like Charlie Brown’s.  All one has to do is listen to the spanish-speaking video to understand the problem.

Oh….the irony…

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Let’s play “Spot the Irony”  today.    I’ll put up three stories in the news and you can guess at the irony….

First, in what is entirely too common, we have a woman in a military/police occupation being sexually harassed.  Why should she or the others who complained have to resign their positions?  What about the mounties who harassed her?  Meanwhile, there are stories over the net of gang rape and assaults against women**…the police, who are doing their own share of harassing are supposed to investigate these incidents in a fair and just way??

Secondly, women who are breastfeeding their infants are asked to use the bathroom to nurse their child.

Meanwhile….a Victoria’s Secret store opens in B.C.

See…nourishing your child is something to be ashamed of while sexy lingerie that promotes boobies are perfectly fine….just as long as you don’t pop one out.

Oh…the irony…

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**I am in awe of her courage–as one commenter put it:  a warrior woman!  Not only that, but the two bears showing up and not harming her also leaves me in awe.