Category Archives: community

The mother of the dying child speaks out

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Ken Previtti (Reclaim Reform) has a follow up to the mother whose child was in hospice and the state of Florida was demanding he be tested.   Keep the kleenex handy.

Godspeed to her and her family.

Heartless creeps.

Charter Schools Gravy Train

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(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::

Helping neglected animals

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This is for Canada, but I hope that folks will help the shelters in their own areas.  They need cash and volunteers, always.  And this goes without saying– they need folks willing to give a home to an abandoned animal.  Two of the best pets I’ve ever had were from shelters.

And let them “choose” you–they will show an interest, wag their tail or purr, come towards you, or get that “light” in their eyes…

U of Illinois faculty on strike ** edited

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Fred Klonsky has a picture blog up on the U of Illinois at Chicago faculty strike.  I hope he’ll provide more details as it goes…

**edited:  Fred wrote about it last week.  Link.

People don’t understand that faculty are not making the big $$$.  When I graduated in 2000, the new hires (assistant professors) were making a whopping $25,000.  This while the university was funneling money into athletics.

Video segments of Kochs Exposed

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Here are snippets of the documentary on the grip the Kochs have on policy.  It’s truly heartening what happened in Wake County, a southern area, and how they were not willing to go backward.

Also, this documentary leaves out the Gates Foundation and Eli Broad and the Walton family’s influence on destroying public education…just wanted to note that important piece of this pie.

 

 

A letter from a mother

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Anne Clair, an Elsipogtog mother, wrote this about her son being jailed while protesting SWN trespassing on the native owned land.

Again, I ask–  If most of the taxpayers are against fracking and tar sands, then why are the oil companies allowed on that land?  Why were the police there and who are they working for if the taxpayers do not want this?

 

 

Honoring dead and missing women

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Idle No More has this up on a day to honor dead and missing Indigenous women.  I would like to expand that to all women—missing, dead, beaten, and raped.

Unfortunately, it’s in Canada…but yeah, if you’re not there, perhaps you could just take that time from 10:00 to 12:00 p.m. to meditate on that.  Not only on that, but how we can heal our society so that women are not seen as second class or “less than” for being….women.

Some suggestions:

–Say a prayer.

–Make a list of what you can do personally to stop the rape/violence against women culture.

–Change your thinking of hierarchy–that one must be “above” or “below” another.  And that one’s material wealth is equal to their spiritual worth.

–Examine the media.  Truly examine how the media sends messages of women’s worth.

–Listen to women.  Listen to what they tell you they want–don’t try to put your own ideas on to women.  And don’t, for pete’s sake, make us all one homogenous group….we are all individuals with different ideas, needs, wants, and goals.

The stories behind the food stamps

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I was thinking about my post on food stamps, and thought I’d add a little depth to the folks behind the faces–

I mentioned in this post about the man getting only $16 a month in food stamps.  He’s in a wheelchair, not too much older than me.  He was a fire fighter, once, and then was paralyzed in a hunting accident.

Another lady limps with one leg as she had a stroke.  Her left arm is basically useless–some mobility to it but not much.  She, too, isn’t too much older than me.  She had been married once and had children from that union.  She had once suggested that her husband look into a security business.  He did.  He now lives quite well while she lives in poverty with a small income from disability.

An older African American gentleman once played in a jazz band in Chicago during the 50s and 60s (and probably longer, but that’s what I heard about).  He had his picture in the paper once.   Now he lives in public housing, unable to afford a better place.

A younger gal is a student nurse who somehow ended up here from Hawaii.  She’s in public housing and on food stamps until she gets her degree.

Another gal my age used to work for a national grocery chain.  She stood on concrete floors for eight hours every day for years…..it took a toll on her back and knees and now she is on disability and food stamps.

I just wanted to put a face on the folks on food stamps so people understand.

You never know the story until you walk a mile in their shoes…