Woot! Teachers taking back their classrooms! The tactics of intimidation by Barbara Byrd-Bennett did not work.
…and the teachers, bless their hearts, still taught a lesson in civil disobedience and nonviolence, a la Ghandi and Rosa Parks.
Makes me smile. 🙂
Center for Media and Democracy has a link up for a petition against the XL Pipeline.
Warrior Publications has this up on what we already knew, but yeah, putting it in writing that Harper and the rest see the land rights of the First Nations folks being problematic.
See…it’s so much harder to get the oil out when you have to ask permission by folks who see it as violating the Earth. They aren’t as easily swayed by $$ because the Earth is sacred to them.
It’s even more of a problem when those folks have the law on their side.
Honor the Treaties, Canada.
Paul Ryan has not been swayed from his austerity measures, as he still advocates for the rich while seeking to starve people…
I started to watch a link to a Newseum piece hosted by Brian Williams, but five minutes of listening to Paul Ryan and I couldn’t stand any more. Him being a toadie of Kochs and Peterson just turns my stomach.
More from Mother Jones here.
I followed the link to Paul Ryan’s False Advertising Photo Op at a soup kitchen. What an opportunist.
It seems that the answer to poverty is pretty basic: jobs with livable wages; affordable housing; healthcare. That’s it. With those factors, you can’t lose, because those are the three factors that keep people off of food stamps, off the streets, and free of financial disaster when an illness hits.
My previous post on Ryan here.
Dispatches from the Underclass has an interesting post up on what is happening in Venezuela.
Ukraine, revisited, it would seem…if the allegations about being funded by a conservative, elite network including Americans, is true.
I have no illusions about how greedy oil corporations and others are and what lengths they will go to in order to get what they perceive as theirs…
…but I have to plead ignorance about the situation there and who is telling the truth–situations can be manipulated by the media, as well as helping shed light.
Here is an article with the opposite stance on the protesters. It is so lopsided and devoid of facts that I have to wonder about the author’s financial connections to those that stand to gain from Maduro’s overthrow.
Global News has this up on Russia blocking websites that favored the ouster of the Russia – leaning president. More here on Ukrainian-Montrealers protesting outside Russian consulate.
This is another example of why we need Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press and how easily those in power can block them with the claim of national security.
As I listen to and read about the uprising/civil war/revolution in Ukraine, the words I hear the most are about economic factors and standing in the world. The message is framed to turn the viewers’ gaze on how this is going to effect economic status.
And the sharks are circling…waiting to capitalize on the fallout.
Democracy seems to be an afterthought.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: most folks around the world just want peace; to take care of their families; be healthy; have a purpose in life. They want a government they elect to represent their wishes…not their economic benefactors.
Pando Daily had posted this a few days ago. A billionaire funnels money to the opposition in Ukraine. Ugh…
My first thought that this is wrong, wrong, wrong.
And then I thought of the dark money of the Kochs and Bill Gates, et al, and my second thought was “is it wrong to fund the underdog when up against dark money…?”
But I don’t know that the underdogs in Ukraine are for democracy or for authoritarianism a la Russia. Reports have been that at first the original protesters were for democratic society, and then the conservatives, leaning towards authoritarianism, had taken over.
So that begs the question of who is Omidyar supporting? Does he care, as long as he can capitalize on whomever wins?
Comments section is lively and make the point that Pando is also supported by billionaires.
They responded with this article. They make the claim the Omidyar is hands-on involved in the process, while their contributors cannot touch them with a 30-foot pole.
But back to the main theme of billionaires behind upheaval…
I come back to this is wrong, wrong, wrong in that however good intentions are…somebody always seems to twist things around to the opposite. The dark ones always seem to manage to quash the emerging light.
If only politicians were put on poverty-level wages…then we would be governed by those truly serving out of duty instead of out of their own self-serving interests. You’d see a mass exodus from government positions…
**A side note~ one of the links provided was to Glenn Greenwald’s behavior.
Wow. This old post by School Finance 101 really drives home the utter madness of school “reform” and draws a correlation between the pitting of kids against each other that Race to the Bottom and Common Core demand in order to receive tax dollars and falsely rate students, teachers, and schools…..and The Hunger Games.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I have seen examples of the pitting of people against one another to “increase production”. Personally, I have always felt that this was just a sick game by dark ones who enjoy seeing people beat each other up or use underhanded tactics to win. Kind of like the show “Survivor” put on by “devout Christian” Mark Burnett. Tell me, Burnett, would Jesus approve of pitting people against one another to win?? Didn’t I read that he fed everyone loaves and fishes…not feeding just a few after making them fight for it??
But, I digress…
I have never understood why business models were held up as some sort of panacea. If the business model is an elaborate pyramid scheme, how can it possibly be sustainable? It all depends on making a profit–make that bigger profit. Greed is the goal instead of sustainability. It just doesn’t make sense.
Phrase of the day: cannibalistic management practices.
As I’m reading this, I’m thinking of that gym teacher that used to punish the group that lost when we played sports games. It was punitive and counter-productive–I hated gym class because of it. It certainly didn’t make me want to exercise more or win more games. Even if one is good at a particular game, if you have folks on your team who are not, you still lose. His thinking was that you would shame or bully your teammates to perform better, but that was a stupid, thoughtless gesture that created a negative atmosphere. It did not allow for some folks being more coordinated and therefore better at sports. It totally missed the point that it was about getting exercise and making that enjoyable instead of competitive.
It is important to note Microsoft’s copying this insanity…with predictable results.
This from Fred Klonsky’s blog.
Very powerful. People have the power to change things.
Fred Klonsky has this up on the heavy handed Barbara Byrd-Bennett.
We must plan for the event that some teachers will be insubordinate and refuse to administer the test. If the teacher regularly assigned to the classroom has refused that assignment, another teacher or an administrator should be assigned to administer the test. The teacher who has refused the assignment should be given the option of going home without pay on all testing days or supervising the students who are not taking the test in silent reading activities. If there are special concerns about a teacher’s conduct, principals should immediately consult with their Talent Generalist at 773-535-2800.
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This is just unreal. This reads like a handbook for Nazi Germany and Hitler. What’s next…the police called in to administer the tests?!
Jules has this up on the insanity of the Stand Your Ground, brought to you by ALEC and the Koch brothers, members of the John Birch Society.
Oh, and Jules, Indiana is right behind Florida, so don’t feel bad….
Eagle 
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