Diane Ravitch posted a link to this biting piece. Apparently, Rhee knew when it comes to her failed education mandates, she was going to get schooled by Diane.
And yet…she is still telling the American public she knows whats best for their children.
Category Archives: equality
The Winter We Danced
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson has a post up on a book about the Idle No More movement with stories and poems and such. I haven’t read it, but would love to have a copy of what sounds like a wonderful historical book. She notes that the royalties will benefit the indigenous youth.
Brainless model stands up to Terry Richardson
Well, this was heartening when I read it…a young woman is not taken in by Terry Richardson’s manipulation, bullying, and exploitation.
I admire her, as many young women are unsure of themselves, which Richardson exploits. I can feel it in my bones that the young women are most likely the victims of prior molestation or products of a home life that devalued them. It’s hard to think you have the right to set boundaries when your boundaries were violated by someone you trusted…whether that be in a sexual way or in violation of your sense of self–your own autonomy.
…and the question is: how many women have to be allegedly assaulted by this guy before authorities nab him?
My former post here.
Mohawks continue civil disobedience
…to stand for missing and murdered First Nations women. Good for them.
Fact-Checking Eva Moskowitz; Dangerous Bipartisan collusion
Diane Ravitch has posted this on Eva Moskowitz’s loose version of the facts.
Moskowitz’s Success Academy 4 has almost none of the highest special needs students as compared to nearby Harlem public schools. In a school with nearly 500 students, Success Academy 4 has zero, or one, such students, while the average Harlem public school includes 14.1 percent such students. With little sense of irony or embarrassment, Moskowitz has attacked Bill de Blasio for preventing the school’s expansion inside PS 149. Her school’s expansion would have come at the cost of space for students with disabilities. The school has already lost “a fully equipped music room … A state-mandated SAVE room … A computer lab… Individual rooms for occupational and physical therapy … and the English Language Learners (ELL) classroom,” due to earlier Success Academy expansions in the same building.
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Moskowitz made a number of other claims during her Morning Joe appearance. She said “we are self-sustaining on the public dollar alone.” In fact, Success Academyspends $2,072 more per student than schools serving similar populations. This additional funding comes from donations by the very same hedge fund moguls who have donated over $400,000 to Governor Cuomo’s re-election campaign (charter supporters in the financial and real estate sector have contributed some $800,000 to Governor Cuomo’s campaign).
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Jan Resseger posts about the dangerous bipartisan conventional *cough* wisdom.
As early as 1989, President George H.W. Bush, responding to fears that the United States was becoming uncompetitive, launched a movement based on standards, assessments, and accountability by convening an education summit of the nation’s governors, chaired by Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, to agree on national education goals. Through the 1990s states began to embrace test-based accountability. Then in 2001, when Congress—under President George W. Bush—reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with a new name, “No Child Left Behind,” the federal government mandated test-and-punish.
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Once again, the Bushes and Clintons responsible for so much destruction and misery.
Today, DN hosted a debate between public schools and charters. The car salesman, er I mean, charter school proponent, Steve Barr,of Green Dot, who was behind the fiasco of Los Angeles schools, Parent Revolution, and Brian Jones , a public school teacher now pursuing a doctorate.
Barr did the usual charter proponent schtick: he tried to once again pull the wool over the public’s eye and say that charter schools were public schools; he refused to answer direct questions (because he knew it would make charters look bad); and repeatedly stated he was a “progressive”. Yeah, right. Just like Bill Clinton is a progressive. Wink, wink. Nod, nod.
He was pushing the “progressive” schtick a little too much in hopes that would make opponents back down, I guess, because he’s a “good guy”. Pffft. He also lied about charters NOT being about profit. Thankfully, he got called on that….but some key points were not countered by Amy or Juan. I was disappointed in that.
Finally, Reclaim Reform has a post up on Diane and the FUD, or Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt propaganda campaign to destroy public education. This is one of the psychological techniques used in communications that turned my stomach and why I would never be in PR. Fear, sex, anger, and love are the top communications techniques to persuade people….keep that in mind, folks, whenever you view any type of media: spoken word, radio, TV, internet, printed, etc.
Related to this, the local school administration said this on the radio: “A teacher can ask the student how many nickels equal a quarter…but if they go to a computer, it can be illustrated how many nickels equal a quarter, and then a dollar, and so on…” (may not be verbatim, but close). What I heard from that is two things: 1) teachers are boring, so we have to have computer animation; and 2) another way to slip online/computer learning as a replacement of live, human beings. I personally would have illustrated how many nickels equal a quarter by bringing out five nickels. I would always use visual cues to help kids understand. This is especially important for dyslexics, of which I am one.
And a question that keeps rolling around in my head is…why are these people called philanthropists? Isn’t philanthropy giving money away, not expecting anything in return? ‘Cause the Broads, Clintons, Bushes, Gates, and billionaires boys clubs absolutely expect to gain from their so-called philanthropy. Absolutely. So I don’t see that this is philanthropy, but should be called “investment”…
Another model comes forward on Terry Richardson
Another model has come forward on being allegedly sexually assaulted by sleazebag photographer Terry Richardson. My prior post on him here.
This report explains one of the manipulative techniques of Richardson–calling the girl a prude and telling her she needs to loosen up. I’m glad to see a couple of models formerly photographed by Richardson are taking positive action against this predator.
And the question of the hour is…why do people, especially celebrities, who have a lot going for them, are intelligent and compassionate, associate themselves with this manipulative exploitative creep?
He is a dark one. He is beneath contempt. Associating with him and promoting him is feeding the dark side, in my opinion. It’s saying that his behavior is acceptable…it’s okay. And it’s not.
It’s a crazy experience to celebrate the female body as beautiful, and then degrade her because she’s a woman. Crazy.
So much of what is wrong in the world today is by the degradation of women. Wars, violence, greed, all thrive because the feminine–the softness, compassion, empathy, nurturing, and nature–is not respected. Not given equal weight. Not honored.
For example, the Earth, which is feminine, is stripped of oil and then left polluted and scarred…not unlike sexual violence. Wars are the same.
We all can be violent or compassionate. We can feed the dark or light. It’s our choice, our free will.
Eye Candy, but not for long if XL Pipeline goes in… **edited
This week’s pics of beautiful Canada. So gorgeous. I wonder if #17 is a rock formation by the First Nations ancestors? Perhaps a marker to show the way?
I look at this in awe of it….and then the horrible pictures of the destruction of the land by the oil and gas companies…and my heart sinks.
Thanks to those of you who signed the petition against XL pipeline. Blessings to all of you for speaking out and making your voice heard.
I think I might have featured this video before, but definitely bears repeating:
It’s disturbing in the first few minutes a woman stands there and says “keep this stuff in Indiana, where it belongs….”
Excuse me? It belongs in my state…because…? The attitude is that we deserve it. WTH? We don’t want it here any more than you do. Stop making Indiana the freaking garbage can for the Koch brothers!
…and Rahm Emanuel allows up to 2 years for the Kochs to comply to an order to enclose the petcoke. What a joke.
Here’s the MSDS data sheet on petcoke. Note how BP gets out of updating the MSDS by a hole in the law that allows them to get out of updating it every three years.
Just look at the handling of this stuff, and one can see how toxic it is:
Handling
Contact with hot product may cause burns. Avoid contact with eyes. Avoid breathing dust.
Use only with adequate ventilation.
Avoid the creation of dust when handling and avoid all possible
sources of ignition (spark or flame).
To avoid fire or explosion, dissipate static electricity during
transfer by grounding and bonding containers and equipment before transferring material.
Use explosion-proof electrical (ventilating, lighting and material handling) equipment.
Wash thoroughly after handling.
When using do not eat, drink or smoke.
Regular periodic self inspection of the skin is recommended, especially those areas subject to contamination.
In the event of any localized changes in appearance or texture of the skin being noticed, medical advice should be sought without delay.
Storage
Keep container tightly closed. Keep container in a cool, well-ventilated area.
Empty containers may contain harmful, flammable/combustible or explosive residue or vapors.
Do not cut, grind, drill, weld, reuse or dispose of containers unless adequate precautions are taken against these hazards.
Not suitable
Prolonged exposure to elevated temperature
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It goes on to say the air purifying respirators are limited in their ability to protect one from this toxic stuff. It also recommends gloves that cannot be penetrated by chemicals or oil. Heavy-duty.
Lastly, we have this bit:
Overexposure to dust may cause mechanical irritation.
Repeated or prolonged inhalation of dust may lead to chronic respiratory irritation.
Repeated and prolonged inhalation of any respirable dust may result in changes in lung function.
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They always want long term studies to evaluate toxins…but do we really have to poison people long term when something is obviously this toxic?
Here’s a good piece on petcoke. They’ve been burning it in Nova Scotia. Burning it releases mercury, lead, and arsenic…just like coal. But it is said to be more toxic.
“The carbon intensity of petcoke is higher than the carbon intensity of most conventional coal so when you burn petcoke, you’re likely going to release more toxic emissions than you will when you burn traditional coal so it has a higher carbon dioxide content, it also has a higher sulphur content and by contrast, the carbon intensity of natural gas is about a third that of coal. And this is when we’re talking about fossil fuels, we’re choosing the best of evils,” said Abreu, adding that they would prefer to see an electrical system that relies on a diverse mix of renewable fuels.
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This stuff needs to stay in the ground. Absolutely.
**edited: to take out the part of the scientist. He was saying the same thing I was saying…can you tell that this upsets me? Oy.
Moskowitz using the kids for her personal gain
David Sirota has this up on Eva Moskowitz, queen of charters in NY. She closed the schools to bus children to her rally. Unfreakingbelievable. Can you imagine anyone in public education being allowed to do that?? They would be fired.
Next, we have this from Fred Klonsky on the close ties of pro-charter education profiteers and our elected representatives. Sleazy opportunists.
One notorious group, “Democrats for Education Reform” (DFER), is a front for financiers that seek to spread charter schools in Chicago, even at the expense of neighborhood public schools. DFER has given extensive support to Christian Mitchell, placing him on their “Hot List of 2012” and naming him their “Reformer of the Month” for January 2014, in which they solicited political contributions on his behalf.
Rep. Mitchell has also accepted over $100,000 in political contributions from “Stand for Children,” an organization that wants to defund public education through voucher programs and other failed policies that only hurt Chicago students.
Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 neighborhood schools which put more than 80,000 children at risk. The closings are the largest in U.S. history. Rep. Mitchell showed little support to his constituents as they protested the drastic action. Instead, he has loudly supported private charter expansion, which research shows have little accountability and a questionable academic success rate.
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In more education news, Fred Klonsky has this up about DFER and David Axelrod.
Julian Vasquez Helig, PhD, has a great summary of the billionaires’ club influence on public education and charters here.
Diane Ravitch features a poem by a teacher who couldn’t take any more.
Their innocence plundered their self now askew,
They hardened completely while no one even knew.Their spirits were taken their childhood replaced
A new breed of children – a much meaner race.Now where are those sadists who made up such rules
to torture young children with cruel cunning ruse?They’re safe in their castles no thoughts of that time,
When children were maimed by their heinous crime~~~~~~~~~~~
Aboriginal rights a threat to Canada’s resource development
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.
Ryan continues war on poor
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.
Eagle 
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