More on Tyendinaga Mohawks blockade

Here’s another article on the blockade drawing attention to the missing and murdered indigenous women.

The federal government has already insisted that it is willing to commit $25 million to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains. While this is a start, the mandate is not specific to why First Nations women are at a higher risk of violence due to historical and socio-economic factors.

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It seems lost on the Harper government that these women are being targeted because they are First Nations women…why?

And why have most of them occurred in the last 15 years?  A serial killer undetected?

 

Venezuela Protests: S. American Tea Party?

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.

Shutting down the media – Russia

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.

 

Bullying Chicago Teachers, via Byrd-Bennett

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?!

CPS Professional Development

Yes, folks, this is where your hard earned tax dollars are going to…not to teachers’ salaries or the unions like the education profiteers would like you to think….

Good Grief.  I have no words.

Wait…yes, yes I do…how many people in this room would like to get up and walk out?

How many?

How many?

 

Chicago Teachers Union Strike: A Report

Jan Resseger has a blog up on the report of the Chicago Teachers Union strike in September 2012.  This, my friends, is what a democratically run union looks like.  Other unions TAKE HEED.

The teacher’s and counselor’s passion is evident in this report.  They care about these kids and what the profiteers are doing to them. Note how the police, fire, parents, and community stepped up and supported them.  Good for them.

 

More on Saucedo background

Here’s the background on the rally today at Saucedo Elementary in Chicago.

It’s pretty serious when a teacher is threatened with termination if she/he refuses to subject the kids to this form of bullying.