Category Archives: equality

More adventures in gluten free cooking

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So…there weren’t any gluten free pie crusts at the grocery, and I was going to go without pumpkin pie, my favorite at Thanksgiving.  But I just couldn’t imagine a Thanksgiving without it…

I saw rice flour was available, with a pie crust recipe, and decided to attempt it.  So, I’m following the recipe, and I get to the end, where you roll it out.  Then it says to cut the crust in slices, and put the slice into the pie pan.  I kid you not.  Normally, one just rolls out the crust and put it as a whole piece into the pie pan.  I thought, “well, this will be interesting…”  Some slices were put in place neatly, and others….well…let’s just say the crust looks like a patchwork quilt. Heh.  Oh well, I’m sure it will taste okay. (she says with fingers crossed).

Oh, and to Joe Donnelly–yeah, I will have a Happy Thanksgiving, thanks to my family.

While I’m working in the kitchen,  I have the TV station tuned to the 70s music station.  I hear some familiar notes…but it’s the middle of one of my favorite songs, Dialogue, Parts 1 and 2, by Chicago (Robert Lamm).  In perhaps the last ten years or so, I’ve only heard Dialogue on the radio once….even on the 70s stations.  I have to wonder at the reasons for it after this station cut off the first part of the song, which asks people to examine their consciences.  The song is as relevant today as it was when it was written:

Don’t it make you angry the way war is dragging on?
Well, I hope the President knows what he’s into, I don’t know

Don’t you ever see the starvation in the city where you live
All the needless hunger all the needless pain?

Thank you for the talk, you know you really eased my mind
I was troubled by the shapes of things to come

Well, if you had my outlook your feelings would be numb
You’d always think that everything was fine

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On to lighter subjects–we got about 3-4 inches of snow last night.  I love it. I think I’m the only person in Indiana who loves snow.  Pookie likes it, too–she’ll put her nose deep into the snow, and come up with a snow “beard”…looks so comical it makes me laugh.  They’ve got warnings for northern Indiana, however, with 7-10 inches expected in the northwest corner (lake effect from Lake Michigan).

Hope everyone has the comfort of food and those you love around you this holiday.

Many Blessings to you…

The War against Teachers

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Reclaim Reform has this somber post up on the worldwide attack on the teachers, the teacher’s unions, and free speech, as well. The last video (world wide) really got to me–treating these folks like animals!  Take note that World Bank demanded the austerity measures….

The Good Enough Student

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Assailed Teacher has a great blog up on a student “Tammy” who does okay in school….but is struggling to pass a global test.  She must pass this one test in order to graduate.  Again, the “good enough” mothers analogy of Phyllis Chesler passed into my head…and I thought that “Tammy” is a “good enough” student.  Not perfect, but okay.    What really bothers me about all of this is that they are labeling kids as stupid who are quite all right.  They’re fine.  They understand concepts appropriate for their ages.  And yet, they are being put in categories that are not a true definition of their abilities.

Also, beneath this piece is an “interview” with Arne Duncan that’s pretty funny.  Too bad that it gets a little too close to the truth.

Setback for First Nations protestors in Canada

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Keeping up with the First Nations protests in Canada–

A judge has ruled that indigenous protestors are not to interfere with fracking by SWN….even though it is on Mi’kmaq land.

There are other ways to silence free speech and protests.

A video here on the damage already being done just by exploration.  He describes the water from the broken aquifer as having an oily consistency.  I hope that he has taken samples of the water for testing. And that he goes back in the Spring to access the damage to the Earth, plants, and wildlife.

From the piece:

Water Flowing from Shotholes or Testholes

Requirements when water comes to surface or flows from shotholes or testholes

1(1)If water is released from an aquifer or stratum while drilling a shothole or testhole and comes to the surface or flows from the shothole or testhole, the permittee shall, without undue delay, notify the Minister and ensure that all drilling on the flowing hole is discontinued, that no explosive charge is loaded into the shothole and that the flow of water is confined to the aquifer or original stratum in accordance with section 2 of this Schedule or in a manner proposed by the permittee and approved by the Minister.

1(2)If water is released from an aquifer or stratum and comes to the surface or flows from a shothole or testhole following the drilling of the testhole or the drilling or detonation of the shothole, the permittee shall, without undue delay, notify the Minister and ensure that the flow of water is confined to the aquifer or original stratum in accordance with section 2 of this Schedule or in a manner proposed by the permittee and approved by the Minister.

1(3)If a shothole is flowing before an explosive charge is detonated, the permittee shall ensure that the charge is detonated.

1(4)Without undue delay, the geophysical licensee shall submit to the Minister a report, on a form provided by the Minister, with respect to each flowing shothole or testhole

(a)after the flow of water has been confined to the aquifer or original stratum under subsections (1) and

(2), or (b)after reasonable attempts have been made to confine the flow of water to the aquifer or original stratum under subsections (1) and (2).

1(5)If, after reasonable attempts have been made, the flow of water from a shothole or testhole cannot be confined in accordance with section 2 of this Schedule, the geophysical licensee shall, as soon as possible, submit to the Minister for his or her approval a plan for the control and management of the flow of water.

1(6)If water flows from a shothole or testhole when drilling operations are in progress, the permittee shall ensure that the process referred to in subsection 2(2) of this Schedule is complied with when any subsequent shotholes or testholes in the sequence are drilled.”

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Anonymous has this posted on the Warriors being held in solitary confinement.

Parents being arrested for protecting their children’s water….for protecting the future.

Finally, Idle No More has this up for anyone wishing to help the Elsipogtog.

The witch hunts of teachers

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The latest from Teacher’s Letters to Bill Gates.  Queen Melinda seeks to rule education high atop her perch in her gated castle.

I’m glad that someone else has noticed the disturbing similarities between the Puritan witch hunts of Salem and what is happening to teachers.

Again, I say that it has been happening in the private sector for awhile now, but unrecognized by others.  As I read this disturbing piece, from the above link, the “good enough” mother espoused by Phyllis Chesler** popped into my head.  Teachers will never be perfect.  None of us will ever be perfect, even though some of us might try to reach for it. Again, there are disturbing similarities between the demands for teacher perfection and motherhood perfection.   The demands against mothers has largely gone unreported and unnoticed by the mainstream media…except to pile on the negative.  Mothers and teachers both have been pilloried by the media.

**A side note~ Wilson mentions in her article that uppity women and lesbian/bisexuals are likely to lose custody.  One doesn’t even have to be a lesbian in order to lose custody–all the ex has to do is allege she is lesbian in order to lose custody.  A woman who does not have a gentleman friend can be alleged to be a lesbian….and on the flip side, if she is a party girl and has dated frequently, she will also lose custody.  In other words, if she isn’t screwing around, there’s something wrong with her.  If she is screwing around, there’s something wrong with her.  She can’t win.

Also mentioned in the Teacher’s Letters articles are the tent cities.  They’ve been on my mind, lately, especially with all the happy, happy news that the economy has turned a corner and the jobs are flowing again….yeah, I’m not seeing it, either…

Here’s a list of Bush/Clinton cities.

A good article here.

Another here:

They fail to go into more depth about all the factors leading to the economic collapse, which is so important because those factors–deregulation of the banking/insurance industry, NAFTA, ignoring antitrust laws, not taxing corporations nor the rich, 40% of the budget going towards the defense department,  and stagnant wages–have not been dealt with and the economy will not become robust again without correcting them.

 

 

 

Cheap Real Estate – your local school **edited

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Jan Ressenger has this disturbing link to a Philly.com article on investors buying school building cheaply.  She also has this link to a Valerie Strauss report in the Washington Post.

Strauss reprinted a report by Helen Gym:

For more than 10 months, Parents United for Public Education and our lawyers at the Public Interest Law Center of  Philadelphia have been fighting to make public the Boston Consulting Group’s list of 60 schools recommended for closure and the criteria it used for developing the list. In 2012, BCG contracted with the William Penn Foundation to provide “contract deliverables,” one of which was identifying 60 public schools for closure. William Penn Foundation solicited donations for this contract, including some from real estate developers and those promoting charter expansion. The “BCG list” was referred to by former Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen in public statements. But District officials refused to release the list, saying that it was an internal document and therefore protected from public review.

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Does anybody else smell ALEC involvement?  I mean, the playbook of hiding what should be public information is sooo ALEC.

Gym makes the point that these records, although termed “internal” are shared with philanthropic organizations and stakeholders.  I would like a definition of stakeholder—because from where I sit, the public IS a stakeholder.

And she is right on with the query: is Right to Know now Pay to Know?

**edited to correct attribution. Oops.

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Diane Ravitch has a link up to this excellent article by DSWright.  Notice how Duncan ignores the racist remark and patronizes people once again by dismissing it as just awkward delivery of the message.  He again lies about how our kids are doing in schools–they are not failing, No Child Left a Mind and Race to the Bottom are failing!!  Common Core is an outrageous legalized plan of child abuse that requires kids to answer questions that are above their psychological development.

Duncan also slips into the conversation how “partnering” with corporations is being promoted.  The lines are being blurred between public and private sectors.

Nowhere in Duncan’s speech does he talk of better educated kids for well-rounded citizens to sustain a democracy.  The promotion of the corporate octopus into public education will use schools as their personal training centers (more than they already are)—NOT for democracy.  Well educated people ask too many questions.  They know too much to take whatever is dished out.

CEO to worker pay gap

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I went looking for the latest figures on CEO to worker pay gap and found this piece.  The speech given by Mary Jo White is good, too.  Although, I think she protests a little too much on the power of the SEC and its ability to stay unbiased in an increasingly biased world.  It just seems to me that Bush, Cheney & Co., did everything they could to diminish any agency that could thwart them and their banker, oil, and defense contractor friends.

This from Canada Broadcasting–the Swiss and Europeans are enacting a law capping executive pay at twelve times the lowest worker’s salary.  Boy, you’ll start seeing those poverty level wages start to go up pretty fast, eh?

Businesses such as Glencore Xstrata and Roche, which are headquartered in Switzerland, say they may consider leaving the country if the rule is passed.

The fear is that they will not be able to attract top talent if pay is capped.

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Remember when Phil Gramm said people losing their homes were a bunch of whiners?  And now that they want to enact laws closing the enormous pay gap….the business pooh-bahs are the ones saying they’re going to take their marbles and go home?  Who’s whining now…?

They fear not being able to attract “top talent” if pay is capped?  Seriously?  Um, yeah, I’m pretty sure if all exec pay was capped, they would have no choice but to accept the pay offered.  And that statement leads one to believe that the talent is actually worth all that moolah.  As we saw in the previous piece with Ron Johnson at JCPenney…um, yeah, not worth the ungodly sum they paid him.  Oh, and Penneys, you might want to consider not using sweatshops for your clothing lines….

Brother, can you spare a dime?

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Because young, hopeful, eager teachers need any spare change you can give…. (hat tip to Diane Ravitch).

I wish I could say this is just happening to the teaching profession, but alas…it’s been going on in the private sector, as well, for, oh, at least seven years.  It was just understood that you didn’t take breaks.  What? You need a lunch?  Well, okay, but be quick about it.  What?  You need a bathroom break?  Well, okay, but you’ll have to clean it, too, while you’re in there….

Yep.  It’s the dirty little secret nobody talks about.  (The above was reference to a store owned by people professing to be progressive Dems, too. Um-hmm..)

Yes, the teaching profession was insulated from this for awhile, but alas, it too, has been sucked into the black hole that was once this magnificent country….bankrupted by bankers who produce nothing and corporate CEO’s who actually think they’re worth the millions paid to them.

I was trying to think of a profession this hasn’t hit–the medical profession and the lawyers, the bankers, and, of course, Congress, who never seem to have to pay their dues with the rest of us; are the only ones I could think of.

Bank tellers, however, have been impacted, along with others. 

So…I went looking again for stuff made in the United States of America…in fear that perhaps nothing is made here anymore…only slightly cynical…

I found this very cool fabric manufacturer.  I soooo want to buy that fabric!

And this.  (Note the theme of organically grown crop)

Here’s one for fleece.

And one for wool.

Another organic cotton manufacturer.  Man, my mood has lightened up considerably. 🙂

More here.

Finally, for my newer readers, this website is terrific for finding stuff (Christmas gifts?) still made here.  Enjoy.

 

It’s really not a gender issue

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This is spot on.  We’ve been told that men and women communicate differently….so that makes it harder to understand one another.  Women have been promoted as a group instead of a collection of individuals with independent thought.

News Flash:  we don’t all think alike!  As the cartoon illustrates…if you want to know what a woman is thinking, ASK HER.

(hat tip Lisa Wade at sociological images)