First Nations continue standing up

This is a pretty good report of the events surrounding the recent clash with the armed forces and the First Nations of Canada.

From the post:

It is of particular importance to note that – according to Augustine – the Warrior Society and the RCMP had even negotiated for the possibility that an ISL security guard would want to come and pray at the sacred fire. The guards could come and pray any time they wanted, but neither they, nor anyone else, was permitted to bring weapons of any kind to the sacred fire.

“[ISL] already knew,” says Augustine. “When we negotiated the first time, when an ISL worker comes out to the sacred fire – because they were welcome, anytime they were welcome – as long as they don’t have any weapons. [But] they could come and pray with us anytime they want. And that was part of the negotiations. They could come out at any time and pray with us, or go out the back way and shift change then.”

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I think it’s important, too, to note the First Nations people welcoming the guards into camp–as long as they were not armed.  And praying together?  What a wonderful way to seek spiritual guidance together—to seek that which feeds the Light.  I don’t believe that God would sanction polluting the Earth….and causing all the misery to humans, animals, plants, the soil, and the water that fracking does.

If you recall the previous videos on the confrontation, the female Warrior was clearly upset at them offering tobacco.  Now we see the story behind that–they offered tobacco the night before as a symbol of wanting peace for everyone.  Then the very next morning,they show up with guns drawn–even when they knew the indigenous were unarmed and seeking a peaceful way to get SWN off their land.

Here is a look at Chief Arren Sock presenting their demands to the public/press:

I think what is hard for white folks to understand is that the indigenous society is not based on hierarchical status.  Until recently, I didn’t understand all of what that means, myself, because it’s so ingrained that *somebody*  MUST be in charge.    The Chief system was something imposed upon the indigenous by the Europeans–they required someone to be spokesperson and to call all the shots.  The people were offended by this because their society was not set up that way.  As Chief Sock states in this video, he does not speak for the others.  He doesn’t tell the other indigenous what to do —they act on their own autonomy.  They see this as each person acting according to what the Creator wishes for them to do, as far as my understanding.

A couple of tweets here and here on it.   The last pic with the story behind the brave Warrior standing between a pregnant woman and this armed guard…who’s the terrorist, again…?

Another tweet here on once again labeling environmentalists as terrorists.  If you recall, when I worked for the state health dept., one of the training sessions I had included Dept. of Hysterical Security.  They did an exercise where environmentalists were going to use bio warfare by injecting food borne pathogens into food at a fair booth.  The whole scenario was outlandish and reminded me of the story of Chicken Little who ran around crazy exclaiming that the sky was falling because an acorn dropped on his head.  It makes a broad sweeping generalization about a group that is generally peaceful with a few idiots who resort to violence as a means to an end.  Unfortunately, they not only achieve their goal, but they also persuade others NOT to join the movement because they don’t condone that behavior and because, as said previously,  they don’t want to be labeled as troublemakers.  **not to mention that some of those causing trouble could be agent provocateurs who are not actually environmentalists, but paid disruptors from the outside posing as environmentalists.

Some good news here.  Glad to see someone has some sense and vision to look beyond today and the $$$ short term gain.  Just say NO to the money, honey.

Mi’kmaq not backing down

Checking in with the First Nations protestors in Canada….

SWN refuses to acknowledge they are trespassing on First Nations land and continue to use that land for fracking, despite the protests.  My understanding is that they have started a fire blockade today at noon.

Someone posted a link to this video that captures in pictures when words fail…

…at 1:25 and 1:38, look at the concentration of teargas on ONE individual!!

….at 1:56,and the next photo should have the caption underneath with one word:  COURAGE

…at 2:12 full disclosure:  both sides had dogs.  Gotta love their sense of humor.

…at 2:19…<sigh>….really? Is this man armed?  He appears to be unarmed and of smaller stature than the SWN security officer.

Another video here on the mistreatment of the protestors taken in:

 

 

 

Education News **edited

Think the NSA is bad?  How about the Gates Foundation??  Sends chills down your spine how this non-government corporation has so much free access to personal data.  The next question is:  for what purpose?  Sheila Resseger posted this letter to Secretary Duncan.  Thank YOU, Senator Markey, for asking these important questions.  Tim Furman posted this link for a gathering in Chicago on student privacy.

Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal, along with other *cough* news rags, allegedly stole private information via cell phones to use against the owner.   Keep in mind that Coulson was directly linked to the British Prime Minister.  And the Gates Foundation is sponsoring “news” stories running in The Guardian.

Diane has a link up to this excellent post that just hits the nail on the head—how does one stack the deck so there is as little opposition as possible….?  One holds meetings at times that almost guarantee low attendance by those involved–teachers, parents who work and parents with little ones ( they won’t bring little ones to the meetings and  single parents will have difficulty getting sitters,too.)

The post features this video (under immature link):

Really eye-opening, eh?  Is it fair to characterize Deasy as a bully and an idiot?  From this episode, he seems to be a control freak running amok whom is more interested in feeding his ego than actual concern for the children.  He claims she is being disrespectful to the kids, while he is showing disrespect for their teacher.   Blessings to you, Patrena Shankling.  Nobody should have to be treated in such an abusive manner—and what you experienced was classic verbal abuse where it doesn’t matter what you say, the abuser will escalate his tirade.

More on Deasy here.

Speaking of abuse, Diane posted this on a child psychotherapist’s assessment of the testing, testing, testing of our children and how demoralizing it is to them.  Six years old!

And JCGrim posts a comment on how the abuse gets worse—Good God:

School leaders say La Vergne High has a split lunch period, half academic intervention to help students who may be struggling in a subject and half lunch.

“They are not segregating them in the traditional sense. If the kids’ scores are low in certain areas, they are getting help in that area. If you want to label that segregation, then that’s not the correct way to label it,” said Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans.

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Well, you know, they say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  Whether the segregation is intentional or not, it is still segregation.  And what is wrong with you that you can’t even give the kids a break from learning for a half-hour?  The brain needs a break, for crying out loud!  Let the kids be kids and socialize without being overshadowed!

Diane posts here on Mark Naison.  He describes how and why he became an activist.  **edited to add link. Oops.

From his post:

Teachers everywhere were being driven out of their jobs and stripped of their autonomy and creativity. Children everywhere were being deluged with tests, and subjected to a one size fits all curriculum that, in all too many instances, smothered their unique talents and aptitudes.

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(sorry for the large text) —  as I’m reading this, I’m reminded of something a nun said at a parents’ meeting once:  we all have gifts to bring to the world–we have the jocks and beauty queens, but we need the nerds, the clowns, the creative, the stoic, etc. — those that are not necessarily celebrated in popular media, but whose gifts would surely be missed had they not graced the world.    Even those who are mentally challenged bring something to the world.

Naison is understandably upset with the Administration for the education policies.  However, I have seen a change in President Obama in the past, oh, year or year-and-a-half, in that he seems to be breaking away from the Clinton -thinking.  My hope is that the more President Obama sees the damage that is happening to the children and public education as a whole, he will rethink the policies and replace Arne Duncan.    We can hope….

Diane also posts the links to the Daily Show appearance.  When she stated that Jon was upset about Common Core and how his staff was personally experiencing what we’ve been blasting about, I was upset that he doesn’t talk about it on air!  Arrrgh!  A missed opportunity to help the public understand why we are so upset and how our children are being psychologically abused!

(A side note~  I admire Jon for adopting the pit bull, but still would not recommend them.  They have been bred to be fighters, and as such, their powerful jaws make it impossible to separate them from anything they’ve sunk their teeth into—there are stories of pit bulls who would not release even when someone was beating on them to get them off of another dog/human being. )

Diane has a link to Mercedes Schneider’s debunking the Louisiana “miracle”.  This is why one needs to ask how statistics were compiled and what methodology they used.  The lies will be exposed when these questions are answered.

Diane and Michelle Rhee will debate Feb. 6.  Rhee made increasing demands which seem to speak of the lack of substance to her arguments.

Finally, in my own little corner of the world– a quiz on Indiana politics and ruining public education by devious means.

Note in the comments that charter school proponents are now trying to market charter schools as “community schools” to make destroying public schools more palatable.

This comment just makes me want to cry because it’s so true:

Carol Ring

Indiana gets national recognition once again!

We are ‘leaders’ in many areas…eighth most polluted air in the nation, broken infrastructure, roads with cracks and potholes, 47th in the nation for adults with college degrees, most polluted rivers in the U.S., underfunding of public schools [so more money can go to charter schools], eighth most overweight population in the nation and our recent achievement in outstanding ‘education reform’ is an increased number of vouchers and charter school expansion!

Add to this list of achievements the desire of our GOP controlled Congress and Tea Partier Governor Pence to dilute Superintendent Glitz’s responsibilities simply because she understands the needs of children and teachers.

It sometimes feels overwhelming.

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God help Indiana.

Students against Reform

Teacher under Construction has this up on a documentary by a student asking the same questions that conscientious parents, teachers, and the public who care about education are asking.

“Why do people tell me to think outside the box when they barely ever let me out of it….??”

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….out of the mouths of babes…

A parody of the Race to the Bottom, No Child Left a Mind…

This is funny….and yet….

“Relentless standardized testing is the ONLY WAY to stop children from learning to think for themselves….

….the children must ALL  be taught to think ALIKE…they must not ask questions or use their imaginations…”

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Take Action for Food and Family Farms

National Sustainable Agricultural Association has this action alert up on the latest fight for your food, family farms, and organic farms.    Again, we have corporate interests battling against….well, stuff that benefits the average person…..like clean air, water, and chemical free food.

Not to mention the diseases sure to come with the filthy practices of the factory farms.   (A side note~ chicken manure IS worth some money, if left to season.  It’s one of the best fertilizers out there.  And natural to boot.)

From the link:

Carole Morison: Perdue showed up on the farm when the Food, Inc. film crew was here. When the company finally figured out who was visiting, we received a letter threatening contract termination for “violating bio-security.” Their threat stemmed from me not having people sign a log book that the company had placed on our farm to monitor our visitors.

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Oh.My.God. Can you say Big Brother?  I knew that you could.  Violating bio-security?  Seriously?  bwahahahahaha, that’s rich!  How do they figure “security” is involved?  “Security” is the new “cloak” word—something to hide behind when you want to coerce people to do something against their better instincts….

And this is yet another example of the Too Big Too Fail as a way to monopolize a market–the detrimental aspects are seen with bullying these farmers to give into their demands “or else”, to unhealthy practices that most folks would find appalling if they knew, to the environmental impact of upsetting the ecology by having so many chickens crammed into such a small space.

And speaking of monopolizing the market, my blog here on Senators who voted against GMO labeling, links to gut inflammation, etc.

Education News

Diane Ravitch highlights a blog by David Greene. 

From the post:

When Hinshaw compared the rollout of these school policies with incidences of A.D.H.D., he found that when a state passed laws punishing or rewarding schools for their standardized-test scores, A.D.H.D. diagnoses in that state would increase not long afterward.

Nationwide, the rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis increased by 22 percent in the first four years after No Child Left Behind was implemented.

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Bingo. Greene says it’s not a causal, but yeah, I disagree.  It’s certainly one of the causes, in addition to toxins in the environment and probably GMO’s.  

And it’s not that the kids are suddenly stricken with this subjective “disease”—rather, they are a) made to feel inferior by testing that isn’t really able to define what their brain cells are capable of (potential); and b) put under pressure by teachers and parents who must teach to the test in order for the school to keep from being downgraded to “failing” in order for them to get the money from the Federal gov’t to keep the school open….and do it all again the next six months….

That is a HUGE burden to put on a kid.  For shame.

He links to A World Without Privacy by Joe Nocera of the NY Times.   He talks of “The Circle” of a hybrid of internet companies like Google, F_cebook, and Twitter and the information they gather.    Even if you don’t subscribe to the last two, your privacy can be taken away from you by family members and friends who do use them.    That is probably how Nocera’s acquaintances/colleagues were connected to him. 

And they say you should not expect privacy in today’s world.  I say, unless you express in writing your willingness for someone else to have private information, then, yes, you have an expectation….and a right to privacy.  And giving up the right to privacy should not be coerced, as in, you have to click on this agreement to use our website.

….and a rainbow appears…

Over the Mi’maq protest.

Singing praise for judge’s ruling. SWN loses bid to continue injunction.

Drums are not weapons

Songs are not weapons

Feathers are not weapons

Here’s a good piece from the Guardian writer Martin Lukacs.  He said there has been media coverage of the event…perhaps in Canada, but in the U.S.?  Doing a quick search, I only saw one U.S. reference by a blogger. Otherwise….*crickets*  It’s pretty telling when you see the nightly news plastered with commercials from BP and other energy companies.  All the news that money can buy, folks…

Lukacs makes a good point with how the coverage is slanted towards painting the First Nations people as violent, but not forthcoming with the great harm fracking will cause….and how many people will die from cancer and other diseases caused by the benzene and mercury and other horrible stuff in the chemicals used.  And of course, the media fails to mention the resulting earthquakes.

From Lukac’s article:

But Premier David Alward, hell-bent on opening up the province to shale gas, has spurned consultation with First Nations and the rest of the population. His latest step is demonization. “Clearly, there are those who do not have the same values we share as New Brunswickers,” he cynically announced on Friday. But the opposition to the Premier’s shale gas agenda is not just a supposedly isolated Indigenous community: it is two of every three people in Atlantic Canada. Little wonder he has repeatedly rejected a referendum on shale gas. It turns out the residents of Elsipogtog aren’t criminal deviants. They are the frontline of a fight for the democratic and environmental will of New Brunswick

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Now you’re talkin’.  The taxpaying public does not want fracking!

Stephen Harper’s history is a little warped, eh?  Um, I’m pretty sure there were people here before we ( “we” being Canada and U.S.)  before there were lines drawn by the Europeans.  And the people here were pretty much organized Nations.  They were here for 10,000 years and were much better stewards of the land and water.  You could drink from any stream.  There was no trash strewn across the land.  You could breathe.

Lukacs also brings up the repeated breaking of laws by those in power who then point fingers.  Do as I say, not as I do….

The fishing rights battles are eerily similar to the same battles in the U.S. with the Native Americans, having their boats rammed, and state officials created an atmosphere of incitement by showing films of Native Americans fishing in areas to the commercial fisherman who thought it should be theirs.  What was truly insulting to the Indigenous was the assertion by the Conservation Officers that the Native Americans would “overfish” the waters…when they had always practiced balance–they never took more than they needed.  If anything, it was the commercial fisheries that were destroying the fish populations.  The story is told in the book Now that the Buffalo is Gone by Alvin Josephy. Robert Satiacum was jailed for standing up for their rights.  Meanwhile, his wife and other women warriors defied the state officials by continuing to fish, using their wits to evade capture.  They were eventually caught, but I have to smile to myself in admiration of their wit and courage for fending them off as long as they could.

More pics here of the women warriors.