Category Archives: first amendment

First Nations Protests in Canada

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The picture here of the First Nations female Warrior is quite stirring….

The eagle feather she is holding is a sacred symbol of the indigenous.   It is a powerful symbol of the connection between God and Earth.

Crooks and Liars has this up on the protest.  It appears that it didn’t turn violent until the police began assaulting the protestors.  They claim there was a shot fired from the protestors….um hmmm….they all claim it was a peaceful protest.

More here.

While I’m looking at this, I’m thinking–these folks’ salaries are paid by taxes….and the taxpayers do not want fracking, for the most part….why are they going against what the taxpayers want?

More  here.

Peacefully protesting:

The scene of confrontation:

They weren’t doing anything.  As the woman said, the female Warrior was praying–not bothering them at all.

Why they’re there:

Act of Sovereignty:

This is like Church to them– a gathering where they sing songs to God.  They see the fight for the environment as a spiritual thing–the Earth is seen as a part of God and their “Mother”—so to pollute the Earth is seen as disrespectful towards God.    Also –they see everything on Earth as connected, so one has to consider every action in how it will impact another.

Balance is always sought…if you take something, you must also give something in return.

The reality of austerity

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This will be coming our way if something isn’t done.

The importance of Education **edited

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If anyone ever doubted the significance of an education, perhaps Malala’s story and her passion can cast all doubt aside that fighting for the United States public education system is worth it.  It’s for the poor. It’s for the middle class.  And, as Malala so aptly points out–an education is what keeps women from being imprisoned (either emotionally or physically).

**edited to put just the clip of Malala on here.  I messed up with putting the entire Daily Show clip.  Sorry for the graphic  — I missed that one.

A ruling as damaging as Citizens United?

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Public Citizen has this up on a case before the U.S. Supreme court that could be as damaging as Citizens United, which made the inane ruling that corporations were people.

Good Grief, we already have the Kochs and Gates of the world whom are buying their kingdoms through crooks masquerading as politicians….and now we have another case of allowing mindboggling sums to campaigns:

In the case, the justices will consider whether to eliminate the limit on the total sum that people can give directly to candidates and political parties in a single election. The current overall limit for an individual making direct contributions to parties, political action committees (PACs) and federal candidates is $123,200 per two-year election cycle, but a win for the challengers in McCutcheon could allow total contributions above $7 million.

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A thought just popped in my mind–and this is in general, not just this lawsuit– what if we made it a rule that for every $7.50 (minimum wage) that a politician accepts in donations, they must work an hour in a soup kitchen/homeless shelter.   This would serve two purposes:  the politicians could no longer pretend they don’t know how bad things are for the poor, and they would see how low $7.50 an hour is…and perhaps raise it to $15.

Additionally, the politician would be less likely to accept the mega bucks in donations….they would think twice before allowing corporations to buy them.

Again, I’m wondering how far that money would go if given to more worthy causes–buying food for the hungry, putting up earthships, creating jobs, etc.

I posed that question towards my political science professor and he shrugged his shoulders and said “It’s really not that much…”

Tell that to someone who skips meals, has no home, no job.  Their perspective might be a little different….but they’re poor and don’t have a voice if campaign contributions are the gauge.

This just made me crack up laughing:

A relatively small number of people use contributions to maximize their leverage over elected officials.

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…not where I come from….the whole point of giving to campaigns is to wield influence over politicians.  I know of people who give to BOTH sides so they have an edge with whomever is elected.

 

Canadians still being held

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The Egyptian authorities are still holding two Canadians in jail.  They have sent word that they were beaten after asking for directions from police.    They had filmed the carnage of 102 people killed and Tarek offered medical assistance to the injured…and that seems to be why they are being held….but they have yet to go before a court.  Meanwhile, they are forced to sleep on concrete floors with cockroaches.

Teachers Stand up for their right to be heard

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…much as they are being silenced in the national discussion, the teachers and parents of Montclair, New Jersey, were going to be heard..

Look— everyone knows you don’t mess with New Jersey.  tough birds…we need some of you here in Indiana…..

 

Klonskys Rainy Sunday Blog and others **edited

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Fred Klonsky has an excellent blog covering the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham bombing, the NY Post slam piece on Diane Ravitch, and more.

As I was watching Bill Cosby speak on MSNBC Sunday, I thought of the bombing happening in August….and President Kennedy being killed just a few months later…and Martin Luther King just five years after that…the Kent State and Jackson State shootings…

Dailykos Teacher Ken blog on Diane’s book here.

The end of Clinton/Reagan politics.  We can only hope there will be no more Clintons or Clintonites in the White House after Bush, Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush…and I don’t agree that Barack Obama has been quite as Clintonite as the author believes–maybe at first, but I really feel he has started to break away from that in his second term. …especially within the last year.  And I can do without all the psycho-babble of why people choose political candidates….psychology and sociology theorists would like to put people in packages that suits a scientific measure, when people are much more complex than that.  Take me, for example….I am nothing like they would like to pigeonhole me as….

If a person matures psychologically as they get older, they will make their own choices according to their inner voice–not according to outside influences.  I think this is especially true if they are a spiritual person.

Challenge for Steve Perry.  Wow, it is unbelievable this guy is a Principal!  Really on the outer edge in his tweets, rightwinger for sure.  So glad that NBC and CNN are supporting the destruction of the public school system. /very snarky, indeed

HIs “no excuses” garbage is just that–just look at the statistics for how many of them his school serves.  And making a five year old stand up during lunch period because her mother didn’t send her to school with the proper uniform?  Are you kidding me??

Nobody is making excuses…the teachers and parents fighting for the public schools ARE fighting for kids in poverty and in minority neighborhoods who have multitudes of issues to deal with.  Not getting shot on the way to school is one of them…

Nancy Flanagan why all the snark?

A word about competition and profits

Rhee tells Philly how to solve problems.

Michelle Rhee penned an article about how to fix the public schools of Philadelphia. She says it is time for performance pay, so that there is “a great teacher” in every classroom.

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Great.  let’s start with Michelle Rhee’s performance in D.C.  Fail!  Or…how about her taping the kdis’ mouths shut and then laughing about it when they peeled the tape off and it tore their delicate skin off, too, leaving them crying and bleeding? Fail!  Or…how she is married to a predator??  Not someone I would want in charge of schools.

Be sure to click on the renegade video by an attendee to the *cough* conversation of Michelle Rhee and I think she mentions Steve Perry, too.    I love this–passionate public school advocates standing up against the propaganda.   Notice that they tell her they are “at the end” of the program and they try to hurry her up to quash her statement…but that is only 7 minutes into the program…it goes on for another 20 minutes!

The man talking (Perry) uses a LOT of emotional language–a red flag he doesn’t have facts to back up what he’s saying.  And, as the video asks…who are these “wrong” students Perry is talking about?  Not the dreaded poor, disabled, and minority students…that he says he wants to serve and calls Ravitch, et al, racists for not sending them to charters who will dump their butts for not jumping through hoops…..okay, I’m confused….

Also–as the commenter notes–Rhee mocks Hannah Nguyen.  Um-hmmm….but, yes, of course Rhee sincerely wants a conversation.  bwahahahahaha  *snort*  bwahahaha

**edited to take off the school finance link.  Like I said, I was tired last night, and mistakenly put that up.  After viewing one of the videos, it appears that the blog is pro-charter schools.  Or perhaps I should say anti-public schools.  Sorry for the mistake.

When is a public forum not a public forum?

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When it involves ag committees who don’t allow the public to speak, but allow a corporate representative to spew their biased views.

Note how the Monsanto rep said she wanted a discussion but opponents to GMO’s were not allowed to speak.  They were characterized as “emotional”….now, how can they preemptively dismiss them if there has been no discussion?    From what I saw on the video, these folks were being respectful.  There were no reports of them disrupting the meeting, or interfering with the Monsanto toadie, so where do they come off saying these folks were emotional?

…and what, exactly, does “emotional” mean?  A definition, please…