Continuing the saga of the Food Stamp *cough* savings….
Here’s another article on it.
The comments are interesting, and someone links to this page on Stephen Fincher, whose family farm received…wait for it…$8.9 million in farm subsidies…
…they must be the farmers Joe Donnelly consulted with for the farm bill. /snark
Oh, and Jesus gave loaves and fishes to the hungry. It’s interesting what portions of the Bible the so-called religious choose to quote to justify their meanness and cruelty.
…must be republicans…and some democrats. Joe Donnelly was on the local radio station this morning, talking about the Farm Bill. I guess the new catch word is “savings” when describing cuts to food stamps. Yep, he actually was promoting the idea of “savings” when taking food away. He stated that farmers helped write the bill….that he was big on farmers having a say in the bill.
….and then, after stating there would be savings in the farm bill, (from food stamps), he ends his talk with the radio host with “Have a Happy Thanksgiving”. I kid you not. Utter callousness and indifference.
Meanwhile, we spend $$$ on overpriced defense suppliers:
Makes you sick, doesn’t it? Republicans, who are always whining about the budget, never mention this. They would much rather take food out of someone’s mouth than hold contractors accountable, and save millions in the process.
(woke up yesterday with a migraine-like headache from the stupid chemtrails. Thought it best that I not post.)
At about 12:30 today, I asked the kids if they knew what happened this day 50 years ago…hoping that they knew. Nope. I told them what happened (briefly, no gore), and then told them some of the things JFK did.
It was disheartening that they knew so little of the circumstances or about John F. Kennedy. I’ll bet they are very aware of presidents who promote war, however. (cynical, I know, but the over-emphasis on war in textbooks and the absence of praise for peace is glaring.)
It all seems like it happened yesterday to me. And they have no comprehension of how this day changed everything. I wished I could have gone into more detail with them, but that would not have been appropriate. And as I write that, i’m thinking….these kids witness more violent acts than any generation before them….why would this not have been appropriate….? I clumsily tried to explain to them that our society is more violent now than it was then–how could I convey that to them when they have no idea how that act, and the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the rest were out of the ordinary? They hear about violence daily. They experience bullying at school. They’re being pressured to perform like circus animals at school. Their world is so far removed from Camelot….it’s like trying to explain colors to someone who is blind.
I was going to make a crack about it being a slow news day when CNN covers stuff happening in Indiana….but thought better of it when I heard of how devastating the storms were–
They aren’t exaggerating when they say the storms passed very quickly. Five minutes total. The winds were ferocious–and a family member heard the dreaded “freight train” sound associated with tornadoes. We were in the bathrooms for the worst of it, and then came out to see it after the worst had passed. A chair was blown into the yard and lawn furniture tossed around, but other than that, we sustained minimal damage.
They say that three are dead in Illinois and Peoria took a big hit. Kokomo, Indiana is in a state of emergency.
My family is okay, though. Blessings to those who suffered a loss.
First, the bad news. Blessings to you, Diane, for healing. Take care of yourself–your body is telling you to take it easy. Believe me, I understand better than most. Having said that, your contributions to fighting the good fight are truly inspiring…you are needed as never before….but it can wait until you are rested.
This from Seattle Education. Pretty depressing that Wall $t. has turned its eye$ toward$ the school$….how much can we wring out of them?
The sidebar says it all:
This makes me cry. Not just for the sad ending, but when they talked of his last five hours of life, it reminded me of my Mom’s passing. They sang songs, too. What a gift music is–to comfort in times of sorrow, as well as celebrating the good times…
….and I feel the same way he did–I was at that point many times when I was much sicker. I can count at least three times where I woke up in the middle of the night gasping for breath because my lungs would not inflate or had fluid. The last time, I begged God to just take me. I think it’s harder for the family when one passes over–they see it as final, but I don’t.
It’s final for the life here on Earth, and that is sad, but I can’t wait to get to the other side….it’s beautiful and full of love.
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.
….well, not exactly. Here’s a map of nuclear power plants in the U.S. and the areas that would be affected if the worst happened:
modernsurvivalblog.com/nuclear/u-s-nuclear-power-plants-safe-distance/
Indiana is so screwed. So is the Midwest, with the exception of Kentucky and lower parts of West Virginia.
*yawn*
How ’bout those Dodgers…?
(trying to emphasize the lack of concern)
Center for Media and Democracy has this up on what the Koch Brothers and Pete Petersen and their toady Paul Ryan are really after–what they’ve been after all along—Social Security and other “entitlement” programs. I still hate that term”entitlement” as it alludes to a giveaway when folks pay into these programs all their lives.
Here’s the video by Mark Fiore:
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Also from CMD–
Profiting off the poor. With Indiana being All Republican, All the Time in the Legislature, I rather doubt that they have slayed this dragon. I suspect that privatization will be back…probably by backdoor deals.
Also, Indiana will be dropping ISTEP (Indiana Statewide Testing Educational Progress)next year BY FEDERAL REQUIREMENT.
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…and profiting off of our children-–and ultimately, our Democracy. (Just a refresher of the Charter school scams and hedge fund managers/Wall Street making a profit off of schools.)
From the report:
In recent years, there has been an explosion of full-time “virtual” charter schools paid for by the taxpayer. From 2008 to 2012, 157 bills passed in 39 states and territories (including the District of Columbia) that expand online schooling or modify existing regulations. Many of these bills are attributable to American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) politicians.
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I was thinking about this other day while teaching–online is such a ripoff in that you don’t get human interaction. Granted, the Wall St. types probably loathe human interaction…but I really wonder if they’re human to begin with….the rest of us,however, actually want to be around other humans.
Anyway, a teacher can often pick up on cues to help a student “get” a subject that a stupid computer could never do.
A teacher can give encouragement when a student wants to give up. This is especially important for students who are having difficulty–I thought of myself and my daughter being dyslexic. If I hadn’t tried to teach my daughter through Phonics and patiently sitting down with her every night to read, she most likely would not have reached her potential. Again–computers cannot help when there is a learning disability.
Lastly, a teacher is going to lay the hammer down if a student comes in without homework done or starts goofing off during class instead of doing the work they’re supposed to be doing…online courses cannot do that, either. And a teacher is also a sounding board for a student who may be dealing with issues at home…
As I’ve noted before, there is something lost when the classroom lacks discussion and interchange of ideas or more in-depth on the subject.
And, of course, a computer can’t teach art or music the way that it should be done.
The article makes note that the virtual schools enroll kids that never take courses, never answer emails, and so on, but still take tax dollars for them. One had to reimburse the state $800k for “ghost” students. This is a huge red flag in that while the neocons are so very worried about voter ID to “prove” who someone is so they don’t vote twice….well, I don’t see the same concern with these “ghost” students who may or may not even be real persons. Who is checking on them?
And this just made my heart sing:
Affidavits from former K12 Inc. teachers that were incorporated into the complaint paint a devastating picture of an enrollment-driven, profit-driven corporate culture that leaves kids in the dust. (Note to Wall Street: If you want to exploit children, don’t hire a bunch of teachers who actually care about kids.)
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Sadly, I think Wall St. will actually take that advice and will screen teachers who don’t give a rip. Or Wall Streeters will make a construct that they “can’t find any good teachers” so they will be “forced” to plead for the ability to hire non-teachers to….teach.
It is really hard to read all the news on Education. It is depressing to no end.
Some of the bad news:
Disability scandal involving a charter school, with a scheme diverting $$$ towards their own pockets. What is really sad is these mentally challenged children are viewed by these people with $$ in their eyes–just like the medical profession. These children will receive the minimal of instruction to optimize the profit margin.
The moral and spiritual bankruptcy of corporate reformers.
The magical Michelle Rhee.
Arne Duncan blasts “armchair pundits”….just like John Kerry…a politician that thinks the public’s opinion doesn’t matter. Duncan degrades the public as no-nothings not worth his time. He ignores that educators are among the public who are speaking out against corporate profiteering of public schools.
Here’s a post disputing Bill Gates’ *cough* facts. (hat tip Diane Ravitch)
Does anybody else see the irony of Gates, a college dropout, deliberately being deceptive on the numbers of college graduates in the U.S.? Not only is he a hypocrite, but a lying one at that….
And again, it bears repeating over and over that a college degree is no guarantee of a job. And there are those who do not want a degree but still need to be paid a living wage.
Gates’ money torpedoing public education through devious means. $173 MILLION. What a creep.
Indianapolis schools ground zero. Yep.
This is just too, too ridiculous. We have no toilet paper, but gee whiz, we have a shiny new sports arena!!
Eagle 