Angel Meadow: Hell on Earth

City Jackdaw has this up on a hellhole called Angel Meadow.  And as I view it, I can’t help but think that America is headed back in that direction…

…but then I catch myself…we have always had a problem, but now it’s a bigger problem.

This from Mother Jones on poverty right on Silicon Valley’s doorstep.  I think the folks featured here give the business workers/owners a little too much credit that they “would do something because they’re so smart” if they were only aware.  Please.  They’re aware.  They don’t care because they have the attitude “I’ve got mine, screw you.”  This, from people whom have sent tech jobs overseas and/or create nothing (F_cebook).

More here on a tent city in New Jersey where the mayor calls it “disgusting”….but the solution, before a lawyer showed up, was to…wait for it…fine them $1,000 for violations.  Unreal.

This in Greenville, South Carolina.

As I read all of these, I have to shake my head at the lack of creativity to find a solution.  In South Carolina, with the red clay Earth, why can’t one use that to create bricks and build a dwelling out of that?  Perhaps a traditional Native American can show them how it’s done?  And, of course, my favorite, Earthships, which are self-sufficient, and sustainable, could be a solution, too.

Note that many of these folks were made homeless circa 2008, after Wall Street caused the crash tumbling us into the Un-Depression.  (are we calling it a Depression, yet?)

 

 

 

 

Tennessee Teachers: You don’t speak for us

Diane Ravitch has this up on Tennessee teacher Laura Hopson speaking out on what teachers really want–funny thing is they don’t want what the self-appointed education gurus say they want…

Supporting Walmart and McDonalds…

…but not the working poor.

$7 BILLION dollars to the biggest welfare queens…McDonalds and Walmart.

Peter is an unethical toad. He never mentions the $$ executive pay that could easily be cut to allow for a decent livable wage.  And preying on the mentally challenged?  I have no words.

This  LA Times article talks about income inequality and executive pay:

Unlike most SEC regulations, the CEO rule isn’t really designed to provide information for investors. Rather, it’s designed to provide information for the larger community — for society, if you will. Its aim is to provide ammunition for the argument that the share of corporate profits going to top management, and by extension corporate shareholders, has gotten out of control.

That’s a sound argument, shared by many management experts and economists who argue that the diversion of corporate resources from workers to executives and shareholders is a major contributor to rising income inequality in the U.S., as well as to other social and economic ills.
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This information would be very helpful to folks who wish to invest but want to do so with a conscience.  Even if I had the money, I would think twice before investing again–I would not want to invest in a company that paid the execs 350% more than workers, nor one like Johnson, who was sooo overcompensated for….failure.  That’s poor management, in my opinion.
This piece states that companies were supposed to notify shareholders of environmental impacts…it’s been awhile since I had invested in stocks, but I don’t recall ever receiving notice of what a company did environmentally.  And would those reports be worth anything?  If a company is polluting, and does not wish to alert shareholders, they could skew the statistics towards a favorable view.  They could also use jabberwocky language to confuse people.
A better option would be independent inspectors sending stockholders reports of all the above to hopefully get an unbiased opinion.

Teacher’s experience in Gulen Charter school

Diane Ravitch has an account of a teacher’s experience in a Gulen charter school.  Unreal.

No books.  And teachers with 100 students limited to 25 copies per day.  Money missing from their paychecks unaccounted for.  Seriously?

All of this is flying under the radar because the mainstream media is not only not covering the Newark 5, they’re not covering the criminal and unethical activities of people running charter schools.

…but they’ll be more than happy to run story after story of bad teachers in public schools…

 

 

The Newark Five: Being heard

The Chalk Face has a video up of the Newark principals who were put on indefinite layoff (fired) for exercising their right to Free Speech. (hat tip GF Brandenburg)

This is probably the only place you’ll hear them…because no one in the mainstream media is covering this.  It is a hot topic going by the amount of activity my blog has received.  This should be a top story on the networks…and yet…*crickets*.

Why?

Autistic Child found in New York

NBC News has this posted.  The remains of the autistic child that disappeared from school have been found.

I was re-reading my blog on school colocation that had mentioned an autistic child had gone missing because the school was so overcrowded, he slipped out without being noticed.  I wonder if this is the school…and if so, why aren’t the networks mentioning this?  (I had seen the news on CNN before NBC website)

Wanna bet they won’t mention that school overcrowding via colocation with charters is responsible for this death?

Yeah, just like they’re *all over* the Newark school principal firings…er I mean indefinite layoffs (yeah, they were fired…)…haven’t heard a peep about it, but judging by the visitors to my blog on it, this is a hot issue.

The Law and Louisiana Teachers

This is why I love the law….if it is working properly (i.e., judges apply it fairly), then the “little guy” wins out even when being bullied by those bigger with $$ bank accounts.  Woot.

West Virginia toxin spill: it ain’t over…

Dispatches from the underclass has a post up with an interview of a West  Virginia mom concerned about the water and the effects on her children.

As she brings up, they are already dealing with toxins from the coal industry (mercury, lead, arsenic), and now this….their water is brown.

The scene from JAWS comes to mind where they tell everyone that it’s safe to go back into the water…um-hmmm….

And the sad thing, besides endangering these folks’ health and not knowing what this chemical does to people…is that West Virginia is one of the most beautiful states I’ve ever been in.  The mountains are sooo gorgeous.