Category Archives: poor

Scrooge’s children

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…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.

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.

 

Rep. Brower of Hawaii smashes the homeless… **edited

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meager possessions.  (hat tip to Harsh Reality who, unfortunately, doesn’t care about the “moochers”). **see comments–apparently Harsh Reality does care…sarcasm doesn’t translate well on the ‘net.

I am beyond comprehension of this horrible person.  Who would do that?  What does he think he’s accomplishing?  As others pointed out in the comments, the person IS STILL HOMELESS after this self-righteous jerk destroys what little they have.

Just another compassionate conservative. Yep.  Probably takes taxpayer paid-for junkets to exotic locations, eating steak on taxpayer dollars, and probably gets free coffee and donuts on the taxpayer dime, too, while the homeless go hungry and scrape by with dumpster diving…

Education News

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Here’s a great post on what is happening to the kids.  You know….those kids that the reformers say they are concerned about??

G2 put a comment linking to this post. I found this passage especially poignant:

It is imperative, therefore, that we make school a supportive environment free of the extreme stress that can harm healthy development. Some stress is productive and promotes growth. However, especially for children living in poverty, creating an unnecessarily stressful environment has long-term damaging effects.

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To label schools as “just” a place to get an education is a short-sighted, narrow view.  Children in poverty are already stressed out by worrying that they won’t have enough to eat that day…that Mom will be crying again because she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay the bills…

…and the one thing that can make that child feel worth something?  Knowing the answer to a question the teacher asks.  Getting an “A” or even a “B” on a test.   Having a teacher provide a treat on his/her birthday….which he/she might not get at home because there just isn’t any extra.

School can be the difference between a poor kid seeing beyond their environment and reaching beyond their little world.

More here:

Child-development experts have decried the age-inappropriateness of the Common Core. In 2010, more than 500 people signed a statement stating that the “standards conflict with compelling new research in cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education about how young children learn, what they need to learn, and how best to teach them in kindergarten and the early grades.”

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A reminder of the nonsensical approach of Common Core.

This just says it all:

The U.S. Department of Education hyped the Common Core as creating a “national market” for “educational entrepreneurs.”

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Makes you sick, doesn’t it??

One of the commenters said that homeschooling is the next step.  Yes and No.  If you’re wealthy enough that one parent can stay home, you can do that.  And we would lose so much of the connectedness that school encourages.  We would be further isolated from each other.  I just can’t wrap my brain around that–our children and grandchildren will be living in the same neighborhood, but regarding the others as strangers.  I see kids out playing in the neighborhood and it makes my heart sing.  If this continues, there won’t be the shared experience of discovering new things together, of sharing their personal stories in class discussions (finding common ground or discovering other cultures), of class plays, of singing together, of inspiration…

Bring it on, Arne.  She’s referring to this by Duncan. Oh.My.God.  Did he really say that??  Did he really just insult a group of women who know their children and know their schools and know their teachers?  Is he really that condescending and arrogant? And racist?  I mean, really, if it was stated that a group of “angry, black women” were not accepting their failing schools, it would be seen as the racist statement that it is.

There’s another link here, to a report on Common Core playbook, from the Perdido site.

There’s more but this is making me so depressed I need to step away for the moment.

War on the poor

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I was watching People’s Court with Judge Marilyn Milian this afternoon.

There are times when I don’t agree with her conclusions–sometimes she seems to make too quick a judgment without allowing the plaintiff and/or defendant to put their stories out there.

But nothing has been so outrageous as what I witnessed today–the plaintiff was a woman whom had pawned jewelry at a pawn shop and when she went to pick up the jewelry before the date due, she was told it was stolen.  The owner told her that she was SOL because of the robbery.  What she didn’t come out and say was that it was an employee who robbed the shop.

The judge asks the plaintiff how much she pawned the jewelry for?  $150.  What was the original value of the jewelry?  $5,000.

The judge was incredulous.  She says there is nothing that would make her pawn her engagement ring and other jewelry….she then waited for the plaintiff to give her an answer.  All she would say was that she needed the money.

The judge wasn’t satisfied with that, however, and kept coming back to why she had pawned it–badgering the plaintiff why she would pawn the jewelry for such a low amount??  The woman had stated before that she had four kids.  After being badgered by the judge, she stated that her husband was out of work.

The judge continued and asked if it was for food or what?  The insinuation was that this woman was using the money for…..wait for it….cigarettes, booze, or drugs…because, you know, that’s all poor people do—drink and smoke and do drugs./snark

The woman was not disheveled.  She was dressed nicely, and well-groomed (which isn’t easy, by the way, when you’re poor).  But the judge just wouldn’t let it go.

She was the victim here on so many levels, and the judge was badgering her and stating that NOTHING would ever make her sell her engagement ring, no matter how bad the circumstances.   She was blaming the victim for being robbed….and the undercurrent of being poor.

The judge obviously has never been desperate.  The woman had four kids to feed.  She probably needed basics like school supplies, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, trash bags, detergent, and on…that the wealthy never worry about.    Food stamps does not cover everything a family needs to eat in a month’s time…even less now that the extra has been taken away.  It certainly doesn’t cover the necessities.  The woman stated that she absolutely needed it for necessities or would not have pawned it.  The judge was asking if her husband knew about it, and she said it needed to be done.  The judge was clearly not “getting it” that people ARE THAT DESPERATE in these times!

The judge should have been giving the pawn shop owner the third degree about why she paid so little for such valuable jewelry….why she was allowed to take such an advantage over the poor?

The pawn shop also had a policy of not paying for the merchandise in case of fire, robbery, and a list of about everything that could go wrong.  In addition, they stated they would never pay for more than double the amount of the pawn….in this case, $300.

The poor woman was robbed twice–she was robbed of her jewelry, and the pawn shop robbed her of not paying for the value of the jewelry.

Usually, the judge is all over people who don’t have their ducks in a row–this woman had receipts showing the value of the jewelry, she had come to the pawn shop in time to redeem her jewelry before it went to the floor, so I’m at a loss to explain the judge’s treatment of her….other than the contempt of the poor runs deep.  I never really realized how much contempt this country has for the poor until I was one.

75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht

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Germans observed the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) when the assault against the Jews began in earnest.

It’s hard to watch the video of it.  The pure hatred of the dark ones sends chills down my spine.

(kind of like the war on the poor, children (public ed.), and the elderly (Social Security) and the overreach of the NSA in the U.S. now, eh?)

Are you optimistic ’bout way things are going… **edited

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Seriously??  They’re charging fees to the homeless for shelter….unbelievable….meanwhile, Canadians using food banks are at record highs…

(blog title is reference to the song “Dialogue, Parts 1 and 2 by Chicago)

**edited because no matter how many times I’ve listened to the song…somehow still messed up the lyrics….<sigh>