Guards in an Edmonton prison acted more like criminals with pitting inmates against each other, putting spit and feces in their food, and other violence. Good God.
This is the number one reason NOT to allow privatization of prisons….things could only get worse under a private corporation with no accountability.
Democracy Now had a couple of noteworthy segments up this morning–
Another *cough* fair trade deal that is characterized as NAFTA on steroids. Great. /snark
…because Clinton’s NAFTA didn’t do enough to destroy this country….one can only wonder at the forced GMO seeds upon these countries–forced vaccination–and other unconstitutional actions that will affect us, as well. We don’t live in a vacuum–what goes around comes around…
See previous post on how much influence corporations have on our government, and the ramifications of that influence. The public loses its representation….and yet, we’re still taxed.
Max Blumenthal has written an insider’s view of Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu asserts he has the U.S. where he wants us. He is still trying to drum up fear of the Iranians having a nuclear weapon…but methinks it’s more a fear that if the U.S. no longer sees Iran as a threat, they won’t be giving the bucks to Israel.
I’m glad he was on DN–because we get a picture of the rightwingers of Israel who are racist against not only the Palestinians, but Africans as well. It’s chilling how they think of the Africans as a cancer on their society. No wonder the rightwingers in America like Israel so much–they have so much in common.
Funny how we don’t hear that from the mainstream media, eh?
A picture flashed in my head when he said the youth march through the streets. It’s unnerving how much that is like the Nazis.
I’m also glad that Blumenthal makes the point that there are peacemakers amongst the warhawks, as well, who are against what is happening, but perhaps feel powerless to do anything about it. (sounds familiar, eh?) I think this is true of every nation–that there are many unheard voices that are against violence and war but never get to speak out.
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.
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!!
…while the nooz is busy distracting the American public with “shutting down the government” nonsense….America is quietly being sold to the highest bidder while taxpayers foot the bill. Warning: probably not the thing to read while you’re eating.
Mark Fiore’s Cartoon of the nasty business:
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More dark money in government associated with the Kochs. More here. Further proof that the rich are not being taxed enough if they have this kind of money to throw around.
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Again, a person has a right to decide what goes into their body. Right to Privacy.
A dairy farmer in my area told me that he drank raw milk every morning. This was before my own education on it, and I was aghast that he would risk his health drinking unpasteurized milk. Haha. He was one wise man.
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…related to the previous blog on Department of Cattle. The poem is really powerful.
….than republicans. Sorry, couldn’t help myself….:)
Diane Ravitch mentions a link to Noel Hammitt’s blog on the correlation between poverty and how well a student does in school. She taught Noel as a student undergrad.
Note: Noel Hammitt has copyrighted this material, but kindly allows liberal use of it as long as copyright is noted.
The first chart is stunning in how the “F” grade corresponds with the kids in poverty. Again–they are trying to blame teachers for something that is out of their control–and the biggest factor in how well a child does in school….poverty.
From this chart it appears that there is a powerful pattern in the relationship between the concentrations of poverty in schools and the assigned letter grades for schools. However, we should note that for four years Louisiana put out a report that highlighted High-Poverty High Performing Schools, which suggested that there are, perhaps, many schools that defy this pattern. After carefully examining the lists, which reported higher numbers of schools each succeeding year, with 56 schools in the 2011 release, we noted that many of the schools actually had a lower percentage of students qualifying for free meals than the state average. In addition, most of the schools were magnet schools or schools where Gifted/Talented programs were masking lower test scores for other groups of students in the schools. Finally, there were schools like Lake Forest Elementary, in New Orleans, that had extensive application and testing procedures that eliminated low-scoring students from the schools. We also noted that there were no schools that had been on the list every year. Not one school out of over 1300 schools in the state that had overcome the challenges of poverty every year.
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We note that although the private schools seem to have an advantage on the scores, they enroll very few special education students, and they get to select their students.
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NAEP scores can be useful checks against a natural tendency of states, districts, and schools to focus on teaching to the test, because NAEP assessments are much more difficult to game or teach to than state level tests. An example of this can be found in states where 90 percent or more of students receive passing scores in their state at the basic level, when only 20 or 30 percent of their students are passing NAEP at the Basic Level.
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I think this last quote is really important for the non-teacher to understand what is going on with testing. As we have learned, tests can be manipulated in that the teacher is forced to teach so the children can pass the test so the schools will not be penalized either by closing them or denying them their federal tax dollars through programs such as Race to the Bottom…er, I mean, Top….so the assessment is muddied. The national assessment appears to circumvent that and gives a true picture of how the children are doing.
Noel notes that a child in poverty can also make high grades–he emphasizes that one should understand this and not have low expectations of these children. I agree. The problem isn’t that the child is not capable….but they have so many obstacles to overcome every day that get in the way.
Finally, the biggest point of the paper is that just because a school is called “failing” doesn’t necessarily mean that the kids and teachers are stoopid. Again, parents and the public need to ask how that school was assessed, is poverty a huge problem with the students?
…that the folks on food stamps can also be adjunct professors. This has got to be one of the most sobering stories I’ve heard yet. What the mainstream media won’t tell you is that college educated WORKING people are also in dire straits because the top 1% are taking it all for themselves, as we see in this case.
Note the comment where some administrator in a hospital gave herself a 90k bonus while paying low wages.
And other comments are blasting the university for her extremely low un-livable wages. Good God.
Many ask why she didn’t have Medicare/Soc. Security at her age? The article doesn’t tell us, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say she was probably making too much money as a professor for Social Security. I don’t know about Medicare, but assuming they also have limits on how much they will pay for certain conditions, and if this was the second time that Margaret Mary had cancer, she had probably reached those limits.
They also ask the question of her being on assistance (food stamps, I presume?) . Ooookay. Um, let me explain something to those who think that food stamps are some sort of panacea–they’re NOT. Even if she got food stamps, which we don’t know by this article, it still would not be enough. Jaysus H., $10,000 a year? That is less than a $1,000 per month, before taxes. Who can survive on that??
Here’s the op-ed from Daniel Kovalik, who may have been the last person to talk to her. What huge indignity for her (and anyone else who has to beg for food or medical care).
And here again we have the fight against unions for teachers…and a glaring point of why we need unionized teachers, because the administrators have their priorities in the wrong places (themselves and athletics):
While adjuncts at Duquesne overwhelmingly voted to join the United Steelworkers union a year ago, Duquesne has fought unionization, claiming that it should have a religious exemption. Duquesne has claimed that the unionization of adjuncts like Margaret Mary would somehow interfere with its mission to inculcate Catholic values among its students.
This would be news to Georgetown University — one of only two Catholic universities to make U.S. News & World Report’s list of top 25 universities — which just recognized its adjunct professors’ union, citing the Catholic Church’s social justice teachings, which favor labor unions.
Eagle 
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