Indianapolis: Corporate Reform $$ Pours in to Gain Control of School Board

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

Three incumbents on the Indianapolis school board have collectively raised about $6,000.

Their opponents have raised over $100,000 from corporate reformers who want to bring more charters to the district. Follow the money.

The challengers are heavily funded by groups like anti-teacher, anti-union, pro-privatization Stand for Children, the Chamber of Commerce, and big contributors from across the nation. Clearly, the corporate reformers want to hasten the pace of privatization.

Stand for Children has sponsored anti-teacher, anti-union legislation in Illinois and in Massachusetts.

Will voters in Indianpolis allow the corporate reformers to buy control of their public schools and turn them into privately managed charters? If you live in Indianapolis, defend your community’s public schools. Tell the corporate reformers they are not for sale.

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Breaking Bad action figures being removed

I am just stunned.  Having not been in toy stores for awhile, I had no idea something like this was on the shelves.

WTH?

Good God, what were they thinking??  An action figure that deals in drugs and violence?    It’s bad enough this show was on the air so children could see it, now they’re glorifying it by an action figure?  What has the world come to?

My mind is reeling I can’t even type a half-way competent blog right now.

5 Years: What Reeva Steenkamp’s life is worth….

Unbelievable.

The judge actually said:

‘I am of the view that a non-custodial sentence would send a wrong message to the community,’’ Masipa said after summarizing parts of the case and explaining why she reached her decision. ‘‘On the other hand, a long sentence would not be appropriate either as it would lack the element of mercy.’’

~~~~~~~~~

Where was Pistorius’ concern for mercy for Reeva?  She was frightened by him and was probably going to leave him.  Classic domestic violence scenario where the woman is in the most danger when attempting to leave an abusive relationship.

I see no concern for Reeva in this piece–no quote from her parents or family members…only ones sympathetic to Pistorius.

See, folks, if you’re white and famous, you can get away with murder. Hell, you don’t even have to be famous.

If Pistorius were black, ala the NFL players, he would not be getting the sympathy he is now.

I just can’t believe this.  5 freaking years for poor little Oscar.

Meanwhile, I pulled up Reeva’s bio on Wikipedia, and even then, they’re taking jabs at her.  At the bottom, they have a blurb about another murder–a black woman–whom did not receive the same amount of press.  So…we should ignore what happened to Reeva?  Blame the press for the “white woman syndrome”, not Reeva.  White women may get the press, but little is done to correct the culture that promotes violence against women.

Silencing women gamers…silencing women

DN! had a piece today on Anita Sarkeesian, the feminist whom has spoken out on the sexism in the gaming industry, amid serious death threats. When you see the “games” it will sicken you on the graphic hatred.  People don’t understand how much the media influences violence, and these games perpetuate the rape culture.

Sarkessian was supposed to speak at a university, when she was told of the death threats.  When she requested extra security because of the law that allows for concealing weapons, she was told that the death threats were nothing new and they were not going to extend any further protection for her.

Unbelievable.

Dawkins, Dude Debate, and the Cult of Rationalism **edited

I don’t read Dawkins. I’ve only seen bits and pieces on other blogs and I’ve never been impressed enough to find out more. One blog, the author was talking about Dawkins’ and asking/researching *cough* if there was  free will.
When the blogger asked  why Dawkins would choose the topic of a person’s free will…I quipped “job security”?
Because it is impossible to scientifically validate it. How would someone possibly know that, other than their own personal belief?

**edited to correct “free will”.  The discussion was about whether a person has a free will.  My view is “yes”.  People are free to choose good or evil….but that’s just my personal belief–not scientific.  Psychological belief cannot be scientific, but observation and a conclusion from those observations is what is deemed as scientific.  It’s subjective.

Angus Johnston's avatar

(This post is a lightly-edited version of a Twitter rant from last month.)

When I was a young man, I believed that I won every argument in which the other participant didn’t convince me. If you wanted to best me in debate, you needed to win by my rules. Those rules were “rational,” so if you didn’t accept them, if they made you angry, if they made you withdraw, then I won. I won by default.

I was willing to be convinced, of course. I was EAGER to be convinced. But I had to find you convincing.

I was sure that I was fair. I was sure that I was reasonable. I was sure I was decent and objective and even-handed. But actually I was a colossal dick. And I weaponized being a dick by crafting a self-image that utterly denied the possibility that I was one.

A conviction that you’re unassailably rational is…

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