Why Powerful and Greedy Elites Scapegoat the Schools

by

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

Our economy is changing in ways that are alarming. Income inequality and wealth inequality are at their highest point in many decades; some say we are back to the age of the robber barons. Most of the gains in the economy since the great recession of 2008 have benefitted the 1%, or even the 1% of the 1%. The middle class is shrinking, and we no longer have the richest middle class in the world. The U.S. has the highest child poverty rate of any of the advanced nations of the world (and, no, I don’t count Romania as an advanced nation, having visited that nation, which suffered decades of economic plunder and stagnation under the Communist Ceausescu regime).

Forbes reports that there were 442 billionaires in the U.S. in 2013. Nice for them. Taxes have dropped dramatically for the top 1% since the 1970s. But don’t call them plutocrats…

View original post 790 more words

When Politics Runs In The Family

by

Nepotism…ain’t it grand…? /snark
If you follow the links to the NY Times piece, you’ll see a link to a pdf about the Clintons and a poll of what Americans think of Dynasties.
Sadly, a country that was founded on independence and getting away from a kingdom and its dynasty…has brain-dead people who don’t see a big problem apparently, with once again having kings and queens, absent crowns and coronations. This is not good, folks. Not good at all. We have the powerful promoting their own. And more importantly…protecting their own….then it becomes about their own interests that suits the family instead of what is best for the country.
By the way, here’s a list of the political families of the U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_political_families_%28B%29

Andrew Sullivan's avatarThe Dish

Dynasties

A well-connected family helps if you want to be in Congress:

Across all Congresses — House and Senate — from 1789 to 1986, nearly nine percent of legislators came from families that had previously sent a member to Congress. The prevalence of these dynastic legislators has decreased over time. “While 11 percent of legislators were dynastic between 1789 and 1858, only 7 percent were dynastic after 1966,” the authors write. And that number has been mostly flat, according to an October 2013 analysis by Chris Wilson of Time, who found that 6.9 percent of current House and Senate members — 37 in total — come from dynastic families.

As for senators, 13.5 percent have come from dynastic families, versus only 7.7 percent of representatives. One of the key findings of the dynasty paper is that political power is self-perpetuating: “Legislators who hold power for longer become more likely to have relatives entering Congress…

View original post 269 more words

Thank You, Louis C.K.!!! Just Posted on Huffington Post

by

Well, now. THANK YOU, Louis C.K. (apologies that I’m out of the loop with his act)
Related to this–the parrot media was touting the “fact” that there were more people employed last month. They found jobs in the fields related to STEM, or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
The worst of it is that it is not true. Not only is it a lie, but a damned lie.
This piece explores that lie, and although it’s from last year, it seems that they wish to continue the same script:
http://cis.org/more-us-stem-grads-than-jobs
I have heard of this personally where tech/engineering grads are either not able to find work, or they are having to take jobs with much lower salaries. As the article states, they allege a shortage, but then wages would have risen…instead they have remained at 1990s levels.
And the icing on the cake:
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/07/31/theater-grads-have-lower-unemployment-rates-than-engineering-and-tech-grads

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

Please read my commentary on what Louis C.K. has done to expand the debate about Common Core.

It was just posted on Huffington Post at the top of the page.

In my view, he has just smashed the carefully crafted narrative that the only critics of Common Core standards and tests are extremists of the right and left.

Being a comedian with 3.3 million followers on Twitter gave him a platform.

Being a parent of two children in public school gives him legitimacy.

His intervention changes the conversation. Maybe now we can have an honest debate instead of name-calling of anyone who dares to raise a voice in criticism of the CCSS.

Please leave a comment, if you choose.

View original post

HS Teachers Will Boycott NYC Test May 1

by

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

This just in:

FOR PLANNING PURPOSES: April 29, 2014

CONTACT:

Emily Giles, e.giles@ihsph.org, (917) 575-2936

Emily Wendlake, emilywendlake@gmail.com, (413) 657-7255

Rosie Frascella, r.frascella@ihsph.org, (917) 767-1001

Anita Feingold-Shaw, afeingoldshaw@gmail.com, (510) 872-1712

############
**Media Advisory**

############
26 Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect Heights refuse to give NYC ELA Performance Assessment Test

######

WHEN: Thursday, May 1, 2014, 7:45-8:20am,

#####

WHERE: International High School at Prospect Heights, 883 Classon Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225

######

WHAT: Teachers will hold a press conference to announce their refusal to administer the NYC ELA Performance Assessment. 26 teachers and staff at Prospect Heights International High School are refusing to administer a new assessment that is part of the new teacher evaluation system pushed by Bloomberg’s DOE and the UFT last spring. 50% of parents have opted their children out of the test. The high school serves almost exclusively recently arrived English Language Learners.

View original post 250 more words

The story behind the story…

by

…of the 15 year old boy stowaway who traveled to Hawaii in the wheel well of a plane.  His story is yet another tragedy in angry divorced fathers who take children away from their mother, who is living in poverty.  He was told his mother was dead–how horribly selfish and psychologically traumatizing to a child.

I hope that Hawaiian authorities will not release the boy to his father, who obviously cares more about revenge than his child’s emotional health.  Rather, it would be refreshing to see someone stand up for the mother, and help her reunite with her child.

 

Good luck students. Your professors are heading for the exits.

by

Fred Klonsky's avatarFred Klonsky

IMG_0008

Under provisions of the State University Retirement System’s money purchase option, 10,000 state university employees are eligible to retire by July 1.

As a result of the Senate Bill 1 pension theft passed last December 3rd and signed immediately by Squeezy, thousands are heading for the exits to avoid loosing thousands of dollars in post retirement compensation.

Senator Dan Biss was a member of the bipartisan Committee of Ten that was assigned the job of constructing the bill. He now admits the problem, but claims it is an “easy fix.”

Much of what Senator Biss says is unreliable. That is never more true than his “easy fix” comment.

Today’s Tribune provides the numbers.

As of last week, about 1,700 university employees had filed retirement applications this year, compared with 960 during the same period last year. Not all will ultimately decide to retire, and many others will file applications in…

View original post 236 more words

Stranger hacks baby monitor, screams at baby

by

Surreal. 

I don’t even know where to begin with this…

It’s disturbing that a complete stranger had access to the private home of these folks, and could see their child, see into their house, and do something so troubling.

Then there’s the mother, grabbing her phone to see the baby.  Good Grief, I would have been running for the baby’s room, not grabbing the stupid phone to look to see if the baby was okay.

Not to mention exposing the child (and parents) to EMF’s which can cause damage that we are not even aware about yet.

The whole story is just unsettling.

 

More adventures in gluten free foods

by

(I meant to post this a few days ago. Oops.  Too much going on…geesh.)

A member of the mercury support group posted about foods that might create problems for folks who are gluten sensitive.   She had taken an expensive ($225) test for foods that the body reacted to as if they were gluten.  A lot of the foods she reacted to are on the “safe” list for gluten sensitive folk.

And then another member of the group posted this link.  Of course, coffee, chocolate and eggs are on the list.

As you can imagine, I was depressed that chocolate was once again mentioned as a problem for us.  But coming off of a five day migraine means that something is wrong and I need to start looking at what I am eating.

Worse than that was the eggs and coffee.  If you can’t eat grains, the usual stuff you would eat for breakfast is out the window…so eggs were an easy option for me.

So, I went searching for others’ views on this, and found a helpful links here .  This makes more sense to me, because Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (GAPS), had eggs on her list for recommended foods.  She even recommended raw eggs beaten with honey for their nutrient value.

I have been trying to get free range eggs, but that is hard to come by in my area.  I came across someone who has eggs for sale independently of stores, and I plan on asking about the feed they use.  As a side note~when I first saw the notice, my first thought was “I wonder if they take food stamps?”  And the next happy thought was…”I don’t have to choose my food according to who will take food stamps anymore! Woot!”

On another site, coffee is debated (in the comments section) on whether it or the dairy creamer might be responsible.  Dr. McBride states that we should not drink instant coffee, but that freshly made coffee that is somewhat weak can be in our diet.

Okay, I feel a little less constricted.

And I realize that chocolate IS a problem, but I seriously don’t know how I’m going to give it up.  It’s an addiction, for sure.  I think I’m going to have to approach it like an addiction and focus on one day at a time.  It would be sooo much easier if it didn’t taste so good.  And be comfort food.

Same with rice.  I had purchased rice flour and made biscuits and gravy as comfort food…and now it looks like I’ll have to give that up, too.  And the rice flour pizza, too.  Arrgh.

One of the comments linked to this page.  He explains gluten reactions a little more in-depth than most.

Another mentioned the gluten free society.

 

Creepy Ads and total cluelessness

by

The Dish posted a piece on UNICEF’s creepy ad campaign to persuade people in India to use the loo instead of defecating in the streets (I can’t comment on the video…couldn’t make past the first minute).

Hello? They don’t seem to *get* that they are not doing it from ignorance, but because, like the author says, they are poor–therefore their struggle for each day is to find food, clean water, and not die.  Having a loo in the vicinity is a luxury they cannot afford.

Why didn’t UNICEF use whatever overpaid money they put into this ad campaign and purchase some composting toilets for these folks? Or construct public restrooms near the poor?  Or, better yet, put on an ad campaign for jobs with livable wages so they could take care of themselves??

10 Biggest Oil Spills in History

by

We don’t hear a lot about oil spills in other parts of the world…we’re lucky if we hear about ALL of them in our little corner of the world…so I thought I’d post this on the worst that has happened.

From the Gulf War in Kuwait:

The largest oil spill the world has seen exacted little permanent damage on coral ecosystems and local fisheries, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission at Unesco. The study concluded that about half the oil evaporated, one-eighth of it was recovered and another quarter washed ashore, mostly in Saudi Arabia.

~~~~~~~~~

I found it hard to believe that this spill had not done a lot of damage…especially now that there are cases of MERS in Saudi Arabia that are on the increase.

Could oil spills from over a decade ago be impacting the immune health of the folks there? I don’t know for sure, but it is a possibility. Something has compromised their immune systems…GMO’s, grain-based diet, chemicals…and on.  I would start looking at the folks whom have survived it and do detailed investigation into their diet and what chemicals they have been exposed to.

I found this website that not only dismisses the idea that there wasn’t a lot of damage, but the spill was not an accident–but a deliberate act of environmental warfare.  (I highlighted the text with my mouse so I could read it.  Black and white, people. Black and white, if you want a person to read what you write.)  (haha. poet and don’t know it.)

Not only did they have to contend with the oil spill on the land and water, but then they had an oily rain to deal with.  Good Grief.  If your land is polluted, the normally beneficial rain cannot help do its work of cleansing the Earth, as well as replenishing the water supply, and nourishing the plant life.  All life stops the minute the water supply is polluted.