Angel Meadow: Hell on Earth

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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?)

 

 

 

 

ALEC hard at work in Indiana; HB1321

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the destructive policies designed to push for charter schools that will ultimately mean the demise of public schools through siphoning funding away.

By the way, HB1320, has passed.  By the legiscan link, it’s hard to tell whether it passed in the legislature or just the committee.  Either way, it doesn’t look good.

 

Tennessee Teachers: You don’t speak for us

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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…

U.S. Dept. of Ed. receiving money from Gates

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What a bombshell…the United States Department of Education is taking dirty money from Bill and Melinda Gates.

For a “collaboration conference” April 2012

Another “collaborative” effort to implement Common Core, December 2013

Note the “shared responsibility” white paper….and the focus is on labor collaboration…nothing about a well-rounded education as a robust part of democracy….the focus is on labor and business.

Note the paper states that the Dept. of Ed. is under “immense pressure” to implement labor-management collaborative…um, yeah, I don’t remember asking for more corporate involvement in public schools, have you…?

This sentence is telling:

To advance this collaborative theory of change the Department has been using both its convening and

grant making powers.

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(I have no idea why the font changed to smaller size…must be the pdf.)

…in other words, the Dept. of Ed. has been coercing schools to adopt the policy through grants and legislation…

n February 2012, the Department

announced the launch of the RESPECT Project.
RESPECT stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching.
The project’s purpose is to directly engage with teachers across America in a national conversation about transforming the teaching profession by
dramatically changing the way teachers are recruited,
credentialed, supported, compensated, promoted,
and retained in the profession.
The near-term aim of the RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices in shaping federal,
state, and local policy, with a long-
term goal of making teaching one of America’s most respected professions.

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This is such a joke.  Respect means you pay teachers a decent wage that reflects their professional education and their experience.  Respect means you do not bash teachers and teacher’s unions.

“…the…aim of RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices…”  Unless, of course, those voices are in passionate disagreement with you:

Finally, I found this wonderful video that takes on “Waiting for Superman” and all the false claims made by the education profiteers and their allies:

Terry Kath, another talented musician

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I remember hearing of Terry Kath’s death on the radio.  He was a soulful vocalist and guitar player for the band Chicago, born January 31, 1946.  The news announcer said he was playing “russian roullette” with a gun when it went off.  That was not true–he didn’t realize the gun was loaded.  What a terrible loss.

Someone put together a pretty decent video of Terry:

He touched so many lives and he lives on…

Want to know a surprising thing?  Terry couldn’t read music.

If today’s education gurus were to judge little Terry Kath by his inability to read music, he would be forever labeled “stupid” and put into a black hole, never to realize his potential because some hedge fund manager/education profiteer decided he had no potential because he couldn’t identify musical notes on paper.  And we all know how powerful his musical ability was—what a waste that would have been to deny him that by labeling him.

Terry’s daughter, Michelle, is putting together a documentary on her father.

She was on a radio show last night to talk about her dad.

Supporting Walmart and McDonalds…

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…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.

And the adult school bullies continue…

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…to foster the culture of cold, unethical treatment of children.  Salt Lake Tribune story on it here.

And Olsen seems to not understand how callous his actions were!

If a child’s account is past due, the school I work at will give the child a peanut butter sandwich Or if allergic, something else.  But they would not throw the child’s lunch in the trash.  Good God.

No doubt the school administration will go to church this Sunday with their noses stuck up in the air proclaiming what good Christians they are…while doing exactly the opposite of what Jesus would do…

…and the war on the poor continues…

Mi’kmaq Warrior Suzanne Patles speaks

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She addresses the situation in Canada and how the indigenous’ rights outlined in the law have not been honorably enforced.  She speaks with heartfelt passion towards the land.  She sees this as a fight for her children.

We are all borrowing this land while we are here–no one owns the land, truly.  One cannot own what one did not create…and one cannot take without giving equally in return…