…were the words of Kelly Thomas as he was harassed and beaten by two police officers. He died of his injuries in the hospital. I couldn’t watch the video –had to stop it at 3:12 .
They were so far out of line up to that point it is mindboggling how they could NOT be found guilty of violating this man’s Fourth Amendment rights. Never mind that he was mentally challenged. And homeless.
The war on the poor continues….
Mercedes Schneider has this up on a billboard blasting Randi Weingarten and teachers unions (read: public education). (hat tip to Diane Ravitch)
Note that sleazy Rick Berman is behind this attack ad.
This is what parents have to look forward to, with dictatorships as Charters:
This is a comment signed Concerned Charter Teacher:
I work at Success Academy and thought you might be interested in the following. Just heard that we are planning a pro-charter parent march on October 8th. Our schools are being closed for the morning. Teachers, parents, students, and central office staff are being required to join the march. Other charter schools are joining as well. Several emails from senior leadership make it clear that the event is not optional. It seems very unethical that adults and children are being forced into this political statement, but I don’t know what, if anything, can be done. [Emphasis added.]
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Event is not optional.
Thinking is not optional.
Art is not optional.
Music is not optional.
Being a kid is not optional.
So…the spill in West Virginia in the Elk River has gone into the Ohio River and is headed our way…so I went looking to see how the authorities are dealing with it…
I found that the Cincinnati folk are right on this–
When I looked for Indiana authorities’ action on it…nothing. No surprise there. The Indiana Dept. of Environmental (MIS-) Management allows businesses three years between inspections. West Virginia could happen here. (and probably already has, but without nary a peep from anyone who knows about it.)
But I did find this disturbing report. Indiana is guilty of dumping 15 MILLION pounds of toxins into the waterways. Good Grief!
Here’s yet another disturbing report of BP once again poisoning a body of water from the Whiting, Indiana, refinery…you know, the petcoke we’ve talked about. This time, it’s our wonderful Lake Michigan they’re dumping mercury into….where is the media coverage here? *crickets*
If you don’t think two pounds of mercury sounds like a lot, keep in mind it only take a thermometer of mercury to poison a 20-acre lake.
(Of course, I take exception to this article ignoring amalgams as sources of mercury along with vaccines. And ignoring GMO’s as impacts on the gut, allowing heavy metal poisoning.)
…and it’s not just the water they’re poisoning…
Diane Ravitch has this up on Politico’s slanted reports on Education. I have noticed this myself lately of the few articles I’ve read on there–a definite change in the wind, so to speak. The comments are interesting, too, as others have noticed and some suspect the Billionaires Media Club is at work here.
From the comments:
Ryan
It’s the billionaire boys club at work again, I’m afraid. Stephanie B. Simon was a superb reporter working stories on the privatization of public schools, and Silicon Valley’s and Wall Street’s pieces of the pie. Then she was hired by Politico, and her stories have changed. Similar thing happened to the NYT Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Mike Winerip, who early on did a great piece on the scam that is K-12 Inc’s so-called ‘virtual schools.’ Really K-12 is just peddling incredibly overpriced software and a few overloaded teachers to answer questions. NYT offered him full-time work, and put him on the baby boomer beat (?) and now he is writing its Motherlode blog — dispensing advice to parents. Gates $$ have totally shifted Ed Week’s reporting — it seems they aren’t even bothering to re-write the press releases fro the privatizers. PBS has done only a little reporting on the privatization of education. Rachel Maddow is silent. And on it goes.
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(underlining is mine to emphasize reporters’ collaboration by silence or slanted reporting.)
B&B blog has this up. Poignant.
Neil Young is trading pointed remarks with the Canadian government over the tar sands oil.
Good for him. I’m glad someone with some media attention is speaking out for the indigenous.
Reclaim Reform (Ken Previti) has this up on the Chicago Teachers Union’s new IPO….the solution isn’t with those wearing Democrat or Republican Masks whom are in reality corporate employees…but with us.
God bless Karen Lewis and the CTU.
So….I was out running an errand this afternoon, about an hour before sunset. It’s been so cold that 45 degrees felt like Spring and with the sun shining, the day kind of had that feel to it. As I head back, I have to stop up a slope to get on the main road. As I approached, I looked up and saw the most awesome sight–this tiny patch of a rainbow in the clouds! I sat there in wonder at it…I don’t recall ever seeing such a sight ever.
And no camera.
But, never fear, someone else has seen one, too, and posted on this blog. The one I saw was more dramatic, in that it was right in front of me. It was like someone took a paint brush to the cloud.
In this post, I came upon a link someone provided in the comments section about Mother Agnes Mariam and her assertions on stuff going on in Syria.
Someone pointed me towards this piece in the Guardian and how Human Rights Watch disputed Mother Agnes’ assertions.
Human Rights Watch carries more weight with me than Mother Agnes, because I don’t know enough about her. I think she is probably scared.
Stay tuned…
Good God. How can anyone know about this and not do anything?
