News

This makes me absolutely sick:

City police have charged a 15-year-old girl as an accomplice to the gang rape of her 7-year-old sister.

Police said they believe the older sibling was paid for having sex with multiple partners Sunday night during a party at the troubled Rowan Towers apartment complex, and that she then sold her sister to others at the party.

Police said they believe the younger girl was raped by five to seven individuals, who held the girl against her will and threatened to kill her if she screamed or if she later told anyone about what happened.

Sick, sick, sick.
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The Yale student who leaped to his death from the Empire State Building has been identified:

The NYPD and Yale University identified Cameron Dabaghi, a 21-year-old junior from Austin, Texas, as the man who jumped to his death Tuesday night from the Empire State Building's 86th floor observation deck.

Dabaghi left a suicide note in his dorm room in New Haven, Conn., a police source said Wednesday.

He apologized for turning to suicide and wrote he planned to jump from either the George Washington Bridge or the Empire State.

There were seven people on the landmark building's observation deck when Dabaghi climbed the safety barrier, police said. One person tried to talk to him down but Dabaghi would not listen, cops said.

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Not Dead Yet's Stephen Drake remembers the Schiavo killing five years later.

Both sides used the case as a political football while disabled people were ignored.

Here is the C-SPAN video of the move to give Schiavo the right to a federal review of the case:

As We Know,

Delaware and Tennessee were the first states to receive the Obama administration's blackmail money in order to implement "reforms" disastrous to teachers, students, and parents. And naturally the unions go right along with this, thus sealing their fate:

The Obama administration on Monday named Tennessee and Delaware as initial winners in its “Race to the Top” education initiative. The two states, which were granted a combined award of $600 million in federal funds, were those in which local and state union affiliates carried out the greatest collaboration in undermining public education and teachers’ job security.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the Race to the Top program last year as the centerpiece education program of the new administration, offering up to $4.5 billion in federal funds to those states that were the most “innovative” in their policies.

As the World Socialist Web Site warned at the time, this had nothing to do with achieving education excellence or improving conditions in the schools, and everything to do with promoting a political agenda of privatization (charter schools) and destruction of wages, jobs and working conditions for teachers and other school workers (“accountability”).

Only 16 of the 50 states were selected as finalists. Tennessee will get $502 million and Delaware, a much smaller state, $107 million. Both states have Democratic governors who were better able to make deals with the unions and insure their support for the bid for additional federal funds.

Both states have merit pay plans for teachers, which allow principals to award pay raises based on alleged “performance,” which means, in practice, discriminating against teachers who defend working conditions and job security against management demands.

One of the reasons the "step system" of compensation for teachers was instituted was because principals couldn't be trusted with "awarding" raises. It was a recognition of how utterly political the public education culture is.


So-called Democrats propose and implement far right Republican policies and get away with it.

I'd like to know who writes the New York Times editorials:

Washington has historically talked tough about requiring the states to reform their school systems in exchange for federal aid, and then caved in to the status quo when it came time to enforce the deal. The Obama administration broke with that tradition this week.

It announced that only two states — Delaware and Tennessee — would receive first-round grants under the $4.3 billion Race to the Top initiative, which is intended to support ambitious school reforms at the state and local levels. The remaining states will need to retool their applications and raise their sights or risk being shut out of the next round.

That includes New York State, which ranked a sad 15th out of 16 finalists.

There is such brazen ignorance about public education by this paper, it simply means to me it is completely in bed with Mayor Bloomberg.

New Orleans Parents

didn't have any idea the whole point of charters is to leave a whole bunch of kids behind.

Paul Vallas is another corrupt administrator in charge of running an urban school district or a series of charter schools:

A crowd openly hostile to Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas used a state board of education meeting to raise concerns about whether charter schools are leaving the most vulnerable children behind.

When Vallas stated at Monday's meeting that charters are doing "a heck of a job" educating public school students, the mostly African-American audience responded with jeers. Many speakers called for the return of neighborhood schools and expressed fears that many charters accept only students with high test scores.
paul_vallas.JPGEllis Lucia, The Times-Picayune archiveRecovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas
"Charters don't want anything to do with our children. They're sending them away," said Brenda Valteau, who identified herself as a 1961 graduate of George Washington Carver High School. "We're losing our young people to the streets. It sounds like a conspiracy to me."

Most New Orleans public schools were deemed low-performing and in 2005 turned over to the state-run Recovery School District and converted to charters. The Orleans Parish School Board, which once controlled more than 100 schools, retains only 16: 12 of them independently run charters and four traditional public schools.

The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's Recovery School District committee usually meets in Baton Rouge, but it held its meeting at McDonogh 35 High School in New Orleans on Monday. More than two dozen parents, teachers and community activists spoke during the public comment section of the meeting, which sometimes took on a raucous air as speakers made provocative statements and the crowd made its approval or disapproval known.

Vallas is another know-nothing administrator. A letter in Substance News a couple of years ago warned about his disaster in New Orleans:

October 2, 2007

Dear Substance,

Poor, dear New Orleans. They are suffering through the aftermath of two disasters — Katrina and, now, Paul Vallas. In the September 4th issue of the Christian Science Monitor (a newspaper continually lauded for excellent reporting and printing the truth - and with a world-wide readership), Paul Vallas’ regime has been critiqued now that he is New Orleans’ new school superintendent.

Having left Philadelphia under the cloud of contributing, much, to the $100 million plus deficit within the public school system (amongst other travesties), Vallas was hired as the new school superintendent for New Orleans. He promptly “pink slipped” all of the experienced, mature African American (New Orleans) teachers just at the time when important strides were being made of reestablish the teacher union. This was no coincidence. The dismissed teachers remain bitter concerning the way they were treated by, as perceived, a white, elitist, central administration. Remember his minions follow him from city to city to city.

This is the same administration we had to deal with when Vallas was in Chicago. Thanks to the Chicago media, a totally inexperienced (in education) the entire nation was led to believe Vallas could walk on water and could no wrong. He, seemingly, is willing to do whatever is necessary to gain total control of any school system - in order to wreck it, the careers of experienced teachers, force early retirements, and weaken or dismantle any, and all, teacher unions.

As for New Orleans Vallas brought in all young, white teachers, and established, as a vast majority, charter schools. All of this was to improve test scores, and so on, because the mature, experienced African American teachers removed by Vallas could not - because of their supposed ineptness. As always - blame the teachers.

And now? Things are not going well. Societal influences, discipline problems, and so on, are surfacing. Whereas the previous, experienced teachers familiar with these students, their families and their neighborhoods could deal with and understand these problems. The new, inexperienced, white teachers and administration (who never lived in New Orleans until hired) are unable to be effective.

The Monitor article states Vallas likes to hear of new and/or innovative ideas, but will not stand for any criticism. No surprise there. Until Mayor Daley brought Vallas “in” he had had absolutely no educational experience. It does not seem much has changed - nor ever will.

All I can say is thank God Vallas was not able to return to Chicago as many of us feared and as our misguided media suggested (and hoped for). Our gain is New Orleans loss. And who really loses? Why the students, of course!

Sincerely,

Sharonjoy A. Jackson, Chicago

Cartoon of the Day

Florida teachers, as we know, are particularly under assault with bills like Senate Bill 6 out there to destroy tenure and get rid of the "step system" for teacher pay.

Although I Would Really Like to Do This,

times are tough for professional photographers:

Still, the pay, compared with print, is “less, for sure,” Mr. Shapiro of Life.com said, since some professional photographers “are really more excited for the exposure than they are to drive a hard bargain.”

But it is hard to live on exposure alone. And some professionals worry that with ways to make a salary in photography disappearing, the impact will be severe.

“The important thing that a photojournalist does is they know how to tell the story — they know they’re not there to skew, interpret or bias,” said Katrin Eismann, chairwoman of the Masters in Digital Photography program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. “A photographer can go to a rally or demonstration, and they can make it look as though 10 people showed up, or 1,000 people showed up, and that’s a big difference. I’m not sure I’m going to trust an amateur to understand how important that visual communication is.”

“Can an amateur take a picture as good as a professional? Sure,” Ms. Eismann said. “Can they do it on demand? Can they do it again? Can they do it over and over? Can they do it when a scene isn’t that interesting?”

Obituaries

Master teacher Jaime Escalante, 79, died today. He was released from a hospital in Reno where he was being treated for bladder cancer and apparently died at his son's home in Roseville, California.

A movie, Stand and Deliver, was based on his life and experiences.

News

Lotsa luck trying to get the pope deposed.
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A dream comes true for a girl with Down syndrome as she gets to go to the high school prom:

"I feel like a princess," Casey Carroll, 19, said as she walked to the limousine that was to take her to dinner and her prom at the Fox Theatre. Her mother clicked her camera every five seconds, looking for the perfect shot after an hour of staged photos. Casey Carroll, dressed in a floral gown she bought days after being asked to the prom last summer in the midst of her uncontrollable excitement, smiled as she turned to her mother and said what most teenage girls have said to their mothers at least once: "Mom, stop. You're embarrassing me." But Casey Carroll was not like most girls at the Lassiter High School prom. She was not the prom queen, she was not looking forward to any big after-party, and she was ready to step out of her high heels before she even got into her limo. "When Casey was little, me and her father just thought she would probably never get to go to the prom, because we just weren't sure anyone would ask her," said Sue Ann Carroll, Casey Carroll's mother. "Not only is she getting to go, but she has two great dates. To see that, and to see her so happy, I can't tell you how much that means to us." That's because Casey Carroll, full of laughter, jokes and smiles, was born with Down Syndrome. And as much love as Casey Carroll gives, she receives even more.

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A psychologist weighs in on the Jordan Brown murder case.

His dad should be charged with manslaughter for allowing his son to have a weapon.

Cartoon of the Day

I REALLY Like This Comment About UI

The friendinator on 03/30/2010 at 3:01 am

I keep hearing people complaining about no extensions, and I keep hearing morons complaining about extensions making unemployeds lazy — as if they enjoy the deprivation, hunger and lack of dignity of living on less than half of their typical income. As if kissing their health, homes and car goodbye in exchange for maybe being able to afford three canned meals a day is a preferred way of life. This is what some senators think of the citizens of this country. They think Americans prefer lazy, poor life over success and happiness. If that’s so, then those senators should know, it was those lazy people who gave them the jobs they have today. The job where we pay for their expense-account lunches that, after a week, likely equal a month’s worth of unemployment benefits for a typical unemployed American. Jus’ sayin’. If the people are lazy, then be advised, it’s the lazy who employ you. It’s the lazy who feed you. It’s the lazy who find you expendable. Please try a different method of insulting your constituents. This “lazy” method just bit you in the foot. P.S. How hard are YOU working through your Easter vacation right now? Don’t eat too many eggs, your local homeless shelter can use your leftovers.

What I haven’t heard though is a REAL argument for why people are in need of additional extensions/support. Here’s a theory NO politician will spit out in Washington: The government allowed — if not, helped — jobs to leave the country, they allowed banks to take over and ruin the financial lives of many, then they gave them billions of dollars as a reward, Yet NO ONE in government has done a darn thing to seed job growth. In a sense, the government allowed jobs to be terminated, forcing people to collect long-term unemployment benefits, and has done nothing to replace the jobs they allowed to disappear. And now they call those unemployeds “lazy.” THAT’S the problem. The problem isn’t laziness or any such thing on behalf of the people, or, if I may, the victims. Rather it’s laziness and in-capabilities of government leaders (if you can actually call them “leaders”), that has left the job market so wrangled.

Until the government does something successful to bring jobs to this country, it has no choice but to support its jobless.

An extension will pass, I’m faithful of that. Not because they want the unemployed to eat. Not because they will admit they need to fix the big picture and bring jobs back. But rather because they will quickly realize that all those NOT collecting benefits will likely end up in the streets with no income at all and will therefore NOT have to fork over any tax dollars. No income = no taxes = off the radar entirely.

My votes for reps this year will be very easy to choose. Anyone in government today, will not get my vote. I don;t care if the only other candidate is a four year-old. That four year-old WILL get my vote. In paying our reps in Washington for so many years, they have become, to use a familiar word, lazy, and need to be pushed out. We need a fresh slate. All the stale minds in Washington have lowered themselves to lead the country to the gutter it is in today. I’m sorry, but I wasn’t born and raised here only to see this country turn in to a gutter. I will not allow the incapable minds in Washington today to get the respect of my vote. They can all leave Washington with cardboard boxes of desk equipment in hand and go look for work along with the millions of other Americans out there today. Based on their previous failures, I’m sure they will all remain unemployed and in need for quite a while.

link

These people in Congress are the ones who created the situation of jobs leaving the country while people are displaced and can't make what they used to make.

Here is another good comment on a different link:

Arelene Nichols Mar 28, 2010, 12:39pm EDT
It is very unfortunate for many Americans that we will not be able to enjoy our Easter Holiday because we will be worrying about how to feed our families and where we will be living in a few short weeks. Millions of unemployed workers will lose any unemployment benefits they now receive sometime in April 2010. The long term unemployed, the people that have been unemployed for 6 months and everyone else in-between will lose their benefits without Congress stepping in and extending unemployment benefits. After April 5, 2010, no one will be able to move to the next tier of benefits. So, if you are on your initial state claim of benefits, your unemployment insurance will run out without being able to get any EUB (emergency unemployment benefits paid by the government) or SEB (state emergency benefits- paid by the state you live only under certain conditions).

The EUBs are the Tiers 1, 2, 3, and 4. I think many people will be surprised on the week of April 12, 2010, when there is no UI payment in their bank account or their UI check never arrives in the mail. Having been laid-off several years ago when the unemployment rate in my state was a conservative (but considered extremely high 8.7%), I was able to get extended Tier benefits. I was able to find a job long before my benefits expired, but today it is very different story. Most jobs searches are a one way correspondence to the potential employers with no return response. Myself, I am a college educated professional over 50, who has recently found out that I am in the "most unemployable" group. From reading many many posts concerning the unemployed, a majority of the 99ers and long-term unemployed are in my age group, with similar educational and job experience background.

We were hard working Americans that built current corporate America, and now we find ourselves being replaced by younger, less experienced employees that will take lower incomes and no benefits. Therefore, enabling American Corporations to increase there profit margin leaving us well-trained older workers lying by the roadside. I see the problem as two-fold: extend current unemployment benefits, add a Tier 5 for the remainder of the year, and then work on solving the problem of no jobs. Make banks lend some of their precious money to create more small business (this will help my unemployed group the best) and bring NAFTA jobs back home. Shame on your Senators and Congressman, who went home leaving all of us to sit home and worry on our spring break.

I Fully Expect Defined Benefit Pensions for Teachers

and other public employees will be a thing of the past, while these crooks keep pushing worthless defined contribution plans.

Again, the whole idea of complaining about teacher pensions, which aren't that great for anybody who cannot get the fully 30 years in (and Illinois I believe is another state which "opted out" of Social Security), is just another divide-and-conquer tactic.

Then Ron Huberman was named the "Chief Executive Officer" of the Chicago Public Schools to replace Arne Duncan who left for Washington D.C. to be the Education Secretary. Huberman had just served as head of the Chicago Transit Authority where he did exactly what the state legislature passed - created a two-tier pension for the CTA workers where the young workers no longer are entitled to the same defined pension benefits and the retirement age increased.

Many believed Huberman was hired at the Board of Education to do the same thing - gut the Chicago Teachers's Pension Fund, which Huberman kept saying was one of the big reasons for the enormous $1 billion current budget deficit.

One of those who challenged Huberman's statements to the media attacking the teachers' pension was Jay Rehak, who along with Lois Ashford scored a surprising upset last fall by winning two seats on the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund Board on the CORE slate, an activist caucus that will be challenging the current CTU leadership in the upcoming May elections.

Add NJ Governor Chris Christie

to the "I Hate Public Education" fan club. He says he will provide aid to school districts, but only on the proviso teachers take salary freezes.

This is more divide-and-conquer nonsense from Republicans by trying to create anger among people who have been thrown out of work or who have seen their wages frozen or even cut:

Christie told The Associated Press in an interview that he will offer more state aid to all school districts whose teachers agree to a wage freeze for the 2011 fiscal year.

Christie said nearly one in 10 New Jerseyans are out of work, but teachers are getting 4 percent annual raises — far higher than the rate of inflation.

"I don't think it's wrong to say in these difficult times that they step up and make some sacrifice," Christie said. "We're not talking about forgoing raises forever. We're talking about forgoing raises for one year."

The offer won't cost the state any more money. The Republican is offering to give districts all the money the state would save on Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes as a result of the wage freezes.

When You're a Neoliberal, Public Education

simply doesn't matter, and in fact should not exist at all. Therefore it is not at all a mystery why Obama and Duncan are hellbent on destroying it.

Bush would never have gotten away with this and neither would McCain had he been elected.

Today Marks the 40th Anniversary

of the foaling of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, who died in 1989.

There is a movie in the works about him, or, more accurately, about his owner Penny Chenery/

Article:

March 30 marks 40 years since the birth of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat at Christopher T. Chenery’s The Meadow near Doswell, Va. It’s a date well worth remembering by any racing fan but especially by those who were around during Secretariat’s racing days and more so by those lucky enough to see the strikingly handsome chestnut colt with three white stockings in action.

Secretariat’s magnetism was evident soon after the colt’s birth. Chenery’s daughter, Penny, was so overwhelmed after getting her first look at the son of Bold Ruler that all she could say was “Wow.” That wasn’t the last time that word was used to express admiration or astonishment in Secretariat.

The first hint of Secretariat’s greatness came at Saratoga in 1972. “Nothing so revitalizes our interest in racing as the emergence of real good ones among the 2-year-olds at Saratoga,” wrote The Blood-Horse editor Kent Hollingsworth, focusing on Secretariat and the filly La Prevoyante. “Meadow Stable’s Bold Ruler colt, Secretariat, with smashing triumphs in the Sanford and Hopeful, has demonstrated a lick not seen since Damascus approached the last turn trailing by about 13 lengths and came out of it six lengths on top to win the 1967 Travers by 22 lengths in track-record time.”

Another article:

Bake and ice a cake, chill the champagne and get some helium in those balloons. Today's the 40th anniversary of the birth of Secretariat.

On March 30, 1970, the great Thoroughbred racehorse was foaled at The Meadow Stables in Caroline County. For people of a certain age, memories of his performances on the track can still raise goose bumps.

Secretariat was a handsome, heavily muscled chestnut with distinctive markings -- three white feet and a white blaze. His owner, Penny Chenery Tweedy, took to calling him "Sexy," for he had the camera presence of a movie star.

And brother, could he run.

In 1972, as a 2-year-old, Big Red won five races in succession, including three major stakes, and was voted horse of the year, overshadowing his accomplished stablemate Riva Ridge, winner of the '72 Kentucky Derby and Belmont

link

Some 300 people flocked to the state fairgrounds which was once the Meadow in celebration of Secretariat's birthday:

That magic continues for people such as Vera Conwicke, 70, of Endicott, N.Y., and Dollie Newhouse, 35, of Florence, S.C.

Each made a pilgrimage to what is now known as The Meadow Event Park, where they had lunch and heard a program featuring Kate Tweedy and Lou Ann Ladin, co-authors of a soon to-be-released book, "Secretariat's Meadow." Tweedy, who lives in Colorado, is the granddaughter of Christopher Chenery, who founded the stables at The Meadow, and daughter of Penny Chenery, now 88, who was running the farm when Secretariat was born.

Newhouse wasn't born when Secretariat was making racetrack history, but she said she has heard about him from her horserace-loving family for as long as she can remember.

Conwicke remembers the races -- "the gorgeous horse and the beautiful blond lady in a white dress" -- but she didn't really become a fan until she read the book "Secretariat" by William Nack. She brought a copy with her in hopes of getting an autograph, but Nack didn't make an appearance.

Congress Gets to Party

while the unemployed go without. By the way, the WSWS needs to realize there is NO "Tier V" being proposed, so those of us who have been unemployed the longest will be running out of ALL benefits in the next few months, if not already, because Congress refuses to do its goddamned job and help people.

The last "extension" was last November when tiers III and IV were added.

The US Senate left Washington on its two-week spring vacation last Friday without passing a $10 billion extension for jobless benefits, due to expire April 5. The Senate’s failure to approve the measure means that more than 200,000 people who have been out of work for more than six months will have their checks cut off beginning next week.

If no extension is eventually passed, some 1 million of the 11 million people now receiving benefits will see them run out by the end of the month. With the official jobless rate hovering just below 10 percent nationwide, the Senate’s inaction demonstrates the callous indifference in Washington to the plight of the millions of workers and their families who have been devastated by the loss of work and its attendant miseries.

Failure to pass the extension also means that COBRA benefits, which provide a 65 percent subsidy for health insurance for the unemployed, will expire this Wednesday. While the cut-off won’t affect people already on the COBRA program, people who lose their jobs in April would be ineligible for the subsidy.

The NAPTA Site Linked to This YouTube

of a teacher who went through a living hell when he was falsely accused of molestation, and, while he was found not guilty in court and was reinstated to his job, he had to completely alter his teaching style. This interview was from two years ago:

Expect This So-Called "Democratic" President

to push through Social Security "reform," which means privatization, now that he's got people on a commission that are little more than looters.

It takes a Democrat to destroy Democratic Party principles.

While Working in a Local Business

is fine for the short term, the fact is you never recoup what you have lost if you worked at larger businesses.

Self-employment is a different animal altogether. I would consider it for myself, but I wouldn't hire anybody to help me.

Story:

A result is a new cadre of underemployed workers dotting American companies, occupying slots several rungs below where they are accustomed to working. These are not the more drastic examples of former professionals toiling away at “survival jobs” at Home Depot or Starbucks. They are the former chief financial officer working as comptroller, the onetime marketing director who is back to being an analyst, the former manager who is once again an “individual contributor.”

The phenomenon was probably inevitable in a labor market in which job seekers outnumber openings five to one. Employers are seizing the opportunity to stock up on discounted talent, despite the obvious risks that the new hires will become dissatisfied and leave. “They’re trying to really professionalize this company,” said Mr. Carroll, who is the sole breadwinner for his family of four and had lost his home to foreclosure. “I’ve been able to play a big role in that.”

In some cases, of course, the new employees fail to work out, forcing the company through the process of hiring and training someone else. But Mr. Carroll is just one of several recent hires at Cartwright who would be considered overqualified, including a billing clerk who is a certified public accountant and a human resources director who once oversaw that domain for 5,000 employees but is now dealing with just 65.

Here is a Link to a Film All About Arne and the Chicago Mess

Pushing the Chicago Plan

And to think this idiot is running the Department of Education boggles the mind.

Obituaries

Actress and vaudeville star June Havoc, who was also sister of famed stripper Gypsie Rose Lee, has died. She was believed to be 97 years old. Her sister died when she was still in her fifties.

Article:

In “Gypsy” — whose book, by Arthur Laurents, was based on a memoir by her sister, the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee — the adorable, pampered June (now known as Dainty June, having outgrown the baby billing) quits show business to elope with one of the boys in her act and is never heard from again. In real life, not long after her sister rose to burlesque fame in the 1930s, June established a solid career on Broadway and in Hollywood films.

Ms. Havoc did not have an easy time of it at first. The little girl who had earned as much as $1,500 a week on the vaudeville stage —when the average American worker earned roughly that much annually — spent her teenage years on the edge of destitution.

...

After her teenage elopement, Ms. Havoc remarried twice. She married Donald Staley Gibbs, an aspiring writer, in the 1930s and divorced him when she went to Hollywood. Her third husband was William Spier, a radio and television director and producer. They were married from 1947 until his death in 1973. Her daughter, April Hyde, died in 1998.

Over the years Ms. Havoc tended to be diplomatic when speaking of her mother and her sister. But in a 2003 interview with Alex Witchel of The New York Times, she was particularly straightforward:

“My sister was beautiful and clever — and ruthless. My mother was endearing and adorable — and lethal. They were the same person,” she said. “I was the fool of the family. The one who thought I really was loved for me, for myself.”

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Rock photographer Jim Marshall, 74.
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Liz Carpenter, 89, feminist and aide to LBJ:

A dedicated feminist, Ms. Carpenter was a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus and joint chairwoman of ERAmerica, an organization that unsuccessfully fought for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Before joining the White House staff, she had covered Washington as a reporter for a news service she founded with her husband, Les Carpenter.

Widely known for her caustic and sometimes bawdy wit, Ms. Carpenter was irreverent about herself and her access to power during the Johnson years in Washington. She was also one of the few White House staff members who had no qualms about giving as good as she got, no matter the source.

“Why don’t you use your head?” Mr. Johnson once bellowed at her. She bellowed back: “I’m too busy trying to use yours!”

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Misc

Should Philly's superintendent have known about a controversial diversity component in the district?

Ackerman, who has been mentioned on this blog before, is one of the worst administrators in the entire country.
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A "deal" save some L.A. Unified jobs:

After months of negotiations, leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District teachers union announced Saturday they had agreed to a tentative furlough deal that would shorten the school year by one week this year and next, while saving more than 2,000 school employee jobs.

The deal calls for members of United Teachers Los Angeles to take 12 furlough days over the next year and a half. That includes 10 school days and two staff planning days when students were already not scheduled for class.

The plan must be approved by UTLA members, who will vote April 7-9.

District and union officials said they were not happy about having to shorten the school year but, faced with a crippling budget deficit and the potential for devastating job losses and class-size increases, they felt furloughs were the best option.

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Twelve-year-old Jordan Brown will be tried as an adult for the first-degree murder of his father's pregnant fiancee. He is certainly one of the youngest people to ever be tried as an adult for murder.

This is the judge's decision.
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If Corruption Was Bad Enough in Regular Public Schools,

the problems will be magnified in privatized public education:

The rot of privatization and the corruption it drags with it on its shoe can be found on display once again in Detroit where school officials, nepotism, sexual dalliances and privatization team up to defraud taxpayers, teachers and students by diverting public funds to private corporations for anything but authentic education. Meanwhile the larceny is wreaking havoc on our children as schools close, educational programs are being cut, students are tested literally to ‘death’ and the privatized fornicators of the public interests are allowed out of their ‘day rooms’.

In the latest news we find that a former department chief at Detroit Public Schools and his assistant used secret offices and their own computer system to improperly divert more than $57 million in school funds to vendors who provided little, if anything, in return. This according to the Detroit Free Press, March 28th, 2010 (DPS: Scam cost $57M FBI investigates ex-risk manager; district sues to recover money”, Freep.com, JENNIFER DIXON,March 28th, 2010, http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100328/NEWS01/3280515/1318/FBI-investigates-ex-risk-manager-for-DPS-district-sues-to-get-money&template=fullarticle)

In documents revealed in a Wayne County Circuit Court lawsuit brought by Detroit Public Schools (DPS), the allegations contained within the suit alleges that Stephen Hill of Detroit — director of DPS risk management from 2001-05 — received luxury vehicles and other kickbacks while ‘performing his duties’. Some of the vendors, or better yet corporations, who benefited were friends or associates of Hill’s or relatives of Hill’s assistant, Christina Polk-Osumah of Detroit. The nepotism, the corruption and the outright theft of public finds diverted to privatized entities or ‘vendors’ as they are known in the vernacular of the bureaucrats just keeps piling up like manure in the economically ravished city (See my article on Detroit Teachers fight obsequious politicians, http://dailycensored.com/2010/02/14/detroit-teachers-fight-back/).

In keeping with the ethics of the New Gilded Age of our times, when Stephen Hill left the district in September 2005, he received a champagne-and-tenderloin farewell bash that cost the impoverished school system $40,000, according to the suit. Meanwhile while the caviar wasd plated and the Champagne was chilling Detroit teachers received lay off notices, their schools were closed and their students were thrown to the wolves. No matter, personal gain under the auspices of “helping to prepare students for the new Global economy” can be expensive and lavish and these functionaries for capital actually believe they are deserving of the ‘bennies’ they receive. They are actually that arrogant and delusional.

Much more

This is the original piece from the Detroit Free Press:

As chief of risk management for Detroit Public Schools, Stephen Hill's job was to save the district money.

But as Hill left his post in September 2005, saving money was not on the menu.

The 200 guests at his going-away bash, a golf-themed affair atop a parking deck, feasted on Chilean sea bass, grilled petite tenderloin of beef and bananas foster, washing it all down with champagne, Jack Daniels, martinis and imported beer.

The tab: $40,000.

Who paid: Detroit's impoverished public schools.

The allegations about the party are contained in thousands of pages of documents in a DPS lawsuit that portrays Hill and Polk-Osumah, as running a shadowy side operation outside the scrutiny of district leaders.

As the lawsuit proceeds to trial in July, the $40,000 reportedly spent on Hill's party is hardly the worst of it.

The First Round of RTTT Blackmail Recipients

have been announced, to the horror of teachers in those states: They are Delaware and Tennessee.

A source says the U.S. Department of Education has picked Delaware and Tennessee for the first round of its ''Race to the Top'' competition.

The states will receive part of a $4.35 billion pot meant to encourage the use of innovative programs to improve student performance and transform struggling schools.

The states were selected from 16 finalists announced earlier this month.

link

Meanwhile, the CTU in Chicago is Being Assaulted

by Republicans hellbent on breaking the union's back:

The Chicago Board of Education is trying to get legislation (HB 5596) introduced by Illinois State Republican House representatives to allow the school board to to reopen the Chicago Teachers Union contract without the agreement of the union.

The bill seeks to prohibit any educational employee from going on strike during the time when the contract would be opened by the school board because it does not want to fulfill the contractual agreement for salary increases. In addition to the prohibition on striking when the employer breaks the contract for not wanting to pay the negotiated pay raises, there would be significant penalties for striking: the exclusive bargaining agent shall be removed and declared ineligible for representation for 2 years; employer cannot deduct dues for the exclusive bargaining agent for 2 years; fines may be imposed on the bargaining rep and officers.

The pending legislation is even more of an attack on the Chicago Teachers Union than was the Amendatory Act of 1995, which gave Mayor Richard M. Daley dictatorial control over Chicago's schools and barred the Chicago Teachers Union and the Cook County College Teachers Union from several traditional rights. The 1995 legislation was supported by Daley, a large number of Democrats and most Republicans, including then governor Jim Edgar. After it was signed into law, the myth was created that Daley had courageously offered to take over the failing Chicago school system, when in fact that provisions of the 1995 law, including the abolition of the Chicago School Finance Authority and the release of hundreds of millions of dollars in additional money to Chicago's schools, made Daley's first years in power over the schools a walk in the park, when compared with the tight-fisted approach to the schools during the previous 15 years (following the school financial crisis of 1979 - 1982).

If You're a Teacher and You Dare Challenge

anything your principal asks or tries to force you to do, you can lose your job, but if you're the Chancellor of the New York City public school system, you are a law unto yourself, and you can even defy a court order:

On Friday, Judge Joan Lobis of the New York State Supreme Court nullified Chancellor Klein's decisions to close 19 middle and high schools in New York City, ruling that his actions were illegal.

This court's judgement was an important step forward for the rule of law. It was also a confirmation of the necessity for a genuine public process to inform and improve arbitrary and rash decision-making at the NYC Department of Education.

Klein's proposals to close these schools has been met with tremendous protest from thousands of parents and teachers alike, because of the devastating effect on their children, their communities, and the public school system as a whole.

...

Predictably, the Chancellor disagreed. As quoted in the NY Times, he said, "I think the process was robust...We literally met with thousands of people who expressed their views. We heard them, and in the end, we disagreed."

Despite the court decision, Klein said that none of the schools originally slated for closure would accept students, and he would send out high school admissions letters over the weekend, with none of these schools included.

Even those 8500 students who had listed these schools as one of their top choices would be assigned other schools, and would instead receive a letter, "stating that, should the schools remain open, they may select one of them."

By this action, the Chancellor signalled that he intends to close these schools down regardless, by starving them of students.

I'm sure "Democrats" Duncan and Obama are cheering this on.

I Can Relate to This Video About Congress's Little

scam of "extending" unemployment benefits, when in fact none of the proposals do ANY such thing but push back eligibility dates:



Here is a Facebook page:

Tier V to Survive

Supposedly Teachers are Fighting Back

in Florida.

We will see if they have any clout at all; it's almost a day too late and a dollar too short.

A Pope Can in Theory Resign,

but it is extremely rare in the history of the Catholic Church, and, as this piece notes, it's hard to define exactly what a "resignation" is.

In any case, I have a far greater chance in winning the Powerball jackpot than Pope Benedict XVI resigning.

So far he's rejected any calls for resigning:

A Few Words of Wisdom

about the difference between education and business. They are NOT the same:

Business vs Education
I am sure you are thinking hanky, panky happens in business too. Let me explain some of the differences.

In business, the bottom line is profit. Lawsuits are unprofitable so they are avoided as much as possible.

In education, the bottom line is taxpayers will pay, kind of like when you were a child and you didn’t really value things because mom and dad would pay for it anyway.

In business, they can fire an employee without cause. Therefore, subsequent employers do not consider termination as a sign of a disastrous employee and will still consider them.

In education, teachers have tenure to protect their rights against unreasonable parents given that teachers have to give grades. Therefore, if they want to dispose of a teacher, they have to create a case against her. Tenure is a double-edged sword. It results in teacher abuse as the only way to get rid of an unwanted teacher. However, unwanted can be anything from a personality clash to a power trip and the teacher is left with a false case that makes it nearly impossible to secure another job. Furthermore, any subsequent employer looks negatively at a fired teacher, as it is an automatic sign that this teacher either stood up to her employer or was incompetent. But without tenure, just think what the turnover rate would be in education considering the self-serving administrators running the show.

In business, employees do not have First Amendment Rights or the right of free speech as it pertains to their employment.

In education, employees have First Amendment Rights since public employees serve as a check and balance for abuse of the public trust and teachers need to serve as protectors of their children. This is another double-edged sword. If a teacher tries to assert them, she will be abused, yet if she does not speak out about wrongdoing, she will feel she is betraying her wards. The rights are there for a reason.

In business, employees have other civil rights and employers attempt to avoid lawsuits.

In education, teachers allegedly have civil rights, but administrators are comfortable changing the laws knowing they can always bury the employee in court.

In business, if an employer dislikes an employee, he still hesitates to bad-mouth her to a future employer, as he wants to avoid lawsuits emanating from improper communication about an employee. Lawsuits cost money and money is the bottom line.

In education, if an administrator dislikes an employee, he doesn’t hesitate to make slanderous statements to the new administrator since he knows the Good Ol' Boy Network supports this, and if by chance he finds an ethical administrator who supports the teacher, he figures “let the teacher sue.” Administrators freely discuss unsubstantiated issues with future employers, and fabricate additional ones without hesitation. They don’t care because the taxpayers pay for lawsuits should they arise, and money isn’t the bottom line.

In business, an employer cannot blackball an employee from every other corporation although they may be able to blackball them within a given field. Business skills carry over into other businesses, so the employee can switch to a new industry.

In education, an administrator can make sure a teacher never teaches again due to the incestuous network. Teaching skills are virtually non-transferable in business, and a teaching degree serves as a red flag to a business employer that the person is not made of what it takes to survive in business. It takes significant effort to break into business after teaching, so a teacher feels captive in her profession. It is most difficult to leave teaching and start at the bottom in business since a teacher starts at a point lower than a recent business college graduate does. She will have to do menial work until she can prove herself. (Businesses have no idea that after several years in the battlefield of education, teachers are versed in every nasty, competitive tactic known to mankind.)

In business, leaders need to maintain consumer satisfaction to stay on top in their industry.

In education, consumers have to attend by law, and given few viable alternatives, most do. And administrators can engage unions to lobby against alternative schooling, to make the choices even smaller. Therefore, consumer satisfaction is not an issue.

In business, leaders have to prove themselves to keep their jobs and they are judged on profits unless they are related to someone in charge or have some unique situation. Even with political advantages, when the profits slip, they are forced out. It is most difficult to cover up impending bankruptcy and if they do “cook the books”, there are criminal consequences.

In education, leaders need only to stack their boards politically and their cronies will look the other way with their hands out, even if the test scores slip. They can cover up “bad news” with propaganda with no concern about criminal consequences most of the time. (Occasionally, administrators have been caught cheating on test scores, but they are rarely caught because teachers know that if they report their superiors, their career is over. Other than teachers, there are few people with enough inside information to report any cheating.)

In business, people expect employers to deal with employees or suffer strikes or other work conflicts. Few would feel sorry for a company that has losses over work stoppages. This includes judges who would view a conflict as possibly caused by either side.

In education, people expect teachers to put their students over themselves and if they consider striking or doing anything that could harm the children, teachers are criticized. Teachers are expected to not be about money first. This includes judges who view a teacher who sues as betraying her duties to her children and “wasting” tax payers’ funds.

In business, when there is a conflict, an employer may suffer a financial loss.

In education, when there is a conflict, children, parents and the entire school suffer an emotional loss and the teacher is held accountable for it. In fact, administrators need only to fan the flames and make the teacher appear to be an ogre to unsuspecting parents.

link

Although Her Fifteen Minutes of Fame Were Over Long Ago,

Sarah Palin insists on remaining in the spotlight, making an appearance in Searchlight, Nevada, speaking to a throng of "Tea Party" supporters who have been riled up over nothing. Okay, they have been riled up over HCR, which hardly does anything for people the way single payer would, but the fact it is a DEMOCRATIC victory sticks in the GOP's craw.

What's bad is the "tea party" people are being used by the GOP establishment in order to vote against their own best interests.

Anyway, Palin still is getting a ton of sexist remarks aimed at her the more she insists on being in the public eye. I have never been comfortable with the attacks on her and her family, so I have done little in the way of criticism against her.

The thing is this stunt may actually HELP Senator Reid. He's pulled off narrow victories before in Nevada.

Meanwhile, her whatever on the 2008 presidential ticket, John McCain, is turning to her to help get him re-elected in Arizona.

Teacher Layoffs Galore

As many as 20,000 teachers could be laid off in Illinois:

In recent weeks, state education funding woes have triggered a tsunami of pink slips to thousands upon thousands of teachers and support staff in school districts statewide, with about 9,800 announced layoffs of teachers so far.

Dictator Klein of NYC warns of possible teacher layoffs.

California, too, although the LAT bitches about seniority rules.

News

I haven't followed this story closely, but it appears the Catholic Church, or rather the Vatican, has its own version of Watergate.

It is very possible the infallible pope may be fallible after all.

First, it was an American problem. Then, an Irish problem. But as the scandal of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests has rocked continental Europe in recent weeks, observers inside and outside the church have begun to recognize that it is now very much a Vatican problem, one that is creeping ever closer to Pope Benedict XVI.

"The focus now is on Benedict," the U.S.-based National Catholic Reporter wrote Friday in a strongly worded editorial on the scandal. "What did he know? When did he know it? How did he act once he knew?"

Revelations of abuse in Germany, particularly in the Munich archdiocese while Benedict was the archbishop, have seemingly put a lid on the argument by some in the Roman Catholic Church that sexually abusive priests were an American aberration, the result of lax morals and overblown news coverage in the United States.

Not good if Pope Benedict XVI is forced to step down.
_____

A live stream or whatever of the silliness in Searchlight, Nevada, is here.

Sarah Palin also showed up at the shindig.
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A very young cancer victim has a lesson to teach young people about the dangers of smokeless tobacco.

Decline in Personal Income

No surprise at all it declined in 2009 as joblessness continued to rise.

Speaking of joblessness, Nevada's continues to go through the roof. The unemployment rate is currently at 13.2 percent.

If the rest of the country doesn't rebound, then Nevada's service industry-dependent economy will not rebound.

Only Michigan's 14.1 percent unemployment rate is higher.

Race to the Top "Winners" Will Be Announced Monday,

while teachers, students, and parents all come out the losers thanks to this destructive scheme.

In This Salon Interview, Diane Ravitch

spells out why we need to preserve the public education system which has helped to make this country so great but is now being dismantled and being encouraged by the WHITE HOUSE for reasons of ideology:

Yet why not create competition if the public schools aren't doing well? What about the mantra that my own school's principal says all the time about standards and test scores, that the "data doesn't lie"?

Has your principal heard of Ponzi schemes? Has he heard of Enron? The data lie all the time. Business lies all the time. It's easy to fudge the numbers. In New York, for instance, the Board of Ed dropped the passing mark for the tests. In 2006 a seventh-grade student needed to get 59.6 percent to be considered proficient. By 2009 the mark dropped to 44 percent. That produced a dramatic increase in "proficiency."

...

You've lived and worked through countless moments of crisis in education. What makes this one different?

Public school has always had critics. But we now have for the first time a movement to eliminate public education. We have never in our history had a strong push to privatize a large piece of the public education system. And when you have it coming from the Oval Office, that's different.

Obama and Arne Duncan have completely aligned themselves with the Jack Welches and Joel Kleins. There's this idea that teachers are the enemy. Everybody has drunk the Kool-Aid, because if you want to keep your job, you walk the walk. It's doing a really good job of stigmatizing public education.

Arne is Silent on the Florida Mess

because he silently ENDORSES it; so does his boss.

The privatization movement is happening so quickly most people have no inkling of what is going on.

To get rid of the "step system" for teachers is utter insanity. Principals are already abusing their power, and this would make it worse.

From the article:

Despite a growing chorus of opposition from teachers, students and even school superintendents, the Republican-dominated state Legislature is intent on passing a bill that would make eliminate teacher tenure, link teacher pay to student standardized test scores, and add a heap more tests on already test-plagued students.

Each one of those items will negatively impact every student in a Florida public school. But that’s not all.

No PROFESSIONAL teacher will want to work in Florida; there will be nothing but TFAs in that state if this rotten bill passes.

News

This story of a Kentucky auto crash is tragic beyond belief:

For years, John and Sadie Esh lifted up their Mennonite community in central Kentucky with mellifluous gospel singing, and their congregation of 20 families had likewise embraced them when their son Johnny died and again when their house burned down. On Thursday evening, Mr. Esh preached to the congregation, the Marrowbone Christian Brotherhood in Burkesville, telling them that “we are overcomers.”

Less than 12 hours later, the community was shocked and saddened to learn that Mr. Esh, 64; his wife, 62; and eight other family members and friends had been killed in a pre-dawn van accident on Interstate 65 near Munfordville, Ky.

Kentucky State Trooper Charles Swiney said that a tractor-trailer had inexplicably jumped the grass median and crashed head-on into the 15-seat Dodge van carrying the Esh party.

Ten of the 12 people in the van were killed, including the Eshes; four of their 12 children; a daughter-in-law; the fiancée of their youngest daughter; a recently adopted 4-month old grandchild; and a family friend from another Mennonite community in Franklin, Ky., according to Pastor Leroy Kauffman. Trooper Swiney said the truck driver, from Alabama, was killed as well.

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Ailing actor Dennis Hopper received his star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame today. Why it took so long after his being in the business for over 50 years is a mystery.
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Petition: The 99ers need a Tier V added to Unemployment Benefits

Change.org petition site.

Petition contents:

Senators and Representatives:

You should be ashamed of yourself, and here's why:

You have decided to ignore the people you reduced to poverty. The longest unemployed workers did not create this depression, you did. You did this with your failure to regulate the banks, health industry, and corporations. People who were fully employed, paying taxes, and raising families are now paying the price for your negligence. They trusted you to keep something like this from happening. You failed them.

Now you are deliberately failing them again. This may be a recession for you, but it's a depression for them. You know this depression will last longer than until March, yet you have no plans to add additional unemployment tiers to keep these people from becoming increasingly destitute. Tens of thousands will begin to lose all financial support on March 14. You know with full clarity that these benefits are the only money keeping food on their tables. You know that their benefits run out in March, and that these American families will be on the path to shelters and soup kitchens.

...and this is not of their making. They're not to blame. You are.

...and you're about to discount them again by allowing their benefits to end with Tier IV.

By the way, don't pride yourself on extending the current benefits for the more recently unemployed, as included in the Job Bill. Of course you should do this, but as you know, the bill as it is written will not help any of those who have been the longest and hardest hit by this depression. The Job Bill only half addresses the unemployed, and 50% is an F.

Please make sure that the only choice for Americans who want to work is either a job or unemployment benefits. Don't end benefits until there are jobs for them. As of now, there is only 1 job for every 6 unemployed workers. Take care of these victims.

ADD A TIER V

Robert Reich States the Obvious

Actually, jobs should have been the FIRST priority, not Wall Street and not the band-aid of HCR. People by the millions are facing complete destitution, yet nothing is being done about it.

And you have the useless United States Senate which will stonewall any more tiers to unemployment benefits, so there will be millions of us who will either wind up homeless or on public assistance.

Reich:

It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s this way because companies and consumers aren’t able or willing to buy nearly enough to get people back to work, and government hasn’t yet filled the shortfall. The stimulus was too small to begin with and its peak level of spending is now over.

In recent weeks, Congress and the Administration have been working on a bunch of proposals called “jobs bills,” but they’re so small relative to the size of the problem they should be called “almost jobs bills.”

One, recently passed, lets employers avoid paying payroll taxes for the rest of the year on each unemployed worker they hire (at a salary under $106,800), who has been out of work for at least 60 days. If the new hire remains at the job for at least 52 weeks, the employer can get a $1,000 tax credit on its 2011 tax return. The Congressional Budget Office estimated a similar payroll tax holiday proposal – not limited to workers who had been jobless for 60 days – would generate about 200,000 new jobs. With the 60-day limit, though, the number of hires is likely to be half that. Remember: The nation needs 11 million jobs just to catch up.

On Wednesday, House Democrats passed several other morsels they called “jobs bills,” whose likely effect on unemployment is even smaller. One would bestow about $3 billion of tax breaks on small businesses. Another would further expand what are known as “Build America Bonds,” designed to help states and cities with new construction projects. The tab here is about $13 billion. It’s a worthwhile effort but given that the states and cities are running up deficits of some $125 billion this year alone and firing everyone in sight – even teachers – it’s smaller than small potatoes. It’s a lima bean.

They're all band-aid solutions. The feds need to CREATE jobs, thus funneling more money into the economy, which creates even more jobs. It's that our politicians, especially in the Senate, don't have the political will to do it. For that matter, neither does Obama.

I Expect an Eli Broadie Type

to take over Walt Rulffes job as superintendent of Clark County Schools when he leaves in August.

He's around 70 years old anyway. But the article notes there is a swarm of controversy at CCSD:

Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes has decided not to renew his contract with the nation's fifth-largest school system, which now faces a budget shortfall of $123 million that's demoralized both employees and School Board members.

"I know how rumors often take hold in organizations, so I'll tell you that the only reason I am moving on is that life is short and it's getting late," Rulffes said in an e-mail sent out Thursday night. "I've spent my last 12 years in the service of CCSD and I will be forever grateful for that opportunity."

Rulffes did not cite the district's financial hard times as a factor in his decision to move on when his contract expires at the end of August. Instead, he said he made the decision because of a "long bucket list" of things he wants to do in retirement.

Rulffes is paid $276,932 a year, which reflects a 10 percent pay cut he volunteered to take because of the district's budget crisis. He joined the district in 1997 as the chief financial officer and was named superintendent in 2006.

Before Rulffes announced his intent to leave, School Board members voted Thursday to seek help from the Clark County district attorney's office in future contract negotiations with the five senior employees who report to the superintendent.

It's bad down there as it is, but his successor is bound to be worse.

With Democrats Being Enemies of Public Education,

who needs Republicans?

This support for Teacher for America was brought to my attention by a news article listing Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen F11 Appropriations Requests (Earmarks, which include:


Entity: Teach for America
Address: Teach for America, New York, NY 10018
Amount: $50,000,000
Project Title: Teach for America
Purpose: Teach for America, a national nonprofit with a demonstrated record of success, will use these funds to recruit, select, train, and provide professional development to top recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in our nation’s highest poverty co


Here are Cohen's education priorities, which fall in line with those of the Democratic Party and earn him an A rating from NEA.

For 2010, Cohen's Earmark requests include 42 projects total $125.7 million. His requests for Teach for America are by far the most generous. Stan Katz at Chronicle of Higher Education wonders how much lobbying for these earmarks costs Teach for America.

In February, the Washington Post's Nick Anderson reported on the Teach for America Earmark issue, Duncan questioned on move to cut funding for Teach for America. Duncan says Teach for America could get more from the competitive program he wants, but Teach for America seems to feel a bird in hand is the safer route. Hence Earmarks.

Of interest is how eager Democrats are to make sure Teach for America continues to get truckloads of money.

Here is the list of those in Congress who have expressed written support for even MORE money going to TFA:

House of Representatives
Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL)
Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)
Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao (R-LA)
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA)
Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO)
Rep. André Carson (D-IN)
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO)
Rep. Stephen Cohen (D-TN)
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)
Rep. Joseph Courtney (D-CT)
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL)
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD)
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY)
Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC)
Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA)
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-TX)
Rep. Gene Green (D-TX)
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ)
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT)
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX)
Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Rep. Henry Johnson (D-GA)
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)
Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC)
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA)
Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA)
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA)
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA)
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ)
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ)
Rep. David Price (D-NC)
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)
Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
Rep. Mike Ross (D-MS)
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Rep. Gregorio Sablan (D-MP)
Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD)
Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA)
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ)
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Senators
Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)


Senators
Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Source: Teach for America

REAL teachers don't have a prayer in this environment. There isn't a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to public education.

The Economy isn't Getting Any Better

But of course it's by design in order to create fear in both the unemployed and those who are still employed:

One measure of the ongoing jobs crisis, which has seen the elimination of 8.4 million jobs since December 2007, is the fact that more than 11.1 million workers are claiming jobless benefits—4.6 million of whom are on state jobless rolls and 5.7 million who are receiving extended benefits from the federal government.

The government puts the official jobless total at 15.1 million workers. In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee Thursday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke admitted that the “unemployment situation is very weak,” with 40 percent of those officially counted as jobless having been without work for more than 6 months.

However, far from suggesting any serious job creation measures, Bernanke reiterated his call for the White House and Congress to formulate an austerity program to rein in record federal budget deficits. Such, in fact, is the policy of the Obama administration.

Obama has rejected out of hand any government job-creation programs, such as public works. In the name of “job creation,” he and congressional Democrats have proposed a series of tax breaks for business, claiming that such windfalls will revive the private sector and encourage more hiring.

If there are enough jobs being created, then and only then can the economy be considered "rebounding." This hasn't happened, and I don't expect it to happen for a long, long time.

Education is Supposed to be About the Kids,

but does anybody seriously believe anything will happen when the kids DO speak out?

The story:

The Bloomberg-Klein machine that runs, and is destroying, the New York City public school system has made some powerful enemies, including the students from University Heights High School in the Bronx. These teenagers may not prevent New York City Mayor Moneybags and School Chancellor King Klein from moving their school off of the Bronx Community College campus and exiling it to the south Bronx, but in their struggle to save the school, they have learned how to be organizers and agents for change. Bloomberg, Klein, and their wealthy friends better watch out. Their attack on this school has provided these students with the best education they could possibly receive and has have helped to create a new generation committed to the struggle for social justice.

Moneybags and King Klein think the fight is over, but to paraphrase the immortal words of American Naval hero John Paul Jones, the student of University Heights High School "have just begun to fight." The students are exploring the possibility of getting a court injunction against the move. They claim that they and their parents selected this school because of its affiliation with a college and that Bloomberg, Klein, the Department of Education, and BCC are violating that contract.

On Tuesday over 240 University Heights High School students and about 20 parents attended DOE a meeting in Staten Island that was held there to make it difficult for the students to mobilize and attend. The teachers' union supplied them with a bus and a community organization supplied two smaller buses to transport people. The rest of the students traveled to the hearing with their teacher, Pablo Muriel, by subway, ferry, and a long walk up to the school. Many of the students spoke eloquently, and King Klein was forced to acknowledge their presence.

Pablo challenged Klein, who that morning in a radio interview claimed to be concerned about underperforming schools serving minorities communities. He wanted to know why they were effectively destroying a minority school that had such a strong track record and had a student body that was willing to travel for hours to defend their school. Pablo demanded that the Panel for Educational Policy vote "no" on the move and send a message to students that the democratic process works.

A Georgia School is Mass Firing

its staff in a "turnaround" model. In this case, the teachers not rehired are eligible for jobs in other schools.

link

The 200 employees at Beach High School — including the principal — will work there through the end of the year but will not be rehired for that school, said Karla Redditte, spokeswoman for the Savannah-Chatham County school district.

The teachers can reapply for their jobs but only half can be rehired under federal education law, she said. Staff can also apply for other jobs in the school district.

"It is a sad day for us," Redditte said by phone as she stood outside the 950-student school in south Georgia.

The move is the most dramatic of four tactics allowed by the federal No Child Left Behind law for schools like Beach that consistently fail to meet benchmarks. The Obama administration is offering $3 billion in grants this year to coax struggling schools to undertake one of the four tactics, which also include firing only the principal, converting to a charter school or closing altogether.

Experts estimate the mass-firing tactic is used to turn around 20 to 30 schools in the U.S. annually.

Pretty soon, though, it'll be where staff won't be reassigned but shitcanned totally from their schools. That day is coming--count on it.

Frum Here to Obscurity

A prominent right-winger tells the truth about Waterloo, but it was about the GOP's, and not Obama's, and he ends up losing his job with the right-wing stink tank American Enterprise Institute:

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The legislators need to do the work they were elected to do instead of pandering to the talking heads and the so-called "tea party" types.

Obituaries

Singer Johnny Maestro, who sang the hit "16 Candles" for The Crests and later sang for the vocal group The Brooklyn Bridge, has died of cancer. He was 70 years old and died in Florida.

After beginning his career in the 1950s with The Crests — one of the first interracial singing groups — Maestro joined a local New York group, The Del-Satins. It merged with a Long Island band, The Rhythm Method, to form Johnny Maestro and The Brooklyn Bridge in 1968.

Hits by the rock 'n' roll and doo-wop group included "The Worst That Could Happen," which Cauchi said earned "gold record" status with a million sales.

Cauchi said the group performed that song on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Other hits included "Blessed is the Rain," ''Welcome Me Love" and "You'll Never Walk Alone."

An old, old video of The Crests singing "Trouble in Paradise":

How Utterly Predictable

Republicans are with so-called "extended" unemployment compensation. More fucking stalling while people worry about whether they can get onto the next tier, and there should be ANOTHER tier for those who are in danger of using up their entire 99 weeks.

Senate Republicans are blocking speedy passage of a stopgap bill to extend jobless benefits, saying its $9 billion cost should not be added to the national debt.

The clash comes less than a month after Republicans shied away from a similar battle that led to an interruption in unemployment benefits eligibility for some people and a two-day furlough for some Transportation Department employees.

Again, no Tier Five or additional weeks on Tier IV is being proposed.

Congress NEEDS

not just "extend" the eligibility for EUI, but ADD at least another 26-week tier, but instead they are fucking around on this with little extensions of eligibility here and there. This will still fuck me over on Tier IV.

Senate Democrats will try to clear short-term extensions of several federal programs on Thursday, including unemployment benefits, but it’s still unclear whether they will be able to do so quickly.

Discussions are under way to determine whether Republicans will object and whether that objection could be remedied by a time agreement between party leaders about votes on amendments, according to a Senate GOP leadership aide.
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Legislation passed by voice vote in the House on March 17 would extend long-term unemployment benefits, COBRA health insurance subsidies for jobless workers and higher payments for physicians who treat Medicare patients — a provision known as the “doc fix.” The bill also would extend a national flood insurance program, satellite television transmission laws and the use of 2009 poverty guidelines for federal programs.

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News

A playground "jail" stirred up a hornet's nest in Brooklyn, even worse when it is a low-income area populated predominantly by African-Americans.

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The Fired Central Falls High School teachers

speak out in defense of themselves, but it is all for nothing, I am afraid. They are going up against a truly evil tide of "reform" which privatizes a public service.

From the story:

More than a dozen teachers who were fired a month ago spoke Tuesday night about the upheaval in leadership and curriculum the struggling Central Falls High School has experienced for many years.

Five principals in seven years. Schedule changes. The elimination of department heads. And new programs about how to teach low-income, special education and English language learners how to read and do math — some of which worked and some of which failed miserably, the teachers told the city’s school Board of Trustees.

These factors, the teachers said, have more to do with the school’s poor performance than the effectiveness of the 93 teachers, support staff and administrators who were terminated on Feb. 23 as part of a dramatic reform effort.

“I’m being called ineffective. And I’m wearing a T-shirt tonight that says FIRED across the front of it, after 28 years of giving everything I could to the district,” said Kathleen Luther, a math teacher and the high school’s athletic director. Luther recited a long list of math programs the district has used over the past several years, including an approach that required students to depend on calculators rather than learn basic math skills. Luther said that is part of the reason why only 7 percent of the school’s 11th graders scored proficient on the state’s math test.

Naturally the superintendent will keep HER job and her perks.

There is Too Much Testing and Not Enough Creativity

in public education, not that this opinion piece is going to have one damned effect on what the privatizers want:

Politicians are complicit in leaving children behind when they fail to represent us and instead side with their corporate sponsors. After standing with hundreds of people at health care vigils and rallies who do want comprehensive health care for all people, I know politicians do not represent us when they say we do not.

Having talked with many parents, teachers and students, I know that politicians who push for more testing, standards and competition, rather than high quality, holistic, personalized and engaging education in our schools are not representing us.

They are selling out to profiteering testing and curriculum corporations, and obstructing the function of education, described well by the Rev. Martin Luther King: “to teach one to think intensively and to think critically ... intelligence plus character.”

From John Dewey to Maria Montessori to a transformed Diane Ravitch, educators tell us that schools should be more like families, where every person is recognized for their individual gifts and talents, where cooperation leads to more sharing of resources and ideas, where experiential, motivational, inspired learning is the norm, and where everyone feels valued and cared for.

The business model of standardization and competition does not work in schools — not if we want the creativity, critical thinking, innovation and teamwork that are vital for progress in the 21st century.

I like her remark later in the piece about valuing only what we measure, not measuring what we value.

Obama Pandered to the Anti-Abortion Crowd

when he signed his executive order regarding the Hyde Amendment provisions.

The presidential order stipulates that the health care legislation signed into law by Obama on Tuesday and all of its provisions and mechanisms enforce existing laws barring the use of federal funds for abortions.

The presidential order states: “[I]t is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that federal funds are not used for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) consistent with a longstanding federal statutory restriction that is commonly known as the Hyde Amendment.”

WSWS

And as I have written here, it's totally legal per a USSC decision. Abortion providers will simply have to offer the services on a sliding scale, which presumably they have been anyway for the past 33 years.

When You're a Teacher, Your Life is an Open Book,

as yours truly can attest. And if you are caught boozing it up at work, it goes double or triple:

A middle school teacher in Riverside County has been arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol while teaching.

Tanya Neff, 47, was arrested Tuesday at Toro Canyon Middle School in the town of Thermal, about 40 miles southeast of Palm Springs.

The school district said a staff member called authorities around lunchtime when the seventh-grade teacher began showing signs of being intoxicated.

"He was right next to the class that it happened in, and he came and he told me what had happened. But they just had told him that she had taken some pills and she had fainted," said Elizabeth Godinez, whose son attends the school.

When deputies arrived, Neff was being treated by a school nurse in the administration building. Investigators believe Neff took prescription drugs combined with alcohol. Deputies found a container filled with an alcoholic beverage on campus.

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I get shitcanned over a form while this person will probably skate by.

Obituaries--Robert Culp

Yet another television icon has died: Actor Robert Culp, 79, has died. There are not a lot of details at the moment:

Robert Culp, the versatile actor who teamed with Bill Cosby in the groundbreaking comedy-adventure TV series "I Spy," has died. He was 79.

The actor's agent Hillard Elkins says Culp died after collapsing Wednesday on a sidewalk outside his Hollywood home. Los Angeles police say he hit his head while on a walk and was pronounced dead after arriving at a hospital.

A preliminary investigation found that his death is accidental.

"I Spy," which aired from 1965 to 1968, was a television milestone. Its combination of humor and adventure broke new ground, and it was the first integrated television show to feature a black actor in a starring role.

Los Angeles Times:

Off screen, Culp has been active in civic causes, most recently in his efforts to oppose construction of an elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo.

In 2007, the actor joined with real estate agent Aaron Leider in filing a lawsuit against zoo director John Lewis and the city to stop construction of a $42-million elephant exhibit and bar the zoo from keeping elephants there, accusing authorities at the facility of withholding medical care from the animals and keeping them cramped in small places.

Last year, after temporarily halting construction on the elephant exhibit amid a fierce debate, the City Council voted to go ahead with the project as planned.

A Teacher of All Things

responds to the New Jersey governor's open warfare against public education:

1) So many people think public school teachers have the best deal going, and they've thought this for years. However, what is the reason that most people give for not wanting to go into education? "Teachers don't make enough money." Funny how these people change their tune when it's convenient for them, and when it fits the prevailing political winds.

2) Enough of misguided people comparing the "average" teacher salaries to the "average" private employee salaries! All teachers must have a bachelor's or equivalent; but most have an master's and/or additional college courses. All need 20 professional development hours every year. The private sector encompasses all non-public jobs, from bank CEO's to people with GEDs or less. When people want to compare average salaries, let's make sure the number of years worked in the position and the level of education are equal before the comparison is made.

3) When I entered college, unlike the public's opinion of teacher candidates, I could have gone into any field of my choice. I did not choose teaching because it was easy. I wanted a career where I could: a) Make a difference in kids’ lives, thus effecting positive change in the future; and b) Have stability and good benefits. Many of my friends chose careers where they could make a lot of money right off the bat. We both knew what we were getting into. I knew I'd never live in a mansion, drive sports cars, or go on fancy vacations. They knew that they might make a ton of money, but their job market might be more volatile and they'd have to pay into their benefits. I don't begrudge them for having bigger houses/cars/bank accounts than I do. Don't begrudge me for having good benefits and a pension - that's what I accepted in exchange for smaller yearly wages.

4) I have 14 years into teaching in the same district, a master's and 45 credits, plus numerous accolades and awards. That being said, I averaged my salary over the past 14 years, and it came to about $47,000. The “private sector” people who have the same years of experience, degrees, and commendations have averaged at nearly double that amount or more. Teachers may make a good salary after 25 years in the same district, but we live paycheck-to-paycheck up until that point. And before someone says, “You only work 180 days!” … take a comparable employee and compare days off, vacation, holidays, etc. On average, teachers work approximately 87% of the days their “private” counterparts, while making 65% of their “private” counterparts’ pay.

5) Why pensions? Even when living modestly, most teachers cannot even begin to save for retirement until they're almost ready to retire. A comparable private sector employee who lived as modestly as a teacher would be able to sock away thousands of dollars over the course of a career. Many can do this anyway, even if they aren't living modestly. We educate all other professions, and live meagerly to do so. A pension is the only way teachers can even hope to survive after retirement. We have no stock options, bonuses, severance packages, or golden parachutes. And don't forget, we pay our own money into the pension fund as well! New Jersey officials didn’t mind taking the hard-earned money that we paid into the fund while not putting a dime back, did they?

6) Property taxes? I pay them too, just like you. Do I wish they were lower? Sure. Do I want to sacrifice my children's education and the entire educational system to do it? No way! There's a reason New Jersey is ranked at the top of the country for educational success. Cutting educational funds will not lower property taxes. Alternatively, it will lower property values. Think about it. What is a major factor in determining property value? The quality of the school system surrounding the home. Hurt the schools, hurt the home values.

7) Tenure: This is needed to ensure the integrity of the education system. I can't tell you how many times I've been "asked" to change a grade for a student by an influential parent. I've never caved, since these threats have come when I had tenure. Without it, our education system will be up for sale, for fear of teachers losing their jobs because they gave an influential parent’s kid a well-deserved "D". Little Johnny, whose parents don’t have political clout, is working his tail off to get a “B”, while Little Tommy gets an “A” just for having a politically-connected mom or dad. How fair would that be? You want to blame someone for tenure protecting bad teachers? Talk to the people who are supposed to be evaluating the teachers! If a teacher is truly slacking, an administrator has the tools to get rid of the teacher.

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The pensions aren't "generous" unless teachers work 25 or 30 years, an increasingly difficult milestone given the number of incompetent or malicious principals who mark older or senior teachers for termination. And if they work in a state not paying into Social Security for its teachers, then midlife teachers are screwed over double, thanks to the so-called windfall elimination provision, unless they have paid into Social Security for 30 goddamned years.

And, as anybody who has read this blog knows, "tenure" doesn't protect teachers as much as it protects school districts from even more lawsuits from teachers, which is actually pretty rare considering the limited resources most teachers have and the fact unions don't do one thing to help them beyond the sham "due process" hearings. However, there would be even more workplace harassment by principals and higher administrators if "tenure" didn't exist.

Teaching is NOT an easy career; it is damned difficult, and it's getting harder all the time. The reasons the job pays crappy are two-fold: the fact taxpayers are reluctant to have their taxes increased to pay higher salaries and the fact teaching has been thought of as a traditional "woman's" job and doesn't deserve a family wage.