Etc.

I can just about expect "disaster capitalism" at its finest as the South appears to be on the verge of ruination thanks to horrible weather conditions in the past month.

Over the past four decades, Democratic and Republican administrations alike have overseen a systematic dismantling of governmental oversight. In January, President Barack Obama issued an executive order for the review of all federal regulations to eliminate all those that are determined not to justify the costs for “affected stakeholders in the private sector.”

The 2011 floods once again reveal the incompatibility of a modern society and the protection of its people with an economic order that subordinates every aspect of life to the demands of private profit. The most elementary social measures are ruled out in advance because they are seen as impinging on the wealth and profits of the aristocracy that rules America.

Those who have seen their homes and livelihoods destroyed by the flooding in the South must be made whole through emergency aid relief. A public works program is urgently needed to undertake the reconstruction of the levee system. Tens of thousands in the region who are out of work could be given immediate employment. Safe housing, public shelters, warning systems and evacuation programs must be built. The rebuilding of the devastated areas has to be planned rationally, with a scientific appreciation for the complexities of the environment and based on the needs of society for safe, healthy, and stable environmental conditions.
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A state superintendent of instruction gives the feds the middle finger and refuses to raise the bar for her state's schools.

The "reformers," of course, always change the goal posts, for their ultimate goal is to get rid of public education altogether by labeling all schools "failures."
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Obituary: Lawrence Welk Show regular Norma Zimmer, 87, dubbed "The Champaigne Lady" by the maestro, has died. She died May 10.

Zimmer was married for 64 years with her husband having died in 2008. She was soloist for Welk during the years 1960-1982.
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