Etc.

An embattled Las Vegas attorney has been found dead in her bathtub. Authorities are treating the death as a suicide:

Nancy Quon, the embattled attorney involved in a far-reaching HOA scandal, was found dead Tuesday in the bathtub of her Henderson condo.

Henderson Police were at Quon's condo at the District investigating her death. Officers say foul play was not involved. A family member of Quon's made the disturbing discovery around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. Police are investigating the sudden death as an apparent suicide.

Quon became embroiled in a scandal alleging several conspirators rigged homeowner's association boards and pushed construction defect lawsuits and contracts to their partners.

Quon also had children. Pretty sad shit.
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I previously mentioned the overhyped video Kony 2012 and how I felt it was simply one long fundraising infomercial. It appears the assertions made in the film are not reality in Uganda anymore, if they ever were, not to mention the filmmakers are undergoing scrutiny.

Never missing a chance to exploit public opinion, the Obama administration jumped right into the fray:

The central impulse behind US involvement in Uganda is the drive to dominate the region’s recently discovered oil reserves and its other natural resources, as part of the broader struggle for influence in Africa between the US, China and the former colonial European powers. The Kony 2012 campaign served to advance these imperialist aims.

Since the discovery of sizable oil deposits in Uganda three years ago, the US has sought to increase its presence in the area, using the fight against the LRA as a pretext. Last October, Obama dispatched 100 special forces troops to the area, in a move he said “furthers US national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa.”

The motive for the Obama administration’s endorsement of the Kony video is no different from that which led it to escalate the neo-colonial occupation of Afghanistan, carry out a war for regime-change in Libya, and threaten Syria: the drive to control strategic areas of the world for the enrichment of US banks and corporations.

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You don't have to go abroad to wage war on innocent people. Hell, all you have to be is a dictator of Detroit, Michigan, and you have unlimited power to destroy communities:

The emergency manager of the Detroit Public Schools announced March 13 the next stage in the destruction of public education in Detroit, presenting a list of 15 schools, including six high schools, which will be removed from DPS at the end of the current school year and transferred to the state-run Education Achievement System.

Roy Roberts, the former GM executive who came out of retirement to take the $250,000-a-year position as emergency manager, designated Central, Denby, Henry Ford, Mumford, Pershing and Southeastern high schools as “low-performing,” as well as nine middle and elementary schools.

And who else is behind this war against families and schools? Guess. Just guess:

The chancellor of the state-run school system is John Covington, a product of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation’s Superintendent’s Academy. He abruptly resigned from his post as the Superintendent of the Kansas City schools last year to head the EAA, where he will reportedly receive a yearly salary of $450,000 plus incentives.

Teachers' living standards are being destroyed.
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A warning about Temp for America. Not that it will be heeded until it is too late:

In other words, the TFA teachers who come into your district would not be hired to teach in Redmond, Kirkland or Bellevue. Schools in more affluent communities do not regularly encourage teacher turnover every two years, nor pay salaries and benefits for new teachers who are not trained and not proven.

Contrast the TFA training with the regulations outlined by The State of Washington or cosmetology students. One must be enrolled full time in an accredited program that mandates 1600 hours of practicum, that run concurrently with instruction from licensed cosmetologists who hold certification as career and technical teacher educators. [Idaho and California require 2000 hours prior to one applying for licensure.]

When 8 months of training is required for cosmetologists, how can five weeks of TFA training, where corps report less than 20 hours spent teaching children, be considered legitimate?

Because cosmetologists are more valued than teachers. Anybody can teach, remember? It's just glorified babysitting, remember?

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This more than anything is why I am not voting for Obama this year, and even if he were to reverse course on education policy, I would STILL not vote for him because of his constant selling out to GOP and neoliberal interests.