Do Politicians Know Anything About Schools and Education? Anything?

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 9, 2012

NYT (5): National News

Finally, a "bailout" for homeowners; Washington effectively becomes 7th state to legalize same-sex marriage; House passes insider trading bill, despite G.O.P. excising of important provision; G.O.P. sees birth control as new "cultural wars" wedge issue; As youth watch less TV (but more media in general), older people watch more.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 9, 2012

NYT (5): National News

Ron Paul sets off firestorm with religious requirement for caucus; Colorado moves to undermine fed law on environment; School-based congregations bemoan new NYC law; NYC defends "scary" health ads; Giants win the Superbowl.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, February 6, 2012

NYT Editorial & Op-Eds (10)

"Three major legal cases may influence the 2012 election, but the cases also illustrate how politics shape the Supreme Court" (Editorial); "Whether Barack Obama wins or loses in November, the Democratic Party’s attention will immediately turn to 2016" (Guest Op-Ed); "Whether you can obtain a job, credit or insurance can be based on your digital doppelgänger — and you may never know why you’ve been turned down" (Guest Op-Ed); "Anyone entertaining such dreams of the Internet as a refuge for the bohemian, the hedonistic and the idiosyncratic probably didn’t know the reasons behind the disappearance of the original flâneur" (Guest Op-Ed); "How do the laws and mores of different nations manage, if at all, the multinational companies that now govern our digital lives?" (Guest Op-Ed); "Romney’s Mormon faith is too central to his biography and identity to be swept to the side" (Bruni); "Web tools can turn the world upside down. Change.org has empowered ordinary people to close down homophobic 'clinics' in Ecuador, shine a light on sex trafficking, and force banks to drop fees" (Kristof); "Vladimir Putin has been unable to make the political, economic and educational changes needed to make Russia a modern European state. Will he step up?" (Friedman); "Can Callista transform Newt so that he can transform her into the First Third Lady?" (Dowd); "Half of the country wants to restrict or end abortion, but you wouldn’t know that from the coverage of the Planned Parenthood-Komen controversy" (Douthat)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, February 5, 2012

Phil Rockstroh: A Journey To The End Of Empire, It Is Always Darkest Right Before It Goes Completely Black

Rockstroh ..

a poetic view of existence insists that one embrace the sorrow that comes at the end of things. The times have bestowed on us a shuffle to the graveside of our culture, and, we, like members of a New Orleans-style, second line, funeral procession, must allow our hearts to be saturated by sorrowful songs. Yet when the service is complete, the march away from the boneyard should shake the air with the ebullient noise borne of insistent brass .. In this way, we are nourished by the ineffable, whereby unseen components of consciousness provide us the strength to carry the weight of darkness. Therefore, to those who demand this of poets: that all ideas, notions, flights of imagination, revelries, swoons of intuition, Rabelaisian rancor, metaphysical overreach, unnerving apprehensions, and inspired misapprehensions be tamed, rendered practical, and only considered fit to be broached in reputable company when these things bring "concrete" answers to polite dialog--I ask you this, if the defining aspects of our existence were constructed of concrete, would not the world be made of the material of a prison? Moreover, is this not the building material and psychic criteria comprising the neoliberal paradigm? Is it any wonder that the concept of freedom is under siege?

a beautiful essay - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, February 5, 2012

NYT (9): National News

SuperPac secrecy - the spawn of Citizens United; Indiana gov signs "right to work" bill; Washington to become 7th state to approve same-sex marriage; Keystone pipeline is central to GOP economic argument; Three states order insurers to have climate change responses; Despite directive, pot arrests are up again in NYC; "Pink ribbon" breast cancer org finds itself red-faced as it ends funding for Planned Parenthood; NRC rejects Indian Point fire safety plan; Company behind exchange students who filed lawsuit re working conditions is barred from further biz.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 2, 2012

Adbusters: Spiritual Insurrection, the Ultimate Culture Jam

We awoke one morning to the dark realization that humanity is being dragged into a black hole of ecological, financial and spiritual catastrophe … that our democracy has been seized by a corporatocracy … that every day two hundred species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become forever extinct … that a deluge of advertising is sleepwalking our civilization to the brink of insanity … and that unless we fight back in the most visceral and creative way possible all will be lost.

And yet, what sets our struggle apart in 2012 is that we are not fighting to save a distant future. We are not trying to prevent some terrible event that is still to come. This is not about our unborn grandchildren. Instead, many of us sense that the threshold has already been crossed; the tipping point has already happened and what we are fighting for is our present. We are living in that tragic moment of eerie stillness where the fatal damage has been done, widening cracks can be seen, yet the edifice still stands and business as usual continues … but for how much longer?

Our days may be shadowed by this dark realization, but there is reason to be deeply optimistic for “where danger is, grows the saving power also.” Never before has the tantalizing possibility of a Global Spring, a worldwide people’s insurgency for democracy, seemed as close. For perhaps the first time in human history, we just might be on the edge of an everywhere-at-once revolution against the financial fraudsters, corporate lackeys and the ideology of consumerism that has brought the Earth to the precipice of collapse.

In this, the era of the total and transcendent indignato swarm, we look to each other, not to the masters above, to find out what it will take to pull off the ultimate culture jam: spiritual insurrection.

for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ

- Adbusters
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Marijuana Again Dominates President Obama’s Online Forum

Jon Walker at Firedoglake ..

So far every attempt by Obama to directly reach out to young voters through some form of online question and answer system has resulted in young adults overwhelming voting to confront the President with questions about our government’s marijuana policies. It happened with his transitional website Change.gov, his first Youtube townhall and with the White House’s new “we the people” petition site. Marijuana reform is an issue young voters across the ideological spectrum care deeply about. While marijuana legalization is rarely talked about in our mainstream political discourse, at every opportunity regular Americans use the internet to try to make legalization an issue Obama can’t ignore.

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Monday, January 30, 2012

NYT Editorial & Op-Eds (10)

"The system for reviewing presidential appointments is broken. Changing the rule is a risky course, but it is the only way to get the nation’s work done" (Editorial); "A student movement led by Camila Vallejo and centered on reforming Chile’s educational system is upending the society" (Guest Op-Ed); "Millions of children take drugs to help them pay attention — but do they really help?" (Guest Op-Ed); "Focusing on public expectations of privacy means that our rights change when technology does" (Guest Op-Ed); "While Cynthia Nixon’s critics have good reason to worry about how her words will be construed, they have no right to demand silence and conformity from her" (Bruni); "Would it be ethical to produce, or take, a drug that makes us more likely to help others?" (Guest Op-Ed); "What is it about runways that brings out the fire in our cool president?" (Dowd); "There is a big gap in how C.E.O.’s and political leaders look at the world" (Friedman); "The power of the state can crowd out other forms of community" (Douthat); "Religious people are more likely to donate to charity" (Guest Op-Ed)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, January 29, 2012

Police Use Teargas on Occupy Oakland; 300 Arrested

Occupy Oakland statement via Common Dreams ..

Yesterday, the Oakland Police deployed hundreds of officers in riot gear so as to prevent Occupy Oakland from putting a vacant building to better use. This is a building which has sat vacant for 6 years, and the city has no current plans for it. The Occupy Oakland GA passed a proposal calling for the space to be turned into a social center, convergence center and headquarters of the Occupy Oakland movement. The police actions tonight cost the city of Oakland hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they repeatedly violated their own crowd control guidelines and protester’s civil rights. With all the problems in our city, should preventing activists from putting a vacant building to better use be their highest priority? Was it worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent?

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, January 29, 2012

AlterNet (2)

Is Oakland working on new ways to stifle the Occupy movement?; Do harsh pot laws increase the drinking culture?
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, January 28, 2012

NYT (8): National News

Schneiderman & Co. get right to work issuing subpoenas; Was victory over SOPA/PIPA the result of "Lobbying 2.0?"; Economy grew faster than expected; Waning subsidies for wind and solar; Comparing pot to alcohol, CO hopes to pass relaxed regs on former; As Bloomberg deals with firestorm over anti-Muslim film, the sordid history of the NYPD vs. the facts; RI teen dealing with backlash over successful lawsuit against prayer posted in school.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, January 28, 2012

Arizona Shuts Mexican Studies Classes

Wow! This and that Governor. Poor Arizona
Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, January 27, 2012

Adbusters Tactical Briefing #25: In the Tradition of the Chicago 8 | #OCCUPYCHICAGO | May 1 – Bring Tent

Adbusters ..

Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a rare simultaneous summit in Chicago this May. The world’s military and political elites, heads of state, 7,500 officials from 80 nations, and more than 2,500 journalists will be there.

And so will we.

On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Friday, January 27, 2012

George Lakey: How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the ‘1 Percent’

Lakey in Waging Nonviolence ..

While many of us are working to ensure that the Occupy movement will have a lasting impact, it’s worthwhile to consider other countries where masses of people succeeded in nonviolently bringing about a high degree of democracy and economic justice. Sweden and Norway, for example, both experienced a major power shift in the 1930s after prolonged nonviolent struggle. They “fired” the top 1 percent of people who set the direction for society and created the basis for something different. Both countries had a history of horrendous poverty. When the 1 percent was in charge, hundreds of thousands of people emigrated to avoid starvation. Under the leadership of the working class, however, both countries built robust and successful economies that nearly eliminated poverty, expanded free university education, abolished slums, provided excellent health care available to all as a matter of right and created a system of full employment

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Friday, January 27, 2012

The ugly truth about “school choice” – AlterNet – Salon.com

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, January 26, 2012

Markos Moulitsas: Occupy owns the Republican nominating contest

Kos ..

Iowa and New Hampshire were disasters for Newt Gingrich, relegated to also-ran status. At that moment, he made a decision .. It was a populist call to arms by someone claiming to represent the 99 percent, against the 1 percent. Rush Limbaugh and the Club for Growth, among others, got the vapors. How dare Newt criticize the free market system? It was an attack on capitalism itself! Heck, much of what Gingrich was saying could've been heard at any Occupy encampment around the country! .. It's a stunning turn of events. Last summer, all the Beltway press wanted to talk about was deficits and the Catfood Commission. Today, even the Republican nomination contest is revolving around Occupy's themes of rogue capitalism and income inequality. That's why Gingrich has stayed on the attack over Bain despite a mass GOP establishment backlash. Because, quite clearly, it's working

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Higher Education in the US: A Fading Dream

Posted by Michael Butler, Monday, January 23, 2012

Adbusters: Robin Hood Tax Gains Traction

Adbusters ..

As Occupy gears up for the American Spring, our European counterparts will soon have one OWS victory to put in their cap. In France this past week, lawmakers put their backing behind a bill for a Robin Hood (Tobin) Tax. The tax, a fraction of a percent on all derivative, currency and securities transactions, will equate to billions of dollars for social programs (at a nominal cost to the markets) and will reign in the worst elements of speculative trading in Europe. This marks the long beginning of the necessary radical shift in the economic paradigm of our age. Germany and the Eurozone states are already on board, leaving only the U.K. and the U.S. defending unbridled neo-conservative free market gains

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, January 21, 2012

NYT (11): National News

As "public outcry" over SOPA and PIPA leads to reversals by at least two Senators, Chris Dodd takes conciliatory tone for Hollywood, and Reid postpones Senate vote; Manning moves closer to court-martial; Anonymous takes down DOJ and entertainment sites in retaliation for DOJ take-down of MegaUpload; SCOTUS decision on TX redistricting likely to help GOP; First, its the plaza in front of SCOTUS, now a NYC judge says OWS cannot protest outside Federal Courthouse; Judge rules only fed, not state (VT), can close nuclear plant; Army reports record high active-duty rates for suicide and violent sex crimes; Jobless claims fall to lowest since April 2008; Brooklyn D.A. uses social media to help take down two gangs.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, January 20, 2012

Nathan Schneider: Occupy Wall Street’s new-year resolve

Schneider on Waging Nonviolence ..

Whenever there was a break, someone would jump up on a chair and start telling radical jokes. Why do anarchists only drink coffee? How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Somebody else would already know the punchline and shout it out, while others burst into laughter until they could hardly breathe. This was not the mood one would expect to find in a bygone movement. Nor would one expect the litany of upcoming actions reeled off by a woman named Tammy, who, as part of the Interoccupy project, was helping to coordinate occupations nationwide .. On January 20, Move to Amend would be organizing actions throughout the country against corporate personhood. There was Occupy Education on March 1, a global day of action on May 12 and actions against the G8 and NATO summits in Chicago later that month. Other people added more: an Egypt solidarity march on January 21, a day recognizing violence against women on February 14 and a mobilization in DC marking King’s assassination on April 4.

Nathan also has a great article in Harpers about the lead up to OWS (no link, you have to go buy the mag .. its the Feb issue) - and OWS is Occupying Congress today! - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Tuesday, January 17, 2012

School-to-Prison Pipeline | Truthout

Posted by Michael Butler, Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Atlantic (4)

"The sickening parallels between today’s interrogation tactics and those used by the Inquisition reveal the dangers of yoking moral certainty to the machinery of torture"; "The story of Standard Motor Products, a family- run manufacturer in Queens, illuminates what it takes to survive in today’s economy—and why the jobs crisis will be so hard to solve"; "John Mearsheimer's star has fallen in recent years, as critics have branded him an anti-Semite. But his doctrine of 'offensive realism' serves as an incisive theory for understanding how states behave in an anarchic world"; "Attending a business-school reunion in the Occupy age."
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, January 14, 2012

FOCUS: The Youthful Magic of Ron Paul – Robert Reich

Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, January 13, 2012

NYT Op-Eds (5)

"Few gestures would improve American-Cuban relations as much as handing over the coveted piece of land that houses the Guantánamo Bay detention camp" (Guest Op-Ed); "One Mitt Romney was born with a silver spoon, the other one’s was wooden. Both want your vote" (Dowd); "Egyptian Islamists, the newly elected majority in government, have some big decisions to make. It’s going to be fascinating to watch this play out" (Friedman); "A new study suggests a great teacher is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased earning power to students. It’s time to overhaul our education policy" (Kristof); "Don’t worry, people! With the South Carolina primary coming up next, here are the answers to the most important questions that are surely on your mind" (Collins)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, January 12, 2012