The weather calmed down in California, but things were about to get lively on the other side of the country on Friday, as heavy rainfall and snow were expected to hit the east coast within hours, causing air travel cancellations just in time for Christmas.
Continue reading …There’s A Growing Divide Between Corporatists and Grassroots Education Reformers
December 24, 2010 No CommentFrom David Sirota at Open Left , insight into the battle between grassroots and corporate education advocates: As TGeraghty noted , Education Week reports that New York University professor Diane Ravitch will receive the 2011 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize from the American Academy of Political and Social Science. She is being honored for her work on education – specifically, for her work debunking the increasingly shrill anti-public-education corporatism coming from elite media darlings like Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates. I had the pleasure of talking to Ravitch recently on my AM760 radio show. You can listen to the interview here (it starts about a quarter of the way through). With Denver and its suburbs becoming ground-zero in the debate over whether to shut down public schools, charter-ize districts and ultimately move to vouchers , Ravitch has been a welcome national voice of sanity against an anti-public-school Limousine (Neo)liberal class and in defense of public education. In a recent Washington Post interview , Ravitch made her case quite clearly: David Sirota :: Corporatists-Versus-Grassroots Divide Now Defines Public Education Debate I certainly don’t like the status quo. I don’t like the attacks on teachers, I don’t like the attacks on the educators who work in our schools day in and day out, I don’t like the phony solutions that are now put forward that won’t improve our schools at all. I am not at all content with the quality of American education in general, and I have expressed my criticisms over many years, long before Bill Gates decided to make education his project. I think American children need not only testing in basic skills, but an education that includes the arts, literature, the sciences, history, geography, civics, foreign languages, economics, and physical education. I don’t hear any of the corporate reformers expressing concern about the way standardized testing narrows the curriculum, the way it rewards convergent thinking and punishes divergent thinking, the way it stamps out creativity and originality. I don’t hear any of them worried that a generation will grow up ignorant of history and the workings of government…All I hear from them is a demand for higher test scores and a demand to tie teachers’ evaluations to those test scores. That is not going to improve education . We’ve seen the corporatist-versus-grassroots divide in so many different policy fights – and now education is no different. Ravitch is one of the lonely voices for community public education.
Continue reading …Bullsh&t talking point of the year: “Until people in Washington are ready to have an adult conversation”
December 24, 2010 No CommentThere was so much garbage being spewed on our airwaves and in print as well as online in 2010 that there are literally a million things I could have picked, but this phrase coming from Republicans about deficit reduction and entitlement programs, which is code for cutting or privatizing Social Security and Medicare. Digby: Chris Matthews: Let me talk down the road the big stuff because we all know, gentlemen that the country has a 13 trillion dollar debt and we can talk about economic growth and we can all talk about economic growth the economy, we all know that sometimes it just doesn’t grow, some years it just doesn’t grow. There’s always going to be a business cycle, there’s always going to be downturns. So my question to you is, Todd, here’s the question. We saw what came out of that bipartisan commission just a few weeks ago. We saw the immediate knee jerk reaction of Nancy Pelosi, we saw the immediate reaction of some of the Republican members of the House. The president did get 14 of the 18 members, of that commission. Is there a potential that he could cut deals with Coburn who is much respected on issues like fiscal policy and bringing in other leading Democrats as well, recognizing that that the appropriators won’t like it, that Pelosi won’t like it, that the unions won’t like it, that he has to get past those people or he will get nothing done on the fiscal area? If the president waits for the unions, if he waits for the usual interest groups to say yes, it will never get done. He has to form a coalition around them. Todd Harris (GOP strategist): You’re absolutely right and I think the best way to do that will be to include some significant entitlement reform as part of that package Matthews: Yeah Todd Harris: .. because there’s no way to talk about deficit reduction without doing it. Until people in Washington are ready to have an adult conversation about entitlement all this talk about spending and the deficit is all a bunch of noise, because as we all know that’s where the money’s going . Yes, let’s have an adult conversation. Go f*&k yourself. Adult conversations are something Republicans hacks do not want to have. Anytime you hear Republicans say it, you know what they really mean is “us rich folks are sick and tired of all you poor people that should only be concerned about bowing down to your Masters and knowing your place in our world.”
Continue reading …O’Reilly and Coulter try to explain why right-wing scroogery is really Christian charity
December 24, 2010 No Comment
Click here to view this media Bill O’Reilly really took it personally when Stephen Colbert made fun of O’Reilly’s bizarre column claiming that Jesus really wouldn’t have helped the poor at Christmas time — or at least worried about their unemployment checks. So O’Reilly earlier this week featured an opening segment responding haplessly to Colbert, attempting a serious theological argument with a comedian — and miserably failing: But Judeo-Christian tradition does not require blind largesse. We are not mandated to buy people gin or cocaine, or pay someone’s bills if they refuse to work. If you want to do that, you can in a free society. But to force the responsible to pay for the irresponsible is immoral in my opinion. The U.S. government makes no distinction when it comes to entitlements. The feds do not drug test or regulate the behavior of those on the dole. And there is no question that the feds waste billions of dollars every year, money taken from hardworking people. Americans are the most generous people on Earth, but our government does not have a right to seize anyone’s assets in pursuit of an impossible social nirvana. And I do believe that Jesus would agree. The best part came when he invited on Ann Coulter to back him up. Coulter tossed out her usual turdlike bon mots: “Liberals think sending a check to the IRS constitutes charity” was about as cogent as she got — while claiming that good Christian Republicans are “actually giving to poor people.” Hey, I dunno about you, but when I think of Christian charity and kindness, Ann Coulter is the first person to spring to mind. That is, as someone in deep need of it. Grade: Massive FAIL.
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It’s been quite the year for Haiti. With election turmoil, a cholera epidemic and manifest misery almost a year after one of the most destructive earthquakes of recent times, Haiti still awaits reconstruction of its country and many of the aid dollars promised to help it recover. —JCL Reuters: Maritza Monfort is singing along to a Christmas carol in Creole on the radio, but the Haitian mother of two is struggling to lift her spirits. “I sing to ease my pain. If I think too much, I’ll die,” said Monfort, 38, one of over a million Haitians made homeless by a January earthquake that plunged the poor, French-speaking Caribbean nation into the most calamitous year of its history. With a raging cholera epidemic and election turmoil heaping more death and hardship on top of the quake devastation, Haitians are facing an exceptionally bleak Christmas and New Year marked by the prospect of more suffering and uncertainty. Read more Related Entries December 23, 2010 Christmas Stocking December 23, 2010 Holiday Foreclosures
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State officials say that federal nose-counters overlooked 1.5 million California residents in the 2010 census, a mistake that could ultimately cost the state billions of dollars in federal money over the next 10 years and even a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. —JCL Los Angeles Times: California officials estimate that the U.S. Census Bureau failed to count 1.5 million of the state’s residents, a discrepancy that if true could cost the state billions of dollars in federal aid over the next decade and perhaps an increase in its representation in Congress. On Tuesday, the Census Bureau released national and state population figures that declared California to have 37.3 million residents, 10% more than in 2000. That growth — based on mailed-in surveys and door-to-door interviews by census takers — roughly mirrored the nation’s, but meant that for the first time since California became a state in 1850 it did not grow enough to add another member to its congressional delegation. But according to the state Department of Finance, the state’s population was 38.8 million on July 1. That figure is drawn from birth and death statistics, school-enrollment data, driver’s license address changes, tax returns and Medicare enrollment, a set of data points that provides a “more refined” picture of the population, according to H.D. Palmer, a finance department spokesman. Read more Related Entries December 23, 2010 Christmas Stocking December 23, 2010 Holiday Foreclosures
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Click here to view this media Vice President Joe Biden suggested Friday that it’s just a matter of time before same-sex marriage is legal in all US states. “I think the country is evolving,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “I think there’s an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage.” Same-sex marriage is one issue where the president and the vice president don’t seem to agree. Obama has long supported civil unions but not marriage equality. “This is the president’s policy, but it is evolving,” Biden said. Earlier this week, Obama signed into law a measure that repeals the military’s ban on gays and lesbians serving openly. At a press conference following the signing event, ABC’s Jake Tapper gave the president a chance to explain whether his views on gay marriage had changed in light of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Is it intellectually consistent to say that gay and lesbians should be able to fight and die for this country, but they should not be able to marry the people they love?” Tapper asked . “My feelings about this are constantly evolving,” Obama replied. “I struggle with this. I have friends, I have people who work for me who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions and they are extraordinary people. And this is something that means a lot to them and they care deeply about.” “At this point, what I’ve said is that my baseline is a strong civil union that provides them the protections and the legal rights that married couples have and I think that’s the right thing to do,” he added. “But I recognize that from their perspective it is not enough. I think we are going to continue to debate and I personally am going to continue to wrestle with going forward,” Obama said. “It’s good to hear his views are not solidly where they have been, but he’s still not there on marriage,” Brian Moulton, chief legislative counsel of the Human Rights Campaign, told The Washington Post .
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The placebo effect even if you know it’s a placebo, the conglomerate approval of the Comcast-NBC merger, and the introduction of Google Body. These discoveries and more after the jump. On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies. The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top. You Can Have the Placebo Effect, Even If You Know It’s a Placebo A new study shows that patients taking placebos don’t have to think they’re getting real drugs to enjoy the placebo effect. FCC Chairman Approves Comcast-NBC Merger The chairman of the FCC has green-lighted the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, to the dismay of consumer advocates who say a merger between the nation’s largest cable provider and a prominent broadcast network will create antitrust issues. Google Adds the Human Body to Its Search Functions On Dec. 16, Google released the first version of its Body Browser, a simulation of the human body. Users can travel, as in the 1980s movie “Innerspace,” through various layers of human anatomy, zooming in on internal organs, navigating around bones and peeling back layers of the human body until all that’s left are the stringy tangles of the nervous system. Should the Rise in Temporary Workers Scare Us? Temporary workers have been a growing segment of the labor force since the recovery began. In 2010, 26.2% of private sector hiring can be accounted for by temporary workers alone. My Name Is Dalu. I’ll Be Your Robot Tonight Service with a smile also comes with an electronic voice at the Dalu Robot restaurant, where the hotpot meals are not as famous yet as the staff who never lose their patience and never take tips. Community Radio Gets a Big Boost Little noticed but extremely important to progressives, on Saturday afternoon Congress also passed the Local Community Radio Act. This legislation opens up radio spectrum to hundreds, if not thousands, of local independent radio stations. Wikileaks: Documents Confirm US Plans Against Venezuela A substantial portion of the more than 1600 State Department documents Wikileaks has published during the past two weeks refer to the ongoing efforts of US diplomacy to isolate and counter the Venezuelan government. The 9 Biggest Conservative Lies About Taxes and Public Spending It’s difficult to know where to begin deconstructing conservative rhetoric on taxes and spending. It’s such a central part of their worldview, and yet it’s a view informed by a whole slew of falsehoods that have been repeated again and again during this year’s debates over the Bush tax cuts, public spending and the deficit. Former British Drug Chief: Legalize It All All illicit substances, including heroin and cocaine, should be legalised, according to a former drugs minister who will today become the most senior politician to push for a dramatic change in the strategy for tackling Britain’s drug problems. Related Entries December 23, 2010 Christmas Stocking December 23, 2010 Holiday Foreclosures
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Though politically vague and without immediate action, the Environment Protection Agency has announced it will put some regulative pressure on power plants and oil refineries to limit greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2012. —JCL The New York Times: The Environmental Protection Agency announced a timetable on Thursday for issuing rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries, signaling a resolve to press ahead on such regulation even as it faces stiffening opposition in Congress. The agency said it would propose performance standards for new and refurbished power plants next July, with final rules to be issued in May 2012. Proposed emissions standards for new oil refineries will be published next December, it said, with the final rules due in November 2012; rules for existing plants would come later. But the E.P.A. was vague on how stringent the rules would be and how deep a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions would result. Read more Related Entries December 24, 2010 Award Recognizes Uncompromising Change Makers December 23, 2010 Good News for the Places Where the Wild Things Are
Continue reading …When Governments Shortchange Their Pension Funds To Finance Tax Cuts, Misery Follows
December 24, 2010 No CommentWhen municipalities refuse to raise taxes to meet their obligations, this is what happens. Alabama prides itself on low taxes — but when you’re giving tax cuts against future earnings, you’ve essentially robbed the pension funds. We live in a society where Wall St. brokers must have their million dollar bonuses, but it’s somehow okay to stiff working people on their pensions. Maybe we should have a robust national pension instead of cutting Social Security! PRICHARD, Ala. — This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry. Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full. Since then, Nettie Banks, 68, a retired Prichard police and fire dispatcher, has filed for bankruptcy. Alfred Arnold, a 66-year-old retired fire captain, has gone back to work as a shopping mall security guard to try to keep his house. Eddie Ragland, 59, a retired police captain, accepted help from colleagues, bake sales and collection jars after he was shot by a robber, leaving him badly wounded and unable to get to his new job as a police officer at the regional airport. Far worse was the retired fire marshal who died in June. Like many of the others, he was too young to collect Social Security. “When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house,” said David Anders, 58, a retired district fire chief. “He was a proud enough man that he wouldn’t accept help.” The situation in Prichard is extremely unusual — the city has sought bankruptcy protection twice — but it proves that the unthinkable can, in fact, sometimes happen. And it stands as a warning to cities like Philadelphia and states like Illinois, whose pension funds are under great strain: if nothing changes, the money eventually does run out, and when that happens, misery and turmoil follow. It is not just the pensioners who suffer when a pension fund runs dry. If a city tried to follow the law and pay its pensioners with money from its annual operating budget, it would probably have to adopt large tax increases, or make huge service cuts, to come up with the money. Current city workers could find themselves paying into a pension plan that will not be there for their own retirements. In Prichard, some older workers have delayed retiring, since they cannot afford to give up their paychecks if no pension checks will follow.
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