Gov’t & Trade – Page 14

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“School reform” aka diverting school funds to the rich

David Sirota helps us see that the true mission of the corporate backed charter school initiative is to bust unions and divert public funds earmarked for student education. The goal is to remove barriers to corporate control of society and for rich guys to get all the money in the world (or at least the US). These people didn’t get the memo that you can’t take it with you.

The bottom line is clear: In attempting to change the mission of public education from one focused on educating kids to one focused on generating private profit, corporate leaders in the “reform” movement are pursuing a shrewd investment strategy. Millions of dollars go into campaign contributions and propaganda outfits that push “reform,” and, if successful, those “reforms” guarantee Wall Street and their investment vehicles much bigger returns for the long haul. read more

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Santa Ana residents beg police, “Stop killing us.”

Police in Santa Ana, California have killed five unarmed residents this year. Some residents wonder if this is part of a political strategy to create an environment which discourages people from fighting against being run out of their homes and off their land.

Concerns about Santa Ana corruption are more widespread than just shooting the public. Mark Burcaw reported illegal citations issued by the Santa Ana Police Department for the purpose of illegally seizing property.

This writer has been informed by other residents about land grab schemes within the city. People who want other people’s property reportedly have city officials misuse their positions to cite the property for bogus violations for the purpose of later condemning and stealing the desired property. The city has been known to turn off the water of residents and then cite them for not having water as part of this seemingly continuous scheme of corruption. The information provided by residents appears to confirm that Mr. Burcaw’s complaints are common place in Santa Ana. read more

2013080420131213

Nike continues a long tradition of youth exploitation

Some kids buy Nikes. Others kids make them.

When I shared this graphic on Facebook, friend Leen de Weerd-Mosley commented that Nike’s long history of youth exploitation,

… all started with their logo. They held a competition, and paid 50 euros to the student who designed it. Nope, no royalties … Paid $35 in 1971; offered 500 shares worth $150 when it really became public in 1983

The Daily Mail tells us

At the party in her honour in 1983, an early Nike employee joked, ‘As everyone here knows, (Carol Davidson) invented the Nike swoosh and got paid the outrageous sum of $35 bucks for it’ read more

2013071720221207

Act for Trayvon

Join the movement.

Here’s a list of actions we can carry out to honor Trayvon Martin’s life and protest the Florida government’s handling of his murderer’s trial. Please add yours as a comment.

Trayvon’s Bday was Feb 5th. So, NO SPENDING every month on the 5th.

No Florida NOTHING! We are boycotting Florida tourism, travel, spending, entertainment, oranges, orange juice … EVERYTHING!

No more BLACK Friday … We are turning Black Friday RED! No spending, period.

Vote out bad politicians and replace them with politicians who are caring, fair and who will be accountable to us.

Vote in local, state and national elections

Boycott products of all companies and brands the Koch Brothers own shares in

Increase our civic engagement and bring our voices to the table on every issue

Practice community journalism

Reduce our spending to the bare minimum

Go green and sustainable

Move money out of banks and into to credit unions (which are cooperatively owned)

Boycott Big Money and their financial institutions as much as possible.

Increase entrepreneurship

Rethink investments in stocks and insurance. How can we invest in communities instead.

Mentor youth of color

2013071420131213

Does Disney World have sovereign nation status?

What’s the status of Disney World relative to United States law? If it exists outside the law and is “detached from” the State of Florida, is Disney World a sovereign nation or …. or, what?

This and other issues are explored in National Geographic’s brilliant article on the entertainment empire:

Disney’s new empire in central Florida would be marketed as Disney World. Its official name was, and remains, the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Thanks to a sweetheart deal with the state legislature, the lands Disney purchased were detached from the rest of Florida to form a Magic Kingdom, above and outside the law. Even now, Disney World’s rides are exempt from state safety inspections. Democratic process is excluded, too. Power remains in the hands of a board of supervisors composed of Disney allies. However much you pay for a time-share condo in Disney World, you cannot buy property outright, and therefore establish official residence, and therefore vote for the board. Celebration, Disney’s residential community themed to evoke pre-1940s small-town America, has a city hall but no actual municipal government. read more

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Early voting will help Cory Booker

The New Jersey primary to elect party candidates for the Wed Oct 16 2013 special Senatorial election will be held on Tues Aug 13 and voting is set to begin as early as next week, with counties getting ready to sending out vote by mail ballots early to the 15,000+ voters registered to receive them for the year. People who vote early may not have enough time to learn about the Real Cory Booker.

The buzz is just starting to build about Cory Booker’s sellout of the people of Newark he is pledged to serve in favor of the big money financiers he’s so in love with. They want to run the voters who elected Cory out of Newark and destroy Newark public education for children so departing residents will have nothing to come back to. We’re talking financiers like Mitt Romney, whom Cory lavishly praised on public television during the last presidential election. sneich reacts with comments and a hard-hitting question on the Daily Kos: read more

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Dems aren’t perfect. Republicans are a little worse.

Today, the highest court in our nation stooped to a new low, thanks to Republican ideology loyal Supreme Court justices who voted to strike down a part of the Voting Rights Act designed to protect the voting rights of this country’s most vulnerable citizens. Adam Liptak of the New York Times writes,

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg summarized her dissent from the bench, an unusual move and a sign of deep disagreement. She cited the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and said his legacy and the nation’s commitment to justice had been “disserved by today’s decision.” read more

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Sharpe James corrects NY Times reporter on Newark history

Branch Brook Park & cathedral — Branch Brook Park

Today I came across this letter from former Newark mayor Sharpe James to the author of a front page December 2012 New York Times article about Cory Booker: Promise vs. Reality in Newark on Mayor’s Watch. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter author Kate Zernike, the article presents an unflattering view of Booker, but it also refers offhandedly to Mr. James as corrupt. In this statement, Mr. James rebuts that characterization and shares some history about Newark and its governmental accomplishments. read more

2013061420131213

Almost 1 in 100 jailed in US

Here are a few quotes and visuals to help us see what the United States’ almost 1% incarceration rate looks like – a phenomenon the ACLU condemnsin its new report Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration.

The imprisonment of human beings at record levels is both a moral failure and an economic one …

refers to the reality that 750 people out of each 100,000 residents in the United States are being jailed. In mathematic terms, that equates to .0075% of our population (3/4 of a percentage point) meaning that it comes way too close to being 1% of our population (1 person out of every 100). read more

2013053020131213

NAACP’s police interaction guide: The 411 on the 5-0

The NAACP advises that the “war on crime” fought by police, sometimes results in innocent people needlessly surrendering constitutional and civil rights which they are not aware they have. The NAACP and its members support just and effective law enforcement, and also believes that people must learn how to exercise our constitutional rights to ensure that law enforcement, and law officers, work as they should: to protect all United States citizens and visitors regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration or economic status. read more

2013051220221207

PBS & TED review the state of education today

The Chicago Tribune has a fabulous article on PBS’ TED Talks Education hour long show on May 8 2013, which brought

… together a diverse group of teachers and education advocates delivering short, high-impact talks on the theme of teaching and learning. You’ll also see Chicago’s Malcolm Xavier London performing a spoken word poem about the racial and class tensions he experienced … London, who just turned 20, is a terrific fit for TED — which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. The nonprofit organization bills itself as being devoted to ideas worth spreading and often features people who have taken unorthodox paths giving talks about what they’ve learned read more

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Don’t want to be replaced by video lecturers? Up your game.

Philosophy professors at a public California University have spurned an offer to be replaced by online courses which are part of the edX initiative to offer lectures from Harvard, MIT and other top-level colleges to students at other universities in the form of video clips delivered on line. The San Jose State University professors point out in a public letter that the drive to cut education costs by replacing hands-on teaching with film clips constitutes a gross degradation of the educational experience their students will receive; that video teaching isn’t half as good mind fodder as reading a textbook is; and that it would be crazy for them to passively agree that a video lecture can teach students better than themselves, as real life professors, can. read more

2013043020131213

Poverty creates poor school performance. Time to stop it.

Bobby Kennedy made hunger and poverty relief a top priority with his Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, but 50 years later the United States has the 2nd highest rate of poverty among industrialized nations. And Dale Hansen of the Detroit News is asking, if poverty is the biggest problem education faces, why aren’t we more focused on relieving it? Dale supplies his own answer: Republicans are way too committed to their war on public education to allow positive change to get in their way. read more

2013041720131213

Customers petition Verizon to cut prices

Talk about hard to find! I learned from a Facebook post by Mayor Wayne Smith about 55,000+ customers petitioning Verizon to cut their fees. I looked at the Techyville article but founc no link to the petition. Several Google searches I ran through – web, Google News and a Google power search on the change.org website where the petition is supposed to be, didn’t pull anything up either.

Then I found an article which links to the petition at the end of a post. But then I stumbled across another url that couldn’t be any simpler: just change.org/contracts and this is the one I’m sharing. I can’t remember where I found it (oops) but no matter. The point is, you can now navigate to the petition and sign away! read more

2013040820131213

Pro-public education Board of Education 2013 candidates

Board of Education budgets are typically 3 times as big as the entire budgets of the municipalities in which they’re located. Those hugs pots of money are why Big-Business supporter Gov. Chris Christie and his GOP colleague Mitt Romney are so eager to get their hands on public education funds. They can’t stand money being spent to actually improve the lives of vulnerable children, and students of color, across America when that money could go to make their own children and grandchildren richer. read more