Why Are Things As They Are?

Hate is not the Opposite of Love. Indifference is.

They Say Get Back! We Say Fight Back!

Strike, Educate, Agitate, Occupy on March 4th to Transform Public Education. Defend Education from the Ruling Classes!

On the Little Rouge School Front:

Call For Proposals–Rouge Forum Conference August 2-5, 2010:
www.rougeforumconference.org/

Detroit Federation of Teachers Uses Cops Vs Members: The DFT leadership had police greeting members coming to the February 11 meeting where rank and file dissidents hoped to present, again, a petition to remove DFT president Keith Johnson who, in December, foisted the worst teacher contract in US history on Detroit School workers. Police removed several members from the meeting in handcuffs. Below are quotes from the DFT web page (mi.aft.org/dft231/)   demonstrating how the AFT around the country is more and more turning to force in order to whip educators into line. Force alone will never win. Meanwhile, DFT members watch as $250 vanishes from each paycheck, their insurance co-pays go from $5 to $40. In some schools, the testing schedule of preparation and bubbling-in will take up 49 of the next 100 school days. An injury to one just goes before an injury to all. Union bosses are the nearest and most vulnerable of workers’ enemies–harsh measures.

“ Cameras NOT ALLOWED at Membership Meeting [2.5.10]

The Feb. 11 General Membership meeting, like all DFT meetings, is a closed and private meeting. No personal video or still cameras will be allowed. No videotaping by cellphone cameras will be allowed. Some members have formally complained to the union that their photo was taken and posted on the internet without their approval. Any person videotaping meetings will be told to cease and desist or will be ejected from the meeting…Any member who continues to disrupt the meeting will be removed by the police.”

Walmart Takes Over Four Detroit Schools: “Students will get 11 weeks of job-readiness training during the school day and 10 high school credits for the class and work experience. Sean Vann, principal at Douglass, said 30 students at that school will get jobs at Walmart. He said the program will allow students an opportunity to earn money and to be exposed to people from different cultures – since all of the stores are in the suburbs.” www.freep.com/article/20100211/NEWS01/100211049/1319/-Walmart-offers-job-training-via-DPS

Remember when the Detroit Federation of Teachers Dealt Out the Worst Teacher Contract in US History When Last December, Promising Concessions Would Save Jobs? Looky Here: “the scheduled layoff of Marc W. Haas, Orchestra Conductor and Music teacher at Detroit’s Cass Technical High School:“More than 25 music and art teachers are threatened with Feb. 28 or March 7, 2010 layoffs. In my view, the arts programs in Detroit are one of the things that have been working for decades within the Detroit Public School system despite its troubles in other areas. Losing arts teachers and programs would only serve to put Detroit’s youth in further peril.“Quite simply, I believe the arts matter. The arts provide access to success in all areas. Our nation’s arts programs not only produce talented and successful artists, but also talented and successful surgeons, lawyers, scientists, politicians, business executives, etc….leaders period. Let us not lose what has proven to contribute to greatness time and time again.”http://africlassical.blogspot.com/2010/02/orchestra-conductor-at-detroits-cass.html

Michigan Leads the Way (Backwards) in Call For National Standards: “Schmidt said he believes Michigan is heading in the right direction by being part of the process of developing common national standards. If more students fail the MEAP as a result, Schmidt said, that will put pressure on teachers to produce better results.In addition, Flanagan said, recent legislation that will make student growth a significant part of teacher evaluations also may spur teachers to ensure the standards are being taught. If too many kids fail, a teacher is likely to be downgraded in his evaluation. The idea is to remove ineffective teachers.”
www.freep.com/article/20100207/NEWS05/2070505/1322/Test-scores-spur-state-to-consider-new-standards

How To Become A Great Michigan School? Pay $25 Grand to the Ad Company: “The banner ad across the Lincoln school district’s website proudly proclaims it has been recognized as one of the best school districts in Michigan.The criteria for Lincoln and eight other districts being selected? A $25,000 check.:
www.annarbor.com/news/lincoln-pays-25000-to-be-named-one-of-the-top-school-districts-in-michigan/

Bob Bobb Honored By Detroit Business Mag: “There are better days ahead for Detroit Public Schools,” Bobb said, adding, he thinks DPS should be under mayoral control.
www.freep.com/article/20100210/BUSINESS06/100210035/1319/Bing-Bobb-honored-as-newsmakers

Southwestern College Fights Cuts, Boss, Arrests: The blunt and confrontational Chopra has a long history of turning around troubled districts and educational systems — and of igniting brutal labor clashes. And he’s drawn more scrutiny here for accepting a pay increase while laying off long-time employees, cutting classes and for apparently boosting a paragraph from Southwest Airlines’ CEO in his Thanksgiving letter to employees. Hundreds of college employees have united against Chopra and are taking out their frustrations on three members of the Southwestern board. In the crosshairs are trustees Jean Roesch, Terry Valladolid and Yolanda Salcido.
www.voiceofsandiego.org/education/article_8718b1c2-1429-11df-818d-001cc4c002e0.html

You Tube Three Minutes Vs Merit Pay: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uONqxysWEk8

Krashen Letter Cracks NYTimes on NCLB: “ Every minute spent testing that is not necessary bleeds time from learning, and every dollar spent on testing that is not necessary is stolen from investments that really need to be made in schools…Any new education law should result in less testing, not more.” www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/opinion/l11educ.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Beverly Hills: Kick Out the Kids!: “The district is changing the way it funds schools, declining state money based on student attendance and instead using property-tax revenue. Board members argued that Beverly Hills taxpayers should not subsidize education for nonresidents.”
www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bevhills8-2010feb08,0,4283973.story

Resistance News:
Feb 9: Building Occupation in Progress, University of Sussex: Students at the University of Sussex are occupying their university’s conference center to protest cuts to classes and employee layoffs:
defendsussex.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/occupation-statement-1/

Greeks Strike Against Austerity Plan: “Thousands of Greeks have rallied against deficit-cutting measures during a national public sector strike.Flights have been grounded, many schools are closed and hospitals are operating an emergency-only service.”
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8507551.stm

On the Perpetual Wars and Booming Inequality Front:

Greece: They Say Cutback, Workers Say Fightback! “Greece wants to cut the pay of hundreds of thousands of civil servants on its overstuffed payroll as part of a tough new public-spending regimen. But Maggelis and his fellow workers are fighting back with a massive walkout planned for Wednesday and the promise of more strikes to come.”It can’t be that civil servants pay for the mistakes of past governments,” Maggelis said. “The only result of this policy is that they’ll add more poor people to the number of poor already out there.”
www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-greece-crisis10-2010feb10,0,6844581.story

Obamagogue Glossolalia: “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had written a letter asking Obama to boycott the event, saying its sponsor, the Fellowship Foundation, is a “shadowy religious association” that preaches “an unconventional brand of Christianity.”
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020401728.html?wprss=rss_nation

Obamagogue is All For Bankster Bonuses: “President Barack Obama said he doesn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, noting that some athletes take home more pay…“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said” www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKGZkktzkAlA

Brother Can You Spare A Job? According to the US census bureau, in the year 2008, approximately 154.3 million people made up the civilian labor force and 66% participated.That means 101.838 million people participated in 2008. That means that 52 million people did not participate in the work force or 33% of the total labor force was not working in 2008. See the graph below found at: www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0575.pdf

“The Hell With The Missionaries, Where Did You Say That Petroleum Is?”
The Jan. 12 earthquake was on a fault line that passes near potential gas reserves, said Stephen Pierce, a geologist who worked in the region for 30 years for companies including the former Mobil Corp. The quake may have cracked rock formations along the fault, allowing gas or oil to temporarily seep toward the surface, he said yesterday in a telephone interview.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aUqFB_GbhRYM

Stim Me! Stim Me! Make Me! Beat Me! Write Bad Checks! A WPA Construction Program—for Afghanistan: ““Currently we have over $3 billion worth of work going on in Afghanistan,” says Colonel Wilson, “and probably by the summer, when the dust settles from all the uplift, we’ll have about $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion worth of that [in the South].”  By comparison, between 2002 and 2008, the Army Corps of Engineers spent more than $4.5 billion on construction projects, most of it base-building, in Afghanistan.”
www.tomdispatch.com/post/175204/tomgram:_nick_turse,_america%27s_shadowy_base_world/

Poem of the Week :
Life travels upward in spirals.
Those who take pains to search the shadows
of the past below us, then, can better judge the
tiny arc up which they climb,
more surely guess the dim
curves of the future above them.

Thanks to Erin, Bob A, Della, Marisol, Sharon, Stephanie, Amber, Tom, Victoria  (bon voyage and good luck in law school!), Wayne, Adam and Gina, Edgar and Ruben, Pete, Stephen, Ricky, Cheryl, Ken and Barb, Nicky, Tally, Bonnie, Elvira, Happy Birthday Tony, Mr Z, Mr J, Joel S, Bill, Greg and K, Isabella, Gina, and Donna.

Good luck to us, every one.
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