Why Are Things As They Are?

Rouge Forum Dispatch: Not Bought.

February 16th, 2014 / Author: rgibson

We Say Fight Back!

Sweetwater CA Teachers: “When Do We Strike?” A bitter labor dispute is taking place between the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) and the teachers’ labor union, the Sweetwater Education Association (SEA).
SEA President Roberto Rodriguez spoke to the to the SUHSD board at the Dec. 9 meeting, where he said the SEA was declaring impasse.
“The first question I get when I visit sites and tell our members about what’s going on in bargaining is, ‘When do we strike?'”
Healthcare plays a central role in the dispute.
Anthony Piña, a math teacher at Hilltop High School and a union member, explained the SEA’s stance on the issue.
“Right now,” he said, “the district has imposed some provisions that are against the law.” Piña said SUHSD was engaging in a practice called regressive bargaining.
Louise Fericelli, an English teacher, said SUHSD is going back on its word with healthcare, cutting out money from paychecks, forcing families to drop their children from coverage in order to cope with the higher cost. The out-of-pocket costs will more than double for employees, she said. myemail.constantcontact.com/SEA-ADVOCATE-2-9-14.html?soid=1102885321364&aid=mbYc8boHqHw

UIC faculty union sets strike date for next week Faculty at the University of Illinois’ Chicago campus are preparing for a strike next week.
The faculty union, 18 months into negotiations with the university, filed its notice to strike last week and has set Tuesday, Feb. 18 and Wednesday, Feb. 19 as walk-out days. Professors and lecturers in recent days have been notifying students about canceled classes on those days….

Half Right:

U. of Calif. Teaching-Assistant Union Files Complaint About Class Sizes A union that represents more than 12,000 teaching assistants, tutors, and readers across the University of California system has filed a complaint with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, raising concerns about growing class sizes and demanding that discussions of class size be a part of the union’s contract negotiations.
The union is the same group that last fall released a report that raised alarms about the issue.
The university’s Office of the President said that it had received the complaint but that class size was not an appropriate issue for bargaining. chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/jp/u-of-calif-teaching-assistant-union-files-complaint-about-class-sizes

Now 15 Years Old, the Rouge Forum’s Comprehensive Analysis Of High-Stakes Standardized Exams www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rgibson/petition/

How About Mayday–The Day Without an Adjunct?

Shocker: Capitalist Schooling Reflects Capitalist Relations on tests So, does this testing data, acquired at great expense in both money and class time, tell us which schools are doing their job and which are performing poorly? Not at all. Rather, what really jumps out of the data is the extremely strong relationship between school rank and student family income. This correlation is so strong that it is possible to predict the rank of the school in advance with fair accuracy just by usin a simple formula that multiples its percentage of low-income students by 4 and subtracts 20….In short, what we have managed to learn is that the children of doctors and lawyers do better on standardized tests than the children of day laborers and welfare recipients. This raises an interesting question: Why are we funding this program?
At a time when school funds are scarce, why are we wasting tens of millions of dollars per year statewide, and close to 20 percent of classroom time, on a testing program, only to find out nothing that we didn’t know before? Does anyone actually believe that Evergreen students do better than Jefferson students because of the superior quality of the staff? If we switched school staffs, but kept the students in place, would the high scores move with the staffs or stay with the students? So, do we punish the teachers at the lower ranked schools because they are willing to take on the tougher jobs?
Read more: Colorado’s school testers flunk themselves – The Denver Post www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_25071195/colorados-school-testers-flunk-themselves#ixzz2tB8IY5i2

Frosted Flakes are Poison–The Kellogg Lockout For more than three months, Kellogg has locked out Mr. Watts and 225 of his co-workers, barring them from returning to their jobs making Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops until their union agrees to a new contract. With the lockout lasting so long and the winter so brutal, emotions have been running high.
“It’s simple — Kellogg’s is a highly profitable company and just wants to pay people less,” said Mr. Watts, who has worked at the plant for 28 years. “It’s just plain greed.” www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/business/kellogg-workers-in-4th-month-of-lockout-in-memphis.html?hpw&rref=business&_r=1

Mother of dying, disabled boy continues fight to opt-out of standardized testing Last night, I spent time with Ethan Rediske – an 11-year-old-boy who, doctors say, is in the final days of his life.
His lungs are filling with fluid. The only noise he makes is an occasional moan. His parents can do little more than comfort him.
Yet his mother, Andrea, had to also spend some of Ethan’s final days convincing the school officials that Ethan is not capable of taking standardized tests — the FCAT equivalent for the disabled — since he is barely alive.
Now, Ethan could never take these tests. He has severe brain damage and cerebral palsy. He couldn’t even make purposeful movements with his arms. He is also legally blind.
But in this test-obsessed state and country, Ethan’s teacher (who would visit his home, read to him and use his hands to make art projects with glitter and glue) was required to administer tests measuring his progress — and the teacher’s supposed competency. He was asked questions about things like peaches — questions he couldn’t answer, not only because he couldn’t speak, but because he had never tasted a peach. He was tube-fed.
The only way Ethan could opt out of taking these FCAT equivalents (Florida Adapted Assessments) was for Ethan to get permission — personally granted from Florida’s Secretary of Education.
Legislators vowed to make reform last year. But it was minimal.
So now, in the final days of Ethan’s life, his parents have spent some of their time trying once again to opt out. Last week, they got a hospice nurse to send a letter to Orange County Public Schools saying that the boy was currently occupied dying …. and not up to taking tests. www.orlandosentinel.com/news/blogs/taking-names/os-mother-of-dying-boy-continues-fight-to-optout-of-standardized-testing-20140205,0,95128.post

Dates/locations of the tour: www.gicoffeehousetour.org/

The Little Red Schoolhouse

image San Diego Reader

Partying San Diego State to create an Elite VIP Library room The administration of $400,000-a-year president Elliot Hirshman over at San Diego State University, widely known as one of America’s biggest sex, drugs, and party schools, is spending major money to obtain a more refined experience for a select few. …Students living in the Honors Residential College will have the unique advantage of experiencing a small, intellectually and socially vibrant liberal arts environment, while enjoying access to all the resources of a large research university.” Another coveted benefit for those who make the cut at the overcrowded school: smaller class sizes. “The number of students who may enroll in an Honors course is limited to no more than 20 individuals. Although the university average classroom enrollment is 42 people per class, that is not necessarily the case for General Education classes, many of which are held in large lecture halls seating 80 to 300 people.”
The well-appointed V.I.P. lounge at the library is also touted. “Enrolled Honors students have exclusive access to the private Darlene Gould Davies Honors Study Room in the main Library. The private study room is a great place to study between classes, hold a group project meeting or spend quiet time doing research. [Unlike the public areas of the library, you will not have to compete for study space with thousands of other students.]” www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2013/dec/25/radar-double-tracking-it-sdsu/

San Diego State Seeking to Scam Students out of another $500 for ???? Money demands seem never to stop growing at San Diego State University, despite 2012’s voter approval of Jerry Brown’s massive state-tax increase. So the venerable institution — led by president Elliot Hirshman, who famously makes $400,000 a year — is again on the prowl for more ways to bring in the big bucks.
One idea is to make the SDSU college-goers pay an extra “student success” fee that could range from $200 to $500 each semester. Students who will have to cough up the extra funds are being “consulted” by the university, but the ultimate decision is in the hands of California State University chancellor Timothy White in Long Beach.
SDSU says the extra money would be used for added faculty and classes, but skeptics note that the university here runs a bevy of theoretically non-essential, largely political operations that gobble up cash at a prodigious rate. One in particular, SDSU’s public broadcasting arm KPBS, was unionized last year and could face potentially costly negotiations with its editorial workers. The subsidiary is out with a call for a professional to come up with additional scratch. …Over the years, critics have accused the university of adjusting KPBS’s news coverage and choice of visiting editorialists and reporters to attract and keep the lucrative backing of affluent donors, including Qualcomm billionaire Democrat Irwin Jacobs, for whom the KPBS newsroom is named. SDSU has denied the charges. www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2014/feb/05/radar-handout-getting-101/

Sonoma State Head Demands Same $500 that SDSU Boss Wants (petition)
tiny.cc/ip9dbx

Corrupt San Ysidro School Bosses Steal from Poor Children–lose $12 Million Lawsuit A San Diego County Superior Court jury on Tuesday awarded a solar-power company $12 million in damages against the San Ysidro School District, already facing significant financial troubles.
The company, EcoBusiness Alliance, filed suit two years ago claiming breach of a district agreement for installation of solar-power systems at San Ysidro campuses.
The agreement was canceled by former Superintendent Manuel Paul, who claimed the company failed to begin construction.
The contractor accused the district of calling off the deal because of a “pay-to-play” culture of corruption within the district.
“I feel really good about this one,” said Patrick Prindle, the EcoBusiness Alliance attorney. “That’s a lot of money, don’t get me wrong, and that’s important. But my clients did the right thing.”
No one from San Ysidro schools immediately responded to questions about the verdict, which was announced Tuesday afternoon. The district’s lawyer, Daniel Shinoff, did not return messages seeking comment.
The case drew significant attention because Paul and Trustee Yolanda Hernandez were indicted in the South Bay corruption case that ensnared more than a dozen educators and contractors. www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/11/san-ysidro-loses-solar-panel-lawsuit/

Data Walls In Mass’ Capitalist Schools Data Walls have been used in Holyoke since the beginning of this school year.
If you look closely on one of the charts, you can see names are listed next to progress.
“What they say data walls are supposed to do is to create a friendly competition between the students. What we’ve all seen is that’s not what it does. It demoralizes the students, it lowers their self-esteem, because a lot of the students struggle with English, or have a learning disability,” said Gus Morales, teacher at Donahue Elementary.
Morales is fed up with the use of data walls, and the effects he sees them having on students and teachers.
“There are articles that support data walls, but, the people on the front line, who are the teachers, are almost consistently against the data walls. I know that the teachers who are against the data walls, most of them use it because they feel they have to. They’re supposed to use them,” Morales stated. www.wggb.com/2014/02/10/holyoke-superintendent-speaks-out-on-data-walls/

The number of non-academic administrative and professional employees at U.S. colleges and universities has more than doubled in the last 25 years www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/06/higher-ed-administrators-growth_n_4738584.html

Eastern Michigan University’s College of Education laying off most of its full-time lecturers Eastern Michigan University’s College of Education says it’s laying off most of its full-time lecturers because student enrollment has been declining.
The Ann Arbor News reports the Ypsilanti school says it issued notices to eight lecturers. Members of the EMU Federation of Teachers union, however, say the number of notices for full-time lecturers totaled 10 of the 11 jobs. www.clickondetroit.com/eastern-michigan-universitys-college-of-education-laying-off-most-of-its-fulltime-lecturers/-/1719524/24427750/-/i0w8ns/-/index.html#.UvuD4oKP728.facebook

NC high school faces legal challenge for refusing secular club A North Carolina high school is facing a legal battle for refusing to allow a club for the nonreligious.
According to a letter sent by First Amendment watchdog groups to school administrators at Pisgah High School in Canton, N.C., an assistant principal repeatedly blocked requests to found a chapter of Secular Student Alliance there. The letter, sent by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, state that the students were told such a club would not “fit in” and that no sponsor could be found. The school has about 30 extracurricular clubs.
That response is a violation of the Equal Access Act, the letter states. The act requires all schools receiving federal funds to refrain from discriminating against student groups on the basis of their religious, philosophical or political beliefs. It also requires schools to appoint a sponsor if none volunteer. www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/nc-high-school-faces-legal-challenge-for-refusing-secular-club/2014/02/13/90854114-94f7-11e3-9e13-770265cf4962_story.html

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor

For the second time in as many months, a significant Iraqi town has fallen under the control of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). After the loss of Fallujah in the Anbar Province, this time the town of Sulaiman Pek, north of Baghdad, has fallen.

Mayor Talib Mohammed discussed the fall of his town, whilst still trapped in a building, saying that AQI took over overnight, and he and other residents woke up to the mosque’s loudspeakers announcing the town is now part of the “Islamic State of Iraq.” news.antiwar.com/2014/02/13/al-qaeda-overruns-another-iraqi-town-this-time-north-of-baghdad/

Ahmed Rashid (Decent into Chaos, The Taliban) discusses the future of Pakistan and Afghanistan (20 minute video) www.chathamhouse.org/events/view/196212

Longer Written Transcript of Rashid Video www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/home/chatham/public_html/sites/default/files/150114%20Pakistan.pdf

Use of NSA metadata to find drone targets kills civilians – Greenwald The US is relying upon NSA metadata to identify targets for drone strikes, reports the Intercept. A former NSA operative said the tactic is flawed and the agency targets phones “in the hopes that the person on the other end of the missile is the bad guy.”
Citing documents leaked by Edward Snowden and testimonies from former Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) members, Glen Greenwald and colleague Jeremy Scahill have revealed the extent which the US military is using NSA intel to establish targets for drone strikes in an article in the Intercept.
The most common tactic employed by the NSA is known as ‘geolocation’, which entails locking on to the SIM card or handset of a suspected terrorist. A former drone sensor operator with the US Air Force, Brandon Bryant, told the Intercept that using the metadata led to inaccuracies that killed civilians.
The NSA uses a program called Geo Cell to follow potential targets and often do not verify whether the carrier of the phone is the intended target of the strike.
“It’s really like we’re targeting a cell phone. We’re not going after people – we’re going after their phones, in the hopes that the person on the other end of that missile is the bad guy,” Bryant told the Intercept – the nascent news site created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar to “to hold the most powerful governmental and corporate factions accountable.” rt.com/news/nsa-drones-civilian-casualties-383/

Top US commander ordered purge of bin Laden photos Eleven days after the 2011 US elite forces raid that resulted in the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the head of US special operations ordered the destruction of all photos of the corpse or for them to be given to the CIA, new evidence shows.

The disclosure was revealed Monday in an email obtained and released by non-profit legal group Judicial Watch via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The heavily-redacted email was sent by Admiral William McRaven, head of US Special Operations Command, to subordinate officers on May 13, 2011, instructing them that any remaining photos of bin Laden’s body must be destroyed or handed over to the CIA. Bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011 at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by the special operations team commonly known as Seal Team Six during Operation Neptune Spear. rt.com/usa/bin-laden-photos-destroyed-467/

US Goons Weigh Strike on US Citizen The Obama administration is weighing whether to approve a lethal strike against a U.S. citizen who is accused of being part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network overseas and involved in ongoing plotting against American targets, U.S. officials said.
The officials said no decision has been reached on whether to add the alleged operative to the administration’s kill list, a step that would require Justice Department approval under new counterterrorism guidelines adopted by President Obama last year. www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-weighs-lethal-strike-against-american-citizen/2014/02/10/24bc47ac-9268-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html

Recruiting Scandal Rocks Army National Guard Hundreds of soldiers are under criminal investigation for a scamming an Army National Guard program that paid millions in bonuses to soldiers who persuaded friends to sign up.
According to a report in USA Today, one soldier allegedly took in $275,000 in illegal kickbacks. A Senate subcommittee is holding a hearing on the scandal today. hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/02/04/army-recruiting-scandal

Escaped Inmates From Iraq Fuel Syrian Jihad A series of daring but little noticed breakouts from Iraqi prisons has freed hundreds of hardened militants who are now among the leaders and foot soldiers of the radical Sunni groups operating in neighboring Syria and, increasingly, in Iraq itself.
The role of the former inmates in fueling a new wave of Sunni jihad across the region is an unfortunate reminder of the breakdown of authority in Iraq since the United States departed in 2011, of the security vacuum that has spread around the region and of the continuing threat of Sunni-led terrorist groups that the United States said it was fighting during its occupation of Iraq.
The prison breaks also reflect the surging demand for experienced fighters, which led to a concerted effort by militant groups, particularly the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, to seek them in the one place where they were held en masse — Iraq’s prison cells. www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/world/middleeast/escaped-inmates-from-iraq-fuel-syria-insurgency.html?hp

Two-thirds of US military sex-abuse perpetrators in Japan ‘not incarcerated’ Most perpetrators of sex crimes at US military bases in Japan have not been going to prison for their offenses. Instead, they’ve received punishments including demotions, fines, or even just a letter of reprimand, Freedom of Information documents reveal.
Over 1,000 records acquired by AP paint a “disturbing” picture of how allegations have been handled. The news agency said the process “verged on the chaotic.” Reports of sex crimes filed between 2005 and 2013 showed that only one-third of 244 service members who warranted some form of punishment were incarcerated.
In 30 cases, a letter of reprimand was the only consequence of the allegation.
However, there were discrepancies between the different military branches, with inconsistencies apparent between how sex crime accusations were treated in the Marines and the Air Force.
The Marines sent 53 out of 270 sex offenders to prison, marking a sharp contrast with the number of jail sentences in the Navy – where only 15 out of 203 offenders were given jail time. Some 70 other Navy personnel received a court-martial or another form of punishment. rt.com/news/us-military-sex-abuse-281/

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor

It is in this sense that Franklin says, “war is robbery, commerce is generally cheating.” (Marx: Capital)

Billions For Empire’s Wars–No Bailout for Detroit: “Not politically feasible.” The White House ruled out a bailout for bankrupt Detroit because it wasn’t politically possible, a senior Obama administration official said Tuesday.
Gene Sperling, the director of the White House National Economic Council and the point person on the administration’s efforts to help the struggling Motor City, told reporters Tuesday that it would have raised false hopes if the Obama administration had floated the idea of a bailout for Detroit.
From The Detroit News: www.detroitnews.com/article/20140211/METRO01/302110084#ixzz2tBIfokgW

In every stock-jobbing swindle everyone knows that some time or other the crash must come, but every one hopes that it may fall on the head of his neighbour, after he himself has caught the shower of gold and placed it in safety. (Marx–Capital).

Taibbi on the Vampire Squid: Finance Capital Today, banks like Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs own oil tankers, run airports and control huge quantities of coal, natural gas, heating oil, electric power and precious metals. They likewise can now be found exerting direct control over the supply of a whole galaxy of raw materials crucial to world industry and to society in general, including everything from food products to metals like zinc, copper, tin, nickel and, most infamously thanks to a recent high-profile scandal, aluminum. And they’re doing it not just here but abroad as well: In Denmark, thousands took to the streets in protest in recent weeks, vampire-squid banners in hand, when news came out that Goldman Sachs was about to buy a 19 percent stake in Dong Energy, a national electric provider. The furor inspired mass resignations of ministers from the government’s ruling coalition, as the Danish public wondered how an American investment bank could possibly hold so much influence over the state energy grid.
There are more eclectic interests, too. After 9/11, we found it worrisome when foreigners started to get into the business of running ports, but there’s been little controversy as banks have done the same, or even started dabbling in other activities with national-security implications – Goldman Sachs, for instance, is apparently now in the uranium business, a piece of news that attracted few headlines. But banks aren’t just buying stuff, they’re buying whole industrial processes. They’re buying oil that’s still in the ground, the tankers that move it across the sea, the refineries that turn it into fuel, and the pipelines that bring it to your home. Then, just for kicks, they’re also betting on the timing and efficiency of these same industrial processes in the financial markets – buying and selling oil stocks on the stock exchange, oil futures on the futures market, swaps on the swaps market, etc.
Allowing one company to control the supply of crucial physical commodities, and also trade in the financial products that might be related to those markets, is an open invitation to commit mass manipulation. It’s something akin to letting casino owners who take book on NFL games during the week also coach all the teams on Sundays. Read more: www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-vampire-squid-strikes-again-the-mega-banks-most-devious-scam-yet-20140212#ixzz2tMpFIlFA

Government Motors Boss gets 60% Raise General Motors will pay CEO Mary Barra compensation worth about $14.4 million this year, or about 60% more than the 2013 compensation of her predecessor Dan Akerson. www.freep.com/article/20140210/BUSINESS0101/302100135/GM-General-Motors-Mary-Barra-compensation

The Wolf of Sesame Street: Revealing the secret corruption inside PBS’s news division On December 18th, the Public Broadcasting Service’s flagship station WNET issued a press release announcing the launch of a new two-year news series entitled “The Pension Peril.” The series, promoting cuts to public employee pensions, is airing on hundreds of PBS outlets all over the nation. It has been presented as objective news on major PBS programs including the PBS News Hour.
However, neither the WNET press release nor the broadcasted segments explicitly disclosed who is financing the series. Pando has exclusively confirmed that “The Pension Peril” is secretly funded by former Enron trader John Arnold, a billionaire political powerbroker who is actively trying to shape the very pension policy that the series claims to be dispassionately covering. pando.com/2014/02/12/the-wolf-of-sesame-street-revealing-the-secret-corruption-inside-pbss-news-division/

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNztrA1bwZM

Marine Brass moves Marine Corps Times to back of the store The venerable Marine Corps Times, for years a source of independent news both bad and good about the U.S. Marine Corps, is being evicted from its familiar newsstand at checkout stations and moved to the back of base-exchange stores, the paper is reporting.
The move raises troubling questions about motive and closely follows a directive prohibiting commanders from using budget funds to buy Marine Corps Times and a number of other publications.
The paper, a subsidiary of newspaper giant Gannett, Inc., publisher of USA Today, says that its investigation of Marine commandant Jim Amos may be at the heart of the move.
Throughout much of the past year, the paper has published dozens of articles as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations the service’s commandant, Gen. Jim Amos, abused his authority to ensure Marines were punished for an embarrassing war-zone scandal.
Spokesmen for the commandant’s office would not answer questions about whether Amos or his staff was aware of or involved in the decision to relocate the newspaper, but a source with knowledge of the new directive said it was approved with the commandant’s knowledge.
“It is no secret [in the Pentagon] that the commandant does not like Marine Corps Times,” the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2014/feb/10/ticker-brass-moves-emmarine-corps-times/

LA Sheriff’s Dept. Shot and Killed an 80-Year-Old Man With a Submachine Gun — In His Own Bed The deputies first claimed that they ran into Mallory in the hallway of his house, where he was carrying a gun. But after the investigators found that Mallory’s bed was covered with blood, they changed their story.
What is known for sure is that Mallory died when one of the officers, Sgt. John Bones, fired six shots from his MP-5 9mm submachine gun. (The question of why this sheriff was carrying a submachine gun in the middle of rural California still hasn’t been answered.) www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/la-sheriffs-dept-shot-and-killed-80-year-old-man-submachine-gun-his-own-bed?akid=11510.4337.HbsOkG&rd=1&src=newsletter958908&t=3

Solidarity for Never

Even after the VW bosses and the Obamagogue Urged them to Vote UAW, Tn Workers reject the corporate state’s bogus “union” In a stinging defeat that could accelerate the decades-long decline of the United Auto Workers, employees voted against union representation at Volkswagen AG’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, which had been seen as organized labor’s best chance to expand in the U.S. South. Retired Tennessee Circuit Court Judge Sam Payne, who oversaw the count, said workers voted against UAW representation by 712 to 626. www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/15/us-autos-vw-election-idUSBREA1D1DP20140215

WaPo on VW Backing the UAW (as does Ford) The German company is campaigning for the UAW, not against it, in a kind of employer-union partnership America has seldom seen. What gives? www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/02/10/why-volkswagen-is-helping-a-union-organize-its-own-plant/?hpid=z9

San Diego Unionites Blew $2 million of member dues to elect Pervo-Dem-Hack Filner and now another $4.2 million on Loser Alverez (rather than organize workplaces) Alvarez and his supporters raised nearly $5.2 million, including $4.2 million from labor unions, compared to nearly $4.2 million raised on Faulconer’s behalf, including $1.7 million from business groups. www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/Feb/11/alvarez-faulconer-mayor-election-results/2/?#article-copy

82 Teachers Talk Back to NEA, Debunk Common Core whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/82-teachers-talk-back-to-nea-debunk-common-core/

Detroit Fed Of Teachers: After we allowed every member to be fired, and we lost 2/3 of our member base, and had to sell our costly office we bought for ourselves, we have now “Right-Sized” When we close on the sale of our building on Feb. 6, it will mark the final step in rightsizing the DFT.
When we purchased the building in November 2004, we had nearly 12,000 members. When Keith Johnson
and I took office in January 2009, our membership had already dropped to just over 7,000. Detroit’s
declining population, the opening of additional charter schools, and the state’s decision to give 15 schools to the EAA, have further reduced our membership to about 4,000 members. dft231.mi.aft.org/files/feb2104.pdf

A Classic of US Unionism: Detroit Fed of Teachers Treasurer Becomes Boss Michelle
Broughton, an active DFT member for many years, has been appointed treasurer of the DFT. Broughton
fills the seat vacated by Kurtis Brown who left the DFT recently to take an administrative position in the
Detroit Public Schools dft231.mi.aft.org/files/feb2104.pdf

After Allowing the Dismissal of Every Detroit Teacher, DFT “Wins” Teachers evaluating Teachers Five years ago I (DFT Prezzie) made it a personal mission to make sure that incoming teachers as well as veteran teachers had access to a program that would provide sustained, comprehensive assistance for those in
need. The concept of Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) was negotiated in 1989, butnever implemented or pursued by the DFT or DPS. Many members strongly objected to the idea of teachers evaluating teachers, a total misconception of what PAR is designed to do. The truth is, PAR helps teachers identify areas of needed improvement, develops strategies, and provides the support needed to improve performance. dft231.mi.aft.org/files/feb2104.pdf

AFT and SEIU, proving again the divisive nature of bogus US unions, battle for adjuncts’ dues More than a year after the Service Employees International Union announced that it was seeking to organize adjunct professors across metro areas, the American Federation of Teachers is going public with its own city-wide organizing campaign, in Philadelphia. At the same time, the SEIU has announced it also is seeking to organize adjuncts across Philadelphia, among a host of other U.S. cities. While it’s unclear how the metro unions may work alongside each other in the same city, adjuncts and their advocates say there’s enough room in the city of Brotherly Love for both.
Read more: www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/10/two-unions-court-adjuncts-philadelphia-market#ixzz2szI3WlMa
Inside Higher Ed

Kenosha EA Sues to Force Dues Income Act 10 — approved by Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans in 2011 — also prohibited government employers from automatically deducting union dues from members’ paychecks.
Automatically deducting an involuntary fair share contribution was also prohibited.
But in September 2012, Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colás declared key elements of Act 10 violated the state constitution, including the one dealing with dues deductions.
The Kenosha union argues it was able to get the automatic dues deduction provision into a contract because Colás had invalidated Act 10.
The state Supreme Court is now reviewing the decision by Colás and is expected to rule on it by summer.
However, the high court issued an initial ruling late last year striking down a separate order Colás issued in the case that had found state labor commissioners in contempt of court.
Some argue Colás’ decision affected only the unions named in that lawsuit against Act 10 and not others, such as Kenosha. Read more from Journal Sentinel: www.jsonline.com/news/education/in-apparent-defiance-of-act-10-law-kenosha-schools-to-deduct-union-dues-b99203042z1-244907441.html#ixzz2tBALBHCf

Another EA Hack Busted for Embezzlement A Smithfield woman who once led the Isle of Wight County Education Association was arrested Monday on a charge of embezzling $43,248.48 from the local organization’s account.
“Stephanie Bailey brought herself in,” said Smithfield Police Department’s Lt. Patrick Valdez about the event that day.
He said that John O’Neil, director of communications for the Virginia Education Association, had contacted the Smithfield police, which followed up with an investigation.
“Her claim was she gave the money to the homeless and students in need,” said Valdez. That money came from dues that Bailey had been collecting, he added.
“But she won’t give any names. I think that’s going to be the crux. She was unable to answer satisfactorily. Had she receipts… but she’s unable to account for any of it.” www.tidewaternews.com/2014/02/07/former-iw-education-association-leader-arrested-on-embezzlement-charge/

Spy versus Spy

CIA Reveals What Everyone Knew: CIA documents acknowledge its role in Iran’s 1953 coup The CIA has released documents which for the first time formally acknowledge its key role in the 1953 coup which ousted Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadeq.
The documents were published on the independent National Security Archive on the 60th anniversary of the coup.
They come from the CIA’s internal history of Iran from the mid-1970s. “The military coup… was carried out under CIA direction as an act of US foreign policy,” says one excerpt. …until now the intelligence agencies have issued “blanket denials” of their role, says the editor of the trove of documents, Malcolm Byrne.
This is believed to be the first time the CIA has itself admitted the part it played in concert with the British intelligence agency, MI6. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23762970

Former US Navy cryptologist gets 30 years in prison for attempted espionage Former US Navy sailor Robert Hoffman, 40, was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for attempted espionage. A federal court in Virginia said Hoffman, a former cryptologist technician on US submarines, passed secret information to undercover FBI agents he thought were Russian spies. Hoffman believed he was passing along secret files about tracking ships, prosecutors said. rt.com/news/line/2014-02-11/#54925

The Magical Mystery Tour

above, Antipope Felix

Bob Jones victims should call police, group says Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)
We are glad talks are resuming between Bob Jones University officials and GRACE, the non-profit that is looking at sex crimes at the school.
However sexual crimes should be reported to law enforcement by anyone who sees, suspects or suffers them. To most victims this is a frightening prospect but if innocent kids and vulnerable adults are to be protected victims must somehow find the strength, courage and wisdom to call secular officials not religious officials.
None of this would be happening, if not for the real heroes who have already spoken up and refused to accept excuses and evasions from Bob Jones officials. It may take years, but we believe these extraordinarily brave men and women will someday be recognized by university staff, student and alums as the responsible caring pioneers that they are. www.snapnetwork.org/sc_bob_jones_victims_should_call_police_group_says

The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World