Rouge Forum Dispatch: Comrades Educating Behind Enemy Lines
We Say Fight Back!
“Their idea was a different one. Military only in the second place. This was to produce and use as an antidote to reinforce the decency of ordinary people and keep the blood of moral health in circulation. They could not kill the disease. Only a new and different social order could do that. But they could show that a new and different social order was possible, equivalent with life, not death; and they could promise this future would happen. Who would believe the promise? The antidote had to be themselves: the example of their own behavior, their own courage and belief. I was much to ask of them as they too were ordinary people. It remains that this is what they asked of themselves. (Davidson, Scenes from the Anti-Nazi War).
Congratulations on the Publication of Reds at the Blackboard
The Little Red Schoolhouse
Like those who wish to Save Our Schools, Bill Gates wants to help the good people of AFT save American schools too.
www.gatesfoundation.org/Grants-2011/Pages/American-Federation-Of-Teachers-Educational-Foundation-OPP1033412.aspx
Gates also gave money to the rich National Education Association which poured millions and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours into the Obama demagogic campaign, and will do so again–as will AFT.
Both the AFT and NEA bosses love Dianne Ravitch. Ravitch wants to Save Our Schools.
Ravitch and Gates may have some differences in form, but in essence both love the common core standards.
Ravitch is a senior fellow at the reactionary Hoover Institute. www.commoncore.org/wwa-trust-dr.php
Ravitch loves god and American wars as well as the common core standards AFT/NEA help develop.
These things, however, couldn’t have anything to do with each other.
Or maybe, those are not Our schools. They’re Theirs.
None of those people are friends of the dispossessed.
New Detroit PS Boss (geriatric remnant of failed GM), “Holy Crap! It cannot be This Bad Can it?” Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Roy Roberts was at the state Capitol this morning for meetings on the district’s budget problems, which he said afterward “are larger than I thought they were” when he took over last month.
www.freep.com/article/20110608/NEWS01/110608024/DPS-s-new-emergency-manager-Problems-worse-than-thought?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Hey Privatization Phobes (who want to save Corporate State Schooling), Shall we call this Unprivatization? The ambitious plan to convert as many as 45 Detroit Public Schools buildings to charter schools by fall has slowed significantly, with DPS announcing today that only five elementary schools will become charters this year.
Roy Roberts, the emergency manager for DPS, announced today that the DPS Renaissance 2012 plan was “too aggressive.”
www.freep.com/article/20110609/NEWS01/110609030/DPS-slows-plan-change-schools-charters?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor
Below, the Perpetual War Machine
Let’s Count the Wars (now lets spell f o u r–secret!) The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.
The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power. …The recent operations come after a nearly year-long pause in American airstrikes, which were halted amid concerns that poor intelligence had led to bungled missions and civilian deaths that were undercutting the goals of the secret campaign.
Officials in Washington said that the American and Saudi spy services had been receiving more information — from electronic eavesdropping and informants — about the possible locations of militants. But, they added, the outbreak of the wider conflict in Yemen created a new risk: that one faction might feed information to the Americans that could trigger air strikes against a rival group.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that using force against militants in Yemen was further complicated by the fact that Qaeda operatives have mingled with other rebels and antigovernment militants, making it harder for the United States to attack without the appearance of picking sides. ..Concerned that support for the campaign could wane if the government of Yemen’s authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, were to fall, the United States ambassador in Yemen has met recently with leaders of the opposition, partly to make the case for continuing American operations. Officials in Washington said that opposition leaders have told the ambassador, Gerald M. Feierstein, that operations against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula should continue regardless of who wins the power struggle in Sana.
The extent of America’s war in Yemen has been among the Obama administration’s most closely guarded secrets,
www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/world/middleeast/09intel.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print
The Empire’s Legions March on the Backs of Slave Laborers: But armed security personnel account for only about sixteen per cent of the over-all contracting force. The vast majority—more than sixty per cent of the total in Iraq—aren’t hired guns but hired hands. These workers, primarily from South Asia and Africa, often live in barbed-wire compounds on U.S. bases. A large number are employed by fly-by-night subcontractors who are financed by the American taxpayer but who often operate outside the law. The wars’ foreign workers are known, in military parlance, as “third-country nationals,” or T.C.N.s. Many of them recount having been robbed of wages, injured without compensation, subjected to sexual assault, and held in conditions resembling indentured servitude by their subcontractor bosses. Widespread mistreatment even led to a series of food riots in Pentagon subcontractor camps, some involving more than a thousand workers…
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/06/110606fa_fact_stillman
Obamagogue Bombs Libya Some More: Waves of NATO fighter planes hit the Libyan capital Tuesday with one of the largest bombardments of the city since the Western-led alliance began airstrikes almost three months ago…The assault — Libyan officials said at least 60 rockets struck the city, at least 31 people were killed and dozens were injured — also came after alliance officials had been warning of a planned escalation of their air campaign amid concern in Western nations that the conflict may drag on without an end in sight. The city had been hit hard in recent days, but Tuesday’s attack was by far the fiercest.
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-daytime-raids-20110608,0,4387481.story
About 1/2 of the world’s oil goes through the strait at Yemen
Get out of Afghanistan? Gates; “Hell No!” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday that the administration’s pending decision on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan should preserve as much of the fighting force as possible during the initial drawdown. “I would try and maximize my combat capability as long as this process goes on — I think that’s a no-brainer,” he said. “I’d opt to keep the shooters, and take the support out first.”
Mr. Gates also said he anticipated that the administration would conduct a review of force levels in Afghanistan that went far beyond simply announcing the number of troops returning home starting in July, as pledged by President Obama. “I would try and maximize my combat capability as long as this process goes on — I think that’s a no-brainer,” he said. “I’d opt to keep the shooters, and take the support out first.”
www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/world/asia/06gates.html?_r=1&hp
Holy Crap! Another Failed US/AFghan Project! More War! The hugely expensive U.S. attempt at nation-building in Afghanistan has had only limited success and may not survive an American withdrawal, according to the findings of a two-year congressional investigation to be released Wednesday.
The report calls on the administration to rethink urgently its assistance programs as President Obama prepares to begin drawing down the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan…One example cited in the report is the Performance-Based Governors Fund, which is authorized to distribute up to $100,000 a month in U.S. funds to individual provincial leaders for use on local expenses and development projects. In some provinces, it says, “this amount represents a tidal wave of funding” that local officials are incapable of “spending wisely.”
Because oversight is scanty, the report says, the fund encourages corruption. Although the U.S. plan is for the Afghan government to eventually take over this and other programs, it has neither the management capacity nor the funds to do so.
The report also warns that the Afghan economy could slide into a depression with the inevitable decline of the foreign military and development spending that now provides 97 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Video Series Drawing on Yergin’s “The Prize”: THE PRIZE tells the epic history of oil – how it has dominated global politics, shaken the world economy, and transformed our century. Shot on location in Azerbaijan, Egypt, England, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Russia, Scotland, Turkey, and the United States, the series features fascinating characters, never-before-seen archival footage, newly filmed segments, and interviews with the people who shaped the oil industry. Yergin appears on camera throughout the series to discuss oil’s impact on politics, economics, and the environment. We see how oil becomes the largest industry in the world–a game of huge risks and monumental rewards.
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3602293093015423860#
Hilbillary’s “Reformer,” Assad, Attacks Protestors in Syria: Syrian forces equipped with dozens of tanks were reportedly massed outside a near-deserted town near the Turkish border as the revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad entered a potentially decisive phase.
Human rights campaigners and people who have been in the vicinity of Jisr al-Shughour said there had been shooting near the town on Friday, where there has been shelling in recent days. Witnesses have claimed up to 5,000 troops are involved, which appeared to confirm reports on Syrian state TV that the regime has started a new military operation on the town where a mass defection of troops to rebels has also been credibly reported.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/10/syria-military-jisr-al-shughour
What does the Vaunted Historians Against the War say About the Three Month long invasion of Libya? Not a thing.
The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor
Obamagogue’s Bogus Foreclosure Program Helped only Banks: The administration’s housing effort does include programs to help unemployed homeowners, but they have been plagued by delays, dubious benefits and abysmal participation. For example, a Treasury Department effort started in early 2010 allows the jobless to postpone mortgage payments for three months, but the average length of unemployment is now nine months. As of March 31, there were only 7,397 participants. Earlier in the week, a widely watched index found that housing prices had dropped to their lowest level in nearly a decade. And while the rate of homes falling into foreclosure has slowed, the reason is delays in processing foreclosures, not a housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures. There were 219,258 foreclosure filings in April, the latest month available.
Critics of the Obama administration’s approach to preventing foreclosures have pressed for two years to get officials to focus more of their attention on unemployed homeowners, with meager results. As part of the bank bailout, the Treasury Department was given $46 billion to spend on keeping homeowners in their houses; to date, the agency has spent about $1.85 billion.
Morris A. Davis, a former Federal Reserve economist, estimates that as many as a million homeowners slipped into foreclosure because of insufficient help for the unemployed.
“The money was there and they didn’t spend it,” said Mr. Davis, an associate real estate professor at the University of Wisconsin. “I don’t mean to sound outraged, but I am pretty outraged.”
www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/business/economy/05housing.html?_r=2&ref=economy
Domhoff Updates Who Rules America: So far there are only tentative projections — based on the price of housing and stock in July 2009 — on the effects of the Great Recession on the wealth distribution. They suggest that average Americans have been hit much harder than wealthy Americans. Edward Wolff, the economist we draw upon the most in this document, concludes that there has been an “astounding” 36.1% drop in the wealth (marketable assets) of the median household since the peak of the housing bubble in 2007. By contrast, the wealth of the top 1% of households dropped by far less: just 11.1%. So as of April 2010, it looks like the wealth distribution is even more unequal than it was in 2007. (See Wolff, 2010 for more details.)
sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Solidarity Forever
UAW’s King Declares his Love for Employers (and send those dues)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jhjbUu7fxo
Kelber: “131 AFL-CIO officials and staff were paid $100,000 or more, not counting the generous benefits each received. In fact, 17 of these had a total compensation package of more than $150,000 per year.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has a salary of $264,827, plus $18,513 in additional compensation, for a total of $283,340.
Trumka attracted criticism when it was disclosed that, as AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, his annual salary was increased by $74,000 from $165,000, amounting to a 44 percent wage boost, plus a 60 percent pension when he retires.
Arlene Holt-Baker, the AFL-CIO’s Executive Vice President, has a 30-year record as a grass-roots organizer for AFSCME in Los Angeles and as a political activist. She was selected for the job by key members of the Executive Council, who made sure that there were no candidates to challenge her in an open election.
According to the AFL-CIO Constitution, Arlene Holt’s principal job as executive vice president is to “act on behalf of the President, when requested to do so.” She receives $238,975 in salary and $15,163 in extra compensation.” (Harry Kelber, Labor Educator, June 2011).
The Emergence of Fascism as a Mass Popular Movement
Mexico Weeps Under US Addictions
The “narco tanks” are only the latest of a constant effort by drug gangs in Colombia and Mexico to improve their arsenals and find better smuggling methods.
In recent years, cartels have built homemade submarines to bring cocaine north from the Andean region. Some of these submarines are over 100-feet long, can travel as deep as 25 feet below the ocean’s surface and carry loads of up to eight tons of narcotics.
www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/06/115327/mexican-drug-gangs-building-own.html
Spy Versus Spy
NSA Whistleblower’s Trial Blown by Secrecy? Prosecutors informed U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett this week that they would withhold documents they had planned to introduce as evidence to keep from disclosing sensitive technology. Drake is charged with unlawfully retaining classified information at a time when he was in touch with a Baltimore Sun reporter who later chronicled mismanagement at the agency.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXyTtrLmZV0
The government has used the 1917 Espionage Act, which has been criticized as vague and overbroad, to charge Drake, one of five such cases against alleged leakers under the Obama administration. Drake is not accused of spying, but the law’s provisions criminalize the unauthorized retention of classified material. The trial is set to begin Monday.
The government’s decision to withhold certain documents might complicate prosecutors’ efforts to prove a violation of the act, suggesting that the government might have overreached in using an espionage law to target a suspected leaker.
“By withdrawing several of the exhibits, at least a couple of the counts against Drake will almost certainly need to be dismissed,” said Steven Aftergood, a national security expert with the Federation of American Scientists who has followed the case closely since Drake was indicted last year. “It changes the whole dynamic of the prosecution and may even set the stage for settlement or dismissal.”
Magical Mystery Tour
FSM Denier Prays for Rain, Starves. Imaginary Friend Chuckles:
Just a few weeks after urging Texans to pray for rain in response to severe drought conditions and wildfires, Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that he was helping organize a “prayer and fasting” event in Houston and inviting the nation’s other governors to attend.
Perry’s office confirmed that the governor would participate in The Response, “a non-denominational, apolitical, Christian prayer meeting” at Reliant Stadium on Aug. 6 hosted by the American Family Association.
In an open letter on the event’s website, Perry writes, “Right now, America is in crisis: we have been besieged by financial debt, terrorism, and a multitude of natural disasters. As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy.”
Perry also used his power as governor Monday to declare that Aug. 6 would be an official “Day of Prayer and Fasting” in Texas
www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/07/115365/perry-invited-us-governors-to.html
Child Rape Internationale: Roman Catholic bishops from across Asia will hold a summit on “The Impact of Pedophilia” in the Catholic Church, saying abusive priests are not simply “a problem of the West.”
The Federation of Roman Catholic Asian Bishops’ Conferences will host a seminar for bishops and clergy Nov. 14-19 at Assumption University in Bangkok, Thailand.
“(I)t is an urgent task before us, especially the leaders of the church, to come together to devise some mechanisms to prevent future occurrences of child abuse by church men/women,” the bishops’ clergy office said.
“Let us not be complacent that pedophilia is a problem of the West or the other continents of the world; it is equally prevalent in many countries of Asia,” the office said in an announcement on its website.
www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-06/asian-bishops-say-abuse-isnt-just-problem-west
Best Things in the History of the World
Photos from the Rouge Forum Conference 2011: richgibson.shutterfly.com/118
From a Contrary Angle: Father of Flashman: I loathe all political parties, which I regard as inventions of the devil. My favourite prime minister was Sir Alec Douglas-Home, not because he was on the Right, but because he spent a year in office without, on his own admission, doing a damned thing….
and it is Jackie Wilson’s birthday!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpX47QJmu2s&feature=channel_video_title
So Long Jim, John Henry, and Albertina