Why Are Things As They Are?

Up the Rebels on Oct6ber 7th! The Rouge Forum Flyer: www.rougeforum.org/October7.pdf

Sixty Five Years Ago Fat Man and Little Boy Fell on Japan:

www.metacafe.com/watch/392814/atomic_bomb_little_boy_original_footage/

Opposing Views on The Bombings:
Richard Frank in the Weekly Standard
www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/894mnyyl.asp

Gar Alperovitz on Hnet:
www.doug-long.com/debate.htm

Little Red Schoolhouse:

Obamagogue Defends Education Agenda As Class War Agenda:
Saying that reforming education is perhaps “the economic issue of our time,” President Obama went before a major civil rights organization on Thursday to defend his main education program against criticisms from some minority and teachers groups.
www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/education/30obama.html?_r=1&ref=education

KIPP and Teach For America Boost Duncan Grants–$50 million plus for Toadies.
www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/08/04/37i3.h29.html?tkn=PNNFe3MnCU4p/vC/JS0P0YEsq0c6D+zEsq3E&cmp=clp-edweek

Civil Rights Groups Hide Their Own Report On Obamagogue’s RaTT: Seven civil rights groups have written a “Framework for Education Reform” that while not a trouncing of the Obama and Duncan education agenda definitely is critical of it and offers up a remedy for the nation’s education ills. That document was supposed to be released on July 26, 2010, but the press conference scheduled was cancelled. A spokesperson quoted in the Washington Post said it was due to scheduling conflicts by leaders of the groups.
www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1576&section=Article

Jesse Hagopian: What I learned from Teaching in DC Schools: The problem with Rhee’s thinking is that our goal should not be to discover “success stories” of kids who were able to transcend the deplorable conditions of life that make it so hard for so many to succeed, but rather to change those conditions in the first place. www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/28-0

Detroit Bamn Loses Lawsuit vs Bobb’s Private Funding: Foundations that help pay the salary of Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb do not harm the public good by making the contributions, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday.
www.freep.com/article/20100730/NEWS06/7300368/1322/Judge-rules-its-OK-for-foundations-to-help-pay-Bobb

GAO: 15 For-Profit Colleges Frauding: Many of the largest for-profit entities were named among the 15 sites targeted by GAO investigators: University of Phoenix, with more than 400,000 students; Argosy University, part of the 136,000-student Education Management Corp.; Kaplan College, part of the 119,000-student Kaplan Higher Education operation owned by The Washington Post Co.; and Everest College, part of the 110,000-student Corinthian Colleges.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/04/AR2010080403816.html

Perpetual War Front:

Obamagogue’s Perpetual War Lies: By the end of this month the US expects that the number of American troops stationed in Iraq will be down to 50K. That is a reduction of about 90K from the peak of the big surge. This supposedly marks the end of the combat mission, whatever that means. Of course he didn’t mention the 75K mercenaries, er contractors that are also remaining in Iraq. seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/63124

Progressive Review – These figures ignore the number of troops that will end up being stationed in nearby countries. For example, right now there are 10,000 American troops in Kuwait but one never hears about it. And there has been talk of storing troops in other Arab countries in case they are needed back again. But if you add the Afghan, Iraq and Kuwait troop levels you end up with a modest 8% reduction in troop force.

Yet Another Final Battle: Surging Again in Afghanistan:
As the U.S.-led coalition launches its most critical military operation of the nine-year war in Afghanistan, doubts are growing about whether the United States and its allies can contain the surging Taliban-led insurgency and prevent the country from reverting to an al Qaida sanctuary or erupting in civil war. The operation aims to secure Kandahar, the financial, trade and political hub of southern Afghanistan and the seat of Taliban rule of Afghanistan until the 2001 U.S. invasion. Kandahar is the cultural and spiritual center of the Pashtuns, the ethnic group from which the Taliban are drawn almost exclusively.
www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/30/98430/us-led-coalition-finds-success.html

Stratfor on WikiLeaks: The WikiLeaks seem to contain two strategically significant claims, however. The first is that the Taliban are a more sophisticated fighting force than has been generally believed. An example is the claim that Taliban fighters have used man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) against U.S. aircraft. This claim matters in a number of ways. First, it indicates that the Taliban are using technologies similar to those used against the Soviets. Second, it raises the question of where the Taliban are getting them — they certainly don’t manufacture MANPADS themselves….It is therefore irrational to expect the Pakistanis to halt collaboration with the force that they expect to be a major part of the government of Afghanistan when the United States leaves. The Pakistanis never expected the United States to maintain a presence in Afghanistan permanently…The WikiLeaks portray a war in which the United States has a vastly insufficient force on the ground that is fighting a capable and dedicated enemy who isn’t going anywhere. The Taliban know that they win just by not being defeated, and they know that they won’t be defeated. The Americans are leaving, meaning the Taliban need only wait and prepare…just made the most powerful case yet for withdrawal from Afghanistan sooner rather than later. www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100726_wikileaks_and_afghan_war?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1007027&utm_content=readmore&elq=65f88d3883974471a44a88f21c18dfc7

Pat Tillman’s Mom on McChrystal: I Told You So–They Lie: The autopsy gives a description of Pat’s body that led us to later question if the autopsy was even his, and the field hospital report contains language that suggests he was alive when he was brought back to the field hospital at Forward Operating Base Salerno. Yet soldiers’ statements indicated Pat was decapitated by the barrage of bullets, and he was deemed killed in action by the medic on the scene.
These horrifying discrepancies raised dire questions. Even the medical examiner called for a criminal investigation, but the adjutant general prevented it from going forward. By covering up the circumstances of Pat’s death, McChrystal and the rest of the chain of command may have, knowingly or unknowingly, covered up a crime.
McChrystal’s actions should have been grounds for firing him back then.

There Goes the Economy Front:

The unemployment rate for Blacks was 15.6% last month. This is according to the latest report on the nation’s employment situation released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly Employment Situation report. This rate was virtually unchanged from June, when unemployment in the Black community also stood at 15.4%. For the nation as a whole, unemployment remained at 9.5% in the month of July. Among whites, unemployment was 8.6%; among Latinos, unemployment was 12.1%. Comparable June 2010 figures were 9.5%; 8.6%; and 12.4% respectfully. Overall, payroll employment fell by 131,000, driven by the loss of 143,000 temporary Census jobs. laborcenter.berkeley.edu/blackworkers/monthly/bwreport_2010-08-06_21.pdf

Bankruptcies Still Booming: The 137,698 consumer bankruptcies filed in July represented a 9 percent increase nationwide over the 126,434 filings recorded in July 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). NBKRC’s data also showed that the July consumer filings represented a 9 percent increase from the 126,270 consumer filings recorded in June 2010. Chapter 13 filings constituted 28 percent of all consumer cases in July, a slight increase from June.
www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/08/personal-bankruptcy-filings-up-9-in.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CalculatedRisk+%28Calculated+Risk%29

Fired HP Sexist Gets $28 million-plus Parachute–Second HP Disgrace: Hurd’s “systematic pattern” of submitting falsified financial reports to hide the relationship convinced the board that “it would be impossible for him to be an effective leader moving forward and that he had to step down,” HP general counsel Michael Holston said on a conference call Friday with analysts.
www.freep.com/article/20100807/BUSINESS07/100807007/1322/Disgraced-HP-CEO-to-get-nearly-28M-in-cash-stock

Rolling Stone on the Obamagogue Bankster Deal: Cue the credits: the era of financial thuggery is officially over. Three hellish years of panic, all done and gone — the mass bankruptcies, midnight bailouts, shotgun mergers of dying megabanks, high-stakes SEC investigations, all capped by a legislative orgy in which industry lobbyists hurled more than $600 million at Congress. It all supposedly came to an end one Wednesday morning a few weeks back, when President Obama, flanked by hundreds of party flacks and congressional bigwigs, stepped up to the lectern at an extravagant ceremony to sign into law his sweeping new bill to clean up Wall Street….
these reforms fail to address even a tenth of the real problem. Worse: They fail to even define what the real problem is. Over a long year of feverish lobbying and brutally intense backroom negotiations, a group of D.C. insiders fought over a single question: Just how much of the truth about the financial crisis should we share with the public? Do we admit that control over the economy in the past decade was ceded to a small group of rapacious criminals who to this day are engaged in a mind-numbing campaign of theft on a global scale? Or do we pretend that, minus a few bumps in the road that have mostly been smoothed out, the clean-hands capitalism of Adam Smith still rules the day in America? In other words, do people need to know the real version, in all its majestic whorebotchery, or can we get away with some bullshit cover story?…
Throughout the debate over finance reform, Democrats had sold the public on the idea that it was the Republicans who were killing progressive initiatives. In reality, Republican and Democratic leaders were working together with industry insiders and deep-pocketed lobbyists to prevent rogue members like Merkley and Levin from effecting real change. In public, the parties stage a show of bitter bipartisan stalemate. But when the cameras are off, they fuck like crazed weasels in heat. susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=823

Fed Antsy About Jobs, Mortgages, Inequality:
The latest poor reading came in Friday’s monthly employment report, which showed the US private sector creating only 71,000 jobs in July – not enough to keep up with population growth, let alone bring down the unemployment rate. That followed news a week earlier that growth in US gross domestic product slowed from an annualised rate of 3.7 per cent in the first quarter to 2.4 per cent in the second quarter. www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dedcb986-a316-11df-8cf4-00144feabdc0.html

The Heavens Weep–Pete Seegar Sings on the BP Gusher:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM8QK4oM3Jk

Emerging Fascism Front:
Fighting Mosques: Mosques around the country are facing resistance similar to the opposition against a proposed Islamic center near ground zero in New York, but the anger and fear is a little sharper.
At a recent demonstration against a planned mosque in the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro, detractors wore “Vote for Jesus” T-shirts and held signs that read “No Sharia law for USA!,” referring to the Islamic code of law.
In Temecula, Calif., opponents of a proposed mosque brought dogs to a prayer service. www.detnews.com/article/20100808/LIFESTYLE04/8080323/1041/Far-from-ground-zero–opponents-fight-new-mosques

Spy vs Spy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1Y5QO0hQ4&feature=related
Hedges on Why the US Officials Hated Howard Zinn:
By the end of the file one walks away with a profound respect for Zinn and a deep distaste for the buffoonish goons in the FBI who followed and monitored him. There is no reason, with the massive expansion of our internal security apparatus, to think that things have improved. There are today 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies working on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States, The Washington Post reported in an investigation by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin. These agencies employ an estimated 854,000 people, all of whom hold top-secret security clearances, the Post found. And in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together, the paper reported, they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings—about 17 million square feet.
www.truthdig.com/report/page2/why_the_feds_fear_thinkers_like_howard_zinn_20100801/

Solidarity Forever Front:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObCSHimPvSM&feature=related
During the 2008 Elections, The National Education Association Spent $56.3 Million While AFT Spent $13.8 Million. NEA Outspent Every Other Political Action Fund, by Far. What Did the Union Bosses Get for Blowing Away Members’ Money? Now, AFL-CIO’s Tops Plan to Do it All Again (ooh no the bigger evil is coming–ratify evil and vote for the Lesser One:
As a pep talk, President Trumka’s speech to more than 200 state, central labor council and local union leaders deserved high marks. He lambasted the Bush presidency, extolled the virtues of the Obama administration, and, if he exaggerated on both counts, it could be forgiven, with only three months before the November election. He emphasized the importance of turning out a huge union household vote to ensure victory for the nation’s working families. He added:
“We have to bring our “A” game to the election; which is why I am so glad to be talking to Labor’s ‘A’ Team.”
Meanwhile, although the economy is said to be well on the road to recovery, a growing number of companies, even those that are reporting record profits, are pressuring their employees to take wage cuts and reduce benefits, presumably to avoid layoffs or outsourcing. The wage cuts are occurring in virtually every industry, and include orchestra musicians corporate law partners and university professors. laboreducator.org/lt100806.htm

SEIU’s Sellout Andy Stern Joins Siga Board of Directors: SIGA Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:SIGA – News), a company specializing in the development of pharmaceutical agents to combat bio-warfare pathogens, announced today that Andy Stern, labor leader and prominent advocate for reform, joined SIGA’s board of directors. Mr. Stern is the former president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in North America.

Andy Stern was responsible for growing the SEIU from 1.0 million members into a powerful 2.2 million member union. Under his leadership, the SEIU had been widely recognized as being an engaged and influential force driving healthcare reform and, ultimately, passage of the 2010 Health Care Reform Act….Mr. Stern also serves on the board of directors of Broad Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Economic Policy Institute, as well as a lifetime Trustee of the Aspen Institute, and the President of the Kaiser Permanente Partnership.
finance.yahoo.com/news/Andy-Stern-Joins-SIGAs-Board-pz-1783915793.html?x=0&.v=1

Obamagogue’s Marie Antoinette Luxuriates in Spain While Joblessness Booms and Wars Rage (thanks to all the liberal hacks who begged others to vote for these parasites–that would be you Tom Hayden, Barbara Ehirenreich, Katha Pollit, and the rest of those whose analytical disabilities are now on full display):
While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her “closest friends.” According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort. Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times.
Reports are calling the lodgings of Obama’s Spanish fiesta, the Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella, “luxurious,” “posh” and “a millionaires’ playground.” Estimated room rate per night? Up to a staggering $2,500. Method of transportation? Air Force Two.
www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/04/2010-08-04_material_girl_michelle_obama_is_a_modernday_marie_antoinette_on_a_glitzy_spanish.html

Adolph Reed on Obamagogue’s Narcissist Paramour: The Obama campaign has even put out a misleading bio of Michelle Obama, representing her as having grown up in poverty on the South Side, when, in fact, her parents were city workers, and her father was a Daley machine precinct captain. www.progressive.org/mag_reed0508

Sellout of the Month: Detroit Federation of Teachers’ Keith Johnson, Pimping “Priority Schools:
Clarification on Priority Schools [7.30.10]

Dear DFT Members,

A tremendous amount of confusion and misinformation has arisen regarding Priority Schools, what they mean, why members have to apply, and the application process itself.

Please allow me to address the discrepancies and provide clarity. (Click above for the list of Priority Schools),

1. Why do members have to apply for Priority Schools? Priority Schools are likely to include mandates such as extended day, extended year, mandatory additional professional development, etc. that exceed what is required under the DFT/DPS contract. Extended day is paid at the hourly rate of $28.90. Extended year pay is the employee’s regular pay rate. For Master’s step 10 that is $381 per day, which is over $11,000 for a six week extended year. The district has not committed to how long the extended day or year will be, or which schools will have it. Extended day and year are subject to funding. Members assigned to Priority Schools must agree to and adhere to those mandates in order to remain or be assigned to these schools. Some members currently assigned to schools that have been identified as Priority Schools may not wish to agree to those mandates, and thus are afforded the opportunity to decide whether they wish to remain or be assigned to them. The purpose of the application is to give members the opportunity to inform the district of their interest in remaining or being assigned to a Priority School.

2. What happens to members who opt not to be assigned to or remain at a Priority School? Such members will be assigned to other schools that are not designated as Priority Schools. There is no adverse reflection upon their employment record, no compromise of any of their contractual rights, salaries, or benefits.

3. What is the purpose of the “interview”? The interview is for the members to be made aware of the mandates of the Priority School they are currently assigned to or wish to apply. There will be a scripted set of questions that will be asked of each member developed jointly by the Union and the district. All interviewees will be asked the same questions, relative to the Priority School mandates and their willingness to adhere to them. The interview panel will consist of me as DFT President (or my designee), or Mark O’Keefe, Executive Vice-President, the LRA assigned to the school, the building representative, the principal, and someone from the office of the Chief Academic Officer. There must be an educationally viable reason, e.g. poor attendance, documented evidence of poor classroom management or unsatisfactory performance, poor record keeping, etc. for a member currently assigned to a school designated as a Priority School not to be retained if the member wishes to stay and is willing to adhere to the mandates of the Priority School.

4. When will the interview take place? The district has announced that interviews will take place the week of August 2. The union has advised the district that our members need more time and that we will not be available for interviews until the week of August 9. We are awaiting the district’s response.

5. If I received a layoff notice can I still apply to remain or be assigned to a Priority School? Yes. Anyone currently working in or out of a school designated as a Priority School may apply as well as members who have received a layoff notice. A notice does not mean you are laid off, and is not a viable reason not to be retained or assigned to a Priority School.

6. Do I have to pay an application fee and submit a transcript? Absolutely not. You are already a DPS employee. The information that was posted on the website (DPS) was for new applicants to the district. The Union is working with the district to correct this discrepancy to erase the confusion for current employees.

7. What if I am out of town and/or on vacation at the time my interview is scheduled? Accommodations will be made. All members currently assigned to a school designated as a Priority School will have the opportunity to apply and be interviewed to remain at that school. We recommend that you contact the Office of Human Resources to make them aware of your availability. If you encounter any problems contact me directly at (313) 683-4049 or keith7606@sbcglobal.net.

I hope this message clarifies questions and concerns members may have. If there are additional questions and concerns please contact me or Executive Vice-President Mark O’Keefe at (313) 875-3500 or email at mokeefe@dft231.com.

In solidarity,
Keith R. Johnson
DFT President

Runner-Up Sellout of the Month: The Largest UAW Local Urges People to Pick The Good Boss:
It’s The Day We Pick Our Boss
State employees must show power and vote in the August 3rd primary election. Michigan will elect candidates for Governor and the State Legislature. To stop the continued attacks on our wages and benefits hit the polls Tuesday. Take time to tell family and friends just how important it is to send the right people to Lansing. Summertime primaries often have low turnout but that also means your vote has greater influence. As the demand for state services increases we must step up and strengthen state government.
Now go out and pick a good boss! www.uawlocal6000.org/

Third Runner Up for Sellout of the Month: NCTE

We Say Fightback Front:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_gFyB6GnA

The Rouge Forum Flyer for October 7th: A Day of Strikes and Action
www.rougeforum.org/October7.pdf

Magical Mystery Tour Front:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDzmR0De39s&feature=related

His program has been seriously sidelined by the lingering effects of the sex abuse scandal in the United States; the explosion of the scandal in Ireland, Germany, Italy and now Belgium; and the diminishment of the episcopal office, particularly in those countries most affected by the scandal.
ncronline.org/news/vatican/hierarchy-deeply-damaged-within

Worst Thing in History of World Front:

There’s no business like show business

She played Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor.

And accompanied the one and only Aretha Franklin.

A gala benefit performance in Philadelphia.

At the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Before 8,000 people.

And they loved it.

How many of them knew that the pianist was a genuine, unindicted war criminal?

Guilty of crimes against humanity.

Defender of torture.

With much blood on her pianist hands.

Whose style in office for years could be characterized as hypocrisy, disinformation, and outright lying.

But what did the audience care?

This is America.

Home of the Good Guys.

She was fighting against the Bad Guys.

And we all know that the show must go on.

So let’s hear it, folks … Let’s have a real all-American hand … Let’s hear it for our own darling virtuoso …

Miss Condoleezza Rice!

killinghope.org/bblum6/aer84.html

Don’t Brawl and Kindergarten Graduation!:
Two women whose fight during a kindergarten graduation ceremony in June caused a school lockdown have been charged with with misdemeanors, San Bernardino County prosecutors announced this week. latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/08/charges-filed-against-parents-whose-brawl-disrupted-kindergarten-graduation.html

Michigan State Fair Goes Out of Business–A USA First:

www.detnews.com/article/20100807/METRO/8070371/Michiganians-struggle-with-loss-of-state-fair

Obamagogue Still Opposes Gay Marriage But Has a Waffle:

Obama has remained silent on the question — and remains opposed to gay marriage. “The president does oppose same-sex marriage, but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples, and benefits and other issues, and that has been effectuated in federal agencies under his control,” David Axelrod, a top Obama advisor, told NBC News on Friday. latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/08/obama-still-opposes-gay-marriage.html

Best Things in History of World:

Detroit Mayor Names Convicted Murderer For Police Oversight Board:
detnews.com/article/20100731/METRO01/7310356/1409/Bing-nominates-convicted-murderer-for-police-board

Best of All: Request for Researchers and Writers:
I am tackling a book project on the contemporary CIA penetration of US campuses and seeking collaborators.
My prospective publisher wants it to be an edited anthology by academics across the country. I envision ten chapters of approximately 10,000 words each, of previously unpublished material on the subject.
We’ll be looking at the history of the CIA, CIA in Latin America, and especially the CIA on campus through the Intelligence Community Centers of Academic of Excellence, Intelligence Analysis Campuses, and Officers in Residence. I have eight contributors signed up.
Is it possible you might write a chapter? I am seeking commitments now, a draft by November 1, and a final draft by January 1. If you cannot personally participate I would appreciate any help identifying other prospective authors.

Contact: pzwerling@rgv.rr.com
Dr. Philip Zwerling
Department of English
University of Texas Pan American

Thanks to Doug, Faith, Craig, The RF SC,  Carole, bon voyage Adam and Gina, Happy Baby Luke!, Judy the Beauty, the Joes and the Susans, Greg and Katie, Donna, Sandy, Eliz, Betty, Bill, Peter M, Don A., Elvira, Tony, Lila, Evan and Ethel, Richard B, Alan, and Sherry.

A humble Tip of the Hat to This Week’s Winner: Lucky the Dog. Argh.

Good luck to us, every one. r