{"id":5589,"date":"2012-01-07T22:06:32","date_gmt":"2012-01-08T06:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=5589"},"modified":"2012-01-07T22:06:32","modified_gmt":"2012-01-08T06:06:32","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-15-75-100-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-15-75-100-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: 15! 75! 100! and More!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>We Say \u00a0Fightbakc!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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This is the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Founding of the Rouge Forum! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the 75th Anniversary of the Great Flint Srike against GM <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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(full video linked here \u00a0http:\/\/flinthistory.com\/general-motors\/with-babies-banners\/?replytocom=364) <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the 100th Anniversaryy of the IWW Free Speech Fight in San Diego<\/em><\/strong>\"\"<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack Gerson on the Occupy Oakland and West Coast Port Actions—<\/strong> The nearly 10,000 protesters who shut down the port showed that Occupy Oakland\u2019s November 2 Strike and Day of Action was no fluke. The December 12 actions rattled the entire Oakland establishment \u2013 corporate Oakland and the liberal politicians and labor bureaucrats who for years have carried their water while cultivating a \u201cprogressive\u201d image. And the port shutdowns up and down the coast have delivered a strong message to the world maritime conglomerates: the Occupy movement will rally mass support to defend the longshoremen in Longview WA against a vicious union-busting attack from a multinational conglomerate. \u00a0 \u00a0 insurgentnotes.com\/2012\/01\/occupy-oakland-the-port-shutdown-and-beyond\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Worker\/Student Unity in Oakland and Seattle Keep Left alive in Occupy Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZIt5Vr1w4aQ<\/a><\/p>\n

Bertell Ollman Interviews “Love and Capital” Author Mary Gabriel (video and text \u00a0and photo) <\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/strong> www.c-spanvideo.org\/program\/301873-1<\/a><\/p>\n

Substance on Chicago Sit Down <\/strong>Mayor harasses KOCO, sit-in, by removing chairs and forcing senior citizens to sit on the floor, and continues to refuse to meet with protesters as sit-in goes into second day on January 5, 2012 \u00a0 \u00a0 www.substancenews.net\/articles.php?page=2970&section=Article<\/a><\/p>\n

The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Lifetime Dem Jerry Brown to Citizens<\/strong>–Choos the Way to Screw Yourself —ducation funds would be cut by $4.8 billion if voters reject a proposed tax hike the governor hopes to place on ballot. \u00a0 www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-state-budget-20120106,0,680610.story<\/a><\/p>\n

ChiTribe: Holy Crap! Everybody is Cheating in School! \u00a0 \u00a0 It was the year of the test cheating scandal.<\/p>\n

From Atlanta to Philadelphia and Washington to Los Angeles, officials have accused hundreds of educators of changing answers on tests or giving answers to students. Just last week, state investigators revealed that dozens of educators in 11 schools in Georgia’s Dougherty County either cheated or failed to prevent cheating on 2009 standardized tests.<\/p>\n

In July, those same investigators accused nearly 180 educators in almost half of Atlanta’s 100 schools of cheating dating back to 2001 \u2014 which experts have called the largest cheating scandal in U.S. history. And at least 20 students have been charged on Long Island with cheating on SAT and ACT college-entrance exams by paying someone to take the test for them.<\/p>\n

“It’s a year in which cheating became a national scandal, a scandal of national proportions,” said Bob Schaeffer, a spokesman for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, which advocates against high-stakes testing. “The Atlanta case forced policymakers and journalists in other jurisdictions to look to see if there’s anything similar going on in their backyards.” \u00a0 www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/nationworld\/sns-bc-us–yearofcheating,0,2423064.story<\/a><\/p>\n

An Emergency Manager for once Tony Highland Park Mich? <\/strong> A state review team is recommending that Gov. Rick Snyder appoint an emergency manager for the Highland Park School District to resolve its fiscal crisis.<\/p>\n

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said the district “is in a financial free fall, and we must do everything we can to protect the students and educators from feeling the brunt of the impact.”<\/p>\n

The team is recommending an emergency manager because the district’s deficit, which was $11.3 million on June 30, increased 51% from the previous year. The team also cited declining enrollment, the fact that the district has been in deficit for the last five of six years \u00a0 \u00a0 www.freep.com\/article\/20120105\/NEWS02\/201050410\/Highland-Park-schools-needs-emergency-manager-review-team-says?odyssey=mod<\/a>|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p<\/p>\n

Southwestern College Boss Charged \u00a0and Suspended (with pay) <\/em><\/strong>Riccasa in her role her role as a Sweetwater board member, accepted meals, campaign contributions and other considerations from contractors as inducements for her votes to approve multimillion dollar contracts. They say she failed to report the gifts on state-mandated forms, which she filed under penalty of perjury. \u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2012\/jan\/06\/southwestern-official-placed-administrative-leave\/<\/p>\n

www.khanacademy.org\/<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

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CNN and Bill Gates Love Kahn Academy and we should know about It<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to Check for How Many Homeless Kids are In your Michigan School District <\/strong> The number of homeless students in Michigan public schools increased by 37% between the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.<\/p>\n

Local districts report that about 2% of students in Michigan’s public schools last year were either living with family or friends, living in a shelter, hotel\/motel, or were unsheltered, sleeping on the streets or in a car.<\/p>\n

Search this database to find the number of homeless students in your Michigan district in the 2010-11 school year. \u00a0http:\/\/www.freep.com\/article\/20111218\/NEWS06\/111216060\/Database-Michigan-homeless-schools-students?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE&appSession=54618790614588<\/p>\n

Alpert: Morales Tries to Move Revo to Schools and Teachers Resist <\/strong> he last round of education reform was more than a decade and a half ago, under now-exiled President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. It tried to free schools from rigid drills and memorization. It also brought Aymara and Quechua into many schools for the first time.<\/p>\n

But teachers resisted, saying the reforms were imposed from the top. Aymara and Quechua barely touched the cities: A World Bank study found less than 1 percent of urban schools ultimately became bilingual. Many rural parents also revolted at the idea of teaching their mother tongues in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are colonized in our minds,\u201d lamented Susana Bejarano, former chief of the education cabinet. Because their languages were so stigmatized, \u201cthe parents preferred, logically, to protect their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are important differences between this law and the last one. All schools are supposed to teach local languages, not just schools where kids speak them at home. The old reforms talked about knowing other cultures, while the new reforms talk about knowing your own culture. \u201cDecolonization\u201d is new. \u00a0 \u00a0 www.miamiherald.com\/2011\/11\/14\/2539523_p2\/morales-tries-to-take-revolution.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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One Goal of Imperialists: Markets. In this Case, US Weapons Sales to Iraq and the Saudi fascists <\/strong> Fortifying one of its key allies in the Persian Gulf, the Obama administration announced a weapons deal with Saudi Arabia on Thursday, saying it had agreed to sell F-15 fighter jets valued at nearly $30 billion to the Royal Saudi Air Force. \u00a0\u00a0The agreement, and the administration\u2019s parallel plans to press ahead with a nearly $11 billion arms deal for Iraq, despite rising political tensions there, is dramatic evidence of its determination to project American military influence in an oil-rich region shadowed by a threat from Iran.
\nThough the White House said the deal had not been accelerated to respond to threats by Iranian officials in recent days to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, its timing is laden with significance, as tensions with Iran have deepened and the United States has withdrawn its last soldiers from Iraq. \u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/12\/30\/world\/middleeast\/with-30-billion-arms-deal-united-states-bolsters-ties-to-saudi-arabia.html?hp<\/p>\n

A few More Jobs at Much less Wages <\/strong>That is particularly true of global manufacturers like General Electric. With labor costs moving down at its appliance factories here, the company is bringing home the production of water heaters as well as some refrigerators, and expanding its work force to do so.
\nThe wages for the new hires, however, are $10 to $15 an hour less than the pay scale for hourly employees already on staff \u2014 with the additional concession that the newcomers will not catch up for the foreseeable future. Such union-endorsed contracts are also showing up in the auto industry, at steel and tire companies, and at manufacturers of farm implements and other heavy equipment, \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/12\/30\/business\/us-manufacturing-gains-jobs-as-wages-retreat.html?hp<\/p>\n

Who Will Lose the Straits of Hormuz? <\/strong> A senior Iranian official on Tuesday delivered a sharp threat in response to economic sanctions being readied by the United States, saying his country would retaliate against any crackdown by blocking all oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for transporting about one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply. \u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2011\/12\/28\/world\/middleeast\/iran-threatens-to-block-oil-route-if-embargo-is-imposed.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2<\/a><\/p>\n

Chalmers Johnson Predicted the Space wars the US and China now Prep: <\/strong> Broadening its challenge to the United States, the Chinese government on Thursday announced an ambitious five-year plan for space exploration that would move China closer to becoming a major rival at a time when the American program is in retreat. \u00a0…In recent years, China has also sought to build a military capacity in keeping with its economic might, expanding its submarine fleet and, this year, testing its first aircraft carrier, a refurbished Soviet model. Under the new space plan, it would vastly expand its version of a Global Positioning System, which would have military as well as civilian uses.
\nThe plan shows how the government intends to draw on military and civilian resources to meet the goals, which the government is betting will also produce benefits for the Chinese economy. \u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2011\/12\/30\/world\/asia\/china-unveils-ambitious-plan-to-explore-space.html?_r=1&hp<\/a><\/p>\n

Six Years since Haditha Massacres-<\/strong>-Nobody convicted \u00a0\u00a0Wuterich is the last defendant in the biggest and lengthiest criminal case against U.S. troops to arise from the Iraq War. The killings in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, are considered among the war’s defining moments, further tainting America’s reputation when it was already at a low point after the release of photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers \u00a0at Abu Ghraib prison. \u00a0 www.10news.com\/news\/30141898\/detail.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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China’s Boss, “The Cultural War is On” <\/strong>he essay, which was signed by Mr. Hu and based on a speech he gave in October, drew a sharp line between the cultures of the West and China and effectively said the two sides were engaged in an escalating war. It was published in Seeking Truth, a magazine that evolved from a publication founded by Mao Zedong as a platform for establishing Communist Party principles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of Westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration,\u201d Mr. Hu said, according to a translation by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant, and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond,\u201d he added. \u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/01\/04\/world\/asia\/chinas-president-pushes-back-against-western-culture.html<\/p>\n

The Poppies Bloom in Helmand Again. Surge? Schmurge. <\/strong> Beyond the fertile river lands, however, a more troubling pattern is emerging. According to interviews with farmers, elders and Afghan and Western officials, the poor sharecroppers who used to farm poppy here have moved to the outer reaches of the district, turning the desert into remarkably productive opium fields. The Taliban have moved as well, evading the NATO offensive and offering the poppy farmers protection.<\/p>\n

Over just a couple of seasons, these relocated farmers, unhampered by any military presence, have undercut the offensive\u2019s initial gains against poppy production for this district. This, in turn, has raised hard questions about what will happen in villages like this one once the International Security Assistance Forces begin withdrawing. \u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/01\/02\/world\/asia\/in-afghanistan-a-troubling-resurgence-of-the-poppy-crop.html?_r=3&scp=1&sq=opium%20afghanistan&st=cse<\/p>\n

The<\/span><\/strong> <\/strong>International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n