{"id":6912,"date":"2012-05-05T21:44:35","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T05:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=6912"},"modified":"2012-05-06T08:38:21","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T16:38:21","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-happy-birthday-and-mayday-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-happy-birthday-and-mayday-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Happy Birthday and Mayday! and More!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Happy Birthday Karl Marx! May 5. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

“In every stockjobbing swindle every one knows that some time or other the crash must come, but every one hopes that it may fall on the head of his neighbor, after he himself has caught the shower of gold and placed it in safety.” (From “Capital: Critique of Political Economy,” 1867)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Happy Mayday! <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Never Forget! Dien Bien Phu May 1954<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kQ1K_vAqv4g<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Workers Rise In Brazil <\/strong>\u2014 The revolt here on the banks of the Madeira River, the Amazon\u2019s largest tributary, flared after sunset. At the simmering end of a 26-day strike by 17,000 workers last month, a faction of laborers who were furious over wages and living conditions began setting fire to the construction site at the Jirau Dam. \u00a0\u00a0Throughout the night, they burned more than 30 structures to the ground and looted company stores, capturing the mayhem on their own cellphone cameras, before firefighters extinguished the blazes. The authorities in Bras\u00edlia flew in hundreds of troops from an elite force to quell the unrest.
\nMen in camouflage fatigues still patrol the sprawling work site, reflecting a dilemma for Brazil\u2019s leaders. Even as they move to tap one of the world\u2019s last great reserves of hydroelectric power, the Amazon basin, strikes and worker uprisings at the biggest projects are producing delays and cost overruns. \u00a0\u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2012\/05\/06\/world\/americas\/brazils-rush-to-develop-hydroelectric-power-brings-unrest.html?ref=global-home<\/a><\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We shall show that the historical development of the educational system reflects a counterpoint of reproduction and contradiction. As we have already seen, capitalist economic development leads to continual shifts in the social relationships of production and the attendant class structure. These social relationships have involved class conflicts which, throughout U.S. history. have periodically changed in both form and content. In important respects the educational system has served to defuse and attenuate these conflicts. Thus the changing character of social conflict, rooted in shifts in the class structure and in other relations of power and privilege has resulted in periodic reorganizations of educational institutions. At the same time the educational system has evolved in ways which intensify and politicize the basic contradictions and conflicts of capitalist society. \u00a0\u00a0 www.webster.edu\/~corbetre\/philosophy\/education\/bg\/bg-ch-5.html<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Endemic Corruption in Capitalist Schools–another Test Scam <\/strong> <\/strong>A major tutoring company failed the honesty test, authorities charged yesterday.
\nThe feds slapped The Princeton Review with a civil suit that accuses the test-prep giant of scamming millions of dollars through a taxpayer-funded after-school program for needy kids.
\nCourt papers say company workers routinely falsified documents to fraudulently boost attendance at its Supplemental Educational Services tutoring classes at \u201cunderperforming\u201d schools.
\nUnder the program, The Princeton Review was paid between $35 and $75 an hour for each student under terms of the No Child Left Behind Act, the suit says. \u00a0\u00a0But between 2006 and 2010, \u201cmost, if not all, of the monthly invoices\u201d allegedly contained false information, and TPR billed the city Department of Education for \u201cthousands of hours of tutoring services that Princeton Review never actually provided.\u201d
\nAccording to the Manhattan US Attorney\u2019s Office, evidence in the case includes \u201cobvious\u201d forgeries of student signatures, including several where they \u201cchange in appearance from class to class,\u201d and another in which a child\u2019s name was misspelled \u201cDonate\u201d instead of Dontae. \u00a0 www.nypost.com\/p\/news\/national\/test_aid_firm_cheat_shock_ouyjDAXQRj6UMWxJ2jY1hL<\/a><\/p>\n

A Better Way to Train Robots–New Online Testing in Michigan, home of the Moronic MEAP <\/strong> In two years, Michigan’s students will take a test in which they’ll succeed once they start getting half the questions wrong.
\nMichigan, along with more than two dozen states, is radically changing how it measures student progress, ditching paper and pencil tests for online-only assessments that they hope will be more comprehensive and allow for greater classroom help.
\nA major component: Tests that get harder when students get the correct answer and easier when they get the wrong one. The goal is to better define the student’s achievement level.
\nState education officials this week outlined the changes, which will see Michigan working with 26 other states to develop the tests. They now are scheduled to begin in the 2014-15 school year. The Michigan Education Assessment Program will be discontinued. \u00a0\u00a0 www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20120504\/METRO\/205040371\/1026\/schools\/Online-tests-works-assess-student-progress<\/a><\/p>\n

Assaulting the Poor, UCSD Kills Community College Guarantee <\/strong> The UC San Diego program that guarantees transfer admission to community college students who meet certain requirements will come to an end in 2014, campus officials have decided.
\nThey said explosive growth in the number applications under the program, coupled with sharp cuts in state funding for the University of California, have threatened to swamp the campus.
\nAdministrators and students at area community colleges said the decision will disproportionally harm disadvantaged students.
\n\u201cIf this decision is final \u2026 that pathway, that gateway will be closed to many students from our local colleges. We think this decision is shortsighted,\u201d said Francisco Rodriguez, superintendent\/president of MiraCosta Community College District. \u00a0 www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2012\/may\/01\/ucsd-ends-community-college-transfer-program\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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