Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 3/19/2011 at 11:27 PM
New Yorkers are furious, and give Bloomberg his worst ratings ever. Listen up, America! Juan Gonzalez, Daily News Reporter and new hero to most of New York City middle class, writes "New York City's private computer army keeps mushrooming under Mayor Bloomberg - and no one has any idea of its exact size." He also ended the reign of CityTime chief Joel Bondy with his report on the CityTime Scandal.
Current Events | Posted 3/19/2011 at 6:38 PM
The PFT filed a lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia asking for injunctive relief in the case of Hope Moffett, an Audenried High School English teacher who has been outspoken about the conversion of Audenried to a charter school. The school district tried to fire her for giving tokens to students so that they could travel to a protest rally. “The suit is being filed on behalf of all PFT members to protect their right to speak freely, without fear of retaliation or intimidation by the district,” PFT President Jerry Jordan said. The school district agreed on March 18 to re-instate Ms. Moffett to her position on March 21. Hooray to the PFT for doing the right thing and putting at least the New York Teacher Union, the UFT, to shame. That's my opinion, Betsy Combier
Government Lies, Corruption and Mismanagement | Posted 3/18/2011 at 11:12 AM
Ms. Ravitch writes that collective bargaining is a basic human right, as the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed in 1948, declares it is: "It was adopted by the United Nations on Dec. 10, 1948. To be sure, the document is aspirational; it represents our highest ideals for human rights and dignity, not the realities of 1948 or 2011. It was drafted by a commission headed by Eleanor Roosevelt. Article 23, Section 4 says: "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests." Others disagree, and say that being forced to pay Union dues for Unions to do nothing is extortion, and the right to choose to pay dues will change the do-nothing ideology of union leaders. I say: take away the right of judges to claim absolute and quasi- immunity, too, because this issue is about indemnification and the right to 'do wrong' and get away with it. Betsy Combier