Tuesday, March 8, 2011

What makes a King out of a slave? #wiunion #wearewi

What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.

What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.

What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.

What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.

What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.

What makes the Hottentot so hot?

What puts the "ape" in ape-ricot?

Whatta they got that I ain't got?

Rachel Maddow & Friends: Courage!

Cowardly Lion: You can say that again.

Come on AMERICA

LET'S ALL SUPPORT WORKING PEOPLE!

Courage speech by the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz

How Dems are winning: Mark Miller keeps his cool, Scott Fitzgerald blows up #WeAreWI #WIUnion

How Dems are winning: Mark Miller keeps his cool, Scott Fitzgerald blows up

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Cap Times editorial | (93) Comments | Posted: Tuesday, March 8, 2011 7:15 am

State Sen. Mark Miller, D-Madison, center, talks to the crowd in the rotunda of the Capitol after the Joint Finance Committee adjourned for the night at around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, February 16, 2011.CRAIG SCHREINER — State Journal

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Sometimes, it is simply best to let the members of the Wisconsin Senate speak for themselves about the dispute between the Republicans and the 14 Democrats who have refused to provide a quorum to pass Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.

Early Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, wrote a letter offering to negotiate with Walker and Republican legislative leaders.

Within hours, the governor had held a press conference in which he dismissed and derided Miller’s offer. Then Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, replied to Miller with what seemed to us to be one of the crudest letters seen in modern political discourse.

But we’ll let readers decide who is serious about resolving the impasse and who is playing politics.

Here’s Miller’s letter:

Dear Governor Walker and Senator Fitzgerald:

Over the past several weeks we have witnessed an unprecedented public debate in Wisconsin over the value of public workers and the importance of

School Tech Connect: Call, Write, March

Call, Write, March

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Because we're about to head into another full frontal assault on pensions here in Illinois, here's a little factoid courtesy of the actuaries at TRS.

Actually, read the whole thing.

IEA is calling for action, although I think they could have offered a little more guidance. I'm going to put TimPAC on it.

There are huge elephants in the room, and ultimately, they're caused by the massive inequalities built into our property tax-based school funding system. If you saw the piece in The Times today, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's hard to convince the public that the average pension is $43,000 when they're convinced it's $80,000.

Nation & World | Are employee pensions bankrupting states? Not really | Seattle Times Newspaper

Are employee pensions bankrupting states? Not really

A close look at state and local pension plans and a comparison with those in the private sector reveal a complicated story, but there's no evidence that state pensions are the burden to public finances that critics claim.

By Kevin G. Hall

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON —

From state legislatures to Congress to tea-party rallies, a vocal backlash is rising against what are perceived as too-generous retirement benefits for state and local government workers. However, that widespread perception doesn't match reality.

A close look at state and local pension plans and a comparison with those in the private sector reveal a more complicated story. The short answer, though, is this: There's simply no evidence that state pensions are the burden to public finances that critics claim.

Pension contributions from state and local employers aren't blowing up budgets. They amount to 2.9 percent of state spending, on average, according to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. The

Buzzflash: Beware of the Invisible Financial Hand | www.kochwatch.org #wiunion

Buzzflash: Beware of the Invisible Financial Hand | www.kochwatch.org

Buzzflash: Beware of the Invisible Financial Hand

by CD

March 8, 2011- In California, the state government currently spends more than $34 billion a year paying private contractors to do jobs that civil servants can perform for half the cost. Another $900 million of taxpayer funds is wasted annually propping up the state's failed enterprise zone program. Common sense dictates that any proposal to balance the state budget begin here.

Instead, what is being implemented in state capitals across the country are plans to eradicate traditional

The Cap Times: What Michael Moore gets about Wisconsin … and America *March 8 2011-* “You will live in the history books!” Michael Moore shouted from the rotunda of the state Capitol to the thousands of Wisconsin workers, teachers and their allies who had come Saturday to protest against Gov. Scott Walker’s assault on ...

Henry Waxman: 'All That Seems To Matter Is What Koch Industries Think' WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

Truthout: From "Morning in America" to the Nightmare on Main Street *March 8, 2011-* Ronald Reagan's infamous "it's morning in America" slogan, used as part of his 1984 presidential campaign, paved the way for a set of market-driven policies that historians faithful to the human record will be compelled to rename ...

Parent Trigger Alert!! Charter School Empowerment Policy Meeting

SBE Meeting Live Webcast - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

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SBE Meeting Live Webcast

The live video stream is from the California State Board of Education (SBE) meeting originating from the California Department of Education at 1430 N Street in Sacramento, CA.

The meeting on March 9, 2011 will begin at approximately 9:00am.

Stephen King makes surprise visit and speech to crowds Awake the State Rally. March 8th ! « Continuing Change #p2 #pfla #AwakeFL

Stephen King makes surprise visit and speech to crowds at Sarasota, Florida Awake the State Rally. March 8th ! « Continuing Change

Stephen King makes surprise visit and speech to crowds at Sarasota, Florida Awake the State Rally. March 8th !

March 8, 2011 by gatorbonbc

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Stephen King makes surprise visit and speech to crowds at Sarasota, Florida Awake the State Rally. March 8th !

WOW !!!

Awake the State – Florida Did !!

AwaketheState.com #AwakeFL

http://www.awakethestate.com/

Teachers: layoff ≠ firing « JD2718

Teachers: layoff ≠ firing

by jd2718

The ideas are simple -

layoff – there is not enough money, you are ‘let go’ until the situation improves, when you get called back to work

firing – something is wrong, and you are ‘let go’, permanently

In many jobs, including teaching in NYC, firing someone requires cause related to that individual’s activities or performance. Layoffs result from economic hard times, not cause. And in NYC schools, and in many other places, when layoffs are necessary they are conducted by reverse seniority, and callbacks are conducted by direct seniority.

In NYC, Bloomberg has been trying to modify how teachers are fired, to weaken protections. He has had some success, but he’s looking for much more.

With the budget shortfall he has seen opportunity, the way the rich often do when the rest of us are suffering. In

Shanker Blog » Digging For Data In The Garden State #NJEA

Shanker Blog » Digging For Data In The Garden State

Digging For Data In The Garden State

by Matthew Di Carlo

In January, the New Jersey Department of Education released a report titled, “Living Up to Expectations: Charter Schools in New Jersey Outperforming District Schools.” It consisted of a list of charter schools and their students’ aggregate proficiency rates by grade, along with comparisons with the rates of the regular public school districts in which they are located. The state then tallied the number of charters with higher rates (79 percent in language arts, and 69 percent in math), and concluded – in a press release – that this represented evidence of superior performance. The conclusion was reported without scrutiny. Later that same day, NJ Governor Chris Christie formally announced his plan to expand the state’s charter school sector.

In a short post that evening, I pointed out the obvious fact that the state’s analysis was wholly inadequate to demonstrate charter performance – good, bad or indifferent – relative to comparable regular public schools. Rutgers Professor Bruce Baker did the same, and also presented a school-level analysis showing that there was

Bestselling Chief Economist goes public: US a criminal oligarchy | Dailycensored.com #WeAreWI #WIUnion

Bestselling Chief Economist goes public: US a criminal oligarchy | Dailycensored.com

Bestselling Chief Economist goes public: US a criminal oligarchy

Written by Carl_HermanBusiness, PoliticsMar 8, 2011

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Source: Carl Herman, Examiner.com

Seventy weeks on the NY Times bestselling-list was the outcome of Chief Economist John Perkins book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Here is a short version of his story; excerpt below from the excellent interview by the Daily Bell.

I call for a “turn around” from the criminal economic system the US suffers under: a revolution. The link provides my explanation and documentation.

Introduction: As Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm, John Perkins advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He worked directly with heads of state and CEOs of major companies. His books on economics and geo-politics have sold more than 1 million copies, spent many months on the New York Times and other bestseller lists, and are published in over 30 languages. John’s Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (70 weeks on the New York Times