As Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the state's Department of Administration continued to refuse to comply with a court order to allow the public back into the Capitol Building in Madison, Democratic lawmakers literally climbed out their windows to meet with constituents on the Capitol lawn today.
Several members of the state assembly and their staff whose offices are located on the first floor—including Representative Nick Milroy of the Northern Wisconsin 73rd district, Representative Cory Mason of Greater Racine, Representative Josh Zepnick of the south side of Milwaukee, and Representative Fred Clark of Beaver Dam
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| Damon in "Good Will Hunting" |
SANTA CRUZ, California – Students at UC Santa Cruz held a rally today for public education during the national day of protest. Around 250 gathered in the Quarry Plaza, where speeches were made and the issue of access to higher education for students of color was communicated. As the rally came to a close, the last speakers took the stage and chanted that we should retreat to where we feel safe, the Ethnic Resource Center (ERC), to discuss the budget cuts and how the crisis has affected students of color. As UC Santa Cruz has recently cut several of the few programs that existed where these kinds of discussions could possibly take place, and as
Wisconsin Dems have started the clock on these GOP Senators. (photo: markonf1re)
The Wisconsin State Democratic Party just sent out an email to supporters announcing that they have officially filed recall papers against all eight Republican Senators eligible for recall immediately. Depending on their success in gathering enough signatures – and the threshold is not too high, they need between 14,000 and 20,000 signatures in the various districts – the State Senate will be up for grabs in Wisconsin as early as this
Dear Governor Scott,
Are our legislators attempting to set a Guinness Record for record-breaking time to pass the most controversial legislation ever through a state? Have the rallying cries, protests, and turmoil in Wisconsin taught Florida legislators anything? We are a nation governed around laws; not a nation governed around power crazed men attempting to bypass laws.
Governor Scott, I'm pleading with you to please insist that all perspectives are heard and that the democratic process takes priority with regards to the"Teacher Quality" Bill. I agree with the authors of this inappropriately named Bill (736), who proudly boast that, this bill will overhaul public education unlike ever before. They are right. It will. That is precisely why this Bill must be given every opportunity to be discussed, amended,
In an alternative universe concocted by Fox News, Andrew Breitbart, and TCOT (top conservatives on twitter), the Madison capitol has become the island in Lord of the Flies, except the savages in this case are union "thugs." The mob has taken over, thick with radicals, and Republicans are likely to be attacked as a matter of course.
In reality, the long protest in Madison has been remarkably civil. As a testament to that, conservative media outlets are having a hard time finding examples of on-scene violence in Wisconsin that really bring their alternative narrative home. They've even gone so far as to claim their own reporters are under assault when they are not. Indeed, just as they accuse unions
Tuesday, March 1, 2011; Washington Post, letters
In his Feb. 27 column, "The small miracles of Teach for America," George F. Will writes: "Until recently - until, among other things TFA [Teach for America] - it seemed that we simply did not know how to teach children handicapped by poverty and its accompaniments - family disintegration and destructive community cultures. Now we know exactly what to do."
I entered the teaching profession in January 1972. As a sixth-grade teacher and later as a successful principal for 15 consecutive years in three different states, including Texas, Maryland and Massachusetts, I resent (once again), someone oblivious to what truly works in meeting the needs of impoverished school children. This
