Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Early and often.

OCTOBER 27, 2010

tags: Bill Brady, chicagomayor, Rahm Emanuel, Tom Dart

by Fred Klonsky

On July 20th, 2007 in Chicago, Congressman Rah...

Rahm wants to be the "wet" mayor.

Local news today in Chicago is that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has pulled himself out of the mayor’s race. The local media assumes that as a white guy, Dart was only thing stopping Rahm Emanuel from an automatic ticket to the fifth floor.

Meanwhile Brother Mike talks about the wrong crowd that Rahm has been hanging with.

If Bill Brady gets the job, 17,000 teachers will lose theirs.

The Dems GOTV rally with President Obama Midway will be Saturday at Plaisance Park (“The Midway”), 1130 Midway Plaisance North, Chicago, IL 60637. Doors will open at 4:30PM. I’m

Annual N.J. schools report shows drop in violence, rise in prescription abuse | NJ.com

Annual N.J. schools report shows drop in violence, rise in prescription abuse

Published: Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 8:00 PM

Star-Ledger Staff
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Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerActing Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks, pictured at a September Board of Education meeting, today released a report on the state of New Jersey's public schools.

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New Jersey’s schools are getting safer, but prescription drug abuse is a rising problem, a new state report shows.

The trends are shown in the state’s annual report in violence and vandalism in public schools, a document that covered the state’s 600 public school districts which have a combined 1.38 million K-12 students.

The reported decrease in violence, bullying and weapons incidents was credited to education efforts, and schools must now shift greater focus to the drug and alcohol problems, said educators and legislators.

The number of reported incidents of violence dropped 5 percent from 2007-08 to 2008-09; vandalism declined 3 percent; weapons incidents fell 15 percent and, at a time when bullying is a leading concern, reported incidents of

Arkansas officials condemn anti-gay comments on networking site - CNN.com

Arkansas officials condemn anti-gay comments on networking site

By the CNN Wires Staff

October 27, 2010 7:38 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Arkansas education officials condemn anti-gay posts by a school board member
A screen grab shows anti-gay comments on the Facebook page of Clint McCance
The state Education Department is "dismayed," a spokeswoman says

RELATED TOPICS

(CNN) -- The Arkansas Department of Education has condemned anti-gay comments made by a local school board member and posted on a social networking site.

Midland School District Vice President Clint McCance wrote on his personal Facebook page that he wanted gay people to commit suicide, according to The Advocate, a newspaper focusing on gay news. McCance used the terms "queer" and "fag" repeatedly, promised to disown his own children if they were gay, and stated that he enjoys "the fact that [gay people] often give each other AIDS and die."

A strongly worded statement signed by Dean Stanley, superintendent of the Midland School District, disavowed the remarks. "The district strives to foster an environment that discourages all forms of bullying," the statement read, "and an environment that encourages a safe and productive educational

Whitman Woos Latinos in Spanish, Bashes Immigrants in English - COLORLINES

Whitman Woos Latinos in Spanish, Bashes Immigrants in English

Photo: Eric Draper/Meg Whitman for Governor 2010

Wednesday, October 27 2010, 2:13 PM ESTTags: 2010 Elections, California governor, Latino voters, Meg Whitman

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Who’s the real Meg Whitman, and where does she stand on immigration? She’d rather you not find out the answer, especially if you’re Latino.

The California GOP gubernatorial nominee has two new ads out that aim to close the growing lead of Democrat Jerry Brown. Taken together, they give a much clearer picture of her plans for Latino Californians, who are considered crucial voters in determining the outcome of next week’s election.

In one TV ad, now airing on Spanish-language stations, Whitman touts her commitment to the Latino community. “Don’t be fooled by Jerry Brown,” a woman says in Spanish. “Meg Whitman stood up against the Arizona law,” she says, referring to Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB 1070. “She stood by us.”

Except she didn’t. In front of white, or at least English-speaking audiences, Whitman has said she supports Arizona’s right to flout federal law and create its own immigration policy in SB 1070. Separately, Whitman’s

Wasting for Stuporman � Research in Practice

Wasting for StupormanTuesday, Oct 26 2010

Education Entrepreneurship and Math Education and Social Justice benblumsmith 11:51 am

I dragged myself to Waiting for Superman last night.

What a confused movie.

Have you ever been on the subway with a crazy person? I am from Boston, where I actually can’t remember this happening to me one time, although we do have crazy people; but it happens a lot in New York. You’ll be going from here to there and somebody on the subway car will just start discoursing, usually to no one in particular but as though they’re having a normal conversation. Sometimes angrily, which is always disconcerting to be around because if you’re simultaneously angry and totally disconnected from reality, who knows what you’ll do next. Often enough, though, it’ll be totally harmless. (Somehow, the time that the man next to me explained “when I cock my fist back, that’s potential energy; and when I throw it toward your face, that’s kinetic energy” managed to fit into the totally-harmless category. He was jovially illustrating a point. You could just tell.)

One of the most striking things about the discourse, though, whether harmless or angry, is that the person is usually speaking with conviction, but not making any sense. This is what it felt like to me watching Waiting for Superman.

Let me try to summarize this movie for you. SPOILER of sorts.

Geoffrey Canada (Harlem Children’s Zone) loved Superman when he was a kid. Davis

Schools Matter: Boston's Charterizers on the Prowl, Pushing for Closure of Public Schools

Boston's Charterizers on the Prowl, Pushing for Closure of Public Schools

by Jim Horn

Boston's corporate education deform movement has been a study in contrasts to the fuming, snarling Michelle Rhee of DC fame and others of the public education bombardier wing. The bombers of Boston act with the restraint of Harvard dons in contrast to Rhee and, let's say, the super-sized governor of New Jersey. Maybe it's because there are, indeed, Harvard dons among them, like master chef of voucher research, Paul Peterson, who is apparently training a new generation of ideologues like himself who can abuse the reputation of a great university to push for the demolition of all things public. Of course, Peterson is not the only academic turned corporate pawn among the edupreneurs and corporate welfare ditto heads who take orders from the big time oligarchs running the Billionaire Boys' Club.

For Boston's"creative destruction" disruptors, the game is subterfuge, influence peddling, and stealth bombing of

CREATING A HOME-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP: by Richard Lakin

SheWired.com - Arkansas School Official Calls for Death of Gays on His FB: Keeps His Job?

Arkansas School Official Calls for Death of Gays on His FB: Keeps His Job?

by Neal Broverman | Article Date: 10/27/2010 4:01 PM

After Arkansas school board member Clint McCance advocated on Facebook for the suicide of gay people, the Arkansas Department of Education condemned his comments, but said it may be impossible for him to be removed from office.

“In Arkansas law, the only way to recall a school board member is over a felony [committed by him or her] or absentee issues,” said Julie Johnson Thompson, the director of communications for the Arkansas Department of Education in Little Rock.

Thompson says McCance, as an elected official, answers to voters, not Midland school district’s superintendent. “[The Arkansas Department of Education] doesn’t have any control over his job,” Thompson pointed out.

But Thompson made it clear her office condemns McCance’s Facebook comments, in which he called gay people “fags” and “queers,” and encouraged them to kill themselves if they didn’t get AIDS and die first.

The Answer Sheet - Are we raising a generation of bullies?

Are we raising a generation of bullies?

There is a new poll getting a lot of attention that says half of students in our high schools admit to having bullied someone in the past year. That’s hard to believe. The survey was conducted by the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics, and results were gleaned from answers to questions asked of 43,321 students. The margin of error is said to be less than 1 percent. The teens were asked, according to the institute’s Web site, whether they had “bullied, teased or taunted someone (at least once in the past 12 months.)

Ivy League students 'out' kids who don't donate to senior fund

Student volunteers at Dartmouth College and Cornell University, using lists given to them by school administrators, are “outing” students who have not donated to a senior class gift fund. According to this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the schools are hoping that peer pressure will squeeze money from reluctant donors, even if the tactic seems obnoxious. It turns out that at Dartmouth, one out of 1,123 students in the Class of 2010 did not contribute this year, and wasn’t happy when her sin was exposed in the college newspaper and on a popular blog.

Whittier parents close to victory | SocialistWorker.org

Whittier parents close to victory

Mario Cardenas reports on the latest developments in a parents' occupation at an elementary school in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

October 27, 2010

AFTER MORE than a month of occupying a field house at Whittier Elementary School, a group of mothers in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood believe that they are close to winning their demands.

On October 20, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Ron Huberman met with the parents and said that the field house--known to the community as "La Casita" (Little House)--would not be demolished, that a library would be built in the main building of the school, and that the field house would be leased as a community center for $1 a year. The school board is supposed to decide on whether to approve the agreement on October 27.

The mothers--who have been living in the field house since September 15, winning the support of the community as they stood up to attempts to evict them and shut off the heat--say that they aren't leaving until they are certain their demands will be met.

Their determination isn't surprising considering the tremendous struggle they have

Netroots California, November 6, 2010 | Netroots Nation

Netroots California, November 6, 2010

California is a big state with an even larger slate of problems that need to be solved. It's also home to some of the most important races in the country -- from progressive hero Barbara Boxer's reelection to the oil industry power grab Prop 23. Win or lose, we need to discuss lessons learned and how to take those lessons learned into 2011 and 2012.

That's why we -- along with our friends at the Courage Campaign and Daily Kos -- are hosting a statewide event bringing together activists from across California to break down the results and have a strategic conversation on strengthening our grassroots infrastructure.

We're calling it Netroots California.

Much like our annual national Netroots Nation conference, we'll have trainings, panels and plenty of opportunities to learn, re-charge, socialize and strategize.

Here are the details:

Netroots California: A post-election strategy session for grassroots progressives
Who's invited? Progressive activists from across California
Saturday, November 6, 10 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.
The African American Art & Culture Complex of San Francisco
762 Fulton Street in San Francisco

Register here, tickets are $40.

You don't want to miss this event. Make plans to join us Saturday, November 6 for Netroots California.

Not sure if you can attend yet? Sign up for our mailing list to get updates.

AGENDA

This event will feature 18 sessions in 3 tracks over the course of the day. Click here for the full list of sessions.

Ark. school official accused of anti-gay screed - Boston.com

Ark. school official accused of anti-gay screed

By Jill Zeman Bleed

Associated Press / October 27, 2010

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—A member of a northern Arkansas school board, commenting on campaign to get people to wear purple to show support for bullied gay and lesbian youth, purportedly posted on Facebook that the only way he would wear purple is "if they all commit suicide."

The Arkansas Department of Education on Wednesday condemned the alleged posting by Midland School Board member Clint McCance.

The Advocate, a magazine that reports about gay issues, first reported about the posting on its website. The Facebook page has been disabled, but The Advocate posted

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