May 2011
35 posts
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“The idea that we need a “new economy”—that the entire economic system must be...”
– Gar Alperovitz (via azspot)
They are all tied together my friends and we are *all* in the same boat.
(via eddyizm)
Oh man I was trying to read “The World Is Flat” by Thomas Friedman and I had to stop because I was pulling my hair out. Apparently the guy is somewhat respected, but at least as far...
Confessions of a Welfare Recipient →
“What’s wrong with you people? Wall Street has raided your 401K’s, while they got rich. The mortgage bankers threw you out of your houses, while they collected multi-million dollar bonuses, the oil barons polluted your beaches and gouge you at the gas-pump, corporations are stockpiling money and refuse to create jobs and you worry over the abuse of a food stamp?”
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Drink The Kool-Aid!: Corporate "People" →
blissandzen:
In a ruling issued late Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Cacheris tossed out part of an indictment against two men accused of illegally reimbursing donors to Hillary Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns.
Cacheris says that under the Citizens United decision,…
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Five myths about America’s schools →
The end of the school year and the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers are bringing more attention to reformers’ calls to remake public schools. Today’s school reform movement conflates the motivations and agendas of politicians seeking reelection, religious figures looking to spread the faith and bureaucrats trying to save a dime. Despite an often earnest desire to help our nation’s...
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Chapter 3.1
Previously
Chapter 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Chapter 2: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4
Song: American Jesus – Bad Religion
The sun shone brightly on the snow covered landscape, as Trot sat in the passenger seat asleep behind his sunglasses. On the side of the highway, ravens fed on a dead deer. Billboards for hotels and fast food restaurants littered the hills alongside crosses.
“It’s your turn to...
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“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
– Abraham Lincoln
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“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the...”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
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“Dear Governor Snyder,
In these tough economic times, schools are hurting. And...”
– School Superintendent to Governor: Please Make My School A Prison (via pantslessprogressive)
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Group calls for hearing on biomass provisions of... →
Michigan Citizens for Energy, Environment and Economy (MC3E) is asking the Dept. of Environmental Quality to reopen the public comment period on a draft air permit for the plant and hold another hearing to allow for additional input on Wolverine’s plan to burn at least 255,000 tons of green wood from within 75 miles of the plant each year.
MCE3 claims that details about the scale of the biomass...
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Bill Gates: Selling Bad Advice to the Public... →
Gates seems not to know or care that the leading testing experts in the nation agree that this is a fruitless and wrongheaded way to identify either good teachers or bad teachers. Student test scores depend on what students do, what effort they expend, how often they attend school, what support they have at home, and most especially on their socioeconomic status and family income. Test scores...
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How to Help Tornado Victims in Joplin, Missouri →
abcnewsradio:
(JOPLIN, Mo.) — Rescue efforts are underway as residents of Joplin, Mo., try to pick up the pieces of their lives after a devastating tornado hit the city of about 50,000, and severe storms ravaged the Midwest this weekend. At least 89 people have been reported dead in Joplin. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Sunday evening and activated the National Guard....
Go to China, young scientist →
Q: What happens when government and taxes are considered bad and money is spent on making business happy instead of investing in your own country?
A: All your innovating scientists (the people whose discoveries lead to new industry and hence new jobs) start looking overseas and end up leaving.
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Chapter 2.4
Previously
Chapter 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Chapter 2: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
Song: To Another Abyss – Bad Religion
Oliver awoke with a stiff neck and an empty room. His head pounded as he sat up. Showering quickly he went to his own room and entered. Trot was still asleep on the bed, but there was no trace of the women.
“Wake up,” said Oliver. He repeated the command, shaking Trot this...
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Sea levels rising higher and faster →
“Sea levels will rise higher and faster than the United Nations predicted just four years ago, a major international study has found.
The new data suggests that, on average, the seas will rise by up to 1.6 metres by the year 2100 - a finding that has serious implications for Australian governments grappling with coastal planning.”
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Dear Exxon Mobil,
Recently I witnessed your commercial promoting natural gas as an energy source. This commercial is an excellent piece of propaganda, with its melodious soundtrack and nonthreatening actor playing a scientist who proclaims that fracking is safe. I can only conclude that you and I have different definition of safe. My definition of safe does not include the threat of methane levels...
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Why do Americans still dislike atheists? →
“Long after blacks and Jews have made great strides, and even as homosexuals gain respect, acceptance and new rights, there is still a group that lots of Americans just don’t like much: atheists. Those who don’t believe in God are widely considered to be immoral, wicked and angry. They can’t join the Boy Scouts. Atheist soldiers are rated potentially deficient when they do not score as...
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Chapter 2.3
Previously
Chapter 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Chapter 2: 2.1, 2.2
Song: The First Drop – Rise Against
“What song are you going to sing?” asked Alice.
“What?”
“Aren’t you going to sing?”
“The last time I sang people ran from the room screaming ‘My ears are bleeding, my ears are bleeding, dear god, make it stop’.”
“Funny, pick one.”
“And deny you the opportunity to share your beautiful voice with...
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WatchRachel Maddow on the Republican vote to continue subsidies to oil companies.
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Michigan Senate limits state environmental... →
“Federal standards to protect water quality are designed to be a minimum standard below which states are not allowed to drop. They are not written by people who feel a stewardship responsibility over one of the world’s most important freshwater resource,” MEC policy director James Clift said Thursday.
“It seems inconceivable that politicians in the Great Lakes State believe Washington...
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Income Inequality In U.S. Worse Than Ivory Coast,... →
Income inequality in the United States is actually higher than at any other time in modern history since the Great Depression.
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The Outrage of the Week →
Perhaps it was the agreement between the Gates Foundation and the Pearson Foundation to write the nation’s curriculum. When did we vote to hand over American education to them? Why would we outsource the nation’s curriculum to a for-profit publishing and test-making corporation based in London? Does Bill Gates get to write the national curriculum because he is the richest man in America? We know...
“How’s this for bitter irony? Last year, tea party Republicans got elected to...”
– Jim Hightower, Punishing the Innocent, Enriching the Guilty (via ryking)
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Benton Harbor City Commission defies Emergency... →
“This is the government working beyond the dictatorship,” he said. “That is what we are doing.”
“This is about democracy … it is about human rights. It is a litmus test to see if the Constitution even still exists.”
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The Corporate State Will Continue its Inexorable... →
“The systems of information, owned or dominated by corporations, keep the public entranced with celebrity meltdowns, gossip, trivia and entertainment. There are no national news or intellectual forums for genuine political discussion and debate. The talking heads on Fox or MSNBC or CNN spin and riff on the same inane statements by Sarah Palin or Donald Trump. They give us lavish updates on...
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Chapter 2.2
Previously
Chapter 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Chapter 2: 2.1
Song: Decline of a Midwestern Civilization – Fireworks
Trot and the young women stumbled onto the stage and began singing a cheery rendition of Yesterday by The Beatles. More people came in from the storm unleashing a blast of cold air into the bar. Alice shivered and Oliver gave her his coat.
“Oh, a gentleman,” said Alice.
“Damn,...
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PolitiFact: Bush Tax cuts did cause substantial... →
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Book of the Month, May 2011
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985) is a book by educator Neil Postman.
The book’s origins lie in a talk Postman gave to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1984. He was participating in a panel on Orwell’s 1984 and the contemporary world. In the introduction to his book Postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by Aldous...
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This month's charity - May 2011 →
NCFL’s work aims to benefit families, teachers, programs and communities by creating an understanding of low literacy and its impact on families; developing interventions that break the cycle of low literacy; creating solutions to learning English for the nation’s immigrant population; developing tools for educators; providing resources for families to help them build literacy into their daily...
