This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
Saturday, May 02, 2015
Bernie Sanders is running for President - two posters and an article
What Bernie Sanders thinks about the issues: a comprehensive primer
Andrew Prokop · Thursday, April 30, 2015, 12:51 pm.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, now a presidential candidate, is the only socialist in Congress. But "he's a 'small S' socialist," professor Garrison Nelson of the University of Vermont told me last year. "He's not, 'Let's totally revamp the government, break up the corporations, create five-year plans.' He doesn't get out too far on an ideological limb."
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Sanders resembles many in the Democratic Party by criticizing the excessive influence of the wealthy. But he takes things much further, both rhetorically and substantively - he thinks checking the power of billionaires and corporations is the defining issue in US politics today. He's most interested in economic issues, from inequality to trade, and as a result he's won a devoted following among liberals who think their party too frequently carries water for the rich.
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But while Sanders wants a single-payer health care system, a carbon tax, and much more government spending on infrastructure and benefits, he isn't an uber-liberal on everything. On social issues like abortion, gun rights, and gay rights, he is squarely within the mainstream of the Democratic Party - not to its left. And while he's suspicious of foreign wars, he voices sympathy with Israel's security concerns and warns of the dangers of ISIS. Here's a guide to his views.
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Move to a single-payer health care system
[...]
Overturn Citizens United, publicly fund elections
[...]
Combat climate change with a carbon tax
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Don't cut Social Security - expand it (by taxing the wealthy more)
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More spending on infrastructure, less on defense
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Don't tax the middle class more - they're already getting squeezed
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Raise the minimum wage quite a lot
[...]
Supports immigration reform - but not guest worker programs for unskilled labor
[...]
Does not support drug legalization
[...]
Label foods with GMO ingredients
[...]
Supports more gun control - but hasn't always
[...]
Much more government funding for higher education
[...]
Less foreign policy interventionism
[...]
Stop the NSA's "out-of-control" surveillance
[...]
Supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage
[...]
Network neutrality is essential for free speech
[...]
Reform the Export-Import Bank
[...]
Source - read details...
Friday, May 01, 2015
Teacher explains how standardized testing is hurting her first graders
Rss@dailykos.com (laura Clawson) · Saturday, April 25, 2015, 12:39 pm
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A New York teacher has written a remarkable letter to Diane Ravitch explaining how the focus on standardized testing is hurting her students. Her first-grade students. Even though these kids won't be taking Common Core tests for two years, she writes, those tests taken recently by older students had a direct effect on the first-graders:
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But it's not just Common Core, though that's the latest in the long string of hot new standardized tests.
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It's about the overall focus on testing as the center of how and what students are taught, which has changed education dramatically:
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Does this sound like the kind of education that's going to teach anyone to love learning? To value thinking and reasoning and drawing their own conclusions? But this is what the push for more high-stakes testing is doing to American schools.
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Source
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A New York teacher has written a remarkable letter to Diane Ravitch explaining how the focus on standardized testing is hurting her students. Her first-grade students. Even though these kids won't be taking Common Core tests for two years, she writes, those tests taken recently by older students had a direct effect on the first-graders:
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You see, these tests have a ripple effect. The immediate effect is that my students who receive services such as reading and resource will not receive these services for the next TWO WEEKS since the teachers who provide these services are proctoring the state tests. They will also lose services when some of these same teachers are pulled out to score the tests in the subsequent weeks..
But it's not just Common Core, though that's the latest in the long string of hot new standardized tests.
.
It's about the overall focus on testing as the center of how and what students are taught, which has changed education dramatically:
.
When I started teaching oh so many years ago, we focused on thematic instruction and integrating all subject areas so that our students had opportunities to make connections. We taught in ways that honored many learning styles, student's individual differences and developmental stages, along with their individual needs. We understood (and still do) that each child has different intelligences and learning styles. My walls and windows of my classroom were covered with songs and poems, student artwork and artifacts of student learning. My little ones sang and read and played. We taught using literature with rich language and focused on building background knowledge. Children were encouraged to synthesize knowledge and draw conclusions using what they knew and what they were learning. We used a tremendous amount of glitter and paper and encouraged children to express themselves in ways that played to their strengths. We did projects and had lots of hands-on learning with manipulatives. I assessed through observation and working directly with students.
[...].
My walls are no longer covered with songs and poems and artwork. That has been replaced with "anchor charts", "I can statements" and "Learning targets". We barely use construction paper and I have not purchased glitter in 3 years. There is no time for art projects or creative expression. Children can no longer choose their learning. They write to prompts and must write different genres at certain times. Math is done on paper and manipulatives are few and far between (except when I pull out the old stuff). Reading is "close reading" and answers to questions are to be solely based on the text, without synthesis of prior knowledge.
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Assessment is daily and must be documented along with being scripted (because Big Brother is watching). Modules are scripted, teacher led and boring for little ones. We have to have 50% of text presented as informational text. Students have to write essays before they even have automaticity of letter formation. ALL THIS IS DONE SO THEY CAN PREP FOR THE TESTS. My students will take keyboarding in 3rd grade so they can take the tests online…BEFORE SOME OF THEM EVEN HAVE THE PHYSICAL HAND SPAN TO USE A KEYBOARD.
Does this sound like the kind of education that's going to teach anyone to love learning? To value thinking and reasoning and drawing their own conclusions? But this is what the push for more high-stakes testing is doing to American schools.
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Source
Religious Right Serves Restraining Orders On Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg and Kagan
[Just a reminder of the depths of ignorance the religious-right continues to plumb. ---Bozo]
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By: Rmuse
Tuesday, April, 28th, 2015, 10:44 am
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A restraining, or protection, order is issued by a court to protect a person or an entity, or the general public, in dangerous situations involving domestic violence, harassment, stalking or sexual assault. Every state in America has some form of domestic violence restraining order law, and if the subject of the restraining order does something the court ordered them not to do, or refuses to do something the court ordered them to do, it is a violation of the court order and police are called to enforce the court's wishes.
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Nearly all conscious Americans comprehend that a longstanding rule is that only a court can issue a restraining order. However, like many things in 21st Century America, evangelicals refuse to accept that the rule of law applies to them any more than they believe the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Of course, an increasing number of Republican members of Congress, state legislatures, and governors cannot accept the Constitution either, so it was no great surprise that evangelicals followed the lead of two congressional Republicans and issued religious orders restraining the 'wrong' kind of Supreme Court Justices from fulfilling their duly sworn Constitutional duty.
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Within the past month, religious Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and evangelical Representative Steve King (R-IA) introduced legislation in their respective chambers of Congress to prohibit the federal judiciary from hearing or ruling on same-sex marriage cases. Since the two congressional Republicans were unsuccessful in getting their legislation passed and signed into law, the religious right took matters into its own hands and issued a reported 300,000 restraining orders against liberal Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan prohibiting them from hearing or ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges.
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The case stems from the 6th Circuit Court's decision to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kentucky. According to their mandate in the U.S Constitution, the justices will decide whether states are required to issue marriage licenses between two people of the same sex, and whether states are required to recognize same-sex marriage licenses from other states under that section of the pesky document Republicans and evangelical fanatics refuse to acknowledge; the 14th Amendment guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law.
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One of the pre-eminent religious arbiters of all things relating to the Supreme law of the land, president of Abiding Truth Ministries Scott Lively, has unilaterally disqualified Justices Kagan and Ginsburg from hearing or ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges because he decided "they have committed an unparalleled breach of judicial ethics by elevating the importance of their own favored political cause of gay rights above the integrity of the court and of our nation." As a typical religious hypocrite, Lively does not hold the conservatives on the High Court who attend churches preaching against homosexuality, or have been inordinately vocal in their opposition to gay rights to the same standards because something about god, bible, and traditional marriage. None of which have any relevance or impact whatsoever on the 14th Amendment or any part of the U.S. Constitution.
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Source
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By: Rmuse
Tuesday, April, 28th, 2015, 10:44 am
.
A restraining, or protection, order is issued by a court to protect a person or an entity, or the general public, in dangerous situations involving domestic violence, harassment, stalking or sexual assault. Every state in America has some form of domestic violence restraining order law, and if the subject of the restraining order does something the court ordered them not to do, or refuses to do something the court ordered them to do, it is a violation of the court order and police are called to enforce the court's wishes.
.
Nearly all conscious Americans comprehend that a longstanding rule is that only a court can issue a restraining order. However, like many things in 21st Century America, evangelicals refuse to accept that the rule of law applies to them any more than they believe the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Of course, an increasing number of Republican members of Congress, state legislatures, and governors cannot accept the Constitution either, so it was no great surprise that evangelicals followed the lead of two congressional Republicans and issued religious orders restraining the 'wrong' kind of Supreme Court Justices from fulfilling their duly sworn Constitutional duty.
.
Within the past month, religious Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and evangelical Representative Steve King (R-IA) introduced legislation in their respective chambers of Congress to prohibit the federal judiciary from hearing or ruling on same-sex marriage cases. Since the two congressional Republicans were unsuccessful in getting their legislation passed and signed into law, the religious right took matters into its own hands and issued a reported 300,000 restraining orders against liberal Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan prohibiting them from hearing or ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges.
.
The case stems from the 6th Circuit Court's decision to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kentucky. According to their mandate in the U.S Constitution, the justices will decide whether states are required to issue marriage licenses between two people of the same sex, and whether states are required to recognize same-sex marriage licenses from other states under that section of the pesky document Republicans and evangelical fanatics refuse to acknowledge; the 14th Amendment guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law.
.
One of the pre-eminent religious arbiters of all things relating to the Supreme law of the land, president of Abiding Truth Ministries Scott Lively, has unilaterally disqualified Justices Kagan and Ginsburg from hearing or ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges because he decided "they have committed an unparalleled breach of judicial ethics by elevating the importance of their own favored political cause of gay rights above the integrity of the court and of our nation." As a typical religious hypocrite, Lively does not hold the conservatives on the High Court who attend churches preaching against homosexuality, or have been inordinately vocal in their opposition to gay rights to the same standards because something about god, bible, and traditional marriage. None of which have any relevance or impact whatsoever on the 14th Amendment or any part of the U.S. Constitution.
.
Source
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Texas Tea Party Rails Against 'Godless' and 'Socialistic' Preschool Funding
April 27, 2015 8:05 pm by: John Prager
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The Tea Party brain trust deficit is at it again, in Texas. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has broken GOP tradition and has proposed spending more money for existing half-day pre-schools to serve kids who come from poor and military households, and children who are learning English.
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"We must improve early education." Abbott said in a February speech to both chambers of the state legislature. However, some of Abbott's fellow Republican, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's advisors say that the socialist pre-K program creates a "Godless" environment for children.
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Patrick's Grassroots Advisory Board, which consists of "18 hand-picked Tea party consultants," slammed the House Bill that would enact the funding in a letter on Tuesday. The advisors said that children would be placed in a "godless environment" through the program. The eighteen Tea Partiers compared the program to something "historically promoted in socialistic [sic] countries."
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Patrick says that he did not read the letter until after it had been distributed, and that he did not authorize its release. "The letter in question was unsolicited and expresses the individual viewpoints of Texas citizens," spokesman Alejandro Garcia said on behalf of the governor.
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The Tea Party is not the only group that opposes aspects of the legislation. As Texas currently offers half-day pre-K to low income households, military families, and those learning English, the bill would do nothing to expand pre-K eligibility. Instead, it would provide money to improve the programs - something education groups and Democrats have called a half-measure.
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In response to the letter, Abbott spokeswoman Amelia Chasse issued a statement saying the plan is "a conservative antidote to ineffective pre-K programs" that adds accountability and implements higher standards, rather than the godless and 'socialistic" indoctrination scheme the Tea Party claims it is.
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Source
.
The Tea Party brain trust deficit is at it again, in Texas. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has broken GOP tradition and has proposed spending more money for existing half-day pre-schools to serve kids who come from poor and military households, and children who are learning English.
.
"We must improve early education." Abbott said in a February speech to both chambers of the state legislature. However, some of Abbott's fellow Republican, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's advisors say that the socialist pre-K program creates a "Godless" environment for children.
.
Patrick's Grassroots Advisory Board, which consists of "18 hand-picked Tea party consultants," slammed the House Bill that would enact the funding in a letter on Tuesday. The advisors said that children would be placed in a "godless environment" through the program. The eighteen Tea Partiers compared the program to something "historically promoted in socialistic [sic] countries."
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"We are experimenting at great cost to taxpayers with a program that removes our young children from homes and half-day religious preschools and mothers' day out programs to a Godless environment with only evidence showing absolutely NO LONG-TERM BENEFITS beyond the 1st grade," the letter read, in part. "This interference by the state tramples upon our parental rights. The early removal of children from parents' care is historically promoted in socialistic countries, not free societies which respect parental rights.".
Patrick says that he did not read the letter until after it had been distributed, and that he did not authorize its release. "The letter in question was unsolicited and expresses the individual viewpoints of Texas citizens," spokesman Alejandro Garcia said on behalf of the governor.
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The Tea Party is not the only group that opposes aspects of the legislation. As Texas currently offers half-day pre-K to low income households, military families, and those learning English, the bill would do nothing to expand pre-K eligibility. Instead, it would provide money to improve the programs - something education groups and Democrats have called a half-measure.
.
In response to the letter, Abbott spokeswoman Amelia Chasse issued a statement saying the plan is "a conservative antidote to ineffective pre-K programs" that adds accountability and implements higher standards, rather than the godless and 'socialistic" indoctrination scheme the Tea Party claims it is.
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Source
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