The Facts on Education

Much praise has been heaped on Davis Guggenheim's movie "Waiting for Superman" which is part of a recent wave of propaganda aimed against teachers and public education. Recently Newsweek ran a front page story proclaiming "We Must Fire Bad Teachers!" It sounds peculiar because anybody who suggested that all the problems with the health care system were caused by "bad doctors" would be accused of simplism.
Much the same can be said about the new anti-teacher movement.

The important thing to remember is that we don't have a "system" of public education because every school district in this country is basically a system into itself. While some school districts have problems, it is not fair or accurate to imply that the problems of one district reflect on all the others. The New York City School District's "Rubber Room" is a problem peculiar to that district.

Another big issue is teacher tenure, which supposedly allows "bad teachers" to stay in their jobs. But in fact, half of all teachers quit after 5 years, while in New York City the attrition rate is 25% after two years. It seems that the real problem isn't the retention of "bad" teachers but the loss of good ones.

I emphasize this because education is important for democracy. A free society cannot be based upon an ignorant population which can be fooled by junk history, junk science, and junk economics.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/pdf/govpub/1024teachersal.pdf

Obama's Biggest Mistakes

1. Keeping Robert Gates as Defense Secretary. Keeping Gates as Secretary of Defense meant that the administration tied itself to the same failed policies, especially in Afghanistan.

2. Not Breaking Up the Big Media Monopolies. The Obama administration should have moved to break-up the big media monopolies, which spew right-wing propaganda and are currently rooting for the GOP in the upcoming elections.

3. Trusting the leadership at BP. A lot of people were willing to make the same mistake. Still BP had acquired a lousy track record in terms of safety; remember the Texas City of Fire of 2005 and the Alaska pipeline oil spill of 2006.

Joe Barton: Big Oil Whore

Rep. Joe Barton, Rebub from Texas, apologized to the BP CEO and accused the Obama administration of "shaking down" the company. It's not surprising considering that Barton has received more than 1.5 million in campaign donations from oil companies. Still, you'd think that at least he wouldn't show it off in public.

http://news.yahoo.com

GOP Double-talk on Oil Spill

To be a Repub means being a whore of Big Oil, in this case BP. As the mess continues to grow, and the costs continue to mount, the Repubs continue to demand that the Obama administration lift the moratorium on off shore drilling. So we can have more oil spills? Meanwhile Michael Bloomberg, who may be called the Heidi Fleiss of corporate whores, says we "shouldn't blame BP." Then there's House Repub Leader John Boehner saying that the Federal Government should "take responsibility."

The funny thing is that Repubs tell us that the Federal Government isn't supposed to feed people or provide them with jobs or healthcare. But cleaning up after the messes made by the corporate over class is "everybody's" responsibility. Does this add up? Hell no!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/10

The Abominable Dr. Paul

When looking at Rand Paul, the golden boy of the tea party, one question comes to mind: how could someone that stupid get into medical school? He continues to tie himself in knots explaining why he's both for and against the civil rights act, and how he doesn't have a problem with racial discrimination and yet at the same time he thinks racism is wrong. It's clear that he has a problem with Black people, though he should at least have the sense to hide it. That's a big component of politics; sometimes you have to work with people you don't like.

He's also an anti-abortion fanatic, who believes that life begins at conception. How can anyone with any medical knowledge can believe that garbage is a mystery. And let's not forget his spirited defense of BP and it's appalling safety record. Paul is supposedly an ophthalmologist but he needs to get his own vision checked.