I applaud the President for his statements
This is the first courageous statement he’s made in a while, and to do it at the beginning of what promises to be an ugly election season speaks a lot to his character.
June 28 - July 1, 2012 in Chicago, IL
Personally, I think this number is much, much higher. Probably closer to 30 million.
(Source: siddman)
San Francisco teachers voted overwhelmingly to support a strike Thursday night, with 97 percent saying yes in what was the first of two required votes.
“Last night the teachers of San Francisco sent a message loud and clear to the San Francisco Unified School District,” said Dennis Kelly, United Educators of San Francisco President, in a statement after votes were counted Friday. “It is time for the district to stop seeking unilateral cuts and sweeping program changes, and to start treating the teachers and paraprofessionals with respect and to recognize what we have done to keep this district afloat.”
About 1,900 teachers voted. A second vote required to give union leadership the ability to call a strike has not been scheduled.
Fuck yes. The union is pushing back on more cuts to the education budget and layoffs. Way to send a message.
Richard Grenell, the openly gay former Bush administration official who was Mitt Romney’s national security spokesperson for a couple weeks before resigning under pressure from social conservatives upset with his hiring, praised President Obama for publicly supporting same sex marriage Wednesday. Grenell, who is an advocate for same sex marriage, told Metro Weekly Obama “deserves credit for finally taking a stand in favor of equality.”
“If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking is freedom.” ~ President Dwight D Eisenhower
Who are they really scared of?
(Source: brooklynmutt)
The Catholic League announced Monday that Delta Air Lines had pulled its sponsorship of Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show following a boycott launched by the organization.
We’ve been hearing a lot about the war on women, which is real enough. But there’s also a war on the young, which is just as real even if it’s better disguised. And it’s doing immense harm, not just to the young, but to the nation’s future.
Let’s start with some advice Mitt Romney gave to college students during an appearance last week. After denouncing President Obama’s “divisiveness,” the candidate told his audience, “Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.”
The first thing you notice here is, of course, the Romney touch — the distinctive lack of empathy for those who weren’t born into affluent families, who can’t rely on the Bank of Mom and Dad to finance their ambitions. But the rest of the remark is just as bad in its own way.
I mean, “get the education”? And pay for it how? Tuition at public colleges and universities has soared, in part thanks to sharp reductions in state aid. Mr. Romney isn’t proposing anything that would fix that; he is, however, a strong supporter of the Ryan budget plan, which would drastically cut federal student aid, causing roughly a million students to lose their Pell grants.
So how, exactly, are young people from cash-strapped families supposed to “get the education”? Back in March Mr. Romney had the answer: Find the college “that has a little lower price where you can get a good education.” Good luck with that. But I guess it’s divisive to point out that Mr. Romney’s prescriptions are useless for Americans who weren’t born with his advantages.
… What should we do to help America’s young? Basically, the opposite of what Mr. Romney and his friends want. We should be expanding student aid, not slashing it. And we should reverse the de facto austerity policies that are holding back the U.S. economy — the unprecedented cutbacks at the state and local level, which have been hitting education especially hard.
Yes, such a policy reversal would cost money. But refusing to spend that money is foolish and shortsighted even in purely fiscal terms. Remember, the young aren’t just America’s future; they’re the future of the tax base, too.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste; wasting the minds of a whole generation is even more terrible. Let’s stop doing it.
Source:
Paul Krugman, The New York Times, “Wasting Our Minds.”
Go read the whole damned thing.
(via inothernews)
