The SCrOTUmS approved government sponsored Christian prayer too. That's a building block for fascism, it codefies intolerance.

Naturally, this NDAA decision gets no media coverage.

If all schools were adequately funded and provided for in this country, choosing a school wouldn't be so important and we wouldn't have this caste system separating the rich kids from all the rest.

Every weekend about 30-40 people are shot in Chicago, mostly young minorities with gang ties - mostly the products of the public school system. I'm sure they're eager to hear about a good-on-paper-but-never-going-to-happen Progressive ideal. Or, how this is all Reagan's fault.

Ok sorry, that was a little over the top and out of line. I apologize.

Quote : I gather you have no allegiance to the teachers' unions. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm sort of torn. They make way more money than me, which I indirectly pay for. My property taxes rose 66% a few years back, mostly to cover pensions for retired teachers, not pay for new ones. But, it's easy for me to say, because I am not trying to raise a family with my paycheck - my bills are paid either way. I think you would classify my views as a "race to the bottom". I would gladly work for less than a public school teacher, but I am in a unique situation.

It overlooks the moral bankruptcy of any company that pays one higher-up nine million dollars for a year's "work", while steadfastly refusing to pay its real workersenough to live on. That is indefensible, no matter how you slice if or dice it.

Or, from a different point of view, is the purpose of McDonalds to provide food, provide jobs, or provide income for the shareholders and franchise owners? It's technically the franchise owner's and shareholder's possession. Usually when I teach, I have a Dunkin Donuts cup in my hand. And when I teach basic economics to my students, I point out to them that Dunkin Donuts could not care less if I drank that coffee. There purpose is to get my money, which they already did.

If there's one thing we can agree on, Matt, it's that this blog is addictive; also that debating people with different opinions can be fun. But I still do get pretty annoyed with conservatives at times, i must admit…

ChicagoMatt: Oh, I see!

Quote ChicagoMatt: I perssonally witnessed frozen maggots on the tops of cases of burger patties when they were delivered. We brushed them off on the conveyor belt between the truck and the freezer, so they didn't make it inside.

Quote wikipedia:President Theodore Roosevelt had described Sinclair as a "crackpot" because of the writer's socialist positions.[12] He wrote privately to William Allen White, "I have an utter contempt for him. He is hysterical, unbalanced, and untruthful. Three-fourths of the things he said were absolute falsehoods. For some of the remainder there was only a basis of truth."[13] After reading The Jungle, Roosevelt agreed with some of Sinclair's conclusions. The president wrote "radical action must be taken to do away with the efforts of arrogant and selfish greed on the part of the capitalist."[14] He assigned the Labor Commissioner Charles P. Neill and social worker James Bronson Reynolds to go to Chicago to investigate some meat packing facilities.

Marc & Chuck, thanks for the kudos. Always appreciated.

To answer your question, Marc, Thom did suggest a minimum guaranteed income for all Americans regardless of employment status. Check out his thread of March 28th, with the heading: "It's Time For A Basic Minimum Income". It's a concept I applaud.

Matt, I'm all for "choice" when it comes to what books to read, what food to eat, what style clothes to wear and what brand of tennis shoes I want to buy. If all schools were adequately funded and provided for in this country, choosing a school wouldn't be so important and we wouldn't have this caste system separating the rich kids from all the rest. If we had a decent universal nonprofit system of healthcare delivery here, we would not be encumbered with a million insurance policies to choose from either (each with reams & reams of small-print drivel for us hapless souls to have to wade through). Point being, there is only so much choice that is truly beneficial to us and our quality of life.

I gather you have no allegiance to the teachers' unions. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Your argument in defense of CEOs is downright silly. It overlooks the moral bankruptcy of any company that pays one higher-up nine million dollars for a year's "work", while steadfastly refusing to pay its real workers enough to live on. That is indefensible, no matter how you slice if or dice it. No one "makes" nine million bucks a year. And did you know that companies like McDonald's and Walmart have been guilty of wage theft? I'd like to encourage you to read that last paragraph of Marc's post #165, if you haven't already.

Socialism would work great here if only people could get more educated about what socialism actually is, and stop going ballistic at the very sound of the word. American's are so goddam brainwashed about such things, it really is pathetic. Regardless of one's culture, value system, history, ethnicity, etc. we all need a functioning. affordable, nonprofit postal service, we all need utilities, law enforcement, a fire department, libraries, medical facilities and transportation. And we all need to be educated. You needn't have the same values, beliefs, etc. to share such things were they socialized, as I believe they should be.

If there's one thing we can agree on, Matt, it's that this blog is addictive; also that debating people with different opinions can be fun. But I still do get pretty annoyed with conservatives at times, i must admit… - Aliceinwonderland

Quote Chris Hedges:... if we do not rapidly build militant mass movements to overthrow corporate tyranny, including breaking the back of the two-party duopoly that is the mask of corporate power, we will lose our liberty.
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Now, a U.S. citizen charged by the government with “substantially supporting” al-Qaida, the Taliban or those in the nebulous category of “associated forces”—some of the language of Section 1021(b)(2)—is lawfully subject to extraordinary rendition on U.S. soil. And those seized and placed in military jails can be kept there until “the end of hostilities.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_post-constitutional_era_20140504

But what exactly does "substantially supporting" mean anyway? It's ambiguous.
And if they can do that to any of us that they claim fits that accusation why is our government "substantially supporting" Al Qaeda in Syria? How can our own government get away with supporting Al Qaeda in Syria and even the Nazi's in Ukraine? How can our own government support Saudi Arabia when they commit human rights abuses? The King is imprisoning two of his grown daughters just because their mother divorced the King and escaped to London. They had a piece on this on Russia Today TV..and interviewed the mother.

We should have listened to Eisenhower's warning about the ruling upper class power elite and the military industrial complex ruling us all! By then it was already too late. They created the Vietnam war to try out new war technology. Killed off more then 5 times the names on the memorial walls. My friend Danny is not on that wall memorial. His legs were blown off and he later died from morphine overdose. Only the names of those killed over there are on the wall. I remember the night of his wedding as he and his new wife were in tears instead of joyful bliss. He got his draft notice. He had to go kill in the jungle whether he wanted to or not. The wall should be five times the size. Danny's name should be on that wall. The words on our constitution are just words. Danny died for nothing.

We lost the war for a future when Reagan-Bush and the oil corps took down the solar panels on the white house. We should have listend to Carter's warnings about the need to invest in green energy. We cannot get back 40 lost years. The Thermus Maximus event and mass extinction is the price we pay for our cowardice and apathy. All for simple conveniences, self interests and greed. There is no defense dept, health care system, science community or economic system that will reverse the boiling methane collecting in our atmosphere.

Unless we figure a way to freeze the poles and lock in methane and make inert the present volume mushrooming in the sky, then we are all doomed. All living creatures out of balance with nature are doomed to extinction. We are no exception.

What will be the glorious words we leave engraved on our epitaph? Will they be as noble as our constitution? Shoot it out into space and plant it on the moon with a flag? We have become insane apes out of balance with nature destroying a planet.

The best ones are when it is not a classroom setting.

I converted a closet in my house into a recording room. My videos are just my hand writing things on a marker board, in fast-motion, with me doing a voiceover, explaining what my hand is writing. Throw in a few graphics and background music, and wha-la! It's a little time consuming, but can be used year after year. It gives me time to come on here and blog during class, since the students are watching me teach on their Ipads.

This is probably a testament as to the mindset of today's young teens, but they pay more attention to anything presented to them on a computer screen than they would in real life. I could put a camera in front of me, have half of the students in my class and the other half down the hall, watching the same thing via livestream, and the students down the hall would understand the concept I just taught better than those in the room, because they paid more attention.

I do all of this on Macs. I just counted, and there are twelve Apple products in my house, for a total of about $5,000. I think they are notorious for keeping their profits overseas, but their products make my life so much easier, and my teaching so much better. I don't think I can boycott them.

Plus, at Chicago's 10.25 percent tax rate, that's about $512 in taxes the Feds, state, and city got from me thanks to these purchases. So I guess I helped the local economy a little.

You sound like you're sold on privatized education,

No. I am sold on school choice, where the taxpayer funds are attached to the student, not the school, and that student can take those funds to any school they want, including a private one if they want. A policy which is very popular among underserved minorities in Chicago, by the way. But not so popular with the unions.

If you're against progressive ideals, you reject the notion of us all "being in this together" and think it's every person for him/herself, that we don't need to care about each other in a society shared by all.

I think we only disagree on the borders of that society. Many Progressive ideals (or Conservative ones for that matter) work well on a smaller scale. I think this is part of the reason Socialism works so well in the small, homogenous countries of Europe - where people have a shared culture, value system, history, etc... And not the 300-million-plus hodgepodge of value systems we have here.

If you'd prefer a more appreciative audience for your take on reality, you've come to the wrong forum. Seems to me that someone would have to be a glutton for punishment, posting that shit here on such an ongoing basis.

I actually enjoy the debate. It's no fun talking to people who think like you all day. (Talking to and debating with, not necessarily voting with...) Maybe i am a glutton for punishment. Never thought about it. I was told once that I am a contrarian - just taking the opposite side of an issue to be different. But I was a teenager then.

This blog is kind of addicting. I find myself checking it before I check the weather in the morning.

chuckleB

As it was under Eisenhower - very good thing - and should be done immediately.

Quote ChicagoMatt:I was just reading another of Thom's posts about having a minimum salary for everyone, even if they don't have a job.

Anyone ~ I'm totally blown away from that statement. When did Thom suggest that? I certainly don't remember. I remember him suggesting this for people who have full time jobs. Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyone...

Quote ChicagoMatt:Judging someone as being "too rich" is just as bad as a tea partier juding someone as being a "welfare queen". You're both still judging people.

ChicagoMatt ~ Really? So if I think that a CEO of say McDonald's who is taking home $9,200/hr as opposed to $9/hr that their better employees make is unfair, than you are right. What do these CEO's do anyway, lay golden eggs? No CEO, executive, manager, or shareholder should ever make more than 30 times what their least earning employee makes. Any more than that simply isn't justifiable. 1000 times is wrong by any standard. Also, it is completely illogical that anyone involved in any food industry can pull in a greater income than the President of the United States. It's immoral! It's wrong! It's obscene! It's bad for business! And, it is completely unfair!!

Pay of McDonald's and Starbuck's CEO's

That is nothing more than money stolen out of the pockets of the workers--the very people who actually earned it.

The very idea that these workers are referred to applying for under poverty social net programs and are supplemented by you and I just so that their CEO's can go on stealing their money infuriates me. It should infuriate you too because they are also stealing your money.

Aliceinwonderland ~ I stand with chuckle8 on that one. Bravo. Well said!! Very, very, well said!!!!