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I note that Bastille Day (July 14th) is a month away . . . It is French.
We inspired them; they inspired us. Bastille Day is about the institution of good governance and the rule of law after a long bout of wasteful kleptocracy by a wholly self-centered ruling class. It is one all too rare example of the people winning over the economic elite in the wealthiest’s unending warfare against the people. It is pointing out that the whole of French history is not how quickly the French surrendered at Verdunin World War ll.
Frankly, if I have to celebrate a battle in Mexico every fifth of May, I think Americans should have a greeting card holiday that reminds us that America means more to the world than what Rondog Raygun sold us short into being.
Yes, the whole thing ended poorly for some . . . But I like being reminded that three men can enter a pub and a nation can be changed to the positive forever.
What does that Bastille Day (July 14th) mean to you?
Given that Governor Christie just got caught outsourcing (privatizing in Smurfy fascist terms) his state's education system to his wife's company . . . I think his decission to not run for President is a good thing as he may have to flee the country to avoid indictment.
With a second run for the presidency Obama will rake in at least another $100 million dollars if not another $150 million!!! Yes, I can live very well on $300 million. Thank you very much for the money!!! America is a cesspool and a garbage dump of filth, murder, hatred, corruption, and lies!!!
@jonstwartstwin, There could be nothing worse for this country and the rest of the world than a tsunami sweep of the GOP. You are absolutely right but I call them the way I see them!
If you have been reading my posts, you will know that I am not always right but I am never wrong!!!
For 38 years the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been forwarding thier agenda of privatization. ALEC's reasoning behind this is that government agencies and government regulations create an unfair competitive advantage for their private corporate sector members - thus regulations must be eliminated or government services / agencies must be privatized. I was kind of surprised yesterday when Thom was perplexed about the possibility of privatization of foster care and adoption , so I offer this diary link for review: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/01/971944/-ALEC-Experiments-on-America?via=history
People choose to associate what is happening in today's political arena with Reagan. But that is only part of the story, as the American Legisaltive Exchange Council has been slowly and drastically changing the face of our political envionrment for the past 38 years, through our state legislatures and through their past members who are now serving in the US Congress. Any discussion of how government, government services, politics and democracy in the US is changing is incomplete without including the extremely strong impact that ALEC is having on our political process.
There could be nothing worse for this country and the rest of the world than a tsunami sweep of the GOP. As Michelle Bachmann demonstrated 2 nights ago, the GOP is anti-science (no global warming/evolution), and hyper-religious (make their decisions based on myths perpetuated thousands of years ago). If that's what the country wants, so be it, but The Koch Bros and ginormous, unregulated corporations have a ton more money than the Dems, and have the potential buy any legislation and/or office they want... only an educated, informed, teleological, i.e PROGRESSIVE public can oppose the right wing money that has corrupted this country since the mid 19th century... instead of trolling the site, you should read some of Tom's books... there's no opinion/hyperbole, just information. PS. it's inaccurate and disingenuous to say that Obama seems to be elated to be a one term president... you know he didn't say that, and never mentioned elation...he said it wouldn't upset his family if he only served one term... let's keep it real, shall we?
regardless of Christie's intentions, his personal history makes his actions appear cronyistic... nepotistic... inappropriate... ps, if you're a high school physics teacher, you know that the lion's share of educational failure in this country is the result of a lack of parental support and guidance, not a couple of lame teachers.
If the so called free marketeers insist on their privatization agenda when will we answer with calls to nationalise the banks, oil companies, etc??
Letting the banksters dictate the rules about banking and finance is the same as letting bank robbers dictate the rules about bank robbery. DUH!!! Deregulation of the financial system is like deregulation of robbery, rape, and pillage. We can see the results. Do we want the world economy to degenerate into something akin to the wild west where murder robbery and mayhem go unchecked? The economy is like a snake who's head has been severed from it's body and, so far at least, niether the head or tail has gotten the memo.
I bought a new refrigerator about 9 months ago because the old one, a GE which I had for about 20 years, was eating up a little too much electricity and the compressor seemed to be running pretty hot and getting kinda noisy. I just spent a while transferring all of my food from the "new" refrigerator back to my old one, which still works, now in the garage because my new one was about to cause hundreds of dollars of food to spoil because it was failing to keep things cold/frozen. I won't name the model but suffice it to say that the "air" was in no way "frigid" and getting hotter by the minute. The freezer had warmed up to about 33 degrees and the refrigerator part was at about 58 degrees. I am happy now that I didn't have the old refrigerator hauled off as it was a good storage cabinet...but now back to being a refrigerator again. They just don't make stuff as reliable as they used to. The new frig had a 1 year original warranty and I will have to call the repair men...hoping they don't try a fast one on me saying that they wouldn't cover the warranty because of something or other. We'll see.
Americans will see a tsunami sweep for the GOP in 2012. Obama seems to be elated with only a one term presidency. He should be with the massive wealth he has from the coffers of his first win. He should be able to add another $100 million to his $170 million in his current trust fund. A $270 million haul for four years in office should please Obama even more!!!
Regarding Force
Objectivists and Libertarians live in the mythical world where taxes are force but the women at the Triangle shirt factory are volunteers. They are fine with the owner of the only water source in the desert charging $100 a glass. They think the Generals should get all of the credit for the victory and that the privates should praise their Dear Leader for allowing them to serve him.
reply to #36 David, I echo your sentiment regarding the hypocrisy of it all. The thing thats really sad is ,due to economic woes, many of the young people serving are simply there for employment and educational opportunities. I have a nephew and friends whose kids serve. I assure you, my nephew could care less about religion or politics, he just wants to be an auto mechanic. As usual a few of our so called leaders, due to bad judgement and greedy intentions, "big oil" , have lead many innocent citizens to a hellish nightmare with far reaching consequences for both them and the so called enemy, most of whom, as you know, are impoverished innocent victims themselves.
Well stated. Too many teachers, believe schools are built to give them jobs. Schools are built to educate students. I'm a retired executive, who now does substitute teaching.
David good job! I can't imagine all the hard work those top 400 with more wealth than the bottom 150 million put into that unearned income every year. WHEW!!!!!! It makes me exhausted to think about it......all those phone calls to the hedge fund manager, got to cash in on all those losers stuck in their 401K's.
I agree with Thom, Christie is all about good old fashion cronyism, using political ideology as the disguise/ justification.
Does anyone doubt that, on average, private schools provide greater opportunity for an educational future? Even if you leave out facts such as children who attend private or charter schools statistically score higher on math and English tests, produce higher grades in college and earn higher wages after college, you still have to consider that private school attendees have a greater chance of being accepted to a college or university.
New Jersey is a tough situation. If it was any other industry, any other issue, I would default to my skeptical self and determine that Christie is probably shaping policy for monetary incentives. However, I feel too strongly about this, thus I am very uncomfortable assuming Christie, or anyone, does not have similar feelings. This is one issue that I really do believe that the ends justify the means. I do not care how we get there, but we need to improve the educational system now. And with that caveat, there is only one way to get there quickly and that is to exploit human nature, fight evolution, regress, and promote competition. I know I will stand alone among my colleagues and friends, but on this issue, I do not care. We have to rid the system of incompetent teachers. We have to end tenure for teachers. I understand the reason for the creation of tenure; however, we all know this is not what was intended. Education is the most critical issue to the future of this country. Oh yeah, by the way, I am a high school physics teacher.
One can only be Truffaldino for so long.
OOOOO
What should be done?
A person must choose between a career in civil service or private business. Apparently the play "Servant of Two Masters" is no longer taught.
XXXXX
Oh yes, those poor, poor rich people. So severely abused throughout all history, under-represented in government when they have been represented at all, and with every law that the middle class forces congress to pass, the misfortunes of the sorrowful rich are multiplied. My heart just bleeds for those neglected rich people who have always had to bear such an unfair burden for the selfish, rotten bastards in the middle class. When the middle class wants roads, schools, hospitals, telephone service, tv, cable, food, water, clothing, cars, houses, and other complete and total crap that they do not need at all, who pays for those services and goods? The rich and the corporations, that's who! The middle class people sit there in their nice houses, ordering the rich people around just like they have always done. Get me a drink of water. Cook me some food and feed it to me. Dress me. Do my laundry. Mow my lawn. Pay for my kids' education. I tell you, there is no rest for the rich. And if you can name ONE middle class person who has ever paid even one penny in taxes, I will eat some broccoli. I'm not joking, I'll do it.
But sarcasm aside, let's get back to the topic at hand: it's obvious what to do with governor Christie: put him in a Haliburton-owned prison. No, not as the warden but as a prisoner.
Seems to me, that the rich are already paying for the majority of our civilization, perhaps they should pay for it all.
Does the same apply to the recent house, senate, and president all from the same party?
Is. it possible that he simply believes in it
How do they propose to reinstate it? I doubt it would get through the Senate.
I was a teacher in Chula Vista Elementary Schools when Edison stole one of the public schools to convert to a charter run by them. They promised the moon to the Board and took teachers off the District Contract and put them on a pay scale that was not comensorate with the one teachers were barely scraping by on then. The first year they juked the test scores to make them look good and tried to explain why they didn't have to test their special ed students. At the time we, the CVE (Chula Vista Educators) were in a fight with the district and Pete Wilson because we had gone some 4 or 5 years without a pay raise to the class and step scale that teachers were paid on. All of this is to say that these guys started out hinky and this is just further proof that they are indeed crooks and should never, ever get another school charter approved from any Public School District.
Bonsai