Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Plan Avoids Closing More Schools; Detroit to Save $99 Million by Privatizing 42 Schools; Time Magazine Fuels the Wisconsin Fire; Obama's Out of Touch Radio Address; Unions Protest in Maryland; Communist Party Ramps Up in America

From the Traverse City Record Eagle: Charter schools and private groups would take over 41 of Detroit's most academically challenged schools under a new plan the district's emergency financial manager proposed to cut costs by up to $99 million!  The new operators would pay to lease the school buildings.  The new costs per pupil to be educated would be $6187 per year, compared with the cost in 2009 of $12,838 per student... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2541514/posts  [It must therefore be asked: if for every 41 schools taken over by charter and private schools we save $99m, then if all 142 schools were taken over privately, wouldn't we the taxpayers possibly save $342 million?  One presumes that the best of the public school teachers would have to be hired just to fill the teaching positions, and the worst won't have to be hired.  The overhead of too many in administration, plus the extra costs of unionized teachers, would also be a cost savings.  The results they achieve could hardly be worse than those of the public school system.]
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Vision to America reveals: Republicans in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would declare English the official language of the United States and require the development of English language testing guidelines for those applying for U.S. citizenship.
The English Language Unity Act would set out a new chapter in U.S. code that imposes an obligation on U.S. officials to "preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government."
Part of this chapter would include a "uniform English language rule" holding that "all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance of the Constitution." http://visiontoamerica.org/story/gop-pushes-to-make-english-official-language-of-the-us.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Time Time Magazine Headline: Wisconsin's Governor Wins, but Is He Now Dead Man Walker?

The Wisconsin State Capitol had taken on an eerie quiet by late Friday. Gone were the throngs of protesters who had occupied its marble floors like it were a summer campground. The midnight honking of cars circling the white building had ceased. The chalk outlines around fake dead bodies etched with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's name remained in dismembered parts, not yet completely washed away by hoses.
It was the governor, however, who had walked away the legislative victor in the showdown. On Friday, as angry protesters chanted "Shame" and blew horns and vuvuzelas, Walker took up a dozen pens, one at a time, to sign into law a bill that not only takes away the ability of unions to bargain collectively over pensions and health care but also limits pay raises of public employees to the rate of inflation and ends automatic union dues collection by the state. It also requires public unions to recertify annually. It was a coup by Wisconsin Republicans against the labor movement in one of its strongholds.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2058601,00.html#ixzz1Gbc63qo0
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Fox News writes: A conflict approaching civil war in Libya. An end-times tsunami in Japan. A Congress that can't reach a budget. 
And ... gender inequality?
Amid chaos around the world and on Capitol Hill, Obama's Saturday radio address was devoted to Women's History Month and a call to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a proposal meant to address the income gap between men and women. Then, the president went golfing at Andrews Air Force Base. 
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The Baltimore Sun opines: As Maryland lawmakers prepare to make decisions in the coming weeks on budget cuts and pension reform, thousands of union members on Monday marched on Annapolis to send a message.  http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/2011/03/thousands_of_union_members_sto.html
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New Zeal "Promoting Liberty in New Zealand and Beyond) reveals: According to Communist Party National Chair Sam Webb;
"We need a bigger, bolder Communist Party if we are to meet the challenges of the day...With the all out attacks on workers rights' in Wisconsin and states across our nation, it is imperative that we build the Communist Party as we help build the grassroots movement for jobs and democracy..."
The Communist Party USA is organizing a "1st Annual CPUSA National Conference" to be held at the Party's Unity Center in New York, April 16-17.

In fact, Communist Party members are working in coalition with other progressive groups in helping lead many of the local fight back efforts.The planned conference is designed to bring communists and left and "progressive" activists together from all over the country to discuss, plan and act.

The Party  has also learned a thing or two from revolutions in Egypt and Libya and plans to step up its use of social media.
Central to the deliberations will be panel discussions highlighting many of the opportunities and challenges of building the Communist current in the working class and people's movement. Use of the working-class tools like PeoplesWorld.org and PoliticalAffairs.net and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are also on the agenda...
Conference participants will hear from activists "in the trenches" and discuss fight back strategies.  Participants will share experiences, map out plans, "deepen Marxist methodology and "get fired up" for the big challenges ahead." Everyone will leave the conference assigned with an "action item" to take back to their local communities. http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2011/03/communists-meet-to-plan-nationwide.html
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