HINT:
Shouting “Shame!” on Wisconsin Assembly floor before “union-busting” budget bill vote
Do you think Gov. Walker has bitten off more than he can chew? I do. Yesterday I watched a few interviews, read some quotes he has made and the guy isn’t an intellectual heavy-weight.
Another member of the GOP who thinks all publicity is equal. They make laughing stocks of themselves, their party, their supporters.
I refer you to the NPR article on violent groups. The GOP is represented by many who speak for them as being one of those violent groups! If there are thoughtful conservatives they should police their own side and disavow these extremists or they are continuing to allow these absurdities to reflect their values.
The Secret Service will be visiting with the person who posed that question, then the next step will be to take the evidence to a Federal Grand Jury and ask for an indictment…
wiki — Threatening the President of the United States is a class D felony under United States Code Title 18, Section 871. It consists of knowingly and willfully mailing or otherwise making “any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States”.
The way the U.S. Congressman handled it will likely be addressed also!
These are people who were silent during the previous administration when their concerns were valid. These are people who take guns to their protests (well, guns and lawn chairs as they can’t really be expected to stand up!). They’re sore-losers, they’re people who are so ill-informed they believe bumper sticker explanations, they listen to Rush and Beck and after they’ve been riled up by the lies (lies they easily they buy into) they’re pretty much capable of anything.
I ask you to look at all the examples and ponder Maya Angelou’s quote: “The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
You’ve been shown who the GOP is more than once. It’s time to believe them!
Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight…”
——
wicked – I grew up with that song. But I also noticed in most churches, their picture of Jesus is that of a white man.
I have often wondered how many of these so-called Religious Right would be appalled at the sight of the real Jesus. After all, Jesus was born in the Middle East region of the world and how many white men were in existence there?
indy, a friend and I were just talking about the “Irish Jesus” the other night.
My mom had a picture of Jesus that she took absolutely everywhere with her. 8×10 in a tacky metal frame, I suspect she picked it out of the trash somewhere, as she wasn’t a garage sale person. She called it “Laughing Jesus.” Whoever posed for this had a very bad overbite and redish brown hair. He was laughing. I avoided looking at it because I would start laughing the second I saw it.
When my mother died and the gentleman at the mortuary asked if there was anything we’d like to put in the casket (there was a drawer for keepsakes), I said, “Yes, the picture of laughing Jesus.” My daughters unanimously agreed. He thought we were kidding. We weren’t. She now has it with her on her journey to wherever. May she and the picture both RIP. I do wonder if she’s in for a big surprise and what Jesus will say when she asks him to autograph it. 😉
Al Jazeera on Egypt’s Revolt Against Neoliberalism
snip
What is neoliberalism? In his Brief History of Neoliberalism, the eminent social geographer David Harvey outlined “a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterised by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.” Neoliberal states guarantee, by force if necessary, the “proper functioning” of markets; where markets do not exist (for example, in the use of land, water, education, health care, social security, or environmental pollution), then the state should create them.
Guaranteeing the sanctity of markets is supposed to be the limit of legitimate state functions, and state interventions should always be subordinate to markets. All human behavior, and not just the production of goods and services, can be reduced to market transactions.
And the application of utopian neoliberalism in the real world leads to deformed societies as surely as the application of utopian communism did…..
The only people for whom Egyptian neoliberalism worked “by the book” were the most vulnerable members of society, and their experience with neoliberalism was not a pretty picture. Organised labor was fiercely suppressed. The public education and the health care systems were gutted by a combination of neglect and privatization. Much of the population suffered stagnant or falling wages relative to inflation. Official unemployment was estimated at approximately 9.4% last year (and much higher for the youth who spearheaded the January 25th Revolution), and about 20% of the population is said to live below a poverty line defined as $2 per day per person.
“The protest can continue, but the party is almost over,” the Wisconsin State Journal adds. “Come Saturday, nearly two weeks after it started, the non-stop, drum-circle chant-a-thon that has consumed the state Capitol could officially end. Lawmakers approved a rule change this week that clears the way for Capitol police to close down the statehouse at 6 p.m. on Saturday and end the biggest rally in recent memory. The only question now is whether Gov. Scott Walker will ask the officers to enforce the rule.”
Intellectual heavy-weight? He was picked for his ability to be controlled. The bottom line: he sold his state to the Koch Brothers.
Walker has no empathy; he won’t start negotiating until he has some personal risk. The Wisconsinites need to pull their head out of the cheese and start a recall petition.
Oh, they received an education and probably a good one. They didn’t pay attention. They didn’t care and didn’t want to learn, so they ignored it all, slept through class, barely passed, etc. It’s called laziness.
Some people don’t take the opportunities they’re offered.
The oracle of frago seez teachers as an obstacle to the privatization of education. I foresee digital classrooms beamed to you from cheap labor foreign skoolz. Curriculum courtesy of newscorp lackeys and you thought it was about ideology, silly liberals. There’s yearly fees to be levied upon the tax base. Follow the money.
Murdoch buys education tech company Wireless Generation
by Anna Phillips
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation took its second step into the education world this evening when it made a deal to buy Wireless Generation, a Brooklyn-based education technology company.
Murdoch took his first step nearly two weeks ago, when he acquired the chancellor of New York City’s public schools, Joel Klein. In an announcement that took most of his staff and top advisors by surprise, Klein told reporters that he was leaving the Department of Education for a job at News Corp., where he will be an executive vice president overseeing investments in digital learning companies.
After Klein resigned, News Corp. officials told The New York Times that they planned to make “seed investments” in entrepreneurial education companies. The acquisition of Wireless Generation may be the first of these investments.
“Wireless Generation is positioned to grow aggressively, and it was the right time in the company’s journey to find a home where it will have access to the resources it needs to fuel that aggressive growth,” said spokeswoman Andrea Reibel in a statement.
Reibel would not comment on when talks began, but said the deal was finalized this evening. For $360 million in cash, News Corp. now owns 90 percent of Wireless Generation, a company with 400 employees.
“When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the U.S. alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed by big breakthroughs that extend the reach of great teaching,” said News Corporation Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch in a statement.
“Wireless Generation is at the forefront of individualized, technology-based learning that is poised to revolutionize public education for a new generation of students,” he said.
frago, I’ll disagree with your assessment to some degree. First, while it may be true that some people jump on the bandwagon for Murdoch’s type of education, there are still those out there who know the difference between good and bad when it comes to teaching and education. Some are teachers, but there are a lot of parents out there who are looking for the real deal.
My youngest daughter is finishing high school via an accredited school that is taught via computer. She learns at home. She will receive a legitimate diploma, not a worthless piece of paper or even a GED, but a diploma from a real school, as this course is offered through a real school. Believe me, slacking off doesn’t work for these students. I know her curriculum, what she’s studying, if her work is done or not and her grades. I can pick up the phone and talk to her mentor or any one of her teachers. Even the administration. In another year and a half (or less!) she’ll graduate in a real graduation ceremony. She’s already attended prom. This is her third year. She’s a junior. She has GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) and got to the point where she couldn’t attend traditional school without having a major panic attack and meltdown.
And maybe, just maybe, this will be one thing where Murdoch fails. We can always hope, right? 🙂
I’m beyond finger-crossing. I’ve moved on to prayer. 🙂
If Wisconsin can be defeated, then the rest of the nutcases out there trying to do the same will hopefully give up, and we can get back to common sense and democracy.
I had some fun with these guys. For some reason, they think our office phone is a residence, and don’t listen to how it is answered. When Rajib from Bangalore launched into his script, I thought that since I hadn’t had any fun for a while, I’d play. Unfortunately, he must have begun to get suspicious just when I was getting ready to spring; an abrupt “I’m sorry” then dead air. Sigh… I really wanted to play, but he took all his marbles and went home.
I do want to make a comment on the cartoon in the topic threader above.
If Republicans claim that government has never created a single job – then how can they explain the military recruiting and hiring people?
Does a military career not count as a ‘real’ job?
Also – I had suspicions ever since the 2008 presidential campaign that Republicans are beating that war drum. I still remember John McCain singing his bomb, bomb, bomb Iran song.
Republicans are loudly proclaiming ‘we’re broke’ – so how are they going to pay for their agenda of another war or two?
Oh, I forgot, these are the folks that put war costs ‘off budget’. I guess that means that money is not to be counted as debt.
these are the same folks that must think if abortions are illegal – then no abortions will happen. Again – if not seen or talked about, then it must not real – correct?
If you wish to visit GOP Fantasyland – just hop on your purple unicorn and put on your tea-bag stapled hat and say the magic words – REAGAN, REAGAN, REAGAN
I suspect frago has hit the nail on its head – Republican Conservatives love to privatize everything – and schools will be a major feather in their cap.
Furthermore, as I am sure we are all aware, this Wisconsin Walker trying to bust the unions is just another feather in that privatization cap.
But I wonder – will those privatization contracts be handed out to those who can do the best job or will it be the good ol’ boys network (like it always seems to be?)
Oh, silly me, why even ask that question…..I already know the answer – don’t I?
This is the way I see it. Capitalism doesn’t work well in a flat to declining environment. This is a consumer driven economy. Aging boomers simply do not spend enough for new consumer growth. Generations behind the boomers do not have the cash. What’s left the tax base.
Wonder why jobs aren’t being created here? The masters of the universe do not see the demand here. Ergo jobs go overseas where they think the market is.
As an added benefit of busting the teachers union/public unions, a major source of funding leaves the Dem. opposition. Funding dries up for the Dems. They start humping the corporate leg. At least thats my opinion.
I’ve read quite a few diplomatic cables from Wikileaks, the government is really an arm of corporate Amerika.
As is apparent from some of my earlier posts, you and I see many of the same things. I started contemplating a bit of this at a relatively young age, and now, having entered my seventh decade, am a bit amazed at the accuracy of my early thoughts. I might add I’m a bit disgusted that so much of such early thinking, finely honed during long evenings discussing the universe and other things at that fine Lawrence establishment fondly known as “The Wheel”, has been accurate rather than the product of voluntary ingestion of cereal malt beverages (3.2% alcohol content).
I also see this sudden urge to deport all illegals as just another arm of the Republican agenda.
Back when jobs were plentiful, don’t you remember these same Republicans saying that our country ‘needed’ these illegals to do the jobs Americans don’t want?
Well, now that Republicans had 8 years to crash the economy, those plentiful jobs are now gone and not coming back anytime soon – if ever.
So NOW we hear from Republicans how we need to deport all these illegals and do it NOW…..
As I see it – the illegals are in the way of keeping those cheap labor jobs that now the Americans need to work in order to keep Corporate America fat, happy and sassy.
and then bust unions – and hey, cheap labor is the name of the game.
What is really sad and makes me the most angry is the fact we have so-called religious people and their churches applauding this agenda.
I don’t think the religious people look beyond abortion. The Republicans (read Reagan here) convinced them they would get Roe v Wade overturned. It is only because of the evil democrats that hasn’t yet happened. So you need to get more and more of your church friends to vote, get us in power at every level and we’ll get it done.
I’ll add that I think a large majority of these religious people honestly believe they will stop the mass killing of babies. They don’t even think beyond that. They have never faced the realities, it’s beyond their comprehension. I’m not talking about beyond their ability to understand or that they aren’t smart enough, it’s just that they are so very isolated in their thinking and they trust so few. Sadly, so many they do trust aren’t trustworthy. They’ve been indoctrinated to the point they can believe such nonsense as young earth, they honestly have been brain washed.
Large majorities of people ignore all things political. Some of them may go vote, but it’s an uninformed vote. Others are those we often refer to as single-issue voters. They are the gun-nuts, the religious righties… They listen to the NRA or their preachers — they vote how they’re told. All the rest is just not interesting to them and they have full, busy lives that don’t leave room for what doesn’t interest them.
2 Timothy 3:13 (King James Version):
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Do you think the so-called religious people are asking who is doing the deceiving or who is being deceived? These are the kind of people that are easily used — they do it in the name of God.
My Mother tells me all about what the preacher said, what the people she goes to church with said… My Mother is a kind, gentle, loving soul. She is smart as a whip too. But she has been warned…
fnord – I agree with everything you said about these so-called religious people.
And I know there are some geniune and sincere people in this population of voters that truly believe what they are being told.
But how can anyone ignore the fact that George W. Bush and fellow Republicans had 6 total years (count them 2000- 2006) and not one single attempt to overturn Roe v Wade was made.
No one in that right-wing population ever thought to ask why?
I believe in God but my God gave me a brain with which to think. My God also gave me the free will to think and the free will to act on what I learn. I do not just follow any preacher blindly – especially those born-again fundamental church people who seem to possess the most narrow-minded view of all. And boy do these people love to have a feudal fight.
Nothing is more hateful, or scary, than people who are convinced they are God’s chosen people and then, and only they, have the answers. And some of these people also truly believe they will be helping God hand out the sentencing to hell on Judgment Day.
I must have missed that memo when God sent it out. My Bible tells me that we are all sinners – and by the word all – He means ALL…
I wonder why the Republicans who supported Bush when he lifted the sanctions on this dictator are so quiet now? I posted an article upthread about Bush’ action and how US businesses and defense contractors have had their fingers in this pie that now seems to be blowing up…
Hey – those town hall Tea Party Republicans were the Depends Crowd – so why wouldn’t the younger version of the same political animals be in the piss-ant business?
But I think they are turning alot of moderates and Independents off – and that will show up in the 2012 election – IMHO
Frago posted a link to this article earlier (or to a blog that contained this article). I want to add my recommendation. It’s a long article well worth each second spent reading. It’s like reading about what is on the way with perfect examples of what to look out for, to avoid, to fight against. Yes, it’s supposed to be about Egypt, but there is a section titled ‘Parallels with America,’ and so much to be learned.
—————-
A revolution against neoliberalism?
— snip —
“To describe blatant exploitation of the political system for personal gain as corruption misses the forest for the trees. Such exploitation is surely an outrage against Egyptian citizens, but calling it corruption suggests that the problem is aberrations from a system that would otherwise function smoothly. If this were the case then the crimes of the Mubarak regime could be attributed simply to bad character: change the people and the problems go away. But the real problem with the regime was not necessarily that high-ranking members of the government were thieves in an ordinary sense. They did not necessarily steal directly from the treasury. Rather they were enriched through a conflation of politics and business under the guise of privatization. This was less a violation of the system than business as usual. Mubarak’s Egypt, in a nutshell, was a quintessential neoliberal state.
What is neoliberalism? In his Brief History of Neoliberalism, the eminent social geographer David Harvey outlined “a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterised by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.” Neoliberal states guarantee, by force if necessary, the “proper functioning” of markets; where markets do not exist (for example, in the use of land, water, education, health care, social security, or environmental pollution), then the state should create them.
Guaranteeing the sanctity of markets is supposed to be the limit of legitimate state functions, and state interventions should always be subordinate to markets. All human behavior, and not just the production of goods and services, can be reduced to market transactions.
And the application of utopian neoliberalism in the real world leads to deformed societies as surely as the application of utopian communism did.”
Although it skims the news they’ve decided you may want to hear, I have recently enjoyed First Read from NBC News. Today it covers several stories I found interesting, including one that lists the GOP field for 2012. They conclude Romney realizes he’s going to get hit with health care, so he’s owning it, using state’s rights as his defense.
Here it is. If you haven’t read it, I think you’ll find at least one story interesting —
Have you heard this one? Seems Providece R.I. wants to lay off all their teachers at one time.
I just happened to watch the news coverage about this not more than an hour ago. When asked why the board did not elect to fire everyone – they kept comng back to the talking point ‘they need flexibility’.
But notice the last sentence in this article – these folks again are stating that ‘shared sacrifices are needed’.
I agree shared sacrifices are needed to solve a budget crisis – but how is busting unions a shared sacrifice and did any corporate/business get any tax breaks and/or subsidized cancelled due to this budget crisis?
This is not good news. Seems the US economy will be 3rd largest by 2050. China will be 1st by 2020 but India is fast approaching to surpass China by 2030.
I wonder if this has anything to do with Sarah Palin being a keynote speaker in India in the next few months? She is giving a speech on her vision of America. I guess that version is to simply go and find out where more Amerian companies can get taxpayer subsidies to outsource some more American jobs.
It is surprising to find out a Deep South state is the most conservative? Hmmm……..aren’t they the states most likely to receive more in federal money than they send in???
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
good morning triple p
posted for your inspection
HINT:
Shouting “Shame!” on Wisconsin Assembly floor before “union-busting” budget bill vote
Do you think Gov. Walker has bitten off more than he can chew? I do. Yesterday I watched a few interviews, read some quotes he has made and the guy isn’t an intellectual heavy-weight.
I give him lots and lots of credit for re-energizing democrats! We were a languid bunch and he gave us vigor and vitality!
This is how revolutions are born.
i’m shocked at the shocking statements
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/paul-broun-town-hall-who-is-going-to-shoot-obama_n_828047.html
Another take on the same ‘situation.’
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/republican_party/index.html?story=%2Fpolitics%2Fwar_room%2F2011%2F02%2F24%2Fbroun_shoot_obama
Another member of the GOP who thinks all publicity is equal. They make laughing stocks of themselves, their party, their supporters.
I refer you to the NPR article on violent groups. The GOP is represented by many who speak for them as being one of those violent groups! If there are thoughtful conservatives they should police their own side and disavow these extremists or they are continuing to allow these absurdities to reflect their values.
New Report: ‘Higher Hate Group Count Than Ever’
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/23/133970226/new-report-higher-hate-group-count-than-ever?sc=fb&cc=fp
The Secret Service will be visiting with the person who posed that question, then the next step will be to take the evidence to a Federal Grand Jury and ask for an indictment…
The way the U.S. Congressman handled it will likely be addressed also!
What has Obama done to hurt people? Given them the chance to have halfway decent healthcare? Allowed more people to join the military? What?
He dared to beat them at their own game.
These are people who were silent during the previous administration when their concerns were valid. These are people who take guns to their protests (well, guns and lawn chairs as they can’t really be expected to stand up!). They’re sore-losers, they’re people who are so ill-informed they believe bumper sticker explanations, they listen to Rush and Beck and after they’ve been riled up by the lies (lies they easily they buy into) they’re pretty much capable of anything.
I ask you to look at all the examples and ponder Maya Angelou’s quote: “The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
You’ve been shown who the GOP is more than once. It’s time to believe them!
I know. It was a rhetorical question. If only I had some rhetorical answers to go with it!
I disagree. He’s black. They can’t and won’t stand for that. May they all rot in their Hell.
“Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight…”
Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight…”
——
wicked – I grew up with that song. But I also noticed in most churches, their picture of Jesus is that of a white man.
I have often wondered how many of these so-called Religious Right would be appalled at the sight of the real Jesus. After all, Jesus was born in the Middle East region of the world and how many white men were in existence there?
indy, a friend and I were just talking about the “Irish Jesus” the other night.
My mom had a picture of Jesus that she took absolutely everywhere with her. 8×10 in a tacky metal frame, I suspect she picked it out of the trash somewhere, as she wasn’t a garage sale person. She called it “Laughing Jesus.” Whoever posed for this had a very bad overbite and redish brown hair. He was laughing. I avoided looking at it because I would start laughing the second I saw it.
When my mother died and the gentleman at the mortuary asked if there was anything we’d like to put in the casket (there was a drawer for keepsakes), I said, “Yes, the picture of laughing Jesus.” My daughters unanimously agreed. He thought we were kidding. We weren’t. She now has it with her on her journey to wherever. May she and the picture both RIP. I do wonder if she’s in for a big surprise and what Jesus will say when she asks him to autograph it. 😉
Your Children ‘s Future
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/al-jazeera-on-egypts-revolt-against-neoliberalism.html
Al Jazeera on Egypt’s Revolt Against Neoliberalism
snip
What is neoliberalism? In his Brief History of Neoliberalism, the eminent social geographer David Harvey outlined “a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterised by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.” Neoliberal states guarantee, by force if necessary, the “proper functioning” of markets; where markets do not exist (for example, in the use of land, water, education, health care, social security, or environmental pollution), then the state should create them.
Guaranteeing the sanctity of markets is supposed to be the limit of legitimate state functions, and state interventions should always be subordinate to markets. All human behavior, and not just the production of goods and services, can be reduced to market transactions.
And the application of utopian neoliberalism in the real world leads to deformed societies as surely as the application of utopian communism did…..
The only people for whom Egyptian neoliberalism worked “by the book” were the most vulnerable members of society, and their experience with neoliberalism was not a pretty picture. Organised labor was fiercely suppressed. The public education and the health care systems were gutted by a combination of neglect and privatization. Much of the population suffered stagnant or falling wages relative to inflation. Official unemployment was estimated at approximately 9.4% last year (and much higher for the youth who spearheaded the January 25th Revolution), and about 20% of the population is said to live below a poverty line defined as $2 per day per person.
frago here, remember this article is about Egypt
“The protest can continue, but the party is almost over,” the Wisconsin State Journal adds. “Come Saturday, nearly two weeks after it started, the non-stop, drum-circle chant-a-thon that has consumed the state Capitol could officially end. Lawmakers approved a rule change this week that clears the way for Capitol police to close down the statehouse at 6 p.m. on Saturday and end the biggest rally in recent memory. The only question now is whether Gov. Scott Walker will ask the officers to enforce the rule.”
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_b785247a-404d-11e0-91f6-001cc4c03286.html
Heil, Walker!
Will he silence the people?
Intellectual heavy-weight? He was picked for his ability to be controlled. The bottom line: he sold his state to the Koch Brothers.
Walker has no empathy; he won’t start negotiating until he has some personal risk. The Wisconsinites need to pull their head out of the cheese and start a recall petition.
I thought it couldn’t happen until January? I’ll have to look it up but something in the state’s laws…?
laws we don’t need no stinking laws
I think Wisconsin Walker just assumed, like all good Social Conservative Republicans assume, they can do whatever, to whomever, however they choose.
Republicans profess to be such patriotic and democracy-loving Americans.
But many of these same folks also profess to be good Christians.
I suspect neither one of these two descriptions clearly fit these people.
Bullies and thugs? Now those two descriptions might be more appropriate.
“…can’t recall Walker until Jan 2012. The Wisconsin law requires a service minimum of 1 year before such actions can proceed.”
This is from nothing official and I can’t figure out how to get the state statute.
fnord,
http://law.justia.com/codes/wisconsin/2010/9/9.10.html
The one year requirement is down-page. HTH.
Damn you attorneys are brave souls. You read that stuff regularly. Makes my head spin — backwards like in “The Exorcist.”
MASSIVE RALLY IN SUPPORT OF WISCONSIN
High noon, Saturday (tomorrow), steps of the capitol building, Topeka, Kansas
Now I gotta go make my sign, heh.
I know I do not need to say this because you’re way too smart…
Don’t let a Tea Party Republican print your sign if you want it spelled correctly!
I suspect the reason this group hates teachers and education is because they never got an education of their own?
Oh, they received an education and probably a good one. They didn’t pay attention. They didn’t care and didn’t want to learn, so they ignored it all, slept through class, barely passed, etc. It’s called laziness.
Some people don’t take the opportunities they’re offered.
And when said people become adults, they say things like, “My kid doesn’t need to learn to spell. He has spellcheck on his computer.”
Wait, maybe I was wrong. They’re just born dumb.
You suspect wrong there’s gold in them thar hills
The oracle of frago seez teachers as an obstacle to the privatization of education. I foresee digital classrooms beamed to you from cheap labor foreign skoolz. Curriculum courtesy of newscorp lackeys and you thought it was about ideology, silly liberals. There’s yearly fees to be levied upon the tax base. Follow the money.
http://gothamschools.org/2010/11/22/murdoch-buys-education-tech-company-wireless-generation/
Murdoch buys education tech company Wireless Generation
by Anna Phillips
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation took its second step into the education world this evening when it made a deal to buy Wireless Generation, a Brooklyn-based education technology company.
Murdoch took his first step nearly two weeks ago, when he acquired the chancellor of New York City’s public schools, Joel Klein. In an announcement that took most of his staff and top advisors by surprise, Klein told reporters that he was leaving the Department of Education for a job at News Corp., where he will be an executive vice president overseeing investments in digital learning companies.
After Klein resigned, News Corp. officials told The New York Times that they planned to make “seed investments” in entrepreneurial education companies. The acquisition of Wireless Generation may be the first of these investments.
“Wireless Generation is positioned to grow aggressively, and it was the right time in the company’s journey to find a home where it will have access to the resources it needs to fuel that aggressive growth,” said spokeswoman Andrea Reibel in a statement.
Reibel would not comment on when talks began, but said the deal was finalized this evening. For $360 million in cash, News Corp. now owns 90 percent of Wireless Generation, a company with 400 employees.
“When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the U.S. alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed by big breakthroughs that extend the reach of great teaching,” said News Corporation Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch in a statement.
“Wireless Generation is at the forefront of individualized, technology-based learning that is poised to revolutionize public education for a new generation of students,” he said.
frago, I’ll disagree with your assessment to some degree. First, while it may be true that some people jump on the bandwagon for Murdoch’s type of education, there are still those out there who know the difference between good and bad when it comes to teaching and education. Some are teachers, but there are a lot of parents out there who are looking for the real deal.
My youngest daughter is finishing high school via an accredited school that is taught via computer. She learns at home. She will receive a legitimate diploma, not a worthless piece of paper or even a GED, but a diploma from a real school, as this course is offered through a real school. Believe me, slacking off doesn’t work for these students. I know her curriculum, what she’s studying, if her work is done or not and her grades. I can pick up the phone and talk to her mentor or any one of her teachers. Even the administration. In another year and a half (or less!) she’ll graduate in a real graduation ceremony. She’s already attended prom. This is her third year. She’s a junior. She has GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) and got to the point where she couldn’t attend traditional school without having a major panic attack and meltdown.
And maybe, just maybe, this will be one thing where Murdoch fails. We can always hope, right? 🙂
The CONs rammed the union-busting bill through the Wisconsin House.
The Dem. Senators refuse to return so a vote can be held.
Keep your fingers crossed . . .
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41774032/ns/us_news
I’m beyond finger-crossing. I’ve moved on to prayer. 🙂
If Wisconsin can be defeated, then the rest of the nutcases out there trying to do the same will hopefully give up, and we can get back to common sense and democracy.
I feel loved was just blessed with one of these
http://www.ksn.com/mostpopular/story/Consumers-warned-about-Hollywood-Video-scam/Q2dNipQsCkuwrTQe0IHypA.cspx
I had some fun with these guys. For some reason, they think our office phone is a residence, and don’t listen to how it is answered. When Rajib from Bangalore launched into his script, I thought that since I hadn’t had any fun for a while, I’d play. Unfortunately, he must have begun to get suspicious just when I was getting ready to spring; an abrupt “I’m sorry” then dead air. Sigh… I really wanted to play, but he took all his marbles and went home.
Ah, the simple joys in life! LOL
(Yay, 6176!)
Very enlightening article. I had forgotten that George W. Bush lifted the sanctions against Libyan Gadhafi in 2004.
History tends to repeat itself when people do not learn from it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/24/muammar-gaddafi-us-business-lobby_n_827769.html
I do want to make a comment on the cartoon in the topic threader above.
If Republicans claim that government has never created a single job – then how can they explain the military recruiting and hiring people?
Does a military career not count as a ‘real’ job?
Also – I had suspicions ever since the 2008 presidential campaign that Republicans are beating that war drum. I still remember John McCain singing his bomb, bomb, bomb Iran song.
Republicans are loudly proclaiming ‘we’re broke’ – so how are they going to pay for their agenda of another war or two?
Oh, I forgot, these are the folks that put war costs ‘off budget’. I guess that means that money is not to be counted as debt.
these are the same folks that must think if abortions are illegal – then no abortions will happen. Again – if not seen or talked about, then it must not real – correct?
GOP fantasyland is open 24/7……
If you wish to visit GOP Fantasyland – just hop on your purple unicorn and put on your tea-bag stapled hat and say the magic words – REAGAN, REAGAN, REAGAN
and POOF – you’re in GOP Fantasyland.
No, it doesn’t (for their purposes).
It must be nice to be able to live free of everything you do not want to deal with by simply putting it ‘off budget’ or ‘out of mind’.
I guess my mind and conscience is not wired that way…….
lets get this paper trail started, lotsa names and numbers
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/02/20/1535065/a-reform-plan-a-long-time-in-the.html
Tom Luna’s education reform plan was a long time in the making
How Tom Luna’s co-workers from the Bush administration — and the private education companies they now help run — positioned Idaho’s schools chief to make changes that the for-profit education industry may cash in on
STORIES BY DAN POPKEY – dpopkey@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2011 Idaho Statesman
I suspect frago has hit the nail on its head – Republican Conservatives love to privatize everything – and schools will be a major feather in their cap.
Furthermore, as I am sure we are all aware, this Wisconsin Walker trying to bust the unions is just another feather in that privatization cap.
But I wonder – will those privatization contracts be handed out to those who can do the best job or will it be the good ol’ boys network (like it always seems to be?)
Oh, silly me, why even ask that question…..I already know the answer – don’t I?
This is the way I see it. Capitalism doesn’t work well in a flat to declining environment. This is a consumer driven economy. Aging boomers simply do not spend enough for new consumer growth. Generations behind the boomers do not have the cash. What’s left the tax base.
Wonder why jobs aren’t being created here? The masters of the universe do not see the demand here. Ergo jobs go overseas where they think the market is.
As an added benefit of busting the teachers union/public unions, a major source of funding leaves the Dem. opposition. Funding dries up for the Dems. They start humping the corporate leg. At least thats my opinion.
I’ve read quite a few diplomatic cables from Wikileaks, the government is really an arm of corporate Amerika.
I have accomplish a few things later triple p.
frago,
As is apparent from some of my earlier posts, you and I see many of the same things. I started contemplating a bit of this at a relatively young age, and now, having entered my seventh decade, am a bit amazed at the accuracy of my early thoughts. I might add I’m a bit disgusted that so much of such early thinking, finely honed during long evenings discussing the universe and other things at that fine Lawrence establishment fondly known as “The Wheel”, has been accurate rather than the product of voluntary ingestion of cereal malt beverages (3.2% alcohol content).
I also see this sudden urge to deport all illegals as just another arm of the Republican agenda.
Back when jobs were plentiful, don’t you remember these same Republicans saying that our country ‘needed’ these illegals to do the jobs Americans don’t want?
Well, now that Republicans had 8 years to crash the economy, those plentiful jobs are now gone and not coming back anytime soon – if ever.
So NOW we hear from Republicans how we need to deport all these illegals and do it NOW…..
As I see it – the illegals are in the way of keeping those cheap labor jobs that now the Americans need to work in order to keep Corporate America fat, happy and sassy.
and then bust unions – and hey, cheap labor is the name of the game.
What is really sad and makes me the most angry is the fact we have so-called religious people and their churches applauding this agenda.
WTF???
I don’t think the religious people look beyond abortion. The Republicans (read Reagan here) convinced them they would get Roe v Wade overturned. It is only because of the evil democrats that hasn’t yet happened. So you need to get more and more of your church friends to vote, get us in power at every level and we’ll get it done.
I’ll add that I think a large majority of these religious people honestly believe they will stop the mass killing of babies. They don’t even think beyond that. They have never faced the realities, it’s beyond their comprehension. I’m not talking about beyond their ability to understand or that they aren’t smart enough, it’s just that they are so very isolated in their thinking and they trust so few. Sadly, so many they do trust aren’t trustworthy. They’ve been indoctrinated to the point they can believe such nonsense as young earth, they honestly have been brain washed.
Large majorities of people ignore all things political. Some of them may go vote, but it’s an uninformed vote. Others are those we often refer to as single-issue voters. They are the gun-nuts, the religious righties… They listen to the NRA or their preachers — they vote how they’re told. All the rest is just not interesting to them and they have full, busy lives that don’t leave room for what doesn’t interest them.
2 Timothy 3:13 (King James Version):
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Do you think the so-called religious people are asking who is doing the deceiving or who is being deceived? These are the kind of people that are easily used — they do it in the name of God.
My Mother tells me all about what the preacher said, what the people she goes to church with said… My Mother is a kind, gentle, loving soul. She is smart as a whip too. But she has been warned…
fnord – I agree with everything you said about these so-called religious people.
And I know there are some geniune and sincere people in this population of voters that truly believe what they are being told.
But how can anyone ignore the fact that George W. Bush and fellow Republicans had 6 total years (count them 2000- 2006) and not one single attempt to overturn Roe v Wade was made.
No one in that right-wing population ever thought to ask why?
I believe in God but my God gave me a brain with which to think. My God also gave me the free will to think and the free will to act on what I learn. I do not just follow any preacher blindly – especially those born-again fundamental church people who seem to possess the most narrow-minded view of all. And boy do these people love to have a feudal fight.
Nothing is more hateful, or scary, than people who are convinced they are God’s chosen people and then, and only they, have the answers. And some of these people also truly believe they will be helping God hand out the sentencing to hell on Judgment Day.
I must have missed that memo when God sent it out. My Bible tells me that we are all sinners – and by the word all – He means ALL…
Different topic:
fnord, and others similarly situated, this is for you:
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2011/feb/25/robinson-touched-flourishing-support/
Be sure to be chopping onions or standing in the rain when you read this.
Libyan Gadhafi is ratcheting up the tension……..
I wonder why the Republicans who supported Bush when he lifted the sanctions on this dictator are so quiet now? I posted an article upthread about Bush’ action and how US businesses and defense contractors have had their fingers in this pie that now seems to be blowing up…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41775200/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/?GT1=43001
Wisconsin Republicans are practicing piss-ant politics at about every level.
It happens in every legislature to a certain degree, but rarely so rampant as the Wisconsin GOP this year.
Hey – those town hall Tea Party Republicans were the Depends Crowd – so why wouldn’t the younger version of the same political animals be in the piss-ant business?
But I think they are turning alot of moderates and Independents off – and that will show up in the 2012 election – IMHO
Frago posted a link to this article earlier (or to a blog that contained this article). I want to add my recommendation. It’s a long article well worth each second spent reading. It’s like reading about what is on the way with perfect examples of what to look out for, to avoid, to fight against. Yes, it’s supposed to be about Egypt, but there is a section titled ‘Parallels with America,’ and so much to be learned.
—————-
A revolution against neoliberalism?
— snip —
“To describe blatant exploitation of the political system for personal gain as corruption misses the forest for the trees. Such exploitation is surely an outrage against Egyptian citizens, but calling it corruption suggests that the problem is aberrations from a system that would otherwise function smoothly. If this were the case then the crimes of the Mubarak regime could be attributed simply to bad character: change the people and the problems go away. But the real problem with the regime was not necessarily that high-ranking members of the government were thieves in an ordinary sense. They did not necessarily steal directly from the treasury. Rather they were enriched through a conflation of politics and business under the guise of privatization. This was less a violation of the system than business as usual. Mubarak’s Egypt, in a nutshell, was a quintessential neoliberal state.
What is neoliberalism? In his Brief History of Neoliberalism, the eminent social geographer David Harvey outlined “a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterised by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.” Neoliberal states guarantee, by force if necessary, the “proper functioning” of markets; where markets do not exist (for example, in the use of land, water, education, health care, social security, or environmental pollution), then the state should create them.
Guaranteeing the sanctity of markets is supposed to be the limit of legitimate state functions, and state interventions should always be subordinate to markets. All human behavior, and not just the production of goods and services, can be reduced to market transactions.
And the application of utopian neoliberalism in the real world leads to deformed societies as surely as the application of utopian communism did.”
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/201122414315249621.html
Let me get this straight ……Social Conservatives embrace Neoliberalism?
Now that is funny….
Although it skims the news they’ve decided you may want to hear, I have recently enjoyed First Read from NBC News. Today it covers several stories I found interesting, including one that lists the GOP field for 2012. They conclude Romney realizes he’s going to get hit with health care, so he’s owning it, using state’s rights as his defense.
Here it is. If you haven’t read it, I think you’ll find at least one story interesting —
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/25/6130398-first-thoughts-the-2012-gop-battle-begins
I just heard on MSNBC that Romney has sent a donation to Wisconsin Walker to fight the good fight.
I think you’ll enjoy this ‘Infographic.’ It does a good job of laying it all out!
http://other98.com/koch-bros-monopoly/
Have you heard this one? Seems Providece R.I. wants to lay off all their teachers at one time.
I just happened to watch the news coverage about this not more than an hour ago. When asked why the board did not elect to fire everyone – they kept comng back to the talking point ‘they need flexibility’.
But notice the last sentence in this article – these folks again are stating that ‘shared sacrifices are needed’.
I agree shared sacrifices are needed to solve a budget crisis – but how is busting unions a shared sacrifice and did any corporate/business get any tax breaks and/or subsidized cancelled due to this budget crisis?
Just wondering…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/providence-school-board-v_n_828103.html
This is not good news. Seems the US economy will be 3rd largest by 2050. China will be 1st by 2020 but India is fast approaching to surpass China by 2030.
I wonder if this has anything to do with Sarah Palin being a keynote speaker in India in the next few months? She is giving a speech on her vision of America. I guess that version is to simply go and find out where more Amerian companies can get taxpayer subsidies to outsource some more American jobs.
http://money.msn.com/how-to-invest/dispatch.aspx?post=7b5c156c-f0eb-4c70-b3db-9619ce096ec8>1=33014
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/02/24/what-to-expect-when-sarah-palin-goes-to-india/?xid=rss-topstories
It is surprising to find out a Deep South state is the most conservative? Hmmm……..aren’t they the states most likely to receive more in federal money than they send in???
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/most-conservative-state-poll_n_828191.html
Secretary of Defense Gates is warning about another useless war – do you think anyone on the right is listening???
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/world/26gates.html?_r=1