The Only Moral Imperative.

In an op-ed today (11.30.2015) in the Buffalo News I read the most ludicrous idea that I have ever had to deal with recently (aside from any of the ideas that some of my students provide). Given that Buffalo has had NO measurable snowfall this year so far (that means .10 in. or more), and how warm it has been, the crazy storms and weather that we have been having across the country (and world for that matter), and the severe drought that California is in, the writer has the audacity (or balls, if you prefer that term) to advise that we keep burning fossil fuels as it is the only way progress can happen.

I think he is either from Colorado or one of the states where they have legalized marijuana use, or must be using something far more potent to be as oblivious as he is to the ecological damage that is going on. The droughts in Africa with the resulting refugee crisis that follows ; the Class 4 and 5 hurricanes and typhoons that have been in the news in the last 5 years ; the “once in a century storms that have hit how many times this century? No to mention the rising sea levels that are wiping out island nations and decimating coastlines.

Even the Pentagon admits that global warming and climate change are the biggest security threats to the United States. Not Daesh or any other terrorist organization. Not Russia or China. Global warming and climate change.

Seriously, what drugs is this guy taking?

The best compromise is limiting the temperature rise to 2° Celsius. To prevent island nations, like Tuvalu, Micronesia, parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, the Netherlands among other countries from being wiped off the map, 1.5° Celsius is needed. Even less if we don't want to see NYC, New Orleans, London, Venice, and other global cities wiped off the map.

If we want to address the refugee crisis in Africa and the Middle East, global warming must be addressed. There is no other choice.

Finding a more environmentally friendly way to burn oil, wood, and coal will do nothing to address the environmental crisis that we are facing every year. When California's fire fighting season goes from January to December, there is a problem. When the mid-west is so parched for water that corn in August isn't even a foot tall, there is a problem. When Buffalo has no snow in November, there is a problem. (I'm sounding like Jeff Foxworthy here. That is a problem. BTW – come up with some of your own lines.)

The better life that the writer thinks that people in Africa, China, and other 2^nd and 3^rd world countries would be denied because fossil fuels are not being used to produce electricity is bogus. Many of the people in 2^nd & 3^rd world countries are living in desperation because of 1^st world countries' arrogance, imperialism, and neo-colonial attitudes and actions. I'm sure many of those people would rather be living on the small farms that they had, growing subsistence food and getting by rather than the abject poverty that they are living in right now living in slums outside of cities.  I think that they could be living much better with native foods and organic farming,  but that is another post for another day as well.

Let's get those people back on their lands, growing their own food and generating electricity with solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal energy sources. Energy sources that will not kill the environment that they live in. My sister is heating her house with geothermal and stays plenty warm just outside of Syracuse, NY (who beats Buffalo in snow every year. Count your blessings, unless you are a ski resort owner or like snow sports.) Up in Northern New York is a camp that heats their water, using solar panels, to 160° Fahrenheit. They have to add cold water to it or people will get scalded. This is on cloudy days and in winter.

And we need to burn fossil fuels because?

And yes, this response was typed up with a computer that has plastic that probably came from oil. So what? It could have come a plant as well and been just as durable.

The op-ed is so full of crap that it could be spread over the Sahara Desert and turn it into the Garden of Eden.

As socialists, we demand from Paris:

• 1.5° or less (the less the better)
• Plans to convert to 75% or more green energy by 2030
• Complete green energy conversion by 2050

We need to:

• Keep the oil in the soil
• Tar Sands in the land
• Coal down in the shoals
• Gas below the grass
• No nukes

That is the only moral imperative that we have.

To give our children a planet that we would want to inherit.

Humanity's future depends upon it.

Kriner's Crash Course

Buffalo School Superintendent Kriner Cash has virtually everything he claims he wants in order to “turn Buffalo's schools around.” He has the authority to move staff around, change the length of the school day and year, and increase training for teachers, among other plans and ideas.

Without addressing the issue of poverty that nearly 50% of Buffalo's students face on a daily basis, none of this will work. You can't learn when you don't know or aren't sure where home will be tonight. You can't learn on an empty stomach, though many students receive free or reduced breakfasts and lunches at school. For some students, that is all they receive.

Nonetheless, Cash is intent on pushing his receivership powers as far as he can as fast as he can to go. And he will most likely go nowhere and do nothing. At most, he will achieve superficial successes.

Very little if any research shows that longer school days and a longer school year achieves anything. Strike one.

It takes about four to five years for teachers to develop rapport along grade levels, so moving faculty around won't achieve much immediately. Strike two.

He plans on having more administrative observations and checks on lesson plans. Are the administrators expert teachers? How many years have they taught? More importantly, how many years have they been out of the classroom? Teachers keep on on the latest methodologies and get to know the students in ways that administrators can't and never will. These evaluations are going to accomplish what exactly? Next strike.

At the high school level he wants more alternatives to the state mandated Regents Diploma, A diploma that nobody outside of NY even knows about or understands. (I used to work with a teacher that graduated from Pennsylvania. Students asked her about her Regents scores. She told them that she never had to take them. NY is the only state with so many mandated tests.) It used to be voluntary. The state thought it could improve education by making it mandated for everybody. That was a big mistake and increased the failure and drop out rates. Kriner's going to be able to change a state policy? Another strike.

A focus at the elementary level on literacy and math skills is good and important. Reading and math are the basis of all academic areas. Look at Buffalo's poverty rate and student mobility. It takes relationships with students to be able to teach them. If students are moving around because of a lack of a stable housing situation. Another strike.

Kriner has noble intentions and has sought input from various groups on what and how to change Buffalo's schools. Sadly, checking the strikes, he went out a long time ago. Mostly to things that are out of his (and at times, teacher's) control.

There are structural problems in society that have deep impacts on a student's ability to learn. Cash has no ability to control, or even mitigate, those factors.

So, where will this bus that Kriner is driving go?

He needs to be careful when driving.

He needs to look at who his passengers are.

Small Crowds - Big Waste

The title says it all. The University of Buffalo's subsidy of it's football program (almost 77% in the 2013-14 fiscal year) is nothing but a waste. In tight budget times when academic departments are struggling for any form of financial support just to maintain the status quo – they see cuts and a football program that can't pay for itself sees over 75% of its budget come from student fees that are too high.

The University of Buffalo (UB hereafter) sees itself as an academic and research institution. It is looking to be an anchor in the downtown medical complex and research area that Mayor Byron Brown and all sorts of elected officials are quick to fawn over and trumpet as a “rebirth of Buffalo.” It is not going to be able to do this if it can not afford full time faculty.

The budget freeze in Albany and cuts at the University level has crippled some departments by making them more dependent upon adjunct and part time faculty. No one wants to work part time or on a piecemeal basis, so when a full time position of any type opens up, they are gone. How will that help strengthen UB's academic programs?

Many students don't even go to the games. Football attendance is in decline. The only reason basketball is on the map is because Buffalo is decently located for travel – being central to major travel centers like NYC, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Cleveland. UB has not gone for, if at all in the “March Madness.” I think they went to one MAC-10 bowl game, and may have even won it. (I went to UB & I don't even know. I don't pay attention to college sports, and based on attendance figures, most UB students don't either.)

College sports is a money losing proposition for almost every school that participates in it. B. David Ridapth, of Ohio University, did a study of college sports costs and found that they keep climbing and have no impact or influence on why students choose a particular college. None. So spending that money is just a waste.

And the amount of money keeps going up. And students want their fees for attending college cut down.

Students really don't want the sports programs. They want full time professors. They want the classes that they need for their degrees so that they can graduate and have a chance on finding a position in their chosen career field. And they want their college debt cut. Heavily subsidizing a money losing proposition is doing nothing for helping the students achieve their goals.

UB needs to do something about this.

They need to either drop the Division I sports program altogether or change the motto of the institution

to “Keep them happy entertained, and stupid.”

UB students are not being entertained by the program.

They are not happy with the sporting program at all.

And they chose UB for an education.

The choice is simple.

Let the Bulls run free to some other school.

Planned Terrorism

The attack on Friday on the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado was a tragedy and a blatant act of terrorism.  There is no mincing words about that.

The perpetrator was clearly right wing &  socially conservative.  At his trailer in North Carolina he had a cross that he made of twigs.

He was knows for anti-Obama rhetoric and had given people pamphlets with such information on it.

The only clear thing that we know is that he was emotionally swayed by the bogus "baby-harvesting" videos that anti-choice groups posted on the internet.

We need to be clear on Planned Parenthood and the truth.
Abortion counts as only 3% of what they do.  They do amazing work on sex education, treatment of STDs, providing OB-GYN services for women,  which include pre-natal, delivery, and post natal care.  This is in addition to providing health care for children.

This, and other act of terrorism against Planed Parenthood,  needs to be stopped. 

We stand in solidarity with Planned Parenthood and against acts of domestic terrorism and harassment of women that use their services.

Health care

Yesterday was the Climate Rally in Buffalo. Other cities had their rallies and protests also.

I was at home. Sick. I have some sort of dry, hacking cough with this gross yellow stuff that I keep spitting out. (I worked on a farm in high school. Whenever I coughed something up, the old man made me spit it out. “Your body's trying to get that garbage out of you – spit it out. “ He was rarely, if ever sick and took little medication to combat illness. Those cigarettes did a number on him though, sadly. )

In the school where I work a student came in to school with the whooping cough. I don't know if his parents have health insurance or if they have sick/family days that they can use to take care of a sick child. (The benefits of a union.) They took him to the hospital only after he broke 2 ribs and pulled muscles in his chest. He is now wearing some sort of brace around his back and chest to help him heal and is taking some sort of anti-viral to combat the whooping cough.

And he still has a dry, hacking cough.

A cough that I am hearing in other students and myself.

Questions:

If his parents had health insurance, would they have taken him to the hospital sooner?

If his parents had family leave time, would they have been able to stay home and take care of him with out worrying about being able to make ends meet?

If the place(s) his parents worked had unions, would they be able to negotiate for these benefits? (And would the bosses be worried bout someone coming in sick and shutting down the whole enterprise? Sick people can spread illness.)

American can do better than this.

Americans deserve to be able to have unions. First Amendment. Freedom of association/ redress of grievances. (And f a person doesn't want to belong, they don't get the benefits. Try working out in a health club without a membership.)

Americans deserve quality health care without worrying about breaking the bank. Other countries have forms of single payer / public option systems and they do the same job for less. (Cost savings? Any business should be behind that. It's a no brainer.)

American's deserve family sick leave. Supposedly we are a Christian nation and family is a central part of the faith. I keep hearing “family comes first” from social conservatives. Yet we provide nothing and how many families teeter on the brink of bankruptcy because of this?

We're supposed to be better than this.

We're not.

What exactly are we supposed to be thankful for?

Climate Challenges

First an Update on the WNY Pipe-lie that National Fuel is building. In today's (11.27.2015) Buffalo News, in Section C, page 5 we finally have a public admission (first to my knowledge) that the proposed pipe-lie will be carrying fracked gas from Pennsylvania to Canada. That alone is a good enough reason to oppose the pipe-lie.

Second problem with the pipe-lie: It needs to cross wetlands. National Fuel ( I refuse to give the subsidiary's name – National Fuel own the company.  The subsidiary is a way for Nat Fuel to distract people from who is behind the project & who stands to profit from it.) claims that it intends to purchase the land for market value (but if that fails, it will use the power of the state via eminent domain to seize the land for a pittance) and leave the wetlands area alone and use only 5-8 acres of land and leave the remaining 12-15 acres as wetlands under a restrictive covenant. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. They will need more than 5-8 acres to safely build a 22,000 horsepower compressor station and needed parking space and needed buildings. This is only the foot in the door.

Third: This section of the pipe-lie will be underground. If the EPA is serious about this situation, and I doubt it is given how much it kowtows to corporate demands, no pipeline should be built anywhere near wetlands. Above or below ground. The detection of leaks is hard enough on pipelines as it is. And we only have to look at the disaster that happened up in Michigan and how difficult that mess was to clean up to know that wetlands need to be left alone.

Why not pin this as an update onto the original article? Because tomorrow, November 28^th are the scheduled climate protests that 350.org is overseeing. This is the type of regional issue that the people need to know about and need to act upon. Fracked gas is bad in so many ways – air, water, and land pollution ; the various cancers and health issues that people living around fracked sites suffer from, and the methane leaks that are four (that is 4) times as dangerous to climate warming as other greenhouse gases are.

Furthermore, this pipe-lie is skirting the urban areas and will affect rural areas almost exclusively. City people don't even know about this project. It is being set up in such a way as to keep it out of and away from the people who are most likely to protest it. I have seen little about it in the Buffalo News and nothing about it in the broadcast media (television and radio).

The meeting in Buffalo tomorrow is at Temple Beth Zion on Delaware Ave. It is being sponsored by the Rise Up For Climate Justice Campaign.  This issue needs to be brought up and we need to oppose it. All the reasons above, and so many more discussed in other articles and else where, are reason enough to oppose this project.

Socialists demand that the pipe-lie be exposed for what it is and scrapped.

Keep the oil in the soil, the tar sands in the land, and keep the frack out of my neighborhood.

I know it is the day after Thanksgiving and everyone (hopefully) enjoyed a good meal yesterday, but there is some gas that should not pass.

Black Friday - Some thoughts and responses

Black Friday.

Tomorrow is “Black Friday. When the masses run mindlessly into stores to buy things that they really don't need, can't afford, and have no chance of making them happy because of capitalist propaganda. I've also heard them called “commercials.”  It has been pushed back to Thanksgiving Day in some stores.

I also heard a (very racist) comment about this day about a week ago. Two males talking. One asks the other “Why is it called 'Black Friday?'” The other responded,” Because people act like crazy N-words trying to buy stuff on their Christmas lists. Kind of like what happened in Ferguson.” I weigh 135 lbs on a good day. Their combined weight was probably 3 time mine, and they both towered over my 5'10” height by almost a foot. Trying to correct him and his associate, with the expletives that were flying out of their mouths, was a lost cause in my eyes. I doubt they would have responded to reason. They went on to talk a bout Bill O'Reily and his “Killing” series. I wasn't interested in being next on his title list.

And people wonder why country folk are thought of as stupid.

Then I was watching the news today and they showed very orderly lines of people going into stores for pre-Black Friday sales. The stores were all in suburban areas of Buffalo – Amherst, Clarence, Williamsville. All white majority population with a preponderance of wealth. These communities grew during the post war boom and the white-flight of the 1970's when busing was introduced in Buffalo. People didn't want their children educated “with those black kids,” so they moved out and took their money with them. What was left behind was the poor lower classes that couldn't afford to support what Buffalo needed to remain competitive in education. The wealthy that stayed sent their children to private schools. Those that didn't made sure their children went to the “better” schools.

Of course tomorrow I will turn on the news and see stories about the crazed rush to buy stuff. There will be You-Tube™ videos and all sorts of other pictures on the various social media sites. Some people will be injured and hopefully nobody will die, as has happened in years past, sadly. And I know why the two men compared the Black Friday events to rioting. They are mindless. (I will distinguish between the rational protesters that are speaking about injustices and speak only of the people that mindlessly destroy property, steal, etc. during those events.) It literally is capitalist propaganda run amok.

Then there's small business Saturday. Another way to get your capitalist fix of shopping. If I do any gift shopping, it will probably be at small local stores. East Aurora is a good place to visit, especially Viddler's. There is just some real strange stuff in that store. Plus the bags of popcorn. Fresh popped in that cute little cart.  (Ok. I feel the power of the capitalist propaganda there.)

In all seriousness, I don't do much shopping for Christmas anymore. It's lost its luster. Being single and having no children, I don't feel the pressure either. That being said, I realize that capitalism has turned what used to be just another day of the year into a mass spending frenzy. It wasn't until the early 1900's that Christmas began being what we would recognize as today's practices. And I know we can't go back, so what do we do?

First, if you need to buy gifts for people, go the local route. Do the “Small Business Saturday” events. What is spent locally stays local. The stores I go to know my political leaning. They take my money and they know that I prefer them to the big box stores and on-line ripoff artists and slave drivers (like Amazon™.)

Second, limit the amount of money that is going to be spent. I limit my spending to the $5 bills that I save up from January 1 on. When I get change, I set aside the $5s and that is it. Cash only. No debt, No interest on the credit card.Not much money either,  so the gifts really require some thought.

Third, remember the “less fortunate” - the victims of capitalism in the homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and women's violence shelters. Donate to them. The local Salvation Army is another good place to give to. I have been told that everything that is donated locally stays local. I can deal with that. And remember the Veteran's Administration/Hospital and the “Old Folk's Homes.” (What are they called now?  "Elder Care Facilities?  That sounds really cheesy to me.)There are people in those places that have no one visit them, not even family, almost all year long.

And if you do go out on Friday, join in a $15 NOW protest instead. Stand up for the workers and their families.

This year, make someone thankful that they saw you.

They might even listen to you a little bit more when you start talking socialism.

Thankful?

                                                                     

By Ricahrd Trotsky

While normally what I write focuses on issues of a national scale, my post today will be of a more personal nature. However it will in fact deal with a subject that is unfolding around us more and more with each passing day. That subject is racism, it’s gaining much needed national attention as it still is a serious social plague on our society.

Today is Thanksgiving Day, typically a day when many of us gather together with family for the traditional turkey dinner and reflect on what in life we are thankful for. For me, the main thing I have to be thankful for is my daughters. My beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, articulate and compassionate 3 and 5 year olds.

It just so happens that my daughters are bi-racial. I don’t determine what kind of person someone is solely based on their race or ethnicity, but who their character declares that they are. To me race is not an important factor in determining who I choose to have relationships with, what’s far more important is who you are. This perspective has gifted me with 2 amazing little girls, whom I love dearly.

With that in mind, I’m concerned with the future my children will have. You see, my daughters have two significant obstacles that they face according to how our society sees people, one is that they are female, and the other is that they are half black. To me, this is an absolutely beautiful thing, knowing that two people can see past society’s essential grooming of our population to be divided along racial lines. However, sadly, there is still a divide.

In the employment world, statistically it’s proven that there are in fact less opportunities for anyone who happens to be a person of color. I recall one article I read in people where a man named Jose was sending out an estimated 50 resumes a day with virtually no responses. He then decided to drop the s from his first name on his resume to simply make it Joe and his resume started getting responses almost immediately. There was a study conducted (it’s a bit dated, but still relevant, as I don’t think much has changed since then) from 2000 – 2002 that proves the disparity statistically (http://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/discrimination-job-market-united-states).

So what then, am I supposed to do? Should I completely ignore the fact that my daughters have a very vibrant black culture and solely focus on the white aspect of it (which by the way can’t be considered Anglo as my family history traces back to Russia and other areas in Eastern Europe)? No, I won’t. I refuse to disavow that part of their heritage. I will not, under any circumstances, take that away from them. I have an obligation to them to stay steadfast in my struggles, our struggles, to ensure that people of all races have equal amounts of opportunity presented to them.

This brings me to gender equality in the workplace. Although there have been significant improvements in this area, more needs to be done. Statistically women only earn 77 cents to every dollar a man makes, why? Are men intrinsically more valuable than women? How is it that a man and woman can have the exact same qualifications and the man makes 23% more? I strive to instill in my daughters the importance of education, but this leads me to believe that even with an impressive degree my daughters will still be viewed as less in the eyes of corporate America.

What can I do to ensure that my beautiful daughters will have the successful life I desire for them, when the current economic system has done nothing but continually exploit workers for generations? The current economic system has severely increased the wage gap between executives and average workers. In 2014 the average gap was reported as 204 to 1, therefore if the average worker made let’s say, for example, $26,000/yr that would equate to the CEO making $5,304,000. I find this completely appalling and revolting.

At a time when average workers salaries are so low that many must apply for public assistance to be able to feed their families, I’m disgusted to know there are executives of these companies who have such stockpiles of money they couldn’t even spend it all in a lifetime. We are the lifeblood of these companies! Without us these companies would simply shrivel and die. I’d like to see an executive take to the floor of a company and run the equipment, file the documents, make the necessary appointments, manage the shipping timetables, tend to the customers, teach the students. They can’t and they won’t. They can’t because they don’t have the knowledge and understanding to do so, and they won’t because it’s seen as beneath them.

Under our current economic system we have seen repression at many different levels, with the average worker suffering an increasing toll on our livelihood. More so anyone who happens to a person of color, who have seen this repression and continued oppression for the last two centuries. I worry for the future of my children under this system, as it is obvious it no longer has any benefits for us as a whole. We are in need of change, we need a system that values the needs of the average person. We are in need of a system that places value on all peoples equally, regardless of race. We are in need of a system that is democratically maintained by the will of the people. What we need we in no way have now.

Scaring Students.

Section B. Page 1. “Scaring students straight.” An attempt by people involved in the prison industrial system, from a former police, officer to a judge, lawyer, and prison guard to scare young African American students at the Math, Science, and Technology School into staying out of jail.

Yes, that actually happened. Those men and women did a presentation to school children, explaining the process that they would go through if they were caught in the school to prison pipeline. From the arrest, to the lawyer, judge, and then the prison. Step by step. And it's "no joke" and "not a laughing matter."

According to one presenter – it's the violent music that they listen to that is the cause of the problem.

Seriously?

Some of these students get home to an empty house because their parents are working. Some of them work 2 or more jobs just to make ends meet. And violent music is the problem. Or video games. Or violent movies.

Get real.

Section A. Page 1, “Good sign as jobless rate in region drops below 5%.” Really? Is that the U6 or U9 number (U is the Labor Department designation for “unemployed.” The number is for how many months they have been looking for a job.) There is no U12 or longer. There is no designation for underemployed – the person has a college degree but is working at a job that a high school drop out could do with training. So I doubt this number really means anything. That number also reflects the number of people that show up at Unemployment Offices looking for work. Perhaps some of those employment drop outs will show back up and that number will rise now that there is some “good news” in the economic realm.

The people on page B1 did not make any connection to the story on page A1. Neither did the paper.

The 1% don't like the unemployment rate to go below 5% because that means that labor – the workers - can start making demands on the wealthy and actually win their demands. The 1% need the unemployment numbers high so that they can control the 99% and keep labor costs down.

They also need a way to control the population, so prisons come into play.

They also didn't talk about how capitalism has no intention of keeping the promises that it makes. If you go to school, do your homework, stay out of trouble, and get a good education in college – you can have a nice house, car, get happily married, and live a wonderful life.

No one talks about how people do all those things and still wind up committing “criminal acts” - selling drugs, engaging in prostitution, etc – because capitalism can't keep its promises.

There are people that belong in prison because of violent acts that they have committed – assault, murder, robbery, etc. For some of them I doubt that prison will change their lives. A good social worker could. Prisons don't have the ability to do that always.

We hear about the person being arrested. We rarely hear about the motivation behind their acts. How many of these people are behind bars because capitalism couldn't provide its promises?

If the presenters wanted to scare the students, they should start with the realities of capitalism. “It can not provide for you. Most of you will bust your butts and do everything right and, in the end, be poor, or if you are lucky, middle class Let's face the facts – the current high school graduates are the first generation in American history to do worse than their parents. The system needs it that way. The system needs you poor so that it can control you, keep you in fear. Keep you thinking that tomorrow might be the day that you break out of the class prison that you are in. In reality, get used to that class prison. You're going to be stuck there.

“Now, if you don't like that picture that I just painted for you, there is a different way. A different economic and social model that can provide for your needs and help you achieve a meaningful life. One that does not need prisons to control people. It's called 'socialism.'”

That's a message those students won't hear.

They need to.

Country Concerns.....

I work in a more rural school district. It's where I could find a job with my teaching certification.

I just found out that one of my former students, a relatively bright and capable young man, signed his life away to the Navy.

That's the sad part. He was, and still is I'm sure, a bright and capable student. The problem is that he was educated in rural America.

In the city, students typically go to a kindergarten through eighth grade school and then off to a school that deals more with their potential “future track.” It might be an arts oriented school, a technical academy, college prep - whatever. Something specialized.

In rural districts – unless a student goes to vocational training in 11^th and 12^th grade, they take generic courses. All the classes from 9-11 are basically Regents test prep courses. With the exception of Art, Music, MST (Math, Science, and Technology. Formerly called “Industrial Arts.”), Gym, and any business classes they might take – all courses are Regents test prep. Plain and simple. Twelfth Grade is college “stuff” and study halls. Maybe a part time job.

It leads to a very mundane educational life with little aspiration for the future. It's how I was when I graduated from high school in the country. I went to college because I was “supposed to” and then languished in the restaurant industry until I decided I needed to do something with myself.

The military was not an option for me – a disability ruled me out. For many rural students, this is their only hope. If mom & dad can't put up the money for private schools, the student is stuck with a very generic education that prepares them for pretty much nothing.

Granted – there are teachers that “get to students” and help them figure out what they want to do. This is not the case for every student. They do all the interest inventories and career tests. They do the research projects on careers. Apply to college, graduate, and fall through the cracks of life.

In this hopelessness are the open hands of the military. Just waiting to catch the alienated student who has no hope or can't afford college. Waiting with all the promises - a sense of purpose and a way out of a community that has nothing for the high school graduate. (Unless you count minimum wage jobs in restaurants and retail or long hours on farms a future.)

Rural students need more than this – being a ripe recruiting field for the military,

Just like the poor inner city youth that have nothing to look forward and sign their lives away for the bottom line, too many of our bright rural youth are taking the same plunge. To protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The first enemy they need to protect us from is a system that sets them up for nothing.

Send in the clowns, the clones.....

Eric Alterman writes in The Nation  that the crazier the Republicans become, the more people follow them.  He follows the Republican leadership's lament that Hillary could screw up & we wind up with some sort of uncontrollable nut-job as president.

They are the ones that created Frankenstein's monster.  What did they think was going to happen?

And then there is the standard liberal lament that the Democrats are elitist snobs that are alienated (my word) from the working class.

And then there is the usual tirade about the corporate media and how it has been easily manipulated by the candidates and how they (the media) refuse to call the candidates out on gross errors.

More of the same.

And the solution?  Same old solution - vote for the Democrats because they are not as bad as the Republicans.  Vote for the lesser of two evils.  Vote for the party that is going to be the kinder, friendlier face of capitalism instead of the crazier face.

The analysis is the same and the solutions are the same.  The only difference is the implementation.

It's time for one of these pundits in what passes for  the (accepted) left wing media start talking about the alternatives to the two capitalist parties and started talking about socialism.

Instead of just surrendering the working and middle class to the capitalists  build a party based on the needs of those two classes.  Instead of relying upon the corporate owned and controlled media for information,  build a worker owned and controlled media to advance our ideas and our needs.  A media that tells our stories instead of those of the 1% (or their interpretation or what they want us to believe).

So, who are the real clowns?
The people running or the people reporting?

Why so low?

The Buffalo News ask the question “How low can turnout go?” in today's feature article? In Erie County, 24.5% of the voters participated. That's lower than the2014 mid term when barely 36% of the voters turned out.

And they ask why people don't vote.

In a political science class that I took on voting and elections we discussed these things. Voter turnout has been on the decline in America for years. Many reasons for this (not too surprising) event.

Gerrymandering: Electoral districts are carved up by the party in power to keep themselves in power. The Democrats and Republicans are both guilty of this. They even collaborate sometimes. So the winners are basically predictable. Why bother? BN  covers this.

So let's ditch this gerrymandering in favor of proportional representation. If a party receives 5% of the vote (or more), they receive that proportion of the elected seats. Other countries do that and they have much higher voter turnout than we do.

The media: They only cover the two main parties – the Democrats and the Republicans. I'll give credit to WKBW. In one election they actually covered the Green Party candidate. It was a local election. Nationally, the media covers the two party horse race. There are more than 2 parties running in many races. Just because the New York Times didn't cover a tree falling in the forest doesn't mean it didn't happen.

So, if a candidate is on the ballot, the media needs to cover them. In Governor “Status” Cuomo's first campaign the one and only debate had seven candidates on the stage. In his second run, there were four candidates in the one and only debate. The first debate was OK. The second, aside form the asinine bickering between Cuomo and Astorino, had some good answers from the Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins  and the Libertarian Party candidate Michael McDermott.

If Cuomo will only participate in one debate, then hold the others without him. Let the voters see him for who he is. The media exists to critique and analyze all candidates. By ignoring the “second tier” candidates, it is a part of the voter apathy problem. I enjoyed reading an article by Rod Watson when he covered the Party for Socialism and Liberation's presidential candidate when she came to Buffalo. It was outside the norm. That sort of reporting on the front page will increase interest and more people might even buy the paper. (Actually I enjoy reading Rod Watson's columns. He gives some outside the beltway critiques every now and then.)

To me, the media is a big part of the problem because of the consolidation that has happened over the years. Fewer and fewer people own bigger and bigger pieces of the media pie. That provides for some very narrow ideas and opinions. The media needs to be locally owned and locally run. Why Warren Buffet and not somebody (or a group of people) don't own the Buffalo News is beyond me. The same goes for radio and television. If you don't live in the market area, you can't own it.

We also need a labor media – one that covers the working class, which is completely ignored by the mass media. One that covers the day to day struggles. One that reports union news form the union view. There's so much more to business than the board room. And what happens on the shop floor can make or break a business just as much as a board room decision.

And voter registration is so convoluted and difficult, depending upon the state. You have to register for an election … when? It depends upon the state. In New York I believe it's 30 or 60 days before the election. (I live here and I don't even know.) It needs to be automatic and at 18 years old. And just because a person went to jail does not mean they lose their right to vote. (It's called taxation without representation for those who are wondering.) If you are paying taxes or can serve in the military, you can vote. Plain and simple.

There are so many reasons that voter turnout is down. And rather than pointing fingers, the media needs to do something else.

Like look in the mirror.

Ignorance isn't Bliss

by Richard Trotsky

                                                                              

After last weekends terrorist attacks in Paris, I knew what would happen. Almost instantly, the presidential candidates, and even several state governors, began stating that they did not want any Syrian refugees being allowed into the US, or severely restricting their access to entry. We had analogies of refugees and rabid dogs, compiling a database of Muslim Americans, that selective acceptance based on religious belief should be followed, and even that Syrian refugees should be banned outright from entry. All in response to a horrendous action by a monster that our government helped to create.

Throughout my life I’ve known, and worked with quite a few Muslims. So from my personal account there is really nothing any different between a Muslim or anyone of any other faith for that matter. We all want to take care of our families, have a happy and successful life, and have safety and security. There are some individuals who would declare that all terrorists are Muslim, this is simply untrue.

Interestingly enough, when you search for the definition of terrorism, according to 18 U.S.C. § 2331 has three separate categories for it. I’ll quote verbatim the definition of domestic terrorism according to the Code:

"Domestic terrorism" means activities with the following three characteristics:

• Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
• Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
• Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.

With that information stated, let’s examine the allegation that all terrorists are Muslim, on a strictly domestic scale. Since the passing of Roe v Wade in 1977, there have been many attacks against facilities that provide abortions. I won’t state my personal stance, as my personal views are irrelevant here, I’m merely using this as an example. However, to my knowledge, all of these attacks were carried out by individuals who were in fact not Muslim.    (blog ed note: The attackers have been mostly fundamentalist Christians.)    

      

For example Ralph Lang, who called abortion “intrinsically wrong” and “evil” and said he follows the Ten Commandments with the exception of killing abortionists. Then we have Scott Roeder, who murdered abortion provider George Tiller while he was in the back of his local church attending service. Roeder told the jury he was born again in 1992 after watching an evangelical television show. He stated “That day I knelt down and did accept Christ as my saviour.”    

                                                                                              

To present there have been numerous bombings, and arsons of these facilities, along with the murders of several providers. Each and every instance was undertaken by domestic terrorists. I’m not supporting or endorsing any specific religious belief, simply presenting evidence that there are terrorists who happen to be other than Muslim. If you don’t agree with a decision made by government, then protest, speak out, don’t bomb, burn and kill.  

           

There are 1.7 billion Muslims in the global population, and the percentage of those who actively condone terrorist activity is a very small percentage. Many people don’t know that after the attacks of September 11, many Muslims, because of the heinousness of the attacks, would not even speak the name of Osama Bin Lade. He was referred to simply as “the third name.”  Therefore to paint all Muslims as terrorists in one broad stroke is not only wrong morally, but also factually wrong.                                                      

My chiropractor is Muslim, and a former member of the US military. At one of my former jobs the manager and a few cooks there were Muslim. I took the time to get to know them and I assure you that all they wanted to do was live their lives, raise their children, go to work and relax at home after. Muslims are people just like you and I, with the same values that we have. 

Stop just believing what you hear in the media, or other “sources” of information. If you want to know, ask questions. Start a dialogue to learn, you don’t have to change your religion, but at least educate yourself. I can almost guarantee you’ll be surprised by what you learn.

Blog editor note:  Not all Christians are opposed to abortion or believe that abortion can be ended by the use of terrorism or violence.  When you hear/ read /see abortion clinic violence, please understand that those people are extremists.  

                                                                 

One Week.

One week ago was the attack on Paris.

Was it a cause or an effect?

It will serve as a cause for some to want to restrict our freedoms (as guaranteed by the Constitution). For others it will serve as a cause to fear others. (The opposite of love is fear. Being of the Christian persuasion, I go by a biblical definition - “Perfect (unconditional) love drives out fear.” (Personal comment – some of the most fear filled comments that I have heard about this situation came from people who espouse a Christian faith. Don't ask me why. I did it after 9/11 and it was wrong then as it is now.)

To me, the actions of those people were an effect. They were an effect of misguided US, British, and European policies that relate to colonialism and imperialism.

There is sufficient evidence that they were "from" Syria and affiliated with the ISIL. (aka ISIS.) This does not mean that they were native Syrians. Many extremists have gone to Syria in order to set up a caliphate under strict Wahabist rules. I would like to make that distinction.

The Syrian war is an effect of another war – Iraq – that went horribly wrong from the start. It was based on lies (weapons of mass destruction, 9/11) and accomplished what exactly? The people of Iraq are less free now than they were under Saddam Hussein. They were even more free before the CIA backed coup in 1968 that put Hussein in power.

But the 1968 coup was an effect of another coup in Iran in 1953 . It was done to offset the fear that the CIA had that the people of Iran were going to overthrow their (actually US & British oil companies) hand picked dictator – the Shah. If you want to see a brutal terror state, look at the Savak and how they ran roughshod over Iranian people that wanted democracy. The democracy that they had under Mossadeq.

The terrorists came from ISIL – they are an offshoot of al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is a creation of the CIA, Pakistani Intelligence Services, and fundamentalists in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia being the most notable.) They were created to fight a proxy war against a democratically elected socialist government in Afghanistan. So in effect, the terrorists were an effect of another misguided US policy of undermining democratically elected governments that we do not like or approve of.

Is Paris a cause or an effect?

To me, it is all one big mess created by those that refuse to learn the lessons of history.

And that will affect us all unless we demand something different.

For me, I use it as a cause to explain to others the history of the Middle East that the textbooks and corporate media don't explain or choose to lie about. I use it to talk about how corporations are using the military and the CIA to put in power pawns that will do what the corporations want. I use it to tell the truth. Some people listen. Some people refuse to. However, I have my cause – the truth. And sometimes people find it informative and want to do something to stop all the senseless violence.

And that's an effect I think the whole world would like.

Kriner's Shuffling.....

Superintendent Kriner Cash has been busy this week. And it looks pretty bad from my point of view. Rather than taking time to learn about the district, find out what's working, and where work needs to be done, he jumped right into the deep end and I don't know if he even knows how to swim.

On Thursday his cabinet was announced and he made it up of the same wood that has been used before without much success. A few new faces are in the mix as he kowtowed to both sides of the school board in picking his cabinet members, but we've read this story before. We know the characters and the actors, and quite frankly, nobody's impressed. For someone that promised “bold action,” we have… milquetoast. The same old same old. The same people that have disrespected teachers and their union in the past are back. And the teachers are going to have confidence in them because?

Kriner tries to defend the choices by saying that the people he chose are not known well. In his four (that's 4) months being here he really knows them, has seen them work, and wants to “heal” them. (Is he a school superintendent or a psychologist?) I have worked with teachers for 10 years and I still don't know some of them, though from the students I hear both good and bad. (We have a teacher that should really lay off the Red Bull and other energy drinks and another that the students wish would leave their religion at home.) How is Superintendent Cash going to judge their abilities for sensitive positions in such a short period of time? 

 I feel a real urge to read the Peter Principle right now.

There are a few principled members of the board that voted against the cabinet for sound reasons – former superintendent candidates that were rejected for good reasons (being pawns of Carl PalidiNO, too hostile to teachers, former school board members, etc). And the students and parents of Buffalo should thank them. Barbara Nevergold and Sharon Belton-Cottman deserve thanks and praise for their principled stand.

And the overhaul of the schools under receivership. The data that the district office has is nowhere near a complete picture of why those schools are struggling. That information is a black and white photograph of a rainbow after a summer shower. Those reports highlight school grades and attendance. They tell him nothing about the student's home life – Do they have a home? What is its condition? Do they have a steady source of income and food? Health care? And so on. The social issues issues that impact education so much more than anyone wants to admit.. Receivership is going to explode in a bad way. But who will be blamed for the failure? The leadership? Or will it go beyond trickling down?

In the district where I work we recently had a new superintendent come in and the first thing he did was a series of needs assessments with the entire administration, faculty and staff, the students, and the community. He proposed no action for one (that's 1) full school year because he wanted data to make informed and educated changes on. Yes, the superintendent can be a little heavy handed at times, however they also give us the freedom we need to do what we need to and the students' achievement is improving greatly. They too the time to listen before they acted. And the results are getting better. Not so with Buffalo. The teachers seem to be out of the conversation completely. The students seem to be ignored. The parents are there and are given their moment to speak. Are they being taken seriously?  Only if they are a special interest group that is interested in privatizing the school system.

And then there was the announcement today (that I hope the BTF files suit over and wins) about the district sending a contract offer directly to the teachers and ignoring the selected negotiators altogether. This is wrong on so many levels and infuriates me so much that I don't even want to go into it. What the district did was act in bad faith, which is a violation of negotiating principles.This is plain and simply wrong on so many levels,

The teachers are correct in being angry with the district leadership. And the union is correct in calling the district out on bad faith negotiations.

It seems to me that the superintendent is indeed shuffling.

He thinks he's playing poker.

He's really shuffling deck chairs on a ship that's in danger of sinking.