Just a thought on Taxes

I don’t understand what argument there is (historically speaking) to support the continuation of the Bush Era tax cuts.  Think back to 2002. Clinton finishes his last term and George Bush is voted into office.  There was a budget surplus of 127 billion dollars.  Yes, there was a “bubble;” however, the fact remains there was a surplus in the budget.  Next look at unemployment.  Statistically, there is not much difference during the years the two were in office – it was a little better under Clinton.  That being said, now think about our current situation.

Unemployment is skyrocketing and the economy sucks.  Obama has only been in office for a relatively short time and there has been little accomplished to change the damage created during the Bush years.  The Bush era tax cuts did nothing to create jobs.  NOTHING.  Unemployment has risen since the cuts.  Is the economy any better off?   Are there more jobs?

I know this is a simplified explanation.  Many factors have contributed to our current situation.  9/11, Lies that put us in Iraq and deregulation of industry since the early 1980s to name a few.

America is under attack by corporate interests buying elections and controlling politicians and policy like puppets.  It seems most things “on the table” benefit only one elite group of predominantly white, male, rich motherfuckers.  The right is blowing smoke up its loyal followers’ asses for personal gain.  No matter what conversation I have or listen to with people on the right, it is never productive.  All taxes are bad is what I am hearing.  Any tax is evil.  I’m a Marxist Socialist…. Blah, blah, blah. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. hit the nail on the head when he said, “Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.”

Simply put, repealing the Bush tax cut seems to be a logical step in remedying a crappy situation.  If we continue on the current track, disparity in our country will continue to grow.  Cutting taxes to the rich has had no positive impact for anyone except the rich, much in the same way deregulation benefited many of these same people.

There is no perfect solution; there will always be problems.  There will always be contrasting ideologies.  But, our current situation is crap.  Let’s look at modern history and make changes that will work.

If you expect results, fund it.

Hospitals around the country will be getting a billion dollars to help reduce medical errors. Sounds smart, right? I agree. Get a plan, put it together and FUND it. It’s a plan that will benefit everyone involved in the long run – hospitals, patients, taxpayers, etc. So, why am I writing about it?

Here in Minnesota we have the biggest achievement gap in the country:

“Minnesota students are traditionally among the nation’s top performers on key standardized tests. Unfortunately, the statewide averages mask an embarrassing reality. Students of color consistently score far below their white classmates. This disparity in academic performance between groups of students is known as the achievement gap. It’s a national problem. But Minnesota’s gap is particularly wide.”
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2004/09/achievementgap/

We have a problem. Let’s get a plan, put it together, and FUND it. Let’s come up with something that will benefit everyone. We have programs in place that have been addressing this problem. I don’t have the numbers, but I’m sure it’s modestly funded.

Let’s now take away that funding. The most recent bill supports taking away aid for racial integration in larger districts – districts with the biggest disparity. According to proponents, this in itself will help to lessen the gap. I’m not sure how, but they say it will. I, and other opponents, feel school districts that serve poor and minority students are unfairly targeted for the cuts.

Commissioner Brenda Casselius testified before the Education Committee:
“A redistribution of this nature would directly harm efforts to close the achievement gap. Further, nearly 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education we still hold the core value that the state should assist school districts in their efforts to combat racial segregation. This bill is a direct slap at that premise.”

Click to access 110321_casselliustestimony-hf934_020482.pdf

Another aspect of the bill is cutting funding to Special Education. All the mandates connected to the Special Education will remain the same, though. Again – problems are being addressed by cutting funding and raising expectations. Cutting special education and keeping these mandates will result in schools having little choice but to pull money (they have very little of) from regular education in order to address the mandates.

These are just a couple of the issues being addressed in Minnesota and across the country. This is all very similar to what happened with NCLB: an un-researched idea was put into motion and poorly funded resulting in crap policy that is killing the American education system. Yet, we refuse to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans and ask working class tax-payers and social programs to be the scapegoat of current financial issues.

A friend of mine posted today: “Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither.” Well put, Hunter.

Standardized Testing – Where should we go?

As far as I’m concerned, Standardized Testing is killing our schools.  We are moving more and more towards creating an environment of “teaching to the test.”  Doing this kills creativity and critical thinking; much needed skills in today’s work environment.

I just came across fairtest.org.  What a great site.  In fact, I’m going to contact them to see if I can become involved.  There whole premise is that, of course, schools/teachers need to be held accountable; however, the current system is extremely flawed.  There needs to be a more encompassing and diverse approach to assessment.  This should include educator input and not be driven by money and political interests.

Here’s a piece called, “A Better Way to Assess Students and Evaluate Schools” by their executive director.

http://fairtest.org/files/better-way-to-assess-EdWeek6-18-10.pdf

Michelle Bachmann is a Stinky Liar

I love politifact.  It’s great to have a resource where people are checking up on these outrageous statements politicians are making.  I encourage everyone to spend some time on this site – you won’t be disappointed.  It ain’t just the GOP who’s blowing smoke

That being said, Michelle Bachmann is a stinky liar.  She has the biggest case of diarrhea of of the mouth in the modern era (well, maybe Glenn Beck).   The crap that comes out of her mouth is insane.  The scary part is she is gaining in popularity.  SHE’S MAKING A RUN FOR PRESIDENT!

I just googled, “craziest things she has said” and, by mistake, left out “Michelle Bachman” in the search.  Guess who who showed up as the first and third entry?  You got it.   Check out this link to see what politifact has to say about it.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/michele-bachmann/

Federal Government shutting down but Congress still gets paid?

There was an op-ed in the New York times today about Senators and Representatives in the even of a shutdown.  The gist of it was of the vast number of people whose pay will be put on hold, members of congress are not included.  That’s right, they get paid.  Perhaps if this were not the case we’d see some progress (I use that term lightly).  On second thought, I’m sure they’d find plenty of folks to provide them with the funds they’d be missin’.

If you’re interested in the article, here’s the link:

Teachers under Attack – Why now?

Since entering the public sector I have seen a huge change in attitude towards the teaching profession.  When I began 10 years ago there was none of this animosity towards teachers and other public employees; people were extremely (almost overly) supportive.  What I mean by supportive is I’d hear, “you do an important job… you’re underappreciated… you don’t get paid enough for what you do.” This praise came from all walks of life – right, left, conservative, liberal, Taoist, nihilist, vegetarians, Martians etc.  It happened so often that it started to lose meaning. I left a promising job in the private sector making more money because it wasn’t fulfilling.  I was one of these people praising teachers.

Fast-forward a decade.  It’s 2011 and our country is slowly climbing its way out of a recession; a recession caused by corporate greed and deregulation.   The housing market crashed and shook the whole world.   Wars on three fronts are costing an exorbitant amount of cash. Suddenly, local and state governments are seeing deficits in the billions and people are beginning to panic.   A new arm of the GOP has formed and found its way into office.  Instead of turning to corporations (many of whom were bailed out) and asking them to pay their fair share in taxes, somehow a new mentality is emerging and public employees have become the scapegoat – A seemingly easy target.  In Florida, Indiana, Wisconsin and other states with bills yet to pass, middle-class public employees are being attacked and villianized.

Last year my spouse and I had our pay frozen for one year.  For those of you unfamiliar with the way this works, teachers generally get a (very small) pay raise each year and that scale depends on the amount of education you have.  In our district there are two big “steps” one at 10 years and one at 20 years (I think).  This is when you get your “big raises” – I believe the 10 year is $5000 (the amount of my first raise after 6 months of work in my private sector job).   Anyways, you wait a long time and we were really looking forward to it for obvious reasons.  So, my wife gets frozen at 9 years and me at 8.  If pay is frozen another two years (as it very well could be), we’re looking at a $20,000 loss over a three year period.  Honestly, these pay freezes are cap.  If you take back these tax cuts to the rich and stop catering to them, plenty of money will be there.  But, that’s not my reality right now and I can deal with it.  I don’t get pissed about it and I don’t lose sleep.

That being said, now these folks want to take away the ONLY power I (we) have – the right to collectively bargain.   They want to take away what is paid into our insurance and get rid of our pension.  And, they want to do it without bargaining/negotiating.   Despite what some may say teachers are not a group of money-grubbing leaches.   After we’ve put a decade or more in, we tend to get paid enough to live on (studies show it’s not as much as others with the same amount of education) after, of course, our student loans are paid.  But, why shouldn’t we?  We work hard, have put our time in and do an important job.    We dedicate our lives to trying to make this world a better place.

For all of this, a little more respect from our GOP–Tea Bagging representatives would be appreciated.   I find myself longing to hear the words I know we deserve: You work hard… you’re underappreciated… You don’t get paid enough for what you do.

Boycott Koch Products

Just came across this list of products of the Koch brothers to boycott:

Angel Soft toilet paper

Brawny paper towels

Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups

Mardi Gras napkins and towels

Quilted Northern toilet paper

Soft ‘n Gentle toilet paper

Sparkle napkins

Vanity fair napkins

Zee napkins

Georgia-Pacific paper products and envelopes

All Georgia-Pacific lumber and building products, including:

Dense Armor Drywall and Decking

ToughArmor Gypsum board

Georgia pacific Plytanium Plywood

Flexrock

Densglass sheathing

G/P Industrial plasters (some products used by a lot of crafters)

FibreStrong Rim board

G/P Lam board

Blue Ribbon OSB Rated Sheathing

Blue Ribbon Sub-floor

DryGuard Enhanced OSB

Nautilus Wall Sheathing

Thermostat OSB Radiant Barrier Sheathing

Broadspan Engineered Wood Products

XJ 85 I-Joists

FireDefender Banded Cores

FireDefender FS

FireDefender Mineral Core

Hardboard and Thin MDF including Auto Hardboard,

Courtesy of http://wemustchange.newsvine.com/_news/2011/03/08/6218429-koch-industries-products-to-boycott

Follow the Money

As an educator, this recent trend of bashing the public school systems has been a huge source of stress.  Solely judging school/teachers by standardized tests  has given many in our government ammunition to villianize the public education system and to talk about moving towards a more capitalistic approach.  Hey, as I’ve mentioned, I’m all for accountability.  That being said, by evaluating teachers with the current tools (standardized tests, weak administration evaluations, etc) schools across our nation will be a lot worse off than they are now.

I believe it’s all about money.  Standardized Tests – Big Money.  Charter Schools – Money.  Moving towards a more capitalistic approach and towards privatizing education, thus opening a new market – money.  Money is the big motivator and we are gambling with our kids’ and country’s future.  Think about where a lot of this push is coming from.  From my vantage point, politicians who are ex-business leaders and politicians with strong ties to big business are pushing these agendas.   Free market guys.  Bill Gates is a perfect example.  Here’s an article revealing the money and hidden agenda behind the movie Waiting for Superman.

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1746

Boot Jeffrey Immelt

From Russ Feingold today… to sign the petition go to: http://www.progressivesunited.org/action/immelt-must-go

Build Public Pressure to Boot Jeffrey Immelt

General Electric, America’s largest corporation, made $14,200,000,000 in profits in 2010 and paid $0 in taxes — that’s right, zero dollars in taxes.

At the same time, C.E.O. Jeffrey Immelt saw his compensation double. Now GE is expected to ask 15,000 of their unionized workers to make major concessions in wages and benefits.

Adding insult to injury, Mr. Immelt is chair of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. That’s wrong. Mr. Immelt should not lead the administration’s effort to create jobs.

Join Russ Feingold and sign Progressives United’s petition for Mr. Immelt to resign from his position on President Obama’s jobs panel today.

I believe General Electric’s Jeffrey Immelt must step down from his position on the president’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness — and if he won’t, President Obama must ask for his resignation.

And the witch hunt begins …

The whole point of this is to smear the names of people who have different viewpoints… For a party that throws the word “constitution” around as it’s rallying cry, I think they’ve forgotten about the First Amendment

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/03/ta033111.html