The Beginning of Something

As a teacher the only thing I have wanted to do is teach, retire and then enjoy the grandkids. I do not want any other role in the education system or any other future.

The fact is I have ended up working extremely hard as a union rep (second time around) and as a negotiator. All of this hard work has been over issues that should have been settled long ago. Time, energy, effort, expense all to achieve what should have been agreed to in the first place. I see this same fight coming concerning Social Security, abortion, Medicare, the right to unionize, financial and business regulation, healthcare reform...the list goes on and on.

The key is understanding how doable all of this is. Look at how fearful the healthcare industry was over healthcare reform. They know it can happen. Changes can be made that would entirely redefine or eliminate their business model if most of us agreed that it should happen.

Those who are wrong can construct a mighty web of logic that is still wrong. Time for push back issue by issue.

Filibuster the filibuster?

One Senator blocking a vote in the Senate; a motion that has the votes to pass. The last Congress saw many popular ideas stymied this way.

Given that the Democratic majority in the Senate is now slimmer, is the idea of filibuster reform less appealing? Will it weaken further the ability of the majority party to get anything done? Are we solving last year's problem and essentially giving up de facto majority status to the unified Republicans and a sliver of conservative Democrats.

Leave it to the Democrats to screw themselves when they have vast majorities in both houses of Congress and control of the White House then, turn on the proverbial dime and give their slim majority over the the Republicans. Politics as usual.

Many of us saw it coming in 2008 when Donna Brazille said that the Democratic Party did not need its traditional base anymore. She meant it. President Obama has pursued it. Harry Reid may seal the deal.

Democrats Should Join With Republicans in the New Congress and Consider Articles of Impeachment

Social Security is not connected to the deficit, yet Obama is set to make a "fiscally responsible" move to cut it. There must be some crime inherent in running as a Democrat when one is really a Republican.

To me, the strategy seems to be to position himself further and further to the right giving those to his left "no place else to go." This gives him a winning coalition. Just as the ultra-conservatives draw in the conservative Democrats, Obama is cutting loose the progressive left in favor of positioning himself to draw in everyone from moderate conservatives leftward.

Traitor.

USDA Approved Organic

Bill Gates says teachers do not get any better after three years of teaching - Teach for America!

Michelle Rhee says bad teachers and teacher unions are the real impediment to effective schools - eliminate tenure!

Arne Duncan says rating teachers based on test scores is an accurate way to evaluate teachers and make schools better - pressurize education even more and humiliate those with the toughest assignments!

They all approach schooling from the outside. Their "reforms" introduce competition, fear and brutality when they should be championing a culture of caring, discovery and abundance.

This culture could mean many things depending on the needs of a school, but could include new facilities, adequate materials, low class size, adequate special education funding, mentoring programs for new teachers...

Successful school cultures grow; they are organic. Like evolution, successes come in tiny increments, not large anomalies. These anomalies are known as birth defects and lead to diminished functioning or death.

Obama McFly or Gopbama

The Republicans are snickering over the snookering. Or, perhaps they and Obama are snickering together?

The Bush tax cuts did not help create more jobs, but we now get more of them. Deregulation did not produce more jobs, yet the same policies that allowed the current financial mess are still in place. Outsourcing did not produce more jobs, here. Yet, hundreds of billions of dollars of tax cuts to the wealthy will not be spent. It will be invested in the growing economies of Asia. Cutting payroll contributions undermines the solvency of Social Security. Not including the Build America bond program undercuts the ability of states to borrow money to make it through these hard times. This makes it easier to attack state employee unions and their "over-generous" pensions.

It seems our president has not come across a Republican proposal he doesn't like. Maybe he does like them.

Republicans Are Irresponsible

Interesting headline...GOPers: The Best Way To Prevent Financial Crises is Deficit Reduction

Dick Cheney said, "Deficits don't matter."

Now they want to cut taxes and spending and government services just as cities and states are poised to go bankrupt.

The deficit did not cause the current crisis. Cutting it will not solve it. In fact, cutting the deficit is really code for cutting spending. Just what we do not need in the middle of this crisis. Republicans are irresponsible.

2012

Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders, Howard Dean, someone? A real progressive needs to run against Obama in the primaries. They should run largely as Obama did, but never, ever, ever criticize him. Simply, run as a real progressive. The message will be clear that he is not who he said he was, but the primary challenger is. Nothing should be said that the Republicans can use against Obama if he wins renomination. It will even strengthen him as a more "centrist" and "conservative" Democrat. This is what he has been trying to achieve. We should help him.

If a real progressive wins in the primaries, then Obama should not be our candidate anyway. The country wanted the progressive in 2008; let's give them a real one in 2012.

If...

If President Obama had said then what he is doing now, he would not be president.