I just read a Kos article entitled "Epic Tea Party Hissy Fit on Twitter." Let's stop giving these low-information Tea partiers any more attention than absolutely necessary, OK? Let's snub the repubs too. Now, sure, they are fun to watch and write about, but we are living in a time where real news and analysis of current events is hard to come by.
I follow Robert Reich on Facebook and I recommend to both readers of my post here to do the same. Here is an example of his analysis of the California judge's decision on teacher tenure:
"Yesterday’s ruling by a California judge that teacher tenure deprives students of the right to education and their civil rights is half right, but inadequate funding also deprives them. It’s unfortunate the debate over how to improve schools pits those who seek more money against those who want more teacher accountability, because it's both: We need excellent teachers but also higher salaries to attract talented people to the nation's classrooms – and make sure poorer districts aren’t shortchanged. But since the wealthy don’t want to pay more taxes to finance better schools, they tend to focus exclusively on teacher accountability. Not incidentally, the California case was the work of David Welch, a Silicon Valley technology magnate, who spent millions to create a front group “Students Matter” that brought the case, and to hire a team of high-profile lawyers. Welch is considering lawsuits in other states. Big money is not only taking over the elected branches of government but also our courts. What's your view?"
There are many well-funded front groups that are working to deceive and manipulate the public. As a result of reading Robert Reich's post, I learned that "Students Matter" is one of them. These topics needs more media coverage.
In Michigan, republicans control the legislative, executive and judicial branches of Michigan's government. They have installed "Emergency" Managers to take over the government of cities that are having financial problems. There was a ballot initiative on Emergency Managers and the voters voted them down. The Republicans continued to use them anyway. THIS is an issue that needs more news coverage.
Michigan Republicans have also installed a failed school reform plan called the Education Achievement Authority or EAA. The Detroit News investigated the EAA and found that
“The EAA had to borrow $12 million through the Detroit Public Schools to stay afloat, and then needed an advance from the state when they couldn’t pay it back. At the same time, EAA fat cats, such as Chancellor John Covington, were taking trips around the country to places such as Orlando, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach and Los Angeles, spending $25,000 on IKEA furniture and putting $10,000 in gasoline into Covington’s chauffeur-driven car,” House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) said. “Meanwhile, the EAA’s teachers were told that if they wanted books in their classrooms, they’d have to buy it themselves. There can be no excuse for this selfish behavior and utter disregard for our kids. There must be an investigation into these abuses, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
Local policies that benefit a few powerful people at the expense of the uninformed citizens will become national policies and when the traditional news media does not report on it, we must do it.
