The Benghazi Attack- New York Times

No Al-Qaida Link In Benghazi Attack, 'New York Times' Reports

by KRISHNADEV CALAMUR

December 28, 2013 8:38 PM

The New York Times, after a months-long investigation, says the attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, "turned up no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault."

Instead, the newspaper says, "The attack was led ... by fighters who had benefited directly from NATO's extensive air power and logistics support during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi. And contrary to claims by some members of Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam."

The Times outlines the chain of events that led to the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11, 2012, as well as the aftermath of the attack. Here's more:

See the post- Room at the Inn. ( Link on the left)
http://www.dsausa.org/democratic_left

The Paucity of Dan Walters' Commentary on School Issues

The column by Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee entitled “California’s School Wars Heat Up” in the print edition for Dec.20, and “Powerful Factions Go to War Over Direction of California Schools,” http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/20/6015661/dan-walters-powerful-factions.html in the on line version  seriously and deliberatively misinforms .  He frames the conflict between the School Establishment ( school administrators, elected officials, CTA]  vs. the “School Reformers”.   These are indeed two of the powerful factions, but not at all the complete story.

To understand the distortion lets see who these “reformers “  See the Democracy and Education Institute  https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg

The cadre Walters’ calls reformers  are not reformers. These are a corporate financed  advocates and  some well financed opportunists. In most cases they do not work in schools, rather they work in lobbyist offices financed by the Waltons, the Gates, and others.   See here https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/Home/corporate-funded-reform

There is at least one additional group who Walters ignores- the social justice equity oriented based school reformers who have been working in schools for decades to  improve school opportunities for low income and minority children.

Media Failure to accurately examine U.S. education

Fareed Zakari on CNN presents the neoliberal view of schools and the PISA results with Joe Klein, Wendy Kopp of Teach for America , Sal Kahn  and Thomas Friedman. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/12/14/exp-gps-1215-pisa-education-p1.cnn.html

See other posts for what the PISA scores actually mean, 
http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-does-pisa-report-tell-us-about-us.html  .
The Zakari presentation continues the promotion  of the neoliberal/corporate views of school reform.  The program would have benefitted from having some teachers who actually work in schools  on the program.

Anti Teacher Initiative Filed

Matt David, a political consultant to Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst has submitted an initiative for the California ballot to remove teacher seniority as a factor in lay-off decisions.  StudentsFirst has long advocated this position and worked with EDVoice to propose  state legislation to achieve this goal.  Matt David is a former communications director for Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

The claim that teacher seniority protection is a major factor in school achievement has no basis in research.  It has long been a favored campaign of the Right in part because it can be used to assault teachers’ unions and because it divides teachers against each other.

Younger teachers frequently assume that their youth and energy makes them a better teacher.  These factors do indeed contribute to teaching, but there is no evidence to indicate that they balance or compensate for the skill of more experienced teachers.  This is an ideological campaign assault, not a provision based upon evidence.

See the prior posts on Michelle Rhee, StudentsFirst, and their connection to corporate assaults on public education. http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2013/12/how-wall-street-power-brokers-are.html

Get Serious About Funding Education

NEA and AASA executives call on Congress to get serious about investing in education

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - November 21, 2013 -

Today, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and AASA Executive Director Daniel A. Domenech released the following statement:

“The austerity policies ushered in by Congress aren’t working. They are harming our students and our economy,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “In fact, the across-the-board cuts, coupled with the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, are wreaking havoc in schools across the country and will only grow worse if allowed to continue.”

A recent NEA analysis revealed, and today’s report by AASA confirms, that the impact of the austerity approach falls unevenly, harming schools that rely more on federal funding for education, including students most in need of extra attention. One in four students in America attends school in a district where 15 to 20 percent of total revenue comes from federal sources. Sequester cuts, NEA’s analysis found, hurt these students even more.

DSA Honorary Chair, Labor Leader, Eliseo Medina on Fasting for Immigration Reform

DSA Honorary Chair, Labor Leader, Eliseo Medina on Fasting for Immigration Reform

NAFTA at 20: State of the North American Worker

NAFTA at 20: State of the North American Worker

How Wall Street Power Brokers Are Designing the Future of Public Education

 as a Money-Making Machine

by Anna Simonton.  Alternet 

December 5, 2013  |  

Given that Arthur Rock has a net worth of $1 billion, lives in California and spends his time heaping money on tech startups (with the mantra, “Get in, get out,” as his guide), a local school board race in Atlanta, Ga. seems an unlikely candidate for his attention.

Yet there is his name, on the campaign finance disclosure reports of four candidates—two of whom were elected in November, and two who won a runoff[3] on December 3—for the board of Atlanta Public Schools. On each report, two columns over from his name, the sum of $2,500 is listed, the maximum allowable amount.

The APS race was a pivotal one for Atlanta, a city still dealing with the fallout of a cheating scandal [4] that thrust its public school system into the national limelight. Only two incumbents were re-elected to the nine-seat board.

Sequester cuts hit hardest students and schools that can least afford the cost

Sequester cuts hit hardest students and schools that can least afford the cost

Reclaim School Reform from the Corporate Raiders

Reclaim School Reform 

The Nation

One of the greatest challenges facing American education today is a fantasy, spun by billionaire-funded “think tanks” and often repeated uncritically by
politicians and pundits, that our schools are failing, that teachers are shirking their responsibilities and that unions are

the root of the problem. Unfortunately, the peddlers of these distortions have held the microphone for so long that the word “reform” is now associated with the crudest assaults on the very infrastructure of public education.

It’s not that reform isn’t called for. Schools are beset with difficulties, mostly born of the inequalities rampant in the larger society. But, as ought to be obvious, education reform must be in the public interest—on behalf of public schools and the children who attend them—rather than private interests, furthering “the corporate agenda for public schools, which disregards our voices and attempts to impose a system of winners and losers,” to quote the mission statement of a new coalition of teachers and their unions, along with parent, student, religious and community groups. This coalition has set itself the task of nothing less than reclaiming “the promise of public education as our nation’s gateway to democracy and racial and economic justice.”

Backed by the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, as well as national groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens and local organizations like the Philadelphia Student Union and the Boston Youth Organizing Project, this coalition effort—beginning with a national day of action on December 9—picks up the themes of the Chicago Teachers Union strike of 2012, which saw educators and parents unite against school closings. It highlights concerns about resources and classroom energy being diverted to standardized testing instead of kids, concerns that have become a focus of the New York State United Teachers. And it embraces the message of Diane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of education, who argues that the right response to much of what ails public education is a comprehensive anti-poverty agenda that addresses racial and economic inequality [1] by providing healthcare, food and nutrition, and preschool programs that enable teachers to teach and students to learn.

Day of Action for Public Education

“Public education is under attack,” comes the warning from Philadelphia in a riveting new video from community and youth organizers in that city.

Their accusations are that education policies are “an attack on poor children” … policy makers “don’t care about the students” … public education “is being defunded” … and “it’s not something specific to Philadelphia.”

Indeed, Philadelphia “is an early warning sign for America,” a former science teacher wrote recently at the progressive news site PolicyMic. Chronically low per-pupil spending – “behind suburban districts” – combined with a “powerful charter school movement” intent on privatizing schools, have eroded Philly schools to the state where basic supplies like paper, pencils, and books seem like luxuries.

It’s a story that mirrors what’s happening across the country.

Americans everywhere are seeing their local schools being ground into pieces between the twin political augers of government austerity and top-down, corporate-backed “reform.”

What Do the 2012 PISA Scores Tell Us About U.S. Schools?

What Do the 2012 PISA Scores Tell Us About U.S. Schools?  NEA.

What Does the PISA Report Tell Us About U.S. Education?

Day of Action for Public Education. Dec. 9

“Public education is under attack,” comes the warning from Philadelphia in a riveting new video from community and youth organizers in that city.

Their accusations are that education policies are “an attack on poor children” … policy makers “don’t care about the students” … public education “is being defunded” … and “it’s not something specific to Philadelphia.”

Indeed, Philadelphia “is an early warning sign for America,” a former science teacher wrote recently at the progressive news site PolicyMic. Chronically low per-pupil spending – “behind suburban districts” – combined with a “powerful charter school movement” intent on privatizing schools, have eroded Philly schools to the state where basic supplies like paper, pencils, and books seem like luxuries.

It’s a story that mirrors what’s happening across the country.

Americans everywhere are seeing their local schools being ground into pieces between the twin political augers of government austerity and top-down, corporate-backed “reform.”

Parents' Message to de Blasio on Testing