A parent in Poughkeepsie writes about the infamous meeting where John King lectured for 1 hour and 40 minutes and was then hooted by parents and teachers:
On October 10, 2013, SED Commissioner John King spoke at the Spackenkill School District in Poughkeepsie, NY. This was the first of several forums on the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) that NYS adopted on July 19, 2010.
It has been widely seen in social media that Dr. King’s presentation was not well received by the audience. However, his perception of what transpired is not shared by those in the audience. He is quoted in Newsday as saying, “The disruptions caused by the ‘special interests’ have deprived parents of the opportunity to listen, ask questions and offer comments. Essentially, dialogue has been denied.”
Au contraire. If you take the time to watch the video (http://youtu.be/swWm9b_LUAU), you will see that Dr. King dominates the first hour and 40 minutes. At that point, audience members were allowed to speak for a whopping 23 minutes. Between speakers, Dr. King was defensive and tried to control the “dialogue”. A dialogue is supposed to be a two-way conversation where both sides speak and are listened to. The audience did their part by listening to him. King failed to do his part.
What “special interests” is he talking about anyway? Parents and teachers are not special interests. Pearson, inBloom, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, et al, are special interests and their interests are money, not children. He tries to depict the audience as having been infiltrated by an angry mob with an agenda. If you take the time to watch the video, you will see that the entire audience was filled with parents and teachers who have legitimate concerns for their children. Their frustration and yes, anger, were delivered to the man it belongs to.
Some have expressed concern about this anger – that it may come across as unseemly or unprofessional. I say that their anger can be defined as “righteous anger”. In John 2:13-22, Jesus shows his righteous anger toward the “money-changers” doing work in his Father’s home. This is the way many of those adversely affected by the reform movement feel. The work we do is sacred. What could be more sacred than working with children? In Matthew 18:6, Jesus talks about the special care given to children; woe to those who would harm one hair on their heads.
The parents in the audience were angry, very angry. It is justified and righteous. Dr. King has harmed a lot of children with his dictates and mandates. He has aligned himself with the “money changers” and they have assembled themselves in one of our sacred places – our schools. He has violated a trust that we have in education and he needs to suffer the consequences.
Dr. King is a failure and if he were evaluated with one of the tools in which we evaluate our teachers, he would rate as “ineffective”. Please join the many parents from across the state who will be demanding King’s resignation this week. Please call Governor Cuomo’s office (518-474-8390) and demand his resignation. Take back the schools from the corporations and give them back to our teachers and students. They deserve it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Actually, they did not have 23 minutes. They had 2 minutes each and I would be surprised if they had 12 minutes of speaking as King interrupted and continued to speak while he was booed. Just take the number of speaker X 2 minutes, that is how much they spoke and King had said they would have one hour after he spoke for an hour. Joke time as usual with them. It is beyond them to speak the truth as they are so corrupted. Thank You parents and community there for showing him he cannot get away with this. This problem is everywhere now. The fight is on and they will lose if we do not give up. Now is the time to attack their robbery and lies.
Here’s NY Education Commissioner
John King behind-the scenes:
Reblogged this on CNY Teacher.
Diane,
THANKS! I didn’t think you would publish it, but am glad you did!!!
Tim
>
From my State Senator Jack Martins on Long Island
Dear Friends,
Make no bones about it. I have been consumed with nonstop questions and concerns regarding the state education department’s rollout of the Common Core curriculum. I’m approached by constituents with questions at almost every event I attend in our district. But more than answer questions, I’ve been trying to listen because it’s abundantly clear to me that people are truly upset. There’s something wrong and they want something to be done.
To resolve this issue is going to take time and a whole lot of patience. That’s why I was so flabbergasted this past week when State Education Commissioner Dr. John King Jr. announced he was suspending his scheduled town hall meetings to discuss the roll out of Common Core and answer questions. Apparently, the commissioner was challenged by concerned parents and teachers at a town hall meeting upstate. Blaming “special interests” (i.e. concerned parents) for what he felt was an unconstructive atmosphere, he chose to suspend subsequent meetings including the Long Island event that was to be held right here in Garden City. This was an incredibly poor decision on his part. Anyone involved in government must understand that just because you don’t like the score, doesn’t mean you can take your bat and your ball and go home. This is especially true as Dr. King not only chose the game, he set the rules by which our children will be gauged. It’s wrong.
Let’s be frank, our communities are paying some of the highest taxes in the nation to educate their children who are suddenly failing in droves under the Common Core. In fact, an August 7th Education Department report revealed that a whopping 60% of students in grades 3 through 8 on Long Island scored below proficiency, nearly double the amount from the year prior! The scores are wrong and some have speculated that they’ve been manipulated. Naturally, parents are panicking. And whether he likes it or not, as Education Commissioner, the buck stops with him. It’s his plan.
So the appropriate response would be to assure parents that their concerns are not falling on deaf ears and then to begin the clearly necessary work of addressing the problems with input from everyone. Ignoring parents when they voice concern for their children’s wellbeing compounds the problem and only confirms for them their sentiment that the Education Department is acting without regard for the very people it should be serving.
Yet it’s not too late to set things right. It can’t be.
As I’ve noted before, embracing the higher standards of Common Core is worthwhile but it should have been rolled out gradually, allowing students the opportunity of growing with the new curriculum instead of callously blindsiding so many without preparation. The damage to student confidence and personal progress may be irreparable, to say nothing of the disadvantage of inferior grades that do not accurately reflect ability. It has to be fixed. Hopefully our Board of Regents and Education Department have the humility to accept that and the wherewithal to see it through.
At the moment New York needs a caring pragmatist willing to address real concerns raised by caring parents and educators who see a system being manipulated from above to the detriment of their children. Unfortunately, we have John King. He should immediately reschedule these forums or he should immediately resign.
Sincerely,
JACK M. MARTINS
Albany Address:
946 Legislative Office Building
Albany, New York 12247
518-455-3265
District Address:
151 Herricks Road, Suite 202
Garden City Park, New York 11040
516-746-5924
“Common Core is worthwhile but it should have been rolled out gradually, allowing students the opportunity of growing with the new curriculum instead of callously blindsiding so many without preparation. The damage to student confidence and personal progress may be irreparable”
Well said Jack Martins.
No, that is not well said.
Common Core = Common Crap
Attempts to standardize a process, the teaching and learning process is an attempt at futility, frustration and the big F word FAILURE.
Thank you Jack Martins! We need more politicians like you – who speak TRUTH to power!
Sounds like King should join former IN/FL supt Tony Bennett in well-deserved exile. — Edd Doerr
Any time King sticks his head up in public and he has a certain amount of time the second he goes past it stop him. No more going on and on with no respect for the public. Before he got there it was well known his positions. They need to hear from the public as has just happened at LAUSD on LCFF and iPads. They are real mad and for good reason. Margureite LaMotte has stated “We are angry also.” Public, they are your schools, it is your money, it is your government, take it back. Use their documents and statements on them. Do not give them a break, they don’t deserve it. they don’t give you a break, don’t give them a break. Fair for one, Fair for all.
As I was preparing for tomorrow’s lessons after school today, I received a surprise visit from a former student, now a senior, and his mother. They had BIG news to share–he is ranked number six in his class! He was a struggling reader and writer back in first grade. However, we did not label him a “1”. We gave him the support he needed to succeed through the years and he blossomed. It made me wonder how many kids today labeled as failures will fail to thrive in school–not because they can’t succeed, but because the label we attach at a young age becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So very sad. John King needs to hear these stories.
Your story is the story of real education. Thank you.
Diane, the Albany TImes Union is attempting to blame parents.
http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Editorial-To-begin-learning-listen-4901164.php
It’s a ridiculous comparison.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was debated publicly in Congress for months. There were millions of words written on it. It had almost blanket media coverage.
I would bet there are right now a majority of parents in this rural public school district who have no earthly idea Ohio signed on to the Common Core, or what it is.
It would be akin to a group meeting, designing the national health care system, putting it through state legislatures, training some doctors and health care industry leaders and then rolling it out on October 1st to tens of millions of patients.
Is this the ACA which the congress passed without having read on Christmas Eve? It was NOT debated. No one read it. It was snuck through. It’s 1000 times worse than the CCSS.
Interesting that they chose to make it an editorial, so there is no one who can be held directly responsible for this opinion piece. I guess they can’t use a King shill right now that his credibility is shot.
Well yes, it’s the editor, Rex Smith, I’m guessing. Times Union education writer , Scott Waldman, has left for Politico. At least he can now be free to write about topics without his boss, Smith, steering the boat. The TU is now regularly printing articles from the Hechinger Report, a rheeformy looking outfit. Yet the TU calls them nonpartisan, notprofit. Hechinger website screams “I’m funded by Tisch”.
TU = Times Useless
Have to say, it’s amazingly dumb to explain the Common Core to parents AFTER administering the tests for the Common Core.
I don’t know if that sequence of events would ever work well. They went in there feeling blindsided. The trust was already gone.
I know they wanted to “collect some data” or “rip off the bandaid” or fine-tune the test questions, but surely someone in the vast army of paid consultants to the Common Core realized it might be wiser to explain this test to these people sometime PRIOR to having their children serve as national test subjects.
Trust is so important. Once squandered, it’s difficult to earn it back.
Explain THEN initiate. Do they really need to be told that?
I understand the parents’ righteous anger, and it seems appropriate for the meeting in question (since King seems to have been surpressing dialogue I can understand the angry reaction), so I’m not criticizing the specific situation described in the article. However, in other venues I often wish that the conversation on this stuff was more level-headed.
I’m still forming my views on all the hot button issues in education. I live and work in education in a small developing country so I mostly follow the US debate via education blogs like this one. I often feel like the debate is framed as choosing a side in a war rather than carefully thinking about the best solutions for each major issue in education.
So if I think of my views on the major issues, there are some that fall into what I might call the Ravitch camp, and some that fall into the other camp (not sure what to call it). All of my views are open to change, but I can’t find places where they are being discussed reasonably. If I express some support for Charters or TFA, then I’M A STUPID PAWN OF THE EDUCORPORATE PROFIT MACHINE!!!!!!! according to one side of the debate. If I express some support for traditional public schools or express reservations about high stakes testing, then I’M A STUPID PAWN OF THE TEACHERS UNIONS WHO CARE MORE ABOUT JOB SECURITY THAN KIDS!!!!!!!!! according to the other side of the debate.
Maybe there is a place where these issues are being discussed in a more sane and sober manner, but I haven’t found it.
CTee,
Unfortunately, you have entered the conversation at a time when teachers and now parents are finding a voice as they are directly impacted by the destructiveness of corporate reform policy. Many of us have lost jobs or been forced out, others are just hanging on, and now parents who are not used to being ignored are objecting to policies which they see as detrimental to their children. Since the “creative destruction” began in communities with limited resources and little voice, people in wealthier communities have been able to ignore reform. As CCSS and the testing regime have expanded into communities with clout, the reform crowd has been forced to pay attention. I don’t see the same numbers of outraged parents on the reform side of the argument nor do I see strong support from teachers for their agenda. The support tends to be from the top of the hierarchy and from the power brokers in the corporate world. It was probably a mistake on the part of reformers to try to blame the “crisis” on greedy teachers when those on the reform side are much more likely to be profiting from their policies. So one side has built up a good reserve of anger, and the other is just realizing that maybe they have unleashed a backlash for which they are unprepared. This set of volatile circumstances is likely to lead to some heated exchanges.
But the battle is bigger than just education; it is a battle for democratic principles. It is a battle for what our country is going to look like in the future. Right now, government of, for, and by the people is a nice sounding slogan that has little basis in reality and certainly is not expressed by the reforms being pushed by the power brokers. With only 11% of the workforce unionized, unions hardly can be considered power brokers. No one is speaking for the little guy. Many of us are not interested in becoming the United States of Walmart or the Koch Brothers or Bill and Melinda Gates.
So, yes, emotions are heated. Just remind people that you are an interested bystander from another country eager to understand the debate; then most of us will not take you apart. : )
Thanks for the reply, and sorry that my response is slightly late by blog standards… I don’t have regular internet access in my corner of the world.
Sorry if my post was slightly misleading… I work and live in a developing country but I am American and have worked (briefly) in education in the US and may well return to working in education in the US at some point.
Of course you are right that education policy (both the content of those policies and the means by which they are implemented) touch important issues in a democracy beyond just education, but when the debate gets so expansive it becomes difficult to analyze or debate any one policy deeply.
So say I want to discuss charter schools. I think there are a lot of interesting and important issues to debate and discuss in regards to charter schools, but it seems like seems like those discussions aren’t taking place. One side frames it as evil corporations with their evil profits and their evil Bill Gates seeking to chop up children and feed them to the rich vs parents and teachers and students and puppy dogs and sunshine standing in together in solidarity. The other side frames it as innovative, bold new thinkers full of creative solutions for struggling schools versus evil entrenched union interests who don’t care if kids learn to read as long as they don’t have to work hard and can’t get fired. How is anyone supposed to be convinced by that sort of ridiculous rhetoric? I understand that blogs on both sides are mostly preaching to their own choirs and so the point really isn’t to inform but rather to gin up enthusiasm from their existing supporters, but I don’t think I’m the only person out there who thinks its more complicated than that.
You are right. The issue is much more complicated than that but is swallowed up by the larger debate surrounding public education. Right now it is hard to separate out single issues and debate them in isolation. Some people see some positive things about CCSS, but it is almost impossible to separate the standards from the assessment. It is the same with charters where they are being used to dismantle public education. I am afraid that you are left to do your own research and draw your own conclusions. As personal as the attacks may seem ( and I must admit that I tend to avoid some posts), take what you can and make up your own mind. I wish I could say that you can post an honest opinion and not risk attack.
Yes, of course, its more complicated. Some charters are actually working rather well, and some public schools are working rather well. Some of both are not. I see the debate as mainly between utopians and pragmatists. And in myself I too am divided between what I WISH could be done educationally for every child, and what I suspect is a COST of doing so which can never be appropriated. NCLB was never possible, but corrupted the souls of the utopians into accepting testing regimens that were totally opposed to their hearts as teachers. RTTT compounded the problem. And the CCSS has turned into what I see as the thick poison icing on the cake of American education, and which will make everyone who accepts them uncritically eventually sick, or at least out of a job. I don’t think information by itself will enable us here to agree. Ultimately, I suspect each individual is going to have to decide whether to work in public education or not, whether to pull one’s child out of public school and put them in a charter or not, and the reverse. What those 600,000 decisions will add up to, I can’t foresee, but I doubt it will be pretty. There is much to be learned on this blog, though never what the “agonists” proclaim. What one gets is a sense of humanity in dilemma in these times. of indeed the complexity of the issues facing both education and American at this point in history. All of the debates eventually throw one back on oneself, and there the decisions rest.
CTee: 2old2tch proffers good advice.
I would add two more points.
First, I observed ed blogs for about three years before I posted a single comment. Don’t feel in a rush; take as much time as you need so that you feel comfortable with the mass of acronyms and jargon, the various organizations and individuals, the different POVs, the basics of standardized tests, and so on.
Second, please remember that for many people like Irma Cobian [google her name and this blog] there is nothing abstract about this debate. Her good name and career suffered grievous blows for—IMHO—absolutely no good reason at all.
It doesn’t stop at damage. A caring and giving teacher may have taken his own life in large part because of one of the indispensable pillars of “education reforms,” i.e., high-stakes standardized test scores.
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/27/rigoberto-ruelas-lausd-te_n_740544.html
2old2tch: thank you for your good counsel.
🙂
I am so impressed! You managed to lurk for three years on ed blogs before you posted?! I think probably “Bridging Differences” was the first blog I really followed. I don’t know if I posted there or not. Probably not. Diane’s was different, and I couldn’t and still can’t keep my mouth shut whether I have something worth saying or not. I appreciate your kind words.
Chiara, they are sociopaths, what else do you expect.
Harlan, you are correct. Joke is on us. Obama should have fought for single payer. He is bought and sold as are almost all the rest up to the so called Supreme Court. I really cannot call it a court anymore as you buy and sell them also as if that is not so very obvious. As long as they are paid under the table they do not care about us. Only we can fix that as we have the vote. If people stop voting against their best interests it would stop. However, Bill Clinton signed the 1996 Telecommunications Act which wiped out the “Free Press.” He knew exactly what he was doing on orders from his high command. Look at what they do, not what they say as my friends grandfather said “I hear real good, but I see a whole lot better.” Better words never said to follow.
It does seem to me that somehow Justice Roberts was “gotten to,” but I suspect it was threat more than payoff. Would you explain at greater length the damage from the 1996 Telecommunications act and how it ended the “Free press”? I always enjoy your fierce posts.
Harlan, you are right about the ACA. . . . it is little more than a gift to the insurance companies. Single payer was taken off the table by Obama and others. ACA is a disastrous piece of legislation, and the high stakes attached to the CCSS more than the CCSS itslef, I think, is another disastrous move by Obama.
I think Obama will go down as perhpas THE worst president in modern history . . . .
There’s a video of Chief Regent Bartlett claiming Dr. King was subjected to racial slurs. I didn’t hear that, so I watched the entire thing again paying close attention. Another participant eye witness whose letter you published earlier noted the same inaccuracy. Has he been challenged and forced to retract that error? King completely misconstrued the audience criticism of the apparent hypocrisy in sending his own kids to Montessori. The point is: if Montessori is the effective method, why is the main thrust of King’s reform about paying testing companies to take away from valuable instruction time in ways no Montessori school would ever contemplate? If he truly cares about other people’s children as he clearly does his own, why isn’t Dr. John King advocating Montessori training for all teachers?
I’d like to see pressure applied on the TV station that ran the interview with Robert Bartlett to correct the dangerous error he made retelling the story, and on John King to answer the questions that were asked, without conflating the diversionary “choice” issue, which no one uttered but King, and no one on either side has ever disagreed with! Of course we believe in choice. This entire debate is about choice—choosing a viable means to reform the education system in ways that all American students might have it as good as John King’s kids.
Richard Fouchaux: IMHO, if Chief Regent Bartlett did indeed claim that State Commissioner John King was subject to racial slurs, then don’t assume the charge was made in good faith or bad faith or any faith at all. That is simply what the leading charterites/privatizers and their educrats do. Sneer and smear is second nature to them.
I call these folks “edubullies” as a simple description, not as an insult. They cannot conceive of themselves as anything but correct and high-minded, so when anyone opposes their fantastical schemes and harmful policies they are treated with searing contempt and hateful labels.
One of the most salient traits of the edubullies is, to put it ever so politely, that they are “democracy-challenged.” Hence anyone foolish enough to state in a [as it was advertised] public forum that a public servant is a, er, public servant and should answer to the general public—that person is by definition undeserving of decent and honorable treatment.
In other words, the same docility and obedience demanded of increasing numbers of students in charter schools is demanded of an ever-growing segment of the general population as well.
One of the greatest responsibilities and challenges for public schools has been, and continues to be, to prepare young people to be active and critical thinking participants in a democracy, however limited and insufficient that democracy may be. The leading charterites/privatizers have demonstrated by word and deed that one of their greatest challenges is to prepare students—and generations to come—to learn to meekly obey their social superiors and make whatever sacrifices are required to support the lifestyles and tender egos of the ‘better sort of people.’
So in the eyes of much of the education establishment, the owner of this blog and the parents at the faux dialogue with State Commissioner John King and an ever-increasing number of people are “shrill” and “strident” and “unreasonable” and “demanding”—and proudly so, in the tradition of the great American abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison:
“I will be as harsh as truth, and uncompromising as justice… I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.”
The tide is turning. William Lloyd Garrison was on the right side of history. So are those struggling, as they always have, for a “better education for all.”
Like him, we are ‘in it to win it.’ But it is going to get a lot uglier before it gets better—and it will get better.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” [Mahatma Gandhi]
We are already in stage three.
🙂
“One of the greatest responsibilities and challenges for public schools has been, and continues to be, to prepare young people to be active and critical thinking participants in a democracy, however limited and insufficient that democracy may be. The leading charterites/privatizers have demonstrated by word and deed that one of their greatest challenges is to prepare students—and generations to come—to learn to meekly obey their social superiors and make whatever sacrifices are required to support the lifestyles and tender egos of the ‘better sort of people.”
Exacto, KTA, exacto!
Here’s another example of “Righteous Anger.” “Stop Devaluing Our Teachers and the Teaching Profession.” A talk given to the School Board of Palm Beach County, FL on October 16, 2013. Diane, I would love it if you could make this a post on your blog.
–Andy
Typical misinformation with their friendly media as usual. Thank Bill Clinton for ending the Free Press with the 1996 Telecommunications Act. People, do not let Hillary run. We have had enough of that. Or have you not had enough pain yet?
Off-topic, but did you see this, Diane? http://ht.ly/pTnP4 The “clean” budget deal that was passed included a provision about alternative teaching credentials (like TFA) being allowed to deem a teacher “highly qualified”. What the heck is that even doing in a budget bill?
Common Core, just like its name, is only a part and therefore is a failed program and all failed programs should be shut down. When you do not have the whole apple and only the core what do you have? The smallest part and the part most do not eat. Think of the psychological things that went on in their subconscious when naming this program. Their subconscious would not let them do this travesty for free so it gave us a backdoor into what they are really thinking and that is perversion of the system. Think creatively about why they named it this and what that means in our hard programming. This is exactly what guru’s do. I know all about that game as I have cooked a few of them in the past including those involved in death. The program is the same as the corporate privatizers and Obama and Duncan. Makes it an easy job for me. Just run the same old program on their psychology.
ready to pay money to have Harland and George duke it out.
I don’t think I’m ready to go up against George. And what promoter would hire us? The World Angry Teachers Blog Fighters Association? And who would sponsor it? Red Bull? An appropriate sponsor to be sure, but George’s fact muscles are too strong for my clever theoretical conservative trickery. I need to go against some ignorant commie theoretician to have even a fair chance.
TAGO!!
What really needs to be questioned is NYSED’s use of so called “fellows” that are basically attorneys with very little experience in education.
I am not dukeing with Harlan, just exchanging facts and views on them for all to have a more comprehensive view that is not one sided. One sided is what got us into this mess. Without comprehensive views, including those on other sides, you never can come to complete understanding or see all the potential pitfalls. I am not just me, I call it the “Giant Brain” which acts like a giant supercomputers parallel processors do for massive computing. I can touch my phone or computer and get the best advice in this nation on any subject if I do not already know it and even then I run things by trusted competent people who know the field for many years nationally and almost none are academics as they are untrustworthy and are generally know nothings and have caused the problem by their incompetence, as if that is not obvious. Generally, the higher the degree the worse they are from my experience and personal knowledge. So far, not one can take reality when confronted with it yet in over 22 years of fact finding and fraud busting across the U.S. Not one person on this blog so far has shown any knowledge of school financing yet to me. I post the numbers and not one peep, even from those in the districts under financial pressure even after I give them where to go in their budget after less than an hour in it when I have never looked in that districts budget. I just know how to look at them and find the fraud and problems. Now, it is easy to teach people. First, you have to do it on the 5th grade level in both math and language. My laptop is the teaching tool with all the spreadsheets and documents I can pull up anywhere and show them the facts and how it works. When it is properly laid out and you know how it fits what took me years is not minutes for them to understand the same thing. It is all in how you do it. Amazingly enough the least educated in the worst ends of town get this way before the PHD’s in Beverly Hills or Brentwood. The PHD’s give every excuse known to man plus some other crazy excuses for fraud and theft that are unbelievable. The inner city people go “I know this game, we see it every day in other criminal action.”
Harlan, I also do 3,300 reps a night with weights and swim over 22 laps a day in the 20X40′ + pool even today with it cold for muscle and cardio. I am in the best shape in 15 years after I did a 10′ piledriver off a small cliff with my dirt bike and had it hit me. For you with back pain. Start working out with small weights. My back problems are gone now. I work at the pool. What a way to do this. It really helps you think being in a beautiful setting and outside with the changes of the day and night. This is the most intellectual thing there is. This makes the best spy book look like simpleton land with the twists and turns. Actually, it is fun. Hope it can be that for you also or you will certainly have mental problems with it if you learn too much. I tell people you do not want to know what I know as it will hurt your brain.
I admire your dedication, George. I’ve noticed the absence of interest in school finance, although it seems obvious that that is where the rubber meets the road. Could you look at Ann Arbor for me and teach me how to find what may be there.
Forgot to explain the 1996 Telecommunications Act. In 1996 Clinton signed this. What it did is allow about 80 previous owners of media, you know, when we had relatively good reporting like Cronkite, to now 5-6 giants who have major business with the government on the line in their other divisions. So, now the press is the pusher of garbage for the public pablum for consumption to assist the corporate masters in their taking everything we have as they profit personally form their misinformation such as Fox, non news. One thing you cannot say about Clinton and Obama is they are stupid and do not know what they are doing. Just look as how much wealth Clinton has accumulated. Accident? No, it is payoff for the 1994 NAFTA and WTO, the 1996 Telecommunications Act and the big one the 1999-2000 Banking Deregulation Acts which allowed the banksters and their friends to take all our money worldwide, except for at the time, Canada, India and China. Now, Canada elected, stupidly, a right wing prime minister and he just joined their banking with ours and now the Canadians are screwed, glued and tattooed. Accident that Obama did not work to reinstate the Glass-Steagle legislation from 1933-36? Are you kidding, it took two democratic bought and sold presidents to put this into place as they knew they could not do it with republican presidents alone. Remember, Clinton started the right wing democrats. So, be smart and make sure Hillary does not have a chance at prez. if you value your freedom.
Now, the Supreme Court of bought and sold. Look at these guys and what do you see? Total corruption. Thomas’s wife, while he is on the court, works for right wing policies which her husband is deciding and he does not recuse himself. I’m sorry, that is illegal. Well, we are a lawless country unless you have the gold including at the Supreme Court.
Recently, I just read the Supreme Court case on which the NSA spying is based. This case is Supreme Court case: October Term, 1978, no. 78-5374, Michael Lee Smith v. The State of Maryland. Read this case and look at how these justices have twisted this case into taking away our rights. This will certainly show you how corrupt they are.
Today, I am going down to “A Taste of Soul” which is a once a year party on Crenshaw Boulevard to celebrate Black History, food, music, art and life. CORE-CA is a member of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition which had worked tirelessly to prevent the last black business and cultural community on the West Coast from being destroyed by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) by them putting a train down the middle of the street instead of underground. Instead, MTA is going to have a $10 billion overrun on their favorite, down Wilshire Blvd. where the wealthy are, “Subway to the Sea.” Two years ago I was there for the Crenshaw Subway Coalition all day gathering signatures for people to help us stop the above ground train. There were 120,000 African-Americans there. I was the only white person. Did you hear that. I thought L.A. was integrated in general. What a joke. I had the best time of my life and because I was white I made more signatures happen than anyone. I kept 3 people busy signing them up. As soon as I post this I am leaving to spend the day there again and I really hope I see someone who is not black other than me this time. Do you believe this is true? It really is.
So, there is the explanation and some extra. I will let you know what happens and if, hopefully, all races and people come to party and they really know how to throw a party. So, if you live near L.A. and want to hear great music and great food come down to Crenshaw and have the time of your life. Everyone is having a great time with great music for the entire mile of people, food and displays.
Thanks, George.
Harlan, we have to work together and all be on the same page when it comes to facts. Facts are facts and nothing else. Can you get me the budget to Ann Arbor? If so let me know at georgebuzzetti@gmail.com. If you cannot find it let me know and we will somehow get it or find out how corrupt they are as with another district we tried to find their budget on their website and none are there. This automatically means corruption if they do not want you to see it. Then does that state have a public information request which they legally have to deal with? That is another means. Then do you have a good relationship with a legislator? If so, and they do not want to give it to you and you have the legal right to it and you should they can make it happen. What do you think is going on there so I know what to look for. Usually, in about an hour or two I can find the game in general as with Philadelphia, N.Y., Chicago and D.C. which I have not looked close at but I know they have $29,145/student/year like N.Y. has over $22,000/student/year as their budget, according to the audit is $23.9 billion with 1.1 million students which is directly with those numbers is $21,727/student/year. Simple 5th grade math. Harlan, it would be my pleasure to show you the simple way I do it. The more who know the better. It is so obvious to me, and I wish it was not this way, that no one else knows this field and this is where the “Rubber Meets the Road.”
By the way I spent the entire day as a white guy with 150,000 African-Americans. This time I was not the only white guy, there were a few others this time. Crazy, the best party in the nation and only African-Americans there in a city like L.A. which is supposed to be integrated. Joke, I guess. Well, we got a lot of signatures to stop the destruction of the last African-American business and cultural center on the West Coast. So far, we have stopped the billionaires on the $90 billion Measure J, obtained the stop at Leimert Park and now we want the train underground not down the middle of the street which in the past has wiped out the local business and then the billionaires come in and take it over and collect all the money from the community and none of them have those businesses anymore and make the money in their community.
CORE-CA one word for all is “COMMUNITY.”
Core means center not all. It takes all to make anything. Just as the CORE of the earth is only that iron center not the rest it takes to make the planet earth. Certainly does not include the crust where we live so how is CORE the whole? Doesn’t it take the whole education of the whole person to do it? Isn’t each person and individual and require even just slightly different approaches some times? So how does one fits all work then? Impossible and stupidly demented by sociopaths. We call it as it is.