Supporting De Blasio On The Charter School Issue

Michael Fiorillo on the war Eva Moskowitz, Andrew Cuomo and the media launched against Bill de Blasio over the charter school issue:

Public school teachers, parents and students are in a tough position here. While De Blasio has not been as strong as people hoped - no surprise to many readers of this blog, I imagine - he nevertheless is making some efforts to right the grotesque inequities caused by charter schools, and can safely assumed to be under tremendous pressure by the local Overclass to allow privatization to continue.

Unless we get out into the streets to show that there is a large constituency willing to fight for the public schools, De Blasio will either give in completely or be destroyed. In either case, that could lead to the endgame coming upon us very soon.

Whatever his temporizing and shortcomings, we probably have no choice but to (critically) support him, get active and loud, and show that there is widespread opposition to the takeover of the schools.

I agree completely - sure it would have been nice to see de Blasio cancel all eight of Eva's charters and give the space to traditional public schools, but you can see from the uproar over de Blasio's cancellation of three schools why that wasn't going to happen.

As Michael notes, the corporate forces have mustered a heavy assault against the moderately progressive policies de Blasio has taken on charters and if those of us who support traditional public schools don't get vocal about supporting him on this, we're going to see, as Michael puts it, "De Blasio will either give in completely or be destroyed."

Let me go on record saying, I support de Blasio on this issue, the so-called "war on charters" is a phonied up meme that came out of Eva Moskowitz's public relations office (as I wrote last night), and we need to hit the media over and over for acting as stenographers rather than journalists in covering this story.

Start with WNBC 4 - give them a call and let them know how you are permanently shutting the channel off over their stenography on the Eva issue.

Patrick Walsh also blogged about the chop job they do on his interview with them over the charter co-location issue.

Here's the number:

866-639-7244

It is time to start talking boycott of the media outlets that carry water for the pro-privatization movement.

NBC and Comcast have carried water for the corporate education reform movement for years now, most notably with their Education Nation pro-privatization propaganda fest (literally subsidized by the for profit University of Phoenix)  and it is high time they pay an economic and political price for this.

Turn off NBC, cancel any business you do with Comcast and let them know this again and again and again.

I just called NBC to let them know.

You should do it too.

Blog it, tweet it, get the story out there - public school teachers have had ENOUGH of the pro-privatization propaganda spewing from NBC and are taking the action to shut the network OFF.

If Eva Moskowitz can get loud and shrill, so we can - WE SUPPORT BILL DE BLASIO ON THE CHARTER SCHOOL ISSUE.

Bertha Coombs: Dumbest Tweet Of The Day

The NY Times is running an article today about the increase in cheating in schools.

CNBC's Bertha Coombs tweets the following about the story:

NYTimes: Studies Find More Students Cheating -Are shame & guilt obsolete? How do you sleep when you "succeed" cheating?

Coombs covers the financial markets - you know, the venue where Goldman Sachs bundled worthless financial products to unsuspecting customers while shorting those same products because they knew they were worthless and made hundreds of millions of dollars both coming and going.

This is the same market where MF Global "lost" a billion dollars of customer money making trades they weren't supposed to trade but no individual was ever brought to account for the loss.

It is the same market where 16 banks colluded to "fix" the LIBOR rate that underlies most financial products and loans in order to, first, make more money, and then later in '08, to make their books look better than they were.

And Coombs has the nerve, the audacity to ask how students can sleep at night knowing they've succeeded by cheating?

She is either the dumbest person on the planet or the most compliant corporate shill there is.

You want to see some cheaters who got ahead by cheating, Bertha?

Look the fuck around you.

You're surrounded by liars, cheats, con artists, pirates, and corporate criminals - and that's just in the CNBC offices.

This nation is run by cheaters in Washington, on Wall Street, in the media.

The kids are just learning the lessons they see from the adults around them - and they're learning them well.

The Best and Brightest are cheating in Stuyvesant High and at Harvard.

And soon most of them will take that cheating someplace where they can really cash in - Wall Street and the corridors of power in Washington.

Devastation In Japan, No Devastation At CNBC

The above photo was taken in Natori, Japan. I think the picture says much about the horror that the Japanese people are suffering.

Meanwhile at CNBC, Larry Kudlow is still grateful that the human toll is greater than the economic toll of the disaster.

In other words, he's grateful stocks haven't collapsed.

Isn't it refreshing to have a voice of the Masters of the Universe say what they're really thinking?

You know, I have watched CNBC in the past and I have to say, the network is home to some of the scummiest people on the planet not employed by Rupert Murdoch.

Kudlow is just slightly more honest about his feelings then Maria, Erin, Cramer and the rest of the gang.

What Wisconsin Means For The Rest Of Us

The corporate scum at CNBC explain why the corporatists are cheering on Scott Walker and worried that the unions and union supporters will prevail in Wisconsin:

The mass protests from state workers in Wisconsin and the revolt by Democrats in the state Senate should set off alarm bells for investors in municipal bonds.

One of the strongest arguments against fears of a wave of muni bond defaults is that state governments will be able to reign in their need to accumulate debt before a crisis develops. That would require states to reign in spending—especially health care spending—and pension fund obligations.

...

Wisconsin is not in imminent danger of defaulting on its bonds. Although tax revenues dropped in the wake of the financial crisis, Wisconsin’s economy is healthier than many other states.

But a victory by the unions in Wisconsin could embolden state workers in states with far worse finances. Politicians worried about similar revolts might consider it better politics to force muni bond holders to accept haircuts. After all, hedge fund and mutual fund managers are not likely to fill the streets of the state capital or win the sympathy of members of the state legislatures.

Much of the bullish case for munis depends on the belief that states and localities will behave rationally and predictably when it comes to their debt payments. In Wisconsin, however, we’re seeing these assumptions fall apart. Political risk is alive and well.

As usual, this political fight pits Wall Street and hedge fund criminals on one side, working and middle class people on the other.

And the hedge fund managers and Wall Street criminal class are WORRIED that the union fight in Wisconsin will spread to other states and other municipalities.

Well, they ought to be worried.

Here in NYC, Mayor Moneybags has decided that even if the state gives more money to the city, he is STILL GOING TO LAY TEACHERS OFF.

Do you understand that logic?

$2.1 billion in extra tax revenue for 2011, NYC economy looking up, the city has over a $3 billion dollar surplus and the state may very well come around with more money for the city, but Bloomberg STILL INSISTS HE HAS TO LAY TEACHERS OFF NO MATTER WHAT.

Just as in Wisconsin, which actually doesn't have that bad a deficit problem (and a previous Democratic governor was able to handle a worse deficit problem without the harsh measures Walker is imposing), Bloomberg here in NYC is USING THE SUPPOSED FISCAL CRISIS TO WRANGLE POLITICAL CHANGES THAT ARE DESIGNED TO DESTROY THE MIDDLE AND WORKING CLASSES AND UNIONS.

That's it - that's what all this is about, whether you're talking Wisconsin, New York City, Tennessee, Florida - wherever.

It's about destroying the unions and subjugating the middle and working classes to an oppressive future where they will have to work longer and harder to make a lot less money, have worse health care and diminished expectations for retirement.

It's CLASS WARFARE.

So this fight in Wisconsin is REALLY, REALLY important.

It scares corporate scum because so far, they have gotten everything they wanted from people - concessions, economic exploitation - without a fight.

But now they're seeing some FIGHT coming from the other side and it worries them.

I have said before, I will say again, until the oligarchs and ruling classes FEAR for their wealth, their possessions, their livelihood, their institutions, their families and their lives, they WILL NOT STOP STEALING 85% OF THE WEALTH OF THIS COUNTRY OR EXPLOITING THE REST OF US.

Make no mistake - the obscenely wealthy oligarchs do not share pieces of the economic pie willingly.

They, like an unwatched dog, will gorge themselves on it and eat it all.

UNLESS WE MAKE THEM STOP.

And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: When property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: When a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. -- John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

Let's stop them, Bloomberg, Walker all of the oligarchs -now.