You did NOT misread the title. That is an accurate description of the contents of Bob Herbert's column this morning, which the NY Times has labeled The Worst of the Pain. Let me present it simply, but I will give the figures he offers from the bottom income level going down. These figures are from the 4th quarter of 2009, as analyzed by The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston:
Those words were spoken by a fictional character, C. J. of West Wing, to National Security Advisor Nancy McNally. The complete line is "They're killing women. They hate women. The only reason they keep women alive is to make more men." The Quirini of that episode were bad. The Hutu militias of the Congo are worse.
They are raping the women, and the little girls. Multiple times. With sex organs and with any object that's handy.
Nicholas Kristof has written about this. I recently wrote this diary about 1 of his columns. Yesterday, in The World Capital of Killing, he argues the death total may have exceeded the 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. He still writes about rape, and about Dr. Denis Mukwege, who has treated many of the raped, whose insides have been destroyed.
From liberal Frank Rich in the New York Times, repealing DADT is the right thing to do, and besides, at this point most conservatives know better than to make an issue of it, because the politics, especially among independents, is against them. Look at new Senator Scott Brown, who may be with them on financial issues, but like independent is not on social issues, because after all, in Massachusetts gay marriage is a settled issue.
From conservative Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post, there is no right to serve in the military. The real issue is military effectiveness. DADT is hurting the effectiveness of the military. Besides, her former Marine brother, who used to strongly oppose gays serving openly, now says leave it to the troops. But remember, no one has a right to serve.
And from me? I'm not a columnist. Leaders should lead. DADT was wrong when Clinton was President, it is wrong now. And politically, most young people want to know what all the fuss about gays is about.
That is, do not read Nicholas Kristof's column, or go below the fold of this posting, until you are properly warned. I did say "until". I want you to read. I want everyone to read.
You may not yet want to click through, but the column is titled From 'Oprah' to Building a Sisterhood in Congo. Ultimately it is story of hope beyond imagination under circumstances that would crush most people. I really want you to read the Kristof, and invite you to consider the words I will offer in addition, although I wonder if they can add anything to what he has written.
You will be reading about the effect of war in the Congo,
the most lethal conflict since World War II. More than five million had already died as of the last peer-reviewed mortality estimate in 2007.
You will also learn about Lisa Shannon and her "sisters" including a woman named Generose.
Perhaps now you are ready to go below the fold. You might not yet be ready for the Kristof.
905 Servicemen on board a ship headed for Greenland. It had broken away from its convoy, not an unusual maneuver when avoiding submarines, but one this time which would prove fatal.
When the ship was hit, there was panic. Many were asleep in their bunks when the boilers exploded. The ship quickly listed to starboard. There was panic in the dark, and security prevented the use of distress flares, which might have brought help from nearby vessels.
George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington helped calm men, distributing life jackets. But there were not enough. And four young soldiers stood patiently awaiting life jackets. The four unhesitatingly stripped off their own and gave them to the soldiers, saving those lives, then linked arms together on the deck, praying as the ship went down, their heroism visible to those in the lifeboats.
One a Catholic priest, another a Rabbi, and two Protestant Ministers. The Four Chaplains. On the USS Dorchester.
An honorable sacrifice to remember. This day in 1943.
The fact that a certain percentage of criminals may be black or Hispanic is no reason for the police to harass individuals from those groups when there is no indication whatsoever that they have done anything wrong.
So writes Bob Herbert in a New York Times op ed titled, as is this posting, Jim Crow Policing. The disparate treatment of Blacks and Hispanics, particularly teens and young adults, by the New York City Police Department, is an issue about which Herbert has written before - and will again, so long as it continues.
I am a white, middle class, middle-aged adult - well, okay, since I will soon be 64, I am a senior citizen. I am unlikely to be the subject of such random searches. But I am appalled by them. I am especially appalled given that yesterday was an important 50th anniversary, one that unfortunately went almost unnoticed.
I want to explore Herbert's column in light of Greensboro and 4 North Carolina A & T students.
When teachers are forced, against their better judgment, to focus on teaching test content to the exclusion of almost everything else, I can only conclude that the high-stakes testing movement nourishes totalitarian regimes.
If the title did not grab you, I suspect that if you really care about what is happening to American public schools, that quote should get your attention. It is from the introduction to the final book by the late Gerald W. Bracey, taken from us too soon this past October.
This is a book that will give you all the ammunition you need to oppose the so-called reformers who, despite their professed best intentions, are destroying American public education.
The book has an additional subtitle, Transforming the Fire Consuming America's Schools, which makes clear Bracey's opposition to much of what has been happening in the past decade or more. I invite to you come with me on a further exploration of the book, and of Bracey.
Regular readers of my diaries are aware that it is not unusual for me to focus on an event of the day, perhaps a birthday, a death, an important event. Some days, such as the birth of Beethoven (Dec 16) or Mozart (Jan 27) are ingrained in my DNA as one intimately involved with music since my earliest years. Others, such as the 1963 Civil Rights March (Aug 28) I know because I was there. Then of course there are the personal dates - the birthdays of my spouse (Jan 29) and me (May 23), or of our shared events (encountering one another at the Bryn Mawr train station - Sept 21; 1st date - Sept 27; wedding - Dec 29).
Each day I check on the events connected with the date, in part because as teacher I often find teachable moments, perhaps for my students, perhaps in my writing. I use a number of sites, among which is Scope Systems (which is sometimes a bit off, so I do crosscheck their info).
This morning I cannot focus on one event - I find myself overwhelmed with history.
Imagine a political leader saying that. In fact, imagine a conservative political leader saying that. Imagine him saying:
We do need good sex and relationship education. That education should teach people about equality and the sort of country we are - that we treat people the same whether they are straight or gay, or black or white or a man or a woman. It is important that ethos is embedded in our schooling.
You don't have to imagine. It happened. In Britain. The words are from David Cameron, Conservative Party Leader, and the main probably possibly poised to become the next Prime Minister of the UK. You can read about it in this piece in The Guardian.
Once upon a time conservatives in America looked at what the Conservative party in Britain did for their model of what to do, e.g. Maggie Thatcher on privatization. Perhaps we can remind them of that as we suggest they read this article?
this was posted at Daily Kos shortly before the State of the Union. Thus the date reference is to January 27. I thought it worthwhile to also remind people here. Sorry I did not get to it until this morning
On this day in 1945, the camp at Auschwitz-Birkanau was liberated. And as you can read on the website of the U S Holocaust Memorial Museum,
In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), an annual day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era.
This is not what I would prefer to remember about this day. It is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and of Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola, commonly known as Juan Arriaga, two preternaturally gifted composer who showed their genius early - Arriaga only so, because he died before he reached his 20th birthday.
I prefer this year, as I await the State of the Union Message, to reflect on the somber occasion of this date, and the two composers are relevant.
Think of this rather persuasive moment in a chat between a corporate lobbyist and a senator: "Are you going to block that taxpayer bailout we want? Well, I'm really sorry, but we're going to have to run $2 million worth of really vicious ads against you." The same exchange might take place on tax breaks, consumer protections, environmental rules and worker safeguards.
Those words are by E. J. Dionne, in a Washington Post op ed, Supreme Court ruling calls for a populist revolt. They are words from an imagined scenario. Imagined, but all too soon perhaps not imaginery.
And Dionne says that the decision has brought us to " a true populist moment in American politics." He calls for a populist revolt, or rather, a "populist-progressive alliance."
It is worth reading the column, which I will explore some before offering ideas of my own.
What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon it destroys our democracy.
The words were penned by John Dewey for his 1900 work The School and Society. You will encounter them as a epigraph to the 9th and final chapter of an important new work on education. The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future is a comprehensive work by Linda Darling-Hammond that examines a wide range of materials that will help the reader understand the real issues in education in an America that is increasingly diverse in its student population. As James Banks notes in his introduction, we face a crisis, one which Darling-Hammond documents while telling us what will happen if we fail to act and the specific actions we can take to achieve educational equity and create "a more democratic and just society."
The door is being slammed on the American dream and the politicians, including the president and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, seem not just helpless to deal with the crisis, but completely out of touch with the hardships that have fallen on so many.
So writes Bob Herbert in the 2nd graf his column, THey Still Don't Get it. It is a powerful and blunt piece of writing. You should read it. I will explore it, offering some thoughts of my own, but I am not going to cover every point Herbert makes. For me the column is a starting point, an occasion to share some additional thoughts of his own.
So read the Herbert. Then if you want, join me below the fold.
KathyinBlacksburg asked that I cross-post this. It was written specifically for Daily Kos, and some of it is specifically related to that website/community
I teach government. I have periodically wrestled with whether I could continue to do so. I have come close to walking away from it, because I what I saw worried me sufficiently that I wondered what point there was - signing statements, Military Commissions Act, abandoning Geneva as "quaint" "enhanced interrogation methods," extending executive privilege to energy executive coming to the White House to craft policy could have their identities kept undisclosed, Scalia flying on a private plane across the nation to go hunting with Cheney while the last issue was pending before SCOTUS, ... was there still a meaningful constitution and political system about which to teach my students? Meanwhile, educational policy distorting the very process of school itself, depriving those most in need of real teaching and learning of the opportunity to do much beyond prep for low level tests.
Each time I hav wrestled with these issues. Each time I decided to keep teaching - "for now" - in the belief I could make a difference, and that the nation would come to its senses.
Americans can now boast that they no longer "torture" detainees, but they cannot say that detainees are not abused, or even that their treatment meets the minimum standards of humane treatment mandated by the Geneva Conventions, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (the so-called McCain amendment), United States and international law, or even Mr. Obama's executive order.
Read that again. Note especially what we cannot say, even one year after Obama signed an executive order in theory banning torture, or that the Army Field Manual requires "humane treatment." It may for example limit "separation" (solitary confinement) to 30 days but a general officer can issue a waiver to extend that time and
Rest assured, there will be numerous waivers to even that minuscule requirement.
So writes Matthew Alexander, a former military interpreter, in a must-read New York Times op-ed with the same title as this posting.
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.
Today Dr. King would be 81, except he was taken from us almost 41 years ago.
He knew he might die young - it was not unknown for him to refer to that possibility, at least indirectly, in his spoken words.
Right now, we are - rightly, might I add - concern about issues like health care, what will happen on Tuesday in Massachusetts, and certainly the dire situation in Haiti.
I acknowledge the importance of all these, especially the last.
But I could not let this day go by without commemorating the 20th century prophetic voice of this nation. And I want to do so by revisiting the sermon from which my title, and the block quote with which I began, come.
Had you lived in Paris on this date in 1898, and read L'Aurore, a daily newspaper in the French Capital, you would have encountered perhaps the most important and influential newspaper piece of all time. Emile Zola had been incensed at the conviction of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus of treason in 1894, a conviction based largely on documents not introduced into evidence at the trial, secretly delivered to the trial judges after they had retired to determine their verdict. Dreyfus had had no opportunity to confront the evidence against him, in fact had no prior knowledge of the documents.
It did not matter that originally the French military commanders had believed Dreyfus guilty of the charges. By 1896 they knew them to be false. Yet to "protect" the army they engaged in a massive coverup, including the acquittal at court martial of the real culprit, Commandant Ferdinand Esterhazy, acquitted him of the crime which the military knew he had committed, and for which Dreyfus had been at Devil's Island since 1895
This posting is about Zola and Dreyfus, to be sure.
It is also about our time and place, our government. For on this anniversary should we not consider the implications of this famous newspaper piece for our nation and ourselves?
Alfie Kohn is one of the most cogent critics of much of what goes on in education. He is well known for his belief that eliminating homework and grades will lead to more and better learning. You can explore many of his ideas at his website.
He has a piece coming out in Education Week, of which he has a slightly expanded version at the website, which you can read in its entirety here. Consider this paragraph from the middle of the piece:
Are all kids entitled to a great education? Of course. But that doesn't mean all kids should get the same education. High standards don't require common standards. Uniformity is not the same thing as excellence - or equity. (In fact, one-size-fits-all demands may offer the illusion of fairness, setting back the cause of genuine equity.) To acknowledge these simple truths is to watch the rationale for national standards - or uniform state standards -- collapse into a heap of intellectual rubble.
Religions derive their power and popularity in part from the ethical compass they offer. So why do so many faiths help perpetuate something that most of us regard as profoundly unethical: the oppression of women?
So begin Nicholas Kristof today, in an op ed titled Religion and Women. He is writing in part in response to an endeavor of The Elders, which describes itself as
an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.
Kristof quotes what several - Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, and Mary Robinson - of the Elders have to say about religion. While I will explore the column a bit, my focus will be somewhat different, thus you may want to read Kristof before continuing.
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