Elizabeth Warren Is Right: Give Students the Same Deal as Big Banks
We’ve all heard the stories or lived the hardship ourselves: young Americans trying to move our economy and country forward, but being saddled with so much student loan debt it’s nearly impossible.
Now, if Congress doesn’t act, our already-too-high student loan rate of 3.4% is about to *double* to 6.8% – while banks keep their sweet 0.75% deal. ENOUGH.
Students deserve the same preferential interest rates that the Big Banks get. Will you join us and sign on to support Elizabeth Warren’s Bank On Students Loan Fairness Act, which gives hard-working students the same deal our Federal Reserve gives law-breaking banks? You can sign here:
Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:
We are only getting dumber from sequestration.
For some reason, this right-wing reactionary (the S in the image) friended me on Facebook months ago. Because of that his comments shows up in the ticker pane.
- I see this link to this article about a study linking racism to ignorance (the screen shot from Facebook you can see here)
- I come back to Tumblr and I see that Anna has a few minutes to spend on her blog.
- I cross post it back to the fb conversation (in the screen shot).
…wie erfreulich Schadenfreude
An idea about starting seedlings.
What you can’t see in this picture is the reverse window application on the rear window and the license plate holder which announce to the world that the person who owns this urban assault vehicle is a graduate of Harvard University.
Now we know what one of the most esteemed institutions of higher education cannot fix.
It is easy to criticise the media, and after this disastrous week , there is much to criticise. But the consequences of the casual racism launched at Chechens - and by association, all other Muslims from the former Soviet Union, who are rarely distinguished from one another by the public - are serious. By emphasising the Tsarnaevs’ ethnicity over their individual choices, and portraying that ethnicity as barbaric and violent , the media creates a false image of a people destined by their names and their ” culture of terror ” to kill. There are no people in Chechnya, only symbols. There are no Chechen-Americans, only threats.
Ethnicity is often used to justify violent behaviour. But no ethnicity is inherently violent. Even if the Tsarnaevs aligned themselves with violent Chechen movements - and as of now, there is no evidence they did - treating Chechen ethnicity as the cause of the Boston violence is irresponsible.
One hundred years ago, the violent act of one Polish-American caused a country to treat all Polish-Americans with suspicion. Now, the Poles have become “white” - which is to say they are largely safe from the accusations of treason and murderous intent that ethnic groups deemed non-white routinely face. When a Polish-American commits a crime, his ethnicity does not go on trial with him.
But this change is not a triumph for America. It is a tragedy that it happened to Poles then, and a greater tragedy that we have not learned our lesson and it happens still - to Hispanics, to Arabs, to Chechens, to any immigrant who comes here seeking refuge and finds prejudice instead.
I’ll start with an admission: this photo is more likely demagoguery than not. I could see 9 year-olds being fed this crap much to their detriment by private, protestant schools. Unfortunately, this republic has made the difficult decision to allow parents to fill their minds with garbage like creationism instead of science and fact to hold on to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
That’s not to say that there aren’t theocrats who would like to see all schools instruct children with rubbish like this who lack political clout to advance such causes.
Someone please tell me that some day this charlatan and the idiotic notion that standardized test performance is all that matters in education will come to an end. How on earth do we expect to attract highly-qualified, intelligent people into a profession that is constantly demonized, demoralized and micromanaged in this way?
It isn’t just the constant testing, either. Teachers are told exactly what to teach and, at the elementary level at least, how they have to teach it. Then, when these half-baked methods (that are always being changed to whatever is fashionable this week) don’t work, the teachers - not the methods - are the ones who take the blame.
Teachers take the blame for the fact that half their students come from homes where there is no educational support and often lacking in basics like adequate food, rest and clothing. The kid whose family is living in a tent out at the state park, the kid with ADHD that doesn’t always get his meds because his mom doesn’t have enough money to get the prescription refilled, the girl with Down’s who’s being mainstreamed, are all expected to perform as well as the kid whose dad is a lawyer and mom is a teacher and when they don”t — it’s the teacher’s fault. Someone please tell me that some day this charlatan and the idiotic notion that standardized test performance is all that matters in education will come to an end. How on earth do we expect to attract highly-qualified, intelligent people into a profession that is constantly demonized, demoralized and micromanaged in this way? It isn’t just the constant testing, either. Teachers are told exactly what to teach and, at the elementary level at least, how they have to teach it. Then, when these half-baked methods (that are always being changed to whatever is fashionable this week) don’t work, the teachers - not the methods - are the ones who take the blame. Teachers take the blame for the fact that half their students come from homes where there is no educational support and often lacking in basics like adequate food, rest and clothing. The kid whose family is living in a tent out at the state park, the kid with ADHD that doesn’t always get his meds because his mom doesn’t have enough money to get the prescription refilled, the girl with Down’s who’s being mainstreamed, are all expected to perform as well as the kid whose dad is a lawyer and mom is a teacher and when they don”t — it’s the teacher’s fault.
Only an idealist or an idiot would become a K-12 teacher today.
This is not a commitment shared with Democrats in Congress because Democrats have been apostate for years.
A Reply to A Fund Raising Letter that Some Organization with Michelle Rhee as The Front Person sent to A Friend of Facebook Friend of Mine
How on God’s green Earth did I get on your email list, Michelle Rhee? Wait. I’m glad I’m on your email list, because I’ve got some things I’d like you to hear.
Your project of demeaning teachers and denigrating their unions and their students is loathsome.
I’ve followed your career for several years, and I’ve also researched your past. As far as I can tell, you are a con-artist of the first order.
You’re using the crisis in our public school system to feather your nest and burnish your resume and raise hundreds of millions of dollars from well-meaning people who, for the most part, would do much better by simply paying their fair share in taxes to fund our public schools.
I don’t think you understand how angry the working people in this country are about what’s happening in our public school system, which used to be the envy of the world. You also underestimate how well-informed are the people who rightly oppose you.
I’m glad to count myself among those who oppose you. And I can’t wait to see how your wretched, mean-spirited, greedy project plays out.
