Categories
Politics weekly address

Presidential Address – Everyone Must Have A Fair Chance

President Obama used his weekly address to tell the American people that things will be better if everyone gets a fair shot at the resources necessary for success. He points out that the rich already have a multitude of lawyers and lobbyists in Washington working on their behalf.

That’s why he nominated Richard Cordray to head up a brand new consumer protection watchdog agency, whose sole purpose is protecting consumers from the unscrupulous predatory ways of Corporation. But surprise, Republicans have blocked Cordray’s nomination too.

The President.

So I refuse to take “no” for an answer.  Financial institutions have plenty of high-powered lawyers and lobbyists looking out for them.  It’s time consumers had someone on their side.

Republicans have also stood in the way of a balanced plan to extend the payroll tax cut for working families – and the President made it clear he believes that elected officials should not go home for the holidays until they’ve done what is right for the American people and for the economy by extending this tax cut.

Categories
Politics Sonia Sotomayor United States

Rick Perry Says There Are Eight Judges On The Supreme Court

How on earth are you trying to be the president of the United States, but you don’t know how many Judges there are on the United States Supreme Court? How is that even possible? And who in their right minds would support a presidential candidate who continually shows they don’t have even the most basic civil knowledge?

But then again, if your name is Rick Perry and your base is the Republican voter, then you qualify to run for the presidency if you can prove you know how to spell your first name.

The video below shows Perry, a Republican candidate trying to get his party’s nomination to run against President Obama in 2012, giving an interview to the Des Moines Register editorial board in Iowa earlier today. While answering a question from an interviewer, Perry is heard referring to the  “eight unelected and frankly unaccountable judges”  in the US Supreme Court. Everyone and their mama knows there are nine Justices, everyone that is, except Perry.

In the same interview, Perry didn’t know how to pronounce Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s name, and had to be helped by one of the questioners.

Categories
Donald Trump Donald Trump Politics presidential Republican

Trump May Cancel The Three Ring Circus

If no one wants to play with you, then why play with yourself?

That’s the question Donald Trump is trying to answer, as just about all the Republican presidential candidates have decided to take their marbles and run, leaving the Donald with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Trump is now considering cancelling the debate all together.

WASHINGTON – Business mogul Donald Trump said Friday he might scrub a presidential debate that so far has drawn only Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

Trump, the reality television star who has not ruled out an independent White House bid, had hoped for all of the Republican candidates to join in a debate he would moderate Dec. 27 in Iowa. Most have decided not to, leaving only Gingrich, a former House speaker, and Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator.

“I have to look into it,” Trump told Fox Business Network when asked whether he would host a two-candidate debate.

Trump was most indignant about Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann skipping out.

“She came up to see me four times. She would call me and ask me for advice,” Trump said. “She said if she wins, she would like to think about me for the vice presidency. Most importantly, I did a two-hour phone call for her with her people. … And after all that, she announced she was not going to do the debate. It’s called loyalty. How do you do that? It’s amazing to me.”

Categories
Barack Obama Foreign Policies Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich

The Appeasement Claim For President Obama Is Pure Insanity

Historians today question the decisions of Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Britain during the 1930’s. Mr. Chamberlain wanted to avoid a major conflict with Nazi Germany, so he engaged in what some called, an “appeasement foreign policy,” which many historian believed allowed Hitler to grow too strong, causing mass devastation to the Jewish people

In the case of politics, appeasement is usually used to describe a leader who’s weak on foreign policies, one who prefers to “sell out” instead of standing firm for his/her beliefs.

At a Jewish meeting earlier this week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney used the word “appeasement” a total of seven times when describing President Obama’s foreign policies. A well-played attack of the President by Romney, as the word itself brings back a very negative meaning for the Jewish people – a very strong voting block in American politics.

“Internationally, President Obama has adopted an appeasement strategy,” Romney said. “Appeasement betrays a lack of faith in America, in American strength and in America’s future.”

But Romney is not the only Republican candidate using the word to describe President Obama’s foreign policies. Newt Gingrich has said it on a few different occasions. “America is the first business of the State Department,” Gingrich said at a recent meeting,”not appeasing our opponents.” Gingrich also said that he is often worried, and the cause of his worries are “based on a State Department which has consistently engaged in appeasement.”

Yesterday, a White House reporter asked President Obama to respond to the Republicans appeasement claims. His answer, in my view, was classic;

“Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al-Qaeda leaders who’ve been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement –or whoever’s left out there, ask them about that.”

Republicans have no legs to stand on when it comes to foreign policies, and their willful effort to lie to the American people, trying to suggest that President Obama is a weak leader on foreign issues when the opposite is so blatantly obvious, is pure insanity.

Categories
Collective bargaining Politics Teacher teacher tenure

Bold Ideas Lead to Great Schools: The Future of Education Reform

This article originally appeared on my blog at: anjfarmer.blogspot.com

Sometimes an idea, or set of ideas, comes along that’s so clear and sensible, it makes you stop and wonder why we haven’t implemented it. Then again, some ideas are so ineffective, it’s a wonder they haven’t been buried in an avalanche of criticism

Such is the state of public education reform in the United States at this moment. Governors throughout the country have tried, and in some cases succeeded, in forcing their versions of school reform in their states with little or misguided thought and a jaundiced eye towards the teachers who will need to carry it out. They eschew collaboration for rigidity, cooperation for coarseness, and conversation for calumny. Theirs is a corporate model based on competition, but that’s not necessarily how schools work. So far, this top-down approach has done little for education, but has done a great deal to sour relations between the adults who need to carry out the changes and the politicians who want votes.

The key to real, lasting, effective reform in this country lies in a partnership between the state governments and teachers, parents and students, and the most effective reforms will focus their energies on people working together. That’s why the ideas in the article, Taking Teacher Quality Seriously: A Collaborative Approach to Teacher Evaluation by Stan Karp of Rethinking Schools Blog, are so vital. Those ideas are aimed at improving education and student performance without sacrificing the rights and concerns of teachers. As Karp says:

One promising model is the Montgomery County, Maryland Professional Growth System (PGS), which has taken a collaborative approach to improving teacher quality for more than a decade. Several defining features make the Montgomery model very different than the test-based “value-added” or “student growth” approaches. The Montgomery Co. professional growth system:

  • was negotiated through collective bargaining rather than imposed by state or federal mandate.
  • is based on a clear, common vision of high quality professional teaching practice.
  • includes test scores as one of many indicators of student progress and teacher performance without rigidly weighted formulas.
  • includes a strong PAR (peer assistance and review) component for all novice and under-performing teachers, including those with tenure.
  • takes a broad, qualitative approach to promoting individual and system-wide teacher quality and continuous professional growth.

There are many strengths to the PGS, as outlined above and in the rest of the article. It allows for collective bargaining, so it’s less antagonizing than the Wisconsin model that took away that right from teachers, and it has a component for peer assistance (PAR), where experienced teachers can share their expertise with newer educators.

But perhaps the best part of the system is that it’s not SDOT (Shoved Down Our Throats) by politicians who have little, if any knowledge of what works best in classrooms. It’s teacher-centered; and that’s the correct approach because teachers are the ones best qualified to carry it out.

The PGS also addresses another concern that the public has about education, and that’s teacher quality. As Karp notes: 

In 11 years, the PAR process has led to some 500 teachers being removed from the classroom in a countywide system of about 150,000 students with approximately 10,000 teachers and 200 schools. Over the same period, nearly 5,000 teachers have successfully completed the PAR process.[ii]

But PAR is only part of a professional growth system designed to improve teacher capacity throughout the system, not just identify and remove ineffective teachers. It’s a qualitative approach growing out of a shared vision of high quality professional practice. The PGS begins with “six clear standards for teacher performance, based on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards” and includes “performance criteria for how the standards are to be met and descriptive examples of observable teaching behaviors.”

You can read the standards in the article. It’s refreshing to see that every one of them begins with the word, “Teachers.”

There’s more to like in the explanation of the process that teachers and administrators use to evaluate the program and each other. Teachers and principals are equally represented on a panel that determines if a teacher is effective. There’s an appeals process if a teacher is given a negative recommendation, and the system is based on documentation at every level of evaluation and appeal. This is a far cry from what happens at many public schools, especially here in New Jersey, where many teachers are observed once or twice per year and documentation is cursory, general or incomplete.

In the end, it’s the words the participants use to describe the process that show how effective the program can be. Here are some examples:

“It wouldn’t work without the level of trust we have here,” MCEA president Doug Prouty told the NY Times.

“(G)ood teaching is nurtured in a school and in a school system culture that values constant feedback, analysis, and refinement of the quality of teaching.”

While the system is spelled out in detail, what really makes it possible is the level of trust and cooperation that grew out of years of developing a collaborative approach to issues of teacher quality.

In Maryland, they seem to be on the right track.

In New Jersey, we might be moving in that direction.

On December 1, State Senator Barbara Buono introduced two education bills. The first would establish a teacher residency program to replace the present student teaching requirement.

Under the bill, all fourth-year students would be placed in a school district five days per week for a full-semester under the supervision of a district mentor teacher. The students would also take a seminar course during this period that provides a collaborative learning experience and peer discussion with other residency students and with faculty.

The bill would also create teacher mentor positions in each school district. These master teachers would then serve to introduce the teacher residents into the profession over the course of the full semester. It would be a collaborative program and would recognize excellent teachers.

The second bill would require each school district to develop a set of standards by which all teachers would be evaluated, by both peers and principals, based on district curriculum standards. They would be observed four times per year and be required to submit a portfolio of their work. There is no mention of standardized tests, and this process would be determined through collective bargaining. Those are good things. The bill also mentions collaboration and cooperation. Senator Buono’s bills will not be the final word on these issues, but they are a welcome addition to the debate.

The current reform models that rely on threats and stare-downs might make for exciting videos, but they are terrible public policy. If more Governors and Commissioners of Education would commit to the cooperative, collaborative ethic, they would find that educators would more readily commit to implementing bold reforms enthusiastically.

For more bold, enthusiastic ideas, visit facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives

Categories
Politics Ronald Reagan taxes

Yesterday’s Ronald Reagan Would Have Been A Blazin’ Liberal Today

You hear it all the time, Ronald Reagan would have done this and Ronald Reagan would have done that. And as you listen to today’s Republicans, you can’t help but wonder if they remember the same Reagan the rest of us do, the guy who actually raised taxes on the American people 11 times during his presidency.

Like the video below, where Ronald Reagan had the audacity to suggest that the rich should pay more in taxes. Statements like this would have been enough to cause today’s Republicans to round up the ‘posse,’ track down the ex president with hound dogs and nail him to a cross with a copy of Grover Norquist’s pledge glued to his forhead.

Categories
Donald Trump Donald Trump Politics Rick Santorum

The Three Stooges Stars In The Trump Debate

With Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry officially joining Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman in denying reality Television star Donald Trump the chance to sell his new book, December 27th is bound to remind us of The Three Stooges. That’s the day when Rick Santorum joins Newt Gingrich as they answer questions posed by Mr. ‘You’re Fired’ himself.

Mr. no-chance-in-hell-to-win-the-presidency Santorum was just happy to still be on stage talking about anything, no matter where that stage may be. He criticized the other Republican candidates today calling them “hypocrites.”

I agree with Santorum on his description of the others this one time.

“Many of my opponents jockeyed to be the first to fly up to New York and use Donald Trump for a photo op and no doubt try and secure an endorsement,” the former Pennsylvania senator said in a statement. “But when Donald wants to moderate a debate – they refuse to attend. That’s what’s so wrong with politics today – hypocrisy.”

So set your DVR’s and pop some popcorn. On December 27th, gather everyone around the television and tell the young ones about the crazy antics of Moe, Larry and Curley. In fact, show them the crazy antics… we all know Trump needs the ratings.

Categories
Energy Newt Gingrich Politics

Fact Checking Newt Gingrich’s Lie About President Obama

Welcome to the world of Newt Gingrich and quite frankly, today’s Republican party, where anything and everything is said with one objective in mind – solidifying your misguided, uninformed base.

One of these statements made by Newt Gingrich is an attack on President Obama – what else is new – where Newt tells everyone who cares to listen that President Obama has “kill” jobs since he’s taken office.

“I think the president has now spent three years proving that he kills jobs in energy, he kills jobs in manufacturing, he kills jobs in virtually every part of American life. I mean, notice — the only reason the unemployment rate is going down is because … twice as many people dropped out of the employment pool as the number of jobs were created.”

PolitiFact, a non-partisan, well-respected organization, studied Newt’s claim and found the following

In Energy

During the entire Obama presidency, employment in the oil and gas extraction sector grew by 18,800 jobs, or an increase of 11 percent. Over the same period, jobs in mining declined by 9,200, or 4 percent. Combining the two categories, energy jobs grew by 9,600 jobs, or 2 percent.

Beginning one year into Obama’s presidency, oil and gas extraction jobs increased by 27,500, a rise of 18 percent. Mining jobs grew by 14,900, or 8 percent. Combined, the two sectors increased by 42,400 jobs, or 12 percent.

So over both periods, the energy sector grew in absolute terms — and if you measure beginning in January 2010, the increase has been quite healthy at 12 percent over two years.

In Manufacturing

PolitiFact found that overall, manufacturing jobs decreased since President Obama took office. But the fact checking group also found that this decrease was not a phenomenon that started under President Obama. According to PolitiFact, manufacturing jobs have decreased since 1970.

When compared to past Presidents however, PolitiFact found the following;

So say what you may Newt/Republicans, but when your empty rhetoric settles, the truth will still prevail.

Categories
Politics

Rick Perry’s Ad Called “Nuts” By His Own Pollster

A little bit of lies and controversy always seems to help more than they hurt in this crazy political atmostphere. Maybe that was Rick Perry’s goal when he launched a new ad, calling for the military to bring back don’t ask don’t tell, and implying that President Obama and the Democrats are engaging on a war on Religion.

But even before the ad launched, Perry’s own camp questioned the wisdom of the ad, with one top pollster objected to running it and called it “nuts.”

“…not everyone was comfortable with the script. When the ad was being crafted several weeks ago, Perry’s top pollster, Tony Fabrizio, called it “nuts,” according to an email sent from Fabrizio to the ad’s main creator, longtime GOP operative Nelson Warfield. In a separate email to The Huffington Post, Warfield confirmed that the ad was made over Fabrizio’s objections.

“Tony was against it from the get-go,” Warfield wrote. “It was the source of some extended conversation in the campaign. To be very clear: That spot was mine from writing the poll question to test[ing] it to drafting the script to overseeing production.”

Maybe Rick Perry should have listened to his pollster. As of 3:30PM today, December 8th, the ad has 216,181 dislikes on Youtube, and just a little over 4500 likes.

Categories
Elizabeth Warren Politics Senate

Elizabeth Warren Takes The Lead In Massachusetts

Elizabeth Warren, a true Democratic voice of the people, has taken her first lead against the Republican incumbent, Scott Brown.

Democrat Elizabeth Warren has opened up a lead against Republican incumbent Scott Brown for the first time in their U.S. Senate showdown, but a barrage of attack ads appears to have damaged Warren and Brown’s standing among Massachusetts voters, a new University of Massachusetts at Lowell/Boston Herald poll shows.

Warren leads Brown by a 49-42 percent margin, outside the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points. That number includes voters who say they are “leaning” for either candidate. But even without the “leaners,” Warren still leads by a 46-41 percent margin, barely within the margin of error.

We have to believe that the late Ted Kennedy, the previous Democratic occupant of that Massachusetts Senate seat, would have wanted it no other way.

Categories
Newt Gingrich Politics Republican

Ron Paul Attacks Newt Gingrich With The Truth

Ron Paul is doing what Mitt Romney still cannot do, attacking the Republican frontrunner (for now, that person is Newt Gingrich) in their race for the White House. This is Paul’s latest ad, pointing out some truths about Gingrich that should cause any Christian Conservative…. any human being for that matter, to take a second look.

Categories
Cancer Politics

ObamaCare Hater Apologies To President Obama After Cancer Diagnosis

She said she was “pretty mad” at the president for “ObamaCare.” So mad she was, that she changed her registration from Democrat to Independent and “blacked out the top of the “h” on my Obama bumper sticker, so that it read, “Got nope” instead of “got hope.”” But something happened to Mrs. Spike Dolomite Ward, that caused her to write an apology to President Obama in today’s LA Times. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and she now calls the Pre-Existing Condition part of the Health Care plan her savior.

I’ve been saved by the federal government’s Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, something I had never heard of before needing it. It’s part of President Obama’s healthcare plan, one of the things that has already kicked in, and it guarantees access to insurance for U.S. citizens with preexisting conditions who have been uninsured for at least six months. The application was short, the premiums are affordable, and I have found the people who work in the administration office to be quite compassionate (nothing like the people I have dealt with over the years at other insurance companies.) It’s not perfect, of course, and it still leaves many people in need out in the cold. But it’s a start, and for me it’s been a lifesaver — perhaps literally.

Which brings me to my apology. I was pretty mad at Obama before I learned about this new insurance plan. I had changed my registration from Democrat to Independent, and I had blacked out the top of the “h” on my Obama bumper sticker, so that it read, “Got nope” instead of “got hope.” I felt like he had let down the struggling middle class. My son and I had campaigned for him, but since he took office, we felt he had let us down.

So this is my public apology. I’m sorry I didn’t do enough of my own research to find out what promises the president has made good on. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that he really has stood up for me and my family, and for so many others like us. I’m getting a new bumper sticker to cover the one that says “Got nope.” It will say “ObamaCares.”

Exit mobile version