Yesterday, the Post & Courier had an opinion piece by Dave Schwartz. You may not know him; he doesn't even have a wikipedia page. But this is just the way his employer, David Koch, of the Americans for Prosperity, likes it. Anonymity allowed him and his brother, the other Koch, to get away with years of control of our legislators, until investigative journalists like Rachel Maddow forced them out of the shadows.
So we have this new guy who comes into town and spreads lies about bad government and good corporations, bad taxes and good job creators, and then moves on. He has been State Director for AFP in Maryland, then Virginia, and now South Carolina.
The opinion piece in the Post and Courier is an example of the dirtiest of dirty work, full of blatant and absurd lies, like calling the American Legislative Exchange Council "non-partisan." He argues, predictably, that it is our high state taxes that is the cause of all our ills. If only we had low taxes like Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, we would have -- that's right -- job growth and prosperity. And he sites that other "non-partisan" group, the Civitas Institute, for research that states that SC has the highest tax rate and the "lowest take-home pay in the region." The Civitas Institute, for those of you who aren't aware, is that North Carolina group of right wing-nuts who, despite Schwartz claim that they are non-partisan, describes themselves as "North Carolina's conservative voice." A voice that is funded by Art Pope, who as NC budget director engineered the cutbacks that have devastated North Carolina in recent years. He has just resigned; we might want to keep an eye on him to see where he will be going to spread his dysentery next.
Anyway, to get back to Dave Schwartz and the Post & Courier. He has made claims in that piece that are totally fabricated, made to scare and anger readers. We know he is disseminating lies. We know that our governor bribes businesses to our state with tax giveaways, that our education system suffers as a result, that too many of our workers are not paid a living wage. We know that the reason our economic growth in SC is lower than much of the rest of the country is that our yahoos in the legislature and our governor are wasting our resources working to cut services to the poor, deny voting rights to seniors and minorities, and ensure that workers are not allowed to fight for a living wage. We also know that big corporations are favored over small businesses, and that because the wealthy who profit in our state are not made to contribute, our education, health care and infrastructure resembles that of a third world country, where the lines are clearly drawn between the rich and the poor, and those in the shrinking middle struggle every day to access the American dream.
We should not allow Dave Schwartz and other Koch and Pope minions to get away with disseminating lies without fear of contradiction. When we see an article online, let's quickly comment. Let's write letters to the editor pointing out the fallacies and distortions, and correcting the misinformation. Let's not complain among ourselves, or ignore these outrages. They will not go away. They will invade and erode, so that truth becomes fiction. They snuck into North Carolina like body snatchers and left its government wasted and its people devastated.
It is hard to believe that we have elections coming up in a few months. Interest has been pretty lackadaisical, considering all we have at stake. Our Democratic politicians and candidates aren't screaming loud enough, they aren't showing enough outrage. Shouldn't one of those candidates be writing an Op Ed in the Post and Courier denouncing Dave Schwartz's ridiculous claims?
Somebody, anybody, everybody, please, speak out. And let's start with the fact that he is misrepresenting who he is and what his organizations stand for.
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Just a Night's Escape
I know someone who has worked at Wal-Mart for some 18 years. She works hard; along with back and knee pain she has recently been suffering from a heel spur. She refuses to get a cortisone shot because the doctor refuses to write her an excuse to get three days off work so that she can stay off her feet while the shot is taking effect.
After 18 years, she makes about $17 an hour. She will never make a penny more. Her pay is capped, so that regardless of glowing evaluations, on which pay raises are based, she is not eligible for a raise. Rather, she figures they are waiting for her to retire so that someone will do her job for much lower pay.
My friend doesn't live big. She doesn't go away on vacation, she and her husband do their own home and car repairs when possible, and they live well within their means. But every few months, they head out to Foxwoods Casino and spend a little money on the slots. They budget how much they are going to spend and assume they will play and mostly lose, but they enjoy the night out.
This time at Foxwoods, they had an amazing night. Early on, she won $400 and he won $800. An hour later, she had won another $100 and he had won $400 more. As they cashed in, they looked like two cats that had both swallowed canaries.
They made their way up to their room, trying very hard not to let others see their excitement, but when they got to their room, they burst into giggles, took pictures, exclaimed over and over how this had never happened before.
Then they hid the winnings.
Not too long after that, they became serious. They began to talk about what they would do with the windfall. They decided they were going to do a long awaited car repair and fix the floor in the kitchen.
This is the way it goes for most of us. Those windfalls these days don't go towards a vacation or even a new car. We plan to pay down the mortgage, to get that dental work done, to stash the money in a college account for the kids (and hope we don't need to take it out for an emergency). People who spend too much money gambling or on the lottery are mostly dreaming of a life without burdensome bills and the fear of financial crisis, a life they will never have otherwise.
While the wealthy are stashing money offshore or on Wall Street where they don't have to pay the same taxes we do on our earnings, most of us are just trying to handle our financial obligations. Our entertainments are modest, as are our plans for the next week, the next month, the next year.
It's just insulting to hear the wealthy and their paid representatives in Congress, most of whom have wealth and job guarantees that we will never dream of having, talk about how we need to pull in our belts. The taxes they don't pay, that would turn our country around from what has thus far been an inexorable plunge to third world status, the profits they hoard, these fortunes are intended for their own children. Who don't live by the same standards they expect our children to live by -- it's understood that they should not in their lives have to worry or even work to get by.
And here we are, in the twenty-first century, bad roads, mediocre education, being told we are lucky to live in this great country, with all this opportunity. Where Exxon can hike the price of gas as high as it likes, but the government won't raise taxes for roads. Where we are made to believe that we have to choose between jobs and environment. Where big business controls us with groups like A.L.E.C. while they systematically get rid of our own unions. And where those big corporate groups and politicians keep us fighting among ourselves over our right to medical privacy and religious freedom while they rape and plunder our country.
And all our hard work leaves us little time, energy or desire to fight for our rights. So much to lose, and yet so little.
After 18 years, she makes about $17 an hour. She will never make a penny more. Her pay is capped, so that regardless of glowing evaluations, on which pay raises are based, she is not eligible for a raise. Rather, she figures they are waiting for her to retire so that someone will do her job for much lower pay.
My friend doesn't live big. She doesn't go away on vacation, she and her husband do their own home and car repairs when possible, and they live well within their means. But every few months, they head out to Foxwoods Casino and spend a little money on the slots. They budget how much they are going to spend and assume they will play and mostly lose, but they enjoy the night out.
This time at Foxwoods, they had an amazing night. Early on, she won $400 and he won $800. An hour later, she had won another $100 and he had won $400 more. As they cashed in, they looked like two cats that had both swallowed canaries.
They made their way up to their room, trying very hard not to let others see their excitement, but when they got to their room, they burst into giggles, took pictures, exclaimed over and over how this had never happened before.
Then they hid the winnings.
Not too long after that, they became serious. They began to talk about what they would do with the windfall. They decided they were going to do a long awaited car repair and fix the floor in the kitchen.
This is the way it goes for most of us. Those windfalls these days don't go towards a vacation or even a new car. We plan to pay down the mortgage, to get that dental work done, to stash the money in a college account for the kids (and hope we don't need to take it out for an emergency). People who spend too much money gambling or on the lottery are mostly dreaming of a life without burdensome bills and the fear of financial crisis, a life they will never have otherwise.
While the wealthy are stashing money offshore or on Wall Street where they don't have to pay the same taxes we do on our earnings, most of us are just trying to handle our financial obligations. Our entertainments are modest, as are our plans for the next week, the next month, the next year.
It's just insulting to hear the wealthy and their paid representatives in Congress, most of whom have wealth and job guarantees that we will never dream of having, talk about how we need to pull in our belts. The taxes they don't pay, that would turn our country around from what has thus far been an inexorable plunge to third world status, the profits they hoard, these fortunes are intended for their own children. Who don't live by the same standards they expect our children to live by -- it's understood that they should not in their lives have to worry or even work to get by.
And here we are, in the twenty-first century, bad roads, mediocre education, being told we are lucky to live in this great country, with all this opportunity. Where Exxon can hike the price of gas as high as it likes, but the government won't raise taxes for roads. Where we are made to believe that we have to choose between jobs and environment. Where big business controls us with groups like A.L.E.C. while they systematically get rid of our own unions. And where those big corporate groups and politicians keep us fighting among ourselves over our right to medical privacy and religious freedom while they rape and plunder our country.
And all our hard work leaves us little time, energy or desire to fight for our rights. So much to lose, and yet so little.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Getting Slammed and Fighting Back
Here is the difference between Democrats and Republicans: we Dems -- the ones who volunteer and vote -- are doing okay, but we know that there are others who are not. We understand that we will all do better when we all do better. We also empathize with those who are struggling. We see ourselves in them. Republicans, on the other hand, are focused on getting the most for themselves. Capitalism, Christianity, even democracy are twisted to their own needs.
So when it comes to getting out the vote, when it comes to firing up the electorate, the republican party knows how to make it meaningful for their voters. Even if they have to lie.
They make it about jobs, and don't mention that those jobs will underpay and offer no security. Nikki Haley is running on all those jobs she brought into the state, but neglects to mention that our tax dollars paid for giveaways to those corporations so that they could pay less than they would elsewhere.
On the republican side, the mantra is to cut taxes. Well, everything else is going up but our taxes, so it makes sense, doesn't it, that what we get for our tax dollars is going to be struggling schools, poor highways, inadequate medical care. But with the millions of dollars that goes into campaigns, most voters only see the message that their candidate will provide jobs and cut government. A simple good/bad message.
I just watched the documentary film, Koch Brothers Exposed, and although I have lately been working hard to take our state and country's downward spiral in stride, I have to admit that it brought me to tears. The Koch brothers, having done their dirty work in attempting to segregate schools and controlling the universities and state government in North Carolina, have set their sights on South Carolina. They now have three offices in the state, the newest one in Mount Pleasant. They are of course, going to work to cut taxes, thereby making our government even more ineffective, and continuing the push to privatize education.
Our Supreme Court (and I use the word "our" quite loosely) has made it clear that money talks and the rest of us can just do what we are told. Shovel money into banning women's reproductive freedom, and the Supremes are all for it. While corporations have become people and as such have unfettered freedom of speech, as in the ability to buy candidates and elections, the rest of us have lost our own religious liberty, along with the right to the health care we are paying for, equal opportunity in education, and the right to vote. All with the blessing of the evil Scalia and his right wing-nuts, bought and paid for by the Kochs.
More depressing even than that is that all nine justices voted to allow abusive demonstrators access to abortion clinics, as a freedom of speech issue, apparently not recognizing the irony that we the people can get nowhere near the justices themselves to engage in our own freedom of speech.
So it's been a tough time. The greedy and powerful are able to control the uninformed and insecure. We need to fight fire with fire. We need more wealthy supporters who understand the cost of increased poverty, underemployment, poor education, poor health, low taxes and an unfair tax system. We need politicians that understand that voters need to know exactly how this bad system affects them. Sadly, those with health care have been led to believe it will cost them more if others are insured. They need to see in black and white how much emergency care is costing them, and the jobs that come with health care expansion. Most of us can't see how bad roads risk lives, but give them dollars and cents of how much wear and tear on their car will cost going over those potholes. Compare the cost of increasing the prison population versus improving schools.
It saddens me that we have as a nation become so self-absorbed that we are unable to see that what affects one affects us all. That insecure politicians can be bought so easily. That the wealthy who now control our elections find it so easy to appeal to the lowest common denominator among us.
But the Koch brothers don't waste their time worrying about the way things should be. They look at what we are, and they use it. If we are made vulnerable by our fears and insecurities, then we need our progressive candidates to understand what we are afraid of and explain to us what they can do to help.
So when it comes to getting out the vote, when it comes to firing up the electorate, the republican party knows how to make it meaningful for their voters. Even if they have to lie.
They make it about jobs, and don't mention that those jobs will underpay and offer no security. Nikki Haley is running on all those jobs she brought into the state, but neglects to mention that our tax dollars paid for giveaways to those corporations so that they could pay less than they would elsewhere.
On the republican side, the mantra is to cut taxes. Well, everything else is going up but our taxes, so it makes sense, doesn't it, that what we get for our tax dollars is going to be struggling schools, poor highways, inadequate medical care. But with the millions of dollars that goes into campaigns, most voters only see the message that their candidate will provide jobs and cut government. A simple good/bad message.
I just watched the documentary film, Koch Brothers Exposed, and although I have lately been working hard to take our state and country's downward spiral in stride, I have to admit that it brought me to tears. The Koch brothers, having done their dirty work in attempting to segregate schools and controlling the universities and state government in North Carolina, have set their sights on South Carolina. They now have three offices in the state, the newest one in Mount Pleasant. They are of course, going to work to cut taxes, thereby making our government even more ineffective, and continuing the push to privatize education.
Our Supreme Court (and I use the word "our" quite loosely) has made it clear that money talks and the rest of us can just do what we are told. Shovel money into banning women's reproductive freedom, and the Supremes are all for it. While corporations have become people and as such have unfettered freedom of speech, as in the ability to buy candidates and elections, the rest of us have lost our own religious liberty, along with the right to the health care we are paying for, equal opportunity in education, and the right to vote. All with the blessing of the evil Scalia and his right wing-nuts, bought and paid for by the Kochs.
More depressing even than that is that all nine justices voted to allow abusive demonstrators access to abortion clinics, as a freedom of speech issue, apparently not recognizing the irony that we the people can get nowhere near the justices themselves to engage in our own freedom of speech.
So it's been a tough time. The greedy and powerful are able to control the uninformed and insecure. We need to fight fire with fire. We need more wealthy supporters who understand the cost of increased poverty, underemployment, poor education, poor health, low taxes and an unfair tax system. We need politicians that understand that voters need to know exactly how this bad system affects them. Sadly, those with health care have been led to believe it will cost them more if others are insured. They need to see in black and white how much emergency care is costing them, and the jobs that come with health care expansion. Most of us can't see how bad roads risk lives, but give them dollars and cents of how much wear and tear on their car will cost going over those potholes. Compare the cost of increasing the prison population versus improving schools.
It saddens me that we have as a nation become so self-absorbed that we are unable to see that what affects one affects us all. That insecure politicians can be bought so easily. That the wealthy who now control our elections find it so easy to appeal to the lowest common denominator among us.
But the Koch brothers don't waste their time worrying about the way things should be. They look at what we are, and they use it. If we are made vulnerable by our fears and insecurities, then we need our progressive candidates to understand what we are afraid of and explain to us what they can do to help.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Tim Scott's Road to Success
Our own Tim Scott was on a panel at the American Enterprise Institute. It was fun to listen to Tim parrot the words of his right-wing heroes. It was also obvious that he was better rehearsed than, say, George W. Bush. It's also obvious that he believes what he's preaching. And why shouldn't he? It's worked pretty well for him. It's worked well, not in the sense that the nonsense he is spouting works, but the fact that he is a believer has brought him lots of goodies.
But hold your nose and listen more closely to the words (Tim's words of wisdom are about 27 minutes in):
Introduced as a "guy who thinks for himself," Tim proceeds to preach from the right-wing prayer-book. He and his fellow panelists agree that they are there because they care about the poor. The moderator and president of the AEI, Arthur C. Brooks, jumped into W's murky pool of "compassionate conservatism," and it is obvious that he is proud to show Tim off, just as he is sure to bring up Marco Rubio, both of whom are proud right wing-nuts with lower class minority roots.
Scott talked pretty up there on that panel. You can tell he has been well groomed. He is even coming up with his own nifty sound bites. My favorite is that the poor are "assets, not liabilities." He pretends to be offended that kids growing up in poverty are called "high risk kids," and adds that that is an "awful label for a kid." He prefers that they be called "high potential children."
Because the government doesn't need to help "high potential children." In fact the solution to the problem we have with these "high potential children" is -- drum roll -- local control and giving parents more choice.
And what he means by local control and giving parents more choice is: privatizing schools, with the help of groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council. Right wing groups have over the past decade come to realize that the important fight is not so much in the US Congress, which they already own, but in the local elections. And who better to speak to that than Tim Scott, who came up through local elected positions, earned his Tea Party wings and was gifted with the Senate seat by right wing-nut Nikki Haley.
He proudly talks about failing in public schools, and then blames the government for his failure. And he believes that the private sector is the way to success for failing schools. Of course, just as with prison privatization, the money comes from the federal government. But those private companies can do it cheaper -- because when they do it cheaper there is more profit for them. And when big business is happy, they are happy with Tim Scott, and that makes Tim Scott happy.
Choice is going to mean whatever private enterprise is able to sell to local governments. Local governments won't be able to afford high teacher salaries and schools a child can be proud to attend. We are likely to see more kids sitting in front of computers, at home or at school. Vouchers will of course come from the government, which will have no say in determining where that money goes. Parents will no longer turn to education experts to decide how best to educate their kids; they will look to advertising, and cost. Those with greater income to add to their vouchers will send their kids to better schools. Religious schools will pick up a lot of the slack. And poor schools will take in the rest. If that sounds familiar, look around.
It doesn't matter how pretty and inspiring are Tim Scott's words. The fact is, with educated leaders and enough money funding public schools, it is the absolute best way to educate our children. Scott's own struggle with getting educated happened because people like him refused to pay for good education for minority children in low income neighborhoods.
Compassionate conservative Arthur Brooks, after Tim Scott's heartfelt words added,
"The reason for free enterprise is not the rich. The reason for free enterprise is the poor."
Look around you. Look at the people in this "right-to-work-cheap" state who would be forced to choose mediocre private schools because their vouchers don't pay what it takes to attend a good private school. Ask yourself why people like Tim Scott are happy to have the government pay a private company to do what he won't let the government do. Could it be that supporting private corporations over the government is Tim Scott's real road to success?
But hold your nose and listen more closely to the words (Tim's words of wisdom are about 27 minutes in):
Introduced as a "guy who thinks for himself," Tim proceeds to preach from the right-wing prayer-book. He and his fellow panelists agree that they are there because they care about the poor. The moderator and president of the AEI, Arthur C. Brooks, jumped into W's murky pool of "compassionate conservatism," and it is obvious that he is proud to show Tim off, just as he is sure to bring up Marco Rubio, both of whom are proud right wing-nuts with lower class minority roots.
Scott talked pretty up there on that panel. You can tell he has been well groomed. He is even coming up with his own nifty sound bites. My favorite is that the poor are "assets, not liabilities." He pretends to be offended that kids growing up in poverty are called "high risk kids," and adds that that is an "awful label for a kid." He prefers that they be called "high potential children."
Because the government doesn't need to help "high potential children." In fact the solution to the problem we have with these "high potential children" is -- drum roll -- local control and giving parents more choice.
And what he means by local control and giving parents more choice is: privatizing schools, with the help of groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council. Right wing groups have over the past decade come to realize that the important fight is not so much in the US Congress, which they already own, but in the local elections. And who better to speak to that than Tim Scott, who came up through local elected positions, earned his Tea Party wings and was gifted with the Senate seat by right wing-nut Nikki Haley.
He proudly talks about failing in public schools, and then blames the government for his failure. And he believes that the private sector is the way to success for failing schools. Of course, just as with prison privatization, the money comes from the federal government. But those private companies can do it cheaper -- because when they do it cheaper there is more profit for them. And when big business is happy, they are happy with Tim Scott, and that makes Tim Scott happy.
Choice is going to mean whatever private enterprise is able to sell to local governments. Local governments won't be able to afford high teacher salaries and schools a child can be proud to attend. We are likely to see more kids sitting in front of computers, at home or at school. Vouchers will of course come from the government, which will have no say in determining where that money goes. Parents will no longer turn to education experts to decide how best to educate their kids; they will look to advertising, and cost. Those with greater income to add to their vouchers will send their kids to better schools. Religious schools will pick up a lot of the slack. And poor schools will take in the rest. If that sounds familiar, look around.
It doesn't matter how pretty and inspiring are Tim Scott's words. The fact is, with educated leaders and enough money funding public schools, it is the absolute best way to educate our children. Scott's own struggle with getting educated happened because people like him refused to pay for good education for minority children in low income neighborhoods.
Compassionate conservative Arthur Brooks, after Tim Scott's heartfelt words added,
"The reason for free enterprise is not the rich. The reason for free enterprise is the poor."
Look around you. Look at the people in this "right-to-work-cheap" state who would be forced to choose mediocre private schools because their vouchers don't pay what it takes to attend a good private school. Ask yourself why people like Tim Scott are happy to have the government pay a private company to do what he won't let the government do. Could it be that supporting private corporations over the government is Tim Scott's real road to success?
Thursday, February 14, 2013
It's Complicated
Let's imagine for a moment that Ben Frasier, perennial South Carolina candidate who is now running for the US House seat vacated by Tim Scott, is not a Republican plant. Suppose that he really is a hard-working man, born and raised here, who really just wants to make his family proud by serving his government.
If that were true, he would still be in way over his head.
Frasier tends to throw out short, simple bits of his political philosophy, sometimes contradicting himself in a single statement. Like his Republican counterparts, his mantra is smaller government, less regulations, and "lower taxes for everything." His lower taxes stance is immediately followed by an absolute "no" to any defense cuts and a pronouncement that his "small social security check is not enough."
In a question-and-answer session on James Island last night with his primary opponent, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, Frasier at times appeared to be at a loss for an answer to complex questions, more than once taking his turn to respond by basically saying, "What she just said."
He does have some unusual and concerning points of view:
To the question of how to increase jobs for the poor in South Carolina, he replied "keep looking." He indicated that the path to reducing home foreclosures was by taking more jobs, and that may mean "maybe two to three jobs to survive." He added that "illegals underbid (jobs) in business."
On the subject of defense spending, Frasier said at one point that we need to "quit turning our backs on our friends abroad, because soon we'll have none." Later in the evening, he reasserted his opposition to military cuts because the enemy "could be the person sitting next to you."
Which, although a strange idea, at least concurred with his opinion on gun control (I think). Frasier is 100% right-wing on the issue of gun control. He believes "you should be able to buy any weapon and use your common sense."
While Ben Frasier's comments during the course of the evening were often confusing, contradictory and lacked substance, his roots are in the Lowcountry (although most of his time is spent in Maryland). He is pleasant and sounds sincere.
But the fact is, the issues out there today are far too important, and complicated, to entrust to someone whose heart is in the right place. His logic is very often flawed, his positions inexplicable.
In contrast to Frasier, Colbert-Busch has a depth of knowledge and understanding of the issues. She is also a Lowcountry native, and has worked her way up to a career that combines educational research with business partnerships in the field of renewable energy. This, she says, is where lies the future of jobs in South Carolina.
She is well aware of the need for better quality education for all, and points to the importance not only of improving education for Pre-K through Grade 5, but of not abandoning our children through their middle and high school years.
So in this Democratic primary on March 19, it is critical that we get out the vote, vote smart, and all those neat buzzwords. We have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who can truly move South Carolina, and the country, forward.
And the choice we need to make on March 19, and then on May 7, is really not complicated at all.
If that were true, he would still be in way over his head.
Frasier tends to throw out short, simple bits of his political philosophy, sometimes contradicting himself in a single statement. Like his Republican counterparts, his mantra is smaller government, less regulations, and "lower taxes for everything." His lower taxes stance is immediately followed by an absolute "no" to any defense cuts and a pronouncement that his "small social security check is not enough."
In a question-and-answer session on James Island last night with his primary opponent, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, Frasier at times appeared to be at a loss for an answer to complex questions, more than once taking his turn to respond by basically saying, "What she just said."
He does have some unusual and concerning points of view:
To the question of how to increase jobs for the poor in South Carolina, he replied "keep looking." He indicated that the path to reducing home foreclosures was by taking more jobs, and that may mean "maybe two to three jobs to survive." He added that "illegals underbid (jobs) in business."
On the subject of defense spending, Frasier said at one point that we need to "quit turning our backs on our friends abroad, because soon we'll have none." Later in the evening, he reasserted his opposition to military cuts because the enemy "could be the person sitting next to you."
Which, although a strange idea, at least concurred with his opinion on gun control (I think). Frasier is 100% right-wing on the issue of gun control. He believes "you should be able to buy any weapon and use your common sense."
While Ben Frasier's comments during the course of the evening were often confusing, contradictory and lacked substance, his roots are in the Lowcountry (although most of his time is spent in Maryland). He is pleasant and sounds sincere.
But the fact is, the issues out there today are far too important, and complicated, to entrust to someone whose heart is in the right place. His logic is very often flawed, his positions inexplicable.
In contrast to Frasier, Colbert-Busch has a depth of knowledge and understanding of the issues. She is also a Lowcountry native, and has worked her way up to a career that combines educational research with business partnerships in the field of renewable energy. This, she says, is where lies the future of jobs in South Carolina.
She is well aware of the need for better quality education for all, and points to the importance not only of improving education for Pre-K through Grade 5, but of not abandoning our children through their middle and high school years.
So in this Democratic primary on March 19, it is critical that we get out the vote, vote smart, and all those neat buzzwords. We have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who can truly move South Carolina, and the country, forward.
And the choice we need to make on March 19, and then on May 7, is really not complicated at all.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Using Our Veterans
Tim Scott and Jim DeMint are like your grown-up children who take your money and ignore your advice; you don't hear from them all year and then send you a flowery birthday card telling you all the ways they love you.
It came as no surprise today to find emails from both proclaiming their devotion to our veterans. I'll admit, I did not read them, because to be honest, whatever they say reeks of hypocrisy; the words never change, and it infuriates me. So I'll spend my time sharing my thoughts with you rather than reading theirs.
These are two arrogant men who believe they have a special relationship with God. They use their religion much the way they use our veterans. Even Jesus had his differences with His Father, but DeMint and Scott have never had an opinion that God did not wholeheartedly endorse.
They both propound that they are fighting for "life" but resoundingly vote "no" to health care for all. And they are against gun control of any kind; you have as much right to that assault rifle as to that 12-gauge you hunt deer with.
And they both hold two exceptions to how essential it is to reduce our debt. The first is that no one with wealth should have to contribute a penny more than those without. The second is that we should pay whatever the cost to arm ourselves.
Which brings me back to our soldiers. These hypocrites have voted against jobs and training bills for veterans, health care bills for them and their families, help with housing. They don't give a damn that soldiers who signed on have been sent over and over and over again, while their spouses have struggled alone to raise a family. They speak of our need for military strength in terms of weapons, while ignoring a country fighting hunger, homelessness, poor education, inadequate health care. That country, of course, being ours.
Yet they routinely send out the pretentious emails claiming their love of country and of the soldiers and veterans who have defended it. And those who are fortunate enough to not have to endure the results of their cold-hearted congressional acts will wipe away tears and thank God for Jim DeMint and Tim Scott.
It came as no surprise today to find emails from both proclaiming their devotion to our veterans. I'll admit, I did not read them, because to be honest, whatever they say reeks of hypocrisy; the words never change, and it infuriates me. So I'll spend my time sharing my thoughts with you rather than reading theirs.
These are two arrogant men who believe they have a special relationship with God. They use their religion much the way they use our veterans. Even Jesus had his differences with His Father, but DeMint and Scott have never had an opinion that God did not wholeheartedly endorse.
They both propound that they are fighting for "life" but resoundingly vote "no" to health care for all. And they are against gun control of any kind; you have as much right to that assault rifle as to that 12-gauge you hunt deer with.
And they both hold two exceptions to how essential it is to reduce our debt. The first is that no one with wealth should have to contribute a penny more than those without. The second is that we should pay whatever the cost to arm ourselves.
Which brings me back to our soldiers. These hypocrites have voted against jobs and training bills for veterans, health care bills for them and their families, help with housing. They don't give a damn that soldiers who signed on have been sent over and over and over again, while their spouses have struggled alone to raise a family. They speak of our need for military strength in terms of weapons, while ignoring a country fighting hunger, homelessness, poor education, inadequate health care. That country, of course, being ours.
Yet they routinely send out the pretentious emails claiming their love of country and of the soldiers and veterans who have defended it. And those who are fortunate enough to not have to endure the results of their cold-hearted congressional acts will wipe away tears and thank God for Jim DeMint and Tim Scott.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Back to Basics
The politicians agree that it's a "great country." And the Supremes have told us that corporations are people. I wonder if there continues to be a place for the actual humans who live here.
Because if we still have a place here, there are a few things we need. In fact, things I always assumed I would have.
We need to be healthy.
We need to know that there will be food on the table and a roof over our heads.
We need to be productive, to do good work and be paid fairly for that work.
Each of us needs to know that our children will have those guarantees throughout their lives.
And we each need to be assured that our parents will have the same, the means to live their lives to the fullest, until the end.
But in this country, we struggle constantly to maintain those assurances. And we struggle against those for whom capitalism is not just a way of living in this democracy, but the end itself. When corporations have become people, we have become mere tools to a corporation and its profits.
And look at where it has taken us.
As the wealthy few own more and more of us and our country, our standard of living has sunk ever lower. We of all civilized nations have determined that health care should be a commodity, in other words, for sale and not for certain.
Our system of education erodes as the rich attack the high cost of teaching our children. Educating children, once thought of as a worthy investment in the future, has become one more item the corporation would like to snatch away, for a profit.
And sing praise to high productivity, which means corporations get more and more from each worker, who in turn is forced to concede wages, vacation, benefits. Because it is no longer a source of pride that a corporation treat its workers fairly. Somewhere along the Reagan years, we were all told that a corporation has no obligation to be moral; it's sole obligation is to increase profit. And so it does.
So when the young man from Occupy Charleston said a year or so ago that it really is no longer about who wins the next election, he was right.
But this coming election does offer us a chance to change our path. The choice is clear: we can continue to allow corporations to profit from our lives, or we can demand that our lives be respected. We can choose those who will be sure that our basic needs are not snatched from us by the powerful, for their profit. And after that election, we must keep our eyes on that prize: our liberty and our dignity.
Because if we still have a place here, there are a few things we need. In fact, things I always assumed I would have.
We need to be healthy.
We need to know that there will be food on the table and a roof over our heads.
We need to be productive, to do good work and be paid fairly for that work.
Each of us needs to know that our children will have those guarantees throughout their lives.
And we each need to be assured that our parents will have the same, the means to live their lives to the fullest, until the end.
But in this country, we struggle constantly to maintain those assurances. And we struggle against those for whom capitalism is not just a way of living in this democracy, but the end itself. When corporations have become people, we have become mere tools to a corporation and its profits.
And look at where it has taken us.
As the wealthy few own more and more of us and our country, our standard of living has sunk ever lower. We of all civilized nations have determined that health care should be a commodity, in other words, for sale and not for certain.
Our system of education erodes as the rich attack the high cost of teaching our children. Educating children, once thought of as a worthy investment in the future, has become one more item the corporation would like to snatch away, for a profit.
And sing praise to high productivity, which means corporations get more and more from each worker, who in turn is forced to concede wages, vacation, benefits. Because it is no longer a source of pride that a corporation treat its workers fairly. Somewhere along the Reagan years, we were all told that a corporation has no obligation to be moral; it's sole obligation is to increase profit. And so it does.
So when the young man from Occupy Charleston said a year or so ago that it really is no longer about who wins the next election, he was right.
But this coming election does offer us a chance to change our path. The choice is clear: we can continue to allow corporations to profit from our lives, or we can demand that our lives be respected. We can choose those who will be sure that our basic needs are not snatched from us by the powerful, for their profit. And after that election, we must keep our eyes on that prize: our liberty and our dignity.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Carol for House 115
She did it!
When the South Carolina Election Commission rejected Carol Tempel and others who were running for office in 2012, Carol decided not to fight the Commission's decision. Instead, she opted to run as a "petition candidate".
I had my doubts. My own preference has always been to curse the dark rather than go look for a candle. But Carol tirelessly sought and collected signatures, and yesterday announced that she has been certified to run for South Carolina House 115 in November.
Isn't this exactly the kind of person we need working for us in Columbia?
Carol doesn't just know how to surmount obstacles, though. She knows the issues. As an educator, she knows why our tired education system doesn't work. She understands that the path to jobs is not to sell out to big corporate interests, but to tax wisely, to spend our money on improving our schools, paying our teachers a living wage, investing in our children instead of the wealthy business interests that are being all-too-well represented by her opponent.
Carol knows that knowledge is power. Education leads to hope -- less teen pregnancy, less crime, better jobs, healthier families.
And Carol has proven that she is determined to fight for South Carolinians.
Welcome aboard, Carol! We're glad it's official!
When the South Carolina Election Commission rejected Carol Tempel and others who were running for office in 2012, Carol decided not to fight the Commission's decision. Instead, she opted to run as a "petition candidate".
I had my doubts. My own preference has always been to curse the dark rather than go look for a candle. But Carol tirelessly sought and collected signatures, and yesterday announced that she has been certified to run for South Carolina House 115 in November.
Isn't this exactly the kind of person we need working for us in Columbia?
Carol doesn't just know how to surmount obstacles, though. She knows the issues. As an educator, she knows why our tired education system doesn't work. She understands that the path to jobs is not to sell out to big corporate interests, but to tax wisely, to spend our money on improving our schools, paying our teachers a living wage, investing in our children instead of the wealthy business interests that are being all-too-well represented by her opponent.
Carol knows that knowledge is power. Education leads to hope -- less teen pregnancy, less crime, better jobs, healthier families.
And Carol has proven that she is determined to fight for South Carolinians.
Welcome aboard, Carol! We're glad it's official!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Beware of the Falsely Sincere
Michele Bachmann's well-played personal disclosure regarding her miscarriage and her faith left me chilled to the bone. Her sincerity is disarming. She has become exceptional at modestly telling us what an upstanding, moral individual she is.
I find it appalling that she parades her Christianity about as though without it we are, all the rest of us, dirty. Her morality tale of her miscarriage and her subsequent commitment to life is bullshit.
Let me share mine:
I was a rebellious teenager in a dysfunctional family. I acted out sexually into my twenties. I was irresponsible and careless. I became pregnant. Thankfully, our nation's leaders, its courts, were sane and responsible during that time, and abortion had become legal. I did the right thing.
Hey, Michele, I did the right thing. I had an abortion. It was difficult, painful, but to have a child at that time would have been morally wrong.
Later, I had two wonderful children who are now adults. I am thankful that I was able to wait until I had time to grow up. I was not forced to pay, and make a child pay, and make my family pay, for my irresponsibility and immaturity.
Had I been forced to bear a child at that time, I would never have had the two wanted wonderful children that I later had.
And Michele, I too had a miscarriage. It happened between the first and third wanted pregnancies, and it was heartbreaking. But I was able to love my firstborn and be thankful for her, and I soon had a son that I loved with all my heart.
Unlike you, I had that experience without feeling the need to judge other women and condemn their choices. That is what makes you a smaller person than me, although you have the wealth, power and persuasiveness to attempt to coerce people to follow your rules in their personal lives.
And as the anger rises in me for your judgmental insincerity, I first of all want to say that neither your god or mine give you the right to decide what my morality should be.
Secondly, your fight to deny those with less than you financial security, good educations for our children, health care for us and our families, belies your pretense that you give a damn about children, born or "unborn". Or, perhaps to reframe the thought, you only care about life until birth.
Shame on you. Keep your pretend morality to yourself.
I find it appalling that she parades her Christianity about as though without it we are, all the rest of us, dirty. Her morality tale of her miscarriage and her subsequent commitment to life is bullshit.
Let me share mine:
I was a rebellious teenager in a dysfunctional family. I acted out sexually into my twenties. I was irresponsible and careless. I became pregnant. Thankfully, our nation's leaders, its courts, were sane and responsible during that time, and abortion had become legal. I did the right thing.
Hey, Michele, I did the right thing. I had an abortion. It was difficult, painful, but to have a child at that time would have been morally wrong.
Later, I had two wonderful children who are now adults. I am thankful that I was able to wait until I had time to grow up. I was not forced to pay, and make a child pay, and make my family pay, for my irresponsibility and immaturity.
Had I been forced to bear a child at that time, I would never have had the two wanted wonderful children that I later had.
And Michele, I too had a miscarriage. It happened between the first and third wanted pregnancies, and it was heartbreaking. But I was able to love my firstborn and be thankful for her, and I soon had a son that I loved with all my heart.
Unlike you, I had that experience without feeling the need to judge other women and condemn their choices. That is what makes you a smaller person than me, although you have the wealth, power and persuasiveness to attempt to coerce people to follow your rules in their personal lives.
And as the anger rises in me for your judgmental insincerity, I first of all want to say that neither your god or mine give you the right to decide what my morality should be.
Secondly, your fight to deny those with less than you financial security, good educations for our children, health care for us and our families, belies your pretense that you give a damn about children, born or "unborn". Or, perhaps to reframe the thought, you only care about life until birth.
Shame on you. Keep your pretend morality to yourself.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Why Educate?
A Talking Points Memo article reports that a March CNN poll found that the median guess as to how much of the federal budget goes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is 5%. Median, if you are rusty on your math or more recently educated in the U.S., means 1/2 above and 1/2 below. And 5% of the federal budget being 424 times larger than what actually went to CPB.
So, with that kind of misinformation floating around, what possible benefit is there for those in power to better educate the children of this country? It obviously works in the favor of the rich and powerful when we have little grasp of facts, and less understanding of logical thinking, and no resources with which to learn to do research. We have this great internet available, but no education in critical thinking.
And that's just the way our right-wing power brokers plan on keeping things.
It's not a conspiracy, just a plan. If I can afford to send my kids to the private school of my choice, making them better prepared to run the country after I'm gone (having left them every penny I've ever hoarded), why on earth would I want them to have to compete with children who might have a different view of who should have wealth and power?
So those who don't have the time or energy to try to understand the complexities of the budget will continue to tune in to whoever shouts loudest, and scares them the most.
So, with that kind of misinformation floating around, what possible benefit is there for those in power to better educate the children of this country? It obviously works in the favor of the rich and powerful when we have little grasp of facts, and less understanding of logical thinking, and no resources with which to learn to do research. We have this great internet available, but no education in critical thinking.
And that's just the way our right-wing power brokers plan on keeping things.
It's not a conspiracy, just a plan. If I can afford to send my kids to the private school of my choice, making them better prepared to run the country after I'm gone (having left them every penny I've ever hoarded), why on earth would I want them to have to compete with children who might have a different view of who should have wealth and power?
So those who don't have the time or energy to try to understand the complexities of the budget will continue to tune in to whoever shouts loudest, and scares them the most.
Friday, February 4, 2011
South Carolina Isn't Funny Anymore
I came away from a political meeting last night shaking my head. I'm working on grasping the destructive politics of the US Congress, and I believe a good bit of it can be understood by the concept of: "Follow the Money".
But here in South Carolina, that doesn't even work. We refuse federal dollars (that our taxes have paid into) to build infrastructure that would make our state more appealing to the businesses we claim we crave. We join the rest of the country in mocking a governor for eight years (re-electing him just to be sure we aren't missing something), and then elect a woman who reflects the same goals and values.
I believe South Carolina operates under the assumption that, if banging your head against the wall isn't working, it's only because you aren't banging it hard enough.
Is it the "good ole boys" that just get angry because y'all in the Yankee states are trying to prove they're wrong? Because they don't even seem to want to do what is good for big business, other than keep cutting their taxes. And of course, the worse our schools and roads and neighborhoods get, the more tax incentives they have to offer to compete with other cheap labor (oh, I'm sorry, freedom to work) states.
And our voters, ever the product of a poor education system that teaches compliance and acceptance of minimum standards, continue to be grateful that smooth talkers like Lindsey Graham and Jim Demint defend their right to be from one of the states with the worst education system, highest level of teen pregnancy, and greatest numbers of working poor (that are lucky to be employed at all).
So how do we even begin to figure out how to change any of this mess?
Well, our neighbor, North Carolina, is having troubles of its own. And they have figured out a way to begin to turn things around:
But here in South Carolina, that doesn't even work. We refuse federal dollars (that our taxes have paid into) to build infrastructure that would make our state more appealing to the businesses we claim we crave. We join the rest of the country in mocking a governor for eight years (re-electing him just to be sure we aren't missing something), and then elect a woman who reflects the same goals and values.
I believe South Carolina operates under the assumption that, if banging your head against the wall isn't working, it's only because you aren't banging it hard enough.
Is it the "good ole boys" that just get angry because y'all in the Yankee states are trying to prove they're wrong? Because they don't even seem to want to do what is good for big business, other than keep cutting their taxes. And of course, the worse our schools and roads and neighborhoods get, the more tax incentives they have to offer to compete with other cheap labor (oh, I'm sorry, freedom to work) states.
And our voters, ever the product of a poor education system that teaches compliance and acceptance of minimum standards, continue to be grateful that smooth talkers like Lindsey Graham and Jim Demint defend their right to be from one of the states with the worst education system, highest level of teen pregnancy, and greatest numbers of working poor (that are lucky to be employed at all).
So how do we even begin to figure out how to change any of this mess?
Well, our neighbor, North Carolina, is having troubles of its own. And they have figured out a way to begin to turn things around:
So now that we are so pathetic we don't even rise to the level of laughingstock, I guess we can either declare war on North Carolina, or wake up and start to support people and programs that will begin to dig us out of this hole.
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