Sunday, October 21, 2012

Ed Privatizers List of Bedfellows Keeps Getting Weirder : You Are Who You Sleep With



If anyone needs any more evidence of who's behind the push to privatize public schools in America, look no further than the introduction of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's arrival on the scene as the forces of corporate privatization converge on the roadkill that is their box office flop Won't Flush Down.  "The Chamber" as they love to hear themselves called (think of prefixes like Torture and Gas) has stepped in as only the biggest most powerful corporate lobbying outfit in the nation can, offering free screenings of Won't Flush Down to anyone desperate enough to watch Holly Hunter pretend she's a union rep or that lovable dysfunctional mom character with the fluffy mullet who falls prey to the trigger finger and helps a bitter teacher hand their school over to corporate privatizers. What's really hilarious about The Chamber and their efforts is the title they've cooked up for this rehash of a shitty movie nobody wants to see : Breaking the Monopoly of Mediocrity - Because the Status Quo of Education Isn't Good Enough.  Really now ? Once again we are hearing from people who have never set foot in a classroom, never studied education or done any of the things people do who plan to dedicate their lives to educating kids. Real talk bitches, what have any of you done up til now that gives the slightest inkling you care about kids, schools, education or opportunity for the disadvantaged? Yeah I didn't think so. But as usual they show up in an OK Corrall of finger pointing, accusing teachers and  their unions everything from negligence to selfishness to a pervasive state of apathy towards the kids they teach and the mission their lives have undertaken. And what better plans do they offer ? Give the schools to us, we can make money off them. Really? Do you have any proof that you can do better ? Why of course not, that's not the point or we'd all be fucking teachers wouldn't we. We know how to make money and that's why we're here so kindly give us your schools and go sell cars or insurance until you die. We'll be needing your retirement fund too before you go. 

Meanwhile, as we know, the Privatizers aren't all Republicans and Libertarians, no far from it. Right here under the banner of the braying ass we see thousands of eager Dumbocrats like Rahm Emanuel and Andy Cuomo ( Rahm with a NY crust) Corey Booker and  Mr. Michelle Rhee aka Kevin Johnson eager to get their money grubbing fingers on some of the loot flying out of these hedge funders. Rhee went as far as telling The Atlantic she is actually quite a lefty. Yeah she's a lefty the way Obama with Goldman Sachs paying for his campaigns is a Socialist. It sure sounds good folks, after all what hipster wants to be dumped in with the likes of Agent Orange Boehner or Chinless Mitch McConnell ? And as these dopes run around trying to get the mainstream media to portray them as agents of change and progressives on education they demand that we ignore the various filthy bedmates they leap in and out of the sack with for money. 

We are supposed to ignore the fact that ALEC yet another monstrous lobbying outfit who promises access to elected members of congress for the right price was instrumental in writing up the first Parent Trigger Law. Speaking of triggers, ALEC also wrote the lovely Stand Your Ground Law in Florida that enabled neighborhood watch yahoo Mark Zimmerman to fatally shoot Trayvon Martin an unarmed teen ager he didn't recognize as the kid walked home from the store with an iced tea and a bag of skittles. But the privatizers don't want anyone to make that connection. Sorry folks but who you climb in bed with is who you are. The US Chamber of Commerce is also known to have used foreign money to influence elections. And I have to wonder if the do good  limo liberals of the privatization world are hip to their new friends' previous engagements where their hero and "Reformer in Chief" Barack Obama is concerned. Newsflash to the "reformers" their new bedmate leans heavily to the right and spends hundreds of millions opposing Democratic candidates like Obama. 

The following is taken from an interview between Lee Fang of Politico and Richard Clarke US Security expert who served under every president from Reagan up til 2003:

 FANG: Hi. You talked a lot about classifying and recognizing cyber security threats, but you mostly focused on foreign threats. I’m curious about a story that broke last month, that The US Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest trade association, based here in DC, had contracted or attempted to contract military defense firms like HB Gary Federal, Palantir, and Berico, to develop proposals to use the same type of cyber warfare tactics normally reserved for Jihadi websites against left-wing activists, trade — labor unions, and left of center think tanks here in America. What do you think about that type of threat from a lobbyist or a corporation targeting political enemies, or perceived enemies here in the US? 

CLARKE: I think it’s a violation of 10USC. I think it’s a felony, and I think they should go to jail. You call them a large trade association, I call them a large political action group that took foreign money in the last election. But be that as it may, if you in the United States, if any American citizen anywhere in the world, because this is an extraterritorial law, so don’t think you can go to Bermuda and do it, if any American citizen anywhere in the world engages in unauthorized penetration, or identity theft, accessing a number through identity theft purposes, that’s a felony and if the Chamber of Commerce wants to try that, that’s fine with me because the FBI will be on their doorstep in a matter of hours.

A number of lawmakers have called for an investigation of the Chamber over its probably illegal activities, and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) has requested documents from the NSA and Defense Department detailing their contracts with Berico and HBGary, the firms implicated in the scandal. It seems unlikely that any House committee controlled by the GOP would want to investigate. That would leave it the Justice Department.

So this is the latest ally in the privatizer's arsenal. They've all ready danced with and continue to woo ALEC with their big bucks and open wallets and now they're getting some back up from a group that wants to spy on and hack into union and activist websites with the help of military contractors. Tell us again Michelle Rhee, Andrew Cuomo, Hannya Boulous and Arne Duncan what great liberals you all are and how much you care about the poor, the disenfranchised and those who don't have a voice in society let alone education. You really want to feed us this line of horseshit when you have ALEC and The US Chamber of Commerce doing your dirty work forwarding your corporate privatization agenda? How dumb do you think we are exactly? 

1 comment:

  1. Tonight the second public "informational' meeting was held to explain what the Chameleon Charter School Management Organization has in store for Waterfront Elementary and East High School.
    Just like th folks you are talking about in this post, there was NOT ONE of their group who has ever been a teacher, an administrator , or obtained a degree in education.( like Duncan)

    It was the among the worst of the hundreds of meetings about anything that I have ever attended.

    If their "Let's Design a Meeting" skills are an indication of their " Let's Design a School" skills, they are in deep trouble. Unfortunately, so are the students and their families who will attend the school that the Chameleon group fumbles together.

    The "head" of the Chameleon CMO doesn't even know what a curriculum is...but whatever it is,she stated that the new charter would not use what the Buffalo Schools use.

    If Dr. King gets the Regents to agree to their proposal, it will prove that he is no advocate for children, especially our kids here in Buffalo. It will look as though he is "getting even...).

    Sadly, the entire group of Chameleon supporters demonstrated how inept they are.

    Writing a slinger outlining a pie in the sky "plan" does not make you an educator who will succeed with real live children.

    ReplyDelete