A New Southern Bobby Kennedy?

A young attractive humanitarian senator, does this sound familiar? John Edwards didn't get the nomination for president the first time around but he sure has faced adversity and has given back quite a bit to this world. He lost a 16 year-old son and stood by his wife through breast cancer. Since the Vice-presidential campaign he's been working as the director of the Center on Poverty, in North Carolina. He has helped push for minimum wage increases in six states. Edwards also traveled to Uganda recently with the International Rescue Committee, and is urging our current president to help end the killing in Darfur. Amidst all of this, he has authored an uplifting book titled Home, which shares the stories of 60 different homes.

Charter for Hope or Disaster?

The PBS program NOW [ transrcipt ] shows the reopening of Lafayette Academy in post Katrina New Orleans. It is one of the new charter schools that is comprising 60% of the schools reopening at this time. I was first excited to hear the news as I believe that charter schools are a possible hope for the future. So many districts suffer from bureaucratic waste these days and corruption.

After watching the show I was disheartened. They already have the challenge of students living in trailers and having missed so much schooling. Now they suffer from the same tragedy that took so many lives in the disaster-- poor planning. On the first day of school there were no books. In October, they were still waiting for books. Finally, in November, most of the books arrived. Is the federal government trying to set them up as an example of how charter schools will not work?

The site has two videos, the first is the program and the second is a supplemental experience of one student. What can we as a nation do to turn this experiment around? Perhaps we failed New Orleans in the disaster. Perhaps it is taking too long to rebuild the homes. But can we help rebuild the hope of these children?

Who Controls Education?

5 min. running time -- ** warning: uses the F word
George Carlin - Who Really Controls America

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This is a look at the glass half empty. Though it seems spot on and makes me wonder if there is a way to really control campaign contributions and lobbying. The First Amendment has been thrown out as a defense of these practices in former litigation.

Many of the teachers who have chosen to work in inner city schools have known Carlin's opinion about schools to be true. Public schools were formed on the industrial model of efficiency. They were never intended to graduate all students and certainly not make them all college ready. One incredibly uncomfortable moment I had in a grad school diversity class was when our guest speaker, who was an African American teacher, speculated that the system had an interest in under-educating some of its students because they made good drug dealers and prostitutes.

Those living in poverty have little chance of changing their lot in our current system. The only way to change it would be to give bonuses to teachers who chose to teach in schools with high levels of poverty. That might attract more experienced teachers, or it might be an incentive for teachers to stay longer and build experience. Right now these schools get the least experienced teachers who get burnt out and leave as soon as they can. The experienced teachers have no incentive to work there and if the state wants to pay them bonuses based on achievement they will definitely stay away from these schools.

One can say that money doesn't matter, but it is more work for a teacher to have 10-20 struggling learners instead of 2-5 in a more affluent school. The more affluent school usually comes with more parent volunteers and other support. The extra money might allow the teacher to pay for some house keeping services or other help so that she can spend those extra hours grading papers and planning intervention strategies for her students. Some young teachers, living in expensive cities, have had to take second jobs just to pay their rent. This leaves them with almost no time to plan for the next day's lessons.

The other possible hope for improving public education is to cut out the misappropriation of funds. If these schools could be turned into charter schools and the whole school community would be involved in overseeing the funds then they might have a better chance of getting the tools they need to get things accomplished. It takes commitment from a School Site Committee to oversee the school plan and spending but it's worth it for student success.

In general public education isn't very exciting for students. No Child Left Behind simply has to go. If we want time to develop critical thinking skills, we have to be freed of all that test prep time. I'm not saying get rid of all bench mark tests, but we don't need so many. Now we are testing children as young as kindergarten. Do they really need that pressure?

Also, how in the world are we going to get science and math teachers in our public schools? Are we going to start paying teachers more? Either our math and science literate students will only come from private schools or we are going to have re-haul the public school system. Giving teachers incentives, such as loan forgiveness for a few years and won't keep them teaching for very long. The difficult to live on salary and general lack or societal respect lures scientist and mathematicians to other fields. Garbage in, is garbage out.

President Bush Signs the Military Commissions Act of 2006 Today

Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 ~ President Bush signed legislation today that created new rules for prosecuting and interrogating terror suspects, a move that Mr. Bush said would enable the Central Intelligence Agency to resume a once-secret program to question the most dangerous terrorists.

The New York Times


Shall we say R.I.P. Habeas Corpus, or are we renewed in our efforts to fight this party of oppression? Get thee to the polls this November. Your freedom is in your hands. Don't waste a single vote-- send those Republicans home and any Democrats who signed the Act.

Democratic Political Ads-- Smartening Up This Campaign

The Democrats are getting savvier in their ad campaigns. These two ads are very slick with high production values. Hopefully they have learned from the tactical errors made in campaigns past against the Win At Any Cost Party. Perhaps it is possible to get down in the mud with the pigs and come out with ethics. I like to think some of the ads we are seeing are about true ethics. Don't tell me there's no difference between the two parties.




"Walsh Stem Cell" (2006)
Majority Action, a group formed to "promote and build a progressive majority agenda in the U.S. House of Representatives," has taken out some very aggressive ads against four Replubicans who voted against federal funding for stem cell research.


"Have You No Decency, Mr Sweeny?" (2006)
Candidate/Organization: Kirsten Gillibrand | Race: House, New York

Ten Thousand Mirrors

Ten Thousand Mirrors
- A Japanese Sun Goddess Myth

No one today can remember the time when Amaterasu Omikami, the Great Mother Sun, hid herself deep in the cave of heaven and refused to come out. But to those who know the story, every mirror is a reminder that there once was a time when all the spirits of living things had to join together to bring life back to the Earth.

In those very early times, the spirit of every living thing was called its kami. The kami of the mountain was lavender and long. The kami of trees was great and green. Animals' kami was as smooth as silk. The kami of rocks and rivers was silent as the moon. All the strength of these kami poured forth from Amaterasu Omikami, and in her honour the great pattern of the seasons of planting and harvest was woven.

One day it happened that Amaterasu Omikami fell into despair because of the actions of her jealous brother Susanowo. Some say he betrayed the Great Goddess by tearing through the rice paddies in a drunken fit of rage, until every plant in every field was broken and dying. Others remember Susanowo heaving a calf through the windows of the celestial weaving house, smashing the looms and breaking the sacred threads of connection between every living thing. But though some say this and some say that, everyone agrees on what happened next.

Amaterasu fled to the Cave of Heaven and locked herself inside. Without her light, all the realms of heaven and earth were plunged into darkness. The kami of the rice withered. The kami of the birds and animals and mountains and trees and fishes turned into frail ghosts. The earth and all that was of it began to die.

Eventually, and none too soon, the kami gathered together to discuss what to do. "We must moan and weep outside her cave," some said. "That will never work," said others. "Who wants to join a crowd that's moaning and weeping?" Finally someone said, "Let's have a celebration with stories that make us laugh and music that sets our feet tapping. And let's have dances with lots of stomping and whirling. Surely that will bring the Great Sun out of her cave."

Everyone agreed, but they decided that one more thing was needed: a huge mirror. "If we reflect Amaterasu's radiance back to her," they said to each other, "maybe she'll take heart and remember us. Maybe she'll return to the round of Life."

But as soon as they thought of the need for a great mirror, their courage failed. Because not one of them had the strength to lift such a mirror. Then someone said, in a voice so feeble that everyone had to strain to hear, "Let's each bring a tiny piece of mirror hidden in our clothes. As soon as Amaterasu Omikami peeks out of her cave, we'll all hold up our shards at the same time - and our tens of thousands will make a single mirror."

And that is precisely what they did. The very next day, all the kami in the world gathered outside the Cave of Heaven and slowly, almost inaudibly, started to sing. In time their voices rose high and deep into the night. But even while the kamis' drums beat their irresistible rhythms, and even while the kamis' feet stomped and tapped in splendid whirling dances, no one forgot to watch the door of the Cave of Heaven. Finally, very late in the evening, the cave door cracked open, and a single beam of light slipped out. Instantly, the kami lifted their slivers of mirror to Amaterasu's radiance.

The Goddess gasped in amazement. Fascinated, she took a step forward. And another. Soon she had stepped all the way out of her cave. Laughing and clapping her hands to see herself reflected in so many thousands upon thousands of forms, the Great Mother Sun danced all the way out of her hiding place and all the way into the wide blue sky.

Once again the kami of the mountains grew lavender and long. The kami of trees was great and green. Animals again had kami as smooth as silk. The kami of rocks and rivers and fish and flowers once more poured forth from the Great Mother Sun. And in her honour the pattern of the seasons of planting and harvest was again woven. And so it is to this very day.