Chicago Teacher: THIS Is Why I'm Striking

Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard is on record saying both that Chicago Teacher's Union leadership is deciding whether or not to strike, and that “everyone knows that a strike would only hurt our kids.”

I just wanted to educate my boss a little on the history of Chicago, as he is relatively new to the area. Chicago is founded on the hard daily struggle of working people. It is the birth of the labor movement—not a movement just for wages and benefits, but a movement that stopped child labor so that each of the kids in CPS schools could attend school instead of working.

It was a movement that stopped the practice of working conditions so unsafe that consumers were eating the actual workers who fell into the mix while they were making hot dogs. It was a movement that fought so that workers could have some tiny measure of time with our families rather than spending all waking hours working for the enrichment of their bosses.

But even more importantly, I wanted to educate Mr. Brizard about what it means to “help or hurt our kids”.
When you make me cram 30-50 kids in my classroom with no air conditioning so that temperatures hit 96 degrees, that hurts our kids.


The rest: http://www.businessinsider.com/chicago-teacher-this-is-why-im-striking-2012-9

The Democratic Party is becoming more Liberal

Notice how the new platform leaves basically no room for pro-choice foes, SSM foes, Universal healthcare foes, feminist foes, etc. And the message seems to have solidified on the Middle Class, Education, Infrastructure, Labor, Citizenship, etc.

It's not fully there yet, has a long road to go, but it seems the pendulum might be swinging back the other way.

Just Released: Democrats Unveil 2012 National Platform-

Some excerpts from a looong list which can be downloaded here: http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform

Protecting A Woman’s Right to Choose: The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right. Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way.

We also recognize that health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions. We strongly and unequivocally support a woman’s decision to have a child by providing affordable health care and ensuring the availability of and access to programs that help women during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, including caring adoption programs.


Freedom to Marry: We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law. We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.

We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples. We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.

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Also calls for reinstating the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole – so that guns do not fall into the hands of those irresponsible, law-breaking few.

Also, opposes Citizens United, For strengthening Medicare, building upon the Affordable Care Act, & further Wall St reform.

Trumka/Warren 2016

Daily Show: "You See This Watch? This Watch Is Worth More Than Your Entire F**King State!"

Ha! Daily Show breaks down why America SHOULDN'T be run like a business.
(Hint: Because we would have to sell off Red states costing the "company" money)

From Friday Aug. 31st 2012

Hilariousness ensues: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/fri-august-31-2012/rnc-2012---the-road-to-jeb-bush-2016---the-best-f--king-news-team-ever-audits-america