Redeye's Tuesday Must Reads Local/ State/National

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bull$%#t Mo,

I favor "good" earmarks. I oppose "bad" earmarks. It really is both that simple and that complex. It is a matter of judgment as to which earmarks are appropriate and which are inappropriate (using proper federal government function and cost/benefit analysis tests).

I have a few question for Commissioner Mo Brooks(r.Tea Party); Do you or don't you believe residents who live in North Huntsville have a lower IQ than residents that live in South Huntsville? And, do you believe "project kids" should not be allowed to attend south Huntsville schools because they will lower standardized test scores? And, is it or is it not true you will not be attending a debate sponsored by the local chapter of the NAACP at the Richard Showers Center with your democratic opponent Steve Raby? If elected are you only going to represent the intelligent residents of south Huntsville and oppose ignorant residents of north Huntsville?

The baffling blundering bull$%#t just keeps on coming from the gop candidates.....Huh?

In discussing the issue of transportation in and around Birmingham, Bentley said he would not support light rail for the metro area. That's fine. Reasonable arguments can be made on either side of that issue. But he went on to say: "If light rail brought people into the city, well there is nobody in the city downtown, there's not a lot going on down there, and it's not necessarily right now the wisest use of our dollars."

"Conservative Principles" are like knives. Stupid people shouldn't flash them around. H/T revbob

Ian MacIsaac: Americans don't learn lessons: The Moral failures of conservative leaders and the intellectual failures of average Americans

Barack Obama is not like you. He’s not normal. We’re not exactly sure what it is about him, but something just isn’t right.

God, you’ve been hearing that a lot, haven’t you? The above quotes are just a sample of the nonsense spread over the past month or two about the president. Maybe it was all inspired by this Ground Zero mosque hubbub, but there seems to be a pretty consistent and united effort on the part of conservative talking heads nowadays to paint Obama as both (a) foreign and (b) untrustworthy. There was a lot of this before the election, but at least within my sphere of news it had steadily declined after he’d actually taken office, and people began to get interested in real issues again….

The Undisputed Truth tells us what we've learned about the Tea Party.

We have learned that they may dislike Dems, but they hate Republicans. They hate Republicans until they win I guess and then they are waiting in line for the hand-outs and infomercials they get to do on FOX. We have learned that these folks were the crazy cousins hiding in the attic of the Republican Party. We have learned that these folks are the reincarnation of the “Know Nothings, the Moral Majority, and the Christian Coalition. We have learned that they really aren’t independent nor or they grassroots

Guest Post: Reform School Versus School Reform (Rant)

I have taught off and on for the last decade, and prior to that I was a student in this once great education system. Contrary to former President Ronald Reagan's "A Nation At Risk" report, education was better in the 1980s and 1990s. I have vivid memories of projects, arts and crafts, books we read, dioramas we made and the California Achievement test we all took that was nationally normed.

There was 4H, shop, career explorations and computer class ... sans test. We still had to take state tests, but this did not stop teachers from giving us skills we could use in real life. (I.E. writing in cursive, all of our math facts, daily physical exercise, fine arts, music, etc.) We had at least one thirty minute recess per day. It was awesome, rigorous, and to be honest, I never recall having what some now call "bad teachers."

Charter Schools and Waiting for Superman

“The message of the film is that public schools are failing because of bad teachers and their unions. The film's "solution," to the minimal extent it suggests one, is to replace them with "great" charter schools and teachers who have less power over their schools and classrooms.
This message is not just wrong. In the current political climate, it's toxic.”
This film tells a moving story about problems and injustice in public schools but it blames the problems of schools on teachers unions. Why is that ? We should ask why the film focuses on teachers’ unions and not on poverty, race, school bureaucracies, or the foundations of the rich who support these initiatives.

Somethings rotten about "Waiting for Superman"

Something smells here. And it isn't the fresh, crisp, fall scent of number two Ticonderoga's.

Professional educators are going to take a major hit in the coming months and the Billionaire Boys Club, who are out to privatize our public schools by creating their own charter school networks, couldn't be happier.

The promotion of the movie Waiting for Superman has been nothing less than phenomenal for an education documentary. Oprah aired two shows about it, all pie and sunshine. Don't be fooled by the hype. This is just another in a series of hoaxes perpetrated on the American public by the very wealthy. We have something they want -- the minds of our children!

From Big Easy to Big Empty

Following the first broadcast of this film a criminal complaint was filed against producer Matt Pascarella and reporter Greg Palast by the Department of Homeland Security. The charge, filming “critical infrastructure” was dropped.
Maybe DHS was annoyed because From Big Easy to Big Empty, filmed a year after Hurricane Katrina, is critical of infrastructure, specifically Innovative Emergency Management of Baton Rouge which was paid a half-million dollars in 2004 to deliver a emergency preparedness and evacuation plan of New Orleans–only no one could find the plan when it was needed–that’s pretty innovative; and of FEMA itself which at the time of the filming, in 2006, had displaced 73,000 residents into trailer parks. Palast interviews a resident who explains that there is only one bus out of the ironically named, barb-wired ringed Camp Renaissance, and it only goes to the Wal-Mart.

Reading is fundamental! Happy reading!