5 May - Blogs I'm Following II

“Are the nearest galaxies distributed randomly? A plot of over one million of the brightest "extended sources" detected by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) shows that they are not. The vast majority of these infrared extended sources are galaxies. *Click image for larger size.* Visible above is an incredible tapestry of structure that provides limits on how the universe formed and evolved. Many galaxies are gravitationally bound together to form clusters, which themselves are loosely bound into superclusters, which in turn are sometimes seen to align over even larger scale struc... more »

*“Beauty Exists Not In Sameness”* by Paulo Coelho “Beauty exists not in sameness but in difference. Who could imagine a giraffe without its long neck or a cactus without its spines? The irregularity of the mountain peaks that surround us is what makes them so imposing. If we tried to make them all the same, they would no longer command our respect. It is the imperfect that astonishes and attracts us. When we look at a cedar tree, we don’t think: ‘The branches should be all the same length.’ We think: ‘How strong it is.’ When we see a snake, we never say: ‘He is crawling along the ... more »

San Bernardino, California, USA. Thanks for stopping by.

*"Another Night in the Ruins"* "How many nights must it take one such as me to learn that we aren't, after all, made from that bird that flies out of its ashes, that for us as we go up in flames, our one work is to open ourselves, to *be* the flames?" ~ Galway Kinnell

*“In Landmark Decision, * *Supreme Court Strikes Down Main Reason Country Was Started”* by Andy Borowitz WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) — “In what legal experts are calling a landmark decision, on Monday the United States Supreme Court struck down what many believe to be the main reason the country was started. By a five-to-four vote, the Court eliminated what grade-school children have traditionally been taught was one of the key rationales for founding the United States in the first place. “The separation of church and state has been a cornerstone of American democracy for over... more »

Sixty years on here's one of the most iconic sporting moments in history. Roger Bannister had intended to retire after the 1952 Olympics but having only come in 4th in the 1500m final he hung on for another two years to make an attempt on the holy grail of middle distance running, the four minute mile. Roger Bannister knew that two other milers had the same intent, John Landy of Australia and Wes Santee of the USA. So Roger Bannister ran very early in the season at Iffley Road, Oxford, and was paced by his old friends Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Roger Bannister finished taki... more »

It has got to the point that the only way the US is likely to go to war against Iran – albeit reluctantly – is if Israel attacks Iran first. Any hope by the Zionists and their supporters of the US making a pre-emptive strike against Iran have long gone. The Israeli-Palestinian stand-off has reached a stalemate as far as talks are concerned. The Israelis are never going to allow a Palestinian state to exist and the Palestinians are never going to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. It was all very inevitable. As a result, the Palestinians have adopted a new strategy of building an al... more »

Saw this tweet today Let's change this trend around in #NorthDakota #NDleg #NDPol pic.twitter.com/FTJrtdBj8J — Rep. Ben Hanson (@BenjaminWHanson) April 30, 2014 and thought There's one way to do that #VoteNo2ALEC in North Dakota *How do people get on an ALEC list?* That question comes up all the time. The most common are: They serve on ALEC task forces They have paid ALEC dues through their campaign finances They self identified themselves somewhere , anywhere as an ALEC member. They have been shown as a signatory on an ALEC letter. They have been listed by ALEC as a member,... more »

On April 27, 2014, I announced my book, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education. Here is the book description: “Corporate reform” is not reform at all. Instead, it is the systematic destruction of the foundational American institution of public education. The primary motivation behind this destruction is greed. Public education in […]

*“The Force—Tons Of It—Is With The Mayflower” * by Chet Raymo “On the floor of New England’s oak woodlands, the Canada Mayflower (Wild Lily-of-the-valley) is making its play for the sun. Like two greedy hands, the paired green leaves of that ubiquitous little plant are reaching for sunlight, softening the winter woods and teasing us toward summer. Forget the skunk cabbage and the robin as signs of spring. I’ve seen skunk cabbages frozen in ice. I’ve seen robins making tracks in snow. But when you see the leaves of the Canada Mayflower pushing up through last season’s leaf litter, y... more »

R. v. Boughan, 2014 ONCA 360: [6] A sentencing judge is bound by the express and implied factual findings in a jury verdict. Where the factual basis is ambiguous, however, the sentencing judge is entitled to arrive at her own independent determination of the relevant facts: Criminal Code, s. 724(2); *R v. Brown* (1991), 53 C.C.C. (3d) 521 (S.C.C.). Here, that is what the trial judge did and we see no basis for interfering with those findings.

*“Martial Law, Detention Camps and Kangaroo Courts:* * Are We Recreating the Third Reich?”* By John W. Whitehead “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”—Martin Niemoller “Despite what some may think, the Constitution is no magical incantation against government wrongdoing. Indeed, it’s only a... more »

Star Online ..... Published: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 10:09:00 AM Updated: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 5:37:01 PM MH370: IGP rubbishes Daily Mirror report, says alleged militants not probed over plane's disappearance BY NICHOLAS CHENG [image: Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar - File pix] Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar - File pix Email <div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-right" id="gigya-share-vertical-1-reaction2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; backg

I liked this philosophical reflection on video-referees in sport. It has much wider import than just AFL, or sport: “The decision review system is a turkey. Really; we should all of us be prepared to cop the umpire’s decision. That’s life. Life is not fair. It turns out life is not even fair on replay.” - from “E. Regnans on Carlton v His Collingwood,” Footy Almanac Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)

I don’t believe feminists are unfair or crazy. In fact, I believe the only sensible way to understand these issues is through a feminist critique of patriarchy. By Robert Jensen | The Rag Blog | May 5, 2014 By the … finish reading Robert Jensen : Rape, rape culture, and the problem of patriarchy

Ed Week cheerfully reports field-tests for Smarter Balanced and PARCC tests are going jus' fine:"Early Reports Suggest Few Field-Testing Snags" [http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/05/06/30fieldtest_ep.h33.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1] I posted this comment: This "field-testing" seems to be mostly about technical aspects of implementation. I get the impression that analysis of the test items will be done later. But there is no indication that the big questions will even be asked: Is all this testing, the largest investment in testing ever made, worth it? Will it improve student achievem... more »

Last week the Labour Party’s “finance team” floated their new boat, a “new tool,” a variable-compulsory savings rate tool which can be tweaked when necessary, they say, to assist the Reserve Bank in keeping the inflation genie under control. Yet the boat they floated already looks holed beneath the water line. Responding this morning to claims that his "new tool" just isn’t a big enough lever for the Reserve Bank governor to pull – suggestions that compulsory savings rates of 15% or more might even be necessary to have anything like the effect on inflation claimed for it1,2 – Cu... more »

Editorial 2: Rebeldia Zapatista: The Word of the EZLN By Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés. Mexico, April 2014. Twentieth year of the war against oblivion. Italian: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2014/04/25/editorial-2-rebeldia-zapatista-the-word-of-the-ezln Compañeras and compañeros of the Sixth and the Zapatista Little School: Here we continue to recount the words of the compañeras

*Predicted exodus of offshore rigs from Louisiana turns out to have been mere Obama bashing ~Mark Moseley, The Lens* *Environmental groups protest bill aimed at levee board lawsuits ~The Advocate* *Public comment period extended on permits sought for oil drilling proposal near Mandeville ~Robert Rhoden*

A clearly "gob-smacked" Rachel Maddow rips into Kinder Morgan for touting the local economic benefits of oil spills : "Spill response and clean-up creates business and employment opportunities for affected communities" depending on "the willingness of local businesses and residents to pursue response opportunities" in a 90 second clip from Press Progress who broke the original story. Maddow's full show on pipeline and crude oil train transport safety opens with the "12 meter geyser of crude oil" spraying over a Burnaby BC neighbourhood in 2007 after a Kinder Morgan pipeline was a... more »

*How do people get on an ALEC list?* That question comes up all the time. The most common are: They serve on ALEC task forces They have paid ALEC dues through their campaign finances They self identified themselves somewhere , anywhere as an ALEC member. They have been shown as a signatory on an ALEC letter. They have been listed by ALEC as a member, in ALEC documents. They have been “outed” by a credible source, on the web. They have attended an ALEC meeting. They previously were employed by ALEC and now work in government. Because these were pulled from the web and histo... more »

The right for an accused to retain counsel of his choice is recognized by section 10(b) of the charter and upheld in the Supreme Court Case of *R. v. Willier*, 2010 SCC 37. Most cases relating to the right to retain counsel of choice deals with the initial duties of the police in informing a detainee of their charter rights, however, turning to the law both in criminal and civil cases we can see that the only limitations on the right to retain counsel of choice are as follows: 1. The accused must be reasonably diligent in attempting to obtain counsel if he wishes to do so. If th... more »

*MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014* *In writing opinion columns:* Are you allowed to make up facts in writing an opinion column? Several readers of the Washington Post don’t seem to be entirely clear on this question. For reasons which aren’t entirely clear, the Post decided to publish their letters this weekend. The most recent flap began with this letter from Brant Olson, campaign director of an organization called Forecast the Facts. Olson’s organization had petitioned the Post, and other newspapers, not to publish false information concerning climate change. In his April 11 column,Charles K... more »

METRO UPDATE | More from Roger Baker on the continuing Texas drought crisis, the latest science and, of course, Texas politics!

This spring, once again, Diane Ravitch nailed the spirit of our education age. Addressing the Network for Public Education (NPE) conference, Ravitch came with an uplifting message. Corporate reform has failed. A new era of school improvement is dawning. Many of its leaders come from today’s youth. They are the new “Greatest Generation.” Today’s young […]

They put me away for having six plants but the fact of the matter is I been in Jail for a long time I was a wild young man and I did many a deadly dance but when the band stopped playing I was alive, I was alive and my life had some meaning Know I am more at home with the native people You give me this shise to live in and call life while you live the high life at the temple God does not know your bar code but to be a citizen of land that reaps rewards from climate change should make all those that push this forward ashamed. There was a time when to be a Canadian filled ones sole with pride... more »

J***** C******* *The Jeremy Clarkson debacle is like something out of Brass Eye. No, it’s like a parody of something out of Brass Eye.* Eenie meenie mynie mo catch a n***** by his toe; if he hollers let him go, eenie meenie mynie mo. It’s an old fashioned ‘choosing’ rhyme, that’s all. Any racist meaning it might have had in the past was long ago rendered meaningless by over-use, and any such alleged meaning is obsolete in the way that ring-a-ring-a-roses no longer means whatever it arguably used to mean. Even if it did once have connections with lynching (think Strange Fruit) and ... more »

Chris Hedges writes about the US Supreme Court refusing to hear the case against the empowerment of the US military to detain US citizens. Some highlights of his writing: The 2nd Circuit overturned Forrest’s ruling last July in a decision that did not force it to rule on the actual constitutionality of Section 1021(b)(2). It cited the Supreme Court ruling in Clapper v. Amnesty International, another case in which I was one of the plaintiffs, to say that I had no standing, or right, to bring the NDAA case to court. Clapper v. Amnesty International challenged the secret wiretapping o... more »

A noted poet-playwright and critic, a Vietnam draft resister and pop culture journalist, and an economic justice advocate join us in three lively podcasts. Interviews by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | May 5, 2014 Gregg Barrios, the noted … finish reading Thorne Dreyer : *PODCASTS* | Gregg Barrios, Bruce Dancis, and Betsy Leondar-Wright on Rag Radio

*"Here's Proof That Wealthy Elites Control Washington" * by Bill Bonner “Dow down 45 points on Friday. Gold up over $1,300 an ounce. Nothing much happening. Meanwhile, we had no proof. Just an observation. But it looks to us as though government always begins and ends as a tool for those who control it. It is not the product of a "social contract." It is not an expression of the "general will." It is not the "price we pay for civilization." It is not "captured by wealthy special interests." On the contrary, it is as blunt and stupid as a crowbar. It is used by the elite to pry weal... more »

Consumed by the Digital Divide. via Consumed by the Digital Divide.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical

I missed something in the issue of May 3. I'm no expert on photography; but even I should have caught it. Stephen Downes, of Moncton Free Press (it's on the web) is an expert on photography and on a good deal else to do with news media. He spotted it right away. And it's a no-no in all but the sleaziest of newspapers, the ones with headlines like "Shocking news. George Bush is pregnant". The picture on C3 is (it says) of three deer in Parkindale. And it's a fake. The second and third deer are exactly the same (one) deer. The trees in the forest behind them are fake. The whole photo ... more »

The town in upstate New York that gained notoriety a couple of years ago for the viral video of the bullied bus monitor has made the news again. The Supreme Court ruled today that the monthly town board meetings of Greece may now legally begin with a prayer from a "chaplain of the month." Controversy and outrage ensue. While it's acceptable in this country to pledge allegiance to the American flag as the symbol of "one nation under God," swearing allegiance to God without the jingoism is still considered undemocratic in public settings. I don't get it. Because prior to every corpor... more »

*GiveNOLA ~NOLA DEFENDER* *La. Senate rejects Medicaid expansion proposal* *Whistleblowers claim Dupont hid leaks in Louisiana ~David J. Mitchell, N.O. Advocate* *IndyCar commits to New Orleans race in 2015 ~Brett Martel, AP* *The Ebb And Flow Of Louisiana Seafood ~Poppy Tooker, WWNO*

GCHQ from Spike EP on Vimeo. "On the eve of this year’s Bilderberg meeting, the Anglo-French intelligence bosses have clearly shown their hand with two high-profile attacks on Obama. Wednesday, June 5 marked the liberation of Qusayr, the great Stalingrad of the Syrian terrorist death squads deployed by NATO against Assad. With the rout of these terrorists, the main units of the self-styled Free Syrian Army, along with the Nusra branch of al Qaeda, are likely to face annihilation in the short to medium term. On the same day that Qusayr fell, the British and French governments hy... more »

*Illinois House Passes Three-Year Ban on Online Charter Schools* The Illinois House has passed a three-year ban on virtual charter schools, shortly after an existing one-year ban expired. “It’s an amazing story about what they want to do here in Illinois. We are going absolutely backward in terms of education reform and education innovation,” said Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. Twenty-seven states have online schools, and five require students to take a class online before graduating high school, according to the International Associatio... more »

*MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014* *Dowd says Clinton loves cash:* As Maureen Dowd keeps getting more fatuous, her paper—the famous New York Times—keeps giving her columns a higher platform. Yesterday, she was on the front page (Gack!) of the Sunday Review *again.*By her third paragraph, she was typing the name most sacred within her religion, the name she loves typing best: DOWD ((5/4/14): The First Family is all over the news, discussing the management of the economy, income inequality, raising the minimum wage, the vicissitudes of press coverage and the benefits of healthy eating. Everywhere... more »

The world must pay attention. The erratic weather is one indication. The U.S. faced some severe weather - tornadoes, heavy snow and rain, drought in California. More tornadoes to come. Please watch the video here 

Come and bring your families, your friends, and your colleagues to NYC on May 17th to show the world how we are from corporate “reformers”.http://saveourschoolsmarch.org/event/nyc-metro-spring-action/Filed under: SHAUN JOHNSON, PHD: Musings from the Chalk Face

*MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014* *Part 1—A strange journalistic claim:* We’ve never been to Tuscaloosa, but we can assure you of this: With the inevitable struggling exceptions, Tuscaloosa is full of good kids and fine young people. They love their parents. They want to do good and do well in the world. D’Leisha Dent, 17, is one such outstanding young person. She’s a senior at Central High, one of Tuscaloosa’s three public high schools. Extending back through three generations, her family’s educational history is described in “Segregation Now,” Nikole Hannah-Jones’ flamboyantly-titled, lengt... more »

An AOL Jobs reader asked me: I am a minority female HR professional who has been working in the field for 18 years. I have faced race based discrimination, and sexual harassment continuously during my career. I'm often hired into a management role based on my degree, experience and my SHRM certifications, only to be hidden and given no real responsibilities. Over the years I have learned to identify quickly organizations that offer "Token" positions hoping to fill a quota. These orgs provide no training, support or valid work responsibilities in order to build a case of poor perfor... more »

The White House Correspondent's Association dinner is a public display of why there is no legitimate media in this country anymore. The annual event is an opportunity for the sitting US President to play comedian, delivering one-liners and gimmicks to a gaggle of adoring an self-important media hacks whose invitation to the party is one of the key perks of being a government conduit for misinformation and the crown jewel on the DC circle jerk circuit. It is a celebration of Washington's own pompous self worship and a pox upon what at least once in theory was a democracy were the po... more »

By Ellen Lubic, Director, Joining Forces for Education Recently, the CSUN Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and the Los Angeles Education Partnership, presented a public meeting titled Seeking an Authentic Voice: The Role of Parents and Communities in School Change in L.A. The professor in charge, Dr. Susan Auerbach, had sent me a personal invitation […]

Daftar Harga Laptop Apple Terbaru Mei 2014 - bagaimana berita elo era ini ? telah siapkah anda menyabet tantangan untuk mengalami era itu? kecil pembuka untuk mengawalai perjumpaan kita-kita kali ini. dampak masa itu kita-kita hendak  balik meng update info harga Laptop terbaru, dari yang sungguh murah hingga yang sangat mahal, dari yang kelas ecek ecek sampai dengan laptop yang memasarkan

Sometime next year, the USS Zumwalt will begin testing the Tomahawk missiles, GPS-guided munitions and “total ship” computing systems that will make the $3.3 billion vessel the most advanced destroyer in Navy history. But first come the cables – 2.3 million feet of them snaking above, below and alongside every corridor of what is essentially a 600-foot-long floating computer. “Now you have an all-electric ship,” Todd Estes, manager of the DDG-1000 program at Bath Iron Works, said last week. Read more

In 2008, the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and Achieve, Inc., released a report, Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-class Education. The report promotes a now all-too-familiar spectrum of so-called “reforms,” including establishing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), CCSS-aligned curriculum and assessment, alter teacher recruitment […]

‘C.L.R. James in Imperial Britain’ opens up the issue of the Third World struggle in an elegant and memorable way. By Paul Buhle and Milton Knight | Truthout | May 5, 2014 Author’s note: This marks the first appearance of … finish reading Paul Buhle and Milton Knight : *BOOKS* | C.L.R. James: Back in style, black in style

METRO | Lamar Hankins reports that the investigation into Rick Perry’s handling of the Lehmberg affair just may have legs.

What aren't counted? That is my question when I read estimates of Cesium-137 in dying sea lions and other animals: Enenews: Alarm as record numbers of seals & sea lions ‘starving to death’ along California coast — “It’s just spiked… calls started coming nonstop” — “So many unhealthy… washing ashore” — “Extremely complex issue… multitude of factors in play” — “Definitely a mystery, we’re hoping it’s not the new norm” Expert officials are always (metaphorically) scratching their heads, saying that the reported Cesium-137 level is not high enough to cause acute radiation syndrome s... more »

*Video Title: TV Host Slams Head of Egyptian Community in Paris for Anti-Christian Remarks. Source: MEMRI TV. Date Published: May 4, 2014.* In the video below, an Egyptian TV host speaks with a bigoted sectarian named Saleh Farhoud, an Egyptian living in Paris who made the statement that only a Muslim should be head of the Treasury in Egypt, and that Christians should be banned from the position. The TV host put the religious bigot on his ass directly on the spot and the clown hanged up. Egypt is a country with deep Christian roots, so this is a socially divisive, insensitive, and... more »

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | May 4, 2014 Roger Baker’s three-part Rag Blog series, “Can Austin survive the current Texas drought,” garnered much attention and was reposted widely, including by the highly-influential Resilience.org. Roger wrote the following … finish reading *METRO UPDATE* | Roger Baker : The continuing Texas drought crisis

In this video former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko says, "I want to say big thanks to all who came and fight in Odessa for our Ukraine. Also I want to tell that all military action that will be released in nearest future will be against any mass meeting of people." In a leaked phone call on March 18 with Nestor Shufrych, former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Tymoshenko said, "It's about time we grabbed our guns and killed those damn Russians together with their leader.""I hope I will be able to get all my connections involve... more »

The AFT, NEA, and all their non-profit corporate hangers-on attempt to minimize their support for the total compliance segregated charter chain gangs by trying to distinguish between the "bad" for-profit charters and the "good" and the more numerous non-profit variety. There are 2 principle reasons this distinction is as phony as the idea that Dennis and Randi support the interests of teachers: 1) Many "non-profit" charters pay for-profit management companies to run them: How does it work? A non-profit group decides to form a charter school, submits its charter to the state, and... more »

*“State Of Surveillance: Police, Privacy and Technology”* LA County Sheriff Admits Big Brother Is Here "But We Kept It Pretty Hush Hush" by "This is the future if nothing is done to stop it," is the ominous way The Atlantic describes the recent Big Brother tactics used by LA County Sheriffs to "police" areas such as Compton. Residents were unaware ("A lot of people do have a problem with the eye in the sky, the Big Brother, so to mitigate those kinds of complaints we basically kept it pretty hush hush")that, as the police stated, "we literally watched all of Compton during the time... more »

What follows below is nothing original. It’s simply another reminder. I know this is an unpopular thing to say in certain education circles but someone has to say it: Common Core State Standards and the Smarter Balanced Assessments will do little to nothing to help eliminate the achievement gap! Why? Because the achievement gap is really […]

This week, Harry Reid says he's bringing the Energy Savings and Industrial and Competitiveness Act (S. 2262), sponsored by Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) to the floor for a vote. Support for a bill that should be the height of uncontroversial is widespread... on both sides of the aisle. But Republican obstructionists, content with nothing less than the complete disruption of an orderly functioning of government have vowed to prevent passage. The obstructionists, led by extremists like Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Mike Lee and the Southerners, still refuse to recognize ... more »