public education

Rockland County, just northwest of NYC, has had some big demographic changes in the past decade, including relatively large emigrations of Romanians and Dominicans. And Hasids-- kind of Amish, but Jewish. Now two out of three children in the school district are Hasidic. The county has been a Democratic bastion for some time. In 2008 Obama beat McCain, 65,134 (52%) to 58,199 (47%), and four years later he beat Romney, 60,446 (52.8%) to 52,936 (46.2%). Nita Lowey (D) is the congressmember, and both state Assemblymembers are Democrats. One state Senator is a Democrat and one is a Republican.

The hotheads and traitors in control of South Carolina, seceded on December 20, 1860, soon after Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Although Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee didn't follow suit until the following spring, the state that jumped to follow South Carolina's lead first was Mississippi-- where Lincoln hadn't even been on the ballot-- seceding January 9, 1861. Mississippi was one of the 7 original states to form the Confederacy.

I live in Los Feliz, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. I vote down the street in a neighbor's garage. We don't have any high-profile races to vote on here-- nothing that will swing Congress one way or the other. Our gubernatorial race-- pitting incumbent Jerry Brown against a random Republican from the Greed and Selfishness wing of his party-- is not being seriously contested. The last publicly available poll showed Brown ahead 56-37%.

Bob Herbert’s piece in last week’s Politico Magazine, The Plot Against Public Education— How Millionaires And Billionaires Are Ruining Our Schools, casts Microsoft’s Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, as the arch-villain of public education.

Manhattan P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village"We are very grateful for the years we were able to have [music teacher] Eve Zanni with us and for her contribution to the cultural tenor and atmosphere of the school."-- Michelle Farinet, parent coordinator at P.S.

If you''ve been following the narrative over the last couple of weeks here at DWT you may have figured out that my new favorite book-- after Elizabeth Warren's A Fighting Chance-- has been The Invisible Bridge by historian Rick Perlstein. Maybe I'm so fascinated by it because I was living overseas for so much of the time he was writing about-- having felt living in a Nixon-led America not compatible with my personal sense of dignity or honor.

a whole lot of writing going on, but no more shaking . . . rattling the cages
I’ll get to the school and the yard and the fights in a minute. But . . . .
Okay, a guest on the “alternative radio show” in Portland, KBOO-FM.

Tuesday night Rachel Maddow had a couple of inspiring segments on her show dedicated to Elizabeth Warren and the release of her new book, A Fighting Chance. She included an inspiring interview, included above complements of YouTube.

Compton Board of Education President Micah AliDCCC Chair Steve Israel uses the empty phrase, "problem solvers" to describe the hopeless batch of mystery meat candidates he recruited and is leading down the path to slaughter in November. Most of his recruits are drudges who were recruited because they are drudges. The idea of "problem solvers," however, isn't as stupid as most of the claptrap that comes spilling out of Israel's mouth.

Mark Levine, former Chief Legislative Counsel to Democratic Congressman Barney Frank, is currently running for Congress himself to represent the 8th Congressional District of Virginia.