Showing posts with label teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teachers. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2011
From the wisdom of Twitter
"The GOP says $250,000 annual income isn’t wealthy but $48,000 with good benefits is." -@AngryLiberal
Friday, March 04, 2011
You won’t read this in The Post-Star
The Post-Star has a pretty overt agenda against teachers unions. This manifests itself not only in local columns and editorials but in their selective reporting of facts and a slew of op-ed pieces which, shock of shocks, tilt one way on the issue... most recently, earlier this week. You’re more likely to be exposed to the perspective of the teachers unions on Fox News (sic) than in the Glens Falls daily. Their anti-labor position is not surprising since they took great pains some years ago to bust their own unions.
The paper has disproportionately targeted the Queensbury school district for alleged extravagant spending. This is inexplicable given the below facts, although it’s worth noting that the paper’s managing editor lives and pays taxes in Queensbury.
So I was pleased to read a good story on the district written in the independent Chronicle. Although the weekly’s editor Mark Frost is personally more vocally anti-union than Tingley in his columns, The Chronicle’s news article was much more nuanced and complete.
The weekly noted that In per pupil spending, Queensbury ranks as one of the lowest in the region and in the state, while ranking in the top 74 for academic test results in the state, [Superintendent Douglas] Huntley said. There’s “tremendous efficiency” in having all their buildings on one campus.”
It’s a key fact that I’ve also discussed here in this blog. And although I’ve mentioned it to them repeatedly, I’ve never seen this fact acknowledged, let alone addressed, by the corporate daily. Is it because it undermines their editorial line? I guess you can get away with that when you have a Pulitizer Prize.
The paper has disproportionately targeted the Queensbury school district for alleged extravagant spending. This is inexplicable given the below facts, although it’s worth noting that the paper’s managing editor lives and pays taxes in Queensbury.
So I was pleased to read a good story on the district written in the independent Chronicle. Although the weekly’s editor Mark Frost is personally more vocally anti-union than Tingley in his columns, The Chronicle’s news article was much more nuanced and complete.
The weekly noted that In per pupil spending, Queensbury ranks as one of the lowest in the region and in the state, while ranking in the top 74 for academic test results in the state, [Superintendent Douglas] Huntley said. There’s “tremendous efficiency” in having all their buildings on one campus.”
It’s a key fact that I’ve also discussed here in this blog. And although I’ve mentioned it to them repeatedly, I’ve never seen this fact acknowledged, let alone addressed, by the corporate daily. Is it because it undermines their editorial line? I guess you can get away with that when you have a Pulitizer Prize.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Don't let fairness interfere with the editorial line
I love our little local daily.
Last week, The Post-Star ran an article on the seemingly outrageous demands of the South Glens Falls teachers union as presented by the administration.
It is unable to get a quote from the union rep but that didn't stop them running an editorial denouncing the teachers. I guess having a full picture of the story might not jive with the paper's longstanding anti-teachers union editorial line.
Today, the paper ran another article, this time with the teachers' side of the story. I can't link to it because, unlike the controversial original article and the denunciatory editorial, this one is not available online.
No word yet on if the paper will retract its hasty editorial.
Last week, The Post-Star ran an article on the seemingly outrageous demands of the South Glens Falls teachers union as presented by the administration.
It is unable to get a quote from the union rep but that didn't stop them running an editorial denouncing the teachers. I guess having a full picture of the story might not jive with the paper's longstanding anti-teachers union editorial line.
Today, the paper ran another article, this time with the teachers' side of the story. I can't link to it because, unlike the controversial original article and the denunciatory editorial, this one is not available online.
No word yet on if the paper will retract its hasty editorial.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Random thoughts
PRIORITIES
The American people had no problem with kidnapping random and sundry foreigners on foreign soil, guilty or not, and “renditioning” them to torturous regimes under the pretext of national security. We had no problem with funding such tortuous regimes with oodles of your tax money (but God forbid we help working Americans get health care). We had no problem with our agents doing the torturing themselves. We had no problem with the horrors revealed in Wikileaks’ Afghan and Iraq war logs (sorry I can’t link to them as Wikileaks’ site curiously appears to be down). Heck, we had little problem with the insane and counterproductive aggression against Iraq in the first place, even after the WMD fairy refused to show us where those weapons were. But we draw the line at airport pat downs and body scanners?
**
NATIONAL 'DON'T USE YOUR BRAIN' DAY
First, there was a national “Don’t Buy Gas” Day protest. Now, there’s a “Buy Nothing” Day. Do people realize how stupid and pointless these one day protests are? Do you seriously think you’re sending a warning to the consumerist economy by refusing to spend a dime on useless crap today but then going out and buying useless crap tomorrow? Is the self-indulgence of empty symbolism really that powerful? If you really want to send a message, don’t change your day. Change your dang lifestyle.
**
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ONE, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL
If teachers should be held “accountable” via their students’ test scores, shouldn’t corrections officers be similarly held “accountable” via their released prisoners’ recidivism rates?
**
THE JUDICIARY HIJACKED BY THE MOB
So Mike Huckabee is gloating that he and his fellow theocrats helped oust several Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of equal protection of the law for gay citizens. He claimed that the ruling sent a message.
It sent a message indeed: beyond a certain level, we shouldn't have elected judges.
The system here in New York is fine. Trial court judges are elected. But appellate court judges, those who set precedents, are appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature but to a limited term of office. This gives them a certain degree of accountability but shields them to a certain extent from mob fury.
The judiciary is not supposed represent the "will of the people." It's supposed to uphold constitutions, including minority rights protections, regardless of what the hysteria or scapegoat of the day happens to be.
And it sent another message about why electing judges is dangerous: it lends itself to the same corruption of outside money as the election of politicians.
**
OXYMORON OF THE DAY
New York’s governor-elect wants the judiciary to intervene in a few close election recounts to ensure that we have a “functioning Senate” in January. It’s amusing that he thinks the courts can impose this. Between being run by boobs and criminals (convicted, indicted and not-yet-indicted), NYS hasn’t had a functioning Senate in several years.
**
MONEY WELL SPENT?
The US alone has spent $56 billion on “Afghanistan reconstruction.” For reference, if the US had instead divvied up that money equally and directly given it to the people, that would have put $2000 in the hands of every single Afghan.
**
FORTUNATELY NO ONE EXPECTS COHERENCE FROM SPORTS ANNOUNCERS
Soccer commentators should be thrashed for improper use of the word 'unlucky.' Hitting a shot 15 feet over the cross bar or, worse, out for a throw in is NOT unlucky; it's incompetent. Unlucky is the FC Dallas player who scored the own goal on Sunday night.
**
RADIATING FURY
Last month, Hundreds of gallons of radioactive water from a cleanup at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory spilled from a drainage pipe into the Mohawk River in NY’s Capital District, according to an article in the Albany Times Union. A failed sump pump system caused about 630 gallons of tainted water -- containing Cesium-137, Strontium-90, uranium and plutonium -- to overflow into a culvert draining directly into the river, [the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation] reported.
The T-U described these as ‘known carcinogens.’
I can’t imagine why there’s public reticence about the expansion of nuclear power as an energy source.
The American people had no problem with kidnapping random and sundry foreigners on foreign soil, guilty or not, and “renditioning” them to torturous regimes under the pretext of national security. We had no problem with funding such tortuous regimes with oodles of your tax money (but God forbid we help working Americans get health care). We had no problem with our agents doing the torturing themselves. We had no problem with the horrors revealed in Wikileaks’ Afghan and Iraq war logs (sorry I can’t link to them as Wikileaks’ site curiously appears to be down). Heck, we had little problem with the insane and counterproductive aggression against Iraq in the first place, even after the WMD fairy refused to show us where those weapons were. But we draw the line at airport pat downs and body scanners?
**
NATIONAL 'DON'T USE YOUR BRAIN' DAY
First, there was a national “Don’t Buy Gas” Day protest. Now, there’s a “Buy Nothing” Day. Do people realize how stupid and pointless these one day protests are? Do you seriously think you’re sending a warning to the consumerist economy by refusing to spend a dime on useless crap today but then going out and buying useless crap tomorrow? Is the self-indulgence of empty symbolism really that powerful? If you really want to send a message, don’t change your day. Change your dang lifestyle.
**
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ONE, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL
If teachers should be held “accountable” via their students’ test scores, shouldn’t corrections officers be similarly held “accountable” via their released prisoners’ recidivism rates?
**
THE JUDICIARY HIJACKED BY THE MOB
So Mike Huckabee is gloating that he and his fellow theocrats helped oust several Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of equal protection of the law for gay citizens. He claimed that the ruling sent a message.
It sent a message indeed: beyond a certain level, we shouldn't have elected judges.
The system here in New York is fine. Trial court judges are elected. But appellate court judges, those who set precedents, are appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature but to a limited term of office. This gives them a certain degree of accountability but shields them to a certain extent from mob fury.
The judiciary is not supposed represent the "will of the people." It's supposed to uphold constitutions, including minority rights protections, regardless of what the hysteria or scapegoat of the day happens to be.
And it sent another message about why electing judges is dangerous: it lends itself to the same corruption of outside money as the election of politicians.
**
OXYMORON OF THE DAY
New York’s governor-elect wants the judiciary to intervene in a few close election recounts to ensure that we have a “functioning Senate” in January. It’s amusing that he thinks the courts can impose this. Between being run by boobs and criminals (convicted, indicted and not-yet-indicted), NYS hasn’t had a functioning Senate in several years.
**
MONEY WELL SPENT?
The US alone has spent $56 billion on “Afghanistan reconstruction.” For reference, if the US had instead divvied up that money equally and directly given it to the people, that would have put $2000 in the hands of every single Afghan.
**
FORTUNATELY NO ONE EXPECTS COHERENCE FROM SPORTS ANNOUNCERS
Soccer commentators should be thrashed for improper use of the word 'unlucky.' Hitting a shot 15 feet over the cross bar or, worse, out for a throw in is NOT unlucky; it's incompetent. Unlucky is the FC Dallas player who scored the own goal on Sunday night.
**
RADIATING FURY
Last month, Hundreds of gallons of radioactive water from a cleanup at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory spilled from a drainage pipe into the Mohawk River in NY’s Capital District, according to an article in the Albany Times Union. A failed sump pump system caused about 630 gallons of tainted water -- containing Cesium-137, Strontium-90, uranium and plutonium -- to overflow into a culvert draining directly into the river, [the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation] reported.
The T-U described these as ‘known carcinogens.’
I can’t imagine why there’s public reticence about the expansion of nuclear power as an energy source.
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