9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi

Pigmy Island South Carolina

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Etv South Carolina

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Hiking South Carolina

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South Carolina Prison Escape

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Garnett South Carolina

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8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar

Nick Hanauer on Job Creators

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Update: Here's the video of the speech:

Nick Hanauer, a Seattle businessman we've referred to earlier, gave the speech, transcribed below, to a TED University audience on March 1 of this year. TED chose not to post the video of the speech, for reasons that I find less than satisfactory. You can read more about the issue on the National Journal website and Chris Anderson's Posterous page.

It is astounding how significantly one idea can shape a society and its policies. Consider this one:

If taxes on the rich go up, job creation will go down.

This idea is an article of faith for Republicans and seldom challenged by Democrats and has shaped much of today's economic landscape.

But sometimes the ideas that we know to be true are dead wrong. For thousands of years people were sure that earth was at the center of the universe. It's not, and an astronomer who still believed that it was, would do some lousy astronomy.

In the same way, a policy maker who believed that the rich and businesses are "job creators" and therefore should not be taxed, would make equally bad policy.

I have started or helped start, dozens of businesses and initially hired lots of people. But if no one could have afforded to buy what we had to sell, my businesses would all have failed and all those jobs would have evaporated.

That's why I can say with confidence that rich people don't create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a "circle of life" like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring. In this sense, an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist like me.

So when businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it's a little like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it's the other way around.

Anyone who's ever run a business knows that hiring more people is a capitalists course of last resort, something we do only when increasing customer demand requires it. In this sense, calling ourselves job creators isn't just inaccurate, it's disingenuous.

That's why our current policies are so upside down. When you have a tax system in which most of the exemptions and the lowest rates benefit the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer.

Since 1980 the share of income for the richest Americans has more than tripled while effective tax rates have declined by close to 50%.

If it were true that lower tax rates and more wealth for the wealthy would lead to more job creation, then today we would be drowning in jobs. And yet unemployment and under-employment is at record highs.

Another reason this idea is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough super-rich Americans to power a great economy. The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the median American, but we don't buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, we go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally.

I can't buy enough of anything to make up for the fact that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans can't buy any new clothes or cars or enjoy any meals out. Or to make up for the decreasing consumption of the vast majority of American families that are barely squeaking by, buried by spiraling costs and trapped by stagnant or declining wages.

Here's an incredible fact. If the typical American family still got today the same share of income they earned in 1980, they would earn about 25% more and have an astounding $13,000 more a year. Where would the economy be if that were the case?

Significant privileges have come to capitalists like me for being perceived as "job creators" at the center of the economic universe, and the language and metaphors we use to defend the fairness of the current social and economic arrangements is telling. For instance, it is a small step from "job creator" to "The Creator". We did not accidentally choose this language. It is only honest to admit that calling oneself a "job creator" is both an assertion about how economics works and the a claim on status and privileges.

The extraordinary differential between a 15% tax rate on capital gains, dividends, and carried interest for capitalists, and the 35% top marginal rate on work for ordinary Americans is a privilege that is hard to justify without just a touch of deification.

We've had it backward for the last 30 years. Rich businesspeople like me don't create jobs. Rather they are a consequence of an eco-systemic feedback loop animated by middle-class consumers, and when they thrive, businesses grow and hire, and owners profit. That's why taxing the rich to pay for investments that benefit all is a great deal for both the middle class and the rich.

So here's an idea worth spreading.

In a capitalist economy, the true job creators are consumers, the middle class. And taxing the rich to make investments that grow the middle class, is the single smartest thing we can do for the middle class, the poor and the rich.

Thank You

From the "I Wish I Said It..." Department

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From The Washington Monthly's Political Animal blog, the discussion about Paul Ryan's plan to use a filibuster-proof procedural tactic, reconciliation, to pass his budget, led to this comment:

Peter C on May 23, 2012 11:27 AM:

It wasn't just 1981. The Republicans passed both of the Bush tax cuts using reconciliation; that's why they had to automatically expire. They used their razor-thin (1-vote) margin of victory in the presidential race of 2000 to declare a 'mandate' at that time too and governed from the hard right edge with no concessions to any moderate or consensus opinions.

They don't play fair. They don't want to cooperate. They don't even want to govern. THEY WANT TO RULE. If they get a chance, they will empty the cash register (again) and feel like they've earned it. You remember Cheney telling Paul O'Neil, "You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due."? This is how they think; it's who they ARE.

Read Jon Chait on Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney's long game - this is what we're up against, and this is why we have to win the next elections on every level possible: Federal, state and local. If Romney and Ryan have their way, the disparities in the chart below will only accelerate.

 

Source: Congressional Budget Office

Why Scott Walker Must Be Recalled

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Reason One: Dropping the Bomb - from Politifact Wisconsin:

Walker contends he clearly "campaigned on" his union bargaining plan.

But Walker, who offered many specific proposals during the campaign, did not go public with even the bare-bones of his multi-faceted plans to sharply curb collective bargaining rights. He could not point to any statements where he did. We could find none either.

While Walker often talked about employees paying more for pensions and health care, in his budget-repair bill he connected it to collective bargaining changes that were far different from his campaign rhetoric in terms of how far his plan goes and the way it would be accomplished.

We rate his statement False.

(Editor’s note: After this item was posted, a conversation surfaced between Walker and a person impersonating Walker campaign contributor and industrialist David Koch. In an audiotape released Feb. 23, 2011, Walker compares his union plan to a history-making act and portrayed his union plan as a "bomb."

Walker aides acknowledge the tape is real, but say Walker simply was saying privately what he has said publicly about his budget-repair bill.

Of a meeting with his cabinet, Walker in the tape says: We talked about what we were going to do, how we were going to do it. We had already built plans up. This was kind of the last hurrah before we dropped the bomb.")

Reason Two: Divide and Conquer

Reason Three: Right to Work - from Talking Points Memo:

During the Wisconsin recall debate, moderator Mike Gousha asked Republican Gov. Scott Walker whether he would veto a right-to-work bill — restricting private-sector unions — if it reached his desk from the legislature.

"I've said it's not gonna get there," Walker said. Gousha asked again, would he veto it?

"I've said it's not gonna get there, you're asking a hypothetical. And the reason I say that is I saw what happened over the last year and half. And I don't want to repeat that discussion. I think most people in the state, Democrat and Republican alike, want to move forward."

Walker never said no. Why? Because he sides with the Koch brothers, multimillion-dollar donors to his campaign. He sides with Diane Hendricks, who donated $500,000 to his campaign. He sides with money. Not Wisconsin.

A blip on the radar

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May 22, 2012:

On Tuesday, (Sen.) Corker called the trading loss a "blip on the radar" of J.P. Morgan's financial statements and warned against new rules that could end up "making these highly complex organizations even more risky than they already are." (source: The Wall Street Journal)

June 12, 2012:

Over the past two weeks, the cost of providing that protection has jumped by about $1 billion for every $100 billion of protection, which could put JPMorgan's losses as high as $8 billion. Just a few weeks ago, sources were telling CNNMoney that the losses could be in the $6 billion to $7 billion range. (source: CNN Money)

June 13, 2012:

"It's not about Congress worried about whether JPMorgan is going to make it or not — I mean, this is a blip on the radar screen," (Sen. Corker) said on CNN’s "Starting Point."

"This is not about the bank being in trouble. I mean, $2 billion is less than two months' worth of earnings at JPMorgan. It's a well-capitalized institution," Corker said. (source: The Hill)

Senator Corker, the next time the GOP attempts to defund public media like NPR and PBS, I'd like to hear you oppose the attempt. After all, if $8 billion is a blip on the radar screen, what's $451 million? A sixteenth of a blip?

H. R. 589 would have cost about $16 billion - or, using Senator Corker's math, two blips.

PPI Policy Brief: How to Boost the Economy by Helping Homeowners

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With 33 percent of homeowners still underwater (meaning they owe more than their house is worth), a massive wave of refinancing would allow borrowers who are current on their mortgages to lower their mortgage rate. Cutting their payments by thousands of dollars a year would help them pay down debt and put money back into the economy. The good news is that the benefits far outweigh any small costs the programs would incur. A bill that would allow 12 million borrowers with GSE loans to refinance would provide $2,600 in annual savings to these households. Approximately $1.83 trillion in refinanced mortgages would lower American mortgage payments by $31 billion a year. The GSEs would even see between $11 to $18 billion in new revenues from upfront costs.

Read the full brief

7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi

Save America

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Election season is here, and the signs are springing up everywhere. One new sign proclaims: Save America, Vote Republican. I’ve reflected on those signs on a number of occasions during the last two weeks.
After the Supreme Court’s decision that the ACA is Constitutional, Merrimack, NH Tea Party founder Mike Malzone told the Merrimack Patch that he hoped the majority justices all got colon cancer. He posted a lot of ugly and obscene commentary on his Facebook page. The next day he stood by his remarks. A few days later, however, after the story went national, Malzone issued a retraction, saying he’s not a hateful person. Boy – he sure fooled me!

Undoubtedly, the makers of the signs were thinking about Republicans like Mike Malzone when they urge us to Save America and vote GOP.

I reflected upon those signs again, when I read about a study done by State Rep. Robert Kingsbury of Laconia. It seems that Rep. Kingsbury has been gathering data since 1996 that shows a link between kindergarten and an increase in crime in Belknap County. Laconia has a lot more crime than other area towns that don’t have kindergarten, according to Rep. Kingsbury. One wonders if perhaps population density was a consideration during the course of this study, but then one decides that examining the methodology too closely could be damaging to one’s mental health. Representative Kingsbury states that other causes for the increase in crime include declining gun ownership and the fact that boxing is no longer taught in schools.

Sadly for us all, that wasn’t the end of it. Rep. Kingsbury felt compelled to elaborate on his statements. He believes that children are taken away from their mothers too soon. He was quoted in the Huffington Post as saying, “Children go to kindergarten at the point of a gun, children go to day care and it's not the same; there is no point of a gun.” Given that he seems to like guns, this is a little confusing. What if we assigned the kindergartners firearms and boxing gloves?

Kingsbury blames the fact that teachers can’t discipline the way they used to because of pesky lawyers. This all translates as: women should be home with the kids, and teachers should be able to smack the little brats around. You may recall Rep. Kingsbury was one of the sponsors of the 2012 bill that called for the insertion of a relevant quote from the Magna Carta in each new piece of NH legislation. At age 85, Kingsbury has just finished his freshman term in the NH House and is running for reelection. Save America, folks. Vote Republican.

Speaker of the NH House, William O’Brien is also running for reelection. To give credit where it is due, he certainly has done his best to turn NH into a running joke for late night TV comedians. The man who has bullied, browbeaten, and punished members of his own party thinks he deserves to be reelected to the House, and reelected speaker. O’Brien spends a lot of time cozying up to special interests in DC (where do you think that terrific cigarette tax gambit came from?) and on a recent junket to the place he clearly intends to go next, he did an interview with right wing blog Politico. In this astounding interview, O’Brien claims that Governor Lynch isn’t running for reelection because he’s too intimidated by the Freebaglican majority.

Governor Lynch is finishing his fourth term, and has chosen not to run for reelection. He’s the longest serving governor in the state for about 200 years. The last was John Taylor Gilman, who served 14 one-year terms from 1794 – 1816. Lynch has served longer than even the sainted Mel Thomson, for crying out loud. Is O’Brien ignorant or arrogant? You decide. And remember, voting for this ethically challenged, ill-tempered braggart is not just a vote to ensure your property taxes will continue to rise; it’s a vote to save America!

Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh recently disparaged his opponent in the upcoming election. He told voters that Tammy Duckworth is not a “true hero”, and talks about her military service too much. Duckworth, a helicopter pilot, lost both legs in Iraq when an RPG hit her helicopter. Walsh, on the other hand, has been sued by his ex for being a deadbeat dad, to the tune of over $100,000, and never served in the military. A vote for him will surely Save America.


The Supreme Court’s health care ruling brought all manner of unpleasant commentary forth. Matthew Davis, a former GOP spokesman in Michigan sent out an email after the announcement with the heading, “Is Armed Rebellion Now Justified?” On the Conway Daily Sun’s Facebook page teletalk question about the health care ruling, Josh Keys wrote: “Liberals are Mentally Ill, My question is when men like me do not comply with mandates and refuse to allow themselves to be arrested for it. What actions will other Patriots take in response? It is a thin line you Progressive Commie loving Liberals are walking right now, I recommend you brace yourselves.” That’s a direct quote, with faithful recording of the author’s spelling and punctuation.
It’s almost amusing to think that these guys weren’t threatening armed rebellion when shrink-wrapped pallets of cash were being sent to Iraq by the Bush administration. They weren’t and still aren’t upset about warrantless wiretapping, secret prisons, or rendition. None of that stuff is worth a moment of concern. Spending trillions on the invasion of a country that wasn’t a threat to us? So what. Health care for everyone? Now, them’s fightin’ words.

The United States is often called a Christian Nation. The day of the Supreme Court decision I received emails from groups like the Family Research Council, bemoaning this decision. These doughty Christians want to force women to serve as involuntary incubators, but don’t care if they have access to health care. They don’t care if women die in the process. They weren’t the only ones. Convicted terrorist Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue sent out a similar missive. Apparently nothing says “I’m a follower of Jesus Christ,” like denying insurance coverage to babies born with pre-existing conditions. But hey, these are the folks who intend to save America.


“Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.” Harry S. Truman


© sbruce 2012


This was published as an op-ed in the July 6, 2012 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

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A look back: "Sliding Into The Great Depression"

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Professor Brad DeLong wrote the following in 1997. I'm quoting from his work liberally, because it echoes so strongly today:

At its nadir, the Depression was collective insanity. Workers were idle because firms would not hire them to work their machines; firms would not hire workers to work machines because they saw no market for goods; and there was no market for goods because workers had no incomes to spend.

Long-term unemployment means that the burden of economic dislocation is unequally borne. Since the prices workers must pay often fall faster than wages, the welfare of those who remain employed frequently rises in a depression. Those who become and stay unemployed bear far more than their share of the burden of a depression. Moreover the reintegration of the unemployed into even a smoothly-functioning market economy may prove difficult, for what employer would not prefer a fresh entrant into the labor force to someone out of work for years? The simple fact that an economy has recently undergone a period of mass unemployment may make it difficult to attain levels of employment and boom that a luckier economy attains as a matter of course.Once an economy had fallen deeply into the Great Depression, devalued exchange rates, prudent and moderate government budget deficits (as opposed to the deficits involved in fighting major wars), and the passage of time all appeared equally ineffective ways of dealing with long-term unemployment. Highly centralized and unionized labor markets like Australia's and decentralized and laissez-faire labor markets like that of the United States did equally poorly in dealing with long-term unemployment. Fascist "solutions" were equally unsuccessful, as the case of Italy shows, unless accompanied by rapid rearmament as in Germany.

Even today (Feb. 1997), economists have no clean answers to the question of why the private sector could not find ways to employ its long-term unemployed. The very extent of persistent unemployment in spite of different labor market structures and national institutions suggests that theories that find one key failure responsible should be taken with a grain of salt.

But should we be surprised that the long-term unemployed do not register their labor supply proportionately strongly? They might accurately suspect that they will be at the end of every selection queue. In the end it was the coming of World War II and its associated demand for military goods that made private sector employers wish to hire the long-term unemployed at wages they would accept.

At first the unemployed searched eagerly and diligently for alternative sources of work. But if four months or so passed without successful reemployment, the unemployed tended to become discouraged and distraught. After eight months of continuous unemployment, the typical unemployed worker still searches for a job, but in a desultory fashion and without much hope. And within a year of becoming unemployed the worker is out of the labor market for all practical purposes: a job must arrive at his or her door, grab him or her by the scruff of the neck, and through him or her back into the nine-to-five routine if he or she is to be employed again.

This is the pattern of the long-term unemployed in the Great Depression; this is the pattern of the long-term unemployed in Western Europe in the 1990s. It appears to take an extraordinarily high-pressure labor market, like that of World War II, to successfully reemploy the long-term unemployed.

Nonfarm Payroll Employment - Monthly Averages

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In advance of Friday's jobs report (and our updated Stat Pack), the following chart looks at the average number of jobs added (or lost) per month. The left side of the chart shows the average monthly figure since 1979, and the right side looks at more recent years: from 2001 to the present.

It's important to see how the recent numbers have moved, in order to put Friday's report in context.

 

source: Bureau of Labor Statistics - Current Employment Statistics

Lt. Dean Hallmark -- Member of Doolittle's Raiders

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Meder Crew No. 6 (Plane #40-2298, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, Lt. Dean E. Hallmark, pilot; Lt. Robert J., copilot; Lt. Chase J. Nielsen, navigator; Sgt. William J. Dieter, bombardier; Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)




by Tech. Sgt. Mike Hammond 
Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs 

4/18/2007 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AETCNS) --  "I don't need a light to tell me what I already know!" said 1st Lt. Dean Edward Hallmark, ripping the flashing red light bulbs from the display in the cockpit of his B-25. It was April 18, 1942, and Lieutenant Hallmark and his crew were running out of gas over the coast of China following the famous Doolittle Raid. When the fuel lights illuminated, it wasn't news to the pilot or his crew. 

About 63 years later, while watching the film, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," a different kind of light came on for a relative of Lieutenant Hallmark... a cousin he never knew, but who unknowingly followed in his footsteps in serving the country. "All of a sudden, someone said 'There goes Hallmark!' And I began to wonder if he could have been related to me," said Army Capt. Adam Hallmark, a squadron signal officer based at Fort Hood, Texas. "I'm sort of into genealogy, so I started doing some research. I eventually found out we were distant cousins -- which turned out to be a complete surprise for everyone in my family!" 

Captain Hallmark said his research led him to pencil in the details of what followed his cousin's last mission. "He was captured shortly after his plane went down (April 18, 1942), and eventually taken from China to Japan for what they (enemy forces) called a 'war crimes trial,'" Capt. Hallmark said. "Then he was taken back to China, where on Oct. 15, 1942, he was executed." 

Capt. Hallmark attended last year's Doolittle Raider reunion, where he met some of the surviving crew members who knew his cousin. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Chase Nielsen, who passed away this year on March 23, was at that reunion. A fellow POW from Lt. Hallmark's plane, Colonel Nielsen told Captain Hallmark his cousin was "real cool," and a team player. "Colonel Nielsen remembered that Lieutenant Hallmark let the guys on the plane decide whether to try crash landing in China or to ditch in the ocean," Captain Hallmark said. "They elected to ditch in the ocean, and he did -- but not before ripping the 'low on fuel lights' out of the display panel and tossing them on the floor!" 

Hearing the details of his distant cousin's military service has instilled pride in Captain Hallmark. "Reading about his sacrifice has really motivated me," the captain said. "He took the job, not even knowing what it was, and he did it well. Then, after what he endured as a POW, and eventually giving his life... I'm not going to let the family down." 

Captain Hallmark said he has served a year in Iraq already and is scheduled to go back for a longer period of time in September. As this year's reunion ceremony took place in a hangar full of reporters and Airmen, many noticed the Army captain in full service dress uniform standing silently near the surviving Raiders. "I'm here to honor Lieutenant Hallmark and those who served with him," the captain explained. 

"Since no one in my family even knew about him, I've taken it upon myself to make sure we remember him. The Raiders always remembered him, and now my family will."



WAR DEPARTMENT
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES
WASHINGTON 
July 9, 1942.GENERAL DOOLITTLE's REPORT ON JAPANESE RAIDApril 18, 1942This report has been reproduced by the Intelligence Service, Army Air Forces, under the direction of the Commanding General, Army Air Forces and distributed as shown.Further dissemination in the Air Forces, except among the higher staff officers, is prohibited. Certain parts of this considered suitable for wider dissemination are being extracted at this Headquarters and will receive wide distribution shortly in the form in Intelligence Summaries. The start and finish of the raid are believed still unknown to the Japanese, and it is this information which it is desired to safeguard.
Airplane No. AC 40-2298 -- Took off at 8:40 a.m. ship time
PilotLt.Dean E. Hallmark0-421081
Co-pilotLt.Robert J. Meder0-421280
Navigator-GunnerLt.Chase J. Neilson0-419938
BombardierSgt.Wm. J. Dieter6565763
Engineer-GunnerCpl.Donald E. Fitzmaurice17360
This airplane landed in the Nangchang Area near Poyang Lake. From the best reports available (which are not to be relied upon) two crew members, presumably Sgt. Dieter and Cpl. Fitzmaurice are missing and three crew members, presumably Lts. Hallmark, Meder and Neilson were captured by the Japanese. It was reported that one of these was bayoneted resisting capture but was not killed.

Here is a website on the Poyang Lake area of China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poyang_Lake  and I’ll add a Google map that should show the map between Toyko and the landing/crash site.http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sugexp=pfwc&tok=v_fszAP-TXV67DC04EoXSw&pq=nangchang+area,+china&cp=12&gs_id=h&xhr=t&q=poyang+lake+china&rlz=1G1ACAWCENUS306&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1273&bih=601&bs=1&wrapid=tljp133426898663604&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl


5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe

Ravitch comments on ALEC's reach into education

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If you think citizens are in control of our government, think again.

Since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of many states, there has been an explosion of legislation advancing privatization of public schools and stripping teachers of job protections and collective bargaining rights. Even some Democratic governors, seeing the strong rightward drift of our politics, have jumped on the right-wing bandwagon, seeking to remove any protection for academic freedom from public school teachers.

This outburst of anti-public school, anti-teacher legislation is no accident. It is the work of a shadowy group called the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Founded in 1973, ALEC is an organization of nearly 2,000 conservative state legislators. Its hallmark is promotion of privatization and corporate interests in every sphere, not only education, but healthcare, the environment, the economy, voting laws, public safety, etc. It drafts model legislation that conservative legislators take back to their states and introduce as their own “reform” ideas. ALEC is the guiding force behind state-level efforts to privatize public education and to turn teachers into at-will employees who may be fired for any reason. The ALEC agenda is today the “reform” agenda for education.

ALEC operated largely in the dark for years, but gained notoriety because of the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. It turns out that ALEC crafted the “Stand Your Ground” legislation that empowered George Zimmerman to kill an unarmed teenager with the defense that he (the shooter) felt threatened. When the bright light of publicity was shone on ALEC, a number of corporate sponsors dropped out, including McDonald’s, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Mars, Wendy’s, Intuit, Kaplan, and PepsiCo. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said that it would not halt its current grant to ALEC, but pledged not to provide new funding. ALEC has some 300 corporate sponsors, including Walmart, the Koch Brothers, and AT&T, so there’s still quite a lot of corporate support for its free-market policies. ALEC claimed that it is the victim of a campaign of intimidation.

Groups like Common Cause and colorofchange.org have been putting ALEC’s model legislation online and printing the names of its sponsors. They have also published sharp criticism of ALEC’s ideas. This is hardly intimidation. It’s the democratic process at work. A website called alecexposed.org has published ALEC’s policy agenda. Common Cause posted the agenda for the meeting of ALEC on May 11 in Charlotte, N.C. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has dropped out of ALEC and also withdrawn from the May 11 conference, where it was originally going to be a presenter.

A recent article in the Newark Star-Ledger showed how closely New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “reform” legislation is modeled on ALEC’s work in education. Wherever you see states expanding vouchers, charters, and other forms of privatization, wherever you see states lowering standards for entry into the teaching profession, wherever you see states opening up new opportunities for profit-making entities, wherever you see the expansion of for-profit online charter schools, you are likely to find legislation that echoes the ALEC model.

ALEC has been leading the privatization movement for nearly 40 years, but the only thing new is the attention it is getting, and the fact that many of its ideas are now being enacted. Just last week, the Michigan House of Representatives expanded the number of cyber charters that may operate in the state, even though the academic results for such online schools are dismal.

Who is on the education task force of ALEC? The members of the task force as of July 2011 are here. Several members represent for-profit online companies, including the co-chair from Connections Academy; many members come from for-profit higher education corporations. There is someone from Jeb Bush’s foundation, as well as right-wing think tank people. There are charter school representatives, as well as Scantron. And the task force includes a long list of state legislators, from Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Quite a lineup. Common Cause has asked why ALEC is considered a “charity” by the Internal Revenue Service and holds tax-exempt status, when it devotes so much time to lobbying for changes in state laws. Common Cause has filed a “whistleblower” complaint with the IRS about ALEC’s status.

The campaign to privatize the schools and to dismantle the teaching profession is in full swing. Where is the leadership to oppose it?

Zais's plan to discard public schools inches ahead

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Let's see: It's a proposal that brings back segregation -- by gender, this time, but the die is cast -- and opens public school athletic programs to students who are not enrolled in those public schools.

In essence, it turns traditional public schools into a neighborhood Boys Club and Girls Club, with teachers and a cafeteria.

So we're one step closer to dismantling public education for good, which brings satisfaction to the state Superintendent of Education, Mick Zais.

The Post & Courier fills in the rest:

Palmetto State charter school supporters are celebrating the passage of a sweeping set of changes they say will benefit their public schools.

South Carolina lawmakers have adopted bill H. 3241 that proponents say would strengthen the state’s public charter schools. Some of the bill’s provisions include:

Allowing higher-education institutions to approve charter schools to open.

Permitting single-gender charter schools to exist.

Letting charter school students participate in extracurricular or athletic activities at their neighborhood school if those aren’t offered at their charter school.

“It’s going to result in students’ excelling academically and truly moving South Carolina forward,” said Mary Carmichael, executive director of the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina, which has been a driving force behind the legislation.

Charter schools are public schools, but they are not governed by county school boards. They instead have separate boards to make decisions about funding, policy and curriculum.

Yes, because local control is good only when lawmakers say it's good. When local control is bad, lawmakers disallow it.

About 18,000 students are enrolled in 47 charter schools statewide. Charleston has nine brick-and-mortar charter schools, eight of which are open only to county residents. Lowcountry students also can enroll in online charter schools.

The state passed its charter school law in 1996, and lawmakers made significant changes in 2006, such as creating an alternative authorizer, the state Public Charter School District, and allowing virtual charter schools.

The new legislation is the biggest overhaul of the state’s rules on charter schools since then, Carmichael said.

Proponents of the bill have been working for nearly three years on this with Rep. Phil Owens, R-Easley, chairman of the House Education and Public Works Committee. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

They looked at the national model for state charter school law and tried to change South Carolina’s to be higher quality. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranked the state’s law No. 25 nationally, saying it needed to be adjusted to ensure equitable funding and access to capital money and facilities.

This is tragicomic. Supporters of traditional public schools -- you know, the ones that enroll 700,000 public schoolchildren in South Carolina -- want their schools to be higher quality, too. National rankings credit us for the quality of curriculum and instruction, but they rank us pretty poorly for support of our schools. And there's a 14-year-old lawsuit called Abbeville v South Carolina that asks the courts to order equitable funding for our public schools. But none of these things seems to matter.

If only traditional public schools had an advocate like Rep. Phil Owens working on their behalf for three years, traditional public schools might find themselves the beneficiaries of increased funding and better facilities.

How do we get one of those?

The original bill included a provision that called for local funds to follow students, regardless of where they enrolled, but that was eliminated. Carmichael said that’s an issue that still needs to be addressed and will be worked on going forward.

“That’s something we know long term we need to have,” she said.

Scott Price is attorney for the South Carolina School Boards Association, which serves and represents the interest of traditional school boards that sometimes clash with charter schools.

The association had some concerns with the bill, particularly the issue of the funding following the child. Estimates showed that districts could have taken a $25 million hit were that to happen, he said.

The association also had a problem with allowing charter school students to participate in extracurricular and athletic activities elsewhere, because it could be to the detriment of other children enrolled in neighborhood schools, he said.

Sure. Jimmy, enrolled in the traditional public school, wants to participate on the football team; Jimmy's talented and qualified, and he's enrolled in the school that sponsors the team, for cryin' out loud.

But Bruiser attends the charter school across the highway, and he wants to play football at Jimmy's school because the charter school doesn't have a football team, and Bruiser wants to play for Clemson one day. Coach is feeling substantial pressure to let Bruiser on the team; Bruiser's dad's name is Deacon, and Deacon got Senator to give Coach a call. Now, Bruiser can't add, subtract or do long division, but who cares? Bruiser's big and can run. Result: Jimmy gets to play Fantasy Football on his X-Box at home, while Bruiser gets Locker Number One in the traditional public school's locker room.

If you think this won't happen, you must live outside South Carolina.

The association supported some of the bill’s provisions, such as allowing single-gender schools and ensuring an appropriate timeline for school districts to turn over state and federal funds to charter schools.

In the end, “it’s something we can work with,” he said.

State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais praised the passage of the new law and thanked lawmakers for it.

“The General Assembly has renewed its commitment to providing parents a choice in the school their children attend,” he said in a statement. “A one-size-fits-all model of education simply doesn’t work for many students. Public charter schools are laboratories of innovation where the interests of students come first.”

And South Carolina's Department of Education is now a laboratory for expensive experimentation where the interests of traditional public schools and their 700,000 enrolled schoolchildren come last.

Education deform, straight from the horse's mouth

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The fact that the Wall Street newspaper Investors Business Daily has given FreedomWorks president and CEO Matt Kibbe space in its publication to discuss education "reform" is informative.

It reflects that, from the corporate community's perspective, the privatization of public education represents a treasure trove of profits potentially reaching hundreds of billions of dollars.

Somebody, after all, has to educate the children. Without the hassle of a public school system blocking the path, the education bidness -- that's bidness, as in, contracts will be awarded to the highest bidder -- will be free to plunder.

Set aside any illusions you may have that common sense and democracy will save us from this ugly fate. We get back from Columbia what we send to Columbia, and we've sown a crop of anti-public education leadership.

So, study closely, readers: Our corporate masters are instructing us in how things will soon be.

Hush, now. The less you struggle, the easier it will go for you.

Nowhere is the Tea Party's sustained influence clearer than in efforts to promote education reform around the nation.

For the first time in the history of our country, we are seeing a broad-based educational reform effort that is not driven by the unions. Instead, parents and activists are working together on a local level, empowered by the national Tea Party movement, to apply the mechanics of the free market to struggling school systems.

While success has been widespread, efforts made in South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania provide some of the clearest examples of the Tea Party in action.

On March 28, the South Carolina House passed H. 4894, allowing tax credits and deductions for donations for privately funded scholarships. A similar bill failed in the House by just one vote in the previous session.

This time around, FreedomWorks joined local activists and Tea Party leaders in their efforts, providing the grass-roots campaign with extra air and ground support needed to pass the bill. After six months, the bill passed by 15 votes — a landslide turnaround — and is now headed for the South Carolina Senate.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal introduced the boldest education reform package ever seen in our nation's history. The legislation overhauls the system using the same model that was successful in post-Katrina New Orleans by providing low-income parents with vouchers that enable them to send their children to the school of their choice.

Jindal's plan also includes tying teacher tenure to good performance, and a system of tax credits that allows businesses to privately sponsor students' education.

On April 4, the Louisiana state Senate voted to pass the voucher expansion bill, HB 976, and the teacher tenure reform bill, HB 974, by margins of 24-15 and 23-16 respectively, sending the legislation to the governor's desk to be signed into law and marking the biggest education reform victory to date.

In Mississippi, Republicans control both state houses for the first time in 136 years. Gov. Phil Bryant, a bold executive leader like Gov. Jindal, has made charter school expansion the centerpiece of his campaign. Charter school legislation SB 2401 recently passed in the Mississippi Senate and failed by a single vote in the state House Education Committee.

But as South Carolina showed, turning a single vote into a bold majority is possible, and well within reach.

In fact, Gov. Bryant has already called for a special session of the legislature in an effort to save the bill, demonstrating a bold example to governors in other states that when education reform gets tough, the true leaders double down while the timid get going.

Heading north, we see the impact that conservative activists have on the 25-year fight for school choice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where efforts to bring student-centered reform to schools have faltered for years.

The Tea Party movement has reinvigorated the cause, working with activists and non-Tea Partyers alike to make more progress over the past two years than was made over the past two decades.

Senate Bill 1 passed the Pennsylvania Senate just before a narrow defeat in the House. This initial bicameral friction hasn't deterred local activists from fighting to free schools from the stranglehold of corrupt union leadership.

Americans are realizing that the lack of competition created by powerful teacher unions like the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association is robbing children of the education they deserve and disenfranchising good teachers. The only solution is increasing competition in the school system. Continuing to line the pockets of union bosses with more and more taxpayer money is a failed and irresponsible approach.

For the most part, conservative parents and activists have won the battles in the state capitol chambers. But we couldn't have done it without the bold commitment to leadership from governors like Bobby Jindal and Phil Bryant.

I can only hope the successes of education reform in Louisiana and Mississippi will start a national trend toward electing and supporting entrepreneurial governors who make education reform a No. 1 priority, not simply cheering from the sidelines.

The Wall Street Journal called 2011 "The Year of School Choice." FreedomWorks, Tea Party activists and our allies in state governments across the nation are not only committed to continuing this trend of success in 2012, but to making the next 100 years the Century of School Choice.

There you have it.

The leader of the corporate-funded education deform movement in America has drawn the lines himself, educators. On one side stands he and the corporate masters who write his checks.

On the other side stand organized educators, which he called out by their names -- the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.

Between the two stand educators who today work in public schools, but whose jobs may be converted tomorrow, next year, or within a decade, to corporate ownership.

Which side have you chosen?

Spartanburg doesn't want unfunded bus mandate

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Editors of the Herald-Journal last week detailed their skepticism of Governor Nikki Haley's scheme to privatize the state's school bus system, declaring that they don't want another unfunded mandate sent down from Columbia.

I doubt that Haley will suddenly reverse course upon reading the editors' commentary; after all, they endorsed Vincent Sheheen against Haley in 2010, cautioning their readers against Haley's "platitudes."

Still, the editors in this instance -- as in that instance -- make perfect sense.

If state lawmakers decide to divest themselves of the state’s school bus system, they must do so in a manner that doesn’t place an unfunded mandate on school districts.

South Carolina is unlike other states in that the state owns and operates the school bus fleet. Gov. Nikki Haley and some lawmakers have been pushing to change that. They want to create a system that allows school districts to operate the buses on their own or hire private companies to operate their buses.

The state House was too divided on the issue to pass the proposal. Instead, lawmakers voted to form a study committee to look into the issue.

There is much room for improvement here.

The General Assembly rarely approves money to buy new school buses, so the average age of a bus in the fleet is about 14 years. The state often maximizes the money it does have by buying used buses from school operations in other states.

It is likely that there are efficiencies and improvements that privatization could bring to the school transportation system. Allowing districts control over their transportation systems might also allow them to better provide for their students’ needs.

But there is danger in changing the system as well. Many school district officials are afraid of an unfunded mandate — something state government requires them to do but fails to pay for. That is a legitimate fear.

School officials know it is likely that lawmakers will turn over the bus system to them and initially turn over the money that ran that system. But will that state allotment keep up with inflation?

As the buses age and need to be replaced, where will the money come from to buy new buses? That money isn’t in the annual budget. The General Assembly makes a special appropriation every so often. Will it give up this money when the buses are no longer a state concern?

As fuel prices continue to rise, will lawmakers increase the budget given to school districts to run the bus system? Or once lawmakers have washed their hands of the bus system, will they leave school districts to solve that problem on their own?

If bus service becomes a local issue, wealthier school districts will put more money into their systems than poorer districts. How long will it be before lawmakers are denouncing disparity in district bus systems and calling again for change?

Transportation is a critical element of our education system. South Carolina’s children need safe and reliable buses to take them to school and back home. They don’t need another political football tossed between Columbia and school districts.

As the study committee examines this issue, it should focus on enabling improvements, empowering school districts and avoiding saddling districts with a new financial burden they are ill-equipped to bear.

Lt. Dean Hallmark -- Member of Doolittle's Raiders

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Meder Crew No. 6 (Plane #40-2298, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, Lt. Dean E. Hallmark, pilot; Lt. Robert J., copilot; Lt. Chase J. Nielsen, navigator; Sgt. William J. Dieter, bombardier; Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)




by Tech. Sgt. Mike Hammond 
Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs 

4/18/2007 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AETCNS) --  "I don't need a light to tell me what I already know!" said 1st Lt. Dean Edward Hallmark, ripping the flashing red light bulbs from the display in the cockpit of his B-25. It was April 18, 1942, and Lieutenant Hallmark and his crew were running out of gas over the coast of China following the famous Doolittle Raid. When the fuel lights illuminated, it wasn't news to the pilot or his crew. 

About 63 years later, while watching the film, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," a different kind of light came on for a relative of Lieutenant Hallmark... a cousin he never knew, but who unknowingly followed in his footsteps in serving the country. "All of a sudden, someone said 'There goes Hallmark!' And I began to wonder if he could have been related to me," said Army Capt. Adam Hallmark, a squadron signal officer based at Fort Hood, Texas. "I'm sort of into genealogy, so I started doing some research. I eventually found out we were distant cousins -- which turned out to be a complete surprise for everyone in my family!" 

Captain Hallmark said his research led him to pencil in the details of what followed his cousin's last mission. "He was captured shortly after his plane went down (April 18, 1942), and eventually taken from China to Japan for what they (enemy forces) called a 'war crimes trial,'" Capt. Hallmark said. "Then he was taken back to China, where on Oct. 15, 1942, he was executed." 

Capt. Hallmark attended last year's Doolittle Raider reunion, where he met some of the surviving crew members who knew his cousin. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Chase Nielsen, who passed away this year on March 23, was at that reunion. A fellow POW from Lt. Hallmark's plane, Colonel Nielsen told Captain Hallmark his cousin was "real cool," and a team player. "Colonel Nielsen remembered that Lieutenant Hallmark let the guys on the plane decide whether to try crash landing in China or to ditch in the ocean," Captain Hallmark said. "They elected to ditch in the ocean, and he did -- but not before ripping the 'low on fuel lights' out of the display panel and tossing them on the floor!" 

Hearing the details of his distant cousin's military service has instilled pride in Captain Hallmark. "Reading about his sacrifice has really motivated me," the captain said. "He took the job, not even knowing what it was, and he did it well. Then, after what he endured as a POW, and eventually giving his life... I'm not going to let the family down." 

Captain Hallmark said he has served a year in Iraq already and is scheduled to go back for a longer period of time in September. As this year's reunion ceremony took place in a hangar full of reporters and Airmen, many noticed the Army captain in full service dress uniform standing silently near the surviving Raiders. "I'm here to honor Lieutenant Hallmark and those who served with him," the captain explained. 

"Since no one in my family even knew about him, I've taken it upon myself to make sure we remember him. The Raiders always remembered him, and now my family will."



WAR DEPARTMENT
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES
WASHINGTON 
July 9, 1942.GENERAL DOOLITTLE's REPORT ON JAPANESE RAIDApril 18, 1942This report has been reproduced by the Intelligence Service, Army Air Forces, under the direction of the Commanding General, Army Air Forces and distributed as shown.Further dissemination in the Air Forces, except among the higher staff officers, is prohibited. Certain parts of this considered suitable for wider dissemination are being extracted at this Headquarters and will receive wide distribution shortly in the form in Intelligence Summaries. The start and finish of the raid are believed still unknown to the Japanese, and it is this information which it is desired to safeguard.
Airplane No. AC 40-2298 -- Took off at 8:40 a.m. ship time
PilotLt.Dean E. Hallmark0-421081
Co-pilotLt.Robert J. Meder0-421280
Navigator-GunnerLt.Chase J. Neilson0-419938
BombardierSgt.Wm. J. Dieter6565763
Engineer-GunnerCpl.Donald E. Fitzmaurice17360
This airplane landed in the Nangchang Area near Poyang Lake. From the best reports available (which are not to be relied upon) two crew members, presumably Sgt. Dieter and Cpl. Fitzmaurice are missing and three crew members, presumably Lts. Hallmark, Meder and Neilson were captured by the Japanese. It was reported that one of these was bayoneted resisting capture but was not killed.

Here is a website on the Poyang Lake area of China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poyang_Lake  and I’ll add a Google map that should show the map between Toyko and the landing/crash site.http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sugexp=pfwc&tok=v_fszAP-TXV67DC04EoXSw&pq=nangchang+area,+china&cp=12&gs_id=h&xhr=t&q=poyang+lake+china&rlz=1G1ACAWCENUS306&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1273&bih=601&bs=1&wrapid=tljp133426898663604&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl