Monday, July 31, 2006

It's hot! Real hot! Africa hot!

It's hot!  Real hot!  Africa hot!


That's what my TI would bark at us when I was a young airman in basic training.  It was Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas in May and June of 1994.


The Texas heat and the stress of basic would make young airmen act real dumb.  The TI's knew this and would play on it.


Has the summer heat and the 2006 election stress dumbed the Republicans this year?


Browsing around Yahoo, I came across these examples of Republican meltdowns...


Sen. Conrad Burns confronted members of a Virginia firefighting team at an airport and told them they had done a "poor job" battling a southern Montana wildfire, according to a state official's report obtained Thursday.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


Gov. Mitt Romney has apologized for referring to the troubled Big Dig construction project as a "tar baby" during a fundraiser with Iowa Republicans, saying he didn't know anyone would be offended by the term some consider a racial epithet.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


Majority Leader Bill Frist hasn't been following all the Senate's rules when it comes to disclosing details about his finances.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


The state Republican Party bluntly told Rep. Katherine Harris that she couldn't win this fall's Senate election and that the party wouldn't support her campaign, a letter obtained Monday by The Associated Press shows.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


When the ruling party has problems on the domestic side of things, they turn to overseas issues...


The Bush administration may have badly miscalculated in insisting that any Mideast cease-fire be tied to long-term objectives. As the toll on Lebanese civilians has soared, even moderate Arab governments have turned into U.S. critics, and Hezbollah's support has climbed across the region.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


The remaining Axis of Evil?


North and South Korean troops along their heavily fortified border exchanged gunfire for the first time in about a year, a military official said on Tuesday, with the incident coming as ties between the two have soured.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


The U.N. Security Council passed a weakened resolution Monday giving Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Iran immediately rejected the council action, saying it would only make negotiations more difficult concerning a package of incentives offered in June for it to suspend enrichment.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


But do not worry, they still have the Iraq War...


Gunmen dressed in military fatigues burst into the offices of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and a nearby mobile phone company Monday, seizing 26 people in a daylight raid in a mostly Shiite area of the capital.


http://news.yahoo.com/...


The State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion for reconstruction projects in

Iraq used an accounting shell game to hide cost overruns and failed to tell Congress about schedule delays, The New York Times reported on Sunday.


When all else fails, turn to faith...


An official police report on Mel Gibson's arrest on drunken driving charges substantiates claims that he made anti-Semitic remarks and threatened a deputy, a law enforcement official said Monday.


http://news.yahoo.com/...

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Privatization of the Public School System

MyDD had an item on this this week called, "Social Security Privatization Fails; GOP Turns to Public Schools"

The partial privatization of Social Security pushed by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress failed miserably last year, failing to really even get off of the ground as a result of widespread public disapproval. Stymied on that front, the White House and it's GOP allies in the Congress are now turning to another government program, public schools, for another effort at partial privatization.

http://www.mydd.com/...

They tried it with social security and they are trying it with American public education!

The education gap in the U.S., like the wealth chasm, is growing ever wider, and equal educational opportunity, the perennial dream of working-class and progressive people, is being undermined by neo-conservative forces.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/...

The conservative movement, being thoroughly anti-union, has at its heart a desire to rid the United States of the two remaining unionized sectors of the national economy: Public Education (teachers unions), and Public Employees. In service of these goals, the movement has moved aggressively against both public schools and public school teachers.

Of course, the movement is also interested in converting to private profit the estimated $400+ billion annually spent on public primary and secondary education.

http://www.mediatransparency.org/...

The argument.

Our elementary and secondary educational system needs to be radically restructured. Such a reconstruction can be achieved only by privatizing a major segment of the educational system--i.e., by enabling a private, for-profit industry to develop that will provide a wide variety of learning opportunities and offer effective competition to public schools. The most feasible way to bring about such a transfer from government to private enterprise is to enact in each state a voucher system that enables parents to choose freely the schools their children attend. The voucher must be universal, available to all parents, and large enough to cover the costs of a high-quality education. No conditions should be attached to vouchers that interfere with the freedom of private enterprises to experiment, to explore, and to innovate.

This article appeared in the Washington Post on February 19, 1995. Reprinted by permission of the author and the Washington Post.

http://www.cato.org/...

The retort.

In public schools today, little is safe from commercialization and privatization. A wide variety of companies and corporations are attempting to take over virtually all of the work traditionally performed by school district employees, from teaching to providing student transportation to cooking meals to cleaning and maintaining school buildings and grounds, and more.

The attempted corporate takeover of our system of education has its roots in support services - it is in this area that private contractors have been around the longest, and that contracting out is the most widely practiced. The National Education Association is strongly opposed to privatization because of the threat that it poses to the quality of education, the accountability of public schools to the communities they serve, and to the well being of children in school.

NCLB and "Starve the Beast".

The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act is a clever long-range political ploy to discredit public education by branding good schools as "failures" and to drive American education toward vouchers, charter schools -- and even resegregation.

That's the bitter conclusion reached by the leaders of groups representing Massachusetts' school committees, teachers unions, superintendents and administrators.

"Starve the Beast" (or STB) is a conservative political strategy which uses budget deficits to force future reductions in government expenditure, especially spending on socially progressive programs. The term "beast" is used to denote government and the social programs it funds, including publicly-funded health care and education, the implication being that expenditure on such programs, or the programs themselves, is wasteful or destructive.

As usual, the cons use the religious right to undermine the American public school systems with political fights such as "school prayer" and "intelligent design".

"Intelligent Design" is essentially a marketer's strategy to distort science with a theologically influenced pseudo science, using sophistry, the ancient art of talking around something and inundating questions with high sounding but inaccurate or irrelevant information, to advance the interests of right-wing religionists.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/...

The American people fight it, locally, with the landmark case "Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District"
http://en.wikipedia.org/...

The GOP takes up that local fight.

Friday, July 21

It was reported today that the Pinellas Republican Party has committed $50,000.00 to local School Board races. The money went to Nancy Bostock, Peggy O'Shea and to one of my opponents Carl Neumann.

See article at http://www.sptimes.com/...

And editorial at http://www.sptimes.com/...

Elections for School Board members and judges are intended to be Nonpartisan. Legally all that means is that there are no separate Primary elections in which voters get to chose a Democrat and a Republican to face each other in a General election. My campaign has always been Nonpartisan and Bi-partisan, It will continue to be so. All of my actions as a School Board member will be Nonpartisan and in the best interest of first students, then parents, and lastly tax payers and no one else.

http://www.jackkillingsworth.com/...

Friends, the fight for the heart and soul of America is just as important in our local school committees and city councils as it is in Congress and Washington, DC.

There is evidence that there is an effort by this White House to undermine and do away with our current public school system. Not to reform it but to eliminate it.

As I was driving home from work today, I was listening to NPR and was taken aback by this report. Do yourself a favor and listen.

Public vs. Private School Report Spurs Controversy - http://www.npr.org/...

As usual, the Bush administration was playing politics by burying data it doesn't like.

Public schools performing favorably with private schools when students' income and socio-economic status are taken into account, according to a new report from the U.S. Education Department. The findings counter a popularly held notion, that private schools outperform public schools.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Andre Araujo For Cranston School Committee, Ward 2

Hello Everyone,

I am proud to announce that I am on the November 2006 ballot for the School Committee in Cranston, RI’s second ward!

I am asking for your vote but if you cannot vote for me, your help!

Visit my new website, http://andreforschools.com. On the site you can find out if you live in my voting ward or know someone that does, you can register to vote, you can review the issues facing the Cranston Schools, review news articles concerning the schools and even make a donation to the campaign.

This is my first political race. Like many of you, I share the passion for political change. I stay informed and I follow the issues closely. I donate money and time to candidates and causes that I feel best enable this country and the world to become a better place for all of us. I felt as though that now the time is right to enter the arena and take up the fight. I feel like I can make a difference and that I will make the difference that is badly needed.

This is the hardest part for any politician, asking for money. Everyone knows that campaigns are expensive adventures. Leaflets, palm cards, lawn signs and websites all cost money. Now, I humbly ask of you, to visit my website donation page - http://www.andreforschools.com/donate.html and if so inclined, make a small donation. I am not asking for much, a dollar or two and if you feel generous five dollars ($5 buys 1 yard sign).

I thank you all!!!

Andre Araujo

http://www.AndreForSchools.com

Andre Araujo For Cranston School Committee, Ward 2

PS - If you know someone in Cranston's Ward 2, I humbly ask if you may forward this onto them. Thank you, again!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Mayoral Debate

Get to see the candidates in action - Mayoral debate at Hope Highlands School on Hope Road. Starts at 6 pm on the Wednesday the 26th of July- be there early!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Ditherer-In-Chief

In your lifetime, has the US ever exercised less global leadership?

The Middle East is burning. Iraq is disintegrating. Afghanistan is collapsing. North Korea is escalating. Iran is cheering.

And all President Bush can do is dither. The Administration has no foreign policy.

- The Nation

Thursday, July 13, 2006

How many members?

How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to change a light bulb?

1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed,

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed,

3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb,

4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or for darkness,

5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Haliburton for the new light bulb,

6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: Lightbulb Change Accomplished,

7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark,

8. One to viciously smear #7,

9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along,

10. And finally one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Monday, July 10, 2006

Mayor Laffey's Tax Letter

Both DailyKos and RIFuture are blogging this story.

When local tax bills were mailed last week, the envelopes contained a letter from Mayor Stephen P. Laffey promoting his administration's accomplishments and encouraging residents to stay fiscally vigilant after he leaves office in December. - ProJo

"Mayor Laffey now has the FEC to worry about in addition to the many residents of Cranston he has offended with this gratuitous political mailer."

A little old but worth noting

You may not have noticed that not only did Mike Pisaturo drop out of the Mayor’s race and decide to not seek re-election to the Council, but he also resigned from the City Council, effective August 18th, due to a job opportunity. The Cranston Herald reports that the Council will name a replacement until the election in the fall.

More here

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Captain Jack is back and he owes a debt to Davy Jones, captain of the Flying Dutchman.

An amazing movie. It starts slowly but builds into a swash-buckling climax with Jack battling the sea monster, the Kraken.

A very surprising ending but alas, we must wait for the conclusion in the next installment of this high seas adventure.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Street Prophets blogs RI Senate race

Street Prophets is a spin-off of Daily Kos and it describes itself as an online forum that mobilizes progressive people of faith to name, discuss and take action on critical political and religious issues.
One of the most competitive political races this year is in Rhode Island where incumbent U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee is running in a contested Republican Primary. Whoever wins that primary will face a strong challenger from the Democratic Party. National democrats hope to pick up the seat in an effort to gain a democratic majority. Our nation would clearly benefit from a change in congressional leadership but a Chafee defeat would be a loss for the nation.


READ MORE

July 7, 2005

In total 52 people lost their lives in the London bombings, 700 people were injured.

The attacks were carried out by four suicide bombers.

The presumed ringleader, Mohammed Siddique Khan, had recently visited Pakistan and was later found to have made a video message in which he claimed British foreign policy was oppressing Muslims.

Al-Qaeda issued a videotaped statement in September claiming it was behind the London bombings.

On July 21 there were four more attempted bombings in London. None of the devices exploded.

On 22 July 2005, police shot dead a man, Jean Charles de Menezes, they mistook for one of the bombers.

Five men were later arrested and are due to face trial in September 2006.

A decision is still awaited on whether any charges will be brought over the de Menezes shooting.

We vacationed in England in July of 2005.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Collecting Signatures

Andre Araujo is collecting signatures of registered voters in Cranston's second ward.

Fifty (50) confirmed signatures are required to be submitted to the canvassing authority at Cranston's City Hall no later than 4:00 PM on July 14th in order to be placed on the November ballot.

If you are eligible to sign the petition, one is available for you at Cindy Fogarty's campaign headquarters located at 832 Park Avenue.

July 5, 1975

The Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited when the Portuguese arrived in 1456, and the islands were thus made part of the Portuguese empire. Due to its location off the coast of Western Africa, Cape Verde became an important supply station, then sugar cane plantation site, and later a major center of the slave trade and whaling industry.

Although the Cape Verdeans were treated badly by their colonial masters, they fared slightly better than Africans in other Portuguese colonies because of their lighter skin. A small minority received an education; Cape Verde was the first Portuguese colony to have a school for higher education. By the time of independence, a quarter of the population could read, compared to 5% in Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau).

In 1926, Portugal had became a right-wing fascist dictatorship which regarded the colonies an economic frontier, to be developed in the interest of Portugal and the Portuguese. Frequent famine, unemployment, poverty and the failure of the Portuguese government to address these issues caused resentment. And the Portuguese dictator Salazar wasn't about to give up his colonies as easily as the British and French had given up theirs. After World War II, Portugal was intent to hold on to its overseas territories. When most former African colonies gained independence in the 50's and 60's, the Portuguese still held on. Consequently, the people of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau fought one of the longest African liberation wars.

After the fall of the fascist regime in Portugal in 1974, widespread unrest forced the government to negotiate and in July 5, 1975, Cape Verde finally gained independence from Portugal.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

July 4, 1776

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Boss. the plane! The plane!

We went down to the the 61st US Women's Open Golf Championship in Newport today.

We saw Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie. That was cool. But what really caught my attention was an airplane towing a banner that read “NBC – Give NABET A Fair Contract

Who or what was NABET? Well, it is the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians. I googled the name and came up with this.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

The Flight of Discovery on STS-121

From the pages of Daily Kos...

Discovery's STS-121 mission will the 18th assembly flight to the International Space Station and deliver badly needed water and other supplies. It will also ferry a European astronaut who will bring the ISS crew size back up to 3 for the first time since February of 2003. The crew will also perform a spacewalk to service a malfunctioning piece of construction equipment at ISS and another to test methods of repairing the fragile orbiter heatshield.

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has bluntly stated that the program will end if another vehicle is lost. The shuttle program has been a white elephant of sorts from the day its design was finalized. Too many compromises had to be made for it to live up to its initial promise. And it wasn't as safe as many made it out to be and as 14 brave American men and women tragically proved.

The International Space Station (ISS) is another white elephant. It's in the wrong orbit and also will never live up to its hype. Studies have shown that in order for ISS to even begin to accomplish what it was meant to do would require a permanent crew of at least 7 people. To date the crews have spent the majority of their time just doing maintenance and housekeeping.

President Bush (yeah, I know) has decided that there will be no more space shuttle flights after the year 2010 and possibly sooner. This decideration was made so that NASA could focus more on his ambitious program to develop a new space flight vehicle and return astronauts to the moon, and eventually Mars. ISS still requires 16 assembly flights before it is completed and it's anybody's guess at this time whether or not they can actually be accomplished given the tight schedule. Deciding to end the program once the ISS was completed would have made too much sense I guess, but hey, what do you expect from someone whose age is about to match his IQ?

Others might speculate that his real motive is to militarize space. We must work to make sure that never happens. I take it as a bad sign that the rocket that will take astronauts into space starting in 2014 is named after the god of war. Maybe it's just me.

It's all but certain that once Bush is out of office his grand vision for space exploration will be scrapped no matter which party is in control of the White House and Congress. What emerges in its place is bound to be far less exciting. And for that I am sad. But as Discovery lifts off tomorrow I would ask everyone here, Democrats, Liberals and Progressives to think about what direction the country's space program should go in. Just start to think about it, and please try to remember that its value as an inspiration to young people all over the country from every conceivable background and culture is incalculable. Achievments in space are something the world, even the Arab world, respects and have been a justifiable source of global goodwill for decades. For what it costs to fight the war in Iraq for a week we could have something to be very, very proud of. How long has it been since this nation accomplished something all Americans could proudly point to and say, "We did that!"? Hint: the War on Terror and the War on the Constitution aren't getting it done for me.

I know many Democrats over the years have harshly criticized NASA programs. Walter Mondale almost single-handedly got the space shuttle program shut down before it ever started. The biggest criticism has always been that these programs are a waste of money and resources that could be better spent on earth where we have plenty of problems that need fixing. Mondale called it "an enormous federal boondoggle", and called Nixon's decision to build it an "example of perverse priorities and colossal waste in government spending". I wonder what he would say today about the war in Iraq and the Department of Homeland Security?

England versus Portugal

The FIFA World Cup is well underway with only six teams left as of Saturday morning.

My wife is from England and my parents are from the Cape Verde Islands (Portuguese speaking). Who do I support?


*** UPDATE ***
Portugal beats England and France beats Brazil