The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right

Hundreds of students in a Colorado school district walked out of class to protest another conservative effort to rewrite history and control the information we get:
Hundreds of students walked out of classrooms around suburban Denver on Tuesday in protest over a conservative-led school board proposal to focus history education on topics that promote citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority, in a show of civil disobedience that the new standards would aim to downplay.
Got that? The conservatives in this school district want to replace an education in American History with "patriotic" indoctrination.
Whatever happened to “the left” in America?

Whatever happened to “the left” in America?

When rounding up all the suspects who killed the "American Left" (or through inaction allowed it to die) you'd have to include American Christianity. This is from a piece at TPMCafe regarding the American Catholic Church, but it is true across denominations. American Christianity simply stopped being concerned with "the little guy" and started being about myopic self-righteousness or around January 20, 1981.
In less than two years, Pope Francis has changed the face of a two-thousand-year old institution. His emphasis on humility, mercy and social justice offer a vivid contrast to a vocal minority of U.S. Christian leaders who only see dark clouds and battles to fight. Think of it as the joy of the Gospel v. culture war Christianity fight. The latter is being kicked to the curb by a pope determined to rescue the church from self-righteous ideologues, princely clerics and conservative activists who think opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion are the only real litmus tests of authentic Catholicism.
The US Middle Class hasn’t gotten a raise during Tom Carper’s tenure in Congress

The US Middle Class hasn’t gotten a raise during Tom Carper’s tenure in Congress

In 1988 when Tom Carper was cruising to an easy victory over James P. Krapf he had already gotten a few pay bumps on his way to being a multimillionaire with a lifetime sinecure in the US Senate. During the same period (1988 to today), the income of the median U.S. household has remained just under $52,000. "Third Way" economics have been great for Carper - but terrible for the country. Tom Carper is an abject failure when considering what he's been able to deliver to his constituents. His "centrist" economic philosophies have been an unmitigated disaster for the people who keep returning him to Washington. I can only assume that the reason he keeps winning is that he has the good fortune to pitted against Republicans in elections.
Delaware Sends Three Busloads To Climate March

Delaware Sends Three Busloads To Climate March

The First State sent three busloads of concerned citizens to the September 21 massive and largely media-ignored Climate March in New York City. Reports claimed 400,000 marchers and I believe them, given the shoulder to shoulder shuffle we joyfully experienced on Sunday at Central Park Avenue.
QOD — Should the NFL Lose Their Federal Tax Exemption?

QOD — Should the NFL Lose Their Federal Tax Exemption?

Easy question -- the NFL head office gets to operate as a non-profit (even though individual teams pay taxes), exempt from Federal taxes. There's probably not a ton of money involved in eliminating this tax subsidy, but there is no reason my a sports league (even if it is the head office only) to no have to pay taxes. It isn't as though the NFL needs any special incentives to operate or to make money. They squeeze enough of those out of the taxpayers of the cities they play in. And apparently, professional hockey and professional golf have the same deal. Seriously?

The Takeover of Wilmington Public Schools

This issue has been percolating for awhile, especially since this was announced by the Governor's office as a Major Education Initiative -- and it turns out that this isn't about education, but about moving around teachers and school leadership to continue to pretend to do something about Wilmington's failing schools. The NJ writes about this today:
The Delaware Department of Education says six low-income schools in Wilmington are failing, and the way to fix them is to make the more than 200 teachers reapply for their jobs – and to hire elite principals at each school who won't have to follow most district rules while earning annual salaries of $160,000. Mark Murphy, secretary of education, says it's necessary for teachers to reapply for their jobs to ensure that every educator in the six "priority" schools has the commitment and skill to improve student achievement, as measured by the state's standardized tests.

Zombie Economic Bullshit Can Never Die

I happen to know Dave Lawson. Nice guy. But this is just sad.
"Hi, I’m Senator Dave Lawson. "You may have heard in the news recently that Burger King merged with a Canadian company. By doing so, Burger King, incorporated in Delaware, can move its corporate address to Canada to take advantage of the lower tax rate.