100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day
March 8, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Today marks the 100th anniversary of INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. International Women's Day honors the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women's success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed. The first International Women's Day event was run
‘Farm Aid’ for Public Employee Unions in Wisconsin
March 7, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: During the 1980s this country went through a farm crisis in which thousands of family farmers lost their farms to foreclosure (including friends and neighbors of mine). The Midwest Farm Crisis of the 1980s: On March 17, 1986, protesters used tractors and other farm machinery to surround the Livingston County FmHA office
The GOP War On ‘Undesirable’ Voters
March 7, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: "King" Russell Pearce gets a lot of media attention for his anti-immigrant hate mongering. But one of his early "successes" (sic) was Prop. 200 in 2004, which required that voters be able to produce both identification and proof of citizenship prior to being allowed to vote in any election. This was a
The headline says it all
March 7, 2011
by David Safier Headline from the Salt Lake Tribune: Immigration: Utah wants world to know it’s no Arizona Utah legislators just passed a few immigration bills that allow police to use their discretion in checking people's immigration status when they make a stop. And people aren't required to carry their papers with them. And Utah
Seize the Day, or Seize the Tests (to check for cheating)?
March 7, 2011
by David Safier The charter school, Carpe Diem Collegiate High School and Middle School in Yuma, may be doing a great job seeing as how, "The school posted some of the highest gains in three grades on the AIMS test of any of the 1,337 schools analyzed by The Arizona Republic and USA Today." But
Teachers and admins cheating? What will we tell the children?
March 7, 2011
by David Safier USA Today put together a research story about teachers and administrators cheating on high stakes tests, and the results, while perfectly predictable, aren't pretty. In the six states studied, including Arizona, the researchers found whole classes and whole grades at some schools where the students made unbelievable — literally, statistically unbelievable —
G.I. sued by Glendale? G.I.’s Ladner says bye-bye
March 7, 2011
by David Safier Two unrelated items in the news about Goldwater Institute. First: I haven't followed the G.I./Glendale dustup closely, but it may be reaching a head. Basically, Glendale is trying to keep the Phoenix Coyotes. G.I. says the deal would be a government giveaway, a gift to the current owners, and it is fighting
Krugman: The Truth About Pensions
March 6, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: What Paul said. The Truth About Pensions – NYTimes.com: Dean Baker has a deeply enlightening analysis of state pension shortfalls (pdf), containing a lot of stuff I didn’t know. The basic moral is that the official story these days — of years and years of huge giveaways to unions, resulting in gigantic,
