We live in a world flooded with fact-free spin. Faux News started it. The astroturf Tea Party used it to rise to power. And billions of dollars from the Kochtopus are being spent to perfect it, with the goal of solidifying corporate control over our government. Don’t be depressed. Come hear Andrea “Connect the Dots Lady” … Read more
April3 Update: New events have been added for April 6 and 9.
It’s only April 1, but already there is an impressive line-up of progressive events taking shape this month. In addition to these educational events, there are multiple fund-raisers for candidates, parties, and causes in April. The list below is not meant to be all-inclusive. (Check out Facebook and the Pima County Democratic Party calendar or the calendar on Blog for Arizona for other events– including multiple opportunities to donate.) The Tucson events included here are all free and are related to one or more Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) core policy issues: economic and social justice, universal healthcare, clean elections, ending corporate personhood, clean environment, or ending the wars.
April 2: Community Vision for the Ronstadt Bus Center
The Tucson Bus Riders Union and the Primavera Foundation are sponsoring a community forum to gather Tucsonans’ ideas on what should be done with the Ronstadt Transit Center on Congress Street. For several years, developers have been eyeing the Ronstadt Center for demolition and relocation out of downtown. If you believe that it is important for a sustainable city to have a bus terminal downtown—near restaurants, retail shops, major employers, and the new street car line—come to this meeting at the Rialto Theater, beginning at 5:30. For more information, call 624-0312 or email busriders@tucsonbusridersunion.com or go to the event’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/events/496939023698809/.
April 3: Solar Energy Efficiency vs the Status Quo
The Tucson Chapter of Drinking Liberally is sponsoring a joint presentation by Bruce Plenk, City of Tucson Solar Energy Coordinator, and Russell Lowes, Sierra Club Rincon Group Energy Chair and Research Director forwww.SafeEnergyAnalyst.org. The DL social hour begins at 6 p.m., with the speakers beginning around 7 p.m. on the patio of The Shanty. For more information, check out DL’s Facebook event http://www.facebook.com/events/104680899727634/.
More events after the jump.
Are you one of those Democrats who grumbles about the
Arizona Democratic Party’s (ADP) slide into Republican-lite territory?
Are you tired of Blue Dog Democratic candidates?
Are you tired of the party’s weak stances on hot-button
issues?
Did you ever wonder why the ADP’s Progressive Caucus has so
little power—despite being the state party’s largest caucus? (Maybe you didn’t
even know that the ADP had a progressive caucus?)
Are you ready for change?
If you said, “Hell, yeah!” to any of the above questions, then
it’s time to stop muttering and start acting. On Wednesday, Nov. 14, the Tucson
Chapters of Drinking Liberally/Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) are
holding a special meeting at The Shanty—beginning
at 6 p.m. with FREE pizza. The focus of the meeting will be on envisioning and
brainstorming a more progressive Democratic Party in Arizona. Former Arizona Legislator and PDA
Tucson coordinator Phil Lopes will lead the discussion.
Why should you attend? Read the details after the jump.
by Pamela Powers Hannley
In this 7th video from the Drinking Liberally Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) candidate forum, candidates discuss how they would improve the district, including how they would increase graduation rates.
Watch this new video after the jump. To view all of the videos in this series, go to my YouTube channel or go here for all of my BfAZ stories.
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Standardized testing to evaluate students, teachers, and schools is a nationwide hot button issue. Educator and author Diane Ravitch— once a supporter of No Child Left Behind, testing, and charter schools– now tours the country speaking out against high-stakes testing (like the AIMS test). From her Wikipedia page…
High-stakes testing, "utopian" goals, "draconian" penalties, school closings, privatization, and charter schools didn't work, she concluded. "The best predictor of low academic performance is poverty—not bad teachers."[7]
Ravitch said that the charter school and testing reform movement was started by "right wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation," for the purpose of destroying public education and teachers' unions.[8] … Of Education Secretary Arne Duncan's Race to the Top program, Ravitch said in a 2011 interview it "is an extension of No Child Left Behind …[,] all bad ideas." She concluded "We are destroying our education system, blowing it up by these stupid policies. And handing the schools in low-income neighborhoods over to private entrepreneurs does not, in itself, improve them. There's plenty of evidence by now that the kids in those schools do no better, and it's simply a way of avoiding their – the public responsibility to provide good education." [Emphasis added.]
How much testing is enough? How much is too much? Here the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) board candidates' opinions on standardized testing in the video after the jump. This is the sixth video from the Drinking Liberally
TUSD candidate forum on September 26. To view all of the videos in this series,
go to my YouTube channel.