As I(Lois Weiner) explain elsewhere, financial and political elites began this project forty years ago when they imposed school reform on Latin America, Africa, and Asia as a quid pro quo for economic aid. Though specifics of this global social engineering differ from one country to another, reforms have the same footprint: School funding is cut and school systems are broken up to promote privatization under the banner of “choice”; teachers and curriculum are controlled by tying pay to standardized test scores and eliminating tenure; standardized testing measures what is taught to most students, reducing content to basic math, reading, and writing. Teachers unions have been singled out for attack because throughout the world they are the most significant barriers to this project’s implementation.

There’s also a PDF link in this article detailing how Mayor Doomberg’s educational “reforms” are actually doing more harm than good in some cases.

Elected officials and advocates today called the closings policy a failed tactic that just moves low-performing students from one school to another instead of educating them, inflating the success of new schools. These high-needs students – self-contained special education, over-age and other historically lower-performing students – make up a smaller percentage of student populations at many of the new schools founded by the administration. After ten years of this failed policy, New York City is left with a huge college readiness gap by race, income and school, the report concludes.

My question is this, how much longer are we going to take this flat-out assault on the minds of our children? Take a look around you. THIS IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM. Do you really want the future of the world to belong to a population controlled – through not fault of their own – by the oligarchs?

It’s time for action. I hope you’ll have the courage to stand up. If you or someone you know is a high school student in NYC, or even if they’re not, please share this event with them:

Walk It Out!!! NYC Student Walk Out! February 1st!
Wednesday 2:00pm until 5:00pm

Description

We are calling for all HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS to walk out of their classes and meet us at Union Square Park-14th Street! The Mayor has failed us and we need a citywide stand to let our voices be heard. We are asking for every single student in New York City to come together and show you matter. Budget Cuts! Lack of Resources! How much more can we take? How much more can YOU take? PASS IT ON!!! INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS!

STOP SCHOOL CLOSINGS!

STOP PRIVATIZATION!

STOP CUTS TO OUR SCHOOLS!

IF YOU ARE NOT A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, STILL COME TO THE RALLY AT 3!!!

IF YOU GET OUT EARLIER THAN 2:00 P.M, COME TO THE RALLY AT 3 PM!!

WE NEED EVERYONE’S SUPPORT!

THE MAYOR WAS ELECTED. HE’S NOT KING AND HE NEEDS TO LISTEN TO US!!!

This is not an excuse to skip class! If we didn’t want to go to class, we simply wouldn’t. A walkout was chosen for many reasons. We had envisioned all of us walking out in unity and rallying in unity. We are defying the DOE and symbolically defying the mayor who has created his legacy based on education. A legacy created on millions of taxpayer’s money that has created conditions where only 13% of Latino and African-American students are college-ready. We don’t expect Bloomberg [Mayor 13%] to reform education after the rally but it could spark other events and it will create solidarity between us! Maybe event push other students who want to stand up but need an extra push!

There is a lot more info if you click the link. I’ve heard through the interwebs that some homies from OWS will be there. I might take Lil Blue out of school and take him to see what democracy looks like. After all, history is a current event. And it’s not like he’s actually learning history anymore…

In a primary chock full of dumb fuckery, you’re probably wondering how I could choose a dumbass at all. Well, my lovelies, there can be only one. This week’s winner is…. Rick Santorum!

Oh, where to begin? I think it’s time to go back. Way back. Back into time. Back to a time before Rick was against “Obamacare.” You know, when he was for it.

Santorum introduced the idea of a medical savings account, called Medisave, which has become part of the Gramm bill. Under it, workers would buy major medical insurance and could make tax-free contributions to a Medisave account, from which they would pay for preventive services

Wait a minute…pay into an account in order to guard against future calamities… HE MUST BE A PINKO COMMIE!! Oh wait, I forgot, IOKIYAR applies here.

Then there’s Rick’s weird obsession with denying rights to gay people.

Santorum was quoted as saying: [1] “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.” It also included additional remarks criticizing “homosexual acts”: [7] “Whether it’s polygamy, whether it’s adultery, whether it’s sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.”

That’s right! If the gays are allowed to have married gay sexy time, the WHOLE WORLD WILL END!! God totally agrees with Rick, btw. Rick just longs for the days when he could hold hands with his honey through the tunnel of love. By “hold hands” I mean have ungodly sex with, and by “tunnel of love” I mean…well you get the idea. I’m not saying that Rick’s hard drive is full of mp4s that would make 4channers blush. I’m just saying me thinks the Ricky doth protest too much.

And last, but certainly not least, there is this special piece of wtf. Rick Santorum believes women who are the victims of rape should have to keep the rapist’s baby.

SANTORUM: Well, you can make the argument that if she doesn’t have this baby, if she kills her child, that that, too, could ruin her life. And this is not an easy choice. I understand that. As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn’t, it will always be her child. And she will always know that. And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I’ve always, you know, I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created —in the sense of rape —but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you. As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life. We have horrible things happen. I can’t think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.

Ummm, what? Hey Rick, in life when we receive a “broken gift” we send that shit back for an exchange or a refund. Save the receipt, mofo! If that’s the kind of “gift” your god gives, I really hope he doesn’t pick me for secret santa.

Seriously though, this kind of shit proves a complete lack of empathy. Yes, there are some women who can deal with the trauma of having and raising a child born as result of rape. But not all of them can. For some women, just the pregnancy itself is a constant reliving of the rape. For 9 months. And are Rick & the people who support him on this issue suggesting tougher punishments for rapists? Or increasing the number of police officers who are trained to protect, console and defend these women? Or increasing funding for therapy in order to get through the trauma so that these women can attempt to care for these babies they’d be forced to carry to term? Because I haven’t heard a fucking thing about that. All I hear is very thinly veiled victim blaming. “You got yourself raped, now deal with it.” It’s misogynistic, bible-thumping bullshit. I can’t believe things like this are even a fucking issue anymore.

I think Rick should come visit NYC as a social experiment. With all the marriage equality and pro-choice sentiments, do you think he’d just lose it? Go on a goat-raping-dude-boning-fetus-aborting rampage? Come on, Rick. Do it for SCIENCE!

I don’t care that he has been married 3 times. I do care that he left both his first and second wives very shortly after learning they have serious illnesses. When the going gets tough, the Newt gets gone.

I don’t care that he cheated on his wives. I do care that he was cheating on his wives while preaching the Group Of Pricks family values bullshit.

I don’t care how much money he makes. I do care that he is a classist douche and has been for a long time.

Also, R A C I S M.

The fact that this “man” is even sort of being taken seriously as a presidential candidate is the reason there is always vodka in my freezer.

Anyway, I’ve decided to make 2 resolutions this year. Anyone who knows me should be surprised by this. Generally I think resolutions are friggin’ dumb. They were probably started as a gimmick to get people to buy some weight loss bs or something. No, BCM’s cures are staying right where they are (sorry, humanity).

My resolutions are:
1 – to learn even more about our beautifully rich working-class history. I mean really learn. Find the connections between then and now, find out for myself where we went wrong as far as forming international unions, really study the links between labor, feminism and immigrant rights. I know these are old topics to some, but they are new to me. I love history and am gradually falling head-over-heels for labor history. And I’ve discovered that my favorite kind of activism is learning about our working-class past in order to inform our working-class present so we can improve our working-class future.

2 – to stop taking “mainstream” views of historical and/or political figures for granted. Anyone from Malcolm X to MLK, from Hitler to Mother Theresa, from extreme left to extreme right and anyone I can think of in between. I’d like to try to put aside what I think I know about people and find out as much truth as I can. I hate this feeling of having to choose between 2 opinions that have already been provided for me by some nameless, faceless entity.

So there they are. It’s nothing spectacular, but i’m really looking forward to this new year. I’m calling it “The Year BCM Gets Off Her Lazy Ass and Gets Her Learn On.” Catchy, ain’t it?

I’ve been asked by a lot of people what Occupy Wall St is all about. Here’s how I answer:
I think every single person that occupies and/or supports this movement has a different answer for this question. The one thing that seems to always come up, though, is that people are just literally sick and tired of the rampant corporate greed in this country. We expect some greed. But the fact that people are losing the roofs over their heads, the $ in their pockets, their loved ones due to untreated illnesses, the food out of their mouths just to pad the profit margins of a very few people in this country is sickening to so many people. Personally, I’m not anti-corporation. I just don’t think that a corporation can or should be considered a person. I don’t think that my vote should be considered any less valuable than the vote of a very wealthy person. I don’t think that a multibillionaire should pay the same (or sometimes lower) tax rate as, say, a teacher. And I don’t think a corporation has the right to basically buy our entire political system. Oligarchies are scary. yo!

Anyway, I just wanted to throw my 2 cents into the global conversation. My answer may not be original, or deep, or well-worded, or new and fresh. But it’s mine and it’s important that I say it. It’s important that we all have and use whatever voice we have, no matter how small it may seem.

Here are some sites I’ve been paying extremely close attention to today for updates on OWS
The Indypendent (S/O to Rev Manny Jalonschi who writes for them!)
OccupyWallStreet
NYC General Assembly
Democracy Now!
Alternet
and you can watch Alternet’s livestream here.

You can follow all these things on twitter. Also, I’ve moved on up to the 21st century and am now on twitter. @bluecollarmamma

Please, if you’re out there today, be safe!

I have friends(SHOCKING, I know). 2 of those friends sent me turkish coffee and an awesome bandana for mah birfday. Those friends don’t have Blue names yet, so here: Blizzle Izzle and The Blue Rev!

Anyway, this is what happens when I have too much time on my hands but don’t feel like doing dishes. Enjoy…or don’t. Whatever, i’m not your emotional coach! GOD!

I heart you! Be safe, please?

You should be reading this daily

In case you had any doubt about where I stand on the Occupy Wall St movement…

I just downloaded the WordPress app for my fucking dumbshit smart phone! We’re becoming all hi-tech an’ shit up in here!
Anyhow, this is a test post. To show my appreciation to you for putting up with this waste of your previous, valuable time (eye-roll), here is a pic of one of my kittehs: