I thought this would be an interesting take on why we are still in Iraq? (Colonization for oil?)
With Libya and Afghanistan dominating headlines these days, it's been hard to focus on Iraq. But the death of five U.S. soldiers in a rocket attack in Baghdad June 6 has galvanized our attention again.
Well over 4,400 U.S. troops have died there since President Bush launched a totally unjustified invasion and occupation over eight years ago, purely for his own political and economic gain.
Civilian casualties may be in the hundreds of thousands, and millions more have been driven from their homeland or have become internal refugees.
And with all that, as the recent deaths remind us, Iraq is far from a country at peace. Nor has the U.S. occupation brought reconstruction in the past 8 years. Unemployment reaches as high as 60 percent, over a quarter of children are chronically malnourished, and homes are deprived of electricity for most of each day, which is a far cry from the conditions Iraqis still had under Saddam. (A right wing dictator installed by the USA to counter Iran, and Saddam was originally a CIA agent?!)
Though the U.S. combat mission in Iraq "officially" ended nearly a year ago, some 46,000 U.S. troops are still there. The U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces agreement calls for their withdrawal by the end of this year.
Speculation is rampant about whether a significant number - perhaps 10,000 - might remain, if the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki "requests" them to stay, helping to train the Iraqi defense forces.
But even if all the troops go, the American presence will continue to be huge. The start of October, 2011 the State Department is set to take over, with the world's largest embassy and some 17,000 personnel at 15 sites around the country. Nearly one-third of these will be armed contractors, charged with "protecting" the U.S. installations, and we wonder why Dick Cheney wanted war in Iraq so badly. (Haliburton anyone?)
It's time and long past time to end this counterproductive occupation, which is increasingly unpopular in Iraq and here at home.
Iraq's civil society, with its active trade union movement and political parties including the Iraqi Communist Party, can then get about the business of rebuilding the country along peaceful and democratic lines.
If there is one lesson the Arab Spring should teach us, it is that ordinary people, whether in Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Libya, or Yemen, have the courage and the ability to set about building progressive and positive societies in a world at peace - if only we will let them.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Cyprus elections are in...!
In parliamentary elections May 22 in the island nation of Cyprus, the governing AKEL party - the island's Communist Party - gained seats and increased its voting percentage.
AKEL, the Progressive Party of Working People, increased its representation by one seat over the 2006 elections, for a total of 19 seats in the 56-member House of Representatives, as the body is called. Its percentage of the vote also increased to 32.67 percent.
Those elected included AKEL General Secretary Andros Kyprianou and the head of the party's International Relations Department, George Loukaides. The president of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias, elected in 2008, was previously AKEL general secretary.
AKEL's good showing can in part be attributed to the hard work of the party's rank and file who, before the election, knocked on virtually every door in Cyprus.
But credit also is due to the pro-people program that the AKEL government has implemented since 2008. One measure that stands out is the increase in the minimum wage to a level, which, dollar for dollar, is actually slightly higher then that in the U.S.
Cypriot President Christofias has said that Cyprus will never adapt anti-people policies as a response to the global capitalist economic crisis.
But despite AKEL's good results, its partner in the governing coalition, the Democratic Party or DIKO, lost 2 seats and now holds 9, giving the AKEL-DIKO coalition a total of 28 seats. And the right-wing opposition Democratic Rally party known as DISY gained 2 seats, for a total of 20 seats, one more than AKEL. In addition, the Social Democratic Party EDEK, and the European Party or EVROKO, a right-wing splinter off DISY, won 5 and 2 seats respectively.
AKEL, the Progressive Party of Working People, increased its representation by one seat over the 2006 elections, for a total of 19 seats in the 56-member House of Representatives, as the body is called. Its percentage of the vote also increased to 32.67 percent.
Those elected included AKEL General Secretary Andros Kyprianou and the head of the party's International Relations Department, George Loukaides. The president of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias, elected in 2008, was previously AKEL general secretary.
AKEL's good showing can in part be attributed to the hard work of the party's rank and file who, before the election, knocked on virtually every door in Cyprus.
But credit also is due to the pro-people program that the AKEL government has implemented since 2008. One measure that stands out is the increase in the minimum wage to a level, which, dollar for dollar, is actually slightly higher then that in the U.S.
Cypriot President Christofias has said that Cyprus will never adapt anti-people policies as a response to the global capitalist economic crisis.
But despite AKEL's good results, its partner in the governing coalition, the Democratic Party or DIKO, lost 2 seats and now holds 9, giving the AKEL-DIKO coalition a total of 28 seats. And the right-wing opposition Democratic Rally party known as DISY gained 2 seats, for a total of 20 seats, one more than AKEL. In addition, the Social Democratic Party EDEK, and the European Party or EVROKO, a right-wing splinter off DISY, won 5 and 2 seats respectively.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
It's disgusting how teachers in the USA are treated...
In many other countries around the world, ideally the teachers are looked upon as nation-builders.
On May 5, Indiana’s Republican Governor, Mitch Daniels, signed two bills into law establishing a statewide private school voucher program and expanding charter schools. The passage of these bills comes after two anti-teacher laws passed in April restricting collective bargaining rights to wages and benefits and tying evaluations and pay to student test scores. Together, these measures are a major step toward the dismantling of public education in the state.
The real irony of all the supposed "advantages" of private education are a hoax:
One of the two new bills, HEA 1003, will provide tuition vouchers, based on a sliding scale fee, for students to attend private or parochial schools of their choice. Families of four, earning up to $62,000, are eligible for some level of scholarship, making this the most expansive voucher system in the nation; 60 percent of Indiana residents will be eligible for the program.
The other bill, HEA 1002, creates a new state charter school board designed to open more charter schools, allows public schools to convert to charters under certain conditions, increases funding for virtual charter schools, and allows charter schools to move into closed public school facilities.
Indiana joins a growing number of states diverting public money from traditional public education to subsidize private schools. Many of these institutions have narrow admissions policies and oftentimes few to no credentials.
Indiana’s voucher program is the first in the country to offer vouchers to higher-income families and to students in any public school, not just those considered failing. The only restriction is that the student must have attended a public school for at least one year prior to applying for a voucher. The program is being phased in over a three-year period: 7,500 scholarships will be awarded in 2011-2012, 15,000 in 2012-2013, with the program becoming uncapped in 2013-2014. At that time, there will be no restrictions on the number of scholarships awarded, as long as families are within income guidelines.
Private schools serving grades one thru eight will receive up to $4,500 per student; those serving grades 9-12 will receive $4,964 per student. Any additional tuition charged by the school must be paid directly by the families, meaning that the best private schools can charge higher tuition in order to exclude working class children, including many minority and special-needs students. In addition, families without access to transportation will be limited to choices available only in their neighborhood, meaning that many low-income families will have few to no choices at all.
The bill also includes a tax deduction of $1,000 for each child in a private school or home school. This will lead to additional state revenue losses possibly totaling $3 million, which will presumably create further budgetary shortfalls for public education.
Indiana Democrats, meanwhile, launched a hollow protest against the Republican sponsored bills: fleeing the state for 35 days, the Democrats were able to force Republican lawmakers to agree to lower the cap on the number of students who can receive vouchers in the first and second years of the program by 25 percent. However, because the program is entirely uncapped beginning in the third year, these concessions are meaningless.
While Democrats pose as the defenders of public education, more than half of the “school choice” programs enacted over the past five years have been passed by Democratic legislatures or signed by Democratic governors. At the same time, the failure of the two major Indiana teachers unions, the IFT and ISTA, not only to stave off the voucher and school charter legislation, but also the earlier attacks on teachers’ collective bargaining rights and job security, is a clear indication of their bankruptcy.
The expansion of school vouchers is part of a long-standing attack on public education. The modern school voucher movement traces its history to the work of conservative economist Milton Friedman, who advocated a free market approach to education for nearly six decades. He is perhaps most notorious for providing the free-market blueprints adopted by Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s, which led to widespread privatization of public education, the segregation of poor students in low-performing schools and the driving down of teachers’ wages.
I guess we value the right to everyone to have an equal education?
On May 5, Indiana’s Republican Governor, Mitch Daniels, signed two bills into law establishing a statewide private school voucher program and expanding charter schools. The passage of these bills comes after two anti-teacher laws passed in April restricting collective bargaining rights to wages and benefits and tying evaluations and pay to student test scores. Together, these measures are a major step toward the dismantling of public education in the state.
The real irony of all the supposed "advantages" of private education are a hoax:
One of the two new bills, HEA 1003, will provide tuition vouchers, based on a sliding scale fee, for students to attend private or parochial schools of their choice. Families of four, earning up to $62,000, are eligible for some level of scholarship, making this the most expansive voucher system in the nation; 60 percent of Indiana residents will be eligible for the program.
The other bill, HEA 1002, creates a new state charter school board designed to open more charter schools, allows public schools to convert to charters under certain conditions, increases funding for virtual charter schools, and allows charter schools to move into closed public school facilities.
Indiana joins a growing number of states diverting public money from traditional public education to subsidize private schools. Many of these institutions have narrow admissions policies and oftentimes few to no credentials.
Indiana’s voucher program is the first in the country to offer vouchers to higher-income families and to students in any public school, not just those considered failing. The only restriction is that the student must have attended a public school for at least one year prior to applying for a voucher. The program is being phased in over a three-year period: 7,500 scholarships will be awarded in 2011-2012, 15,000 in 2012-2013, with the program becoming uncapped in 2013-2014. At that time, there will be no restrictions on the number of scholarships awarded, as long as families are within income guidelines.
Private schools serving grades one thru eight will receive up to $4,500 per student; those serving grades 9-12 will receive $4,964 per student. Any additional tuition charged by the school must be paid directly by the families, meaning that the best private schools can charge higher tuition in order to exclude working class children, including many minority and special-needs students. In addition, families without access to transportation will be limited to choices available only in their neighborhood, meaning that many low-income families will have few to no choices at all.
The bill also includes a tax deduction of $1,000 for each child in a private school or home school. This will lead to additional state revenue losses possibly totaling $3 million, which will presumably create further budgetary shortfalls for public education.
Indiana Democrats, meanwhile, launched a hollow protest against the Republican sponsored bills: fleeing the state for 35 days, the Democrats were able to force Republican lawmakers to agree to lower the cap on the number of students who can receive vouchers in the first and second years of the program by 25 percent. However, because the program is entirely uncapped beginning in the third year, these concessions are meaningless.
While Democrats pose as the defenders of public education, more than half of the “school choice” programs enacted over the past five years have been passed by Democratic legislatures or signed by Democratic governors. At the same time, the failure of the two major Indiana teachers unions, the IFT and ISTA, not only to stave off the voucher and school charter legislation, but also the earlier attacks on teachers’ collective bargaining rights and job security, is a clear indication of their bankruptcy.
The expansion of school vouchers is part of a long-standing attack on public education. The modern school voucher movement traces its history to the work of conservative economist Milton Friedman, who advocated a free market approach to education for nearly six decades. He is perhaps most notorious for providing the free-market blueprints adopted by Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s, which led to widespread privatization of public education, the segregation of poor students in low-performing schools and the driving down of teachers’ wages.
I guess we value the right to everyone to have an equal education?
What's going on in the world these days?????
I put together a couple blips of what is currently going on in our world from a labor standpoint today: (LABOR ALWAYS NEEDS TO BE STRONG!)
Cuba: Proposed U.S. oil sector sanctions elicit response
Oil industry officials announced plans recently to increase oil extraction from Gulf of Mexico oil fields, some in conjunction with foreign partners. In response to U. S. legislation introduced by Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the weekly Trabajadores, newspaper of the CTC labor federation, accuses Ros-Lehtinen, Chairwoman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, of "applying blackmail." Her bill, H.R. 2047, would impose new sanctions against foreign corporations investing in Cuban oil production. "We cannot allow the Castro regime to become the oil tycoons of the Caribbean," she said, according to thehill.com. As Trabajadores points out, however, "Cuba has always said that it would welcome U.S. petroleum companies interested in exploring its waters." Cuba produces 46 percent of its own hydrocarbon needs.
Egypt: Stirrings of labor independence
The Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services (CTUWS) on May 29 called upon the government to take steps to ensure trade union independence. In a statement, the CTUWS accused the state supported Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions (EFTU) of continuing repressive measures common in the Mubarak era and demanded that the official labor federation be dismantled on grounds of corruption. According to Ahram Online, the condemnation stemmed from questions as to whether 23 EFTU "top bureaucrats" attending an International Labor Organization conference in Geneva were being paid by the government or by business owners. Established in 1990 under Oxfam auspices to promote Egyptian labor independence, CTUWS had backed textile workers' strikes seen as weakening the Mubarak status quo.
Italy: Berlusconi on the way out
Second round voting in local elections held May 29-30 left Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right governing coalition in desperate shape, probably facing early national elections in 2012, Reuters reported. Left-center forces made big gains in Milan and other cities, winning by a landslide in Naples. Spokespersons for Berlusconi's coalition partner, the rightist Northern League, suggested the scandal-plagued media magnate turned politician was a liability now, despite racist pre-election rhetoric Berlusconi served up to please its supporters. With 25 percent of Italians living in poverty, the Berlusconi government is seen as remote from their concerns. Of those aged 29 or less, only 50 percent have employment in northern Italy, only one in three in the south.
Cuba: Proposed U.S. oil sector sanctions elicit response
Oil industry officials announced plans recently to increase oil extraction from Gulf of Mexico oil fields, some in conjunction with foreign partners. In response to U. S. legislation introduced by Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the weekly Trabajadores, newspaper of the CTC labor federation, accuses Ros-Lehtinen, Chairwoman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, of "applying blackmail." Her bill, H.R. 2047, would impose new sanctions against foreign corporations investing in Cuban oil production. "We cannot allow the Castro regime to become the oil tycoons of the Caribbean," she said, according to thehill.com. As Trabajadores points out, however, "Cuba has always said that it would welcome U.S. petroleum companies interested in exploring its waters." Cuba produces 46 percent of its own hydrocarbon needs.
Egypt: Stirrings of labor independence
The Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services (CTUWS) on May 29 called upon the government to take steps to ensure trade union independence. In a statement, the CTUWS accused the state supported Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions (EFTU) of continuing repressive measures common in the Mubarak era and demanded that the official labor federation be dismantled on grounds of corruption. According to Ahram Online, the condemnation stemmed from questions as to whether 23 EFTU "top bureaucrats" attending an International Labor Organization conference in Geneva were being paid by the government or by business owners. Established in 1990 under Oxfam auspices to promote Egyptian labor independence, CTUWS had backed textile workers' strikes seen as weakening the Mubarak status quo.
Italy: Berlusconi on the way out
Second round voting in local elections held May 29-30 left Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right governing coalition in desperate shape, probably facing early national elections in 2012, Reuters reported. Left-center forces made big gains in Milan and other cities, winning by a landslide in Naples. Spokespersons for Berlusconi's coalition partner, the rightist Northern League, suggested the scandal-plagued media magnate turned politician was a liability now, despite racist pre-election rhetoric Berlusconi served up to please its supporters. With 25 percent of Italians living in poverty, the Berlusconi government is seen as remote from their concerns. Of those aged 29 or less, only 50 percent have employment in northern Italy, only one in three in the south.
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