THE HEADLINES

Education Secretary Arne Duncan

SIDING WITH THE CHARTER SCHOOL SUGAR DADDIES.

This is Bruce Dixon’s description of President Obama’s educational policy. The No Child Left Behind program of school privatization and operation on a corporate accountability measures based on standardized tests results has continued with a vengeance with the Race to the Top policy of the current administration. School closures and turn-arounds are falling the most heavily on black teachers and poor communities: just what the wealthy “education reform” foundations have wanted.

(Black Agenda Report)

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JOHN BRENNAN ON CIVILIAN DEATHS IN PAKISTAN FROM DRONE STRIKES: DIDN’T HAPPEN, NO APOLOGY.

Obama’s choice of next head of CIA is currently the head of the counter-terrorism agency and alleged “architect” of the drone warfare policy. In 2011 he made the dubious statement that only terrorists had been killed in these raids, later amending this to the assertion that there was no “credible evidence” of civilian deaths. The evidence was credible enough to independent UK investigative agency to report 2600-3400 such deaths since 2004.

(Counterpunch)

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SHOULD A FOREIGNER WHO SPEAKS AGAINST THE SECOND AMENDMENT BE DEPORTED FOR “UN-CONSTITIONAL” ACTION?

A petition drive of those supporting the civilian “right to bear arms”, led by conservative TV host Alex Jones, makes that claim. The White House rejects it, saying the first amendment right to free speech overrides any wrongdoing associated with criticizing another amendment.

(Yahoo News)

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“END THE MADNESS NOW!”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in his latest state of the state address, takes a “hard left turn” toward progressive policies from which he had apparently drifted away. His “madness” statement referred to the necessity of banning assault weapons and taking deadly weapons away from all people whose behavior indicates that they are dangers to public safety.

(Buffalo News)

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FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR RAISES CONTROVERSY IN ASSERTIONS THAT THE NEWTOWN “MASSACRE” MAY NOT BEEN QUITE AS THE MEDIA HAVE PORTRAYED IT.

James Tracy, a communications professor, finds that the university is “distancing itself” from his views, which suggest that the killings in Connecticut were not those of a “lone gunman” who was psychologically disturbed. He admits to “conspiracy theory” tendencies to note similar doubts about such events as 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing and the JFK assassination.

(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

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Quote of the day…

We were stunned by the propensity of findings all on the negative side – the scope of the disadvantage covers all ages, from babies to seniors, both sexes, all classes of society.

Steven H. Woolf, a professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University and chair of the panel that wrote a report comparing health indicators in 17 wealthiest countries, with the U.S. appearing at or near the bottom of various scales of well-being in the area of health.

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