Mornin’, Christy

Digg it.

Kids.Are.Not.Disposable.

No living thing is disposable.

Dugg – we have descended into this horrific Dickensian world where children are so much detritus to be thrown on the ash heap of life, where ‘my’ children are good and have a future and the children of ‘those people’ are bad, have an evil or no future and deserve it because they are poor and after all, ‘poor people are, by definition, ‘bad’ – if they were good, they would not be poor, right? This is thinking that I do not understand at all because what a whole lot of us are failing to understand is this: all of us are just one pink slip away from becoming poor, either because we used credit unwisely, or something medical happens and we aren’t covered or covered enough, or something just unlucky and nasty happens to us. For any of us to think that ‘we’ are any different or in any safer position than anyone else is totally delusional – if we do not protect all children, then our children are at risk also. Our ‘good’ children – we ‘good’ people. Because there is going to be a day when ‘we’ turn into ‘those people’ and our kids will be refused a place in a public school? Excuse me?

The idiocy of a program entitled “no child left behind” inducing school districts to leave children behind in order to get funding? A nutshell for the whole stinking mess we’ve made of ourselves, isn’t it?

Mr. ReddHedd and I were just talking about that yesterday — how some people who have never had to deal with folks in “the other half” have absolutely no idea how tenuous their prosperity may be with just one or two slight changes in their lives.

Compassion may indeed be a lost art among certain folks. And it grieves me to even say that.

Thanks for bringing this subject to the fore, Christy. We’re so far from addressing it properly and steadily–quite the opposite, in fact. What a shame.

No Child Left Behind = My Child Not Left Behind; Other Children SOL

When the goal of the Rethugs was to destroy the public school system I think they came too damn close to reaching that goal. The bubble that is DeeCee is becoming ever more apparent to even those with blinders on. Unfortunately, the bubble dwellers see all others as nothing more than a necessary evil required to keep their bubble inflated.

Thanks for all the diggs, gang — much appreciated. This is one of those issues that really tugs at my heart, so whatever I can do to give it more sunlight, I try and do. Getting it out to a wider audience through the diggs is really appreciated.

Nope. They’re not. More cuts for education comming here.

And truly — how sad, selfish and short-sighted is that?!?

Yes, I think the real tragedy is that it is moving “I’ve got mine, Jack” to the next generation and just expanding the gap between the haves and have nots in ways that make it even more entrenched.

Those of you who are teaching or working with social services — I know a lot of state budgets are stretched to the max right now and budget cuts are pretty common. How bad is it around the country for you all?

Ms Christy,
A small measure of brightness. In this diary I did the other day, I linked to a story from the Denver Post on how the Denver social services/child welfare agency was facing a $29M shortfall.

Today’s Denver Post has this story, Agency May Get Funding Boost:

Mayor John Hickenlooper said he is working with Councilwoman Carol Boigon to try to find ways to shore up Denver’s Department of Human Services, which is facing a projected $29 million budget deficit by 2010.

Some folks do get it.

Good Morning Christy and Puppies.

Thank you Christy. Hold their feet to the fire. This situation is absolutely unconscionable but, unfortunately, not very surprising. I don’t understand how those congress critters and lobbiests who feed at the trough can stand in front of the cameras and pretend to be so noble.

Obama can go before the country and say that in the spirit of bipartisanship at risk childeren and jobs had to be thrown overboard.

I sat in on a school board meeting once where the subject was Special Ed services. One of the board members actually said this was a total waste because “these kids won’t amount to much anyway”,and therefore they’re a drain on the system. Honest to god,I don’t think any of the people actually running the school systems have set foot in an actual,ummm, SCHOOL since they were in school.

Why is education nearly always the first thing to be cut? It never freaking fails.

A million people on the Capitol steps just might be able to burst the bubble.

The “be the change” when I ran a non-profit in DC that did educational outreach to “at risk” youth and schools, was total volunteers and in-kind resources. I did a study that compared organizations, like the one I directed, with government run agencies delivering similar services. My organization was way ahead in many areas and the government agencies were better equipped in other areas. The point, we need both but the volunteer based organizations have the ability to better establish personal relationships with youth in order to give personal guidance/mentoring. My concern, with difficult economic times, is that volunteer work will be more difficult for many, which makes the role of government funded organizations, and organizations receiving gov grants, all the more important.

Christy,
I just read Haggis’ shameful op-ed printed in the “liberal” WaPo. He’s strutting over this piece of merde. No problem with the essential cuts—they will be picked up in the “regular appropriations process.” Bullpucky. They’ll block that too.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the proposed cuts “do violence to what we are trying to do for the future,” especially on education. Her objections are a warning to conservatives that more cuts would be unlikely to win House approval. They are also an admission of the high price that moderates have been able to extract for their support of stimulus legislation.

If a stimulus bill doesn’t pass, there won’t be any money for Title I education programs. The moderates’ bill provides marginally less money for Title I than the House and Senate bills. But while it’s less than supporters want, this proverbial half a loaf beats no loaf by a mile.

In health funding, both the House and Senate bills contain billions of dollars for wellness and prevention programs, including for smoking cessation, prenatal screening and counseling, education, and immunization. The moderates’ bill, regrettably but necessarily, cancels this funding on the grounds that such programs are better left to the regular appropriations process.

If he cared enough about the bill passing, he’d vote for it no matter what was in it.

Shame doesn’t come close enough. It’s a shanda (a Yiddish word for shame taken to a much higher degree)

I keep remembering dubya’s glib comment, something like, “Why should I care. We’ll all be dead by then.” No thought of even his own daughters and potential grand children’s future? Absolutely amazingly deaf, dumb and blind to the world.

Have you ever had a heartfelt one on one with a Re
publican? Does it seem as though they are missing the heart that goes into the heartfelt conservation? Does it seem as though they are leaning toward a fascist point of view? How is it that we mostly have to accept any views like that of a hard-right conservative fascist agenda? We should only have to argue our message with a small d democrat..right?

Just how bad do things have to get before we do better for these children?

I think the question should be

Just how good do things have to get before we do better for these children?

It seems that when times are bad, the first thing to be cut is kids – whether it’s education, health care, nutrition, etc. Only when money is flowing do we (somewhat) adequately fund children.

I dont’t think he cares much about them either. It’s ALL about him. Always has been.

The other frustration with cutting the funds for at-risk programs is that short term spending has long term pay-offs. Good education equals a more productive, competitive society and fewer needing to receive social services. Which saves us all tax dollars in the long run.

If we ever needed to get that goin’ the time is now. Hmmmm….

Actually, I have had several heartfelt conversations with old-style conservatives. The ones who get their news from Rush and Hannity? Not so much. But the ones who have been conservatives for a while on fiscal grounds and such? Yes — frequently, actually.

This falls right in with the CEO approach to goverenance a-la George W Bush. CEOs are concerned with short term benefits – stock price, dividends, etc. They and their investors don’t expect to be around long enough to reap the benefits of long-term thinking.

I thought we did that about 3 weeks ago. Didn’t help. Maybe we were too polite.

Torches and pitchforks anyone?

I know you’re right. But it boggles the mind. It’s a mind-set carried by far too many who deliberately pretend not to notice, or who summarily declare the not-rich as “lazy” by definition.

Not until the at-risk neighborhood crime rate starts to spills into their protected enclave neighborhood, then suddenly, there is the spin of “tough on crime” and the dollars to go with it.

1+1=2

The “not rich are lazy” canard is a huge pet peeve of mine.

Republicans have demonstrated, even though a minority party, they still control the framing, the corporate media and the legislative process. They can sabotage any progressive initiative proposed by Obama or the Dems. Weak and unprincipled Democratic leadership continues to allow this to happen.

yep. Change we can believe in. right.

You took the words out of my mouth. The time for outrage will be here if the stimulus bill gets signed after the Republicans in the Senate have gutted it so badly.

I’d like to introduce your school board member to my brother, who attended special ed classes throughout his public schooling years. He works in the community. He pays taxes. He votes. That’s the real kicker, isn’t it? As soon as they figure out that those who will never amount to anything actually do, and that they vote, they’ll gain wisdom and stature and favor with politicians. But not before.

My sister is having a faculty meeting this PM to address an immediate 38% reduction in her school’s discretionary budget. She was here over the weekend and we spent Saturday night brainstorming ideas for savings. She’ll be sharing the bad news and asking her faculty for suggestions. Will be fascinated to hear how the Limpballs among them spin this.

Also, she had talked Friday to a college friend who is a high ranking state official. Was told the cuts re state aid to schools for the coming year will be severely more draconian than this first round.

NCLB in her world was always renamed “No School Left Standing” as it seemed like an attempt to kill off public schools. And that was before this economic mess got the educational system in its own stranglehold.

Thr dropout rate in this state has slowed a bit. The lack of jobs is obviously a factor in that, but we’ve also wondered if a contributing factor is that school is a warm place to go and one with food. It’s also a haven from anxious, angry jobless parents.

Where is the leadership that could organize a march on Washington? Where are the labor unions, seniors organizations, student groups, environmentalists, healthcare workers, civil rights organizations et al.. Millions of people have been on the streets in Lativia, Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy and yet in the states the streets are free of an outraged public. Have Americans become so fearful?

Absolutely! One photo and a caption speak at least a thousand words.

Oh, how awful for your sister. Let me know how it goes for her — we’re facing some of the same school cuts issues here in WV, although not quite that bad yet because we had balanced our budget the last few years so we were in better shape than a lot of states, I think.

It’s just so tough right now for a whole helluva lot of folks — and it’s so true that school is an oasis of sanity, warmth and food for so many kids right now. To undercut that is what strikes me as so unconscionable in some of these cuts.

Have Americans become so fearful?

Insular and pretty lazy.

Have Americans become so fearful?

Yes. This has been another edition…

It would have to start with an org such as World Can’t Wait to get the ball rolling.

“discretionary budget” means things like paper!

In Iowa it is called eating your seed corn.

Any chance of organizing a field trip for all the homeless school kids in America to go to DC? Make certain that those in power SEE the results of the policies of the last eight years and what they can continue to shred now.

One of the labor groups is actually running ads in support of the travesty!

We are so screwed.

What hope I had after Obama’s glorious victory is giving way to a despair as deep, if not deeper, that I felt during the 8 years of Bush’s regime. The stakes are so big and the “solutions” are so small. I can’t even decide if I should send in my seed order for a Survival garden or just put the wheels in motion for emigrating.

I wonder, would old style fiscal conseratives vote for the right Dem , even a black one? Or would they support any kind of Progressive agenda? If they wouldn’t then we are left with only ourselves to argue.

How many are there nationwide anyway?

where would you go? It’s everywhere.

and beaten down by corrupt politicians weilding the power of a corrupt system.

A lot of them did vote for Obama — it’s one of the reasons he won. See, e.g., Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.

Exactly — “eating your seed corn” is the perfect descriptive on this.

The country under consideration still has a vibrant and vocal labor movement, real left wing parties and students that still have a sense of responsibility to their society. Also have a stronger social safety net and more enlightened social policies. Dual citizenship has it’s priviledges

Likewise here, Christy. I fear it’s growing rather than receding, as the rich begin to feel pressure they find distasteful. All too often they turn straight ’round and blame those less fortunate for messing up their perfect world of bliss. How they can do so with a straight face is a mystery, and stokes more anger than I can handle without speaking out, so I have made myself a target on numerous occasions by speaking out in forums where looking at problems head-on is politically incorrect. Fine. Such people don’t want to hear it? I’ll rinse and repeat. When I keep the discourse non-confrontational in tone, but very definitely challenging in substance, some hardly know what to do. Deep down, they KNOW I speak the truth and that they have been avoiding even thinking about such things, lest they add a wrinkle to an otherwise perfect browline. They KNOW they could help, if they chose. Some are simply too comfortable in their little bubbles. I’ll keep carrying around my little pin and see how far pseudo-pleasant chatter can reach into their hidden hearts.

I fear people like the shrub clan are unreachable by any means. Thank dog he’s out of sight, probably slinking around that perfect gated community in a lonely funk.
I couldn’t have stood one more day of watching him smirk and preen in the people’s house.

Thanks heaps for all the diggs, gang!

Yeah — I’ve heard from more than one source about grumbling about being forced to pay for other people’s mistakes — not just on Wall Street, but for shoring up the education system, the folks on the margins, you name it.

It’s being stoked by the likes of Limbaugh, but the whole “social contract” concept needs a lot more discussion on how that benefits society as a whole. We’ve forgone the “we’re in this together” mindset for a “screw you, I got mine — get yer own” the last few years. And it shows. We talked a bit about that last night during book salon about FDR, actually…

Off to my honey’s therapy again. It’s working(!), and he’s doing better every day. ;->

Thanks again Christy.

Why haven’t you packed yet?

The hope that America will come to it’s senses.

What I find most disturbing about trying to address these issues is the lack of accurate empathy, true compassion and any sense of selflessness among many in our country.

It’s sickening to see people who are charitable (with their time and/or money) only if their giving benefits them in some way.

Actually, we need all the good concerned US citizens with big hearts to stay here and help us with the good fight. I prefer we don’t leave the problem to those who ignore and turn away from the problems.
The at risk kids need all the help they can get, don’t you think?

From U. of Texas economics professor, James Galbraith.

“The cutbacks to state aid have every potential of being disastrous. What they really reflect is the indifference of people who represent places like Nebraska and Maine to what goes on in New York or California.”

Can read the entire article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..65146.html

I’ve noticed that, too, from a number of folks. Do you think it’s a lack of teaching this in the home or church or wherever these days? I wonder how much of this comes from the “prosperity movement” among the sort of watered down church teachings you get from the likes of Joel Osteen, Rick Warren and company.

I’ve heard more than once that people who are poor just “don’t have the right set of values.” When, growing up anyway, from church folks I would have heard something more along the lines of “my brother’s keeper” requiring folks to give someone less fortunate a hand up so that they might do the same for someone else down the road. (The “pay it forward” approach to Jesus, I suppose, that’s what I grew up with anyway.)

Thoughts?

If there was a plan, I’d agree with you. I feel like I’m out on an ocean right now without a paddle or a compass.

Folks in my congregation are losing their jobs too—some of them pretty high powered. I’m feeling fresh out of hope and don’t know what to do or say right now other than whatever happens, we will eventually get through it.” But fear is certainly a large part of my psyche right now. And I still have a job—now.

When you look at all the relief efforts going on to solve the problems of sever poverty around the world, it boggles the mind to see the creation of poverty in this country through the fetish of tax cuts.

I recently saw a photograph of the house my grandfather left in Italy to come here. It’s a stone-walled shack. I’m second generation in our family. I have to wonder in two more generations will our relatives be back where he started.

A little known fact is that over 1/3 of all immigrants to the U.S. returned to the country they left. For many the streets were not “paved with gold.”

That’s certainly part of it, but the Warrens and Osteens soft pedal compared to the real fundies. The Strict Father paradigm that Lakoff pointed to is where it’s at for the authoritarian theocrats.

It will be interesting to see how the “prosperity” churches that thrived during the age of excess deal with it all.

Well, perhaps the Lord is just punishing us because gay people got to marry in CA for a few weeks. (I so wish I were kidding that I’m expecting that one to come flying out…SIGH)

Oh, you hit a sore point with me on that one. Rick Warren has made how much money with his book? Apparently, he felt he needed to re-write some of the best teaching we have. And, no, I didn’t read his book. I read the original version.
So, yes, I agree that some of the problem lies in the watered down versions of how we should treat each other. Unfortunately, a lot of religious leaders have been motivated by their egos and not the principals of the faith they claim to teach.
Just one of the problems that led us to where we are, tho, imho.

They’ll look for “scapegoats” that destroyed the goose that laid the golden egg. You know, the unions, secular humanists, progressives, teen age loose women, immigrants, the usual suspects.

Damn! I have to stop destroying the economy!

don’t forget all the little innocent babies killed in “abortion mills.” OT, I kind of find it interesting that no one is writing about the ethical dilemmas of the octuplet family in the blogs. It’s been really quiet. Very disturbing story that shoots darts in just about everyone’s assumptions no matter what “side” you are on.

France. I’m sure the problems there are just as bad, but I don’t speak French well enough to participate in political discussions, and so it wouldn’t be as much of a problem. And the food and wine are really great.

it’s all my fault!

my bad.

My grandpa was a Methodist preacher his whole adult life. I can remember sitting in the pews of his church, listening to his sermons from the time I was small.

And I do not once recall him saying “blessed are the poor, because they deserve what they get, lazy bums.” The sort of greedy “I got mine by the sweat of my brow, and if you are too lazy or stupid to get yours, then too bad for you, you ungodly heathen” attitude that gets pushed is nothing that I recognize, I have to say.

The plan is to do as much good as you can. Wherever you can, whenever you can.
I’m sorry you feel alone on the waters. That must be especially difficult for you. I hope you can find a place in your heart where you do not feel so alone and fearful.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Even in hard times the French and Italians eat well.

Personally, I haven’t written about it because it’s too screwed up to begin to know where to start. The woman has issues, the medical providers likely violated medical ethical codes, and the children? OMG.

Having been through fertility hell myself, it’s tough to write about what you go through without some understanding of desperation. But that goes well beyond that. And piling onto it almost seems like piling on with someone who has some serious psych issues to deal with…and that just seems cruel to me. So I haven’t really talked about it as a result.

Help us! You are so articulate. Speak out, please!

Living in a state (AZ) who is 49th in education, high drop out rate, teen pregnancy and repug Gov & legislature ….. who just cut 40% of the Education budget K-> University.

The county plans to close 143 parks including all the bark parks. Libraries are closing in Sundays, closing early daily and the fastest growing thing here is movie rentals from the libraries.

The number of homeless families doubled in the first half of 2008 who reported to shelters.

Phoenix has a specific school for homeless children called the Thomas J. Pappas School. These children are supplied two meals a day and take home packpacks with food for the families. IF donations and supplies continue. The bus system track kids down as they move from shelter to shelter so that they can continue their education. Before anyone goes there, the kids prefer going to this school. They can get clothes, meals, no one picks on them because they all are living in the same boat….

RE: Who tells at risk children they aren’t worth the effort?

American citizens via their deafening silence. And silence is assent, or so I’ve been told.

Who tells Congress that at risk children are worth the effort? We do. We have to. They cannot speak for themselves.

Right here in this relatively safe space are people with strong opinions and strong voices. Good thinkers. Good writers. Good speakers. We cannot confine all of that to the Net, though it’s a mighty fine starting place.

Who has the courage and the moxie to mobilize us and put us in Congress’ big yawning faces in a very public and very persuasive way? I don’t know how to do this (”this” being mobilizing for action). I’m usually a behind-the-scenes person. Is that America’s problem? Are we all behind-the-scenes people? Do we need to expand our comfort zone individually and collectively?

Just askin’.

You’re not alone. It’s hard to know where to start. At some time, though, it really does have to be looked at critically. I keep thinking about the budget crunch in CA and the multi-millions this one family is going to cost the system—all of the children across the state that need food and medicine . . . . The medical ethicists will have to work overtime on this one. Morally it’s a really tough one too. It really is a stunning rebuke to all of the usual platitudes about being pro-life and pro-choice on so many levels.

It sounds like your grandpa was a Good Methodist. *g* The Methodist Church is far from perfect. They have many of the same problems that Democrats have. The problem with having a doctrine that includes open minds, open hearts and open doors invites a lot of diversity, but also a lot of division. But, we each have the right and responsibility to take personal charge of what we think and how we act.

Christy, this is a bit OT, but it’s an interesting read:
Brazile Challenges Stereotypes

barbara, I believe in the common good, that we are all members of a larger society and that none of us is an island unto themselves. As citizens we have individual rights but at the same time responsibilities to our neighbors and even strangers. The sense of community and shared responsibilities began to be eroded when the media and politicians began referring to citizens as merely “consumers.” A consumer has no sense of the common good thus no sense of their responsibilities to their fellow consumers. The survival of the fittest is the underlying ethos of a consumer society and social darwinism is anathema to the collective good. Believe it or not this can be seen in how our urban/suburban environments have evolved over the last 60 years and a lesson I try to impart to my studetns.

And “that” outrage” has the numbers behind it. Almost 234 individuals per person at the Mall (1.2 million).

What I would like to see is real life “Trading Places” with some of these liars in the senate……. McCain has to trade places with Rosita the hotel maid that has to clean two floors of rooms a day and then goes to her second job where she cleans out strip mall offices after hours while raising her three kids.

Lets see….. Jon Kyl trades with a line worker in a chicken processing plan that usually hires undocumented workers because they can get away with safety because it is against the law for undocumented workers to benefit from a law suit for damages in AZ courts.

This just in. In the spirit of bipartisanship President Obama invited Republican Senator Dick Lugar to join him on Air Force One for his trip to Indiana today. In the spirit of partisanship Lugar refused the offer.

I took a course in grad school (35 years ago) called “Religion and Society”….. and at a state university no less. The prof warned us then about the rise of megachurches with all of their secular facilities like gyms, theatres etc. (The South was in the forefront of this trend.)

He correctly predicted that the movement would give rise to a new version of segregation under the guise of religion.

What he did not forsee was gated communities and our society’s worship of affluence.

Outside of my family and close friends, I rarely hear anymore the phrases “common good” and “brother’s keeper” except hear at the Lake.

Essentially Lugar showed the people who he represents that he doesn’t care about their economic concerns.

citizen vs. consumer is a powerful distinction, isn’t it? Underscored by GWB’s “just go shopping” (consumers) vs. “we’re all in this together; dig in and DO something, and here are some ideas” (citizens). I see sense of community and common good eroding in my own family, where my (generally) Republican children are passing along their (generally) Republican values to my grands. And on the very rare occasions I attempt to alter my grands’ perspective, I find myself in precariously slippery doodoo with my kiddos.

Fresh post up for anyone who wants it…

Perhaps he showed Indianans who he actually represents…

Right on Christy. This cutting of funding and services for the most vulnerable and needy is obscene.

Could you tell it ticked me off a bit? *G*

Thank you Christie for bring one of the few to raise this issue (in today’s “at risk kids” as well as yesterday’s “casualties” articles.) As the grandparent and guardian of an at-risk, special needs child who was fortunate enough to attend 4 years of Head Start, I can attest to how the past 8 years have been traumatic for a lot of people. The misconceptions about social issues are now running rampant: that the poor are losers rather than predominantly low wage earners; the programs like IDEA, Head Start, etc. are pork(?); that early learning programs for at-risk kids are meeting needs when only half the eligible children are being served; that funding will increase in the appropriations process will increase, when in fact it is always the 1st to be cut or flat funded in hard times; that states are still capable of “back-funding” federal budget cuts and increased regulationwhen they are going broke; that the increasing number of at-risk preschoolers doesn’t represent an upcoming tidal wave for already stressed publiic eucation; etc.; etc.
I could go on for pages. But I won’t preach to the choir. My real sadness is that is time and time again the Congress goes along with this claptrap. And those with the least voice – the kids – continue to suffer. it really says a lot about our current culture and morality.

but we have money to bailout GM, who then sends it on to South America.

nice

It always blows my mind that people cannot fathom the cost savings of helping these kids early rather than having ot pay for that over years and years of schooling later. A lot of learning disabilities, for example, when caught early and the child is worked with intensively at a young age can be substantially overcome. But if they are left until the child is over the age of five, for example, the malleability of the brain is already past where such treatment is optimally effective, and the cost of dealing with that is much higher over time.

Mind-bogglingly short-sighted. But there you are…

I couldn’t agree more – both as to cost and brain function. Forgotten kids end up as, at best, low wage earning adults who mirror their parents lack of self esteem; or at worst trapped in the mental health or criminal justice systems (or both.) This is the proverbial cycle of poverty that we’ve been warned about (at least in my life) since Robert Kennedy visited both Louisiana and West Virginia during his brother’s presidency.
The cost is now well established in the fact that future tax payers are infinitely preferable to tax recipients.
Brain malleability from birth to 5 is also now proven in any number of scientific studies. (I recommend reading about Dr. Shonkoff, a pediatric neurologist, formerly with the Brandeis School of Medicine and now with Harvard.) But for the myopic folk who surround us, I recommend a simpler concept. When a child exposed to stimulus, such as being read books since age 1, joins the child who has never seen a book, which child is 4-5 years behind in kindergarten?