Back in December 2010, Shaker Heights expatriate and Mother Jones reporter Mac McClelland laid out the costs associated with the kind of reporting informed Americans need but seldom get because we’re too focused on always low prices. In The Price of Covering the BP Oil Spill (from my Read It Later queue 464 days ago), McClelland estimates her reporting ought to have cost in excess of $45,000 but she got innovative because Mother Jones doesn’t have the budget of Faux Noise and managed to do four months of work for about $30,000. I donate to Mother Jones because I think we need an independent source of news with a progressive agenda. You should too.

I also donate to the Occupy movement in the form of providing Sunday dinner each week — last Sunday I made baked zitti and this weekend I’m taking chicken curry and brown rice — and I’m getting to know some interesting people including a young anarchist who goes by the handle ZachyIraqi Schraufl. I’m generally not supportive of anarchy — I do think that government is a good, we just need to keep a very close eye on those involved in the day-to-day operations — but I do believe in listening to those whose views are not my own with an intent to deepen my own understanding of the world. Recently (from my Read It Later queue of seven days ago) I followed Zach’s link to Anarchism and the Black Revolution by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin. While Ervin refers to his work as a pamphlet, it does run a tad over 38,000 words so you need to set aside a couple of hours or so to read the work. I found the time well spent and thought Ervin’s conclusions a good thematic synopsis:

What I Believe

All anarchists do not believe in the same things. There are differences and the field is broad enough that those differences can coexist and be respected. So I don’t know what others believe, I just know what I believe in and I will spell out it simply, but thoroughly.

I believe in Black liberation, so I am a Black revolutionary. I believe that Black people are oppressed both as workers and a distinct nationality, and will only be freed by a Black revolution, which is an intrinsic part of a Social revolution. I believe that Blacks and other oppressed nationalities must have their own agenda, distinct world-view, and organisations of struggle, even though they may decide to work with white workers.

I believe in the destruction of the world Capitalist System, so I am an anti-imperialist. As long as Capitalism is alive on the planet, there will be exploitation, oppression and nation-states. Capitalism is responsible for the major world wars, numerous brush wars, and millions of people starving for the profit motive of the rich countries in the West.

I believe in racial justice, so I am an anti-racist. The Capitalist system was and is maintained by enslavement and colonial oppression of the African people, and before there will be a social revolution white supremacy must be defeated. I also believe that Africans in America are colonised and exist as an internal colonial of the U.S, white mother country. I believe that white workers must give up their privileged status, their “white identity”, and must support racially oppressed workers in their fights for equality and national liberation. Freedom cannot be bought by enslaving and exploiting others.

I believe in social justice and economic equality, so I am a Libertarian Socialist. I believe that society and all parties responsible for its production should share the economic products of labour. I do not believe in Capitalism or the state, and believe they both should be overthrown and abolished I accept the economic critique of Marxism, but not its model for political organising. I accept the anti-authoritarian critique of Anarchism, but not its rejection of the class struggle.

I believe in workers control of society and industry, so I am an Anarcho-Syndicalist. Anarchist Syndicalism is revolutionary labour unionism, where direct action tactics are used to fight Capitalism and take over industry I believe that the factory committees, workers’ councils and other labour organisations should be the workplaces, and should take control from the Capitalists after a direct action campaign of sabotage, strikes, sit-downs, factory occupations and other actions.

I do not believe in government, and so I am an Anarchist. I believe that government is one of the worst forms of modem oppression, is the source of war and economic oppression, and must be overthrown. Anarchism means that we will have more democracy, social equality, and economic prosperity. I oppose all forms of oppression found in modem society: patriarchy, white supremacy, Capitalism, State Communism, religious dictates, gay discrimination, etc.

Next up: Which Canned Goods Contain the Most BPA? (from 452 days ago) and Mango Wood Oryoki Bowl Set (from 14 days ago).

Previously…

Earl Scruggs, banjo; Glen Duncan, fiddle; Randy Scruggs, acoustic guitar; Steve Martin, second banjo solo; Vince Gill, first electric guitar solo; Marty Stuart, mandolin; Gary Scruggs, harmonica; Albert Lee, second electric guitar solo; Paul Shaffer, piano; Jerry Douglas, dobro; Leon Russell, organ; Glenn Worf, bass and Harry Stinson, drums (the guy who hangs out with musicians).

I confess. The above headline really did flash through my head after I finished reading Frank Rich’s New York Magazine piece Stag Party (from my Read It Later queue of three days ago). What insanity could possibly lead 41 percent of women of voting age to favor the party that wishes to restore them (by force if necessary) to June Cleaver status?

I kept the headline but ran a cross-through line to underline the need to ask and then reject the question because I realized my own paternalistic response to the actions of a significant portion of humanity whose actions I find flat-out crazy was itself irrational and counterproductive. Unless I’m willing to ask myself why women who support any Republican candidate act in way counter to their own self-interest, then i might as well go on Faux Noise television and be berated by the screaming host du jour.

I can think of a number of rational reasons why anyone would support a political party or presidential candidate speaking frankly against their own interests, but the one that must come foremost in my mind is simply this: they don’t believe a word of what’s being said; they believe that they are in on the scheme to dupe the rubes and that all will be better when the Etch-A-Sketch gets shaken.

So, I must myself this: if these women (and presumably the men they associate) are in on the plan, what is the real agenda in play?

Is the current trope of a Republican War On Women simply a safer way to pander to the racists among us who have gnawed on skulls these past three years because a Black man sits in the White House? I can see that. I really can.

What happens, however, when those not in on the plot, take the schtick and run with it? What happens when they really do issue every adult female a skillet and lace apron along with marching orders to get their cute little butt in the kitchen and make dinner?

What happens when the political prank goes bad?

Possibly the same consequences I expect to follow from our national debate over the state of education, teachers and the students we expect to earn enough money to fund our retirements and old age. Some 16 months ago Thomas Friedman wrote an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times on points made by Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan in an early November speech. In Teaching for America (posted to my Read It Later queue 493 days ago) Friedman began:

If I were a cub reporter today, I’d still want to be covering the epicenter of national security — but that would be the Education Department. President Obama got this one exactly right when he said that whoever “out-educates us today is going to out-compete us tomorrow.” The bad news is that for years now we’ve been getting out-educated. The good news is that cities, states and the federal government are all fighting back. But have no illusions. We’re in a hole.

Friedman is right. We are in a hole, but it is not a hole that any ladder of education will allow us to emerge. Unlike Garrison Keillor’s fictional children of Lake Wobegon, our students are not all above average. Hell, half of them are below average. (Yes, I jest, sort of, but they are. If you do not understand this, then you probably flunked 5th grade math and shouldn’t be a quiz show contestant.) There are jobs, good jobs, that do not require even a high school education, let alone a college degree, but unfortunately, there are damn few of them anymore in the United States of America and no amount of rigorous testing and elevated educational standards will transform an average, let alone a below average, teenager into a brilliant knowledge worker.

I know that education can be improved. I know that the present system is packed with incentives for the most qualified to seek any other career but teaching. I also know that the current economic reality discourages many students from striving because they do not see any payoff from hard work. Graduating with good grades no longer promises good employment and economic prosperity. When college student graduate with high GPAs and six-figure debt loads with no jobs in their chosen fields in sight, why work hard?

Friedman references one report that he found disturbing but that I found unsurprising:

One of the more unusual and sobering press conferences I participated in last year was the release of a report by a group of top retired generals and admirals. Here was the stunning conclusion of their report: 75 percent of young Americans, between the ages of 17 to 24, are unable to enlist in the military today because they have failed to graduate from high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit.”

What Friedman inadvertently, or intentionally, missed was that the retired officers were most likely not speaking of the general population of 17-to-24-year-olds but rather of those who sought enlistment. In that context, the findings make perfect sense; unable to find other meaningful employment in the civilian world, these mostly young men, but also young women, turned to the ultimate fall back, military service, only to discover that even the most basic infantry positions have been elevated beyond their capabilities. Given the same standards for enlistment of today, the men of the Greatest Generation most likely would have been rejected for the same reasons as well. We simply would have have been able to raise the division we did to fight World War II.

Friedman cites Tony Wagner’s listing of three basic skills that students need if they want to thrive in a knowledge economy: the ability to do critical thinking and problem-solving; the ability to communicate effectively; and the ability to collaborate. Wagner, a Harvard-based authority on education and author of The Global Achievement Gap, and Friedman, however, ignore the first and most critical requirement: a mind capable of those skills.

Any educational system is only as good as the quality of students coming to class each day prepared to learn, and until we accept that there is only so much we can do about that level of preparation we will continue to be fooled by those who benefit from our economic realities.

Next up: The Price of Covering the BP Oil Spill (from 463 days ago) and Anarchism and the Black Revolution – Lorenzo Komboa Ervin (from 4 days ago)

Previously…

[Update @ 0854 on 29 March: My Facebook conversations concerning Trayvon Martin continue. This morning I posted this comment to my good friend Tim Russo:

Shalom Tim,

If you’re associating Emmet Till with Trayvon Martin, I think you risk trivializing what I see as much deeper and serious event in the murder of Trayvon.

I believe this because Emmett Till was the victim of blatant racists and nearly all Americans can get behind the realization that what happened to Till was wrong on every level possible. The racism that led to Trayvon’s death, however, attempts to be more nuanced and, because it is a component of the continuing class warfare that uses racism to fracture the 99 percent, is far more dangerous in the 21st century.

B’shalom,

Jeff

I really think we need to focus on the core struggle and quit looking for easier associations. Trayvon’s death is far from unique, but it is specific and special in this moment. Let’s stay focused on the now.

Is you is or is you ain’t my constituency?

That would be an ain’t.]

Original post from 25 March @ 0958…

One of the aspects I dislike about Facebook is that others may have difficulty gaining access to my words. In that light, I present a conversation I entered into this morning with my brother Cavana Faithwalker after Cav posted this video to his Facebook account.

Shalom Cavana,

I happen to think that a white 17-year-old in a hoodie would still be alive and that Trayvon with his hood down or dressed in just a t-shirt would still be dead.

I don’t think that either the gun or the hoodie is the central issue in the murder of Trayvon Martin, but rather a society that has enpowered an untrained individual to use deadly force to protect themself against a perceived threat that they should have walked away from rather than confront.

B’shalom,

Jeff

I believe you are right Jeff, so many are coming against the entire Hoodie thing. However, the Hoodie is to me fast becoming an icon/symbol of prejudice against Black men and dark skinned people and I don’t see it clouding the issue at all. I am so sad. It is so very clear the child was murdered and that the police thought they could turn their backs on it. There is a compilation YouTube of many of the 911 calls that came in. The boy is heard screaming for help. Zimmerman is heard calling him a “fucking coon.” I heard it clearly.

A young witness claims to have seen Trayvon on the ground and was going to help but then had to grab his dog at which time he heard a gunshot. All though this last one doesn’t quite taste right there are so many calls corroborating the scenario that Zimmerman chased confronted and shot the Trayvon. If I chase you with a gun and you turn around to defend yourself, say with a gun of your own, do I get to claim self defense after I shoot you as you are turning around?

Apparently in Florida the answer would be yes. This stand your ground law is should be repealed all across the country, it’s an NRA contrivance and all of the politicians who backed it should be called to account and made to understand that they too killed Trayvon Martin.

Shalom Cav,

Your assumptions about the events leading to the murder of Trayvon Martin are, I believe, as potentially accurate as any I’ve read.

I remain concerned, however, that in our rush to pin the tragedy on a single element that we can hold on to — the hoodie — we avoid wrestling with the deeper, and very complicated issues of fear, hatred and privilege that I think lie at the core of this murder.

We are, I believe, facing the results of centuries of class warfare that has been disguised in many forms (including prejudice and racism) and that until we can begin to have that conversation on a national level, this underlying cancer will continue to subjugate and oppress the weakest and most vulnerable in our society.

B’shalom,

Jeff

0834: TV discussion on atheism and public policy

Daniel R. Hess (no relation) is a near perfect (he’s not a practitioner of a Abrahamic religion, but don’t even think of trying to make the he’s-not-practicing-a-real-religion defense) case in point.

Via Mano Singham…

In my quest to Get Myself Up From Egypt — four years and running — I’ve toyed with the idea of hitting up people on eBay who, insanely enough, would actually pay money for my accumulated salvage, but never done much more than glance at the site and read Adam Baker’s post on A Minimalist’s Guide to eBay: The Least You Need to Know to Get Started added to my Read It Later list some 556 day ago. (Baker’s original post seems to have disappeared, or maybe I’m confusing links, but what I read was Leo Babauta’s repost back in September of 2010.)

Previously…

Via Adam Harvey on Facebook on A Test You Need to Fail: A Teacher’s Open Letter to Her 8th Grade Students:

What I learned is that the test is also criminal.

Because what I hadn’t known—this is my first time grading this exam—was that it doesn’t matter how well you write, or what you think. Here we spent the year reading books and emulating great writers, constructing leads that would make everyone want to read our work, developing a voice that would engage our readers, using our imaginations to make our work unique and important, and, most of all, being honest. And none of that matters. All that matters, it turns out, is that you cite two facts from the reading material in every answer. That gives you full credit. You can compose a “Gettysburg Address” for the 21st century on the apportioned lines in your test booklet, but if you’ve provided only one fact from the text you read in preparation, then you will earn only half credit. In your constructed response—no matter how well written, correct, intelligent, noble, beautiful, and meaningful it is—if you’ve not collected any specific facts from the provided readings (even if you happen to know more information about the chosen topic than the readings provide), then you will get a zero.

And parents are suiing their school systems over this, and all the other aspects of the proficiency-test fraud which are simply veiled attempts at union busting because…?

Yesterday I took my first longer bike ride of the 2012 season, covering 27.05 miles in two hours and 37 minutes at an average speed of 10.3 miles per hour. I rode on the Tow Path, getting on at the Station Road Bridge Trailhead at Brecksville and riding south (upstream) to the Botzum Trailhead just south of Bath Road.

One of the reasons I really like the tow path is that, although riding downstream first is not a good idea, the trail is pretty flat overall so there’s neither a lot of gearing down riding upstream or coasting riding downstrteam as evidenced by my average speed to Botzum of 10.1 mph and my return average of 10.5 mph.

The ride took a lot out of me and I had to stop three time to get the blood flowing in my butt. According to the calorie calculator for biking, I burned 1,447 calories, which turned out to be 22 calories more than I ate yesterday. Still, my body weight was up 0.9 pounds this morning to 203.3 which I attribute to the replacement of fat with muscle.

My plan is to hit the same circuit on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Anybody interested in riding with me?

I get why Jimi Izrael hates this story…

0641: Bible-based religion is anti-woman at its core

Roldo Bartimole writes:

There may be a very simple solution to the disgusting misuse of privileges by Cleveland firefighters.

A law should state that city firefighters cannot work more than 10 hours a week at a second job.

Presently, firefighters, I’m told, have no restriction on second jobs.

This is the base of the ugly misuse of firefighters’ schedules.

Their regular job interferes with their money-making side jobs.

Hell, let’s not allow public service to interrupt side jobs.

This lack of restricting second jobs, I believe, results in the massive abuse of trading time. It must stop.

I’m told that some firefighters even hold jobs out of state Continue Reading »

Five days into the first week of the 2012 bike season and I’m already at 82 percent of my weekly goal.

From my current weight — 206.2 pounds this morning — plateau I think I’m already beginning to replace fat with muscle.

Life is good.

I’m put in two five-mile-plus rides so far this week bringing my 2012 total up to 20.1 miles.

What I’m really excited about is that with 60 pounds fewer (206.1 pounds this morning) to push around my 5-mile circuit — through Cumberland Park to Forest Hills Park in Cleveland Heights, around Forest Hills in East Cleveland and back — I’ve already under 30 minutes for the ride (average speed of 10.2 mph today), a pace I don’t usually hit until the third week of the season.

I like the circuit because with the exception of the Cumberland Park stretch, the course is pretty flat so I can put the bike in high gear and cruise.

What a great day for riding.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

Is Mike White still pulling strings Cleveland City Hall?

If you look at Mayor Frank Jackson’s war on Cleveland teachers the answer is YES. Oh, boy.

White always had a hard-on for the Cleveland teachers.

And Jackson’s move to ice out the teachers from his “reform” package is vintage White. Only Jackson is just not as nasty as the former mayor.

It’s hard for me to believe that Jackson and White haven’t had conversations about this new strategy. Or more likely, orders from White. Jackson’s top staff is loaded with former White executives.

Both run as Democrats but seem to govern as Republicans. Not good.

White pushed the same brand of privatization. Jackson now does similarly, adopting the Republican line of attack against teachers and all public employees.

If Cleveland and state unions don’t recognize this strategy, they are making a big mistake, undoing the victory earned by defeating Continue Reading »

[Updates @ 1051: This morning I logged 7.26 miles in 45 minutes at an average of 9.5 mph.]

Yesterday, with a new battery in my bike’s computer, I officially began my 2012 cycling season.

My goal this year is to log 1,000 miles by the end of September, or over the next 198 days. That leaves me with the goal of a daily average of 5.03 miles a day. My plan is to use the weekends to quickly get ahead of the curve and then once school is out alternate longer rides (25+ miles) with moderate rides (10- miles) over the course of the summer.

I’m close to a number of Metro Park trails, but I imagine that I’ll be spending most of time on the Towpath (Station Road Bridge to Botzum and back is 27 miles) because that’s the closest to a starting point where I can ride upstream first without a lot driving.

(Just as an aside, my weight this morning was 206.4 pounds, down 58.6 (22 percent) and only 22 pounds away from my ultimate goal of a BMI of 25.0 at 184.4 pounds.)

Now it’s time for a breakfast of steel-cut oats with sweet potato and apricots before I hit the trail.

0856: Whatever happens, we are always the good guys

[College students preparing for and during final exams] were also more grumpy, irritable and prone to anger or despair. They may have blamed their outbursts on the stress of exam period, because there’s a common misperception that stress causes those kinds of emotions. What stress really does, though, is deplete willpower, which diminishes your ability to control those emotions. p. 33

From Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney

Previously…

Found in my electronic chapbook.