Lawrence Wittner: Although many Americans believe their universities are places where administrators and faculty members coexist on a fairly equal basis, the reality is that this is far from the case.
Young People Should Think Twice About Teach for America
By
Randy Shaw: Instead of becoming a vital training incubator for young teachers committed to improving schools, TFA is just as likely to demoralize young people and turn them away from schools and activism.
The Orwellian Warfare State of Carnage and Doublethink
By
Norman Solomon: After the bombings that killed and maimed so horribly at the Boston Marathon, our country’s politics and mass media are awash in heartfelt compassion — and reflexive “doublethink.”
Who Will Save Social Security and Medicare?
By
Shamus Cooke: Obama and the Democrats are aligning with Republicans to strike the first major blows against Social Security and Medicare. The decades-long political agreement to save these programs is dead, and the foundation of American politics is shifting beneath everyone’s feet.
Is the Supreme Court Going to Settle for “States’ Rights” on Same-Sex Marriage?
By
Peter Dreier: When children born this year reach voting age 18 years from now, they will take same-sex marriage for granted. And they will surely wonder how it was even possible that America once deprived gays and lesbians the right to marry.
The Crumbling of Corporate School “Reform”
By
Randy Shaw: As corporate interests spend billions attacking teachers unions, the real obstacles to a quality public education—poverty, overcrowded classes, and physically rundown schools—are ignored.
A Curious New York Times Article on Teacher Evaluations
By
Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer: What is really curious is why The New York Times author was so quick to uncritically adopt the corporate perspective and jump on the bandwagon of attacking the teachers. Perhaps she was one of the few students who failed her critical thinking course.
Rich Justice Poor Justice
By
Jazz Hayden: Just stand outside the criminal courts, traffic courts, and civil courts on any day of the week and you will see long lines of poor people of color — black, brown, and beige — receiving “poor people injustice”.
How Not to Govern Through Crime: Insights on Bullying
By
Jonathan Simon: While bullying has long been a noted feature and minor concern of childhood and schooling, the emergence of a distinctive government-rationality around crime in recent decades, has led to laws that compel schools to treat bullying more like a real crime and law that make it a crime.
Vets to Enter Walmart’s Supply Chain of Command
By
Steven Mikulan: Study after study has shown Walmart to be a cutthroat employer of last resort, most of whose business innovations seem to involve new ways to save the corporation money by slashing employee hours and benefits.
A Sea Change in the Firearms Debate
By
Tina Dupuy: The NRA wants to advocate for the absolute unchecked rights of gun manufacturers as they march over to the fringe. Goliaths fall.
Was There a Political Correct Way for Tarantino to Portray Black Slavery?
By
Irene Monroe: While some will contest that Tarantino is being well…Tarantino, and he means no disrespect, others argue that his privilege as a well-respected moneymaking white heterosexual male filmmaker gives him carte blanche to recklessly express his creative juices even if it reinscribes stereotypes that many feel Django does.
As New Jobs Return, Employers Slash Wages
By
Seymur Slavin: The startling fact is that low wage jobs now constitute 58% of all job growth. The jobs with the fastest growth were retail sales at a median wage of $10.97 per hour. At this salary, workers would be eligible for food stamps.
America in Decline
By
Charles D. Hayes: A plethora of new books suggest America has entered a state of rapid decline. Here are three worth considering.
Paul Krugman Discovers Marx (and Misses the Point)
By
Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer: Amazingly, Krugman never mentions the decline of organized labor as a huge factor explaining the decline of the standard of living of working people, adding that there has been so little discussion of these developments.
Let’s Party Like It’s Baktun 13
By
Rosemary Joyce: What we can’t do, apparently, is ignore the hype that claims that the Maya who lived in city states in Mexico and Central America a little more than a thousand years ago predicted that the end of the world will come this month: December 21, to be precise.
Let’s Stop Talking About 2016!
By
Randy Shaw: Americans may “hate” politics, but the media cannot get enough of it. Since Obama’s re-election we have been deluged with stories not simply about Hillary Clinton, but also about Republicans Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush positioning themselves for runs in 2016.
The Long War Reaches Mali
By
Tom Hayden: Every US and Western intervention in the Long War has resulted in pushing Al Qaeda “affiliates” like AQIM into new territory with angry, restless and anti-Western Muslim populations.
The Grand Bargain Betrayal
By
Shamus Cooke: Corporations are on a public-sector union mopping up mission, using the city, state, and federal budget deficits as an excuse to target public sector unions.
Will Dems Tax Rich to Avoid Fiscal Cliff?
By
Shamus Cooke: Literally the day after the election a sudden “urgency” gripped the nation: the imminent danger of the so-called “fiscal cliff” — the national automatic tax increases and spending cuts due in January.
Deepak Chopra on Sister Giant November 10 – 11, 2012
By
World-renowned spiritual leader Deepak Chopra released a video endorsement of Sister Giant, a nonpartisan conference on women and politics organized by bestselling author Marianne Williamson
How Inequality Kills Growth
By
Claude Fischer: To the extent that facts matter in such a politicized debate, it is becoming increasingly clear that equality rather than inequality is a better policy for economic growth.
Cooked or Accurate US Employment Numbers?
By
Stephen Lendman: Monthly Labor Department (BLS) data report inaccurately. America’s broken jobs engine isn’t explained. The latest 7.8% unemployment rate is blarney. Based on the 1980s calculation model, real unemployment approaches 23%.
Who Gains from Syria’s Destruction
By
Shamus Cooke: The steady destruction of Syria will continue until it reaches a Libya-like crescendo: a “no fly zone” will be the goal of the western powers, with the motive of toppling the regime.
US Special Forces Deployed in Iraq, Again
By
Tom Hayden: The US is caught in the contradictions of proxy wars, favoring Iran’s ally in Iraq while trying to displace Iran’s proxy in Syria.
The Chicago Teachers and Their Students’ Test Scores
By
Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer: No standardized test can possibly penetrate or measure this domain, and the attempt to apply such a ruler only reveals the ignorance of those who pretend to know better.
Obama & the Democrats Sending Mixed Messages about the Catfood Commission
By
Carl Bloice: The words of a party’s platform and the declarations of its candidate don’t mean much in the real world of political wheeling and dealing.
Leadership Needed To Solve Homelessness
By
Charley James: America’s priorities, far too many of its politicians, and even a disturbing number of our everyday folks, are brutal – and brutish – about how to deal with homeless people like me who have lost everything except our dignity:
Trailer Trash Fantasy League
By
Sikivu Hutchinson: Given the fever pitch xenophobia, nativism and anti-undocumented immigrant hysteria in the U.S., it is no surprise that the Anaheim school’s Seniores event was allowed to roll on for three years with virtually no incident or protest.
New York City Has Homeless Emergency
By
Charley James: New York’s homelessness crisis erupted because the Bloomberg administration recently ended rent subsidies, which allowed many people who are now homeless to stay in their apartments.
PCL offers monthly Open House Events on the 2nd Saturday at 2pm and 3rd Thursday at 6pm. Click here to learn more.
Recent Comments