Happy Fourth of July

Below are some videos to share on America's 236th Birthday. 

First, here is a lesson plan that an 8th grade Social Studies teacher from Missouri recorded a few years back.  In it, he says he found a break-up letter on the floor, and decides he is going to read it to the class.  This turns out not to be an actual break-up letter, but a letter he made up to lead the class into a lesson on the Declaration of Independence.  It is a brilliant hook, and one I decided to use whenever I taught the American Revolution to my Social Studies class.

Next, is Danny Glover's recitation of the Frederick Douglas speech, "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?"  It is far from a patriotic look at America, and it's independence.  But as an American who believes in looking at the truth, it is important we study the dark sides of American history (as well as the more positive sides).  The full text of the speech can be found here with an introduction by The Nation's Dave Zirin.  Also, check out this link to the Zinn Education Project about rethinkig the Fourth of July.


Finally, we have a couple of patriotic anthems.  This first one is definitely NSFW.  Happy Birthday America!  You aren't perfect, but you are my home, and I love you!

Patrice O'Neal: 1969-2011

Photo from Wikipedia

Rest in Peace.  He was absolutely hilarious, and one of the most underrated comics out there.  Him and Greg Giraldo (another great comic who left us too early) were my favorite Tough Crowd comics. Here is a sample clip of O'Neal's stand-up material.  Look up other clips on YouTube and Funny or Die.  I promise you will be laughing your ass off.

Patrice O'Neal on A Woman's Worth - watch more funny videos

A Video for Sunday . . . I mean, Monday

Yep, I forgot my Video for Sunday while on vacation.  But as I said in my previous post, I have been dealing with some personal things going on lately (and I do plan on writing about it eventually).  So, I am doing my video a day late, and it is on something that I have been trying to do a lot of lately.  This week's video comes from the greatest comedy troop of all time (and I am a big fan of comedy troops).  Just remember, when life gets you down . . .

A Video for Sunday

"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" -Charles Darwin

Again, Thank You Jon Stewart

On last night's The Daily Show, Jon Stewart did another segment on the recent trend of teacher bashing.  As I said in my previous post on this topic, I can understand how the salary and benefits looks pretty good in this economy to many, but it wasn't all that long ago teachers (like a lot of public sector workers) were considered underpaid and overworked.  But now that times are tough, and so many in the private sector are suffering, public employee workers like teachers have it to easy.  Everyone has to bare the burden.  Everyone has to sacrifice. . .

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - For Richer and Poorer
www.thedailyshow.com
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 . . .except, apparently, the CEOs of major banks and Fortune 500 companies:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - For Richer and Poorer - Teachers and Wall Street
www.thedailyshow.com
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Also on last nights episode is an interview Jon Stewart has with Diane Ravitch. Enjoy!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Diane Ravitch
www.thedailyshow.com
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Thank You, Jon Stewart!

Teacher bashing is nothing new, but since the events is Wisconsin started two weeks ago, it has seemed to reach an all time high by many in the media.  In the clips below, Jon Stewart takes a look at this phenomenon.  Not only are teachers being blamed for the budget crisis that affects nearly every state across the country, but some of the oldest, most overused and unnecessary put downs of teachers are being used by pundits who feel most teachers have it easy.  As The Daily Show played clips of these pundits talking about what a cushy job teachers have, I sat in cold silence with a smirk on my face, while my wife yelled at the TV because they clearly didn't know what the hell they were talking about.

Jon Stewart, certainly out of a love for his mother who is a teacher, takes on these pundits, and defends teachers against these charges.  Anyone who is a teacher or who has a loved-one who is a teacher knows that teaching is anything but cushy (with the exception of the Fox News pundit in the first video below whose Mom is a teacher).  There are many long hours outside of their work day where they are grading papers, planning lessons, or talking to parents.  Chances are, if a teacher isn't spending time outside of their 8-hour contract period doing work, they aren't very good at their job.  Yes, there are summer breaks, but many teachers teach summer school, tutor, take a second job to earn extra income, or spend time coming up with new lesson ideas and getting ready for the upcoming year.  Often times, they are doing a combination of these.

Finally, there is the issue of teachers having a cushy pay in comparison to those in the private-sector workforce.  I will admit that in today's economy, the pay of a teacher probably looks pretty good compared to the many jobs people are now forced to get because of hard times.  But five years ago, when I decided to become a teacher, this was not the case.  While teachers have always had their detractors, it was widely agreed that teachers were overworked and underpaid.  One woman I knew growing up who is a now-retired professor of education joked that whenever I get married, I will know that girl is not marrying me because of the money I make (and I can honestly say that is true).  But times have changed, and suddenly teachers have it easy, they are overpaid, and are living off the the hard-earned money of the taxpayer (how dare we do that).  Fortunately, Jon Stewart challenges this thinking, and brings in some much-needed reality to this debate.

Here is Part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - Angry Curds
www.thedailyshow.com
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Here is Part 2, a message to the teachers from Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - Message for Teachers
www.thedailyshow.com
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Onion: "Future U.S. History Students: 'It's Pretty Embarrassing How Long You Guys Took To Legalize Gay Marriage'"

Here is an article from The Onion I read a week or two ago, and it took me a while to post it.  It is funny as always, and more importantly, it does speaks some truth.  There will be a day where U.S. History students will wonder why the hell it took so long to legalize gay marriage, just like students today question why the hell it took so long to end slavery or give equal rights to African-Americans.  As someone who teaches an American social studies class, I can tell you that students do question these things.  My favorite passage:

Mr. Bernard, 58, told the class that he himself could remember how in the 2030s gay marriage was still a somewhat touchy subject in certain parts of the country.

"It's true," said Mr. Bernard, gesturing to a holographic projection of late-20th/early-21st-century antigay preacher Fred Phelps on the classroom's V-screen. "Most people had come around by the time I was your age, of course, but you would still read and hear things about how certain people in New Washington were trying to overturn the court's ruling. Hard to imagine anyone being that adamant about gays not marrying, but those were different times."

"In fact, I remember President Romney even gave this speech once calling gay marriage 'an issue that continues to divide many in our nation, including myself,'" Mr. Bernard continued. "Of course, that was before his openly gay son, Craig, served four terms as president a couple decades later."

 The last paragraph of the article really depresses me, mainly because I afraid it might be true:

After concluding the week's examination of the history of gay marriage rights, classroom sources in the year 2083 said they would be moving on to the topic of how their grandparents' generation was too late to do anything about global warming.

I am Proud To Be in a Union!

 

Make no mistake about it, what is going on with the protests in Wisconsin is a very BIG DEAL!  

OK, so it is not as dramatic as what is going on countries like Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, and Tunisia.  Some have wanted  to compare Governor Walker to Mubarak or Gadafi, and compare the protests in Madison to the protests Tahrir Square.  These are not the same thing.  Not even close.  Anyone who compares Walker to Mubarak, or Hitler, or any other dictator are blowing things way out of proportion.  And no one who is protesting in Madison is risking their lives like the people protesting in Northern Africa or the Middle East.

Now that I have that out of the way, let's get back to the point that what is going on in Madison is still a BIG DEAL!  Make no mistake, what Governor Walker is trying to do is more than just a save money in the Wisconsin budget.  It is not as if the public-employee unions in Wisconsin are just being selfish, and aren't willing to compromise. Everyone understands these are hard times for state budgets, and the unions in Wisconsin have acknowledged this.   But what Walker is trying to do is bust the public-sector unions in the state of Wisconsin.  

This story is not only about the future of unions in Wisconsin, but it is also the beginning of a greater battle for the future of unions in the United States.  By no means are unions perfect, and I will not pretend that every union that has ever existed has fairly represented the interests of it's members.  Indeed, I will not pretend that I don't have some issues with the union I belong to.  Nonetheless, I understand that the value of unions are too important, and I am still damn proud to be a member of a union.  All things considered, unions are really the only groups left of any relative influence in our political process that can claim to stand up for the interests of working Americans, and not big business.  

 Why are unions so important?  Well, here is a video put out a few years ago by a group in Australia regarding some of the things unions have fought for over the years.  Some of what is discussed are exclusive to Australia, but a number of these things exist in the United States as well because of unions.

Last week, Rachel Maddow did a piece on her show about why the story in Wisconsin is so important to the future of labor, and why unions are so important to our republic, both now and throughout modern American history. 

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 Finally, I recommend this piece by Paul Krugman on the situation in Wisconsin.  Here is an excerpt:

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we’re a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we’re more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Given this reality, it’s important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.
You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.
There’s a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America’s oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

As I am writing this, I worry that someone who comes across this piece might think I am writing some type of left-wing propaganda.  Yes, I am a proud liberal, and I am sourcing two very prominent American liberals in this post (Maddow, Krugman).  But please, if you are reading this, I hope you will look at the bigger picture of what is going on with this story, regardless of what your politics are.  This is one of those issues that is beyond left and right.  It is more than a state budgetary matter.  It is about the influence of big business and corporations, and the future of working class Americans.  Whatever your politics are, if you are a working American, I ask you to understand the importance of this story.  Then, Get Mad!  Then, Get United!

Colbert Takes On Those Evil Children

A judge in New York says a four year-old can be sued for negligence.  Colbert explains why small children are really little sociopaths.  I am sure the bleeding hearts out there will say something like, "Oh, their brains aren't developed enough to understand the complexities of blah, blah, blah . . ."  Colbert takes these so called "experts" down a notch.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Enemy Within - Toddler Edition
www.colbertnation.com
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A Video for Sunday

A hilarious spin on a song I used to sing at church growing up.

Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

The Language of Special Education . . .

. . . as demonstrated by a cartoon.



It is important for parents to learn what special education language means.  It is also important for special education teachers, administrators, and other personnel to remember that parents are not always experts in the technical jargon of IEPs  Thank you Special Education Advisor for this cartoon!

Bill Maher to Tea Partiers: The Founding Fathers Would Not Like You

Here is last week's New Rules from the great Bill Maher.

Jan. 14, 2011 Clip - New Rule: Founding Fathers

Disintegration

Stephen Colbert takes a look at a part of North Carolina where racial and economic integration has lead to great success and popularity . . . and how the Tea Party is now trying to undo this progress.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Disintegration
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Some Final Reminders of MLK

I thought I would share a couple of videos for reflection upon this MLK Day.  The first one is from the Adult Swim show, The Boondocks.  This episode, toying with revisionist history, pretends that MLK was never assassinated, but rather, goes into a coma until the year 2000.  He wakes up to find a very different world.  I will admit that it is a commentary on the modern African-American community (of which I have no authority to speak upon), and it does use the N-Word several times.  Having said that, it is perhaps the smartest, funniest piece of social satire I have ever watched, and well worth 22 minutes of your time to watch.








The second video (found at this link) is a re-airing of this morning's Democracy Now.  The entire episode plays two of Martin Luther King's famous speeches (neither of which are the "I Have A Dream" Speech").  Both Speeches deal with King's stance on controversial issues (at the time).  None the less, they show King's dedication to social justice and standing up for what is right.