22nd Feb2012

Black History Presents – Daily knowledge: W.E.B. Du Bois (Day 22)

by Mr. Blair

W.E.B. Du Bois

 

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Born in western Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a tolerant community and experienced little racism as a child. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

 

Du Bois rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. Du Bois and his supporters opposed the Atlanta Compromise, an agreement crafted by Booker T. Washington which provided that Southern blacks would work and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic educational and economic opportunities. Instead, Du Bois insisted on full civil rights and increased political representation, which he believed would be brought about by the African-American intellectual elite. He referred to this group as the talented tenth and believed that African Americans needed the chances for advanced education to develop its leadership.

 

Racism was the main target of Du Bois‘s polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in education and employment. His cause included colored persons everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organize several Pan-African Congresses to free African colonies from European powers. Du Bois made several trips to Europe, Africa, and Asia. After World War I, he surveyed the experiences of American black soldiers in France and documented widespread bigotry in the United States military.

 

Du Bois was a prolific author. His collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk, was a seminal work in African-American literature; and his 1935 magnum opus Black Reconstruction in America challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that blacks were responsible for the failures of the Reconstruction era. He wrote the first scientific treatise in the field of sociology; and he published three autobiographies, each of which contains insightful essays on sociology, politics, and history. In his role as editor of the NAACP‘s journal The Crisis, he published many influential pieces. Du Bois believed that capitalism was a primary cause of racism, and he was generally sympathetic to socialist causes throughout his life. He was an ardent peace activist and advocated for nuclear disarmament. The United States‘ Civil Rights Act, embodying many of the reforms for which Du Bois had campaigned his entire life, was enacted one year after his death.

 

Category : African-American Awareness, Black People, Blair History Month, General, my people
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21st Feb2012

When the Best is Mediocre

by iSpit
(This article is excerpted and is not the complete article. Click Here to view complete article)
American education has problems, almost everyone is willing to concede, but many think those problems are mostly concentrated in our large urban school districts. In the elite suburbs, where wealthy and politically influential people tend to live, the schools are assumed to be world-class.
Unfortunately, what everyone knows is wrong. Even the most elite suburban school districts often produce results that are mediocre when compared with those of our international peers. Our best school districts may look excellent alongside large urban districts, the comparison state accountability systems encourage, but that measure provides false comfort. America’s elite suburban students are increasingly competing with students outside the United States for economic opportunities, and a meaningful assessment of student achievement requires a global, not a local, comparison.

 

We developed the Global Report Card (GRC) to facilitate such a comparison. The GRC enables users to compare academic achievement in math and reading between 2004 and 2007 for virtually every public school district in the United States with the average achievement in a set of 25 other countries with developed economies that might be considered our economic peers and sometime competitors. The main results are reported as percentiles of a distribution, which indicates how the average student in a district performs relative to students throughout the advanced industrialized world. A percentile of 60 means that the average student in a district is achieving better than 59.9 percent of the students in our global comparison group. (Readers can find all of the results of the Global Report Card at http://globalreportcard.org. The web site contains a full description of the method by which we calculated the results. For a summary, see the methodology sidebar.)
For the purposes of this article, we focus on the 2007 math results, although the GRC contains information for both math and reading between 2004 and 2007. We focus on 2007 because it is the most recent data set, and we focus on math because it is the subject that provides the best comparison across countries and is most closely correlated with economic growth. Readers should feel free to consult the GRC web site to find reading results as well as results for other years.

 

Results from Affluent Suburbs Nationwide

 

Affluent suburban districts may be outperforming their large urban neighbors, but they fail to achieve near the top of international comparisons (see Figure 1). White Plains, New York, in suburban Westchester County, is only at the 39th percentile in math relative to our global comparison group. Grosse Point, Michigan, outside of Detroit, is at the 56th percentile. Evanston, Illinois, the home of Northwestern University outside of Chicago, is at the 48th percentile in math. The average student in Montgomery County, Maryland, where many of the national government leaders send their children to school, is at the 50th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. The average student in Fairfax, Virginia, another suburban refuge for government leaders, is at the 49th percentile. Shaker Heights, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, is at the 50th percentile in math. The average student in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, is at the 66th percentile. Ladue, Missouri, a wealthy suburb of St. Louis, is at the 62nd percentile. And the average student in Plano, Texas, near Dallas, is at the 64th percentile in math relative to our global comparison group.

 

All of these communities are among the wealthiest in the United States. All are overwhelmingly white in their population. All of them are thought of as refuges from the dysfunction of our public school system. But the sad reality is that in none of them is the average student in the upper third of math achievement relative to students in other developed countries. Most of them are barely keeping pace with the average student in other developed countries, despite the fact that the comparison is to all students in the other countries, some of which have a per-capita gross domestic product that is almost half that of the United States. In short, many of what we imagine as our best school districts are mediocre compared with the education systems serving students in other developed countries.

 

Pockets of Excellence
While many affluent suburban districts have lower achievement than we might expect, some districts are producing very high achievement even when compared with that of students in other developed countries. For example, the average student in the Pelham school district in Massachusetts is at the 95th percentile in math. That means that if we were to relocate Pelham to another developed country in our comparison group, the average student in Pelham would outperform 95 percent of the students in math. That’s very impressive.
Of course, Pelham is a small district that is home to Amherst College, among other institutions of higher learning, and serves a rather select group of students. But not all college-town school districts are equally high achieving. As we have already seen, Evanston, Illinois, is at the 48th percentile in math in a global comparison. Palo Alto, California, the home of Stanford University, is at the 64th percentile. And the average student in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan, is at the 58th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. So, the 95th percentile math achievement in Pelham is outstanding, even for college towns.
Spring Lake, New Jersey, has a similarly impressive record of having the average student at the 91st percentile in math. It is a very small and affluent community on the New Jersey shore that has somehow escaped the influence of Snooki and The Situation. Waconda, Kansas, a small rural community, also is at the 91st percentile. Highland Park, Texas, an affluent community near Dallas, is at the 88th percentile.
Interestingly, of the top 20 U.S. public-school districts in math achievement, 7 are charter schools (some states treat charter schools as separate public-school districts). And most of the 13 traditional districts remaining are in rural communities rather than in a large suburban “refuge” from urban education ills.
Pools of Failure
In total, only 820 of the 13,636 public-school districts for which we have 2007 math results had average student achievement that would be among the top third of student performance in other developed countries. That is, 94 percent of all U.S. school districts have average math achievement below the 67th percentile. There aren’t that many truly excellent districts out there.
Of the 13,636 districts, 9,339, or 68 percent, have average student math achievement that is below the 50th percentile compared with that of the average student in other developed countries. Most of our large school districts are well below the 50th percentile. This is especially alarming, because these lower-performing large districts comprise a much greater share of the total student population than do the relatively small higher-performing districts.
The average student in the Washington, D.C., school district is at the 11th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. In Detroit, the average student is at the 12th percentile. In Milwaukee, the average student is at the 16th percentile. Cleveland is at the 18th percentile. The average student in Baltimore is at the 19th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. In Los Angeles, the average student is at the 20th percentile. The average student in Chicago is at the 21st percentile in math. Atlanta is at the 23rd percentile. The average student in New York City is at the 32nd percentile in math. And in Miami-Dade County, the average student is at the 33rd percentile in math.
Not 1 of the largest 20 school districts is above the 50th percentile in math relative to other developed countries. Those districts contain almost 5.2 million students or more than 10 percent of the country’s schoolchildren. The rare and small pockets of excellence in charter schools and rural communities are overwhelmed by large pools of failure.
No Refuge
The elites, the wealthy families that have a disproportionate influence on politics, clearly recognize the dysfunction of large urban school districts and have sought refuge in affluent suburban districts for their own children. But the reality is that there are relatively few pockets of excellence to which these families can flee.
In four states, there is not a single traditional district with average student achievement above the 50th percentile in math. In 17 states, there is not a single traditional district with average achievement in the upper third relative to our global comparison group. And apart from charter school districts,  in over half of the states, there are no more than three traditional districts in which the average achievement would be in the upper third.
The elites in those states have almost nowhere to find an excellent public education for their children. But state accountability systems and the desire to rationalize the lack of quality options have encouraged the elites to compare their affluent suburban districts to the large urban ones in their state. These inappropriate comparisons have falsely reassured them that their own school districts are doing well.
This false reassurance has also perhaps undermined the desire among the elites to engage in dramatic education reform. As long as the elites hold onto the belief that their own school districts are excellent, they have little desire to push for the kind of significant systemic reforms that might improve their districts as well as the large urban districts. They may wish the urban districts well and hope matters improve, but their taste for bold reform is limited by a false contentment with their own situation.
But the elites should not take comfort from the stronger performance of affluent suburban districts relative to large urban districts. As the Global Report Card reveals, even our best public-school districts are mediocre when compared with the achievement of students in a set of countries with developed economies.
Of course, the Global Report Card does not isolate the extent to which schools add or detract from student performance. Factors from student backgrounds, including their parents, communities, and individual characteristics, have a strong influence on achievement. But the GRC does tell us about the end result for student achievement of all of these factors, schools included. And that end result, even in our best districts, is generally disappointing.
Jay P. Greene is professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas and a fellow at the George W. Bush Institute. Josh B. McGee is vice president for public accountability initiatives at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
Category : News, World News
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19th Feb2012

Black History Presents – Daily knowledge: Hallie Quinn Brown (Day19)

by Mr. Blair

Hallie Quinn Brown

 

Hallie Quinn Brown was a educator, writer and activist. She was dean of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina from 1885 to 1887 and principal of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama from 1892 to 1893 under Frederick Douglass. She became a professor at Wilberforce in 1893, and was a frequent lecturer on African American issues and the temperance movement, speaking at the international Woman’s Christian Temperance Union conference in London in 1895 and representing the United States at the International Congress of Women in London in 1899. Brown was a founder of the Colored Woman’s League of Washington, D.C., which in 1894 merged into the National Association of Colored Women. Some of Brown’s works are Bits and Odds: A Choice Selection of Recitations, Lessons in Public Speaking, and Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction.

Category : African-American Awareness, Black People, Blair History Month, General, my people
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16th Feb2012

Black History Presents – Daily knowledge: Rita Dove (Day 16)

by Mr. Blair

Rita Dove

 

Rita Frances Dove is a poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now popularly known as “United States Poet Laureate”. She was the first, and to date only, African-American to be appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 out of the previous “consultant in poetry” position (1937-86). Dove also received an appointment as “special consultant in poetry” for the Library of Congress’s bicentennial year from 1999-2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004-2006. Some of Dove’s works are Fifth Sunday, The Poet’s Worlf, and Through the Ivory Gate.

Category : African-American Awareness, Black People, Blair History Month, General, my people
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08th Feb2012

Think Before You Tweet: Why Two Teenagers Were Refused Entry To The U.S.

by iSpit

Two teenagers were refused entry to the United States after a series of tweets were taken somewhat out of context. Another reminder to think before you tweet.

Amid the funny wigs and the undue pomp in the traditional British courtroom, it seems that our distant American cousins fail to share our often-poor taste in humour.

When one teenager tweeted his friend claiming that he was going to “destroy America”, it appears that U.S. authorities took the public message somewhat too seriously.

At least the other teenager did not respond by joking about “diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up”. Oh, wait.

To their surprise, however, when they arrived at L.A. International, they were not only detained and questioned at length by U.S. authorities, but were swiftly — after a night in the cells, naturally — plonked back on a plane back to England, and barred from entering the United States again.

One U.S. Homeland Security agent allegedly told the hapless teenager: “You’ve really f***ed up with that tweet, boy.” At least on this side of the pond, one can bet that Her Majesty’s finest would not be so rude.

The famous quote goes: “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” In this case, it could not be closer to the truth.

Just as something classified as “sick” can describe both a good, and a rather vomitous situation in English slang, so can the word “destroy”. And “crumpet”, come to think of it.

The two teenagers will not be allowed to return to the United States without prior authorisation from the U.S. Embassy in London.

It’s not the first time a Twitter user has fallen foul of the law, however. In 2010, Paul Chambers fell foul of Section 127 of the UK’s Communications Act 2003, which describes how one tweet was of “indecent, obscene, or menacing character”. He only threatened to blow up an airport in a fit of anger.

But little did the authorities realise was the scale of the reaction by the wider Twitterverse, including some high-profile users. In amidst a hashtag revolution, over 5,000 users had taken to make joke-’threats’ of their own.

When reporters asked whether the local police force would prosecute the lot of them, they reportedly replied with a rather succinct: “No.”

It just goes to show that even seemingly innocent descriptors can be taken wholly out of context. Anyone who has been through the U.S. border will know it is wise not to make any smart cracks, witty remarks, or frankly show any emotion for that matter.

It nevertheless serves as a reminder to think very carefully before you tweet.

Category : General
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06th Feb2012

Mumia Abu Jamal – Of Idiots & Sages

by iSpit

Prison Radio announces that it will continue to record and distribute Mumia Abu-Jamal’s radio essays in the face of State censorship and State sponsored torture. Mumia is being kept in solitary in SCI Mahanoy’s dungeon. Its restrictions and conditions belie its modern construction. The defeat for the State, having to openly declare that Mumia will live, and the fact that they can no longer legally execute Mumia, has meant a severe backlash. After his transfer off of death row, Mumia was thrown in the hole at SCI Mahanoy.

The prison administration excuse that “paperwork” is holding up his transfer to general population in this medium security prison is transparent. The disinformation is part of the strategy to create confusion and disorient. Make no mistake. These conditions are clearly designed torture. They are being enacted to elicit Mumia and our silence.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is being held in extremely repressive conditions. And like thousands of prisoners, residents of solitary confinement and isolation units in every hole in every prison across the country, Mumia is being subject to draconian, dehumanizing and brutal conditions. He is chained in leg, waist and wrist irons, behind Plexiglas during visits. Subject to strip searches before and after visits. Unable to walk freely. Having bits of paper to write notes on, with a rubber flex pen. No shelves, no books. Limited access to new reports, letters delayed. Resitricted visiting. Lights on 24hrs a day. Only one brief phone call to his wife. No access to adequate food or commissary.
“Solitary Confinement is simply torture.  It has been well known for a long time.  It is savagery Mass incaceration is an incredible crime.  All of these things are a true international scandal.   He is a striking case, but it is far more general.  Maximum security prisons in the United States are horrendous. They make Guantanamo look like a vacation resort. Same with Death Row.  Executions in the United States are far beyond the norm. There are very few countries except ones that we would prefer not to mention that use the death penalty either at all or anything like the U.S. does. Noam Chomsky, Professor MIT, Cambridge Mass.

Of Idiots ~ and Sages

 

[col. Writ 1/11/12] © ’12 m.a.jamal

Noam Chomsky, for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

 

Prison and government officials are trying to censor and silence Mumia Abu-Jamal.  I stand as one of many Americans who believe that there is tremendous value in his voice being heard.  I and others will fight to make sure that both his voice and his body are free.

 

Of Idiots and Sages

 

How much is your child worth?

 

How much is your grandchild worth?

 

These are not trick questions.  They arise from the news that North Carolina

 

Recently announced cash compensation to thousands of survivors of their State sterilization program that ran from 1929 to 1974 ~ and astonishing 45 years!

 

North Carolina was but one of many mostly Southern states that sterilized people whom it considered as ‘defective’.  In this, they were supported by authorities as august as the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in its now-infamous Buck vs. Bell (1927) decision, found that a state could properly sterilize its citizens, and citizens had no constitutional right to oppose it, for, in the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Three generations of imbeciles are enough!”

 

A North Carolina task force recommended payment of $50,000 for each survivor.

 

North Carolina shouldn’t be the whipping boy here, for such practices took place nationally with Federal government support.  Historians and scholars  Mary Frances Berry and John Blassingame, in their 1982 work,  ‘Long Memory’”  The Black Experience in America” (NY Oxford University Press) tell us that as late as the 1970’s, the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare were “forcing 100,000to 150,000 people to be sterilized annually”! {p.353} Over 90% of these people were Black.

 

This horrific state practice and the U.S. Supreme Court’s chilling reasoning in support thereof, gives us some insight into how social prejudices and attitudes percolate into all sections of society – and despite their self-evident madness are seen by seemingly enlightened sectors as perfectly reasonable –only to be later tarnished as repellent with the passage of time.

 

If a state, or nation, could sterilize its own so called ‘citizens’, deny people the right and ability to have children, what is such a state (or nation) but a dictatorship of arrogance and power?

 

One day, perhaps sooner than we suppose, we shall look back at the phenomenon of mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex as proof of a mad society.

 

Perhaps such a future state will pay reparations —(oops) …er, I mean compensation to their survivors in 75 or 80 years.

 

If any survive.

 

–© 12 maj (Mumia Abu-Jamal

 

Noam Chomsky for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Category : Audio, Interviews
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03rd Feb2012

Did Chinese Security Firm Snag Too Many American Security Secrets Before The Barn Door Closed?

by iSpit

Just how much of Symantec’s security code does and has Huawei had access to? And how much of a risk does that present to American interests?

Let me be upfront about this: I do not trust this Huawei company. On the one hand, they could be like any other enterprise, trying to sell their products all across the world. On the other hand, they have ties to the Chinese military and keep trying to insert themselves into America’s networking infrastructure.

A few years ago, they tried to buy supercomputer technology by acquiring the assets of 3Leaf Systems. They tried to acquire networking giant 3Com back in 2008. Then, in 2010, they tried toinsert themselves into the Sprint Nextel network.

In each of these cases, surprisingly wise heads in the U.S. government interceded and prevented the company’s incursion into our security infrastructure.

Now, you need to understand that while Huawei could be just another technology company, it probably isn’t. Their CEO is a former Chinese military officer, the company has known ties to the Chinese military, and — as we sadly know — there’s some concern about China’s behavior when it comes to the United States.

Category : News, Technology, World News
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03rd Feb2012

Black History Presents – Daily Knowledge: Sterling Allen Brown (Day 3)

by Mr. Blair

Sterling Allen Brown

 

Sterling Allen Brown was a professor, author of works on folklore, poet and literary critic. Some of his works are Southern Road, Harcourt, Brace and company, and Negro Poetry. In the early 1980s his Collected Poems won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for the best book of poetry. He was interested chiefly in black culture of the Southern United States.

Category : African-American Awareness, Black People, Blair History Month, General
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31st Jan2012

Mumia Abu Jamal – Rosa Our Rosa

by iSpit


‘


Rosa Our Rosa by Mumia Abu-Jamal

 

For Mumia Abu-Jamal, I am Goldie, his daughter.

 

For Mumia Abu-Jamal, I am Frances Goldin.

 

 

 

We gather today over 140 years after the birthday of Rosa Luxemburg –

 

The brilliant thinker, writer, activist and revolutionary who’s memory still burns bright around the world.

 

As I’ve thought of her this season I wondered – what would she think of the Occupy Wall Street movement here in the U.S.?

 

Having read some of her political writings and her journal entries from prison, I think I have a taste of her thinking. I think she would reply, in her typical boldness:

 

“This is a movement?  If anything it is the beginnings of a movement; for movements lead to revolutions, or, betrayed, they lead to apparent reforms that often end up in setbacks, especially for the working class and the oppressed.

 

That’s because capitalism co-opts movements; they buy off leaders, and when that doesn’t work, they bring the iron hand out from under the velvet glove – and crush them. “

 

Wow – I’d reply, and add: But it’s actually a leaderless movement of mostly unemployed students.

 

To which Rosa would say something like:

 

”Aha! I see perhaps two possible outcomes; a) the bourgeois media depicts the entire movement as miscreant, sex friends or drug addicts (and then they crush them); or b) the police spies among them, identify key personalities and offer them lucrative jobs in high finance or some other sector, and once bought off, use them as a wedge against their former comrades. “

 

Wow, Rosa – that’s a pretty grim picture, I’d say. And she’d answer:

 

“It’s called class war, brother – not a dinner party! And as many of these activists are unemployed, capital can spare a few shekels to buy off the most advanced layer. “

 

And, finally, I’d say: Rosa – why are you so done on students? These kids are doing some remarkable things! “

 

And Rosa would reply:

 

“Students can spark a movement, as they’ve done all around the world. But can they carry it through? Can they engage the workers? The teachers, the tradesmen, the postal unions, the transit workers – if they can’t, then they can’t really top into a social force that has the potential to stage mass strikes that shuts down production – and that’s all Wall Street – - or any capitalist – - really cares about!“

 

Me again: “That sounds good, Rosa, but these students“- -

 

To which she’d interrupt:

 

“Jamal – c’mon – don’t be a dombkopf!  Students – schmudents! First of all, if they’re graduated, they’re not students anymore – they’re unemployed workers! Secondly, years ago, when you were a young guy, there were vast student’s movements – anti-war, pro-black-rights, pro-prisoners’ rights, anti-imperialists, etc., etc. Where are they now? Didn’t they get caught off? “ – - “Oh, and aren’t many of them these kids’ parents? “

 

To which I’d shut up.

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this mental exercise, done with the highest regard and respect for a socialist intellectual and revolutionary: Rosa Luxemburg.

 

I chose this topic which may not be immediately familiar to you in Germany, which is, in the United States, a subject of endless fascination by much of the population, because it has taken the country by storm.

 

In the beginning of September, 2011, no such movement existed. But the events of Tahir Square in Egypt, the rising unemployment which left many college students unemployed, and the growing social inequality in American society, as shown by the obese well-being of Wall Street and the bankers, converged in a movement to show deep social dissent with this state of affairs.

 

When young people, most using cell phones and other instant media, began calling for a protest gathering at the iconic bull sculpture known worldwide as the symbol of the rampaging markets of New York’s Wall Street, hundreds, then thousands swarmed into the streets.

 

And, like that, a Movement was born.

 

Within days the call was met by crushes of students, most angry at the bottomless greed of the economic elites – the 1%.

 

They started the „We Are the 99%!“Chant, and again, within days, similar occupations sprang in Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles – - and beyond.

 

Within weeks, over 100 city centers, home of the moneyed elites, were occupied.

 

But what really kicked them into high gear, was when cops in New York, blithely sprayed chemicals into the faces of young women doing nothing more than marching with an anti-capitalist banner. Carried via YouTube, it reached millions, and inspired more to join the protests.

 

Rosa, I’m convinced, would’ve loved it!

 

As I write this year’s message from prison, it’s the first time I’ve done so without death sentence.

 

That’s entirely due to you – and people like you – who have stood with me through thick and thin.

 

Danke – viel viel Danke – to ALL of you brothers and sisters in Germany, in France, in Spain, in England, in Canada, in India, and yes – - in the United States for making this happen.

 

As you know, the struggle continues.

 

This battle ain’t over until we all are free!

 

Mao used to say “The journey of a thousand leagues begins with one step.“

 

We have taken this step.

 

We are one step closer to freedom!

 

Lang lebe Red Rosa!

 

FREIHEIT ! Free the Move Prisoners! Free Leonard Peltier!

 

Dismantle the prison-industrial complex!

 

Meine Freunden – Bewegung!

 

Aus der Todeszelle, hier sprecht

 

Mumia Abu-Jamal

 

Auf Wiedersehen!

 

Goldie for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

 

Frances Goldin for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

 

Prison and government officials are trying to censor and silence Mumia Abu-Jamal. I stand as one of many Americans who believe that there is tremendous value in his voice being heard. I and others will fight to make sure that both his voice and his body are free.

Category : Audio, Interviews
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19th Jan2012

Internet Access Isn’t A Human Right, Says Google VP

by iSpit

Google VP and Internet evangelist Dr. Vinton Cerf writes in the New York Times that Internet access isn’t a right – it’s just a tool towards enabling free speech.

Dr. Vinton Cerf, a Google VP and its chief Internet evangelist, took to the pages of the New York Times late last week with a opinion piece provocatively titled “Internet Access Is Not a Human Right.” But if the title doesn’t immediately make you close the browser tab, Cerf provides a philosophical look at the case against the concept.In the wake of the so-called “Arab Spring,” the role social media played in enabling protesters to gather and exercise their human right of free speech sparked a lot of discussion on the necessity of Internet access. In fact, France and Estonia have already officially recognized Internet access as an essential human right.

But, as Cerf writes:

“[That] argument, however well meaning, misses a larger point: technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself. There is a high bar for something to be considered a human right. Loosely put, it must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives, like freedom from torture or freedom of conscience. It is a mistake to place any particular technology in this exalted category, since over time we will end up valuing the wrong things.”

To use Cerf’s own example, it used to be that you needed a horse to make a living. But the related human right was the right to earn a living, not to own a horse. And it’s the same for the Internet: technology enables and enhances the right to free speech, but it’s just a tool towards that end.

The argument for Internet access as a civil right is stronger, Cerf writes, but runs into the same problems. Civil rights are “conferred upon us by law,” as Cerf puts it, and the United States already provides for “universal service” for things like telephones, electricity, and by extension, the Internet.

But all of that misses the point, he writes:

“Yet all these philosophical arguments overlook a more fundamental issue: the responsibility of technology creators themselves to support human and civil rights. The Internet has introduced an enormously accessible and egalitarian platform for creating, sharing and obtaining information on a global scale. As a result, we have new ways to allow people to exercise their human and civil rights.”

Rather than letting law or judicial bodies set the pace, Cerf says that engineers and technologists have an obligation to both empower their users and to protect them from harm from viruses and the like. In other words, there’s a civic responsibility that goes alongside technological innovation.

In conclusion, Cerf writes:

“Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition. It must be done with an appreciation for the civil and human rights that deserve protection — without pretending that access itself is such a right.”

Heady stuff, to be sure. And given Dr. Cerf’s role as evangelist, it’s a lot more clear where Google’s commitment to transparency and user protection comes from (I’ll leave the discussion of how well Google fulfills that commitment up to the comments).

This isn’t the first time Cerf has touched on topics of Internet governance and the future of the web, but his New York Times op-ed was his clearest statement of intent yet. It’s not nearly as controversial a response as it seems, but I’m wondering what the industry response is going to be, if anything at all.

Category : News, Stupititity All Stars, Technology, World News
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8 Comm
19th Jan2012

America Has Lost A Generation Of Black Boys

by iSpit

There is no longer a need for dire predictions, hand-wringing, or apprehension about losing a generation of black boys. It is too late. In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we have lost a generation of young black men. The question that remains is will we lose the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of black boys hereafter to the streets, negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death.

     Most young black men in the United States don’t graduate from high school. Only 35% of black male students graduated from high school in Chicago and only 26% in New York City, according to a 2006 report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education. Only a few black boys who finish high school actually attend college, and of those few black boys who enter college, nationally, only 22% of them finish college.
     Young black male students have the worst grades, the lowest test scores, and the highest dropout rates of all students in the country. When these young black men don’t succeed in school, they are much more likely to succeed in the nation’s criminal justice and penitentiary system. And it was discovered recently that even when a young black man graduates from a U.S. college, there is a good chance that he is from Africa, the Caribbean or Europe, and not the United States.
     Black men in prison in America have become as American as apple pie. There are more black men in prisons and jails in the United States (about 1.1 million) than there are black men incarcerated in the rest of the world combined. This criminalization process now starts in elementary schools with black male children as young as six and seven years old being arrested in staggering numbers according to a 2005 report, Education on Lockdown by the Advancement Project.
     The rest of the world is watching and following the lead of America. Other countries including England, Canada, Jamaica, Brazil and South Africa are adopting American social policies that encourage the incarceration and destruction of young black men. This is leading to a world-wide catastrophe. But still, there is no adequate response from the American or global black community.
     Worst of all is the passivity, neglect and disengagement of the black community concerning the future of our black boys. We do little while the future lives of black boys are being destroyed in record numbers. The schools that black boys attend prepare them with skills that will make them obsolete before, and if, they graduate. In a strange and perverse way, the black community, itself, has started to wage a kind of war against young black men and has become part of this destructive process.
     Who are young black women going to marry? Who is going to build and maintain the economies of black communities? Who is going to anchor strong families in the black community? Who will young black boys emulate as they grow into men? Where is the outrage of the black community at the destruction of its black boys? Where are the plans and the supportive actions to change this? Is this the beginning of the end of the black people in America?
     The list of those who have failed young black men includes our government, our foundations, our schools, our media, our black churches, our black leaders, and even our parents. Ironically, experts say that the solutions to the problems of young black men are simple and relatively inexpensive, but they may not be easy, practical or popular. It is not that we lack solutions as much as it is that we lack the will to implement these solutions to save black boys. It seems that government is willing to pay billions of dollars to lock up young black men, rather than the millions it would take to prepare them to become viable contributors and valued members of our society.
Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young black men:
Short term
1) Teach all black boys to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education. 2) Provide positive role models for black boys.
3) Create a stable home environment for black boys that includes contact with their fathers.
4) Ensure that black boys have a strong spiritual base.
5) Control the negative media influences on black boys.
6) Teach black boys to respect all girls and women.
Long term
1) Invest as much money in educating black boys as in locking up black men.
2) Help connect black boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future.
3) Create high expectations and help black boys live into those high expectations.
4) Build a positive peer culture for black boys.
5) Teach black boys self-discipline, culture and history.
6) Teach black boys and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning.

-Phillip Jackson

Category : Do The Knowledge, Exclusive, Freeing Slaves, News
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7 Comm
28th Dec2011

HTC Android Phones Are Being Banned From The US Next Year

by iSpit

Whoa. Apple just won a big court victory against HTC that could force HTC to stop selling its Android phones in the United States. The United States International Trade Commission ruled that HTC was infringing on an Apple patent that effects HTC Android devices running Android 1.6 to 2.2.

The devices that may be banned from being sold in the US is basically a who’s who list of Android phones: Droid Incredible, Evo 4G, T-Mobile G2, Nexus One and a bunch of older Android devices. The patent that the courts ruled HTC was infringing on (#5,946,647) is potentially a big one. According to Fortune, who took a deep look at the specific patent, it works like this:

When an iPhone receives a message that contains a phone number or an address — e-mail, Web or street — those bits of data are automatically highlighted, underlined and turned into clickable links.

Click on the phone number, and the iPhone asks if you want to dial it. Click on the Web address, and it opens in Safari. Click on the street address, and Maps will display it.

That’s huge, not only because it’s an important feature in smartphones but because it could mean Apple could go on to attack other Android phone makers because it’s the OS that’s infringing the patent, not the hardware. However, if HTC Android phones removed that feature (unlikely) or implement it in a different way (which we expect HTC to do), they could keep on selling. And that’s pretty much what HTC expects to do, HTC, which has responded to this decision with rainbow colored unicorn tears, reached out to us with this statement:

This decision is a win for HTC and we are gratified that the commission affirmed the judge’s determination on the ‘721 and ‘983 patents, and reversed its decision on the ‘263 patent and partially on the ‘647 patent. We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it. However, the ‘647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon.

Yes, the patent in question is a fixable problem but I’d hardly categorize the court‘s decision as a win for HTC. If HTC doesn’t fix this issue however, the ban on HTC Android phones in the US is set to take into effect on April 19, 2012. That’s not winning.

There are still some real moves left for HTC to make to avoid the import ban (a Presidential veto is an option) but this is sure setting up for a major stateside war (thermonuclear, even) between Apple and Android phone makers much like with what’s happening with Apple and Samsung Tablets in Europe and Australia.

Category : apple, iphone, mobile, News, World News
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5 Comm
27th Dec2011

International Test Scores, Irrelevant Policies

by iSpit

Perhaps no research finding has influenced education policy more, or been subject to greater misinterpretation, than our ranking on international mathematics and science tests.

Previous critiques of international comparisons have focused largely on flaws in sampling and the limitations of test scores as a measure of the quality of a nation‘s education system. These problems are still relevant. Equally important, however, are the conclusions drawn from the comparisons, even assuming their technical validity.

 

For decades, our rhetoric and education policies have been based on the premise that the ranking of U.S. students on international tests will lead to a decline in our nation‘s economic competitiveness and a shortage of American scientists and engineers.

 

It is ironic, then, that given the rhetoric and policies surrounding international test-score comparisons-much of it unsupported by evidence-little attention is paid to two of the most powerful findings of these comparisons: the strong negative effects on student performance of both family poverty and concentrations of poverty in schools.
Instead, we draw conclusions from the international studies that are not supported either by the findings of these studies or by research more generally.

 

“First, our rhetoric has assumed that test-score rankings are linked to a country’s economic competitiveness, yet the data for industrialized countries consistently show this assumption to be unwarranted. For example, the World Economic Forum’s 2010-2011 global-competitiveness report ranks the United States fourth, exceeded only by Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore. Many of the countries that ranked high on test scores rank lower than the United States on competitiveness-for example, South Korea, No. 22, and Finland, No. 7.

 

Although we cannot predict future economic trends, we do know that test-score rankings are a poor basis upon which to understand these trends or to know what to do about them. The reason is clear: Other variables, such as outsourcing to gain access to lower-wage employees, the climate and incentives for innovation, tax rates, health-care and retirement costs, the extent of government subsidies or partnerships, protectionism, intellectual-property enforcement, natural resources, and exchange rates overwhelm mathematics and science scores in predicting economic competitiveness.
Second, we assume that U.S. students‘ performance on math and science tests is reflected in a shortage of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. The data, however, give a quite-different picture.

 

The fact is the United States has both a large pool of students with the academic credentials needed to enter science and engineering fields and an ample supply-and sometimes an oversupply (for example, of chemistry Ph.D.s)-to meet labor-market demand. That is the case even though slippage occurs between the number of graduates in science and engineering and the number who work in these fields, often because some graduates choose, for example, careers in finance, investment banking, management, or entrepreneurial activity. When companies claim that they need to hire from other countries because they cannot find qualified U.S. graduates, it is more likely that they cannot find them at the wages they would prefer to pay and find it cheaper to outsource. That is not the fault of our international test-score ranking or the training of U.S. scientists and engineers.

 

Moreover, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections show large variations in job opportunities among science and engineering fields. For example, employment in computer-software engineering; biological science; and biomedical, civil, and environmental engineering is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations, while growth in computer programming; chemical and materials science; and electrical, mechanical, and marine engineering is expected to be slow.

 

Although mathematics and physics are expected to have faster-than-average growth, the size of the market for those who seek basic-research positions is quite small.
Of the 30 occupations in the United States with the fastest rate of growth, only nine are in science and engineering fields, and 16 of the 30 do not require a college degree, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections. More important, of the 30 occupations expected to provide the largest numerical growth in jobs, only two (both in computer fields) are in science and engineering, and 23 do not require a college degree.

 

If we consider only occupations requiring a college degree or above, 15 of the top 30 fastest-growing occupations are in science and engineering; however, only eight (six in computer fields) of the 30 occupations expected to provide the largest numerical growth in jobs are in science and engineering.

 

At the same time that our rhetoric has linked test scores, economic competitiveness, and shortages of scientists and engineers, our education policies have been dominated by test-based accountability, apparently with the expectation that accountability requirements would close the achievement gap, raise our ranking on international comparisons, and lead to a stronger economy and an increased supply of scientists and engineers. The assumption that accountability requirements are a solution to our education problems is as incongruous as our rhetoric about the economy and scientists and engineers.

 

Bob Dahm Research accumulated over the years, analyzed in a 2011 National Research Council report, shows that accountability policies have not resulted in meaningful improvements in student learning and, in many instances, have created perverse incentives that weaken it. Yet, we continue to mandate accountability requirements that are not used-and in some cases are specifically discouraged-by the very countries whose test scores we most admire, including Finland and Japan.

 

At the same time, we have ignored the strongest evidence emerging from the international tests: the adverse effects of poverty and concentrations of poverty in schools on student performance in all countries.

 

Although countries can exacerbate or mitigate the impact of poverty through their social, fiscal, and education policies, and although some students do overcome the odds, the fact is the gap between high-poverty and more-affluent students remains a fundamental problem in virtually every country.

 

The 2009 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, findings for member-countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that, on average, close to 60 percent of the difference in reading performance between schools is accounted for by the socioeconomic status of the students attending the schools. In the United States, socioeconomic status accounts for close to 80 percent of the difference.

 

That gap is reflected throughout the students‘ lives. It is specifically the low-income populations and regions that are underrepresented in mathematics, science, and engineering fields, and in professions generally-and it is these populations that are at the most severe disadvantage in competing for jobs in a global economy. This is part of a much broader set of problems faced by high-poverty populations. We have one of the largest divides between rich and poor in the industrialized world. One-fifth of our children live in poverty; millions of these children are concentrated in high-poverty schools-a setting that greatly compounds the problems of poverty.

 

Our policy deliberations work at the fringes of these realities, with remedies that are not focused on the basic problem of poverty. The problem will not be addressed by implementing tougher accountability requirements. Nor will it be addressed by rhetoric about mathematics and science scores, economic competitiveness, and generic shortages of scientists and engineers.

 

Poverty, not international test-score comparisons, is the most critical problem to be addressed by our public policies. Unfortunately, our recent political polarization over budgetary priorities does not leave much room for optimism.
 
Iris C. Rotberg is a research professor of education policy at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development, in Washington. She is also the editor of Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform (Rowman & Littlefield Education, second edition, 2010), which describes education reforms in 16 countries.
Category : Politics As Usual, program, Stupititity All Stars, Technology, World News
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3 Comm
21st Dec2011

Study: Kids Exposed To Secondhand Smoke Miss More School

by iSpit

Children who live with smokers miss more school due to illness than those who live in households with non-smokers, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers analyzed data from the 2005 National Health Interview Survey that tracked, among other things, how many days of school children aged 6 to11 missed and the reason for their absence.
They found children living with one or more smokers in the home missed one to two more days of school per year on average, than those who lived with non-smokers.  The research suggests that families could reduce absenteeism by 24 to 34 % if smoking was eliminated from their households.

 

According to the study, about one third of children in the United States live with a smoker. Among children aged 3 to 11, at least 56% have detectable levels of a chemical called serum cotinine, an indication of tobacco smoke exposure. Cotinine is a breakdown of nicotine and can be measured by analyzing levels in the blood, urine or saliva. Researchers say this establishes a link between household smoking and two specific respiratory illnesses.

 

“Kids living with people smoking in the home were more likely to have ear infections and chest colds,” Dr. Douglas Levy, the study’s principal investigator and Assistant in Health Care Policy at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy said. “Among kids who were living with smokers, a quarter to one-third of the days they missed from school can be attributed to the fact that they live with someone who smokes in the home.”

 

The study found that having multiple smokers in the home resulted in more  illnesses reported and days of school missed. For example, a child living with 2 or more adult smokers had more ear infections- three or more-in a year, than a child living with no smokers or even just one smoker.

 

An increase in illness was not the only consequence smoking at homr. Levy says there is a financial burden as well because parents or other caregivers must take off work to care for sick children.

 

“When kids are home from school, particularly young kids, the cost overall is $227 million dollars per year. All due to the extra days that we see kids missing school because of secondhand smoke exposure,” said Levy.

 

Adults in non-smoking households were more educated, had higher incomes and were more likely to be Hispanic the study found. Homes with 2 or more smokers also had higher incomes but were more often white. About half the kids in the study that lived with a smoker were from low-income households Levy said. His advice to parents? “If you are a smoker do not smoke around your kids whether it be at home or in the car. Even better advice is to try to quit smoking.”

The study was not without limitations. Children over 12 were excluded from the study because of the possibility that exposure could be due to their own smoking. And study authors acknowldege their measure of tobacco smoke exposure was not precise and they were not able to measure exposure that might have happened outside of the home.

Category : News
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1 Comm
12th Dec2011

Soul Plane: Tyler Perry Buys American Airlines; Changes Name To African-American Airlines

by iSpit

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DALLAS –   Tyler Perry reportedly made an offer to buy American Airlines.  They accepted.  The new airline:  African-American Airlines.

The Texas-based AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, announced that the company filed petitions for Chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, “in order to achieve a cost and debt structure that is industry competitive and thereby assure its long-term viability and ability to continue delivering a world-class travel experience for its customers.”

WWN has learned that wealthy actor-director Tyler Perry has made an attractive offer for American Airlines.  The offer, said to be near $5 billion dollars, was quickly accepted by the airline.

“Mr. Perry made a bold and brilliant move… he is the smartest mogul in the country,” said a source close to American Airlines.  ”No other businessman would have the guts to try to bail out the biggest airline in the United States.”

Perry, the creator of the “Madea” character and the “House of Payne” sitcom, reportedly plans to rename American Airlines – African-American Airlines.  The new Perry run airline will be targeted to African-American passengers, but industry experts say that many white, asian and latino passengers will want to fly the airline, “just to be cool.”

Sources close to American Airlines said the sale to Perry is in the best interest of  the company and its shareholders.

Perry said he will not only be the CEO of the new airline, but he also will be the CFO, the COO, the CIO, the director of human sources and, of course, he will pilot many of the AAA flights.

American said it is operating normal flight schedules, honoring tickets and reservations, and making normal refunds and exchanges – during the transition period.

Perry reportedly said he will slowly implement new changes.  ”I want every flight to be a positive experience for all passengers and I hope to turn every flight into a morality play of sorts.”

How will Perry turn a flight into a morality play?  ”He hasn’t figured that out yet, but there will be a Madea character on every flight,” said Perry’s limo driver.

This will be Perry’s first airline, but sources say he plans to buy an airline every year for the next twenty years.

Category : #FunniestThingYou'reGonnaSeeAllDay, Comedy, News, World News
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2 Comm
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