No one could make sense (see comments below) as to why K-Rod pitched to Jeter last night. The mayor was very visible in prime seats at the game. Could it be his visions of a Soviet takeover of the school system clouded his world view? from the nydaily news forums
BREAKING NEWS: The Mets players have just released their 2009 theme song. K-Rod is the lead singer. Here's a little teaser. "The K is for Kool Aide, The K is for Kool Aide, The Kool Aide Jerry makes us drink before each Game!" Jerry you had me at sympath. with all the injuries. Now you've got me at WTF is wrong with you dude. I really think that little stunt he pulled by trying fake an int walk threw K Rod off a little as he started over throwing. You pitch to Jeter , by throwing him a strk with Mar. up next. What if Jeter slaps that ball down the right field line for a double. Then you have K Rod throw 2 more pitches 6ft outside. What if K Rod throws a wild pitch or balks or both? Omar last year you were gutless and classless about how you let Randolph go. But now is not the time to be worrying about people's feelings. Jerry Manuel needs to be fired today!!! Period. Mets Fans, I said this earlier but guys really need to protest at Citi. Tonite's game was unbelievable. Wow.. Just Wow.
Mayoral Control Foils Soviet Plot, June 26, 2009 (GBN News): A shadowy group of former Soviet officials is quietly poised to take over the NY City school system if Mayoral control is not renewed, according to a senior City Hall official. The official told GBN News that it was this plot Mayor Bloomberg was referring to yesterday when he warned that the loss of Mayoral control would “revive the Soviet Union”. More chilling, however, is that this group sees the school system as only the first in a series of dominoes, culminating in a complete Communist takeover of the US. Mayor Bloomberg is said to feel that he is the only political figure in a position to foil this plot, by holding the line at the city schools. In fact, says the official, the entire Mayoral control battle was never about Mr. Bloomberg himself, but over nothing less than the survival of the free world. In the same vein, the Mayor was quoted as having justified his overturning of term limits by telling his aides, “Sometimes you have to destroy democracy in order to save it........”
“If the Senate passes something that differs by one word or more,” he warned on Thursday, “it is saying to the city: ‘We want to resurrect the Soviet Union. We want to bring back chaos.’ ” In February, he said, “I think that there’d be riots in the streets.” Reverting to the old law would give more influence to the borough presidents, who would control five of the seven seats on the board. The mayor would be able to name only two board members, but would probably be able to persuade at least two borough presidents to appoint members favorable to the mayor’s policies.
A rally on June 28, 2009 by members of the Parent Commission and their supporters to counter a rally planned by the Mayor Bloomberg and his allies to try to force the NY State Senate's hand to accept Mayoral control. Protesters were not allowed to attend or come within a certain distance of the school entrance. from: gotham schools. The press event was held in a courtyard inside East Harlems PS 57. Audible throughout were shouts from two contingents of protesters kept outside the schoolhouse gates. Several dozen mayoral control critics railed against Bloomberg's school policies under the stony eye of a cadre of police officers. We didnt want this event to go unremarked, and we didn't, said Leonie Haimson, a member of the Parent Commission on School Governance, which is sending a group of parents to Albany tomorrow morning to lobby for changes to mayoral control in the senates deliberations. The mayor is using scare tactics to cram the Assembly bill down the senates throat, she said.A smaller number of mayoral control supporters was organized by the lobbying group Learn NY, but most declined to provide their names or why they thought the issue was important. from: under assault If Bloombergs opinions are so popular with the city, why did he exit the back door and not face the protesters in the front of the school? The press conference was clandestine, spur-of-the-moment, and for invited guests only. That says it all. If New Yorkers go along with this stunt, theyre not doing their homework on this guy and all his collaborators - which include the UFT/Unity management, the city council members who paved the way for a third term against the will of the people (in 2 referendums, no less), the governor, and whomever this billionaire mayor has paid off to smooth his way. How corrupt does it have to get before New Yorkers wake up and see his serving corporate interests and not theirs? The source for the cogent passage that the gentlemen in the blue tee shirt was reading Say no to sugar daddy Bloomberg
While Bloomberg is claiming that test scores are rising, the questions asked on these tests are classified and confidential. These test questions have no correlation to college admissions, employment opportunities or business opportunities. Blacks are witnessing a public relations gimmick. Trades are not taught in local public schools. New York must import white artisans. Black history and culture, music and art are missing from the curriculum. Black teachers are becoming dinosaurs. Uniformed services in New York City look like the top of a snow-capped mountain. If Blacks had any knowledge of legal history, Indian history and the origins of the military-industrial complex, they would know that Blacks are retreating back to Plessy v. Ferguson. Unfortunately, the Black colony is a morontocracy. Mentacide has set in.
from ednotes online. While a vocal, unbought force was there to counter this exercise in fear mongering propaganda, Randi paid homage to Mike
Protest Bloomberg/Weingarten Pro-Mayoral Control Sunday Weingarten, Patterson, Bloomberg and others will be holding a pro-mayoral control rally Sunday in Harlem. GEM, ICE, Parent Commission and others will be there to say: REAL CHANGE to Mayoral Dictatorship -- OR LET THE LAW SUNSET! Leonie Haimson on the nyc public school parents blog REAL CHANGE to Mayoral Dictatorship -- OR LET THE LAW SUNSET! Two stories today – about how the Mayor and his supporters are fear-mongering, in an attempt to convince the public that “chaos” and “confusion” will reign supreme if the law is allowed to sunset Tuesday night. See today’s NY Times, and the Daily News– which make it clear that these predictions of disaster are to try to force the Senate’s hand into acceding into the Mayor’s demands and accept the Assembly bill unchanged. As Bloomberg has warned, if they try to change one word in the Silver/Padavan bill there will be riots in the street. Nonsense! Remember how chaotic all the changes the school system have been under this administration? The destruction of the districts to make regions, the elimination of the regions to make SSO’s, the chaos created when preK and G and T admissions processes were centralized, the Kindergarten waitlists, the increases in overcrowding and class size, the attempt to close zoned schools and put charters in their place? In fact, the philosophy of this administration has been to provoke as much “creative confusion” as possible, to enhance their lock on the system. Early on, Joel Klein told a reporter: “By doing the reorganization and actually causing some creative confusion in the system, it does make it harder for people to just rock back.” What they fear is not chaos but the loss of total power. Riots in the street? Only if Bloomberg personally pays the rioters will this occur. The Daily News reported the mayor's comments about the looming specter of communism as well. Both papers then quoted a series of experts including former Assembly Education Committee chair Steve Sanders, Board of Ed attorney David Bloomfield and former Chancellor Harold Levy to counter the administration arguments for impending chaos. Here's Bloomfield: "There isn't a doomsday scenario unless the mayor brings it upon the city himself," said former top Board of Education lawyer David Bloomfield" "He would cause the chaos."
Here in New York City, we are living in a banana republic known as Bloomberg, Inc. This sad reality is most apparent when it comes to our public schools. Our Board of Education, which the Mayor decided to rename the Panel on Educational Policy, was called into session on Thursday, with only one hour's public notice, to rubberstamp a school budget that contained $400 million in cuts to our schools. Hours later, the City Council approved a capital budget for school construction that is widely acknowledged to be inadequate to alleviate the massive overcrowding and excessive class sizes that are common in the schools of this city. These are the very conditions that six years ago, our state's highest court declared deprived the city's children of their constitutional right to an adequate education. The Court ordered the state to provide more funding to our schools, which started in 2007; but instead of lowering class sizes, classes took their largest jump upward this fall in ten years. Chancellor Joel Klein has repeatedly announced that he has no intention of reducing class size, despite the state mandate to do so, and has been repeatedly cited for misusing hundreds of millions of dollars meant for this purpose, as reported in audits by the State Comptroller and the State Education Department. Indeed, if he has his way, Klein recently announced, he would shrink the teaching force by 30 percent, forcing class sizes to increase even further. Only two of the top twenty executives at the Department of Education are educators, while the rest are former lawyers and management consultants. Instead, the Mayor's decisions are influenced by a small group of billionaires, including Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, and Mort Zuckerman, none of whom would ever consider sending their own children to a New York City public school. While these moguls continually praise Klein's leadership, even though he has allowed class sizes to remain at thirty or more for hundreds of thousands of students, they themselves send their children, as did Bloomberg and Klein, to private schools where no classes are larger than fifteen.
More evidence in the NY Times today of how this Banana Republic that we call NYC operates.The article repeats what political insiders have been surmising for weeks: that Silver caved in on the issue of mayoral control because of a deal he made with one billionaire (Bloomberg) to benefit another billionaire (Larry Silverstein.)
The Duncanator: Need a School to Be Closed? Somone giving you trouble in forcing mayoral control or charter schools down their throats? Call on THE DUNCANATOR Robots in Education
Yet today it was announced that the first Democrat has jumped ship: Daniel Squadron of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, a freshman senator whose election campaign was supported by Bloomberg. See this article from today's News:Mayor Bloomberg's school control bill gets first Democrat support Please contact your State Senators today -- let them know how strongly you feel that one man rule cannot stand and they must support parents by supporting the Education Through Partnership Act, [Huntley/S5739] -- co-sponsored now by at least six other Senators. Ask them to stand up for their constituents; instead of caving in to the billionaire bully who has nothing but contempt for parents and our views. Their emails and phone nos. can be found by plugging in your address here: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators ; telephone calls are the most effective, then faxes and then emails. But do it today!
Those who play with Mr. Bloomberg said the mayor, 67, who stands 5 feet 8 inches and appears fit, hits the ball straight but not especially far. He is a decent putter, but loudly scolds himself when he hits a bad shot — “Come on, Mike!” These days, he still hits more bogeys than birdies, but Mr. Bloomberg now routinely shoots between 80 and 90, say those who play with him. “The improvement in his game is amazing,” said Mr. Donovan. Donald Trump, who has played with Mr. Bloomberg, said: “If he had more time to play, he’d be a terror.” The game has proved a useful political tool for the mayor. He has schmoozed the head of the Staten Island Republican Party over a round. And he flew Mr. Bruno and Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the State Assembly, to Bermuda for a weekend of golf. Still, his unbridled fervor for a game associated with the country club set has occasionally landed him in hot water. During his weekly radio address in 2006, Mr. Bloomberg was asked to name a typical job performed by illegal immigrants. He immediately thought of golf. “You and I are beneficiaries of these jobs,” the mayor told his co-host, John Gambling, adding, “Who takes care of the greens and the fairways in your golf course?” The remarks drew howls of protests. And at a civic meeting in Canarsie, a working-class section of Brooklyn, earlier this year, homeowners interrogated the mayor about rising taxes and living costs. At one point, Mr. Bloomberg asked how many golfers were in the audience — and the answer appeared to be zero.
Friends and fans, however, count Mr. Klein’s steadfastness and willingness to maintain unpopular positions among his key assets...... Devoted to Details The actor Alan Alda, with whom Mr. Klein sometimes scours the city for undiscovered pizza parlors, described him as “so deeply committed to what he is doing that I think if he doesn’t get to do this, I don’t know what he’d do next.” “Food is fundamental, learning is fundamental and poverty is fundamental,” said Mr. Alda, who befriended Mr. Klein at a dinner party several years ago. “He is really devoted to things that matter, but when he’s devoted to anything, even something as trivial as pizza, he dives into it.”
The game has proved a useful political tool for the mayor. He has schmoozed the head of the Staten Island Republican Party over a round. And he flew Mr. Bruno and Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the State Assembly, to Bermuda for a weekend of golf.
Go know that a landsmen befuddles my beloved Yanks. It's hard to pick up the ball with those tallis strings flying. I think the ump should check the length of those.
Friends and fans, however, count Mr. Klein’s steadfastness and willingness to maintain unpopular positions among his key assets...... Devoted to Details The actor Alan Alda, with whom Mr. Klein sometimes scours the city for undiscovered pizza parlors, described him as “so deeply committed to what he is doing that I think if he doesn’t get to do this, I don’t know what he’d do next.” “Food is fundamental, learning is fundamental and poverty is fundamental,” said Mr. Alda, who befriended Mr. Klein at a dinner party several years ago. “He is really devoted to things that matter, but when he’s devoted to anything, even something as trivial as pizza, he dives into it.”
Come to think of it I was never a big fan of MASH.
Fear and Loathing in the NYC School System The article ends with this Editor's Note: In preparing this article, City Limits spoke with former and current DOE staffers and cabinet members, former and current school principals, academics, and critics on the left and right of the political spectrum, nearly all of whom requested anonymity out of concern for possible detrimental consequences for speaking candidly on the record on a sensitive issue. “The incredible concentration of political and financial power leaves no room f or dissent or difference,” said one person. Many expressed worry that their schools might suffer or their programs might be jeopardized, given the depth and reach of Bloomberg-funded civic and philanthropic projects citywide. The mayor’s broad and deep connections across political, financial, social and philanthropic networks limit comments to those kept off the record – and, critics say, strongly influence largely favorable coverage in the mainstream media. The DOE, despite prior verbal agreement to review and consider questions related to this article, declined comment, and would not address the near-universal desire for anonymity.
The Nation Exposes Obama's Cynical Education Gambit Broad Inauguration Party in Washington D.C., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (Photo/Stuart Ramson) While many of us were out busting our humps to gather up a few dollars and votes for the change we thought we could believe in, the Harvard boys were cutting backroom deals with the multi-billionaire oligarchs to fully engage their plan to corporatize American public education, beginning with the urban schools.
Broad, the hype
The way Broad sees it, the big problem in education is that principals and administrators--typically former teachers with scant business training--are overwhelmed trying to run their organizations and aren't focusing effectively on education and academic achievement. Train them in the same management skills used at the best companies--and replace laggards with savvy outsiders--and the entire system could improve sharply.
KB HOME CLASS-ACTION SETTLEMENT HOBB Press Release - KB Home Settles Unprecedented Arbitration Class-Action Case Express News - KB Home to outline owner rights Beware of the NEW KB Home 12-Year Warranty with a Binding Arbitration Clause! Beware of KB’s new promotional spin on its 12-year Warranty with Mandatory Binding Arbitration clause. Don't be fooled; avoid KB’s new so-called “customer choice” 12-year Warranty Promotion with a Binding Arbitration Clause, designed to lure buyers into giving up their constitutional right to sue for defectively built homes. Related Updates: KB Home Pays $2M fine for Binding Arbitration Clause Consumer Affairs - Texas Homeowners Can Now Sue KB Home for Construction Defects HOBB Press Release - Class Action Settled - KB Home defies FTC Consent Order! ! KB Home Defies FTC Again! See copy of documents – KB’s warranty provider request for binding arbitration, March 30, 2006: KB Defies FTC ! NCPIRG News Room: Buyer Beware - Martha Picks Bad Business Partner In KB Home Martha Stewart was in Cary promoting a new line of homes with KB Home Chairman and CEO, Bruce Karatz. Unfortunately, her partner in this venture, KB Home, has a long and documented history of poor building practices and consumer rip-offs. Read More FTC & HUD Investigations Continue KB Homeowners File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commision Take 5 minutes of your time and submit a complaint about your builder. Important: file two seperate complaints: Please fill out an additional Special HOBB Complaint form and mail it to the FTC, Enforcement Division U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez pushes for answers in KB investigation KB Home & HUD's $20M Mirasol Fiasco under investigation. Special Express News Report - Amererican dream now homeowners' nightmare "Sixty-six of the lease-purchase houses now are vacant and the purchase program has left many residents disgruntled and concerned about construction cost-cutting and use of lower-grade materials."
LOS ANGELES – A former CEO and chairman of the board of KB Home was named today in a 20-count indictment that charges him in a scheme to defraud KB and its shareholders by awarding himself and other KB executives millions of dollars in undisclosed stock-based compensation in connection with the backdating of stock options over a seven-year period. Bruce E. Karatz, 63, of Bel Air Estates, was charged with seven counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire, three counts of securities fraud, four counts of making false statements in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and one count of lying to KB’s accountants. This scheme alleged in the indictment involves Karatz’s use of hindsight pricing to inflate the value of stock options granted to him and other KB executives, as well as Karatz’s ongoing concealment of this practice from KB’s board of directors, Compensation Committee and shareholders. Furthermore, the indictment alleges, when an internal investigation into stock-option backdating was initiated at KB in May 2006, Karatz falsely denied his orchestration of the stock-option backdating scheme and caused a false report of KB’s historical option-granting practices to be submitted to KB’s Audit Committee and outside auditor, which impeded the timely and accurate disclosure of this matter in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The picture above is a screen shot of my lower east side map from my google map "collection." It can be made fully functional but it overwhelms the column. I learned about mapchannels from digital urban. The free site also gives you the option to create a link to a full size version of a google map.
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