Once again the mass media is working hard trying to get me to care about Will and Kate. I want to just state this right now for the record. I care about Will and Kate about as much as I cared about Jon and Kate Plus 8. I’m not a fan of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” or crappy reality shows, so I’ll pass on the up and coming nuptials. No matter how I try to avoid this “Wedding of the Century”, it has had an impact on my daily viewing. Every morning I like to watch a little “Morning Joe” before I go to school. This is out of habit. I used to watch Imus. This show just replaced his show when he was dismissed. I like the talk format. Unfortunately, Morning Joe is doing the show this week in London. They actually think their viewers care about this wedding. What I want to hear about has more to do with the economy and civil liberties.
Recently, here in Michigan, Benton Harbor was taken over by our governor. This means basically that the people that live there lost their local representation. I look at this as taxation without representation. This kind of behavior is what one might expect if we lived under a King’s rule like in the Will and Kate variety before they lost all of their real power. Maybe this is why we are supposed to care about Will and Kate. We are the little serfs looking up to the wonderful future King and Queen. We should bow and bring our first born child to them for a special blessing.
Mr. Harris, an accountant, is now in charge of Benton Harbor. The city must pay him $11,000 a month for his services. He has the power to hire and fire. The duly elected officials have no power. Benton Harbor is a very poor community and they are struggling. One thing I find very interesting is that Benton Harbor and Detroit are both fairly black cities. These are the two cities that have been targeted thus far to be taken over by the state government. While the city of Detroit has not been taken over the schools in Detroit have been taken over and are continually being cut back.
Mr. Harris claims he has the backing of the citizens in Benton Harbor. I don’t know how he would know this because he is not an elected official. He was appointed by the governor. Rachel Maddow does a good job of explaining what is going on in Benton Harbor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1kxvT0cuws&feature=related
Since 2000 it seems more and more to me that no one really cares about our votes. We had the Bush/Gore election decided by the Supreme Court. The Kerry/Bush election still has questions about those votes in Ohio. During the Democratic Primary here in Michigan in 2008, my vote and countless other votes, were stolen and given to Barack Obama. Both parties are guilty of stealing our votes or just not counting them. I am tired of being told I live in a Democracy only to discover that my vote doesn’t really count or has been stolen.
It feels like Governor Snyder believes in an Aristocracy type of government. According to Wikipedia this is a form of government in which the best qualified citizens will rule. These qualified citizens are usually privileged by birth and class, thus an elite aristocratic class. How else can he explain “appointing” someone to run a city government?
The more I learn about “rule” under Governor Snyder, the more I believe we now live in Michigan under Despotism. In this form of government a single entity, yes called a “despot”, rules with an absolute power. Yes, this is what we have in Governor Rick Snyder. It’s his way or the highway. Everyone is in fear of what he will do next. He has cut the public school budget, so he can give tax breaks to businesses. When a group of Superintendents of Schools asked to meet with him, he refused to see them. They might have had some good ideas but he didn’t want to hear them.
Today Governor Snyder gave a speech about reinventing education in Michigan. He likes that word, reinvention. However, much of the talk is the same old line the Republicans have been pushing for years in Michigan. He wants more charter schools, students to spend up to two hours a day with online instruction, and he wants the money to follow the student which it kind of does now to a point. However, tax payer money doesn’t go to private schools. I suspect this is something that he will want to change. Teachers can expect another year to wait to make tenure which would be five years instead of four. Teachers can also pay 20% of their health care costs with less pay and more work time. Many people don’t realize that teachers who are let go don’t get unemployment as they are contracted yearly. If they are out of a job with all of these cuts, they are out of luck. Governor Snyder says, ‘We will break down the status quo’. I don’t know what he has been doing for the last ten years or so that he thinks there is some kind of “status quo” in education as education has been constantly changing. All of us teachers have had to deal with No Child Left Behind and the constant use of assessment materials both good and bad. At Sturgis we are constantly doing “whatever it takes” to educate students and raise test scores. We are not complacent. This is an ongoing process. I suspect most schools are doing everything they can to raise their test scores. With Governor Snyder he wants all of this magic to happen while making drastic cuts to education. It’s that same old mentality that President Bush used, pay less and expect more.
Here is a video about what’s happening at a school in Detroit set up to educate pregnant teens.
We need to all be informed about what is happening around this country. If this can happen here in Michigan, it can happen in your state as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/us/27michigan.html
According to Rache,l Michigan wins! Yes, we have the most over reaching governor of all of the crazy Republicans that have been recently elected. Lucky us!