http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_re_us/us_wisconsin_budget_unions
continuing discussions over the role of funding & negotiating teacher salaries in Wisconsin
And after the quote below, one must wonder why the parents of Wisconsin school children should be so eager to get these teachers back
In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.” http://cnsnews.com/news/article/two-thirds-wisconsin-public-school-8th-g#
while bonds of solidarity between unions begins to weaken http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22union.html?_r=1
Michigan is not far behind in re-organizing Detroit’s failing school system, as population dwindles and they see a need for consolidation http://detnews.com/article/20110221/SCHOOLS/102210355/1409/Michigan-orders-DPS-to-make-huge-cuts
The overlap between political and economic elements of national power were never more clear than when looking at China using it’s Treasury holdings to leverage the US on policy issues. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.ae2d2f54b4997246bb7b180d2736bac1.e1&show_article=1
North Korea’s centrally planned economy once again failing to provide even basic survival needs http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021901953.html
This gets directly to my post yesterday about the political dance required to intervene within the borders of a sovereign nation. Does anyone think it’s a bad idea to provide food and medicine to starving families in NK? Does anyone think it’s a good idea to give the supplies to the NK government without conditions on how it’s to be issued out? Especially since they are known to divert supplies to their favored constituents and even worse, re-sell it to other countries
Russia claims Google is subverting Middle Eastern governments using their social media network outreach, and that the social upheaval can spread across the middle east and last for years
http://af.reuters.com/article/tunisiaNews/idAFLDE71L0DW20110222?sp=true http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_medvedev