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And the task of destroying the ring of power that
threatened Middle Earth was left to lowly, empowered Hobbitts whose life
experiences had been shaped by cocooning in Hobbiton. It is possible that
the Hobbits are metaphorical representations of children, I suppose, rather
than the agrarian bourgeoisie and agrarian working class (Samwise in the latter
instance) but the notion of being powerless and exercising agency is
still valid. Lesson in that about taking social responsibility.
Peter Jackson has suggested that LOTR was Tolkien's fantastical response to the
carnage he observed during the 'war to end all wars,' [mediated by his expertise
in Arthurian legend and linguistics] so it's possible he was making some
didactic points. Anyone know if Tolkien was caught up in the Utopian
Socialism of the early Twentieth Century? Keith? Darryl?
Anyone? The trilogy does contain early nods to environmentalism and
collectivism.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2004 8:43
AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Killing its
own
Not tongue in cheek, Darryl, but intended as
irony. I saw the movie "Return of the King" a few days ago. All
you needed to do to rid the world of the dark forces that were threatening to
take everything over was destroy the ring of power by throwing it into the
lava of Mt. Doom. Would that it were so simple!
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 9:15
PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Killing its
own
I hope that last line was tongue-in-cheek Ed. Or, let's bring on the
"Future Fascists" with your ostrich rush. Everyone who knows, or suspects,
the lies must voice opposition, or must begin a different
and definitive opposition. All things worthwhile are worth protecting. And
if it takes a few hundred or a few thousand deaths of those who will not
succumb to the "jack-boots", maybe, just maybe, the word, the knowledge, the
truths will spread. Speaking out is the first step.
Darryl.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004
12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Killing its
own
We live in a time when fantasy and reality are
almost indistinguishable. We cannot really know whether the recent
orange alerts were responses to real threats or were being used to keep us
in a state of anxiety and therefore maleable. We know that 9/11
happened and Al Qada exists, but we don't know whether it can happen
again. We know that people are being held without warrant or have
simply "been disappeared", but we can't really tell whether they were a
threat or not. Best to keep one's head down, march in step and be
quiet.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004
9:10 AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Killing
its own
The conservative counter-revolution is
built on the fear that the 60s and 70s, in the last century, may
come back and they will lose control as they almost did during the
Vietnam Era when citizens were prepared to practice a more participatory
kind of democracy [within the channels of power and in the
streets] which questions the roots of their society.
It leads to the conservatives constant propagandizing around
issues of control and fear and this kind of 'accountability' which
targets and marginalizes and breaks down social cohesion and any sense
of community. Better to built passive conformity dispositions in
students, through punishment, tough love, and what is authentic through
testing, rather than critical democratic discourse that has the
potential to create a more caring and compassionate society. It
permeates not only the official organs of the power elite, but also many
middle class families in the way they socialize their kids as a basis of
ensuring the reproduction of their own class status. It creates a
complex matrix of self-blame among people who convinced of their own
powerlessness. [Poppycock, really.] Of course the
propagandizing keeps attention away from the legitimate, palpable fear
that people live in their own lives, sensing that things are not as good
as the lies fed to them by the mainstream media and conservative
politicians. The most significant news item for me, during the
past week, was the IMF warning on the U.S. deficit and balance of trade,
and its potential to send the global economy into a downward
spiral. The Asian flu may well be coming to the Gold
Mountain.
BB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004
1:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Killing
its own
Robert and Ed,
This is a very sad state
that children find themselves in. I've never seen so
much irresponsibility. Now they are even throwing kids in
jail for school infractions. Jail is a great teacher but
it teaches people to be criminals not better citizens. On the
one hand information is withheld from parents and then when the
crash comes, the parents are impotent in their
ignorance. Its even worse in college when underage
students are expected to be paid for by parents but the parents are
not privy to grades, health records, etc. It springs from
both left and right. With the left screaming individual
freedom and the right screaming hold them responsible while this takes
the onus off bad parents and bad teachers. It is
disgusting and is system wide. This does not mean
that I believe the schools are hopeless and going to hell in a
handbasket. But this element of it is in severe need of
rethinking from both left and right wings. The problem is
that neither seems to know much about education or
cooperation. Education is always a team effort if the best
is to be drawn from the student.
REH
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004
9:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework]
Killing its own
Ed,
What is happening in the United States
is a great tragedy, not likely to end in November,
unfortunately. The internal war against kids has also been
extended to education. See below from
Chicago.
Bob
SCHOOLS PRESSURED TO DUMP BAD STUDENTS, CRITICS
SAY
Chicago Sun-Times -- January
9,
2004
by Kate Grossman
Phillip Parker knew he was in the wrong when
he started skipping class
and getting into trouble at Chicago's
Crane High School. But before he
could figure out how to fix it,
he found himself dropped from school.
"I'm not one to blame
others for what I did, but if the school had
steered me the
right way, it could have helped," said Parker, who says
teachers
and staff seemed too busy to really give him the help he
needed.
After dropping out, he landed a spot at West Town
Academy, an
alternative school. He knows he's one of the lucky
ones.
"A lot of students just give up," Parker said. "It's
almost like their
life has no direction, they ain't got nothing
going."
In the 2001-02 school year, 17,400 students -- 17.6
percent -- dropped
out of Chicago schools, according to an
analysis of state data by the
Greater West Town Community
Development Project. That's up from 13.5
percent in 1992. The
Chicago public schools publicize a lower percentage
-- 13
percent in 2003, down from 16.6 percent in 1995. Those percentages
don't include 27 alternative schools.
The numbers are too
high and the pressure on schools to push out truant,
low-performing students is only growing, several experts,
including
Illinois Education Supt. Robert Schiller, testified at
a state Senate
Education Committee meeting in Chicago
Thursday.
The main culprit is the federal No Child Left
Behind law, Schiller and
others said. That law requires schools
to meet testing, graduation and
attendance benchmarks each
year.
"There is tremendous pressure on districts," said Sen.
Miguel del Valle
(D-Chicago), the committee chairman. "All of
this is creating a climate
that, as the superintendent says,
creates a disincentive to hang on to
students and help them go
the extra mile to stay in school."
Del Valle convened the
hearing to come up with legislative ideas to
confront Illinois'
dropout problem. Statewide, the rate is 4.9 percent.
Suggestions
floated at the hearing include more accurate counting of the
problem, more small schools, such as Chicago is trying, more
emphasis on
early childhood education and more academic support
for middle schoolers
and ninth-graders.
Del Valle has one
bill pending that would make it more difficult to drop
students,
make it easier for them to return and change the way they're
counted so they can be tracked and schools aren't penalized if
they drop
out again.
Several advocates support the
proposal but say the existing law must
also be enforced. State
law says students over 16 can only be denied an
education if
they are expelled for serious misconduct or if they don't
have
enough credits to graduate by the time they're 21.
"The
dropout problem is largely a push-out problem for kids who'd like
to stay in school," said William Leavy, director of the Greater
West
Town group. "Our neediest kids have the least
support."
Added Bob Meyer, a teacher at West Town Academy:
"We think [Chicago] and
other districts should be mandated to do
what we do daily -- give kids
another chance."
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, January 09,
2004 10:19 AM
Subject: [Futurework] Killing
its own
As a Canadian, I find the behaviour of
the US administration increasingly perplexing and difficult to
understand. Killing people, including kids, in Afghanistan
and Iraq is one thing, but killing its own is
incomprehensible. More and more, one gets the impression
that America exists for the ownership class, the top five percent
or even one percent, and no one else matters! Rogue abroad
and rogue at home!
Ed
 
January 9, 2004OP-ED COLUMNIST
Sick State Budgets, Sick
KidsBy BOB
HERBERT
 hile headlines continue to tell
us how great the economy is doing, states across the U.S.
are pulling the plug on desperately needed health coverage
for low-income Americans, including about a half-million
children.
Even as the Bush administration continues its bizarre
quest for ever more tax cuts, the states, which by law have
to balance their budgets, are cutting vital social programs
so deeply that tragic consequences are inevitable.
The cruel reality is that Americans at the top are
thriving at the expense of the well-being of those at the
bottom and, increasingly, in the middle.
A new report by the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities shows that 34 states have made potentially
devastating cuts over the past two years in public health
insurance programs, including Medicaid and the very
successful children's health insurance programs known as
CHIPS. More cuts are expected this year.
"Almost half of those losing health coverage (490,000 to
650,000 people) are children," the report said. "Substantial
numbers of low-income parents, seniors, people with
disabilities, childless adults and immigrants are also
losing coverage. Cutbacks of this depth in health insurance
coverage for low-income families and individuals are
unprecedented."
The worst of the cuts are in Texas. "The Lone Star State
has adopted deep cutbacks in its State Children's Health
Insurance Program that will cause about 160,000 children —
one-third of its SCHIP caseload — to lose coverage," the
report said.
Texas is also making Medicaid available to fewer pregnant
women, a dangerous move that increases the number of women
without coverage for prenatal care and the actual
deliveries. "All told," the report said, "Texas is
eliminating coverage for between 344,000 and 494,000
children and adults. Census data showed that, even before
these changes, the percentage of people who were uninsured
was higher in Texas than in any other state."
A loss of health coverage frequently leads to a
reluctance to seek needed care. "In poor or low-income
families, where there is not a lot of disposable income,
people will avoid going to the doctor or getting a
prescription," said Leighton Ku, one of the authors of the
report. "Certain diseases can then become much more severe.
With children, it's likely that they won't get treatment for
ear infections, asthma, diabetes — conditions that can
ultimately lead to hospitalization."
When treatment can no longer be avoided, the financial
consequences can be ruinous. Medical expenses are one of the
leading causes of bankruptcy in the U.S.
Officials at the center noted the case of a woman in St.
Louis who works but whose annual income is below the poverty
line. Under eligibility rules in effect until 18 months ago,
she would have qualified for Medicaid. Under the new rules,
she does not.
The woman became ill and was told upon her release from
the hospital to seek follow-up care. But without any health
insurance, her medical bills have been overwhelming.
According to the center, "[The woman] has occasional
abdominal pain but is not getting any treatment. She intends
to declare bankruptcy because she cannot pay the $47,000 she
owes in medical bills, but so far has been unable to save
the funds needed to pay for a bankruptcy filing."
People caught in this kind of squeeze often find
themselves "sicker, much poorer, or both," said Robert
Greenstein, the center's director.
It seems extremely strange that in the United States of
America, the richest, most powerful nation in the history of
the world, we are going backward in the 21st century in our
ability to provide the most fundamental kinds of health care
to ordinary people, including children.
The health insurance cutbacks would have been even worse
if not for the $20 billion in emergency state aid that was
reluctantly approved by the Bush administration and the
Republican-led Congress last year. Despite the economic
upturn, states are still struggling. They face a collective
budget deficit of $40 billion to $50 billion for the coming
fiscal year, and there is little sentiment among Republican
leaders in Washington for another round of fiscal
relief.
Maybe the nation itself needs a doctor. Shoving
low-income people, including children, off the health care
rolls at a time when the economy is allegedly booming is a
sure sign of some kind of sickness in the
society.
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