{"id":10559,"date":"2013-07-04T01:26:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-04T08:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=10559"},"modified":"2013-07-04T01:26:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T08:26:59","slug":"open-thread742013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/04\/open-thread742013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–7\/4\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing early for day 20, and the inside temperature has finally dropped below 80\u00b0.  I\u2019m not sufficiently recovered to take on the Monthly Report, but I do have more articles today.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me  3:22 (average 5:07).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>A San Diego protester who faced over a decade in jail for drawing anti-bank slogans in chalk was acquitted yesterday by a jury<\/a>. The victory for 40-year-old Jeff Olson, who was inspired by Occupy Wall Street, came despite the prosecutor\u2019s zeal for imposing a heavy jail sentence on him for the misdemeanor charges. <\/p>\n

He was prosecuted for drawing chalk slogans outside Bank of America locations from April to August 2012 that read, \u201cShame on B of A\u201d and \u201cNo thanks big banks.\u201d He also drew a picture of an octopus reaching for dollar bills. <\/p>\n

Bank of America had contacted the city\u2019s attorney to urge the prosecution. <\/p>\n

Olson faced 13 years in jail for drawing the chalk slogan, and also faced the possibility of a $13,000 fine–an unusually harsh punishment for graffiti. But the jury was convinced of Olson\u2019s innocence–and agreed with the San Diego mayor, who called the prosecution \u201cstupid.\u201d Olson was acquitted despite the fact that his lawyers were hamstrung by the judge\u2019s decision not to allow them to argue that Olson\u2019s actions were constitutionally protected. <\/p>\n

Right on, Jeff Olson!! The prosecution was stupid, and the judge had his head so far up his butt that he could see the bottom of his tonsils. The jury cared more about the Constitution than the fascist five Injustices of SCROTUS!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crooks and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>AMERICABlog’s Gaius Publius reminds us the demolition of public education is not a byproduct of a declining economy — it’s something the elite have wanted to do <\/font>for a long time:<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n

In our Deadlines post \u2014 \u201cAmerica faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer<\/a><\/font>\u201c\u2014 we noted that public education was in a crisis<\/a><\/font> of privatization from which it may never recover (some editing and added emphasis below):<\/font><\/p>\n

Number 15 on the list is \u201cDestruction of public education.\u201d Does that really have an end-point? If so, what does it look like? Extrapolate the charter-school \/ \u201cfor-profit school funded with public money\u201d process \u2014 which is, again, both uni-directional and accelerating \u2014 to its end-point and you get a two-tiered school system with a sloppy middle<\/strong><\/span>.One tier is an aging<\/strong><\/span>, decrepit, under-funded, useless-for-education factory-school system for the middle and lower classes (most of the country). The other tier has bright<\/strong><\/span> shiny (private) charter schools for the billionaires and their millionaire administrators and friends.<\/font><\/p>\n

A good example of this bifurcation is the charter school that Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel sends his children to, in which music and the arts are taught, which he supports at the same time he\u2019s destroying public school funding for the poor and middle class of his own city.<\/font><\/p>\n

…<\/font><\/p>\n

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