So you already have heard about the new survey, haven't you? Mayor Bloomberg and Joseph Klein, surrounded by a cornucopia of Department of Education status quoers, unveiled the City's first-ever Learning Environment Survey, a tool (as in not another instance of paper-pushing) that is meant to gather the opinions of principals, teachers, parents and students about how wonderful or terrible it is to be in a NYC middle and high school. Which is why they will ask about whether schools are:

1. setting high expectations
2. safe
3. creating effective environments for learning

The whole press release sounds like an unprecedented exercise in open government :

"Today, we are giving parents, students, and teachers an unprecedented opportunity: the chance to tell us if our schools are set up to help students learn and the chance to help us grade our schools," said Chancellor Klein. "Our ads say, 'When one parent speaks, schools listen; when one million parents speak, schools change,' and it's true. I'm looking forward to learning from our parents, teachers, and students."

Oh my blog! Klein and Bloomberg sooooooo want to know what I have to say. I am, like, so  impressed!

Then, I got to the bottom of the page :

Survey responses are being collected by an external vendor, assuring the confidentiality of answers.

And there is nary a peep about who this vendor is.

Don't you think that anybody espousing platitudes about transparency and open government would at least have the clarity of mind to say who is the external vendor we are to hold accountable for such work?

Don't you want to know how much are these "external vendors" are being paid? Because, you know, accountability and accounting have the same latin root.

Well, I do.

Al keeps his promise and begins his attack on the music industry for promoting negative content on the airwaves.

The National Action Network

Rev. Al Sharpton

&

Councilwoman Darlene Mealy

Invite You To Join Us As We

MARCH FOR DECENCY

Thursday, May 3, 2007 @ 5:30 PM

Register Online:

Log on to www.nationalactionnetwork.net and register today!

Join Us As We Protest Sexism, Racism And Homophobia In Music

The March will begin at Sony Music, Madison Avenue at 55th Street - continue to Universal Music, Broadway between 56th and 57th Streets - and finally to Time Warner, located at Columbus Avenue and 58th Street

The man who went from great to merely a lap dog of George Bush's, will say goodbye on May 9th. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's departure announcement was met with little interest even on BBC news' front page, or even on Daily Kos where merely brief mention is made of it.

Tony Blair, a man who could have been great, is slinking away with his tail between his legs under suspicion of a Tom DeLay/Abramoff style favors-for-donations (or should that be "favours"-for-quids) scandal.

from the Sunday Mail:

The inquiry began after it emerged that secret loans had been made to Labour before the 2005 general election. Some lenders were subsequently nominated for peerages...

Blair's chief fundraiser Lord Levy, No.10 aide Ruth Turner and multimillionaire businessman Sir Christopher Evans remain on police bail.

So here in the US you get a no-bid contract instead of a title, but otherwise it sure looks like Republican-style corruption. May Bush have the same fate as his lap dog...

To the degree that election to the State Legislature is in effect a life-time ticket to serve the leadership, Albany and state politics in general is a tough nut to crack. Were legislative districts fairly drawn, were public funding of campaigns to replace moneyed interests in our elections, some things indeed would be different. Will any proposals for facilitating popular participation in politics have legs or will these issues be stalled again?

I’m not going, but perhaps you should think about it. Good government groups (“goo-goos," in somewhat pejorative political slang) are meeting in Albany Monday April 23, 2007. The general call by groups ranging from the Brennan Center to Common Cause and Demos is here . The schedule is here and the page for registration especially for free buses is here .

Knock ‘em dead!

Americans United for Change has been producing ads targeting some of the key supporters of the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escaltion.

Previous targets included Congressman Randy Kuhl (R-NY), Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator John Sunnunu (R-NH).

Here is their ad targeting Congressman Jim Walsh (R-NY):

You can help defeat Walsh, Kuhl and other NY State Republican supporters of the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escalation by donating here.

Americans United for Change has been producing ads targeting some of the key supporters of the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escaltion.

Previous targets included Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator John Sunnunu (R-NH).

Here is their ad targeting Congressman Randy Kuhl (R-NY):

You can help defeat Kuhl and other NY State Republican supporters of the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escalation by donating here.

Over the last week the Don Imus fiasco as brought out a plethora of emotions, comments, and discussion. The one that was most prevalent is the issue of the "Double Standard".

Why is it OK for someone black to say it but not Imus? Well first as an African American I do not think its OK for anyone of any background to make such comments. Not all of Black America agrees with the music(rappers) and media(entertainers) that promote and portray the language such as what Don Imus said. Black America is as diverse as America itself on issues and ideas including this one. I do believe however with the fall of Don Imus we must turn our attention to hip hop music and other media outlets. This is the fight that will be fought long and hard on all sides.

First dealing with music. Hip Hop Music is a multi-million dollar industry. In particular "gangsta" rap and music with sexual content. This is what sells. So you now must ask not only the people who make the music to change but the people who give them millions to stop promoting it. Are these people willing to lose money to help stop the culture of violence, hate and sexism to save the children who listen to this music of all ages and ethnic backgrounds? Of course not.

Imus was doing what he is paid to do. He was doing his job. He was doing what made him successful. He was fulfilling the role society offered him.

I don't defend what he does or even say he shouldn't get his comuppance. But I do feel that it is wrong that Imus is being dropped like a hot potato for insensitive, rude comments while Bill O'Reilly can tell American Jews to move to Israel if they don't like a Christian America and Ann Coulter can advocate terrorism and violence and largely get away with it.

Imus is a royal asshole. But that was what he was getting paid to be. Ann Coulter is getting paid to advocate violence. Bill O'Reilly is getting paid to advocate pogroms. They are each getting paid far more than I get paid to be a scientist.

This is what society values, if salaries are any indication. Assholes, terrorist advocates and anti-Semites. In the grand scheme of what is wrong in today's media, Don Imus ranks pretty minor in the long list of disgusting statements. He, at least, wasn't advocating violence.

A grad school friend of mine commented on the sexual assault charges against Mike Tyson: "We pay people to beat eachother up, then we are surprised when they are violent."

Community Activist and Acclaimed Author Kevin Powell writes about the Imus situation and how it should be looked at:

Don Imus, Race, and Sex in America
By Kevin Powell

I attended Rutgers University in the 1980s, I am a native of Jersey City, and I've always been proud of any accomplishments that have come from that state. So you can imagine my pride as the school's women's basketball team made its march through the recent NCAA tournament. Proud because Rutgers' coach, C. Vivian Stringer, one of the sport's great mentors, has had so many tragedies in her life, yet she has withstood them with grace, dignity, and a complete dedication to these young women, all underclass students. Proud because I noted the backgrounds of RU's players (the majority of them African American), many of them from inner city environments similar to mine; yet they had managed to avoid those minefields and had become, with their brilliant run to the championship game against the mighty University of Tennessee, an example for women and girls nationwide. Focus and persevere, their play seem to say, and you can achieve anything.

Yes, I was disappointed that the Lady Knights lost to Tennessee. But far more disappointing was radio personality Don Imus' “nappy-headed hos” remark the next day, Wednesday, April 4th-coincidentally the 39th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He and his producer, Bernard McGuirk, engaged in the following exchange:

At the Observer, Azi Paybarah brings us a depressing example of how Albany's anti-democratic culture has taken hostage the hearts and minds of so many in our state government. Paybarah interviews 72-year-old Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio (D-Queens), whose review of the budget battle is so cynical you can feel your soul melting as you read it:

“Eliot may wish he had another way, but there’s only one way the budget is ever going to get done, son,” said Mr. Seminerio, sitting by himself in the Assembly chambers Saturday night, hours before the budget deadline. “It’s three people, each getting a piece of the pie, and that’s it.”

[...]

“I don’t know if he learned anything,” Mr. Seminerio said. “I can’t speak for the Governor. I think maybe he understands the process a little better. I think, like everything else, he’ll learn. You know what I’m saying. He’ll learn. And it’s not that he did anything wrong. He thought the process should be done one way, and he thought, you know, he could accomplish it. And now I think he must understand—I can’t speak for him, certainly; you know he’s a brilliant man. I can’t speak for him—but I think he understands now that, hey, you have to sit down, and it’s a give-and-take.”

Waving his left arm in the air toward the empty room, Mr. Seminerio added: “The only thing that ever changes in Albany are the faces. The system stays intact.”

Don't fight it, son. Just take the pills like everyone else and soon you'll see it's all for the best.