Tonight, we are all Iranians.

Posting is very infrequent here because I often lack that certain spark that inspires me to write or because I have seen what I would want others to read already written elsewhere.

But this weekend, something has definitely lit the fuse within me.

I think everyone has heard by now of election irregularities in Iran and the uprising, a description that I must say is a severe understatement. Over this past weekend, people have flooded out into the streets, screamed from their roof tops, took on police, and done what they could to reclaim democracy in the name of all Iranians.

I don't mean to offer an analysis of the situation, but a reaction. Even though I am not, I feel personally affected by what is going on there. Ahmadinejad's coup should've been predictable but is, to me at least, unbelievable. I have no doubt that the Peoples' choice for president truly was Mir-Houssein Mousavi, and while his policies can at best be described as moderate if not reformist, he towers over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

What is being done to the people of Iran is unjust and uncalled for in a state that accepts democracy as its form of government. Say what you will about their political system, but since the Revolution there have been successful and peaceful, if dubious, elections. Ahmadinejad's illegitimate consolidation of power should be the rallying point for the people, and fortunately they are taking advantage of the situation.

The moment is critical, and could mean a great deal of change for Iran. Some are even comparing it to the Revolution of '79, and indeed this is the largest amount of violent uprising it has seen since then.

A particularly impacting report comes from Roger Cohen, New York Times columnist, who writes:

She was in tears like many women on the streets of Iran’s battered capital. “Throw away your pen and paper and come to our aid,” she said, pointing to my notebook. “There is no freedom here.”

And she was gone, away through the milling crowds near the locked-down Interior Ministry spewing its pick-ups full of black-clad riot police. The “green wave” of Iran’s pre-election euphoria had turned black. […]

Majir Mirpour grabbed me. A purple bruise disfigured his arm. He raised his shirt to show a red wound across his back. “They beat me like a pig,” he said, breathless. “They beat me as I tried to help a woman in tears. I don’t care about the physical pain. It’s the pain in my heart that hurts.”

He looked at me and the rage in his eyes made me want to toss away my notebook.

It is amazing the difference that social media makes in this situation. While reporters are being harassed, robbed, and expelled by Iranian authorities, citizens are able to keep us updated through Twitter, which has been a great ally on this front.

My thoughts are so jumbled on this matter, and I so frustrated and angry, that I can't get them down onto paper (metaphorically-speaking) in a way that does justice to everything I wish to express.

However, one thing that is very clear to me is this: the Iranian people deserve a functioning democracy and the president they rightfully elected. In their rioting and fighting against the police and state forces, I support them fully. In fact, if I could be in Tehran right now, I would be there shouting from the rooftops and marching with Mousavi supporters as well.

I encourage everyone to follow the situation closely, as I have. Not through CNN, whose coverage has been weak and relatively unchanging, but through the eyes and ears of those who are living the moments.


Huffington Post - HuffPo has done an incredible job in rounding up news coming right out of Iran and compiling it all on one page, updating every half an hour or so.

PersianKiwi - A Tehrani updating almost by the minute right now. Reports no Facebook, BBC, or CNN, and that police are storming and shooting up Tehran University (w/ 17 injured as of posting).

Parham Doustdar - Another Tehrani updating frequently from within the city.

#IranElection - Twitter hashtag used for Iranians and others to post up-to-the second updates.


If there is one thing the People of Iran should teach Ahmadinejad and the ruling theocrats in the days to come, it is this, which I take with credit to the movie V for Vendetta:

People should not be afraid of their governments;
Governments should be afraid of their people.

Manny Diaz Declares Run for School Board

No, not that Manny Diaz. Manny Diaz, Jr. (no relation)

Diaz has filed papers with the Miami-Dade Elections Dept. to run for School Board District 4, covering Hialeah, Miami Lakes, and Palm Springs North. The position is currently held by Perla Tabares Hantman who is, of course, my own board member.

So who is Mr. Diaz? According to a fundraiser email, a "former social studies teacher, coach, and administrator of Miami-Dade County Public Schools". Other than that, there's not much we know about him. Or is there?

A few months ago, when former Superintendent Rudy Crew was fired and current Superintendent Alberto Carvalho was tapped and immediately approved to succeed him, there was talk that Hantman had something to do with it and, some alleged, backroom deals had been made to bring certain people back to the District, that promotions would be made, and even that Hantman would be made chairwoman of the Board.

Of course, much of this did not come to pass whatsoever.

But at the time, someone was very, very convinced that it was true. They started a website, www.PerlaTabaresHantman.com, which deemed Hantman as the "Queen of Corruption" and featured a minimally-photoshopped picture of her (below) as well as anonymous comments criticising her.

Unfortunately for Mr or Mrs PTH.com, Hantman's reign never came to fruition.

Interestingly, the website's WhoIs profile (here) shows that PTH.com is registered to a Manny Diaz with the same home address as that listed on Manny Diaz, Jr's campaign filing papers and campaign site registration.

What does this tell us, then? It tells us that we are in for a dirty campaign from Diaz if my correspondence with him is any indicator.

While we have seen how Mr. Diaz channels his dislike for Hantman publicly, what he says behind-the-scenes is also very telling.

In an email over seven months ago, when the website was live and in operation, Mr. Diaz claimed he knew "for a fact she engineered the deal with carvahlo [sic] for votes to be chair" and continued on to say that "Perla has been involved in decapitating the leadership in this district in order to rise carvahlo [sic] to [superintendent]."

His suggestion to "watch as enid weisman, jorge lopez, essie pace get promoted and perla becomes chair" fell flat, as both Pace (Chairman Solomon Stinson's sister) and George Nuñez (whom Diaz was most likely referring to as Lopez) remain regional administrators. Enid Weisman has indeed returned from retirement as an administrator within the School Operations department to become an Assistant Superintendent of School Operations, and as we all know by now, Hantman didn't become and came nowhere near the point of ascension to School Board Chair.

Unfortunately for Mr. Diaz, it seems his informant failed him, if he indeed had one, and as the 2010 campaign kicks off, his credibility as a serious candidate is already damaged.

Perla Hantman has shown herself to be a moderate voice and a voice of reason on a once-tumultuous School Board, and has always justified her votes and been open with the public, whether from the dais or through the media. Her campaigns have brought support from both sides, including Governor Crist and former Senator Bob Graham, arguably the most popular Republican and Democrat in the state, respectively. That she had set up this very elaborate backroom deal which would alter all facets of MDCPS' administration and sought to somehow ascend to power is not only offensive to one's intelligence, but simply an ignorant and farfetched claim to make.

Mrs. Hantman, congratulations on winning your re-election.

Is education unreformable?

Barack Obama, Al Sharpton, Newt Gingrich, and Michael Bloomberg all walk into a room...

Such a line would no doubt be the beginning of a good joke, but instead I refer to the meeting between the above individuals to discuss the issues of education.

One of the problems with education 'reform' today, is that it isn't. Lawmakers are consulted by supposed educational experts, and themselves consult with people such as Sharpton. Now ask yourself, what does a racist, radical minister like himself have to do with the issue of education? At the national level?

If we want to change the way things are done in this country, we have to start down at the school level. The whole system itself is so corrupt that there is no way anyone but the teachers and the students know what is going on within the classroom.

Reports the Washington Post,

"The president has said he wants to [achieve reform] in part by holding public school teachers more accountable for student achievement, something that may pit him against teacher's unions at some point, and allow more charter schools to emerge and experiment."

This addresses two of the major problems with reforming education. One is evaluation of the teacher. Now, from an objective standpoint, ignoring the workload and such from individual teachers, I have had a multitude of bad teachers and a handful of good ones. A vast number of teachers rely on making students read textbooks and make their way mechanically through the same series of questions or checking to see if their folder is in order an all the papers organized in the 'right way' to earn a grade. When they are going to be evaluated by external sources, they are made aware and they immediately, for as long as the person is their, become the best teachers in the world. They ask questions, they smile, they explain things. For many, that's the only moment they do this.

For evaluations to be valid, they need to both be tougher and more accurate. Too often it seems, these evaluations are lenient and essentially don't matter for anything. Here's an idea: get teachers to evaluate other teachers. I can't stress enough how hard it is for someone not in the classroom to really understand what that atmosphere is like. What it is like to go to Hialeah High School, or Hialeah-Miami Lakes, or Barbara Goleman. Each school is unique and has a different atmosphere and has to be evaluated with that taken into account.

The second problem with reforming education, in Miami at least, is the teacher's union. As a progressive, I am all for unionization and whole-heartedly support the Employee Free Choice Act, but that the United Teachers of Dade has overstepped themselves and become a greedy money-hungry organization led by demagogues is unmistakable. At a time when our economy is at it's worst since the Great Depression, you'd think teachers would be content in their relatively safe, relatively well-paying jobs. I won't disclose what my mother with two kids and two parents to support makes, but it's less than the starting salary of a teacher and we do just fine.

The UTD and unions in general would prefer to screw over the students to achieve their ends. Last August when the Secondary School Reform/Eight-Period Schedule fight arose Downtown, I was assured by UTD President Karen Aronowitz "as teachers, we too are concerned about the manner in which the money is trying to be found by district officials. We have taken a strong stand that cuts should not touch the classroom (or the students). "

However, former Superintendent Crew preserved the measure and protected it from being cut. A measure that was suggested and created by him, which would lead one to further question why he'd want to cut it after so staunchly supporting the failed School Improvement Zone project.

It was later revealed that the UTD had been questioning Dade County Public Schools regarding Secondary School Reform on a document meant to gather information on programs that could be cut to find money to fund teachers raises.

So in that respect, yes, I believe that teacher's unions are no longer representative of teachers and that we face a problem in differentiating between good teachers and bad teachers. To defend those who can not teach and pay them more and more amounts of taxpayer money while students suffer is simply wrong in so many ways.


And thus is the problem with reforming education. Lawmakers are looking in all the wrong places to find solutions- from irrelevant conservatives to radical ministers to "educational experts" who go years without stepping one foot into a school classroom. If and when true reform happens in this country, it will be when our elected officials realize this and instead start holding talks with teachers and students themselves, independent of unions and special interests.

Who Were the Real Socialists?

[This entry was cross-posted on Facebook. It's rather informal.]

I made a comment recently in one of my classes recently saying that, yes, I believe the tax rate for the highest earners should be 40% in order to pay for social services and other government services. This elicited surprise from some, but is it really so surprising?

Obama's "tax increase" isn't so much of one as it is rolling back a tax break for the rich instituted by Bush immediately after the Clinton Administration, which had the tax rate for the highest earners at 39.6%.

Let's take a look at some facts from history.

-IRS information regarding tax rates is available from 1913 to 2009, a span of 95/96 years.
-Since 1913, we have had 17 presidents: 8 Democrats, 9 Republicans.

All eight of the Democrats had tax rates of 39.6% or more as did seven of the nine Republicans.

The highest tax rate, of 92%, belongs to Democrat Harry Truman. However, this tax rate also carried over into Republican Dwight Eisenhower's term. Oh, sorry, no...like a true conservative, Eisenhower lowered taxes.

To 91%.

GOP President Hoover, after years with a tax rate of 25%, decided, "Hey, what the hell, let's tax people 63%" right before leaving office. That's an increase of 38 percentage points. The increase by the Republican is higher than the actual tax rate now (35%).

The United Socialist States of America? Perhaps. (Credit: Bill St. Clair)

Since the post-World War II period, the maximum tax rate has trended downwards, but remained high even amongst the staunchest conservatives:

Eisenhower: 91%
Nixon: 70%
Ford: 70
Reagan: 50%

Taxes for the highest-earners hit a 77-year low with Bush Senior at 28% and was then increased to 31% and subsequently 39.6% by Bill Clinton. Bush Junior then immediately enacted the tax break that set it at 35%.

So compared to historic levels of taxation, by both Democrats and Republicans, of levels beyond 60, 70, 80, even 90%, why is Obama the socialist?

In fact, "socialist" Sweden's maximum tax rate right now is 59.09%, while Denmark's is 63%. By that logic, those states being considered "socialist", Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, FDR, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter were also socialist presidents. Oh no, that means 10 of our last 17 presidents have been pinko Commies!

It must be all part of a vast left-wing conspiracy to infiltrate America and bring the United States under strict authoritarian rule, right?

Those damn lefties, they'll ruin us with their taxes, just like they caused the downfall of the United States all those other times. Better start moving to Monaco, people.


Sources:
US Presidents/Terms
US Tax Rates
World Tax Rates

(Say what you will about Wikipedia, but all the information I used from those articles is clearly cited from a reliable source)

On the Hill

I think I'm still tired from attending the 'Rally to Tally' this Wednesday, but boy was it worth it.

We left Tuesday night for an 8½ hour trip up departing from John Ferguson High. The trip itself was great and the initial energy of the parents, students, and teachers to get our word out to legislators was inspiring, but the real experience was being in the Capitol and meeting the state senators and representatives.

So early on Wednesday morning, the bus arrive in the capital city for breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel and a dash to the Capitol Building for a morning meeting with Senator Villalobos. That first meeting was somewhat packed and a number of Dade School Board Members filled the room as the senator gave his remarks, so the group headed down to the "Breakfast" with the Superintendent, which consisted of little more than remarks from Superintendent Carvalho.

Ferguson High students with Miami-Dade School Board members
Dr. Marta Perez in pink stripes and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho in the center
Dr. Martin Karp and Ana Rivas Logan on the far right
Also in attendance but not in the picture was Agustin Barrera and Dr. Larry Feldman

However, the Board Members made themselves available to the public. Noticeably missing were BM Renier Diaz de la Portilla whose brother, State Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla, hasn't exactly been the biggest supporter of public education, as well as Tee Holloway, who himself was a state legislator some years ago.

At 9:30, Senator Saunders addressed us outside of his office. However, what was supposed to be a meeting with him turned out to be a five-minute photo-op for him.

Ferguson Student Victoria Neiman-Vigo, Me, Sen. Saunders, and Ferguson Student Irene Inatty

As the larger group of students from Ferguson as well as neighboring schools and those from around the State attended scheduled meetings and descended upon the Capitol steps to prepare for the outside rally, we, the above students, roamed the building seeking to speak with legislators whether or not they were scheduled to see us.

Senator Rudy Garcia of Hialeah, who represents Hialeah High, was not in his office. However, we met his legislative aide and presented him with approx 1000+ letters from my own school, Hialeah High, which were individually written by students from the school explaining why education should be funded and how lack of that funding affects each and every one of them and their lives.

Attempts to see Reps. Esteban Bovo and David Rivera, the latter of which is Vice Chair for Education Appropriations, were initially unsuccessful, but both were able to schedule something in for later.

Meanwhile, the provided information packets mentioned a meeting with Sen. Garcia, whom we had missed earlier, at 11AM. That turned out to be a committee meeting on transportation, where Dade County Commissioner Rebecca Sosa asked for money for the tunnel project and the State Secretary of Transportation gave some closing remarks. However, Rep. Erik Fresen was kind enough to introduce us, and so two of us spoke before the committee.

Rep. Rivera, a vocal opponent of stimulus funds and tax-raising, was very uncomfortable and unattentive when I mentioned that they should do the best they could to get that money to Miami-Dade Schools and that we are getting down to the bare essentials. My colleague from Ferguson mentioned the cuts' effects that have led to even a lack of paper towels, toiler paper, and soap from school bathrooms. Following that, Sen. Frederica Wilson spoke directly to us from the Committee and urged her colleagues to visit schools and do what they could to fund education. She was incredibly welcoming and positive.

From there, we went to try and catch Rep. Bovo between meetings as his aide had suggested, and were led into what turned out to be a generous unscheduled thirty-minute meeting. Rep. Bovo spoke very frankly with us about his support for education funding and of his own situation with children that attend public schools here in Miami. Another 1000+ letters from Hialeah High, also in his district, were presented to him, which he promised to read over. The biggest disappointment is his putting the blame on the School Board which, though I agree has been fiscally irresponsible, isn't at fault for the lack of funding. It feels like both sides are lying when one defers to the School Board and the other defers to the State and neither has answers.

However, Bovo was pleasant and open to further discussions about any issues, even encouraging more letters and emails to his office whether or not we or others agreed or disagreed on the issues. He seemed to be the kind of person that I could respectfully disagree with, and I am very glad that he represents my school.

Irene Inatty, Rep. Esteban Bovo, Me, and Victoria Neiman-Vigo (excuse the darkness)

The highlight of the day, by far, was the meeting with David Rivera's legislative assistant, Alina Garcia. Originally, it was understood that the meeting was scheduled with the Representative himself, however he was unable to attend for some reason (could it have been our addressing him at the committee? hm.). Unfortunately, Garcia was notable negative, unhelpful, and generally rude.

When asked by band director Ryan Ellis "Is Mr Rivera aware that Florida is 47th in education performance?" her response was "He's aware of a lot of things." When pushed to comment on his stance on education in general as well as stimulus funds, every single answer was either "I don't know that." or "I don't have the authority to answer that." Perhaps the shining moment, for me at least, was one question I posed to her regarding instituting progressive taxation. One fact she pushed constantly was that Florida is constitutionally required to balance their budget.

I responded by saying that balancing a budget does not mean you can't reprioritize or overhaul the tax system, and asked whether Rep. River would be for or against instituting a progressive taxation system. "What's that?" She asked. "It means that people who can pay more do, and those who can't pay less." "Oh, the socialist system."

I'd done it. My first real question to someone of some influence in the state legislature and my first typical Republican talking point non-answer. "Actually, that's a form of taxation within the capitalist system." After somehow admitting that's the current system in place, though she initially did not know what it was, Garcia decided instead to take down my question and respond by email, asking "What was it that you called?" as if progressive taxation was a concept I had just thought up rather than one instituted in more successful nations around the world.

The meeting only went downhill from there, with PTA President Mindy Gould occasionally jumping in with a more pleasant and positive tone. My last question was "What is your name and what gives you the authority to answers these questions?" Adding that we expected to meet with Rep. Rivera and that we were really wasting our time getting no substantive answers.

Parents who met with Garcia shortly after us told me on the bus that an even more aggressive and negative attitude welcomed them inside, and that Garcia said "public education is a breeding ground for delinquents." And with that, I think we know exactly how much State Representative David River, Vice Chairman of the Education Appropriations Committee, values education in this state. And that, is scary.

My small group didn't get to spend too much time outside at the rally with signs and speakers, but word is that Sen. Dan Gelber, who is running for Mel Martinez's US Senate seat, was a speaker and very supportive of the cause, as was State CFO Alex Sink. Charlie Crist, a long-rumoured speaker, decided instead that he had more important things to do like suddenly holding a town hall meeting far from Tallahassee. Ferguson High's own jazz band played on the Capitol steps.

In all, it was both a learning experience and a successful endeavor, in my opinion. Though the Herald may claim little change will come as a result of our rally, it seemed that speaking directly with the legislators about our concerns did make them think for a while, at least. Hopefully, they will soon remember that they are elected officials, and that many of those at the rally will soon be qualified electors themselves.

My personal and public thanks go out to Liz Schlotzhauer, PTSA President at Ferguson, and Ryan Ellis who made this an incredible trip and worked day and night to make sure we could make it up there to Tallahassee and make our voices heard. There's few actions more participatory in a participatory democracy than visiting our

Ready for our close up

It seems Miami's been getting all sorts of attention these days!

Tonight on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, one of our own was featured on his 'Worst Persons in the World' segment. The victim? Larcenia Bullard.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

There's no such thing as bad publicity, right?

ChapLev for the Herald?

TIME published an article online today detailing the situation of ten major papers that may "fold or go digital".

Number 3 on the list? Our own Miami Herald.

It is owned by McClatchy, a publicly traded company that could be the next chain to file for Chapter 11. The Herald has been on the market since December, but no serious bidders have emerged. [...] There is a very small chance it could merge with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, but it is more likely that the Herald will go online-only with two editions, one for English-language readers and one for Spanish.

Also joining our paper on the list are the historic papers The Boston Globe, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Interestingly, many of the papers on the list are the smaller rivals of larger papers in the area, with the exception of the Herald and these three.

I can't say I'll be too sad to see the Herald go after such a decline in quality. In fact, if they were at all qualified to be journalists at one point, it certainly wasn't during the years I was alive to notice. It is, unfortunately, my only source for local news. Hopefully the Sun-Sentinel will pick up on that, and the SunPost and New Times will continue to publish their own unique pieces.

Herald, we hardly knew ye.