Must See Powerful Video Imploring Asma al-Assad to Stand Up for Peace in Syria!

Dear Commons Community,

The wives of U.N. ambassadors from Britain and Germany targeted Syria’s first lady on Tuesday with an online appeal to “stop your husband” in his yearlong bid to quash a popular uprising that has left thousands dead.

The video contrasts the lavish lifestyle of 36-year-old Asma al-Assad, wife of President Bashar al-Assad and mother of three, with the images of dead and injured Syrian children.

“Stand up for peace, Asma. Speak out now. For the sake of your people. Stop your husband,” asks the video. “Stop being a bystander. No one cares about your image. We care about your action.”

The video asks viewers to sign a petition at www.change.org demanding the London-born first lady speak out to “stop the bloodshed.”

Tony

U.S. Soldiers Posing with Body Parts of Suicide Bombers in Afghanistan!

Dear Commons Community,

A number of media outlets are reporting that the Los Angeles Times released a set of photos this morning that appear to show U.S. troops in Afghanistan posing with the remains of suicide bombers. An American soldier released the photos to the LA Times “on the condition of anonymity.”

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen ‘strongly condemned’ the photos. In a statement, ISAF clarified that the incident took place in 2010 and “represents a serious error in judgment by several soldiers who have acted out of ignorance and unfamiliarity with U.S. Army values.”

According to NBC News, the Pentagon press secretary said Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta ‘strongly rejects the conduct’ of the soldiers depicted in the photos. Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman declined to comment.

The anonymous soldier who released the photos to the LA Times reportedly told the paper that he released the photos to highlight security shortcomings at U.S. bases in Afghanistan. “He said the photos point to a breakdown in leadership and discipline that he believed compromised the safety of the troops,” the LA Times reported.

The quicker we get our troops home the better!!!

Tony

54 New Schools Will Open This Fall in New York City!

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times is reporting that New York City will open 54 new schools in Fall 2012 – 24 charter schools and 30 regular public schools.  This announcement was not without controversy especially in light of the rancor caused by the announced closing of 23 schools earlier this year.

“William C. Thompson Jr., the former comptroller and a 2009 Democratic candidate for mayor, called the closing of schools a “shell game” and a “Ponzi scheme” and urged the State Legislature to issue a moratorium on such closings.

Two other possible candidates, Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, and Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, did not call for a moratorium but said that they would like to see fewer school closings.

The three were speaking at a forum at New York University, where a group critical of Mr. Bloomberg’s policies released a report showing that the 23 schools targeted for closing this year had higher proportions of special-education students, students who were over age for their grade and students who qualified for free or reduced-price lunches, as well as lower proportions of students proficient in math and language arts, than the city’s school system as a whole.”

By this fall, the Bloomberg administration will have closed, or will have begun phasing out, 140 schools since 2002 and will have opened 589 new ones — many of them small schools that share space in old school buildings. Teachers at closed schools cannot be fired, but they are often not hired by the new schools, and can wind up as substitute teachers for years before finding permanent positions.

Michael Mulgrew,  the president of the United Federation of Teachers, noted that 9 out of the 23 schools targeted for closing this year had been created by the Bloomberg administration since 2002.

“We intend to fight to make sure these new schools get the supports they need,” Mr. Mulgrew said. “Nearly 40 percent of the schools on the current closing list were created by Bloomberg, and we’d hate to see him try to close these at the same rate before he leaves office.”

Tony

 

New York City Parents: Protesting Standardized Tests – Ask to Opt Out!

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday began the yearly spring ritual of high-stakes testing in schools across New York City and New York State.

The New York Daily News reported that in a backlash against these tests, some parents are keeping their kids home.  And 1,200 others have signed a petition asking for the state to provide a formal method for parents to opt out of testing in future years.

“It was a difficult decision, but I feel compelled to do something,” saidAndrea Mata, whose son Oscar, 8, won’t be filling out bubble sheets with his third-grade classmates at Public School 210 in Manhattan.

Mata called PS 210 a “wonderful school” but noted its dual language program no longer devotes an adequate amount of time to Spanish because of test pressure.”

Mata has a point in that too many of our schools have become test prep factories!

Tony