There go I before the grace of god!

http://www.epi.org/blog/snap-food-stamps-economy-poverty/

My Thoughts about politicians calling us a Food Stamp nation:

Once we had a war on poverty in America. 
Once we were the envy of the world.
We were far from perfect, but we were trying.
Then we stop trying. 
Our leaders ended the war on poverty, and began a war on the poor.
A people became apathetic.
The people remained silent during this war.
Being poor became something to ridicule.
Poverty became an excuse.
People no longer said "there go I, but by the grace of god"..
People began instead to point fingers at the poor.
Our nation lost it's way. 


We were warned:


Matthew 25:41-45 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.’”



When that final day comes when all nations, and all people are called to judgement what reply shall we give to our lord?
Shall we say we favored the 1%, we gave them tax breaks, and privileges, and everyday we dreamed of being one of them? We worshiped them, we spent endless hours watching reality shows about them. 
We envied them. 
We are not a food stamp nation, but we are a nation in denial of our responsibility to the our poor, elderly, and our most needy.


Still walking,


Jesse

If you are wondering what I am listening and singing along to on my walk today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug7IgB8MfWE

I hear the crying of the hungry in the deserts where they're wandering.
Hear them crying out for heaven's own benevolence upon them.
Hear destructive power prevailing, I hear fools falsely hailing.
To the crooked wits of tyrants when they call.

I hear them all
I hear them all
I hear them all
I hear them all, and I'm still marching,
Jesse


PS here is a link to how we help the 1% keep wages low; 
http://front.moveon.org/the-secret-that-job-creators-like-walmart-wont-tell-you/#.Ty2SxzeBq5U.facebook

The DOE's organ grinder and school reformer dancing monkeys

Richard Rothstein research associate of the Economic Policy Institute expresses his concerns about NCLB stating:

 “Assuming systemic failure to justify a frenzy of ill-considered reforms, we've spent almost no time investigating what caused these trends. We can only speculate. Rather than spending such energy imagining how schools have failed, so we can fix them, we might devote attention to investigating what schools have done well, so we can do more of it. Rothstein is not generalizing he is using decades of NEAP data to share that the achievement gap was closing faster pre-NCLB than post. Check it out for yourself:

http://www.epi.org/blog/reformers-playbook-failing-schools-facts/

One wonders when the DOE in DC might begin to look at the data as well rather than repeating the unproven mantras of the so-call school choice movement. Isn’t it time we grade the DOE in Washington? Three Secretaries of Education, a decade of failure, and nearly a trillion dollars spent for closing a achievement gap that was closing faster before they arrived.

Let me start with L for lies, P Ponzi schemes, and F for failure.

What is your grade for the DOE?   

Wondering what the Walkingman was listening today on his walk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCj_QEcuhNQ

"When I was a young man  Just gotten out  I didn't know  What this world was all about  I was lied to, I was cheated  I played all kinds of fools  It didn't take me long  To learn the rules"  
Fool me once, shame on you  Fool me twice, shame on me"

New verse people

Fool us once Pageshame on youFool us twice SpellingShame on usFool us three times Duncan

    Get ready for a fight

Ain't nobody gonna turn me around

The more things change, the more they remain the same.   In Raleigh, NC,  this week  a coalition of ministers and community leaders asked the Wake County School Board and the District Attorney's Office to seek mediation instead of trials for 30 protesters arrested at school board meetings in 2010. 

before you read the rest of my blog please read more here: 

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/24/1803530/coalition-calls-for-mediation.html#storylink=cpy‎

I salute my brothers and sisters in Raleigh who understand the value of Civil Disobedience. 

"Ain't nobody gonna turn me around" My Mom taught me about Civil Disobedience when I was 8 years old. Her lesson began on Good Friday, April 12, 1963, as we sat and watched TV and saw that Dr. King had being arrested with Ralph Abernathy by Police Commissioner Bull Connor for demonstrating without a permit, I could see how genuinely upset my Mom was.  I asked her "Why did they keep arresting him?"

and I remember her reply "Little Jess, the way I see it,  Dr. King's arrest is like that bible story when King Darius decreed that no one could pray to any God for thirty days.  But the good Daniel continued to pray to our Lord in defiance.  The king then cast Daniel into the lion's den.  Everyone thought Daniel would be killed, but they did not know God was on Daniel's side.  That big old lion just walked over to Daniel and sat down beside him, letting everyone know that Daniel and those like Daniel are safe."

She told me how Dr. King was probably reading that very bible passage in jail right now, as he sat in his jail cell.   "Come on" she said to me, "Let's be like Dr. King and read that passage,  we need to pray to the Lord to deliver Dr. King from the lion's den."  My Mom, way back then, recognized Civil Disobedience, and made darn sure her son understood it too! 

Bravo to those brave ministers, hats off to those community leaders who like Daniel continue to step into the lion's den in Raleigh and everywhere else around our country. 

My very favorite Teacher "Dorothy Menosky" always  loves to say "Not everything that is taught is learned, and not everything that is learned is taught."  There are many resistance lessons all around us in this struggle to tell our leaders that America's Children are More Than Test Scores. Don't believe the hype ~ learn the lessons.
Ready to occupy the DOE,
Jesse 

If you want to know what I was listening to on my walk today: 

http://www.hulu.com/watch/205787/music-and-the-arts-the-freedom-singers-aint-gonna-let-nobody-turn-me-around