Ideas for Change in America

  • Create 1.5 Million American Jobs by fixing our crumbling schools.

    America's kids are going to school in trailers and other sub-standard buildings, while construction workers sit idle thanks to the housing market crash. We can repair or rebuild thousands of schools in communities all across America, while the 1.5 million jobs created will pay fair wages and can't be outsourced. Tell Congress to make our money do double duty by funding local school repairs that put Americans back to work.

    - USAction Feb 12 @ 07:13AM PST

Comments (181)

77 older comments see the full discussion ^

  • Esther Ramírez
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 02:40PM PT
    Esther Ramírez

    Our children in the world need safety enviroments for their education, they are more than our future, they are our present, they need good schools, and teachers today and ever. That is mandatory give more resources for education. 

     

    Thank you!

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    • MELISSA STRUGIS
      Apr 10, 2010 @ 08:49AM PT
      MELISSA STRUGIS

      IN ORDER TO HAVE SAFETY IN THIS WORLD FOR OUR CHILDREN, FIRST WE MUST BE THE ONES TO PROTECT THEM, AND NOT TO HARM THEM OUR SELVES. THIS WORLD IS FUL OF PEDIFILES THAT PREY ON SMALL CHILDREN.

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  • Ross Colbert
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 02:50PM PT
    Ross Colbert

    I work in an industry that already remodels and builds new schools.  However, the local carpenters union bought two members of the school board-contributed heavily to their campaign-and now if you aren't union, you can't do any work on the schools in that district.  There's already the Bacon-Davis act that levels the playing field, making everyone get paid the same, union or non-union.  This is out of the republican corporatist's playbook.  It shows the need for drastic campaign contribution reform.  Are we are a government of the people, or of the money? 

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  • Mar 08, 2010 @ 03:01PM PT
    R B

    I so agree! Let's get on this!

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  • Mar 08, 2010 @ 03:05PM PT
    R B

    I so agree! Let's get on this!

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  • Greg Burcham
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 05:13PM PT
    Greg Burcham

    This is a no brainer, no offence, especially for here in Hawaii.  Growing up in the North East on the Mason-Dixie line we had our federal days off, our snow days and maybe every once in a blue moon, a day off due to something out of the norm that was hazardous for us to be in school, but here, they have Federal Holidays, State Holidays, Half day every Wednesday, and now this year starting back in Oct '09, Furlough Fridays where the schools are closed due to poor budgeting on the states end. 

    Personally, I cannot understand why, our elected legislatures and congressional leaders cannot see the weight of investing in the schools for the children.  These are our future leaders and with the brain drain that is happening here along with the change that has happened and will continue to happen on the global economic and scholarly front, we as a nation need to invest where it is best, our children, not in pipe dreams.  You want a more secure nation that is able to handle global issues?  You want a president that can lead with assurance of knowing he is for the people and of the people?  You want a nation that can stand proud at any summit due to their stand on whatever the current topic is?  Then I suggest we invest in our children and teach them how to be smarter than us, teach them how not to swayed to do the easy thing, but to do the right thing.  Teach them that everyone's voice counts but that this is still a democracy of the people, not of the money.  Teach them, that although money is necessary in this day in age, money does not guarantee happiness.   Teach them the values that where taught to those that lived in and through the great depression.

    Sorry for the ramble, but I as an individual can only teach my kids what I know to be right and teach those kids I come in contact with.  As a nation, we can restore our global honor and our global standing, but we need to start at home and in our schools.

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  • adrian dockeray
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 05:22PM PT
    adrian dockeray

    we need comfortable school,healthcare enegery and good teachers,that the inforstructor that we need for a start then we can build on them.

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  • allen dale
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 05:51PM PT
    allen dale

    Lets get out of our congressional military industrial complex mindset and start the real nation-building we need at home!  Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran or any other foreign land but lets break out of the colonial mode here in The USA!  Think of the real needs we have here.  How many children are still without healthcare, not to say how many kids don't get enough to eat every day!  Look for things to get worse, not better, as men projecting the illusion of democracy shy away from the very real and necessary work inherent in protecting and nuturing civil liberties. A summer job protecting the world's geatest heroin crops is not what we voted for!

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    • Jerome F Miller
      Mar 08, 2010 @ 06:19PM PT
      Jerome F Miller

      Come on ! ! It's OIL not smack were there for. Other wise I agree whit your comments. It is the children who we need to look out for. 

      wit  loVe J Rome

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  • Jerome F Miller
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 06:12PM PT
    Jerome F Miller

    Last week, did you hear on the TV a person saying "back when California had a good grad. school system" Well I was there, I worked with Pat Brown and others in the soon to be new Governor of Cal. Admin.     Schools did not teach all that was needed to go to collage. Back then your first year of college was a smarting up for collage courses. Then in the second year you took Collage studies. We, Pat and us others figured that High School needed 2 more years. We called it the 13th & 14th grade.     I forget the name, Jr., City, we came up with the name Community Colleges. Some Cities used the High school's building, others built new buildings. I know things are somewhat different now and the wording may have changed BUT the cause is still the same.

    We need better grade school teaching to start.

    Then we need to help high school students. I mean HELP. If a student can't or won't plan for advance schooling, we should have programs to teach "LIFE" and "SHOP" (as we called it). The students who need collage prep. should get it. }when I was young we did not need to PAY the high cost going to a private ATT type school.{ .  I went to Cal at Berkeley and have forgot all I tried to learn. JOKE  I  HOPE ! !

    I'm now 74 and can't believe how dumb down School is. Maybe it because I now live in AZ (see I can't even spell Arisona).

    I am part of the PASS the you (I hope) are the present but most important is the FUTURE, our kids and our kid's kids.

    You don't need to help me, you and I need to help the children, you FUTURE.

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  • Eleanor Hudson
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 06:14PM PT
    Eleanor Hudson

    This would be a good start.  I know that in my county, we have two high schools in need of replacement.  They could also be built according to LEEDS guidelines and thus contribute to energy efficiency goals.

    Something that's important to realize is that the condition of the building and the level of facilites available at the school speaks volumes to students about how valued they are by their community, district, state and country.  If the building is dilapidated, if library materials are lacking, if the computer resources are out-of-date or missing, students get the message that they are not worth our society's investment.

    But investment in the schools is more than just the buildings and material resources.  We need to invest in the staffing at the schools.  We need smaller class sizes in many districts, and that means more teachers, both for content and special education.  More teacher assistants would be helpful.  More special services people, such as counselors, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, translation teams in areas with special language needs, content tutors, people to run after-school programs on school grounds, etc.  We want to give our students the best learning environment possible, and that means improving student-to-teacher/staff ratios so that every student who needs individual attention gets that attention.

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  • AMF Madaffer
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 06:28PM PT
    AMF Madaffer

    Spending Tax Payers Money Is Not Make Job, But Iwould Rather See Someone Out Of

    Work Get The Money Then Give To Some Stupid Piss Pore Investment Banker!

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  • Harry Dahlberg
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 07:15PM PT
    Harry Dahlberg

    The education of our children is the most important single thing we do.

    It is the core of the future of America.

    We must so all we can to support our schools, our teachers and our children.  Our future as a nation, and the future of democracy depends on it.

     

     

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  • Pat Kempton
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 08:17PM PT
    Pat Kempton

    Our schools need a great deal of attention but we shouldn't overlook the importance of preventative maintenance. So many of the school buildings would be in better shape if they were consistantly cared for properly.

    The money saved by repairing, rather than replacing schools, could be used to pay teachers decent salaries and to provide more opportunities for the students. 

     

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  • Robert Jendrey
    Mar 08, 2010 @ 10:56PM PT
    Robert Jendrey

    FDR did it, why can't we?

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    • Philip Gurrieri
      Mar 09, 2010 @ 06:00PM PT
      Philip Gurrieri

      F.D.R. did it BUT NOT ALONE......  At that time FDR was going thru the exact same thing as OUR President is going thru regarding the Corporate Christ that can do no wrong & the LAST thing that the CORPORATISM CHRIST wanted was for the PUBLIC and POOR to be assisted with the W.P.A.

      The truth is that young families were turning police cars over on their sides & demonstrations by the no longer working public AS the police tried to stop the demonstrations & THEN the W.P.A. was born!

      Today it is a bit different; the police are all hyped up for civil disobedience & it won't be funny......  Much better IDEA is a GREEN healthy for ALL - W.P.A. 

      In actuality, we have ABSOLUTELY no alternative to going PESTICIDE FREE & GREEN BUILT - convert the farms & livestock to ORGANIC GREEN - NOW we have GLOBAL RESPECT as sickness costs go DOWN DOWN DOWN.......

      I feel confident that WE CAN ALL BE aGREENable ON THIS VITAL MATTER OF HUEMANITY......

       

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  • Sarai G. Zitter
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 03:27AM PT
    Sarai G. Zitter

    This is one of the best ideas I've heard in a long time.  It's a win-win sitiuation - upgrading our schools while providing jobs for workers.

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  • carroll m wilson
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 05:14AM PT
    carroll m wilson

    And, when improvements, repairs, are made, let's make sure they're upgrades as far as the environment -- green improvements and repairs.

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  • Elizabeth Brisbois
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 06:23AM PT
    Elizabeth Brisbois

    I have been a teacher for 30 years and I am now in a 50+ year old building that is in disrepair. There is never any money to fix anything yet if there was we could keep a crew busy fixing our building up for months. This is a great idea building on our future for our children. Schools have been so long ignored mostly I believe because we say we care about children but we really don't want to pay the price it costs to house them and give them the materials for a quality education. I love this idea.

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    • mae bean
      Mar 10, 2010 @ 04:01PM PT
      mae bean

      We can do more than just fix the schools. The argument against solar is often "well, tree hugger, where are you going to put all the panels we'd need?"

      You gotta roof? 

      How about the roofs of our schools? 

       

      Really. I mean it

      What if the cap on excess power produced was lifted for our schools? If each school (or as many as applicable, there could be some with full shade) could be taken off the grid they would have the following advantages:

      They would save money every month by not having a PGE bill

      They'd be EARNING money every month by selling unused power back to the grid and acting like one big solar power generating plant.

      They'd create good green jobs that stay. 


      Voila! 

      Good green collar jobs. 
      where to put the solar panels problem solved
      our schools save AND earn money every day
      our kids/youth get a daily lesson in renewable power

      I've written my Congressman Pete Stark who concurred this is a great idea and the money is here in Obama's budget. Now it's up to the local governments to get with the program. 

      The CA governor is in favor of lifting the cap on what can be earned by selling power to the grid. Right now I think it's around 2% over your usage with PGE??? Big oil, gas and coal struggling to keep it there. 

      Perhaps he could be moved to make it NO cap for schools. 

      Here's a school in Fremont that reduced their electric bill by 2/3. Can you imagine what they could do for their budget and energy production if the cap was lifted? 

      Chabot college has solar panels over one parking lot, imagine solar panels over ALL of our school parking lots. 

      http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_13729288

      How about it? 

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  • Mary Wolfe
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 07:01AM PT
    Mary Wolfe

    It starts with the children. Let's give the future back to them

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  • Harvey Kahler
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 07:32AM PT
    Harvey Kahler

    I believe all children have a right to adequate schools.

    The "but" is Federal financing has not followed the constitutional mandate; and state and local support has varied across the country.  This would seem to create the situation where the lagging state and local authorities would be rewarded for not keeping up.  Unfortunately, the limited Federal and state support allows more affluent states and local authorities to raise funding for the desired school improvements that disconnects the needs of the weaker states and local authorities across the country.

    We would not want national defense to be organized around a collective of state national guards and dependant on what each can afford; why would we think education would work any better?

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  • Frances Platt
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 08:15AM PT
    Frances Platt

    I agree that government should be pumping stimulus money into schools - both the buildings and what goes on there.  People who obsess over the deficit runup have forgotten a major lesson of the Great Depression.  When FDR took office, he immediately undertook an aggressive government spending program to create millions of jobs.  It was starting to work, but then after a year or so, Congress got cold feet and imposed cutbacks.  Things went backwards and the Depression worsened.  It was only when the federal government reinstituted big deficit spending that the Depression finally started to turn around.  We are right on the verge of making that big mistake again.

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  • Neil Blonstein
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 09:01AM PT
    Neil Blonstein

    I have recently retired. As an ESL teacher in NYC I have "fond" memories of working regularly in semi-renovated bathrooms, an auditorium where no two consequitive seats were useable (sit-worthy) due to lacking backs or seats or screws (and children needed to share books), lunchrooms where the waterfountains served as a base for my whiteboard (blackboard) and a teachers lounge, where the faucets in the sink were missing (so water could squirt to the ceiling.  While these conditions were years ago--I am confident that new teachers are often give the worse conditions--particularly  for ESL teachers.  The children and teachers are worth more than this.  Numerous teachers must be laid back to survive--most whistleblowers will be fired early in any career.

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  • Richard N Huff
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 12:42PM PT
    Richard N Huff


    They are talking of shutting down a high school in Fort Wayne (Waynedale) Indiana. They claim it needs too much work. Seems like this would be a good idea.  Our Governor cut property tax, but he forgot to cut some of the high pays that the executives in the government and school get. We need better schools...and all the Presidents in the past have said how they wanted to improve education. We've heard them blame it on teachers...but teachers arn't the only ones in childrens lives to help them with learning...parents must help too. Quit blaming  teachers!

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  • Mar 09, 2010 @ 01:55PM PT
    Aaron H.

    Create 1.5 Million American Jobs by fixing our crumbling schools. Not new jobs? There will always be money for the schools but how much money is the question. Besides the way I see it you don't fix schools. You either update/add on or build a new one. I agree that we need to educate not indoctrinate our youth. As long as your educating you will have my support. It's the teachers that do the teaching, not the building. I know that having a state of the art/updated facility would open children to technological avenues of thought and process which could be beneficial. Everyone knows the school sysytem is a cash cow and they say it's all for the youth when that might be true, but it's also about them as well. If you cared about the kids as much as you say you do you wouldn't be so worried about getting paid more every year, COLA, or focusing on the massive benefits package you will recieve upon retiring. But at the same time you don't want to be blamed if a child fails? I'd say it's more about the unions but what do I know? I agree the parents have a vital role in building their children and teachers shouldn't be made to mold a child. Even though I've experienced change through education by a certain instructor/teacher. A child has to have a good foundation first. That starts in the home. I don't completely disagree I'm just trying to make sense of it all. Sorry if I upset anyone.

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    • joyce graham
      Apr 20, 2010 @ 09:53PM PT
      joyce graham

      Aaron,

      I'm not offended but I'd like to respond to your comment. I'm not so confident that there will always be money for our schools. It's already reached a point where schools are actually closing because they can't afford to operate. Personally I've witnessed time and time again school bonds being voted down while the Police and Fire continually get funding for their new toys. I'm sorry to admit I never really paid attention to any of it 'til I had kids of my own. Certainly it does start in the home, but should it be an uphill struggle from kindergarten on up? I see my kids teachers buying their students supplies out of their own pockets, the war gets it's money, the bankers get our money, I say give the schools a bailout!!

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  • Constance Dayton
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 01:58PM PT
    Constance Dayton

    Great idea for putting people to work doing badly needed work.

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  • Bronwen Sennish
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 02:34PM PT
    Bronwen Sennish

    Invest in teaching materials and teachers, not big construction projects.

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  • Kathe Davis
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 03:52PM PT
    Kathe Davis

    It is not necessarily the very best ideas that get Congressional attention, but those that are most lobbied for!  Hence the opposition to health care reform: SIX industry lobbyists for every single member of Congress!  So on this issue -- let's be the lobby!

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  • Eddie Simon
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 06:15PM PT
    Eddie Simon

    We need to get serious about what is important for John Q public, rather than these lobbyist.  That's the reason we are so far behind some of the third world nations.  We are our biggest enemies.  We need to stop fighting among ourselves, and unite as one nation.

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  • kristine osbakken
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 12:22AM PT
    kristine osbakken

    If this is all about the construction trades, I'm not really for it.  That labor segment is often really conservative, not supportive of the common good, and out only for their wallets.

    If we're talking Renewable Energy for schools here, not only the old cliches- "jobs" and Energy Efficiency, it's got my support.

    Kriss Osbakken

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  • Disa Farris
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 04:31AM PT
    Disa Farris

    As a teacher of 32 years who has inhabited one of those crumbling, decaying schools, I believe this opportunity is long overdue. The original portion of my middle school (previously the high school... ah, the plight of many middle schools!) was built in 1923, with the "new" addition being completed in 1955! We have banisters falling off walls, waterfalls that cascade down hallways when it rains, guttering that backs up and causes ice floes in the winter, and, well, you get the picture. I support this move to fix up our schools and stimulate jobs.

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  • Larry Connelly
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 05:22AM PT
    Larry Connelly

    It seems the only job creation being impelmented at this time is on wall street.If the party of "NO"and the blue dog democrates would stop focusing so much on lobbyest money,and more on the american people.Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor (D) from arkansas are trying to keep an american co.out there state.And put foreign co.in to build wind turbins.Its all about "in god we trust" people!Yes I think building new schools, and rebuilding exesting schools is a great Idea.The grant given to the J.V. Martin school in S.C. was a good start.Lets keep the pressure on!

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  • Nan Holmes
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 07:39AM PT
    Nan Holmes

    This proposal is a win win proposition.  Employing people now while investing in our future.

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  • jane applebee
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 09:21PM PT
    jane applebee

    Education is a state, not national, issue. 

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    • Dan McMullen
      Mar 11, 2010 @ 01:40AM PT
      Dan McMullen

      Jane, you are incorrect.  Most of the problems with education are due to the varying standards from state to state for curriculum and construction and upgrading of both.  MAny stgates ignore both issues and school facilities and curriculum suffer, or remain in poor condition because of the failure of some states to be commitged to this issue.

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    • Lee Dorsey
      Mar 16, 2010 @ 02:30PM PT
      Lee Dorsey

      Go Dan ... so correct. Here just this week we have Texas that has taken Thomas Jefferson out of history books!

      The last man in the world who was thought to KNOW EVERYTHING knowable at that time...a true Renaisaance man. 

      Of course he did father half-black children....and you know they cant go far in THIS new teabagged Amurika.

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  • Maya Cook
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 07:13AM PT
    Maya Cook

    Oh please, please please! You want kids to perform in school? Give them a clean & healthy environment just like the rich districts get. When you starve schools of money, the whole country loses. This is nothing but win-win.

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  • Tom Ronan
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 07:37AM PT
    Tom Ronan

    I live in Philadelphia and I know the conditions of the high schools here is deplorable.  My youngest daughter went to a school where the building is practically falling down and she wouldn't go to the bathroom until after school because the toilets were broken, most didn't have seats and the sinks were broken so she couldn't wash her hands.  I'd say this is a great idea, and long needed repairs may finally get done.

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  • Mark McKennon
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 07:38AM PT
    Mark McKennon

    Law requires that children go to school, as it should. Children and their parents should require that the schools are vibrant, vivid, interesting environments in which to spend 7 - 8 hours each day of five. Only a minority of students really want to learn in a stifling, decrepit facility. There are idle skilled adult hands and money to put in them, and there is no doubt painters, carpenters, plumbers, and so on who would jump skyhigh at a chance to make a living AND help society at the same time. That is not a frequent combination in today's offices-and-services workaday world.  

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  • Douglass Reeves
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 07:39AM PT
    Douglass Reeves

    Education is the future.  It is so insane that we spend more on prisons than schools.

    YES -- lets invest in our future and put people to work NOW.

    This is the best idea I have heard.

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  • clifford slayman
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 07:56AM PT
    clifford slayman

    An excellent idea to change American politics, liberate real PEOPLE from the Bush Supremes' decision to let corporations flood our elections, and to free up megadollars for domestic use:  a Federal Law to BAN PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISING.  This is explicit in Great Britain, and the norm in most western democracies, which long ago realized the destructive power of corporate advertising.  Not my idea, but posed by Ken Konecnik in an illuminating but very short book "Democracy Rising."

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  • Ruth Wendell
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 08:06AM PT
    Ruth Wendell

    Repairing schools to provide jobs is an excellent idea.

    Of course we want the best teachers, but a large part of the failing education problem is that parents are not involved in encouraging, even demanding, that their children pay attention and do their best work in school.  Too many parents say the children should not have homework and they (parents) do not even help the children learn times tbles, spelling or reading. Parents also insist that if a child has not learned first grade work, (s)he should not be held back.  The best way is to require a readiness test for each child before (S)he starts kindergarten.  Education takes work on the part of the student.  Learning is the job of each student. Father and/or mother goes to work to earn the income. Children have to work at getting the best education they are are capable of. The opportunities are there, but the attitude is that the teacher should entertain the information into them (as in TV) and if the student doesn't pick it up, it is the teacher's fault. I was a teacher who stood and delivered, but I was not an entertainer.

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  • Stanley Baker
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 08:28AM PT
    Stanley Baker

    A friend of mine, a doctor, once told me that he was taking a sailing class in the evening at the high school I taught in.  The building had been built in the mid60s and had not had any renovation since that time.   I asked him:  "If B-- High School were a mall, would you shop there?"  He responded,  No."  During that same time frame, a new shopping mall had been built locally and had been renovated three times.  Priorities are priorities.

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  • Richie Kessler
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 09:11AM PT
    Richie Kessler

    Yes... Changing our focus and budgetary expenditures is essential. We have Trident nuclear missile subs, land based ICBM's and airborne fleets of B-52 nuclear payload bombers. I think we could retire one of those 3.. plus, 'come home' from the military bases in 130 countries around the world. All... at a savings far beyond 1-Trillion $$$ a year. There's PLENTY of $$$ to pay for better schools and HealthCare for all. The $$$ is just allocated in the WRONG paces right now. Truly, it's time for: "CHANGE that we can believe in". Now where have I heard that before... ?  

     

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  • Helmut Zitzwitz
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 09:31AM PT
    Helmut Zitzwitz

    This is such a huge problem which existed when I came to this country in 1950.

    The attitude of the public at large has to change. Since a substantial amount of money comes from the local district, which means "TAXES",,, and TAX is a dirty word, in this country, nothing much will change. No local politician is going to support a Tax Increase, even for schools. The public will vot it down every time.

    Don't always blame the politician. The public has to point the finger into the mirror.

    So far, I don't think it is happening. 

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  • (Rabbi) Arthur Waskow
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 09:44AM PT
    (Rabbi) Arthur Waskow

    As a Ph.D in US history and rabbi whose father was the first in our family to go to college,  founded the Baltimore Teachers Union, and struggled for his kids to get a good education, i know how important decent schools are.  This initiative makes sense for kids and workers and therefore our whole society.  

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  • Carla Skuce
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 10:16AM PT
    Carla Skuce

    A win-win solution!

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  • Damon White
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 10:59AM PT
    Damon White

    Indeed this is a wonderful idea.  Helping to rebuild schools while also helping to get people back to work.  Bad enough some of the books are old, but in some places the buildings are sub-standard and even still out in trailers.

    Someone mentioned, Stanley B. in the posting about a mall being built and renovated 3 times where he lived and yet a local school still lay crumbling. Something like that should happen, but alas maybe with this out voices here and there things begin to change.

    We don't always 'see' change, but it is changing it's just about keeping momentum.

    shine on...wonderful Lights that you ARE

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  • Steve Preskill
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:00AM PT
    Steve Preskill

    What a no-brainer this is! Our children need to go to school in buildings that are safe and well maintained. Who wouldn't want that for one's own children or for oneself? If I would expect it for my own children or children I am close to, I MUST expect it for all children! Please support this critical initiative.

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  • Stephen Kay
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:11AM PT
    Stephen Kay

    And we can pay for these schools by ending Corporate Welfare.   The govt giving corporations and eg the managers of hedge funds enormous tax breaks.

     

    All thanks to the republicans, whose model of government is really simple:

    The super-rich with their yachts and private jets

    Everyone else trapped in low paying or no job jobs.

    Reminds me of the middle ages - remember the old nursery rhyme that went:

    the king was in his counting house, counting all his money.......

    While meanwhile the average person was a serf - just another word for slave.

    And isn't it so interesting how the repubs- our "party of God",  worships the golden calf, of which we are warned in the bible.

    Reminds me also of that old Psalm that goes like :   ...Every wird thet say is a lie, their mouths are an open grave................."

     

     

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  • Wison Hatchl
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:23AM PT
    Wison Hatchl

    Don'tnow enough about 'crumbling schools' to make a judgment about that.

    My comment is than we should stop working toward building an empire, The other people of the world do not want to be dominated by us. We are must making more and more enemies.

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  • Francee Levin
    Mar 18, 2010 @ 12:59AM PT
    Francee Levin

    We must do everything we can for education.  It represents the future.  For all of us.

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  • Pamela Smith
    Mar 23, 2010 @ 02:41PM PT
    Pamela Smith

    We would never run short of jobs, if only some of these rich bas____ would put people to work, cleaning up ruin apartment buildings, factories that are no longer useable, places that are actual visual dumps in the middle of these cities that you drive into, and all you can see are these old broken down smoke stacks, along with crumbling buildings, which are actually sitting in commercial acreage that could be reused, and then they could make a fortune rebuilding something glamous along these rivers, and or lakes,which is where alot of these sit.

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  • Jules Heinly
    Mar 24, 2010 @ 04:42PM PT
    Jules Heinly

    That's a rather all encompassing idea too. Imagine how much energy they are wasting with the makeshift buildings. Imagine how the indoor air quality is in these trailers. Our kids whould have the best environment to grow their brains and facilitate learning, our people would be able to go back to building and our environment would benefit from decreased energy usage. What a better way to teach our kids to be global contributors! Good Idea!!!

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    • Dan McMullen
      Mar 24, 2010 @ 07:28PM PT
      Dan McMullen

      Jules,  You are mostly right, b ut many of the trailers (or portable classrooms) you refer to probably are newer than many school buildings, and have a pretty good air quality environment.,  But better, more modern classrooms are needed to really allow the students to learn without distraction from crumbling facilities. As an Architect wo worked on schools for 40 years, I know that this nidea will not only creatr jos but improve our educational system and the results for our cikdren.,  Dan McMullen, Bellingham, WA.

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  • Raelin Hansen
    Mar 25, 2010 @ 07:38PM PT
    Raelin Hansen

    Corporations have no interest in better education. They are entities without borders now, and they will find enough of a brain trust by drawing from a global pool. Furthermore, most corporations derive greater profit (or think they do) by fomenting discord and fear among citizens of ALL countries, and the less well educated people are, the easier it is to do that. Why am i bringing this up? Because i'd like to ask you, while you're here, to pop over and take a closer look at another Top Ten winner: Move to Amend. I tell you this because one thing that every one of us, with our many causes, must realize, is that this is THE ISSUE on which all other issues ultimately hinge, because corporations have their fingers in EVERY LAST SINGLE PIE! Pass it on! Continue to fight for this cause, of course, but join the fight to FIRST OF ALL do away with the absurd fiction of corporate personhood, because the recent Supreme Court decision in "Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission" affects ANY chance that you have of changing existing situations, and indeed threatens most of the few freedoms we still have! (Because "speech" with money is bigger and louder than anyone's rightful, individual free speech, and advertising [read propaganda] has a notorious power to whip up fear in more malleable members of society.)

    I will add this: the most powerful use of - and publicity for - this issue is to make it, for the midterms, a major (even better make it THE MAJOR) campaign issue. If organized groups of people confront the candidates and ask them "How will you vote, or better yet will you co-sponsor a move to amend our constitution, to do away with for once and for all this absurd conception of corporations as persons?" If they won't do that, they shouldn't have our vote! Our freedom and our control over the issues that affect us rest beneath it all on this one issue!

     

     

     

     

     

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This idea was voted as one of the top 10 ideas in the 2010 Ideas for Change in America competition. For more information, including a list of all 10 winners, click here.

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