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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Jindal Puts Louisiana’s Schools Up for Sale: ALEC’s Education Reforms Rammed Through
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has wasted no time this legislative session in pushing wide-reaching education reforms designed to expand the charter school footprint, while opening the door to vouchers and tying teacher tenure to student test results. In the early hours of the morning on March 23rd, after a marathon session, the Louisiana State House [...]
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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: The “Hope and Change” Dog and Pony Show
With vague allusions to populist promises and admonition of his stubborn Republican opposition, the Great Capitulator ramped up his act like it was 2008 all over again. Memories of that agonizingly nauseating year abounded as mainstream liberals sang his praises. Among others, Michael Moore, of Ramsey Clark endorsement fame, was live on twitter with this: [...]
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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Rahm Ramps up the Repression in Chicago: New Protest Rules Ahead of the G-8/NATO Meetings
Ahead of the overlapping G-8 and NATO summits in Chicago May 19th-21st Mayor Rahm Emanuel has ramped up the repression of principled dissent in a city that has quite the history of it. Just three months after closing down Occupy Chicago before it could even develop an overnight encampment , “Rahmbo” has introduced two new ordinances that [...] -
mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Crackdown at Occupy New Orleans: Mayor Landrieu’s Peaceful Authoritarianism
In a press conference after the first crackdown of the Occupy NOLA encampment on December 6th, Mayor Mitch Landrieu congratulated himself on his efforts to avoid the violent confrontations seen in other cities. In a telling, if worrisome, illustration of how far the bar has been lowered, the mayor shared his confidence that he repressed [...]
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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Victory for Occupy NOLA: “Mini Moon” Gets Schooled in Federal Court
Occupy NOLA lives to see another week, after securing a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the City of New Orleans in federal court Tuesday. This victory capped a five-day scramble that started when Mayor Mitch Landrieu ordered protesters to clean up camp immediately beginning Friday afternoon. He told reporters at a press conference: “I am asking [...]
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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: “Occupy” Goes South for the Winter
As northern cities have parlayed the cold weather onset with police crackdowns to vanquish “Occupy” encampments, and the west coast has seen authorities violently wreak havoc on the movement, Occupy protesters are looking for alternatives. It may seem a paradox that the left-leaning movement would find refuge in the traditionally conservative south, but the economic malaise [...] -
mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Death at Occupy NOLA; Ongoing Tragedy in New Orleans
Beneath the veneer of New Orleans’ vibrant culture lies a history of tragedy. From the Yellow Fever outbreaks of the 19th century, the many catastrophic storms that have visited the city, the violence of the Civil War and Reconstruction, to the vast social dysfunction of contemporary New Orleans, this is a city that has known adversity [...]
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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Occupied New Orleans: A Brief History
New Orleans is no stranger to occupation. The swampland between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain has been occupied for nearly three centuries, beginning when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville first took the Chitimacha settlement in 1718. It was then turned over to the Spanish crown in 1763, back to the French in 1801, sold [...]
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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Occupy Movement Solidarity: Where are the Professors?
Absent from the occupy protests throughout this country, as with most meaningful movements in recent memory, are faculty of our major universities. Aside from the symbolic arrest of Cornel West and passive words of support from Noam Chomsky, the academic profession has been notably absent from this exhilarating movement. This is particularly bothersome because one [...]
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mattreichel wrote a new diary post: No Concrete on the “Occupation”
In order to gain an air of legitimacy, say commentators across the political spectrum, the “Occupy“ movement must make “concrete” demands. Their platitudes about the evils of Wall Street, we’re told, will not suffice. They must ask the powerful for concessions of sorts, even though this only promulgates the dependency status of the many vis-à-vis [...] -
mattreichel wrote a new diary post: Obama, the Petty Careerist
Lefty commentators have expressed widespread bewilderment over Obama, the person. Most of this stems from marginally “progressive” thinkers that are aghast at his supposed “drift to the right.” However, even more principled left voices have pronounced confusion, such as Alexander Cockburn, who recently says “I don’t think any writer thus far has got the measure [...]
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