Sign white house petition and send this letter to your elected congressperson to stop for-profit schools from targeting poor people

pooramericansrevolt:

The terms “Proprietary school” and “For-profit school” are legal terms to describe an institution of education that is a business and exists to turn a profit for the owners of that business. Post secondary school refers to any schooling that comes after you have completed high school or obtained your GED. 

Since 1992 (when the U.S house of representatives initiated the “90-10” rule that allowed students of for profit schools to qualify for federal grant and loan money previously only available to students at non-profit schools)  Proprietary post secondary schools have smilingly declared war on many of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens and it has turned out to be an extremely profitable venture for them. The vast majority of the students they enroll are only able to afford tuition by maxing out their student grants and loans and of the percentage of students that graduate the programs the career benefit to the student is minimal or non existant in relation to the crushing student debt the graduate takes on in exchange. 

These businesses pretending to be schools prey upon the hopes and ambitions of a population with limited resources in order to go after a sure thing: guaranteed federal funding in the form of student grants and student loans for which their students are solely responsible for paying back.  A great article on the subject can be found here: 

http://www.leftistreview.com/2013/01/10/for-profit-colleges-hello-predatory-education/jacquelinecolvin/

Please visit this link:

 https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/create-stricter-guidelines-all-profit-secondary-education-schools-must-meet-be-eligible-federal/vfbzCjlr

and sign this white house petition proposing our government set up strict guidelines that crack down on predatory for profit schools and please share it on facebook, twitter,tumblr and all other social media so we can reach the required 150 signatures for the petition to be made public on the www.petitions.whitehouse.gov website and hopefully gain enough traction to have the white house address the issue.  

Since executive orders creating legislation are rare it’s important to take a two pronged approach to this issue by alerting your elected officials urging them to support the general idea of holding for profit post secondary education institutions accountable to both the taxpayers that fund the initial payouts of Federal student aid the schools receive and the students of the for profit schools that are ultimately held responsible for paying their educational loans back.  
You can easily locate the email addresses of your state congress people at: 
http://whoismyrepresentative.com  by typing in your zip code and then clicking on the names that show up in the results. If you’re pressed for time or don’t know what to write you can just send this template and sign it with your name: 
Dear (Your rep.’s title and name), 
I’m writing to inform you of the urgent need for strict guidelines to stop the predatory marketing and enrollment practices of for-profit post secondary educational schools.  The vast majority of these businesses masquerading as educational institutes offer little or no career advancement benefit to their graduates(nor to the countless numbers that don’t graduate) and exist purely to turn a profit by whatever means necessary.  Until someone creates a law that holds these for profit post secondary schools accountable they will continue to line their pockets with taxpayer funded student grants and loans while saddling already socio-economically vulnerable students with the sole responsibility of paying back loans that they are in no better position to pay back after graduating than they were to begin with.
Please consider this letter as my request that you take action on this matter in any and every way available to you geared towards stopping the wasting of taxpayer dollars and the financial victimization of vulnerable students by creating strict guidelines for any proprietary post secondary education provider to prove they are deserving of federal student aid money. 
Thank you,
(your name/location/email address)  

(via pooramericansrevolt-deactivated)

Who Doesn’t Pay Taxes And Why

ceasesilence:

fishingboatproceeds:

Mitt Romney is in a bit of hot water for comments he made during a closed-door fundraiser about the 47% of Americans who don’t pay federal income taxes.

I’m generally pretty sympathetic to people saying stupid things in closed-door fundraisers, but the whole flap raises an interesting question: Is it really true that 47% of Americans pay no federal income tax? And who are these people? And do they believe that they are victims entitled to health care and housing?

So:

How many people don’t pay federal income tax in the US?

Lots of people. The 47% stat is accurate, as long as you only count federal income taxes. (More than 85% of Americans under 65 pay either income tax, federal payroll tax, or both—and almost all Americans who own land and/or buy things pay state and local taxes.)

Who are these people?

Many elderly people who live off social security pay no income tax (social security benefits are only taxable if your total income is over $25,000 a year). Only about 25% of Americans over the age of 75 pay federal income tax, but it’s important to remember that most of them did pay federal income tax when they were working.

Also, many young adults pay no income taxes, because they are full-time students or have very low incomes. You can see a chart here that shows that about 30% of 18-year-olds pay federal income tax, while over 65% of people in their 40s do.

People living in poverty are also unlikely to pay federal income taxes. A married couple filing jointly making under $18,700 annually pays no income taxes. But it’s worth noting that in 1996, 99.5% of all nontaxable returns came from people making less than $30,000 a year. Today, that number is closer to 76%.

The fastest growing segment of Americans who pay no tax are those who earn between $75,000 and $100,000 each year. As explained here, there’s been a 12,000% increase in nontaxable returns in this income category thanks to middle income tax cuts and tax credits introduced by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Romney’s central mistake is imagining the data as static. In 2000, for instance, I paid no federal income tax. This doesn’t mean that I am a drain on the system: In fact, I have paid lots of federal income tax in other years. 2000 just happened to be a weird year, because I had a lot of health care expenses and not very much income.

This is the case for most Americans: Romney’s comments implied that the same 47% of Americans pay no federal income taxes every year. In fact, the members of that 47% are constantly changing as people age into and out of the work force. 

Do these people believe that they are victims entitled to health care and housing?

The most incendiary remark Governor Romney made was, “There are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care of them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”

In fact, the number of Americans who feel the government should provide health care and food to those in need is much higher than 47%. 76% of Americans (including a majority of Republicans) favor medicaid, the program that offers health care to the poor. A majority of Americans also believe medicare, the program that offers health care to the elderly, is worth its cost. And more than three quarters of Americans support the federal food stamp program that provides food to low-income and elderly people.

“There are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care of them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”

Yes, Romney, people are entitled to healthcare, to food, to shelter from the weather. I believe this and I am willing to fight for it. Every single human being deserves for other humans beings to help if needed and as much as needed so that that person can receive medical care, food, and shelter. Every. Single. Person. Whether or not they pay income taxes, whether or not they should pay income taxes.

(via lesshumansmorecats)

Source: fishingboatproceeds

Where I fit on the Privilege Scale as a White looking woman

greenogry:

white-brite:

In terms of most privilege to least:

  1. White, cis, straight, male
  2. White, cis, gay, male
  3. White, trans, straight, male
  4. White, trans, gay, male
  5. Black, cis, straight, male
  6. Black, cis, gay, male
  7. Black, trans, straight, male
  8. Black, trans, gay, male
  9. White, cis, straight female
  10. White, cis, gay female
  11. Black, cis, straight female

And so on.

So, I’m low on the totem pole. I dont have much privilege. Deal with the facts people. Educate yourself.

LMAO, this bitch

Do you hear this, you guys? Black trans gay males are more privileged than straight, white cis women.

(via green-gold)

withrevolutionarycries: deliciouskaek: thepeoplesrecord: How Texas-made textbooks influence American education (photo)July 7, 2012 One of the tasks of the Texas State Board of Education is to update curriculum standards and textbooks for Texas schoolchildren. The Texas school system is so large — 4.8 million textbook-reading school children as of 2011 — that revisions made by the board are often included in school books across the country, though digital technology has lessened this effect in recent years. In 2010, the board got a lot of attention when it approved over 100 amendments — many of which had a very clear conservative political agenda — to the social studies and economics curriculum standards. Here are some of the more pointed proposals. Thomas Who?Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father considered by many to be the author of the Declaration of Independence, is also credited with coining the phrase “separation of church and state.” According to The New York Times, that coinage didn’t make him very popular with the conservative members of the board. They removed Jefferson from a list of great Enlightenment philosophers — including John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau — who inspired political revolutions from the 1700s to today. They also removed the word “Enlightenment” and added Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. After much criticism, they added Jefferson back, but left out “Enlightenment” resulting in a standard very different from the original. Downplaying Religious FreedomA proposed amendment from one of the Democratic board members would have required students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.” One Republican member argued that the “founders didn’t intend for separation of church and state in America” and called the statement “not historically accurate” and the conservative members voted down the standard. The board then added a new one that suggests the “separation of church and state” is not a key principle of the First Amendment. Censoring CapitalismCiting negative connotations, conservative board members decreed that all instances of the word “capitalism” should be replaced with “free-enterprise system.” They also objected to “democratic,” so “democratic societies” and “representative democracy” were replaced by “republic.” Any reference to American “imperialism” was also stricken and replaced with “expansionism.” In the textbooks, imperialism could only be associated with European and Russian colonialism.  “Super” Heroes?In perhaps the most blatant political move, the board passed an amendment requiring U.S. history students to learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s,” but not about liberal or minority groups. Conservative heroes including Phyllis Schlafly, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association were added, and more frequent mentions of President Ronald Reagan were encouraged. As Chairman Don McLeroy explained to the Washington Monthly: “He needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.” Bling’s the ThingEarlier this week, the Texas GOP released their 2012 platform which includes, among othercontroversial policy positions, a desire to return to the gold standard. The United States left the gold standard for good in 1971 and most economists agree that move was a good thing. The school board held a debate — unattended by any economists — and arbitrarily passed a revised standard that requires students to “analyze the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.” The Great Society (Maybe Not So Great?)The board approved a standard requiring students to learn about “any unintended consequences” of the Great Society, affirmative action and Title IX. Other attempts to change the way the civil rights movement was taught, including a provision that would require students learn that it created “unreasonable expectations for equal outcomes,” failed to pass. Socialists Get the BootDolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers of America, was dropped from a third grade list of “historical and contemporary figures who have exemplified good citizenship.” Conservative board members said Huerta is not a good role model for third-graders because she’s a socialist. Helen Keller, a staunch socialist, was left on the books.  Exhuming McCarthyFar right members of the board — hoping to lessen criticism of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s 1950s hearings — passed a standard that would make students learn “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.”    Googling BoondoggleSouth Texas artist Santa Barraza was recommended for inclusion in a 7th grade standard by a Latina board member. Another member googled the artist and was offended by one of her paintings that included minor female nudity. She showed it to her colleagues and they refused to add her to the standard. The Texas Freedom Network notes that several of Barraza’s paintings were hanging in the Texas governor’s mansion while George W. Bush was in residence in the 1990s. The conservative bloc also removed hip hop from a list of culturally significant musical genres. Source remember this when your children bring home lies disguised as history homework remember that this is how history is decided. it’s not decided by the winners. it’s not decided by the losers. it’s not decided by actual events. it’s decided by a bunch of rich white men (and those who love them) in a room with closed doors i’m going to be teaching history (us and world) in texas in the upcoming school year. this shit angers me to no end.
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withrevolutionarycries:

deliciouskaek:

thepeoplesrecord:

How Texas-made textbooks influence American education (photo)
July 7, 2012

One of the tasks of the Texas State Board of Education is to update curriculum standards and textbooks for Texas schoolchildren. The Texas school system is so large — 4.8 million textbook-reading school children as of 2011 — that revisions made by the board are often included in school books across the country, though digital technology has lessened this effect in recent years.

In 2010, the board got a lot of attention when it approved over 100 amendments — many of which had a very clear conservative political agenda — to the social studies and economics curriculum standards. Here are some of the more pointed proposals.

Thomas Who?
Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father considered by many to be the author of the Declaration of Independence, is also credited with coining the phrase “separation of church and state.” According to The New York Times, that coinage didn’t make him very popular with the conservative members of the board. They removed Jefferson from a list of great Enlightenment philosophers — including John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau — who inspired political revolutions from the 1700s to today. They also removed the word “Enlightenment” and added Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. After much criticism, they added Jefferson back, but left out “Enlightenment” resulting in a standard very different from the original.

Downplaying Religious Freedom
A proposed amendment from one of the Democratic board members would have required students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.” One Republican member argued that the “founders didn’t intend for separation of church and state in America” and called the statement “not historically accurate” and the conservative members voted down the standard. The board then added a new one that suggests the “separation of church and state” is not a key principle of the First Amendment.

Censoring Capitalism
Citing negative connotations, conservative board members decreed that all instances of the word “capitalism” should be replaced with “free-enterprise system.” They also objected to “democratic,” so “democratic societies” and “representative democracy” were replaced by “republic.” Any reference to American “imperialism” was also stricken and replaced with “expansionism.” In the textbooks, imperialism could only be associated with European and Russian colonialism. 

“Super” Heroes?
In perhaps the most blatant political move, the board passed an amendment requiring U.S. history students to learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s,” but not about liberal or minority groups. Conservative heroes including Phyllis Schlafly, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association were added, and more frequent mentions of President Ronald Reagan were encouraged. As Chairman Don McLeroy explained to the Washington Monthly: “He needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.”

Bling’s the Thing
Earlier this week, the Texas GOP released their 2012 platform which includes, among othercontroversial policy positions, a desire to return to the gold standard. The United States left the gold standard for good in 1971 and most economists agree that move was a good thing. The school board held a debate — unattended by any economists — and arbitrarily passed a revised standard that requires students to “analyze the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.”

The Great Society (Maybe Not So Great?)
The board approved a standard requiring students to learn about “any unintended consequences” of the Great Society, affirmative action and Title IX. Other attempts to change the way the civil rights movement was taught, including a provision that would require students learn that it created “unreasonable expectations for equal outcomes,” failed to pass.

Socialists Get the Boot
Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers of America, was dropped from a third grade list of “historical and contemporary figures who have exemplified good citizenship.” Conservative board members said Huerta is not a good role model for third-graders because she’s a socialist. Helen Keller, a staunch socialist, was left on the books. 
 
Exhuming McCarthy
Far right members of the board — hoping to lessen criticism of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s 1950s hearings — passed a standard that would make students learn “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.” 
  

Googling Boondoggle
South Texas artist Santa Barraza was recommended for inclusion in a 7th grade standard by a Latina board member. Another member googled the artist and was offended by one of her paintings that included minor female nudity. She showed it to her colleagues and they refused to add her to the standard. The Texas Freedom Network notes that several of Barraza’s paintings were hanging in the Texas governor’s mansion while George W. Bush was in residence in the 1990s. The conservative bloc also removed hip hop from a list of culturally significant musical genres.

Source

remember this when your children bring home lies disguised as history homework

remember that this is how history is decided. it’s not decided by the winners. it’s not decided by the losers. it’s not decided by actual events.

it’s decided by a bunch of rich white men (and those who love them) in a room with closed doors

i’m going to be teaching history (us and world) in texas in the upcoming school year. this shit angers me to no end.

(via lesshumansmorecats)

Source: thepeoplesrecord

The predatory activities of local governments give new meaning to that tired phrase “the cycle of poverty.” Poor people are more far more likely than the affluent to get into trouble with the law, either by failing to pay parking fines or by incurring the wrath of a private-sector creditor like a landlord or a hospital. Once you have been deemed a criminal, you can pretty much kiss your remaining assets goodbye. Not only will you face the aforementioned court costs, but you’ll have a hard time ever finding a job again once you’ve acquired a criminal record. And then of course, the poorer you become, the more likely you are to get in fresh trouble with the law, making this less like a “cycle” and more like the waterslide to hell. The further you descend, the faster you fall — until you eventually end up on the streets and get busted for an offense like urinating in public or sleeping on a sidewalk.
Barbara Ehrenreich (via azspot)

(via dendroica)

Source: commondreams.org

As you almost definitely know by now, Rush Limbaugh made waves last week with his ridiculously absurd characterization of women who want their insurance to cover their birth control as sluts and prostitutes who should be obligated to film pornos for him. This prompted a lot of people to demonstrate the incorrectness of this statement; the #iamnotaslut tweets, for example. This is all well and good, but third wave feminist that I am, I wondered: what about the people who are whores or sluts? Where does that leave them?

Allow me to tell you a story that illustrates my point. A friend of mine once made the mistake of getting into a cab that had a crazy racist for a driver, who proceeded to berate him and call him a “fucking kike.” My friend is not Jewish. Was the appropriate response, then, “oh no, ha ha, I believe this is a simple misunderstanding, sir. I am not a fucking kike, you see, but merely a gentile with a Roman nose”? No, no it was not. The appropriate response was to say “fuck you, asshole!” and get out of the cab, which is what he did. Do you see where I’m going with this?

By responding to the charge of whoredom with “no we’re not!” we degrade our fellow humans by implying that being a sex worker is bad, dirty, undesirable…all of the nasty words that have been used to keep women down for centuries. Sex workers are people too, with feelings, dreams, hobbies, etc. You might not even know it, but someone in your life could be doing sex work right now. Do you really want to risk hurting that person by arguing with Rush Limbaugh on his own horrible terms?

Let’s Stop Insulting People By Comparing Them To Sex Workers (via sexworkerproblems)

(via dendroica)

Source: thegloss.com