Breaking News Events

[Cin]

Indiana Lawmaker Accuses Girl Scouts Of Pushing ‘Pro-Abortion’ Agenda, ‘Homosexual Lifestyles’

A Republican lawmaker in Indiana was the only state House member to “refuse to sign a resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts that lawmakers approved last week,” claiming that the “radicalized organization” supports abortions and the homosexual agenda. In a letter obtained by The Journal-Gazette of Fort Wayne on Monday, Rep. Bob Morris (R) informed colleagues that “he did some research on the Internet and found allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, allow transgender females to join and encourage sex.” From the letter:

I did a small amount of web-based research, and what I found is disturbing. The Girl Scouts of America and their worldwide partner, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), have entered into a close strategic affiliation with Planned Parenthood. [...]

Nonetheless, abundant evidence proves that the agenda of Planned Parenthood includes sexualizing young girls through the Girl Scouts, which is quickly becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood instructional series and pamphlets are part of the core curriculum at GSA training seminars. Denver Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley of Denver last year warned parents that “membership in the Girl Scouts could carry the danger of making their daughters more receptive to the pro-abortion agenda.”

A Girl Scouts of America training program last year used the Planned Parenthood sex education pamphlet “Happy, Healthy, and Hot.” The pamphlet instructs young girls not to think of sex as “just about vaginal or anal intercourse.” “There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore and be yourself!” it states. Although individual Girl Scout troops are not forced to follow this curriculum, many do. Liberal progressive troop-leaders will indoctrinate the girls in their troop according to the principles of Planned Parenthood, making Bishop Conley’s warning true.

Morris also said the fact that first lady Michelle Obama is honorary president “should give each of us reason to pause before our individual and collective endorsement of the organization” and criticized the group for accepting “Boys who decide to claim a ‘transgender’ or cross-dressing life-style.”

Indiana Republicans are keeping their distance from Morris and his allegations. Rep. Kathy Richardson (R) spoke in support of the resolution last week and told the Journal-Gazette, “I guess he’s entitled to his opinion…They are out selling cookies – not sex and abortions.” House Speaker Brian Bosma (R) said he hasn’t read the letter or “investigated [the Girl Scouts] closely.”

[SoNotHer]

Texas Drought of 2011 Killed Millions of Urban Trees



COLLEGE STATION, Texas, February 20, 2012 (ENS) - At least 5.6 million trees that once shaded homes, streets and parks in communities across Texas now are dead as a result of last year's drought. These dead trees represent as much as 10 percent of the total number of trees that make up the state's urban forest. Texas Forest Service urban foresters calculated their loss over the past month as they surveyed tree mortality in cities and towns across the state.

"This estimate is preliminary because trees are continuing to die from the drought," said Pete Smith, Texas Forest Service staff forester and lead researcher. "This means we may be significantly undercounting the number of trees that ultimately will succumb to the drought," said Smith. "That number may not be known until the end of 2012, if ever."
Dead trees in Houston's Memorial Park, January 2012 (Photo courtesy Texas Forest Service)

After one of the driest years on record, many shade trees went into dormancy as early as August 2011, dropping their leaves and branches in a "desperate act of self-preservation," the Texas Forest Service says. Pine trees with normally thick, green crowns turned red with dead needles while foliage on cedar trees turned brown. Much like the drought, tree mortality is not uniform across Texas and can vary from one yard to another.

The study conducted by Texas Forest Service, a member of The Texas A&M University System, focuses on tree mortality in the urban forest. The trees that line streets, shade homes and grow in local parks are all considered to be part of the urban forest. To determine how many urban trees have been lost to the drought, foresters studied satellite imagery taken before and during the drought, counting both live and dead trees in randomly selected plots on both public and private land. All cities and towns in Texas were included in the study with the exception of the Trans Pecos region, where tree mortality was determined to be a result of a February 2011 cold snap; not the drought.

The Texas Forest Service says that because the drought-killed trees are in populated areas, many threaten public safety and will need to be removed at an estimated total cost of $560 million. The estimated loss of economic and environmental benefits once provided by these dead trees is roughly $280 million per year. When alive, they cut heating and cooling bills, cleaned the air and water and increased property values.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2...02-20-091.html

[SoNotHer]

30,000-Year-Old Flower Brought Back to Life by Russian Scientists
By Melissa Knowles | Trending Now – 1 hr 48 mins ago



An Ice Age flower has come back to life. How exactly did that happen? Well, a team of Russian scientists discovered a burrow that contained fruit and seeds left in the Siberian permafrost by a squirrel that buried them about 30,000 years ago. Remnants of the Silene stenophylla blossom were found perfectly preserved, and in an experiment to extract the seeds, the scientists pioneered a new way to resurrect the plant. For thousands of years, the flower was fully encased in ice, and no water was able to get to it. The storage chambers that the squirrels created were filled with hay and animal fur to protect their treasure. Stanislav Gubin, one scientist working with the discovery, called it a "natural cryobank." The blossom with its white flowers looks similar to its modern-day version, which also grows in the same region as its predecessor. The burrows, which were found 125 feet below the surface, also contained bones of wooly mammoths, deer, and bison. So in addition to bringing the flower back to life, scientists hope to find preserved animal tissue that may one day lead to another breakthrough--wooly mammoths roaming the earth again. People on social media are saying these discoveries are eerily similar to the "Jurassic Park" movie franchise in which a mosquito trapped in amber led to the resurrection of dinosaurs. One person tweeted, "awesome."

Does it just grind your gears when someone one-ups you? That may be how the Russian scientists mentioned in the previous article may be feeling. American and Chinese scientists have made a remarkable discovery, too. They have found a nearly 300 million-year-old forest. It was found buried under a coal mine in Wuda, China, and it had been perfectly maintained under a thick layer of volcanic ash. University of Pennsylvania paleobotanist Hermann Pfefferkorn compares the discovery to the lost Roman city of Pompeii. Pompeii was completely covered in volcanic ash for more than 1,700 years from an eruption at Mount Vesuvius until it was accidentally discovered. This newly found Permian forest dates to when the first mammals, turtles, and some dinosaurs inhabited the earth. Scientists are comparing the find to a time capsule that preserved entire trees and plants exactly as they were at the time of the volcanic eruption. This has allowed scientists to digitally re-create what the 10,000-square-foot forest would have looked like. The scientists have been able to identify six different groups of trees, including some as tall as 80 feet and even a few that are now extinct.





From -

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending...171513010.html

[LeftWriteFemme]

Minister Appeals Censure for Performing Same-Sex Marriages



http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_N...Sex_Marriages/

[Corkey]

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_new...ltrasound-bill


McDonnell backs away from transvaginal ultrasound. Still invasive law.

[Corkey]

LAMBDA LEGAL:BREAKING: A federal court has found the so-called Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional in Lambda Legal's case on behalf of Karen Golinski, who was denied spousal health benefits by her employer, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

[Soon]

Originally Posted by Corkey

LAMBDA LEGAL:BREAKING: A federal court has found the so-called Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional in Lambda Legal's case on behalf of Karen Golinski, who was denied spousal health benefits by her employer, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Here's the ruling.

http://images.politico.com/global/20...nkidomarlg.pdf

[LeftWriteFemme]

Susana Martinez, New Mexico Governor, Loses A Hairstylist Over Gay Marriage Stance

Sometimes it's the little things!



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1293384.html

[Toughy]

Originally Posted by LeftWriteFemme

Susana Martinez, New Mexico Governor, Loses A Hairstylist Over Gay Marriage Stance

Sometimes it's the little things!



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1293384.html

LMAO........she is a piece of work for sure.....maybe this will start something...

[CherylNYC]

First All African American, Female Flight Crew on a Commercial Airline:

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3EuN_TbXmM"]First all African American Female Crew of a Commercial Airliner - YouTube[/nomedia]


P.S. I'm a recidivist Luddite. If this doesn't work, will someone please fix the link? Many thanks.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Changing Hearts

Maryland Republican: Meeting gay couples left me 'changed person'


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics...tory?track=rss

[*Anya*]

February 17, 2012 — Strong social support may help protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth against suicidal thoughts, new research suggests.

The first longitudinal prospective study to examine factors predictive of suicidal ideation and self-harm in this vulnerable, high-risk population indicates that support from friends and family may offer the greatest protection.

"Our research shows how critical it is for these young people to have social support and for schools to have programs to reduce bullying," senior author Brian Mustanski, PhD, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, said in a release.

"I think it really informs us as to what sort of avenues we can take to help reduce suicide in gay youth," he told Medscape Medical News.

The study is published in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Suicide More Common in Gay Youth

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among adolescents. However, LGBT youth are at least twice as likely to attempt suicide as their heterosexual counterparts. Contemplating suicide is a precursor of suicide attempts, prior research shows.

Understanding the risk factors for suicidal ideation is "crucial for improving prevention and treatment strategies," the authors write.

The investigators examined suicide risk factors such as depression and feelings of hopelessness in a general adolescent population along with a variety of LGBT-specific risk factors such as gay-specific victimization and gender nonconformity.

The study followed an ethnically diverse cohort of 246 Chicago-area LGBT youth aged 16 to 20 years at baseline for 2.5 years. The study population was not randomized. Participants self-identified their sexual orientation; they were recruited from a variety of sources, including flyers distributed in LGBT-identified neighborhoods and group listservs. Each participant completed a baseline interview, then 4 follow-up interviews were conducted 6 months apart.

Researchers chose to focus on suicidal ideation and self-harm as the main outcome measures, rather than suicide attempts, because different people mean different things by the phrase "suicide attempt," Dr. Mustanski said.

"By focusing specifically on these precursors that we can define much more clearly, it really gives us a much better window into what the risk and protective factors are," he said.

Self-Harm Risk

At baseline, participants were asked whether they had ever attempted suicide. They were also asked about their level of gender nonconformity, impulsivity, and sensation seeking.

During follow-up interviews, participants were asked about suicidal ideation, feelings of hopelessness, self-harm, bullying due to their sexual orientation, and level of support from family and friends.

Hierarchic linear modeling was used to examine between-person differences and within-person changes in suicidal ideation and self-harm over time.

Results showed that a history of attempted suicide (P = .05), impulsivity (P = .01), prospective LGBT victimization (P = .03), and low social support (P = .02) were all associated with an increased risk for suicidal ideation.

Prior suicide attempts (P < .01), sensation seeking (P = .04), female gender (P < .01), childhood gender nonconformity (P < .01), prospective hopelessness (P < .01), and victimization (P < .01) were all associated with greater self-harm.

On average, each experience of LGBT victimization was associated with a 2.5-fold increased risk for self-harm behavior.

"Well Done"

Commenting on the findings for Medscape Medical News, Anthony D’Augelli, PhD, a clinical and community psychologist and professor of human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, described the study as "extremely well done."

"There are a few longitudinal studies of this population, but none that have studied the issue of suicidality over time, so it makes it quite distinctive in that sense," said Dr. D'Augelli.

"Being LGBT as a young person is extremely stressful...the need for support is pretty intense," he added.

The other message for mental health professionals, said Dr. D'Augelli, is not to be judgmental and to use gender-neutral language when engaging with LGBT patients.

The authors and Dr. D'Augelli have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Am J Prev Med. 2012;42:221-228. Full article

Medscape Medical News © 2012 WebMD, LLC
Send comments and news tips to news@medscape.net.

[Sassy]

How your cat is making you crazy

"Jaroslav Flegr is no kook. And yet, for years, he suspected his mind had been taken over by parasites that had invaded his brain. So the prolific biologist took his science-fiction hunch into the lab. What he’s now discovering will startle you. Could tiny organisms carried by house cats be creeping into our brains, causing everything from car wrecks to schizophrenia?"

........


OK, I just thought it was odd and an interesting read... well, that, and the voices told me to share it

[Cin]

BONUS: Should the Supreme Court decide corporations can be sued perhaps that will keep them at home increasing the job market in the US


Supreme Court to decide if corporations can be sued for human rights abuses
James Vicini
Reuters US Online Report Top News

Feb 24, 2012 18:12 EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court will weigh next week whether corporations can be sued in the United States for suspected complicity in human rights abuses abroad, in a case being closely watched by businesses concerned about long and costly litigation.

The high court on Tuesday will consider the reach of a 1789 U.S. law that had been largely dormant until 1980, when human rights lawyers started using it, at first to sue foreign government officials. Then, over the next 20 years, the lawyers used the law to target multinational corporations.

The case before the court pits the Obama administration and human rights advocates against large companies and foreign governments over allegations that Royal Dutch Shell Plc helped Nigeria crush oil exploration protests in the 1990s.

Administration attorneys and lawyers for the plaintiffs contend corporations can be held accountable in U.S. courts for committing or assisting foreign governments in torture, executions or other human rights abuses.

Attorneys for corporations argue that only individuals, such as company employees or managers involved in the abuse, can be sued, a position adopted by a U.S. appeals court in New York. Other courts ruled corporations can be held liable.

The justices will hear an appeal by a group of Nigerians who argue they should be allowed to proceed with a lawsuit accusing Shell of aiding the Nigerian government in human rights violations between 1992 and 1995.

California attorney Paul Hoffman, who will argue on behalf of the plaintiffs, said corporations, under the 1789 law, were permissible defendants and that corporate civil liability was a general principle of international law.

"Businesses involved in genocide, crimes against humanity or other serious human rights violations deserve no exemption from tort liability," he said in a brief filed with the court.

NO EXEMPTION FOR GENOCIDE

The Obama administration supported the corporate liability argument, as did international human rights organizations and Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Representing Shell at the arguments, Kathleen Sullivan, a former dean of the Stanford Law School in California, said U.S. and international law do not allow corporate liability for the alleged offenses. She said the post-World War Two Nuremberg tribunals covered prosecutions of individuals, not corporations.

She warned of the consequences of allowing such lawsuits.

"Even a meritless ... suit against a corporation can take years to resolve," she said in a brief, adding that corporations may reduce their operations in less-developed nations where such abuses tend to arise.

The British, Dutch and German governments supported Shell and said it violates international law to apply a U.S. law from more than 200 years ago to acts that take place in other countries and have no connection to the United States.

Also backing Shell are various multinational corporations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business lobby. Robin Conrad, head of the group's legal arm, said that if the Supreme Court upholds corporate liability, "the global business community will face yet another wave of frivolous and expensive litigation."

In the past two decades, more than 120 lawsuits have been filed in U.S. courts against 59 corporations for alleged wrongful acts in 60 foreign countries, lawyers in the case said.

Many of the lawsuits have been unsuccessful, though there have been a handful of settlements, the lawyers said. Many of the cases, having dragged on for years, are still pending.

Among the cases: Indonesia villagers accused Exxon Mobil Corp's security forces of murder, torture and other abuses in 1999-2001; Firestone tire company was accused of using child labor in Liberia; and Ford Motor Co and other firms were accused of aiding South Africa's apartheid system.

The Alien Tort Statute from 1789 states that U.S. courts shall have jurisdiction over any civil lawsuit "by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States."

In its first substantive look at the law in 2004, the Supreme Court ruled it can be used for certain well-established international law violations, but did not determine who may be held liable.

A ruling in the case is expected by the end of June.

The Supreme Court case is Esther Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co, No. 10-1491.

(Reporting By James Vicini; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Todd Eastham)

Source: Reuters US Online Report Top News

[CherylNYC]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

BONUS: Should the Supreme Court decide corporations can be sued perhaps that will keep them at home increasing the job market in the US


Supreme Court to decide if corporations can be sued for human rights abuses
James Vicini
Reuters US Online Report Top News

Feb 24, 2012 18:12 EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court will weigh next week whether corporations can be sued in the United States for suspected complicity in human rights abuses abroad, in a case being closely watched by businesses concerned about long and costly litigation.

The high court on Tuesday will consider the reach of a 1789 U.S. law that had been largely dormant until 1980, when human rights lawyers started using it, at first to sue foreign government officials. Then, over the next 20 years, the lawyers used the law to target multinational corporations.

The case before the court pits the Obama administration and human rights advocates against large companies and foreign governments over allegations that Royal Dutch Shell Plc helped Nigeria crush oil exploration protests in the 1990s.

Administration attorneys and lawyers for the plaintiffs contend corporations can be held accountable in U.S. courts for committing or assisting foreign governments in torture, executions or other human rights abuses.

Attorneys for corporations argue that only individuals, such as company employees or managers involved in the abuse, can be sued, a position adopted by a U.S. appeals court in New York. Other courts ruled corporations can be held liable.

The justices will hear an appeal by a group of Nigerians who argue they should be allowed to proceed with a lawsuit accusing Shell of aiding the Nigerian government in human rights violations between 1992 and 1995.

California attorney Paul Hoffman, who will argue on behalf of the plaintiffs, said corporations, under the 1789 law, were permissible defendants and that corporate civil liability was a general principle of international law.

"Businesses involved in genocide, crimes against humanity or other serious human rights violations deserve no exemption from tort liability," he said in a brief filed with the court.

NO EXEMPTION FOR GENOCIDE

The Obama administration supported the corporate liability argument, as did international human rights organizations and Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Representing Shell at the arguments, Kathleen Sullivan, a former dean of the Stanford Law School in California, said U.S. and international law do not allow corporate liability for the alleged offenses. She said the post-World War Two Nuremberg tribunals covered prosecutions of individuals, not corporations.

She warned of the consequences of allowing such lawsuits.

"Even a meritless ... suit against a corporation can take years to resolve," she said in a brief, adding that corporations may reduce their operations in less-developed nations where such abuses tend to arise.

The British, Dutch and German governments supported Shell and said it violates international law to apply a U.S. law from more than 200 years ago to acts that take place in other countries and have no connection to the United States.

Also backing Shell are various multinational corporations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business lobby. Robin Conrad, head of the group's legal arm, said that if the Supreme Court upholds corporate liability, "the global business community will face yet another wave of frivolous and expensive litigation."

In the past two decades, more than 120 lawsuits have been filed in U.S. courts against 59 corporations for alleged wrongful acts in 60 foreign countries, lawyers in the case said.

Many of the lawsuits have been unsuccessful, though there have been a handful of settlements, the lawyers said. Many of the cases, having dragged on for years, are still pending.

Among the cases: Indonesia villagers accused Exxon Mobil Corp's security forces of murder, torture and other abuses in 1999-2001; Firestone tire company was accused of using child labor in Liberia; and Ford Motor Co and other firms were accused of aiding South Africa's apartheid system.

The Alien Tort Statute from 1789 states that U.S. courts shall have jurisdiction over any civil lawsuit "by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States."

In its first substantive look at the law in 2004, the Supreme Court ruled it can be used for certain well-established international law violations, but did not determine who may be held liable.

A ruling in the case is expected by the end of June.

The Supreme Court case is Esther Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co, No. 10-1491.

(Reporting By James Vicini; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Todd Eastham)

Source: Reuters US Online Report Top News

I was so deeply disturbed when Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmentalist working on behalf of the people of Ogoni-land, was framed and executed at the behest of Shell in the 1990s. I must be naive because I thought at the time that the Nigerian government just couldn't go through with it.

So, corporations are people, and therefore shouldn't be denied 'free speech' in the form of unlimited campaign donations. It stands to reason that if corporations are people with a right to free speech, then they must also be responsible, and sue-able, for human rights abuses, just as I would. I wish I thought I could expect reason from the current SCOTUS.

[LeftWriteFemme]

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_N...License_Plate/

[LeftWriteFemme]

Bully Documentary Given R Rating, Can't Be Shown in Schools


http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_N...wn_in_Schools/

[LeftWriteFemme]

two perspectives on Santorum....he makes me want to throw up....




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1302246.html


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/us....html?_r=2&hpw

[LeftWriteFemme]

Father Marcel Guarnizo, Maryland Priest, Denies Communion To Lesbian Parishioner At Her Mother's Funeral


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...ref=gay-voices

[Cin]

It's a very long (but fabulous) article so I only posted the introduction and the conclusion. I will add the link here in case anyone is interested in reading the entire article: http://www.truth-out.org/dangerous-p...ism/1330459170

Dangerous Pedagogy in the Age of Casino Capitalism and Religious Fundamentalism
Wednesday 29 February 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis

Introduction

All over the world, the forces of neoliberalism are on the march, dismantling the historically guaranteed social provisions provided by the welfare state, defining profit-making and market freedoms as the essence of democracy while diminishing civil liberties as part of the alleged "war" against terrorism. Secure in its dystopian vision that there are no alternatives to a market society, free-market fundamentalism eliminates issues of contingency, struggle and social agency by celebrating the inevitability of economic laws in which the ethical ideal of intervening in the world gives way to the idea that we "have no choice but to adapt both our hopes and our abilities to the new global market."[1] Coupled with an ever-expanding culture of fear, market freedoms seem securely grounded in a defense of national security and the institutions of finance capital. Under such circumstances, a neoliberal model now bears down on American society, threatening to turn it into an authoritarian state. The script is now familiar: there is no such thing as the common good; market values become the template for shaping all aspects of society; the free, possessive individual has no obligations to anything other than his or her self-interest; profit-making is the essence of democracy; the government, and particularly the welfare state, is the arch-enemy of freedom; private interests trump public values; consumerism is the essence of citizenship; privatization is the essence of freedom; law and order is the new language for mobilizing shared fears rather than shared responsibilities; war is the new organizing principle for organizing society and the economy; theocracy now becomes the legitimating code for punishing women, young people, the elderly, and those groups marginalized by class, race and ethnicity when religious moralism is needed to shore up the war against all social order.[2]

Given this current crisis, educators need a new political and pedagogical language for addressing the changing contexts and issues facing a world in which capital draws upon an unprecedented convergence of resources - financial, cultural, political, economic, scientific, military and technological - to exercise powerful and diverse forms of control. If educators and others are to counter global capitalism’s increased ability to separate the traditional nation-state-based space of politics from the transnational reach of power, it is crucial to develop educational approaches that reject a collapse of the distinction between market liberties and civil liberties, a market economy and a market society. This suggests developing forms of critical pedagogy capable of challenging neoliberalism and other anti-democratic traditions, such as the emerging religious fundamentalism in the United States, while resurrecting a radical democratic project that provides the basis for imagining a life beyond the "dream world" of capitalism. Under such circumstances, education becomes more than testing, an obsession with accountability schemes, zero-tolerance policies and a site for simply training students for the workforce. At stake here is recognizing the power of education in creating the formative culture necessary to both challenge the various threats being mobilized against the very idea of justice and democracy while also fighting for those public spheres and formative cultures that offer alternative modes of identity, social relations and politics.

The search for a new politics and a new critical language that crosses a range of theoretical divides must reinvigorate the relationship between democracy, ethics, and political agency by expanding the meaning of the pedagogical as a political practice while at the same time making the political more pedagogical. In the first instance, it is crucial to recognize that pedagogy has less to do with the language of technique and methodology than it does with issues of politics and power. Pedagogy is a moral and political practice that is always implicated in power relations and must be understood as a cultural politics that offers both a particular version and vision of civic life, the future, and how we might construct representations of ourselves, others, and our physical and social environment. As Roger Simon observes:

As an introduction to, preparation for, and legitimation of particular forms of social life, education always presupposes a vision of the future. In this respect a curriculum and its supporting pedagogy are a version of our own dreams for ourselves, our children, and our communities. But such dreams are never neutral; they are always someone's dreams and to the degree that they are implicated in organizing the future for others they always have a moral and political dimension. It is in this respect that any discussion of pedagogy must begin with a discussion of educational practice as a form of cultural politics, as a particular way in which a sense of identity, place, worth, and above all value is - informed by practices which organize knowledge and meaning.[3]

An oppositional cultural politics can take many forms, but given the current assault by neoliberalism on all aspects of democratic public life, it seems imperative that educators revitalize the struggles to create conditions in which learning would be linked to social change in a wide variety of social sites, and pedagogy would take on the task of regenerating both a renewed sense of social and political agency and a critical subversion of dominant power itself. Making the political more pedagogical rests on the assumption that education takes place a variety of sites outside of the school. Under such circumstances, agency becomes the site through which power is not transcended but reworked, replayed and restaged in productive ways. Central to my argument is the assumption that politics is not only about power, but also, as Cornelius Castoriadis points out, "has to do with political judgements and value choices,"[4] indicating that questions of civic education and critical pedagogy (learning how to become a skilled citizen) are central to the struggle over political agency and democracy. In this instance, critical pedagogy emphasizes critical reflexivity, bridging the gap between learning and everyday life, understanding the connection between power and knowledge, and extending democratic rights and identities by using the resources of history. However, among many educators and social theorists, there is a widespread refusal to recognize that this form of education is not only the foundation for expanding and enabling political agency, but also that it takes place across a wide variety of public spheres mediated through the very force of culture itself.

One of the central tasks of any viable critical pedagogy would be to make visible alternative models of radical democratic relations in a wide variety of sites. These spaces can make the pedagogical more political by raising fundamental questions such as: what is the relationship between social justice and the distribution of public resources and goods? What are the conditions, knowledge and skills that are a prerequisite for civic literacy, political agency and social change? What kinds of identities, desires and social relations are being produced and legitimated in diverse sites of teaching and learning? How might the latter prepare or undermine the ability of students to be self-reflective, exercise judgment, engage in critical dialogues, and assume some responsibility for addressing the challenges to democracy at a national and global level? At the very least, such a project involves understanding and critically engaging dominant public transcripts and values within a broader set of historical and institutional contexts. Making the political more pedagogical in this instance suggests producing modes of knowledge and social practices in a variety of sites that not only affirm oppositional thinking, dissent and cultural work, but also offer opportunities to mobilize instances of collective outrage and collective action. Such mobilization opposes glaring material inequities and the growing cynical belief that today's culture of investment and finance makes it impossible to address many of the major social problems facing both the United States and the larger world. Most importantly, such work points to the link between civic education, critical pedagogy and modes of oppositional political agency that are pivotal to creating a politics that promotes democratic values, relations, autonomy and social change. Hints of such a politics is already evident in the various approaches the Occupy movement has taken in reclaiming the discourse of democracy and in collectively challenging the values and practices of finance capital. Borrowing a line from Rachel Donadio, the Occupy movement protesters are raising questions about "what happens to democracy when banks become more powerful than political institutions?"[5] What kind of education does it take, both in and out of schools, to recognize the dissolution of democracy and the emergence of an authoritarian state?

In taking up these questions and the challenges they pose, critical pedagogy proposes that education is a form of political intervention in the world and is capable of creating the possibilities for social transformation. Rather than viewing teaching as technical practice, pedagogy, in the broadest critical sense, is premised on the assumption that learning is not about processing received knowledge, but actually transforming knowledge as part of a more expansive struggle for individual rights and social justice. This implies that any viable notion of pedagogy and resistance should illustrate how knowledge, values, desire and social relations are always implicated in relations of power, and how such an understanding can be used pedagogically and politically by students to further expand and deepen the imperatives of economic and political democracy. The fundamental challenge facing educators within the current age of neoliberalism, militarism and religious fundamentalism is to provide the conditions for students to address how knowledge is related to the power of both self-definition and social agency. In part, this means providing students with the skills, knowledge and authority they need to inquire and act upon what it means to live in a substantive democracy, to recognize anti-democratic forms of power, and to fight deeply rooted injustices in a society and world founded on systemic economic, racial and gendered inequalities.



Conclusion

In the current historical conjuncture, the concept of the social and the common good is being refigured and displaced as a constitutive category for making democracy operational and political agency the condition for social transformation. The notions of the social and the public are not being erased as much as they are being reconstructed under circumstances in which public forums for serious debate, including public education, are being eroded. Within the ongoing logic of neoliberalism, teaching and learning are removed from the discourse of democracy and civic culture - defined as a purely private affair. How else to explain Rick Santorum's rants against higher education, the elites, and that old phantom, the liberal media. Divorced from the imperatives of a democratic society, pedagogy is reduced to a matter of taste, individual choice, home schooling and job training. Pedagogy as a mode of witnessing, a public engagement in which students learn to be attentive and responsible to the memories and narratives of others, disappears within a corporate-driven notion of learning in which the logic of market devalues the opportunity for students to make connections with others through social relations which foster a mix of compassion, ethics and hope. The crisis of the social is further amplified by the withdrawal of the state as a guardian of the public trust and its growing lack of investment in those sectors of social life that promote the public good. With the Supreme Court ruling that now makes vouchers constitutional, a deeply conservative government once again will be given full reign to renege on the responsibility of government to provide every child with an education that affirms public life, embraces the need for critical citizens and supports the truism that political agency is central to the possibility of democratic life.

The greatest threat to our children does not come from lowered standards, the absence of privatized choice schemes or the lack of rigid testing measures. On the contrary, it comes from a society that refuses to view children as a social investment, that consigns 16.3 million children to live in poverty, reduces critical learning to massive testing programs, promotes policies that eliminate most crucial health and public services, and defines masculinity through the degrading celebration of a gun culture, extreme sports and the spectacles of violence that permeate corporate-controlled media industries. Students are not at risk because of the absence of market incentives in the schools; they are at risk because, as a country, we support an iniquitous class-based system of funding education and, more recently, are intent on completely destroying it precisely because it is public. Children and young adults are under siege in both public and higher education because far too many of these institutions have become breeding grounds for commercialism, racism, social intolerance, sexism, homophobia and consumerism, spurred on by the right-wing discourse of the Republican Party, corporations, conservative think tanks and a weak mainstream media. We live in a society in which a culture of punishment and intolerance has replaced a culture of social responsibility and compassion. Within such a climate of harsh discipline and disdain, it is easier for states such as California to set aside more financial resources to build prisons than to support higher education. Within this context, the project(s) of critical pedagogy need to be taken up both within and outside of public and higher education. Pedagogy is not a practice that only takes place in schools; it is also a public mode of teaching, that is, a public pedagogical practice largely defined within a range of cultural apparatuses extending from television networks to print media to the Internet. As a central element of a broad-based cultural politics, critical pedagogy, in its various forms, when linked to the ongoing project of democratization, can provide opportunities for educators and other cultural workers to redefine and transform the connections among language, desire, meaning, everyday life, and material relations of power as part of a broader social movement to reclaim the promise and possibilities of a democratic public life. Pedagogy is dangerous not only because it provides the intellectual capacities and ethical norms for students to fight against poverty, ecological destruction and the dismantling of the social state, but also because it holds the potential for instilling in students a profound desire for a "real democracy based on relationships of equality and freedom."[22] Given the current economic crisis, the growing authoritarian populism, the rise of religious dogmatism, the emergence of a failed state, and a politics largely controlled by the bankers and corporations, critical pedagogy becomes symptomatic of not only something precious that has been lost under a regime of casino capitalism, but also of a project and practice that needs to be reclaimed, reconfigured and made foundational to any viable notion of politics.