Members of the Carpenters Union local 180 were handing out information fliers critical of bankers on Wednesday on Market Street in San Francisco .
Parents protested school cuts in Oakland this week.
Some news such as the potential for a Hackgate scandal is being completely ignored by mainstream media, while a rude conservative instantaneously becomes a celebrity journalist. Between the two extremes of Hackgate and Hecklegate, lies a vast array of news stories of differing degrees of newsworthiness that should be getting more media attention. The staffs of various national news organizations have been cut back to alarmingly low levels and stories that have great trend spotting value are being ignored by the various media that might have provided massive coverage if these same stories broke back in the day when manpower was plentiful for large newspapers and TV networks.
On Thursday, June 14, 2012, the Oakland Police Department (OPD) held a press conference to release their reaction to the the Frazier Report which criticized the OPD conduct in response to protesters at Frank Ogawa Plaza on October 25 of last year.
On Friday, the Lakeview elementary school in Oakland was closed
permanently. Over the weekend
disgruntled parents and teachers began a sit-in on the school grounds.
On Monday morning, the Oakland Police delivered to protesters the information that they were subject to arrest on the charge of interfering with the operation of a school, which is a serious matter.
As the week progressed it was unknown if the Oakland Police
would adjust their response to the Lakeview school sit-in in a way which
indicates that they have heeded the message of the Frazier Report or not.
Critics of the OPD would have other Americans believe that a new local version of the Algiers Motel Incident is almost inevitable.
If Oakland is becoming a microcosm of the problems and
challenges facing many other American cities during the summer of 2012, then
perhaps national news media (usually owned and controlled by conservatives)
should be covering the political maneuvering in that city. The politicians are trying to provide a
miracle of the loaves and fishes style solution for the rapidly expanding list
of budget shortfalls and municipal challenges.
News stories during the week indicated that Oakland would hire a Los Angeles based firm to manage the Oakland Coliseum as long as the agreement contained an iron clad clause that the company would not indulge in team poaching. That brought to mind the old quote about "I don't want lawyers who will tell me what I can and cannot do; I want lawyers who will get done what I want done."
At the same time that a Republican Senator, who owns several
homes, is staunchly asserting that it might soon become very necessary for the
American military to become involved in a civil war in Syria, the Republicans,
who have established their brand identity along the "for the sake of the
children" style of thinking, seem to be willing to decimate public education
nationwide rather than miss out on the chance to completely disregard the
"never again" post Vietnam philosophy and plunge America directly into a shiny
new war (AKA quagmire) in the Middle East region.
It seems as if the Republicans who were fearless of the deficit problem during the George W. era are now willing to sell off kids' education and instead provide them with basic training and an M-1 (or the modern equivalent) in deference to deficit spending.
While student activists were objecting to generous raises
for the UCB executives and trying to gain wage and benefit increases for the
members of the AFSCME union's local 3299, they had to contend with the
possibility of massive cuts in the library service available to the students. The Republicans seem ready to manipulate
current students into a much higher interest rate for their student loans.
A recount of the votes for the smoking tax initiative in California's June primary election were still being conducted as the week started, and the tally was "still too close to call."
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