Don't like any of my three teachers' unions...good bye public education...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/11/AR2010011103691.html

Union head to propose tying test scores, teacher evaluations

By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The president of the nation's second-largest teachers union is proposing a new way to incorporate student test scores into teacher evaluations and has asked a well-known mediator to develop methods of expediting disciplinary cases against teachers, according to the text of a speech made public Monday night.

Randi Weingarten of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers plans to deliver the speech Tuesday. Union officials describe it as a major effort to address flash points in labor-management relations.

The AFT, Weingarten said, wants "a fair, transparent and expedient process to identify and deal with ineffective teachers. But [we] know we won't have that if we don't have an evaluation system that is comprehensive and robust and really tells us who is or is not an effective teacher."

more at link..


Argh, so much for labor...

My state union NYSUT's motto is "a union of professionals"...yuck! Shoulda stayed a welder...

There ya go...

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

http://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/files/display/30/fullsize

Nostrovya!!! ;D

It’s official: Blair Mountain delisted

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/08/its-official-blair-mountain-delisted/

Making good on what it previously said it planned, the Interior Department’s National Park Service has formally announced it has removed Blair Mountain from the National Register of Historic Place.

There’s a brief notice of the move in today’s Federal Register.

Jeff Biggers had this to say about it in his latest Huffington Post commentary:

Blair Mountain Scandal: National Park Service and WV State Historic Preservation Officer See Dead People and Remove Historic Battlefield from Registry: This Friday, Jan. 8th, the Federal Register should post that the historic Blair Mountain Battlefield was removed from the National Register on December 30, 2009, despite the fact that TWO dead people are listed as landowning objectors!



Battle of Blair Mountain:


On March 30, 2009, the National Park Service placed Blair Mountain in Logan County, WV, on the National Register of Historic Places.

The announcement came after decades of campaigning by local residents, historians and conservationists, with help in recent years from OVEC, other groups affiliated with Friends of the Mountains and the Sierra Club.

Blair Mountain is one of the most important labor historic sites in the nation. In 1921, 10,000 people clashed on Blair Mountain as coal miners rose up against coal barons in defense of the right to unionize. The undeclared civil war that followed lasted 10 days and became known as the Battle of Blair Mountain.

This legendary event is now characterized as America’s largest labor struggle. The shooting war pitted union and anti-union forces against one another in the mountains of Logan, WV, and culminated in the arrival of federal troops at the governor’s request.

"National Register designation is a vitally important step in the preservation of Blair Mountain, a site we listed as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2006," says Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "Nevertheless, the threat of coal mining activity at Blair Mountain remains present and we will continue to vigorously oppose mining efforts at the site."


Just days after the designation, news reports said Governor Manchin’s administration had written a letter petitioning the Keeper of National Register of Historic Places to delist Blair Mountain.

Friends of the Mountains quickly organized a protest of this action. Moments before the noon protest began, the state issued a press release saying the Governor was not involved in the letter sent to the Keeper and the state did not mean to petition the Keeper for de-listing.

Since his days as WV Secretary of State, Joe Manchin has received nearly 1 million dollars in campaign contributions from the coal industry.

The Charleston Gazette reflected the views of many when the newspaper editorialized that it was hard to believe the Governor knew nothing about what was going on.

On July 6, news came that the Keeper was moving to delist Blair Mountain after reviewing the letter sent from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Watch the OVEC website for the latest information and contact the office at (304) 522-0246 to get involved.

http://www.ohvec.org/newsletters/woc_2009_08/article_32.html

Gives new meaning to the term 'memory hole'.

It’s official: Blair Mountain delisted

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/08/its-official-blair-mountain-delisted/

Making good on what it previously said it planned, the Interior Department’s National Park Service has formally announced it has removed Blair Mountain from the National Register of Historic Place.

There’s a brief notice of the move in today’s Federal Register.

Jeff Biggers had this to say about it in his latest Huffington Post commentary:

Blair Mountain Scandal: National Park Service and WV State Historic Preservation Officer See Dead People and Remove Historic Battlefield from Registry: This Friday, Jan. 8th, the Federal Register should post that the historic Blair Mountain Battlefield was removed from the National Register on December 30, 2009, despite the fact that TWO dead people are listed as landowning objectors!



Battle of Blair Mountain:


On March 30, 2009, the National Park Service placed Blair Mountain in Logan County, WV, on the National Register of Historic Places.

The announcement came after decades of campaigning by local residents, historians and conservationists, with help in recent years from OVEC, other groups affiliated with Friends of the Mountains and the Sierra Club.

Blair Mountain is one of the most important labor historic sites in the nation. In 1921, 10,000 people clashed on Blair Mountain as coal miners rose up against coal barons in defense of the right to unionize. The undeclared civil war that followed lasted 10 days and became known as the Battle of Blair Mountain.

This legendary event is now characterized as America’s largest labor struggle. The shooting war pitted union and anti-union forces against one another in the mountains of Logan, WV, and culminated in the arrival of federal troops at the governor’s request.

"National Register designation is a vitally important step in the preservation of Blair Mountain, a site we listed as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2006," says Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "Nevertheless, the threat of coal mining activity at Blair Mountain remains present and we will continue to vigorously oppose mining efforts at the site."


Just days after the designation, news reports said Governor Manchin’s administration had written a letter petitioning the Keeper of National Register of Historic Places to delist Blair Mountain.

Friends of the Mountains quickly organized a protest of this action. Moments before the noon protest began, the state issued a press release saying the Governor was not involved in the letter sent to the Keeper and the state did not mean to petition the Keeper for de-listing.

Since his days as WV Secretary of State, Joe Manchin has received nearly 1 million dollars in campaign contributions from the coal industry.

The Charleston Gazette reflected the views of many when the newspaper editorialized that it was hard to believe the Governor knew nothing about what was going on.

On July 6, news came that the Keeper was moving to delist Blair Mountain after reviewing the letter sent from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Watch the OVEC website for the latest information and contact the office at (304) 522-0246 to get involved.

http://www.ohvec.org/newsletters/woc_2009_08/article_32.html


Is it designated to be topped now?? >:(

I was guessing that might be the reason for the coal corps' resistance to the listing. They want to top it. Or at least reserve their right to level all mountains in the area.