CRAZY ABOUT DIANE may become a new feature at substancenews.net... 'Evil' Diane Ravitch, according to a Tweet from a Colorado Congressman (a Democrat)... Cong. Jared Polis is a multi-millionaire fan of corporate reform
While it's only been four days as of this writing (on September 21, 2013) since the official publication date of Diane Ravitch's Reign of Error, Substance is considering publishing a regular feature and calling it CRAZY ABOUT DIANE.
That's the only way we can see it as more and more of the guys who have been pushing privatization, charter schools, and the other detritus of corporate "school reform" go bonkers over the fact that the foremost historian of American education working today has taken on their junk science, political posturing, bullying and lying, first in her book The Death and Life of the Great American School system and now to open the 2013 - 2014 school year in Reign of Error.
The original Substance notes on the attempts by these guys to organize a book burning against Ravitch is already becoming old news, with each day producing not only dozens of favorable reviews of the book across the USA (and beginning, around the world), but also producing the most bizarre fulminations from guys who really hate to have their pants pulled down exposing the ludicrous silliness of some of their most cherished beliefs and the junk science they have been pushing as "school reform" for years.
A mere three years after they became tumescent with the opening of "Waiting for Superman" (which they helped preview for both the Republican and Democratic national conventions), the members of what Ravitch has called out as "The Billionaires Boys Club" and their hirelings are frothing more and more and trying to get people to ignore Reign of Error. Ironically, their bizarre fulminations are probably increasing early sales of the books. As Ravitch and others have noted, these guys do not like to have anyone disagree with them, especially then the stuff they have claimed to be serious policy is exposed as a series of crazy ideas, usually based on nothing but propaganda.
Colorado Congressman Jared Polis has joined the ranks of those prominent Americans Substance will be listing in our CRAZY ABOUT DIANE feature on a regular basis. Polis didn't tell his Twitter audience whether he had bothered to read "Reign of Error" before he tweeted on September 19, two days after the book's publication, that Diane Ravitch was "evil."Now that Diane Ravitch's "Reign of Error" is officially for sale and thousands of copies are being purchased every day, the craziness from the corporate school reformers is reaching an even higher pitch than it did (as Substance reported) before the book came out. One of the most recent examples of the explosion came when a Congressman from Colorado tweeted that Ravitch is "evil" and compared her to the Koch Brothers!
According to one blog:
Democratic Congressman who tweeted Ravitch is �evil� goes on to compare her to Koch brothers
Sep 20 (jonpeltoDiane Ravitch, Jared Polis Congressman Jared Polis)
Jared Polis, a Democratic member of Congress from Colorado, who tweeted yesterday (September 19, 2013) that America�s leading public education advocate, Diane Ravitch, was an �evil woman� went on to tweet, �Can�t think of anybody else who has caused more harm to public schools, except maybe Koch brothers.�
The Wait, What? (WTF) moment is brought to us by the three-term, multi-millionaire who is apparently a huge supporter of charter schools, having created at least one charter school himself through his personal foundation that he calls the Jared Polis Foundation.
One can only assume that Polis doesn�t like the fact that Ravitch (and many other pro-education advocates) have revealed the fact that charter schools traditionally �increase� their standardized test scores by �creaming� off the best students, discriminating against non-English speaking students and refusing to take their fair share of students who need special education services. The vast majority of charter schools also have policies that are overly dependent on disciplinary procedures and directly work to undermine teachers, their unions and the teaching profession.
Most incredible about Polis� outrageous tweets that the he imagines himself as an up and coming �progressive� figure in the Democratic Party.
According to an article entitled Polis creates PAC to help other progressives and posted on Coloradoan.com, Polis is �trying to raise his profile by donating money to like-minded progressives.�
The article reads;
�Democrat Rep. Jared Polis, elected in 2008, created a leadership political action committee in January with the goal of helping Democrats regain the majority in the GOP-controlled House.
Polis said his committee, called the Fearless PAC, will allow him to expand his political influence.
�In terms of the political world, who gets elected matters,� Polis said recently. �I can be a lot more effective if we have a Congress that is more progressive and willing to move in a direction that is consistent with my beliefs and (those) of my constituents.�
Polis said the Fearless PAC is not issue-specific and supports up-and-coming politicians who aren�t yet well-known.
�There is no litmus test for it,� Polis said. �In general it would support candidates that are more in agreement with principles that I hold.�
Polis, the first openly gay man elected to Congress, supports legalizing marijuana, stricter regulations on hydraulic fracturing, and closing the achievement gap in K-12 education that separates low-income and minority students from other students.
Polis, 38, also is one of the wealthiest members of Congress. He began three successful Internet ventures in college that he later sold for upward of $300 million in profits.
The congressman serves on the House Rules Committee, the Education and Workforce Committee and the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.�
How Polis thinks attacking Diane Ravitch and public education is part of a progressive agenda is mind-boggling.
And one wonders what other progressives will think of Polis� inappropriate, outrageous and abusive behavior.
Polis� new FEARLESS PAC has clearly attempted to pass itself off as a progressive organization.
The treasurer of FEARLESS PAC is Amy Prichard. Prichard is a well-known progressive campaign professional who �provides political consulting services through AP Campaigns, as principal with both Mission Control and Digital Turf � political firms working with Democratic candidates, party committees, ballot measure campaigns, labor unions and non-profit groups.�
FEARLESS PAC has been using the services of the Democratic fundraising company, The Angerholzer Team, headed by Lindsay Angerholzer.
Polis also works with Michael Huttner. Huttner is the President of the Huttner Group, Inc. �a political consulting firm that specializes in crisis and multi-state communications. Huttner is also the Founder of ProgressNow a network of state-based organizations that informs and moves people to action for progressive solutions through communications and new media with partner states in California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.�
Peter Brown, a progressive political operative, worked for Polis� investment company, Jovian P4, in the run up to Polis� first campaign for Congress. Brown has gone on to form his own New York City based political consulting company that works with progressive candidates and organizations. His clients include New York�s United Federation of Teachers (UFT).
Another former Jovian P4 employee, Travis Leiker, who was employed in Polis� private company leading up to the Congressman�s first campaign has also worked for a variety of progressive organizations and now works for Conservation Colorado.
Ravitch allies and supporters around the country have got to wondering�what do these and other progressives see in a man who is so stupid or so ignorant or so arrogant that he thinks it is okay to tweet that Diane Ravitch is �an evil woman� and that he �Can�t think of anybody else who has caused more harm to public schools, except maybe Koch brothers.�
If any Polis supporters happen to read this blog, can you please explain WTF is wrong with this thug?
