Privileged Policy Cla$$e$

50 years ago, George Wallace ran against pointy headed bureaucrats.
40 years ago, that lying fascist motherf'ker Ronnie Ray-Gun ran to destroy the community,
and we the Pee-On$ are still living with the consequences of his success. 

Anyone in the bottom 80% of household income notice how well 

The t_Rump took care of the Pee-On$? 

Make Stuff, Make Shit, Make Society WORK. 

MAKE SHTUF WORK? 

Where are the living wages, 

the affordable and humane housing in a community, 

the NOT bank account ruining health care, 

the thriving education systems, the infrastructure, 

the justice systems for all instead of for the rich, 

the voting systems which just work, 

the unemployment & retraining systems? 

MAKE SHTUF WORK.  


How are We The People ever going to have a
government by the people, for the people, and of the people, 

when the Policy Big $hot$ who run community services are out of touch? 

Why are the Policy Big $hot$ so out of touch, and, so incompetent?

We are hamstrung by the apex of the truly Privileged Policy Cla$$e$. 

These Cla$$e$ have hit the Privilege Trifecta. 

 They are financially privileged in family net wealth, 

in current household income, 

and they work in positions which are far removed from the actual 

on the ground realities of the policies they fabricate.

Privilege = $ub$idie$, By The Thou$and$

Supporting the Privileged are the groveling hordes
with 1 or 2 of the Privy Trifecta tic boxes in their Power Point Credentials.
In the hordes, NOTHING is more important than fitting in with the cool kids of the Privileged Trifecta.

Remember the cool cliques of 6th, 7th grade, 12 grade?

Who was in?

Who was out?

Who didn't have a chance? YAWN.

It is scary how many adult life pecking orders are similar.

In the arithmetically challenged world of the Privileged Trifecta, 

and the groveling hordes, 

society's failings will cease when we are ALL in the top 10% 

of personal income, household income, and household wealth. 

We'll ALL be doing the work of higher order thinking, and,

like Rodin's "The Thinker", we'll all be sitting around on rocks, 

emanating, illuminating, ruminating, thinking deeply and profoundly.

 This model has been spectacularly successful for the Privileged, and, few others.

In some aspects of life, the Privileged & the groveling hordes are a perfect fit with 

Roman Empire Patricians, British Aristocrats, and Antebellum Southern Plantation Owners. 

They live and breath in an ether of complete contempt, disdain and scorn 

for those who do the actual work of making society actually work. 

It is Jan. 2021 at the time of this posting - 

how well have the essentially disposable working stiffs 

been doing since Covid started in March 2020? 

We know that the Privileged Big $hot$ are doing great!

Someday, to be running an organization 

you're going to have to excel at making SHTUF work!?

While I may be mistaken in a few minor cases, 

in my 15+ years of teaching high school math, 

I honestly can't recall ever seeing any Great Ideas! 

presented by the Privileged such that there are 

ball park estimates of the steps required to accomplish the Great Idea!

Given that there are few or no steps for executing The Great Idea!, 

there are no or few details about staff and time needed to execute the steps. 

With no ballpark time estimates for how long staff will have

 to spend executing the missing steps, 

who needs a budget for The Great Idea! 

Actual budget is vacuumed up by the self dealing Privileged Cla$$e$, 

with a few crumbs thrown to the beat down working stiffs, 

too few of whom are earning family wage pay.

There are some constants with these Great Ideas! 

In education, those of us in the building are blamed for systemic failures 

which we have little to no control over. 

The Privileged, off in their Ivory ether, 

use their mountain of power points to tout their phake accomplishments, 

thereby justifying their self dealing existence, 

ultimately leading to a higher paying position within the district or elsewhere.

When I consider the skill of the Privileged Cla$$ with jargon, 

with self promotion, 

with spouting virtue signaling platitudes, 

with doublethink and doublespeak worthy of Robert McNamara's Defense Department, 

I suppose they've earned their positions in the Privileged Policy Cla$$ of Para$ite$ ?

+++++

Numbers from October, 2020. 

-- Individual Income Percentile - 2020

https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/

Top 5% at or above $174,000. 

=> appx. 8.883 million out of appx. 176.666 million individuals with income. 

Top 20% above $85,950.  => 80%, appx. 141.332 million BELOW 

-- Household Income Percentile

https://dqydj.com/household-income-percentile-calculator/

Top 5% Above $270,358. appx. 6.421 million out of 128.421 million households 

Top 20% Above $142,400.

=> 80%, appx. 102.736 million household BELOW.

-- Household Wealth Percentiles

https://dqydj.com/net-worth-percentile-calculator-united-states/

Top 5% Above $2,584,000.  Appx. 6.421 million out of 128.421 million households

BOTTOM 50%, Less Than $121,411. 

=> appx. 64.210 million households. 

Privilege = $ub$idie$, By The Thou$and$

It is March 2020, and I have been a high school math teacher 

for 15 years in the Great State of Wishy Warshy, Pacified Northwest. 

14 of those teaching years have been in Seattle. 

This is career #3, after about 25 years spent working 

out in that vibrant! private sector rat race.

'Privilege' is a topic education people love to discuss, 

to explore, to ruminate over, to pontificate about.  

I've rarely been around or seen much effort spent analyzing the money $ide of Privilege.

Privilege helps you to be and allows you to be 

clueless about the live$ of people not from Privilege. 

For most of the Privileged, you get to be clueless 

about the security you had in your background

 because it is culturally critical to be ignorant of money. 

Given your money ignorance, you get to ignore 

that your background is from the top 50% or 25% or 10% of household income. 

You sure as hell won't or can't count those Thou$and$ of $ub$idie$ 

that make the security that makes the Privilege!

The following list has some examples of how people get their $ub$idie$.

EDUCATION: – After graduation, are you under the median in student loan indebtedness for your degree? Could you afford to work at unpaid internships?

HOUSING – after high school or college, did you get or will you get support for moving, for down payments, for security deposits, … for rent or mortgages? 

TRANSPORTATION – after school or during school, did you get a reliable family car hand-me-down for free or low monthly payments? Did you get help with down payments to buy a reliable car? 

HEALTH CARE ACCESS – after schooling, are you able to NOT go to the poor people’s clinics? Can you NOT rely on the poor people's health 'care' of ... Cross Your Fingers?

CLOTHING AND VACATIONS – can you afford to present well, so, you’re a ‘good fit’? During the 'casual' parts of interviews, can you chatter about the right kind of vacation$?

What about you?! 

How many Thou$and$ of $ubsidie$ are you NOT counting ??? 

+++++

Numbers from October, 2020. 

-- Individual Income Percentile - 2020

https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/

Top 5% at or above $174,000. 

=> appx. 8.883 million out of appx. 176.666 million individuals with income. 

Top 20% above $85,950.  => 80%, appx. 141.332 million BELOW 

-- Household Income Percentile

https://dqydj.com/household-income-percentile-calculator/

Top 5% Above $270,358. appx. 6.421 million out of 128.421 million households 

Top 20% Above $142,400.

=> 80%, appx. 102.736 million household BELOW.

-- Household Wealth Percentiles

https://dqydj.com/net-worth-percentile-calculator-united-states/

Top 5% Above $2,584,000.  Appx. 6.421 million out of 128.421 million households

BOTTOM 50%, Less Than $121,411. 

=> appx. 64.210 million households. 

Factions - Working WITH Each Other, Not FOR.

Factions - from The Federalist #10, James Madison, November 1787.

"a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community".

I've just turned 60, I grew up in Massachusetts in a family always discussing politics. Who remembers the acrimony in the Democratic Party when Kennedy challenged Carter? When Dukakis won in 1988? When Clinton won in 1992, or Gore in 2000, or Kerry in 2004, or Obama vs. Hillary in 2008? Anyone notice happening now against Bernie Sanders? 

I've been active in various ways in the SEA from the 2009 bargain until 2018. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard 1 faction or another disparage another faction for a lack of solidarity or unity, I'd have a full paycheck!

HOW do we actually work WITH each other? In the current model the winners basically step on the toes of the losers, insult the losers as being anti-Solidarity and anti-Unity, and insist the losers work FOR the winners. When we look at General Assembly attendance, when we look at voting participation in Seattle Education Association elections, the current model is a failure. 

We need to change. 

MEETINGS, AGENDAS, ABBREVIATED ROBERT'S RULES - ONLINE AND OPEN

https://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/06/meetings-agendas-abbreviated-roberts.html

Rah Rah At Franklin High for Statewide $13.50 Minimum Wage & Sick Leave - I 1433

WHEN 

FRIDAY, 4 November 2016

4:00 pm. to ... 6?

WHERE

Franklin's Corner - MLK & Rainier

WHO

Franklin teachers ... Citizens ... Seattle Teachers ...

WHAT

Sign Waving Rah - Rah for Initiative 1433

http://www.raiseupwa.com/

HOW

Wave Signs - Drink Cocoa in the cold ... chat with people ... Wave Signs ...

Seattle City Council - Step Up On Secure Scheduling.

Dear Seattle City Council Members, 

Please adopt rules or regulations, or whatever they're called, for secure scheduling. 

30 years ago in 1986 I was cooking at the Boston Four Seasons Hotel, and I worked weird, non standard non 9 - 5 hours, BUT, they were predictably weird. My coworkers also worked predictable weird hours. They could watch the kids before work or after work, take care of batty Aunty Betty or doddering Grandpa Don, or get a part time job, or take classes. After the Four Seasons, I cooked at the Boston Sheraton for a year and had predictable weird schedules. I then cooked at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from '88 to '89, and it was the first time I had some weekends off in 9 years. With a predictable weird schedule, a secure schedule, employers were not interfering with MY free time. 

Today's schedules have your days off changing, every week. They have the time you go to work changing within the week. Some days you start at 5:00 a.m. and some days at 3:00 p.m., and those days change from week to week. Time is Money. Unpredictable schedules = stealing MY free time, and stealing my time is theft of opportunity.

Want to sleep poorly, eat irregularly & too much, not have any established exercise patterns, gain weight, gain chronic weight related ailments, ..., sleep poorly? Try a modern screw-the-employee schedule. Want to have little or no time for friends and family or participating in the community because your schedule is constantly changing? Try a modern screw-the-employee schedule. 

Would Boeing allow Microsoft to dump the cost of Microsoft's employees onto Boeing's payroll? Does the hospital industry want to pay the property leases and rents and mortgages of the restaurant industry?  Why are companies allowed to wreck the health of community members, and dump the cost of the resultant health and social problems onto the families of the community, and consequently onto the community?

Before the Four Seasons, I had worked at smaller food services. I had been grill cook for the summer of 1985 at a hotel on Martha's Vineyard. I had cooked at a very upscale Creole place for 1.5 years before that job, and I had worked at 2 very busy ...family?... kind of places from '81 to '83. I had worked graveyard in a bakery for over a year. At ALL these jobs, I worked non standard, "weird" hours, but they were predictable. When it comes to flexibility, in all those years, stuff comes up, and schedules change, unexpectedly - we're adults, we adjust.

Time is Money. Unpredictable schedules = stealing MY free time, and stealing my time is theft of opportunity. Adopt Secure Scheduling. 

Thank you, 
Bob Murphy
North Seattle, District 5. 

Friedrichs Is A Smaller Threat To Unions Than Insider Potemkin Democracy

Below is a leaflet I handed out at the annual meeting of the Washington Education Association (WEA) on Thurs. 21 Apr. 2011.  Since this is a cut and paste, some of the points are out of date.  
Over the last 5 plus years I've attempted to get some traction with some of these ideas. The efforts at getting daylight for these ideas, or similar ideas with different people, have been staggeringly futile. What has been most interesting is just how deep is the resistance to change.
When the 'democratic' processes of an organization are all stacked to insure that the entrenched and unaccountable get to stay in charge of the cookie jar, people walk away. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard some leader or leader wannabe of the Seattle Education Association (SEA), WEA, or National Education Association blame working members for not participating in last minute processes in which working members had little or no visibility to, and little or no input to. 
The leaflet is below. 

++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++

3 Must Do’s

I. It is too hard to participate.  II. Too often participation is demanded / extorted / guilted in such a way that people participate in ways which they aren’t interested in. Eventually, their participation goes from limited to non-existent.  III. The union does a lousy job at keeping people interested in participating.

I.  WE MUST DO ORGANIZING ONLINE

+++++ My Statement.
Volunteers need to be able to self-organize on the web. Volunteers should NEVER have to waste time the questions of WHAT, WHERE, WHO, WHEN, HOW for the campaign or issue they’re working on.  Volunteers should just be able to go to 1 website and get the following information for whatever community event or campaign they’re going to work with:  

+++++ My Proposal.
1.  WHAT are we going to do?  Doorbelling, phone bank, rah rah, mailings, leafleting, informational tabling at community events, letter to editor / blog writing, contacting legislators…
2.  WHERE is the WHAT going to happen?  The corner of Main and 6th, the Law Office of SaveEm & SueEm, the statue of the pig…
3.  WHO are we doing WHAT with? WHO is the coordinator making sure the ingredients of HOW happen.
4. WHEN are we doing WHAT? Every Friday night, Just Sat the 6th …
5. HOW are we going to do WHAT? Post as many instructions on the web as possible, so workers are less dependent on any coordinator.

II.  WE MUST LET PEOPLE DO WHAT INTERESTS THEM OR,
LET PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY CAN STOMACH

+++++ My Statement.
People SHOULD participate in a way which interests them the most. Campaigns typically try to get everyone to only doorbell on this day or phone bank on that day – AND – how does that entice people who don’t want to phone bank or don’t want to doorbell or WANT to leaflet? IF it were easy to organize online, it would be easier for people to participate in a way which is comfortable and with people they want to participate with.
Below is a sample printed email I handed out at my high school, soliciting participation. It took me several hours to put this together (in Google Docs) and get it printed and get it back to school and hand it out and and and … this is something the UNION should be doing, electronically, and it should be tied to the online organizing.  

+++++ My Proposal & Model.
How You Can Help and How Can You Help
Which Political Activity Interests You The Most, or, which is the least odious?

Which Community Organizing Activity Interests You The Most? *PICK ONLY 1
•      Phone banking for an issue or candidate.
•      Doorbelling - going door to door and chatting with people about an issue or candidate.
•      Visibility - Sign Waving & Rah Rah in public spaces or at public events for an issue or candidate.
•      Leafleting and /or Informational Table at some Community event (farmer's markets, public meetings...)
•      Writing Letters to the Editor / Responding to media articles about an issue or candidate.
•      Hosting Get Togethers / Coffee Hours with Friends / Neighbors about an issue or candidate.
•      Helping a Host.
•      Being an organizer for 1 of the above.
•      Participate in civil disobedience !!!
•      Other:  

IF all 80,000 WEA members do 4 Political Activities a year, for only 2 hours at a time, THEN WEA members will do 320,000 Political Activities a year for a total of 640,000 hours. When would you prefer to participate?
•      I could only manage in the summer.
•      I could do it over the course of the year.
•      I’d prefer to participate during primary and general campaign season.
•      I’d prefer to participate when the legislature is in session.

III.  MESSAGING FROM WEA MUST BE BETTER

+++++ My Statement.
My wife’s mother was told in 1949 at Bates College by her English professor in the nursing program that written communication had to be: Clear, Concise, Concrete, Consistent.
We do NOT have consistent information, even with the internet. I typically know more about what is happening from Blogs like Publicola, Save Seattle Schools http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/ , Seattle Education http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/ , and the Olympian than I get from my union.

 +++++ My Ideas.
    Through email and the web, there should be a specific time that messages are sent out. For example, people should know that every … Thursday at 5:00 the union tells us what is up with what. (Look at the Washington State Labor Council’s messaging!) When things are busy, the messaging should be more frequent AND should tell us when the next update will happen.

IV.  Solidarity & Civility – The Myth, Trap and Lie

+++++ My Statement & My Ideas.
Let’s think about something – WHEN will 2 or more people ever agree on anything for longer than a week or a month, ESPECIALLY something like - which candidate or which campaign to support, AND, which political activities are the best ways to support the candidate or campaign?

The “Solidarity” thing becomes a trap EVERY fall. The CON$ultant$ get in charge of the campaigns and start with their grand stratergeries which ALWAYS boil down to: IF we all do what we’re told for the top of the ticket, the out pouring will trickle down the rest of the ballot. These grand $erve the intere$t$ of the CON$ultant cla$$ who've lead us to defeat after defeat for the la$t 30+ year$, under the banner of "don't scare the middle, or we'll lose." How has that worked out in Indiana, Florida, Wisconsin...? On Wall Street with casino pensions? With energy independence? With ha ha ha "heath care"?

Every time I hear “Solidarity” I wonder … huh? “Solidarity” is a cute myth, and when it is the basis for political strategy it is frequently childish. We really have to turn off the Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood romanticism and get out of the unrealistic trap it creates. We need to recognize that no one agrees on much for very long, and to concentrate on getting people involved!  

Seattle Educators - 8 for 4 School Board Candidates!

EACH of us needs to reach out to 8 friends and family to recommend the following 4 school board members. EACH of us needs to email or to talk in person or to phone call 8 Seattle voter people who trust us on this school stuff. 

Hello out there in working teacher & working educator world! Remember starting the school year on strike! Why were we on picket lines instead of in our buildings and our classrooms, with our kids?

Do you remember Superintendent Nyland's bargaining team ignoring our bargaining team from May until August 17, when they rejected everything? Do you remember the hardball from the district? Do you remember that the Seattle Public School School Board voted to give Mr. Nyland authority to take us to court for exercising a human right to organize and to petition for redress of grievance? (except for Sue Peters and Betty Patu)? Do you remember that this was the school board which hired Mr. Nyland last November, at the last minute, with an announcement of a key meeting on the Wed. before Thanksgiving weekend?

EACH of us needs to reach out to 8 friends and family to recommend the following 4 school board members. EACH of us needs to email or to talk in person or to phone call 8 Seattle voter people who trust us on this school stuff.  

IF we don't participate, THEN elected officials patronize us. They have less incentive to help us help our kids, and more incentive to do what they've been doing for years - pat us on the heads and tell us what we want to hear.

Jill Geary in District 3:  http://www.jillforschoolboard.com/  

Leslie Harris in District 6:  http://harrisforschoolboard.com/ 

Rich Burke in District 2:  http://www.rickburke4schools.com/ 

Scott Pinkham in District 1:  https://www.facebook.com/pinkhamforseatleschools

Sunday, October 18, 2015
Crucial Voting for Seattle School Board
http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2015/10/crucial-voting-for-seattle-school-board.html

Rah-Rah For Seattle School Board Candidates - Geary, Harris, Burke

WHEN - Friday 30 Oct. 2015 From 3:30 to 5:30 
WHERE - Franklin High Corner of Rainier & MLK.
WHAT - Sign Waving Rah-Rah To Our Community!!
HOW - Contact Bob Murphy rmseamurphy AT gmail so he has enough signs for all to wave!
WHO - YOU Seattle educators! Remember The Strike? Remember the Superintendent who ignored our bargaining team until 17 August, remember the school board members who hired him and who supported him?

IF you'd like to rah-rah at a different location in the SOUTH END that day & need help & contact me before Fri. the 23rd, I'll help you get signs blah blah blah! (or, contact the campaign, details below.)

WHEN - Sunday 1 Nov. 2015 From 3:30 to 5:30 
WHERE - Northgate - Corner of 1st Ave. NE and Northgate Way. 
WHAT - Sign Waving Rah-Rah To Our Community!!
HOW - Contact Bob Murphy rmseamurphy AT gmail so he has enough signs for all to wave!
WHO - YOU Seattle educators! Remember The Strike? Remember the Superintendent who ignored our bargaining team until 17 August, remember the school board members who hired him and who supported him?

IF you'd like to rah-rah at a different location in the NORTH END that day & need help & contact me before Fri. the 23rd, I'll help you get signs blah blah blah! (or, contact the campaign, details below.)

WHEN - Monday 2 Nov. 2015 From 3:30 to 5:30 
WHERE - Northgate - Corner of 1st Ave. NE and Northgate Way. 
WHAT - Sign Waving Rah-Rah To Our Community!!
HOW - Contact Bob Murphy rmseamurphy AT gmail so he has enough signs for all to wave!
WHO - YOU Seattle educators! Remember The Strike? Remember the Superintendent who ignored our bargaining team until 17 August, remember the school board members who hired him and who supported him?

IF you'd like to rah-rah at a different location in the NORTH END that day & need help & contact me before Fri. the 23rd, I'll help you get signs blah blah blah! (or, contact the campaign, details below.)

+++++

IF people would like to use this diary as an electronic WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN HOW for your rah-rah event, just use a comment.
I work at Franklin, I live by Ingraham, hence the different locations.

+++++

Please vote before Tues. 3 Nov. 2015 for Jill Geary & Leslie Harris for School Board of Seattle Public Schools. I support both because they're qualified: they're on the side of our kids, our community, and those of us working in the schools.  Both are attorneys with years of experience in SPS legal issues. Both have or have had children in our schools.

Jill is running in District 3 to replace Harium, who isn't running.  http://www.jillforschoolboard.com/  Jill's opponent (Lauren ...) is endorsed by Seattle School Board members who hired Superintendent Nyland last Nov., in a very last minute, behind closed door anointment. Remember Sup. Nyland – THE REASON we building working stiffs were out on a picket line instead of in our classes with our kids? 

Leslie is running in District 6 http://harrisforschoolboard.com/ against the incumbent, Marty McLaren. Marty helped hire Sup. Nyland last Nov. and she voted to allow Sup. Nyland to take us teachers to court for some legal injunction garbage, because we working stiffs are exercising our human rights to stand up together.

I support Rich Burke who has been on the side of educators, kids and the community. I don't know much about his campaign opponent. http://www.rickburke4schools.com/ 

Jill & Leslie & Rick will need help after ballots go out on Wed. 14 Oct. The busiest voting weekends will be around Sat. the 24^th and Sat. the 31^st.  Does your yard face a busy street where you could put up a sign? Can you phonebank or leaflet at weekend events? Contact their campaigns!

Educators For Geary, Harris, Burke - Seattle School Board.

Please vote before Tues. 3 Nov. 2015 for Jill Geary & Leslie Harris for School Board of Seattle Public Schools. I support both because they're qualified: they're on the side of our kids, our community, and those of us working in the schools.  Both are attorneys with years of experience in SPS legal issues. Both have or have had children in our schools.

Jill is running in District 3 to replace Harium who isn't running.  http://www.jillforschoolboard.com/  Jill's opponent (Lauren ...) is endorsed by Seattle School Board members who hired Superintendent Nyland last Nov., in a very last minute, behind closed door anointment. Remember Sup. Nyland – THE REASON we building working stiffs were out on a picket line instead of in our classes with our kids? 

Leslie is running in District 6 http://harrisforschoolboard.com/ against the incumbent, Marty McLaren. Marty helped hire Sup. Nyland last Nov. and she voted to allow Sup. Nyland to take us teachers to court for some legal injunction garbage, because we working stiffs are exercising our human rights to stand up together.

Rich Burke has been on the side of educators, kids and the community. His campaign opponent is off the radar. http://www.rickburke4schools.com/ 

Jill & Leslie will need help after ballots go out on Wed. 14 Oct. The busiest voting weekends will be around Sat. the 24^th and Sat. the 31^st.  Does your yard face a busy street where you could put up a sign? Can you phonebank or leaflet at weekend events? Contact their campaigns!

Would you consider doing some rah-rah sign waving for both or either??  In a few days from the date of this posting, Sat. 19 Sept., I'll have details for 9 possible sign waving locations north of the ship where I live. Does anyone from the south end have ideas for 3, 6, 9 busy intersections in the south end?   

Meet & Greet SPS School Board Candidates!

WHAT:
Leslie Harris For Seattle School Board, Position 6. 

http://harrisforschoolboard.com/

Jill Geary For Seattle School Board. Position 3.

http://www.jillforschoolboard.com/


WHEN:
Thurs. 27 Aug. 2015

6-8 P.M. 

WHERE:
Carkeek Park, Seattle.

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/environment/carkeek.htm

Picnic Shelter #2

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/_images/maps/picnics/Carkeek.pdf

WHO: 
Citizens who want to help Leslie & Jill, Seattle voters, Seattle School District employees who are concerned about the leadership of the District. 


HOW:
Hang out, talk to candidates & fellow citizens, enjoy one of Seattle's best parks, ... plan campaign activities to support our candidates.   


WHY:
See "HOW" ... ;) 

PEACEFUL HOME PROTEST RULES

PEACEFUL HOME PROTEST RULES

1. We’re leaving if any violence starts. 

2. Media Messaging / Communications: 

IF there is someone designated as the lead on messaging / communications, defer to them? ;)  

IF there is an agreed upon hand out of talking points, use it ? ;) 

Sound bites work better to get attention than big sentences filled with big words. Sorry. 
(Be able to explain the sound bites! ) 

The actions of the people we're protesting are harmful and offensive, that's why we're here. 

Where is the bright line between pointed commentary on offensive actions and offensive commentary…?  

3. Check out the protest location address on an internet map thing before going. Familiarize yourself with the local roads. 

Where will you park? How will you get to the protest location? Will that method work when returning to home?

4. If things get goofy, remember details. Scribble them down, repeat them to others you're with, leave a voice message to someone, email them off … 

Details to remember: the time, the place, the characters /people (badge numbers…), directions


SOME OF MY SOURCES FOR PEACEFUL PROTEST 'RULES'


The Ruckus Society
http://ruckus.org/index.php

Manuals & Checklists
Security Culture for Activists
http://www.ruckus.org/section.php?id=82

+++++
Handbook For Nonviolent Action - SOA Watch
http://soaw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=644#1

+++++
Veterans For Peace: Protest and March
Organized Locally. Recognized Nationally. Exposing the true costs of war since 1985
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/6413/3312/6472/Protest_and_March_Toolkit.pdf

+++++
How to Organize a Protest or March
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_135670_organize-protest-march.html

+++++
How to Protest
http://www.wikihow.com/Protest

+++++

Survey - YOUR PEACEFUL PROTEST ORGANIZING COMFORT ZONE.

I PHILOSOPHICALLY believe in open processes and open involvement.  .  I'm not into zapping people at the last minute with info from The Secret Clique They're Not Part Of.

When it comes to organizing, each thing / step "we" are going to do needs the The Questions Of Organizing answered: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, HOWI I honestly can't figure out how to solve The Questions Of Organizing, efficiently, without email and or blogs

CIRCLE 1 ANSWER FOR EACH.

MY PREFERENCE for organizing is a Blog Diary with email sent to possible participants, pointing to the Blog Diary

1.  Is this within YOUR comfort zone?

a. yes

b. no

c. other _______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Are you comfortable using email such that all of us are openly on the To: line?

a. yes

b. no

c. other _______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

3. IF you answered "no" to #2, I am in no way committing to keeping people updated via phone, snail mail, pigeon …

Would you accept being part of a BCC group who get to know what is going on?

a. yes

b. no

c. other _______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

In conclusion, I have purposely not mentioned civil disobedience. Given the level of participation in community events by the population at large, I'm not interested in risking arrest for people who won't vote, or hold a sign on street corner, or write a letter to politician, or ...  

If you're interested in civil disobedience, you really really need to skim the resources of Ruckus and SOA Watch, and make sure those who are going with you know what you're up to so that they can decide if it is in their comfort zone.

PARTICIPATION AND RESPECTING PEOPLE'S TIME

VERSION ONE

In the community organizations which you belong to, is open, accessible participation by community members a core value of yours? Do the processes of your organization run openly, and on time, so that when people try to participate their time is respected?   

+++++

I.) Will decisions (votes) on proposals (New business Items, rules, regulations, norms, …) be made at specific times during the meeting, according to the agenda?

- Are those times be held to?

Did people have time to discuss the proposals at a prior meeting?  

- Was the discussion period at the end of the meeting, after votes, so that people who weren't interested in the discussion, or who didn't have time, could leave?

Were the proposals available, electronically, at least 2 weeks before the prior meeting? 

II.) Was the agenda available at least one week before the meeting? Is there a consistent, open, electronic, accessible opportunity for community members to weigh in on the agenda before the agenda was available? 

III.) Is there an abbreviated, single page, large font subset of Robert's Rules used? If people aren't paid, as their full time job, to participate in meetings, then people don't have the time to master the ins and outs of Robert's Rules. Period. 

+++++

VERSION TWO

In the community organizations which you belong to, is open, accessible participation by community members a core value of yours? Do the processes of your organization run openly, and on time, so that when people try to participate their time is respected?   

+++++

I.) Will decisions (votes) on proposals (New business Items, rules, regulations, norms, …) be made at specific times during the meeting, according to the agenda?

- Are those times be held to?

When people show up, on time, and things don't happen on time, what does that say to those who took time to show up? 

Did people have time to discuss the proposals at a prior meeting?  

Why do people have to make decisions with only hours, or a few days, to think about a proposal, to discuss the proposal, to think about it some more, to lobby for and against the proposal?

- Was the discussion period at the end of the prior meeting, after votes, so that people who weren't interested in the discussion, or who didn't have time, could leave?

Discussion time can be very passionate and contentious. When there are only a few hours or days notice to vote on a proposal, those passions only get amplified.  Why can't the discussion happen after the votes, which happened at well defined times? 

Were the proposals available, electronically, at least 2 weeks before the prior meeting? 

Why are proposals available a few hours or a few days before discussion and voting? In the internet era, why aren't the proposals available for all interested parties?  I've been a member of a score of orgs over the years. In some orgs you can't vote on anything which wasn't discussed at a prior meeting. 

II.) Was the agenda available at least one week before the meeting? Is there a consistent, open, electronic, accessible opportunity for community members to weigh in on the agenda before the agenda was available? 

Adopting the agenda at the beginning of the meeting is fine when you're part of a paid legislature. If you don't like the agenda and wish to revise it, as a paid member of the legislature you can use Robert's Rules to do that. How does last minute, arcane manipulation of Robert's Rules of Misrule engender participation? trust? 

III.) Is there an abbreviated, single page, large font subset of Robert's Rules used? If people aren't paid, as their full time job, to participate in meetings, then people don't have the time to master the ins and outs of Robert's Rules. Period. 

Want to turn people off? Take your last minute agenda, with your last minute proposals, your last minute discussion, and add last minute process manipulation with Robert's Rules of Order. 

+++++

4 - 3 - 2 Is Needed From You

IF our unions are going to matter to the decision makers, the decision makers are going to have to be scared of us. When they're scared of us, they'll work with us. When they work us, they'll stop pulling the kind of garbage they've pulled on Washington State educators over the last 5+ years: denial of citizen approved cost of living raises, denial of citizen approved smaller classes sizes, a multi billion dollar Boeing give away in the fall of 2013 in an emergency 3 day session.

They'll be scared of us when 4 times a year, during 1 of the 3 important political seasons of the year, each of us does something political for at least 2 hours.

IT'S TIME To Evaluate Democratic Politicians Every 2 Years

IT'S TIME to support 10 primary challengers for the WA. state legislature every 2 years. Every 2 years over 100 Washington State Representatives and Senators are up for re-election.

IT'S TIME  to put up 1000 yard signs for 10 primary challengers on the 2 weeks after the deadline for candidates to file for office.  At Boruck Printing & Silkscreen in Seattle, for $5000 you get 1000 plastic 2 sided 2 color signs and the metal thingies the signs go on. What candidate wouldn’t love to have their name on 1000 signs around a legislative district in the short window between filing and the primary? WEA spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in Olympia – what is 50 grand for 10 primary challengers?

IT'S TIME to evaluate all legislators all the time. Did they vote for anything that made things worse for our kids? Yes or No. Did they stand by while some legislation made things worse for our kids? Yes or No.

IT'S TIME to quit playing these insider games about who is electable and who is a lessor of two evil – did s/he help or stand by while our kids were hurt? How many people on WEA-PAC’s 2014 endorsement page betrayed us working stiffs with their votes for tying test scores to junk evaluations in SB5748? (Senators Kohl-Welles, Habib and Frockt!!)  

IT'S TIME     ORGANIZING WORKING EDUCATOR COMMUNITIES

1. BY LOCATION, 2. BY ACTIVITY, 3. BY CANDIDATE / ISSUE

IF we the little working people are going to have sustainable influence on the decisions juggling the trade-offs which are made in our communities, we need to organize ourselves differently.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/06/organizing-working-educator-communities.html

IT'S TIME           4-3-2 IS NEEDED FROM YOU.

IF our unions are going to matter to the decision makers, the decision makers are going to have to be scared of us. When they're scared of us, they'll work with us. When they work us, they'll stop pulling the kind of garbage they've pulled on Washington State educators over the last 5+ years: denial of citizen approved cost of living raises, denial of citizen approved smaller classes sizes, a multi-billion dollar Boeing give away in the fall of 2013 in an emergency 3 day session.

They'll be scared of us when 4 times a year, during 1 of the 3 important political seasons of the year, each of us does something political for at least 2 hours.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/08/4-3-2-is-needed-from-you.html

UNION ENDORSEMENTS - ONLINE VOTING & SKIN IN THE GAME

Union endorsement processes should be online voting. They should be open to all members who are contributing financially and who will commit at least 2 hours of work to each candidate or issue they vote to endorse.

Given that the processes of primary and general elections have hard legal deadlines for filing as candidates and for the dates of the elections, there is no legitimate reason that endorsement processes aren't detailed on the web at least 3 months before legal filing deadlines.

Given this tool called the internet, why are union processes stuck in the 30's and 50's? In the 30's, and before, millions of us lived close to where we worked. IF leaders wanted membership at meetings, they could hold the meetings miles from the work site. For a few decades after WWII, even though sub-urbanization was exploding, there were millions of family wage jobs. Family wage jobs mean it is easier to participate in non work activities, and, those days are gone. We can change, or, we can continue to shrink.

+++++

MEETINGS, AGENDAS, ABBREVIATED ROBERT'S RULES - ONLINE AND OPEN
We working stiffs need a different structure to meetings, agendas, proposals (new business items) and Robert's Rules. Structures and processes from legislative bodies who are paid and who work full time at legislating don't work for people who participate on a part time basis.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/06/meetings-agendas-abbreviated-roberts.html

+++++

UNIONS MUST DO ORGANIZING ONLINE
Campaign volunteers need to be able to self-organize on the web because it is too hard to participate. It is too hard to participate because campaign volunteers spend too much time searching for the details to the questions of WHAT, WHERE, WHO, WHEN, HOW when volunteers want to help a campaign.  Volunteers should just be able to go to 1 or 2 connected websites to get calendar information and to get the following details for whatever they're going to do:

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2013/08/unions-must-do-organizing-online.html

+++++

ORGANIZING WORKING EDUCATOR COMMUNITIES
1. BY LOCATION, 2. BY ACTIVITY, 3. BY CANDIDATE / ISSUE

IF we the little working people are going to have sustainable influence on the decisions juggling the trade offs which are made in our communities, we need to organize ourselves differently.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/06/organizing-working-educator-communities.html

+++++

4-3-2 IS NEEDED FROM YOU.
IF our unions are going to matter to the decision makers, the decision makers are going to have to be scared of us. When they're scared of us, they'll work with us. When they work us, they'll stop pulling the kind of garbage they've pulled on Washington State educators over the last 5+ years: denial of citizen approved cost of living raises, denial of citizen approved smaller classes sizes, a multi billion dollar Boeing give away in the fall of 2013 in an emergency 3 day session.

They'll be scared of us when 4 times a year, during 1 of the 3 important political seasons of the year, each of us does something political for at least 2 hours.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/08/4-3-2-is-needed-from-you.html

4-3-2 IS NEEDED FROM YOU.

IF our unions are going to matter to the decision makers, the decision makers are going to have to be scared of us. When they're scared of us, they'll work with us. When they work us, they'll stop pulling the kind of garbage they've pulled on Washington State educators over the last 5+ years: denial of citizen approved cost of living raises, denial of citizen approved smaller classes sizes, a multi billion dollar Boeing give away in the fall of 2013 in an emergency 3 day session.

They'll be scared of us when 4 times a year, during 1 of the 3 important political seasons of the year, each of us does something political for at least 2 hours.

The something political can be: leaflet for an issue or candidate, write letters to the editor or comment on media stories or blog stories, doorbell, literature drop, phonebank ...

The 3 important political seasons are: 1. while the legislature is in session. 2. the primary and general election season, 3. the rest of the year.

As of Labor Day 2014, in the Washington Education Association (WEA) there are appx. 83,000 members. In the Seattle Education Association there are appx. 5000 members.  5000 members times 2 hours times 4 times a year = 40,000 hours of something political. 83,000 times 2 hours times 4 times a year = 332,000 hours of people doorbelling, rah rah sign waving, phone banking, writing letters to editors and legislators and comments to news and blog stories, ... It equals legislators listening to and acting on our concerns because they're terrified that too many of those hours and too much of the political something will be used against them.

+++++
UNIONS MUST DO ORGANIZING ONLINE
Campaign volunteers need to be able to self-organize on the web because it is too hard to participate. It is too hard to participate because campaign volunteers spend too much time searching for the details to the questions of WHAT, WHERE, WHO, WHEN, HOW when volunteers want to help a campaign.  Volunteers should just be able to go to 1 or 2 connected websites to get calendar information and to get the following details for whatever they're going to do:

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2013/08/unions-must-do-organizing-online.html

+++++
ORGANIZING WORKING EDUCATOR COMMUNITIES
1. BY LOCATION, 2. BY ACTIVITY, 3. BY CANDIDATE / ISSUE

IF we the little working people are going to have sustainable influence on the decisions juggling the trade offs which are made in our communities, we need to organize ourselves differently.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/06/organizing-working-educator-communities.html

+++++
MEETINGS, AGENDAS, ABBREVIATED ROBERT'S RULES - ONLINE AND OPEN
We working stiffs need a different structure to meetings, agendas, proposals (new business items) and Robert's Rules. Structures and processes from legislative bodies who are paid and who work full time at legislating don't work for people who participate on a part time basis.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/06/meetings-agendas-abbreviated-roberts.html

+++++
UNION ENDORSEMENTS - ONLINE VOTING & SKIN IN THE GAME
Union endorsement processes should be online voting. They should be open to all members who are contributing financially and who will commit at least 2 hours of work to each candidate or issue they vote to endorse.

http://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/09/union-endorsements-online-voting-skin.html

Educator Rah-Rah For Jess Spear, Sat. 2 Aug, Sun. 3 Aug, Mon. 4 Aug

WHAT:
Educator Rah-Rah For Jess Spear, Candidate WA. House, Position 2, 43rd Legislative District

http://www.votespear.org/

WHEN:
Sat. 2 Aug. - 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.
Sun. 3 Aug. - 4:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Mon. 4 Aug. - 4:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.

WHERE:
South end of University Bridge - if there are enough of us, let's cover both sides of the bridge into the U-District?

http://43rddemocrats.org/about-us/district-map

Note - there are a lot of major intersections in the 43rd LD - If you and others have different preferences, go for it! Let everyone know in the comments!

HOW: 
Make a sign*, hang out on the street corner, wave at fellow citizens & chat with fellow educator rah-rah peeps!

*Mine will be ... "High School Math Teacher For Jess Spear" - a friend was thinking "Elementary Counselor For Jess Spear". I'm a math teacher, not a marketing, communications, art, copy writer, graphic design... guru. Express yourself!

WHO:
Washington Educators & Citizens!!
Contact rm  sea mur&&&phy at gma  il.com  -- minus the spaces and the 3 &.
or, leave a comment in this diary.

WHY:
1. Ms. Spear's opponent Frank Chopp is Speaker of the House, has been in the legislature for several decades, and just isn't able to do more than lose against the 1% onslaughts orchestrated from the likes of Tim Eyman, Rodney Tom, and Whoever Is The 1% Master Manipulator Du Jour.
If working people are going to continue supporting people who can't beat the Rodney Toms, the Rodney Toms are going to continue beating us working people.

2. Consider what Barbara Madeloni, the new President of the Massachusetts Teacher's Association (MTA), said about the out going MTA President, Paul Toner. Mr. Toner is a lot like Frank Chopp and many in Washington State Democratic leadership - always telling us working stiffs we'd better accept some garbage 'compromise' or things will be worse.

Standing Up to Superman: An Interview with Barbara Madeloni
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/07/standing-up-to-superman-an-interview-with-barbara-madeloni/

"At that hearing, the current president of the MTA, Paul Toner, testified that in spite of what had been said, that the committee must move forward with the bill. His message to the membership was, once again, “If we don’t agree to this bad thing, a worse thing will happen.”

That positions members in a narrative about themselves that says that we are powerless, subject to forces that we can’t control. It’s painful for me to think that this is a narrative that people accept. It makes me sad to hear people talk about themselves that way. It’s such a small vision of life.

What our campaign offered was a broader, powerful vision of ourselves in community. We didn’t offer a simple militancy, but a deeper power to create our world, which is something that we as educators should feel when we head out into the day."

MEETINGS, AGENDAS, ABBREVIATED ROBERT'S RULES - ONLINE AND OPEN

We working stiffs need a different structure to meetings, agendas, proposals (new business items) and Robert's Rules. Structures and processes from legislative bodies who are paid and who work full time at legislating don't work for people who participate on a part time basis.

I.A.) Proposals need to be posted to the internet 1 week before the monthly meeting, and they'll be debated ONLY for 10 mins., at the end of of the meeting in order of submission by timestamp. 
B.) These newly posted proposals can NOT be voted on until the next meeting. 
C.) After all newly posted proposals have had their 10 mins. the floor is ... open?
 
II.) Proposals which were debated at the last monthly meeting will be voted on at the start of business at the next meeting. 3 for, 3 against, 2 mins. each. NO amendments blah blah blah. Vote yes, no, or abstain. 

III.) We need an abbreviated Robert's Rules ... like 2 index cards.

+++++MY ACERBIC COMMENTARY+++++

I've participated as a fly on the wall lowly grunt for decades in scores of campaigns. 

In the last few years I've figured out that the current methods of meeting & proposing are kind of stuck in the 30's, when lots of us didn't live too far from work and meeting before or after work wasn't that hard. When our methods aren't stuck in the 1930's, our processes are stuck in the 1950's, when millions of Americans had family wage jobs and the 40 hour work week meant something. 

Meetings for us busy peee-ons take too much time, have too many last minute shoved-down-our-throats proposals, and are too frequently sidelined by Robert's Rules of Shenanigans. Robert's Rules are for legislatures, where people are paid to piddle around and ... do cruddy things to each other with the rules.

In the last 2 years, I've suffered through meetings of the Seattle Education Association, Washington Education Association, the 46th Legislative District Democrats, the 36th L.D., some Socialist Alternative thing a few weeks ago over $15 Now. I experience the same stuff, over and over and over: Last minute agendas + last minute proposals + last minute editing and last minute amending + last minute procedural shenanigans = fewer and fewer people participating.