Obscene Newsweek Cover Again!

I have never confused the incoherent paranoid ramblings of Glenn Beck with the thoughtful commentary of Bill Moyers.

Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, and all the rest lie their collective asses off every time they’re in front of a microphone and you, Thom Hartman, and Rachel Maddow … don’t.

I know the difference between Newsweek and The Nation magazines. But Newsweek bugs the hell out of me because they’re just another example of The Grand Perversion we endure when so many of our institutions claim to be one thing but are in actuality … the opposite.

Newsweek’s cover photo last week was George W. Bush strutting off camera on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln with the “Mission Accomplished” banner in the background. The title in huge black uppercase letters:

VICTORY AT LAST … THE EMERGENCE OF A DEMOCRATIC IRAQ.

As if the horror the Bush Regime unleashed was in any way worth the emergence of a shaky puppet government pretending to be founded upon the principles of democracy.

Unbelievable.

This week’s cover is another astounding collective slap in the face of what should be our most valued profession.

We all know the cliché … Bart Simpson’s punishment is to write something 100 times on the blackboard after school.

Newsweek’s cover photo is a blackboard with the same sentence written over and over again, “We must fire bad teachers.”

The title, “THE KEY TO SAVING AMERICAN EDUCATION” by Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert.

Inside the magazine the article begins, “Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers. In no other profession are workers so insulated from accountability.”

Once again Newsweek has joined the ranks of Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, and Beck by sinking to the depths of their madness and lies to sell absolute junk.

This one sentence alone, “… In no other profession are workers so insulated from accountability …” is enough to cause any thinking person’s head to explode after a severe bout of projectile vomiting.

We have endured a complete absence of accountability throughout the eight long years of the Bush Regime. The attacks on September 11th, two illegal wars, a multi-trillion dollar worldwide financial meltdown caused by the Bush administration and Wall Street institutions “Too Big Too Fail,” … and to date no one has been held accountable.

But according to Newsweek’s Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert in regards to the teaching vocation, “ … In no other profession are workers so insulated from accountability.”

It is impossible to respond to that without violating the FCC’s obscenity laws. Which is insane. Newsweek can legally publish this obscene lie but it is against the law to accurately describe that sentence as absolute bull …

Nowhere in the article do the authors address how to actually save our educational system. After writing about four absolutely awful teachers they end on this note, “ … At the time the story ran last summer, all four teachers still held active teaching licenses. While these horror stories are sensational, what’s also disturbing is the immunity enjoyed by the thousands of teachers who let down their students in more ordinary ways. Many more teachers are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Maybe they’d get more respect if the truly bad teachers were let go.”

“… Maybe they’d get more respect if the truly bad teachers were let go.”

Absolute gibberish.

Maybe teachers would get more respect if they were paid a decent salary and didn’t have to use textbooks whose content needs to be approved by Crazy Christian Conservatives in Texas.

There are only a few jobs that are indispensable in order to have a decent functioning society. I immediately thought of two. The second one doesn’t really demand any skill whatsoever. When I was a kid we called them Garbage men. Maybe they’re called Sanitation Engineers or something else today but regardless … Somebody has to take the garbage out.

Regularly.

The first indispensable job is teaching. It demands a whole toolbox of skills to do it right and it is critical for the survival of all of us that we have good teachers … everywhere.

Newsweek’s message is to blame the people we should reward. The Grand Perversion strikes again.

As long as my parent’s Newsweek subscription comes to our home I will make good use of it. If only it came in a larger format. Then it’d be easier to cover the bottom of the parrot’s cage.

Obscene Newsweek Cover Again! Mar 12, 2010