Money woes... Thanks to Flickr user Osvaldo_Zoom

We at USDemocrazy are pretty fond of our weekends.We particularly enjoy the occasional three day weekend.

And apparently so do poor school districts!

To save money, some schools are considering moving to a four-day school week. With one less day, schools could cut some serious dough from their budget. Hawaii has already done this to save money, and other districts may follow suit.

There is a certain logic to this. In this time of economic hardship, State budgets have been suffering. One way to balance their education budgets is to cut costs… and cut teachers. In the case of Hawaii, instead of laying teachers off, the state decided to give them some Super-Fun Furlough Fridays!

To make up lost class time, other school days have to be extended. In an interview with NPR, Mike Griffith, Senior School Finance Analyst, Education Commission of the States (what a title!), said the following about the length of school days:

They are longer, but I wouldn’t say much longer. They’re about an hour more a day, about an hour and ten minutes in most cases, over the tradition school day.

So, one less day a week, but not much more instruction time for the other days? How’s that working out, Mr. Griffith?

But the jury is still out if there is a great impact on student learning one way or the other. There is an awful lot of feeling out there, although not a lot of statistics right now, that moving to this could actually hurt student learning.

What’s a state to do? Fire teachers, up class sizes, cut “non-essential” programs (like PE, music, and art)? California is one of the most extreme examples of states that can’t afford their school systems. This article in the Guardian goes to show that in the past few budgeting cycles, the great state had to snip $18 billion from its schools and universities.

That makes us wonder… How would we really have liked a four-day school week? Kids might like it, but it does prove to be a problem for working parents who have to find somewhere for the kids to be supervised on that extra weekend day, likely being an extra cost.

So… Is a four-day school week an effective money-saving tool? Let us know what you think by clicking that little comment button!

Thanks to www.existentialpunk.com!

We here at USDemocrazy would rather spend our time at peace with the world, feeling really “kumbaya,” as they say.

But as we have seen of late, even issues that will help everyone (like health care or stopping climate change) can cause so much fighting!

There’s one issue that can cause more than its share of heated battles: gay marriage.  We’ve seen it in the past, and no doubt we will see again. But recent battles have shown some movement on the issue.  Heres’ a rundown what is going on around the world!

Mayor Fenty of Washington, D.C., is expected to sign a gay marriage bill after passing the bill on Tuesday.  This will make D.C. the sixth place in the United States that will allow same-sex couples to marry!  But not everyone is happy.

Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz disagrees with same-sex marriage, and

vowed to lead an effort in Congress to block a gay marriage bill expected to be signed in approval by the mayor today.

Maybe D.C. won’t be joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire, but this is just one chapter in the long saga of same-sex marriage.

California is struggling right now to keep gay marriage legal.

Thanks to Daryl Cagle!

As more locations are passing gay marriage legislation, California is struggling.  Andy Pugno, the California lawyer who successfully defended the ban in the state supreme court, states,

The focus is very much on this one case.

California is hoping that, if they can keep same-sex marriage, then a Constitutional amendment may make it possible to spread gay marriage nationwide.

Many other countries are passing, or leaning towards passing, gay marriage, including, recently Portugal.

Socialists in Portugal are pushing for legal gay marriage despite the fact that it did not pass in July (sound familiar, like the problems that we’ve had here?)

Let’s see if the United States will be one of the countries that changes!  Yes we can?  Well, we’ll see!

Thanks to Wikicommons.

Again. Serena and Venus are at it again at Wimbledon.

Ouch! Bill Clinton steps on Obama’s toes.

I.O.U. California’s good for it… they promise.

Thanks to WikiCommons

Mexico just can’t get a break. An outbreak of Swine Flu has given one more headache (one of the flu’s symptoms) to Mexico’s over-worked government (see US Democrazy’s post on Mexico’s drug war).

So what is Swine Flu?

Called H1N1, this virus causes respiratory illness, headaches and a runny nose.

Don’t think this is a bunch of hogwash. Up to 81 people in Mexico have died leading the government to close schools and other public places.

Now the United States is starting to show symptoms. Eight cases of the disease have been confirmed in a New York City school as well as eleven other cases in California, Texas, and Kansas. On Sunday the Center for Disease Control declared a public health EMERGENCY (although they did say not to PANIC!).

It’s not only the US that is worrying. The rest of the world has begun to prepare, especially Asia (luckily they are prepared due to previous scares with other contagious diseases SARS and Avian Flu).

The World Health Organization has warned this porker problem presents pandemic potential.

For now there is no need to squeal with fear. Maybe this Swine Flu is no big deal.

Here’s some tricks to stay healthy. Wash your hands and keep your pig sties clean.

We hope this post did not boar you.

Take a chill pill.  ANGER IS DEADLY!

Cheech & Chong would be proud.  California looks into taxing marijuana.

 (Deep movie trailer voice)…”In a world where one man must make a choice… a choice between his political party and a federal stimulus package.  That man is…

The Governator!

Well actually, it is a little more complicated than that (but we at US Democrazy have been observing some political maneuvering worthy of an action movie).

Here’s the plot… President Obama presents a stimulus bill with money galore to give to all 50 states. Good news, right!?!

Well! All the Republican Representatives in Washington and all but three of the GOP Senators voted NO to the stimulus bill. This near unanimous denunciation gave the impression that all Republicans anywhere thought Obama’s plan wasn’t worth the 500 pages it was written on…

Apparently California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Florida’s, Charlie Crist, (both Republicans) did not get the memo.  Both supported the stimulus bill.  Crist went so far as to say that Republicans should give Obama “a shot.”

Don’t worry — not every Republican governor rebelled against their party like Arnie and Charlie.  The Governor of Lousiana, Bobby Jindal, mentioned that he might not take all of Obama’s stimulus money, fearing it would cost more down the road.  Five other Republican Governors have also voiced similar opposition.

Obama has announced first of the stimulus funds will be going out this week. When the big buckeroos start flying out to state capitals around the country… it will be interesing to watch  who will and who won’t take the cash!

We’ll see how our sunshine boys from California and Florida deal with this situation. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said “When you’re paying to buy the pizza, it’s okay to have a slice.”

They found bin Laden on the map? Huh?

More money, more problems. Obama asks for more problems.

Who cares about the Oscars? The worst films of the year are announced, and they’re pretty funny.

Okay folks… it’s QUIZ TIME!

Which American state has:

The eigth largest economy in the Universe…

Has a former Mr. Universe as its Governor…

and is Universally regarded as a financial basket-case?

If you guessed California, YOU ARE A WINNER*!  (Except, of course, if you happen to live in California.) The West coast bureau of USDemocrazy is sending news to our HQ in Baltimore of gargantuan debt and political gridlock on a scale that would make Hollywood blush.

California politicians led by Governor Arnold “the Terminator” Schwarzenegger have been trying to pass a blockbuster budget to stave off economic collapse. Without this combination of spending cuts, tax hikes and additional borrowing … the state will go belly up (and this is one heckuva belly!). But nothing is going according to script and everyone fears a disaster movie is in the making! 

California is a huge and diverse state that is inflicted with political divides worthy of the Grand Canyon. For the past five years our favorite action hero,  The Governator, has presided from his throne as a moderate stuck between two warring political factions (you’ve seen this movie before…). He seems to be stuck again.

Our hero may not win this battle… and all Californians may be the losers. Time is running out and there are no calvalry on the horizon. There is only one thing in this mess that is certain… when the film version is made we all know who will play Arnold (very badly) in the movie.

*Quiz winners get 2 weeks free access to www.USDemocrazy.net

photo: courtesy of Girondatalks.com