Total outstanding student loan debt officially surpassed total credit card debt in the United States in 2010, and is on track to exceed $1,000,000,000,000 during 2012;
Excessive student loan debt is impeding economic growth in the United States. Faced with excessive repayment burdens, many individuals are unable to start businesses, invest, or buy homes;
Because of soaring tuition costs, students often have no choice but to amass significant debt to obtain an education that is widely considered a prerequisite for earning a living wage.
Remember when doctors did what was in the best interest of the patient? Remember when refusing to provide care could get you fired or even arrested? Well, those days are coming to a close as doctors and nurses have been freed by the GOP from any ethical or moral restraints. These days, a medical practitioner can simply ignore a patient because treating them goes against their “religious beliefs.”
And people are still convinced on this “war against religion” bullshit?
(via stfuprolife)
Priorities…
And we’re still cutting from Education -_-“
(Source: diggberals, via stfuconservatives)
(via sailordonut)
I love how the school threatened to suspend the girl while refusing to address the audist bullies who bullied her and other girls for using American Sign Language.
Go fuck yourself, Stonybrook School.
Via ABC News:
School officials have threatened a hearing-impaired girl with suspension if she uses sign language to talk to her friends on the school bus, the girl’s parents say.
Danica Lesko and her parents say sign language is the only way to for the 12-year-old to communicate, especially while riding to school on a noisy bus.
But officials at Stonybrook School — which is not a school for the hearing-impaired — and district officials in Branchburg, N.J., apparently believe signing is a safety hazard. They have sent a letter to the Lesko family ordering Danica to stop using sign language on the school bus or risk a three-day suspension.
The March 30 letter from her principal that said Danica was “doing sign language after being told it wasn’t allowed on the bus.”
The Leskos may file a lawsuit over the sign language ban, claiming officials are violating Danica’s civil rights and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“She has a hearing problem, and now she’s being punished for using sign language,” Mary Ann Lesko, Danica’s mother, told The Star-Ledger of Newark. “It’s absurd.”
Danica’s parents told the paper that other students who rode to school with their daughter made fun of her, and refused to stay in their seats as they teased other girls who were using sign language. They said school officials are singling out Danica and not addressing those who should really be reprimanded.
Schools Officials: Safety First
In a statement released through the school district’s attorney, David Rubin, the Branchburg Board of Education refused to discuss the details of Danica’s case, saying only that its version of events differs from the parents’ version.
However, the board insisted it has not violated anyone’s rights and is only trying to protect other students who must ride on the school bus.
“The Board is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities, and is satisfied that there has been no violation of that policy in this case,” officials said in the statement. “The Board is also committed to assuring the safety of all students who travel on District buses, and will continue to take appropriate steps to accomplish that goal.”
One deaf-rights advocate said Danica’s parents have a strong basis for a lawsuit because sign language could be a considered a foreign language, and school officials could be violating the girl’s First Amendment right to communicate.
“Why should there be a ban?” asked Charlotte Karras, outreach coordinator for the Edison, N.J.-based Alliance for Disabled in Action. “It’s a violation of her communication rights. She’s said it’s the only way she can communicate with her friends … It’s [the ban] against the ADA and violates the First Amendment and her family can file a discrimination suit citing the Americans With Disabilities Act.”
Karras said her organization would be willing to help the Leskos with any legal action.
Danica’s parents say she began losing her hearing last November, when a classmate allegedly shot a bottle rocket near her ear. They have already sued the Branchburg School District over that incident.
wtf… a safety hazard? why, because folks are fuckin with her? and this AFTER a kid at the school fucked up her hearing in the first place?
Maybe if the bus monitors and and teachers told them lil muhfuckas to cut the shit it wouldn’t have happened in first place. and now they need to
tellmake those little assholestostfu and leave her alone.fuck is wrong with people.
Absolutely fucking ridiculous.
This is fucking absurd.
Sign language DEFINITELY counts as a language protected under our first amendment rights. I love the school’s evasive “well our version of the events differ from theirs” hand-wave over this.
Barbara Ehrenreich, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America”
I recently read this book, and while several observations and statistics stuck out to me, this quote, on the last page, I believe really sums things up quite well.
(via lostgrrrls)
Forget the billionaire “job creators” — our working poor are really the ones supporting our economy.
(via stfuconservatives)
(via stfuconservatives)
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Feminists. (via popmuslim)
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
(via silverqueen)
Let me reiterate that for you all …
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
(via dank-potion)
I think you’ve missed a crutial point though, let me point it out:
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
(via themindislimitless)
I’m going to go ahead and guess that more men are killed by their wives or girlfriends in the United States than in Pakistan, considering women commit quite a few domestic murders in the united states each year.
(via espionagis)

The point is that we think of the Middle East as a terrible place for women with oppressive laws and honor killings, when the truth is that technically it’s more dangerous to be a woman here.
(via stfuconservatives)
(via stfuconservatives)
1.9 million notes :|
GET THIS TO 2 MILLION!3 MILLION??!?!?!
LETS GET TO 3 MILLION!5 MILLION PEOPLE!!!! COME ON!!!!!!!
6 million come on
(Source: did-you-kno, via vulcanneckpinch)
Young, Privileged, and Applying for Food Stamps | The Billfold (via meganwest)
The recession has forced a lot of folks who thought they’d never be one of “those people” to go on government assistance. It’s made many people a lot more humble. But most of us don’t talk about it, because it’s a little embarrassing to admit that, despite having a college education and coming from a “nice” neighborhood and doing everything “right,” sometimes you still end up jobless and penniless.
A good friend of mine was on food stamps after we graduated from college because her 60+ hour/week job paid less than $11,000 per year. She was teaching and mentoring inner-city students. My sister went on food stamps after graduating from one of the Seven Sisters. She was waiting tables and studying for the MCATS. When I was unemployed in the latter half of 2010, I took my unemployment and went on a state program that gave me a discount on my gas bill.
So, yeah. This stuff is real and it happens. Conservatives love to push the idea that only lazy people don’t work, only bums get government assistance, that these programs only benefit people who don’t want to work. The truth is, these programs are feeding a lot of recent college graduates who are still suffering from the recession.
(via stfuconservatives)
(via stfuconservatives)