The nation’s third largest school district is without teachers today. After contract negotiations fell through over the weekend, the Chicago Teachers Union declared a strike and walked off the job this morning. This is the first time Chicago teachers have gone on strike in 25 years. Altogether 29,000 teachers and school workers are joining in on the strike to demand better pay, working conditions, and stop the march toward privatization of the city’s schools.

At the heart of the strike are several issues: One is a four-percent pay increase teachers were promised last year – but was cancelled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Instead, the mayor is asking teachers to work a longer school day. Also, teachers are asking for a state limit on classroom sizes – a law that’s in place in 32 other states, but not in Illinois. Plus, teachers are trying to reverse the Mayor's plans to slash public education funding and use that money to create 250 non-union, for-profit charter schools.

Chicago has now become ground-zero in the battle over how we as a nation will educate our children. Will we embrace the public school system that Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann worked so hard to create – and support teachers who perform one of the most important jobs in our society? Or, will we hand off educating our kids to the money-changers and corporate CEOs who see education as a get-rich-quick scheme? Keep an eye on the Windy City.

-Thom

(What do you think will happen? Tell us here.)

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Friday's Daily Stack

Hour One: If it's Friday, it's "Brunch With Bernie"... the honorable Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joins Thom with all the news from our nation's capitol and as always he'll be spending the hour taking your calls and answering your questions too...
Follow Bernie: campaign site.

Speech: "Acceptance of the New York Liberal Party Nomination" by John F. Kennedy, September 14, 1960. "... someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties... if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say that I'm a "Liberal."".

Article: "Republican budget plans require only slim majority" by Stephanie Kirchgaessner.

Article: "Just 96,000 Jobs Added To Payrolls; Unemployment Rate Dips To 8.1 Percent" by Mark Memmott.

Law: "Glass-Steagall Act", 1933.

Article: "ANTI-BUCKET SHOP MADE LAW BY HUGHES; Cassidy's Measure Makes It a Felony to Deal in Alleged Stock Market Quotations.", May 22, 1908 (New York - other states passed anti-bucket shop acts the same year.

Article: "Bucket shop (stock market)" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Commodity Futures Modernization Act", 2000.

Article: "U.S.: 'Hague Invasion Act' Becomes Law".

Article: "National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform" (Bowles-Simpson/Simpson-Bowles) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Register to vote widget".

Article: "Ex-Mich. Gov. Jennifer Granholm: "In Romney’s World, Cars Get the Elevator, Workers Get the Shaft"".

Speech: "Transcript: Vice President Joe Biden's DNC Speech".

Article: "Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & Kevin McCarthy: Plot To Sabotage US Economy with Frank Luntz" by keepemhonest.

Site: Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential nominee.

DNC & her speech
- Elizabeth Warren, Candidate for U.S. Senate (D-MA) / American bankruptcy law expert & Harvard Law School professor

Article: "Elizabeth Warren DNC speech (text, video)".

Speech: "Remarks at Northside High School in Atlanta, Georgia", Ronald Reagan, June 6, 1985.

Article: "Sessions: GOP Insurgency "May Be Required"" by Jennifer Skalka.

Article: "DNC 2012: Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention (Full transcript)".

Article: "bunch of message board material on Thorium reactors" by miksilvr.

Article: "The Thing About Thorium: Why The Better Nuclear Fuel May Not Get A Chance" by Marin Katusa.

Article: "Chicago Teachers Union opening strike headquarters" by AP.

Site: "Occupy Chicago".

Site: Move to Amend

Article: "‘Sacrilegious’ — Bodies Piling Up At Cook County Morgue" by STMW.

Article: "Senate Committee Investigating JP Morgan’s $9 Billion ‘Fail Whale’ Trade" by Travis Waldron.

Article: "Cost of legal fight over voter ID, redistricting tops $2 million" by Victoria Pelham.

Article: "Paul Ryan Obamacare Funds Request Contrasts With Opposition To Law" by Ryan Grim, Jeffrey Young.

Article: "Thousands of Greek police join anti-austerity protests as June unemployment hits 24.4 percent" by AP.

Hour Two: If the war on women is just a "distraction"...then why does the GOP keep using it?
- Carrie Lukas, Independent Women's Forum

Hour Three: Debate - Tax credits for wind energy
- Phil Kerpen, American Commitment / Author, "Democracy Denied"

Plus, will Obama accept the challenge on medical marijuana?

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...TAG, YOU'RE IT!!!!!!!!! (OCCUPY SOMETHING!!!!!)

We'll bring you the last news & info from the campaign trail...

Plus, I'll talk with Becky Bond of CREDO Action about what they're doing to fight Citizens United & defeat the Tea Party extremists...

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"...TAG, YOU'RE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (GET OUT THERE, GET ACTIVE AND OCCUPY SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)