In the city? A powerful voice challenges the teachers' unions. The most powerful of all--a parent who cares--and speaks up:
In the suburbs? Still waiting:
The problem, he concluded, is that over decades suburban schools have developed effective techniques for promoting ideas that support the convenience of teachers and administrators, while excluding information and research that would require a change in policies, practices, and personnel.
It starts at the top with boards of education composed largely of busy volunteers, who over-rely on the guidance of superintendents, and goes all the way down to the interactions between teachers and individual parents. When suburbanites join school curriculum committees, for example, they are rarely presented with all sides of an issue and seldom informed of all the relevant research. Critical parents, Professor Rochester found, "end up being demonized as right-wingers or troublemakers."
Eager to avoid job cuts but more determined to solve a budget crisis, Mayor Rahm Emanuel posed a painful choice for organized labor: face 625 layoffs or sign off on $20 million in work-rule changes by midnight Thursday.
Emanuel said he has identified the 625 employees “as a precautionary measure,” but he refused to identify them, nor would he reveal what city services might be reduced, eliminated or privatized.
The mayor stressed that he does not want to pull the trigger on the layoffs. He insisted that job cuts will not be necessary if organized labor will “be my partner” on $20 million in work rule changes outlined for labor leaders this week that, Emanuel claimed, are already in place in union shops in the private sector.
The Sun Times cranks out the sob stories:
Thousands of job cuts and a two-year hiring freeze during the Daley years have already had a dramatic impact on city housekeeping services. The cuts have forced the Department of Streets and Sanitation to choose between street sweeping, tree trimming and rodent control, among other services.
Clearly critical stuff. Rodent control? I thought we had that crack coyote team for that.
As the bills mounted, the cost of insuring $10 million worth of Illinois bonds against default for 10 years has risen 28 percent since May 20, almost triple the increase in the Markit MCDX Index of 50 municipal issuers.
With prospects for an economic recovery muted, the freshman mayor is turning to his biggest-ticket item for savings. Payroll makes up 83 percent of the city’s day-to-day spending, so clashes with public employees unions could become the new normal in Chicago.
The short-term problem for Emanuel is figuring out how to trim $30 million from former Mayor Richard Daley’s final spending plan, but in the coming months the new administration must find more than $650 million to balance the books in 2012.
Chicago is 5,400 miles from Athens but the financial chaos in Greece is stinging City Hall.
City leaders haven't sent out any press releases, but Chicago currently has more than $320 million in foreign loans that are underwritten in Greece. Those bonds pay for city projects including airport development. Now what's happening overseas has the city scrambling for solutions.
It's pretty much common knowledge now most Dems "think" this way, as does the don't know much about history media.
Is it any wonder the TEA party movement has sprung up to defend and remind us of the rule of law, not of men, that our Constitution established--exceptional among countries.
It's up to us to keep calling them on it. We the people.
Having risen to high office due almost solely to the political machine of his father-in-law, Chicago alderman and ward boss Richard Mell, Blago is now exposed to the jury for what he really is. "You could cut off his head and he wouldn't be any dumber," a Chicago insider tells me.
Al Capone ran hooch, cheated on his taxes and undoubtedly killed people. But he never threatened to throw poor, sick kids out onto the streets.
His second in command took over the office. Dem Gov. Quinn, at the helm of this bankrupt state, might as well be throwing kids out on the streets, he's stiffing healthcare providers after shaking in secret on a sweetheart deal to keep public unions fat and happy.
And we've got the same old same old: Audit: Breaches in security in state offices that process tax returns Gee, how could I forget when the IL Sec. of State's office printed our social security numbers in full on our drivers' licenses. A roadmap to identity theft. (Of course if you had a bogus number already, a motor voter, no problem.)
As we know, Blago's just the one who got caught. The entire Dem establishment in this state, including Barack Obama, supported Blago for reelection when he was under NINE federal indictments. Life goes on:
If this was indeed filmed in the White House map room. Jim Geraghty, NRO. (I was a Senate intern to Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) in the summer of '74 when the Watergate hearings were going on. How bout this 'gate? Nixonian anyway.)
Meanwhile, our President Barack Obama brought his muddled "Up your game" message to Iowa, the heart of flyover country.
It’s been a rough June for the White House. Instead of being able to run a campaign taking credit for economic improvement, President Obama will, according to the latest forecasts, be trying to win four more years amid a grim economy next year. The president’s reelection team, once hoping to run on a “Morning in America” theme now doesn’t have that luxury. No wonder, the president’s advisers over the past month have been making moves that suggest they’re awfully concerned about his prospects:
Seriously. The Dems thought this piggy union stimulus bill and porky job-killing spending goes on with lack of a budget two years running would bring us Morning in America. Delusional. Read on. His inner Bill? Awk. He's going to tony Martha's Vineyard with his tin ear.
She says she saw a woman being beaten and the crowd cheering, then called 9/11. Her voice is on the tape.
This is the Chicago Lakefront, ringed by fancy hotels, shops and condos.
There's a rumor going around these flash mobs are being community organized.
How bout a statement from the Obama campaign HQ just a skip and jump away from the beach on the new tone in Chicago. Or was this woman acting stupidly.
More. Zilla commented below, here is her post, including personal experience: Racism everyone pretends doesn't exist. And HT to her for this Walter Williams piece: America's new racists, which includes a discussion of pervasive PC media bias. Including the Chicago Tribune.
Per election guru Michael Barone, this CA district in LA County may flip in the July 12th election. The Dem running for Jane Harmon's now open seat is barely leading the GOP candidate:
The beach towns, originally settled by Midwestern retirees, were historically Republican. By the 1990s, however, the population had shifted to a younger generation, and the area, like so many other relatively high-education, high-income suburbs in major non-Southern metropolitan areas, trended heavily toward the Democrats. Hahn’s ads are clearly designed to appeal to cultural liberals and seem to totally ignore the fiscal and economic issues which are of paramount importance to most voters across the nation. A Republican victory would suggest that cultural issues are of far less importance than they were in the 1995-2005 period, when partisan preferences seemed frozen, and that affluent suburban voters are open to voting Republican on economic issues.
These voters went heavily for Obama in 2008 but with the economy in the doldrums, and debt looming, look out.
As a public service, we tweet news and links about locating inmates of federal, state & county prisons. Our website offers inmate correspondence course
In the email box from a good friend, sent to express her sentiments, in light of recent events, and ongoing (since reinstated):
Dear Cardinal George:
I am alarmed by the persistent use of Saint Sabina Church as a platform for political speech, both from its pastor and from visiting speakers. Mr. McCarthy's embittered, racist rant was just one in a long line of hateful lectures delivered from the sanctuary of this church. This behavior is not acceptable in any facility which claims to be a "Christian" institution.
The IRS has long accepted political activity in minority churches, but the Archdiocese of Chicago need not follow suit. If this parish is part of the Archdiocese, then it must follow the rules; no political activity.
It is impossible to explain to my non-Catholic friends why the Archdiocese permits race based political activity in one of its parishes. I don't understand the double standard either. Thanks to Mr. McCarthy, it can no longer be ignored. Action is required.
As luck would have it I was away from my blog central when the Blago news hit, but saw it was coming on twitter and listened to the verdicts read on my satellite radio by Shep Smith (awk), but I couldn't stand the insufferable legal guy on CNN.
So Blago's effin golden for the good of Illinois defense didn't work as he wished. After suffering through his second in command as governor, another bumbler, in a worse economic and less forgiving political environment, voters, uh jurors were all business.
At least someone legitimately is in this state. (Will the Chicago Way go the way of the dodo bird? Don't count on it.)
Or it could be the jury of 11 women (and one guy) knew they had been picked by the feckless Blago defense team under the sexist theory they'd go with the guy with the better hair.
And they decided to do the people's business, and convict this corrupt pol.
We'restalkers (as I recall her mom didn't know where Omaha was. Or Nebraska. After my friend said halfway between Chicago and Denver she didn't ask where is that any more, but still looked confused)
It may be the most revealing quote ever published in the New York Times. It appears in a story about the New York Times, and its source is a top editor of the New York Times: Jill Abramson, who will become the top editor of the New York Times in September, when Bill Keller steps down, the New York Times reports:
Ms. Abramson said that as a born-and-raised New Yorker, she considered being named editor of The Times to be like "ascending to Valhalla."
"In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion," she said. "If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth."
The Times has of late acted a great deal like a corrupt religious institution.
The aristobrats are on display. DSK and their fellow elitist ignoramuses on this side of the pond.
The financial situation has been growing steadily worse at Saab. Last week it announced that it didn't have enough money to pay its employees' wages, and it was attempting to talk to suppliers about paying just 10% of their outstanding accounts in an attempt to resume production. Production has been idle for most of the past three months because suppliers haven't been paid.
Saab Automobile owner Swedish Automobile, formerly Spyker Cars NV, has been in talks with several parties about securing future funding, but hasn't yet got the necessary clearance from regulators and stakeholders to complete a deal. It has investment pledges from Chinese companies, interest from Russian billionaire Vladimir Antonov, and is also trying to sell Saab Automobile property. However, it needs permission from regulators in Sweden and China and clearance from the Swedish government and the European Investment Bank, which has provided Saab with a loan.
A Chicago venture capital fund whose projects paid more than $1.2 million to former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s son has been taken over by the federal government, which says the fund owes taxpayers $21.4 million.
While collecting his government pension — one of the highest ever for any retired elected official in Illinois — Daley also is involved in three new ventures in the private sector. He’s joined the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman, which was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on city deals while Daley was mayor. He’s also been hired to organize a lecture series at the University of Chicago. And he’s opened an office with his son, Patrick Daley, to work on business deals.
Chicago, Chicago, that Dem town.
Hey Sun Times, you're the biggest Dem booster in the state. Where have you been?
...taking on this guy. Per Michael Barone: Gardiner sums up, "There will be growth in the spring." Kind of reminds you of Obama's approach to the federal budget, doesn't it?
I'd back our moxie middle class warrior in this fight any time:)
What kind of a journalistic question is that? Talk about unprofessional!
Meanwhile, we have a sock puppet who says things like Marine Corpse, 58 states, wrecking havoc instead of wreaking havoc.
But his biggest gaffe of all (and there are so many) is that he could not figure who he gave a Medal of Honor to. Just imagine that for a second…..you’re giving out the nations highest honor – wouldn’t you think you would want to know something more about the person who received it, what they did to receive this honor, whether he/she was alive or receiving it posthumously.
So that tells you that he had ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in the person receiving this award. It was just another ceremony probably cutting into his golf time. Despicable!
Defend women, defend life, defend Western Judeo-Christian values. If you who call yourselves feminists don't embrace true enlightenment, who will be left to defend you?
That Democrats now demand yet another stimulus program, plus tax increases, is a Hail-Mary reprise of a failed policy. All they can think of is more spending, more tax increases, more federal bureaucracy. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., was at least up front about it: "I think revenue is needed for a whole host of reasons, and more importantly, I think, leadership is needed -- leadership is needed on both sides of the aisle, and on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue." Does anybody now doubt that when Democrats talk about "leadership," what they really mean is more spending and tax increases?
An incredulous Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put it well when he said, "This isn't just mystifying, it's farcical. I mean, most Americans had to wonder if they were dreaming this morning when they saw this headline: 'Democrats call for new spending in U.S. debt deal' More spending? As a solution to a debt crisis? What planet are they on?"
One big difference is who feels these effects. The wealth effects have helped everyone but especially the affluent. The income effects have been felt most acutely by the poor and middle classes for whom food and energy are a much higher proportion of income. QE2 and near-zero interest rates have been a boon for bankers and hedge funds. They haven't been so great for suburban families who commute to work and haul their kids to football and music practice. The monetary policy so favored by liberal economists and the White House has actively favored the wealthy over the middle class.
If you're a small business on Main St. you're considered rich by this president, a double whammy when the Dems want to tax the job creators even as they're paying more for what comes in the door.
"Food prices are transitory only if you have weather that is transitory, if you don't have natural disaster problems," says Peter Cardillo, chief economist at Avalon Partners in New York. "It appears the past several years that things have gotten worse in terms of natural disasters. How many tornadoes have we had? All you need is something like that to happen during growing season in Idaho or Nebraska and that's the end of you."
Tornadoes and floods of biblical proportion.
Cartoon by Michael Ramirez, IBD How bout those gas prices. A stuck on stupid no energy policy. And Obama job disapproval back up to 50% per Gallup. RCP.
For the first time this year, less than 50 percent of respondents to an Associated Press-GfK poll say Obama deserves re-election. The new poll shows a virtual split of 48-47 in favor, raising a new hurdle for the president as economic concerns strip away the gloss he briefly gained in May after the death of Osama bin Laden.
What's more, four out of five now believe the economy is in poor shape, with 36 percent calling it "very poor," a new high in AP-GfK polling.[snip]
The erosion of approval is primarily among women. Last month, 57 percent said they felt he deserved re-election, a figure that dipped to 48 percent this month. The decline came almost entirely among white women, just 37 percent of whom say Obama deserves re-election in the new poll. He also lost support among self-described independents, from 62 percent approval last month to 43 percent now, his lowest since June 2010. [snip]
"I just think that he's not doing his job the way he should be," said Mary Perrine, a grandmother of three from West Lafayette, Ind., who said she has struggled to pay her bills.
Obama faced 59 percent disapproval on his handling of the economy and on unemployment.
The outlook continues bleak with the jobless claim numbers this morning, and after the CBO's stunner yesterday, which understates the problem, and Bernanke's cluelessness, the only hope rests with the GOP holding firm on cut, cap, and balance. Budget hearings this morning by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) underscore the urgency:
Women are watching closely because we are the ones most likely to take care of our children, worry about the prospects of our youth, and hold the hands of our elderly parents.
Meanwhile, on WLS Don and Roma show they're discussing rampant food stamp fraud. People are calling in and texting about Link cards being used for bail, buying lobster and wedding cake by a woman with a designer purse, and openly traded for drugs and prostitution.
Oh yeah, it's trash and party time in the Windy City. But it'll be prestigious for Rahmbo and The One.
The middle of America. As for me, moderate in everything but politics. As Tom Roeser said, she went to Harvard and turned right. I come from The Chicago School, not the Chicago Way. Tweet street @backyardconserv
