Crawlspaces and Boxes? School Choice is the Only Way to Reform Chicago Schools.

The elegant and brilliant Joe Morris is trying to keep a lid on the Rahm Emanuel residency hearings - Frankly, I think Mr. Emanuel belongs on the ballot for Mayor. The issue du jour is "What's in the crawlspace?" Que Lastima!

All the while Senator James Meeks has tossed down the gauntlet to Chicago's Public School Lobby - the folks who demand the same-old/same old disaster that is Chicago Public Education. Senator Meeks tried to get a genuine Chicago School Choice bill through Springfield but was betrayed by the very same Illinois Republican legislators who huff and puff about wasted tax-dollars.

The Chicago Tribune reported on the Meeks Reform Plan:

One of the major aspects is a voucher program Meeks said would allow up to 50,000 low-income students in Chicago to receive at least $4,500 per year to attend schools of their choosing.

Meeks passed a similar plan through the Senate earlier this year but it failed in the House. The candidate was asked what would be different if he were mayor.

"I like (my chances), because our school system is failing now, and I believe a plan that's being pushed by the mayor of the city of Chicago -- I passed that bill out of the Illinois Senate as a senator," Meeks said. "I'm sure that as mayor, we will be able to pass that plan through the entire General Assembly."
Meeks also said he would give the Chicago Teachers Union one year to develop a program "with teeth" to identify and fire teachers who aren't performing. If the union does not do so, Meeks said he would call on the General Assembly to pass legislation to deal with it. Such legislation has not passed during Meeks' tenure in Springfield, however.

"I don't think most of our teachers are bad. I think that most of our teachers are good, but we don't have a way to weed out the bad ones," Meeks said at a City Hall news conference outside the mayor's office.

Now, as a very viable candidate for Mayor of Chicago Senator/Rev. Meeks has iisued a challenge to the Chicago Teachers Union to come up with a plan to discharge bad teachers . . .long silence . . .wait for the howls.

Here it is! In the Huffington Post (chicago):

Meeks, also the minister at the massive Salem Baptist Church, was able to push a school voucher bill through the State Senate earlier this year. It passed by a 33-20 vote, before failing in the State House.

Under the plan, students at the lowest-performing schools in the city would be able to transfer to private or parochial schools, with money in their pockets to help pay for the tuition.

Such a program faces stiff opposition from teachers' unions, which argue that vouchers would deplete resources from already ill-funded public schools. They also object that public resources should be devoted to programs that will improve the lot of all students, not just a few, and that a voucher law could be unconstitutional if it gives public funds to sectarian purposes.

Here are some of the daffier HuffPo aficiandos and their thoughts.

That is the reason chump you will never be mayor of the windy city, so crawl back where u came from.

Mr. Meeks sees nothing wrong with ramming Jebus down your throat while vilifying all the gays that live in the city.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/15/james-meeks-would-push-sc_n_797307.html


Every candidate for Mayor needs to get School Reform - Real school Choice -Vouchers - out of the crawlspaces, unpacked and put into place ASAP.

Sue ACLU? Racist on School Choice and Rev. James Meeks and Voucher

Ed Yohnka and ACLU needs to be sued for hundreds of millions of dollars in a class action brought by Reverend James Meeks, every Church that operates a school for the benefit of all Illinois Tax-payers, every parent of every child of every color and ethnic origin.

Ed Yohnka's ACLU is always anti-Catholic and now ( on the pages of SEIU's Progress Illinois by Angela Caputo) appears to be intrinsically racist in its powerful objection to Senator James Meeks legislation concerning School Choice Vouchers.

Mr. Yohnka offers this noose-like threat to poor black kids in Chicago on the pages of Progress Illinois!

Those schools would be free to use these funds to pay for religious indoctrination, including the construction of worship spaces, the purchase of religious books, and the hiring of religious instructors.

That is an insult to the Baptist, AME and Muslim children who attend Leo High School.

Is Ed Yohnka ( spelled YONKA by Angela Caputo at Progress Illinois) telling these black kids that they are brain-washed; ignorant; unable to think for themselves?

Mr. Yonka, I have not witnessed one conversion to Catholicism. Not One, Sir! 85% of Leo's 100% black young men are not Catholic, Mr. Yohnka. However, all 100% of our young men are impoverished. So, are the many hundreds of poor black young men who want to have a Choice in Education find themselves lynched by the ACLU! Again!

Indoctrination?
It is simply inappropriate to use state taxpayer dollars to fund religious indoctrination.

Indoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a professional methodology (see doctrine).[1] It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned.[2] As such it is used pejoratively, often in the context of political opinions, theology or religious dogma. Instruction in the basic principles of science, in particular, can not properly be called indoctrination, in the sense that the fundamental principles of science call for critical self-evaluation and skeptical scrutiny of one's own ideas. In practice, however, a certain level of non-rational indoctrination, usually seen as miseducative, is invariably present. The term is closely linked to socialization; in common discourse, indoctrination is often associated with negative connotations, while socialization refers to cultural or educational learning.

Good Old ACLU Catholic bashing aside - Ed Yonka accuses parochial schools of being miseducative and also says that black kids are easy prey for indoctrination.

Sue the ACLU! It is what they do! To everyone with Common Sense.

Dear Friend,

Since the founding of our country, Americans have believed that entanglement of church and state was a bad idea. Senate Bill 2494, which passed out of the Senate last week, would do just that.

Urge your State Representative to oppose SB 2494!

Sponsored by Senator James Meeks, this bill would allow payment of public taxpayer funds to private religious schools, by means of tuition vouchers to certain parents. Those schools would be free to use these funds to pay for religious indoctrination, including the construction of worship spaces, the purchase of religious books, and the hiring of religious instructors.

It is simply inappropriate to use state taxpayer dollars to fund religious indoctrination. Tell your State Representative that SB 2494 is a really bad idea.


Sincerely,


Edwin C. Yohnka
Director of Communications
and Public Policy

'Crazy Legs' Quinn Side Steps Madigan's Tax-Guard and Waltzes into a Hay-Maker!

Governor Pat Quinn is a lovely man. Speaker Mike Madigan is probably a lovely guy as well. Mike Madigan is as easy to pin down, publicly and privately, as it is the very last olive oil coated snow pea on a huge plate with a dinner fork, while thirty formally dressed celebrities ask you questions about quantum mechanics while being taped by the crew of 60 Minutes for their Christmas Special.

The difference being that Pat Quinn has made a career of crafting a public persona as a guy who cuts his own lawn with an ancient Sears Craftsman 18 in. Cut Path Reel Mower, Hand Pushed, like the one he used twenty years ago against George Ryan, who hired guys to cut his lawn; and Mike Madigan, could care less what I, the Sun Times editorial board, PETA, Pope Benedict XVI, Perez Hilton, Rev. James Meeks, Carol Marin, WTTW, or the cast Blue Man Group think of him.

Mike Madigan is the Packey McFarland* of politics. Muhammad Ali once called Chicago welter-weight Packey McFarland the greatest boxer who never one a championship.

Pat Quinn is ballromm dancer in the ring with Packey McFarland, the king of the Stockyards.

Tim Novak, the only real investigative writer at the Sun Times wrote this on July 4th:

The governor spent two hours Friday -- a holiday for most state workers -- discussing the state's $9 billion deficit with state Sen. James Meeks, who backs the tax hike. Their meeting came one day after Quinn met with 27 female legislators.

The governor says he plans to sit down with more lawmakers in the coming days.

"I have a number of other legislators -- Democrat and Republican, House and Senate -- I will be meeting with over the next few days,'' Quinn told reporters. "We believe in consensus-building.''

The Senate approved a tax-hike proposal in May, but it failed in the House.

Madigan won't support Quinn's income-tax increase without support from Republican legislators, leaving the state without a budget, which could force drastic cuts in social service programs across Illinois.

Quinn didn't blame Madigan for the stalemate over the state's budget crisis. But Meeks did.

"I do not think the governor is the problem,'' said Meeks, who is also pastor of Salem Baptist Church, which has one of the biggest congregations in Illinois.

"I ain't scared to call the speaker out -- he ain't my daddy,'' Meeks said. "If the speaker wanted this solved, it would be solved. For whatever reason, he doesn't want to work this out. Pat Quinn is trying to do everything he can to save social services.''

Meeks accused Madigan of playing politics by refusing to pass the income-tax increase without support from Republican legislators.

"That's a political decision, not based on what's right and wrong,'' Meeks said. "I think the Democrats bear the burden here because we're in leadership. We can pass any bill.''

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said "the speaker is attempting to work cooperatively with the governor. The speaker supports a tax increase, but it's going to have to be a bipartisan effort. He [Meeks] ought to focus his efforts on Republicans.''

Political observers say they think Madigan is using the state budget crisis to politically weaken Quinn, who plans to run for election next year. One of Quinn's opponents in the Democratic primary could be Madigan's daughter, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. She is also mulling a run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Roland Burris.

Progress Illinois, SEIU's web comic book, uses Tim Novak's piece as a Madigan smear offering; however, it appears that the SEIU goon tactics in Springfield over the last few weeks have become tiresome to legislators as well as tax-payers.

Governor Quinn might try to 'side-step' Mike Madigan, but he will have canvass all over his back, when he hears the end of the Ten Count. Governor Pat Quinn has danced to SEIU's and Rev. James 'Someone Else's Money' Meeks hornpipes and Mike Madigan is a balanced hitter.

The more the media try to explain the motives of Mike Madigan, the more Pat Quinn will step into a Madigan Hay-Maker.

*

During his entire career, Packey engaged in 104 bouts and lost just the one. He never forgot the loss and as he moved up in competition, placed caution first and preferred to outbox his man with shiftiness and speed rather than try to put him out and risk getting caught by a lucky punch. For the remainder of his career, he was floored only twice – by Ray Bronson and “Cyclone” Johnny Thompson.

Packey grew up in a tough section of Chicago (“back of the stock yards”) and learned early on to use his fists to take care of himself in fights on the street and in the handball courts. During his first year in the ring (1904), at fifteen years of age, Packey lost the only fights he would ever lose. Harry Gilmore Jr. noticed him in 1906 and guided him to some impressive wins over Billy Finucane, Fred Gilmore, Young Morris, and Jack Fox and, in 1907, wins over Steve Kinsey, Joe Galligan, Kid Goodman, Maurice Sayers, Charlie Neary, and Benny Yanger. Another win over Goodman and victories over Kid Herman (newspaper) and Bert Keyes earned him a match with Freddie Welsh, the unbeaten Britisher.

Packey gained a decision over Welsh in ten rounds at Milwaukee on February 21, 1908 and followed this great win by defeating Jimmy Britt in six rounds at Colma on April 11, 1908.

When accusations of favoritism surfaced after the first McFarland-Welsh bout, fans clamoured for a rematch. A second bout with Welsh was held on July 4, 1908 at Los Angeles. It ended in a draw after twenty-five rounds. Welsh showed himself very clever and skillful at close quarters while McFarland was better at a distance.

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Lodge/6525/Article-PackeyMcFarland.htm

Speaker Madigan Explains the Nature of Trimming and Nemesis to Sen. Meeks and Others.

Speaker Mike Madigan understands how to trim waste from a budget. Click my post title for the 'orrible Trooth.' Phil Kadner once again carries the weepy water for Sen./Rev. Meeks.

An excited state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) telephoned Sunday morning to tell me that after seven years, he had finally gotten a public school funding reform bill out of committee and onto the Illinois Senate floor.

"Can I quit now?" Meeks said, noting that the measure had passed the Senate.

I asked about the chances of the bill even getting called for a vote in the House.

"That's up to Speaker (Michael) Madigan," Meeks said. "I'm a member of the Senate. I can't do anything about the House."

What about Gov. Pat Quinn?

"He's on board," Meeks said, although the governor was also backing a separate bill to increase the state income tax. "I've been talking to him nearly every day for two weeks, and he's supporting my bill."

Meeks reminded me that during his initial run for public office in 2002, he had stopped by the editorial offices of this newspaper to announce he had only one goal if elected to the Illinois Senate: School funding reform.

At the time, I noted that promise had been made by many other candidates for the state Legislature during the previous decade. All had been elected. None had even managed to get a bill called for a vote on the Senate or House floors.

Meeks reminded me Sunday that he had promised to be different. He vowed never to quit until he got the bill before the full Senate for a vote.

He tried several times in recent years. But each time his proposal was blocked in committee by legislative leaders and Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"The difference this time is that the state is facing an $11 billion budget deficit," Meeks said. "Blagojevich is gone. Legislators had to do something. My argument to (Senate President John Cullerton) was that instead of passing a tax increase that would just fill the budget gap but fail to provide enough money to actually make improvements in Illinois, we needed to pass something that we could be proud of. We needed to be able to tell our constituents that we really did something to make their lives better."

S.B. 750 would increase the state income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent. It would impose sales taxes on a wide range of services that had previously escaped the tax, such as movie theater tickets, dry cleaning and Internet sales. And it would also provide property tax relief to homeowners who are being gouged by skyrocketing tax bills.

Although I had argued for such a tax bill for nearly 20 years, I had not written much about it in recent months. Since the crash of the national economy and the impeachment of Blagojevich, I had begun questioning whether the time had passed for such a remedy. Still, I congratulated Meeks on fulfilling his campaign pledge.

Less than 10 hours after Meeks called me, his tax plan was killed in a House committee.

And on Monday, the senator was not a happy man.

"You have been campaigning for a tax hike for 20 years, and nothing has happened," Meeks said. "Why? What's the one thing that has remained constant in those 20 years? Michael Madigan as a leader in the House. Everybody else in leadership is gone. If Madigan wanted this bill passed, it would have been passed."

Meeks was also disappointed in Quinn's leadership.

"At 7:30 Sunday night, Quinn held a press conference to announce that the tax bill was dead," Meeks said. "The Legislature was in session past midnight. So with more than four hours to go, he quit. That's like quitting in a basketball game in the fourth quarter. The Orlando Magic were down 22 points in the first half, and they came back to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. They didn't give up. But Gov. Quinn walked off the court in the fourth quarter.

"He should have called each legislator whose vote he needed into his office individually and asked them what they needed in exchange for their vote," Meeks said. "If they wanted him to appear in their districts, he should have said he would march in parades or show up at a town meeting. If they wanted his support for some other piece of legislation, he should have promised to do what he could to make sure the bill passed. If they had a special project, he should have promised to fund it.

"Instead, he did nothing. What he did do was cave in to Michael Madigan every step of the way. Quinn said he wanted a budget bill passed before a capital spending bill was passed. Madigan said he wanted a capital spending bill done first, and Quinn gave in.

"Quinn said he wanted to permanently raise the income tax from 3 percent to 4.5 percent. Madigan said he wanted it to be a temporary income tax hike. Quinn gave in.

"Quinn wanted to increase the personal exemption on the income tax from $2,000 to $6,000 and Madigan said he couldn't pass that bill. So Quinn came down to $3,000.

"The governor acquiesced to the demands of Speaker Madigan every step of the way, and in the end what did he get? Nothing," Meeks said. "And Mayor Daley didn't do anything, either. The mayor continually says the Chicago schools need more money and the state should do something.

"But he didn't hold a single news conference during this legislative session calling on Chicago officials to support a tax increase. I didn't hear about a single state legislator from Chicago getting a call from the mayor. He did nothing."

What Meeks still fails to understand is that this is not about the schoolchildren or the taxpayers or the quality of life in the state of Illinois.

The outcome of this game was fixed before the players took the court.

Madigan won. Everybody else lost.

Phil Kadner can be reached at pkadner@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-6787.

Trust Teachers, Not Test Scores - The Pink 'I Had and Abortion' DNC Smart Wear 2008 - No Wonder the Convention is a Trainwreck!

The Public School Lobby which has helped disinterested parents to destroy American Public Education while still screaming for more tax-payer dollars to waste, has a delegate black felt Cat In the Hat style hat for their loudmouths - TRUST TEACHERS, NOT TEST SCORES!

Every time I think that the bar has been raised on stupid, the Progressives who control the Democratic National Committee move it up a few more notches.

Here in Illinois there is another stick-up artist threatening to keep kids out of school on opening day - to Save the Children! Meeks gave the Kids a Get out of School Free Pass; now, what happens when the truant kids are hurt - or worse?

Get Rev./Senator Meeks needs one of them Hats! He is the Cat - Put on the Hat!

Check it out - white, black, red, yellow and pinkish Liberals!

DENVER -- It was pretty easy to figure out that Monica Stonier cares about education, that Johnnie Patton supports more energy conservation and that Ruth Rudy wants the party to unify behind presidential nominee Barack Obama.

You could see it in the hats they were sporting on the floor of the Democratic National Convention on Monday.

Stonier, a 32-year-old delegate from Vancouver, Wash., had covered a large Dr. Seuss hat with black felt and written in white, "Trust Teachers, Not Test Scores" on one side and "Teachers for Obama" on the other.

"I think this is a great place to get a little attention on what No Child Left Behind is doing to our kids and to our teachers," the instructional coach and former middle school teacher said. "We don't have the innovative thinking we need."

If these Tax addicted junkies would go into rehab for a few weeks ( Jonesing is Bitch!), or were in the least bit interested in Real School Reform - with Accountability for Teachers at the Top - they would get behind Real School Choice - Vouchers.

Nothing else will help.

Urban League Lawsuit - 'Eat The Rich! A Full Flavorful and Mouthwatering Civil Rights Issue!

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height.

Illinoi$ Rev./$enator James Meeks leads the forces of Victim hood - out of $chool and off to far Winnetka!

The Embedded Media trot along with the War Baggage - and well they should! There are hundreds of dollars in Chicago newspapers festooning the CPS teacher's lounges and Public $chool parking lots! Blown by the Winds of War - Redistribution of Wealth Warfare. You see, if you have more money than your neighbor - that is a glaring Injustice!

Morons in America demand that you give your money to someone else, whether you care to or not or you are a Racist or worse. Is there anything worse than a racist? How about a Racist Rapist IRS Agent with bloody flux and bad gums? Sorry. This is serious - to people solidly against school reform. The Public School Combine ( Apologies to J. Kass).

CEO Arne Duncan and President Rufus Williams encastled the beleaguered children in Soldier Field only last May to hear the War Cries of Jeff Tweedy ( Wilco) for an expensive demonstration of what is entirely wrong with Public Education in America - it will do anything but educate!

From This Blog last May ( openning gambit by the ever deft Arne et al.):

Now, here is the Chicago Tribune report on the very same event:

Organizers also used the rally, dubbed Shout Out for Schools, to pressure Gov. Rod Blagojevich and other state officials for more than the $119 million that has been earmarked for the district in the latest budget. The district needs an additional $90 million for programs, many of which would be used to help lessen violence, school officials have said.

But legislators late last month approved a $60 billion state budget that Blagojevich has not signed because it may be $2 billion over budget. School officials warned they may be forced to raise property taxes if Springfield doesn't come through.

"Year after year, we go to Springfield to ask for more money, we go to Springfield for tougher gun laws. . . . Year after year we are told, 'We'll do what we can,' " Board of Education President Rufus Williams said.

On Tuesday, students sat scattered throughout the stands listening to musicians rapping, playing bongos and strumming guitars. Some of the other performers included Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and RichKiddz. School officials said more than 30,000 tickets were issued to students and others to attend the two-hour rally, which cost about $10 per student for transportation that the district is looking to recoup from donors. It was not clear how many students attended the rally.


Jeff Tweedy???? He's gotta live in Hyde Park. Tweed is de rigeur!

Let's see May ER D and Super D got this Party started - "the largest civics class in history!"

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2008/06/arne-duncan-and-rich-daley-shout-out.html

Now we have the Urban League snaking its forces into the courts!

In Chicago, many of the students live in poor communities where property taxes are low. So the district gets less money, only $10,000 per student.

The Chicago Urban League called that discrimination.

"The state school system flat out violates the civil rights of minority children," said Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson.

The Urban League spells out its reasons in a lawsuit against the State of Illinois and the state Board of Education. Lawyers say the system is unfair because Chicago has a history of housing discrimination that forced minorities in poor communities, so basing the funding on property taxes automatically limits funding.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/illinois.school.funding.2.799514.html
This Lawsuit makes me hunger for my own Civil Rights Issue - I am tired of separate and unequal restaurants - Segregated Menus Lacking in all Diversity! Mexican Only; Thai Only; Chinese Only; Ethiopian Only; Polish Only; Greek Only; Italian Only; Indian Only and Korean Only, if I am very lucky!

Why should my Right to Happiness be infringed upon? I would be Happy only if I can be served what I want, where I want it, when I want it at what I want to pay!

My people had only SPUDS! Then the Spuds were killed in an act of Genocide! Then My people flooded here! To eat Diverse Menus!

Remember - this is about the THREE Radical Prongs - used by the Lawsuit Lotto Lawyers attacking Law Enforcement and the Catholic Church

1. Undermine any and all credibility of any system through a barrage of media invented Civil Rights Issue Daily Feeds - if there is no Jim Crow; ( Segregated Housing? That went out of Law Decades Ago! Unless we parse up a storm! Which News Knot-heads will do.) make one up to fit the need( 'Lawyers say the system is unfair because Chicago has a history of housing discrimination that forced minorities in poor communities, so basing the funding on property taxes automatically limits funding' Uh-huh, Mary Mitchell finds this compelling, but then again . . .) My issue, like each contemporary civil rights issue, is all about me! In order for a Civil Rights Issue to be compelling it must matter most to the very fewest persons. Most people pay taxes - but those who do not work, do not pay taxes and believe themselves to be the most put-upon!

They got nothing on me! I am the King Kong of Self Interest! I am Civil Rights! Separate but Unequal! - I go to an Italian Restaurant and am outraged that they refuse to serve me Tandoori Chicken! The waiter said, 'What can I get you?' I said, 'Tandoori Chicken and he refused to serve me! How Loooong???

2. Take it to Court - no luck. Judge said, 'Hickey, Go to an Indian Restaurant.' Ain't no Indian restaurant in Morgan Park judge. My lawyer said that it is 'An Indian Restaurant Desert!' I have an Urbane Translator, Judge! He knows the difference between Hot Food and haut cuisine ! Think of my Children, Judge! I got Andy Shaw waiting outside the courtroom for Action 7 and Andy is Outraged a Plenty! Channel 11 Friday Night! Watch Out, Now!

3. Take it back to the Legislature get them Law Makers to enact this Much Need Civil Rights Legislation for Me! - Every Restaurant should serve Me exactly what I want, when I want it @ what I want to pay for it!

This is a cultural, nutritional and Civil Rights Issue. Let's Get to Marching! Tandoori, Right Now! Not Some Half-Cooked Cow! Tandoori, Right Now! Not Some Half-Cooked Cow!


School Choice, Dummies! Quit Cooking the Same Tired Nonsense! It is Done! Now, you garnish it with more lawyer arugula!

John McCain: School Choice or William Ayers, Secretary of Education

Investors Business Daily cites concerns about Sen. Obama's Education Agenda - and with good reason.

Here in Illinois, Obama Illinois Senate colleague, Rev./Senator James Meeks pushed his redistribution of wealth scam on ABC Chicago affiliate WLS TV (7) during a Sunday talk show in which he advocated that Chicago Public Schools(CPS) 'fudge the numbers' in reporting attendance to the Illinois Funding for School Districts. In Illinois funding is based upon attendance and James Meeks called for CPS students to ditch school on the first day of class.

Obama opposes Choice in Education, but is a powerful advocate of Abortion - Obama's Choice.


John McCain is for School Choice ( Vouchers) and opposes Abortion.

Today, Investors Business Daily gets to root of Obama's problem - nationally, locally and personally - he is joined at the hip to people like William Ayers. He used to bomb buildings and now he bombs education.He's the son of a powerful and wealthy man - therefore any and all crimes are forgiven by Progressives.

Here is powerful insight in the IBD piece:

Obama's buddy, former Weatherman terrorist William Ayers, has plans for the same captive student audiences Obama wants to keep captive. Now a tenured Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois, Chicago, Ayers works to educate teachers in socialist revolutionary ideology, urging that it be passed on to impressionable students.

One of Ayers' descriptions for a course called "Improving Learning Environments" says a prospective K-12 teacher needs to "be aware of the social and moral universe we inhabit and . . . be a teacher capable of hope and struggle, outrage and action, teaching for social justice and liberation."

For his course "Urban Education," Ayers writes: "In a truly just society, there would be a greater sharing of the burden, a fairer distribution of material and human resources."

All of this sounds like Obama's plans for "economic justice" and redistribution of the nation's wealth.

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has employed Ayers as a teacher trainer for the city's public schools. On his Web site, Obama describes Ayers as a "tenured professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a 'respected advisor to Mayor Daley on school reform.' "

And a future secretary of education, perhaps?

The Choice is Clear!

John McCain: School Choice to "Open up the white school. We want to get in the white school. We want to go where the books are or computers are,"

Illinois Rev./Senator James Meeks wants to "Open up the white school. We want to get in the white school. We want to go where the books are or computers are,"

Click my post title for Rev./Senator Meeks redistribution of wealth scam scheduled for the start of school. For those interested, Meeks and his Media parrots at Chicago Sun Times call for CPS students to ditch school on the opening day and join him for a field trip to Winnetka to protest Illinois Education Funding inequities.

Illinois pays a percentage of the cost of educating a child and property taxes pay out the balance. Thus, if you pay higher property taxes based upon the cost of your home, chances are that your local public school will spend more per pupil.

I drive a Chevy, because my income, mortgage, Catholic school tuition payments, and personal debt precludes my driving a Bentley. My wardrobe reflects that economic snap-shot as well. I can not see me parking myself in front of a Barrington Jaguar dealership bemoaning such a lifestyle inequity - not yet anyway.

Now, if someone were to lavish me and mine with six zeroes behind a set of Arabic numerals into my bank accounts . . . I'd probably still opt for the Chevy. I am a cheap, stingy bastard.
Well, Rev. Senator, School Choice will do just that! However, you and other Public School Industry shills will need to get religion on School Choice.

Taking a thousand or so truant Chicago Public School children on an expensive rhetorical event will get you some press coverage, but tax-payers see through the rhetoric to the heart of this redistribution of wealth dodge.

Using the legislature as a pry bar to other peoples wealth is a radical tactic, but one that is proving little more than a stick-up device on gutless politicians and 40 Watt intellects in the Media. Ask a pipefitter, an electrician, a masonry contractor, carpenter, or nurse how they feel about paying more taxes for failed public schools. No one in the media bothers to ask them.

You'll have press conferences aplenty. No change though.

If you are serious about change - I do not believe for a nano-second that you are though( but that's just me) - you will advocate School Choice, Vouchers, for all Illinois families. There will be no 'white this' and 'black that,' only Choice for all.

Catholic schools, the largest system of alternative education options, do the job that public schools wish that they could do for half the cost of educating a child in an Illinois Public School. More competition from Muslim, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Jewish and Independant Schools will force public school sinkholes to operate within their means.

New Trier spends $17,000 per student

CPS throws $ 10,500 + at failure

Catholic Schools spend between $5,000 and $8,000 to move kids to success and also save Illinois tax-payers millions of dollars.

If it is all about Race, then that is pretty sad - understandable and easily performed to be sure but sad.

It is about Change, then you are barking up the wrong tree.

John McCain is for School Choice and against Abortion.

John McCain: School Choice v. Redistribution of Wealth Scam of School Funding Inequities

' I got it. I insist!' - words that warm the hearts of people everywhere following a great meal, an evening of music where the tickets are $ 75 a pop, or the price of an item in the checkout line when you find that you are on the shorts and a nice person waiting behind you springs for the difference. People are generous to a fault - for the most part.

People also tend to pay their own way in life - for the most part. If we can not afford something, we tend to save for it. However, Progressives tend to believe that taking money away from people who work and save and give that money to other people through Progressive initiatives is justice. Not really.

The people who live in wealthy suburbs worked and saved to live there and send their kids to schools there.

Some people live in a cycle of poverty and spiritless entitlement that is created by Progressive Programs that suck the soul out of people.

Some people get very, very wealthy by perpetuating this cycle of poverty and misery.

Allowing someone else to pay for something is a learned grace, for most us. It is part of the social gradus that our baby steps treat us to becoming full human beings. Often it is much more difficult to act graceful in allowing another to pay for something. Our pride often gets in the way.

There is no such grace, expected, or learned, in what passes for the Progressive entitlement industry. Government, to the Progressive, must generate as much capital to be wasted through bureaucracy and sinecure through 'social programs' as possible.

The Public Education Industry, which combines Teachers Unions, lawyers, lobbyists, academics, community activists, tin-horn politicians, school service industries ( food, busing, supplies, storage, security & etc.) and the monstrously obese school management system devours taxes like a celebrity off of Jenny Craig.

Rev./Senator James Meeks plans to bus 'thousands' of truant Chicago Public School children to wealthy north suburban Winneta and Northfield, IL in order to enroll students from Chicago and possibly the south suburbs to highlight what People for the American Way and other Progressive deep thinkers perceive to be a social justice issue - inequity in school funding. Meeks 'wants the world to compare New Trier's average 27.1 ACT score and 95 percent graduation rate with 70 percent graduating from college with a bachelor's degree with his Chicago district: a high school dropout rate averaging 63 percent and only six of 100 of those who go on to college graduating with a bachelor's degree.

"I am sure there are a lot of factors, but the main difference is funding," Meeks said. "New Trier received $17,000 per student, and a high school in my district received $10,000 per student. I believe that the state has an obligation in property-poor schools to make up the gap."

From this effort, Meeks said he hopes to team up with the North Shore communities to find solutions to the inequality problem in education.

"I think they would have want to help out us figure this out. Because I think people who live in Winnetka and Evanston, I think they would understand this issue. We want to team up and take a stand, to write letters, to call on the government, to fix the problems," Meeks said."

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/wilmette/news/1082032,wi-meeks-073108-s1.article

According to People for the American WayHowever, Illinois only pays about 36 percent of all school expenses, far below the national average of 50 percent. The state relies heavily on local property taxes, and on average, local property taxpayers fund about 53 percent of school expenses. The remaining 10 percent or so comes from federal aid.


In 1990, seventy of Illinois’ school districts sued the state, challenging the constitutionality of the school funding formula. The plaintiffs argued that the average tax base in the wealthiest 10 percent of elementary schools was more than 13 times the average of that in the 10 percent of the poorest schools. Such disparities severely impacted a school’s educational quality including teacher quality and academics.9 The case was heard by the state supreme court, which—while acknowledging that the present school funding scheme was unwise—felt that the issue should be handled by the state legislature and not the courts.10


http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=15549

Meeks two biggest contributors to his political life are layers and lobbyist followed closely by Public Sector Unions ( Teachers & SEIU). Taxes mean income to these folks.

http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?si=200614&c=417339


New Trier: Taxpayers spend $17,000 per student to launch kids toward great achievements

CPS - Spends $10,000 + per student to do very little for them.

Now here's the payoff - for the difference between the two, which is much, much less than either by the way - Catholic schools spend a little less than $ 7,000 per student to do even better for much less:

Compared with their public-school counterparts, more than twice as many minority Catholic-school graduates from urban areas finish college: 27 percent of the Catholic-school graduates finish college, while only 11 percent of minority public-school graduates receive their degrees. And while 62 percent of minority students at urban public high schools graduate, 88 percent of students from the same background complete high school when enrolled in Catholic schools, according to the study.

The opportunity to attend Catholic schools could play an important role in overcoming poverty among urban minorities, Neal said. "In today's labor market, young adults who finish high school -- even if they do not finish college -- earn at least 15 percent more than high school dropouts. Those who finish college earn even more." Higher college completion rates suggest that urban Catholic-school students actually learn more than similar public-school students who complete the same amount of formal schooling, Neal said. "Urban minorities receive significant benefits from Catholic schooling because their public-school alternatives are substantially worse than those of whites or other minorities who live in non-urban areas."

White students also benefit from attending Catholic schools, but the difference in completion rates between white Catholic-school students and those of their public-school counterparts are less dramatic. While 87 percent of white students in urban areas graduate when enrolled in Catholic schools, 75 percent of the white public-school students receive their diplomas. Among white Catholic-school graduates, 42 percent of those who enter college receive a degree, while 31 percent of the white public-school graduates who enter college finish their studies.

Scholars at the University have studied Catholic schools for many years. The late James Coleman, Professor in Sociology, identified strong school communities as one reason for higher achievement in Catholic schools. Anthony Bryk, Professor in Education and the College, has found that a strong core curriculum gives Catholic schools an advantage.

Neal's study is among the first to look at college completion as a measure of the

http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/970306/catholic.shtml

Lord Have Mercy!!! The University of Chicago said that?

School Choice and School Vouchers are the only way to fix public schools - tax dollars just feed its gluttonous appetite for more.

Let's save 'I 'll get this one!' for our friends and family and let's have government do the right the thing. Cut the Bull$hit! Back School Choice!

John McCain: Irony 101 - Public School Legislator Seeks a Choice for Students: Rev. Meeks v.Reality

Reverend,Illinois Legislator and firebrand activist James Meeks is barking up the wrong tree.

One of the most strident defenders of public schools, that sinkhole for tax dollars, Meeks announced taking his flock of unhappy souls on a field trip to New Trier School District:

State Sen. James Meeks is urging parents to keep their children out of Chicago Public Schools the first day of class and instead board buses to the New Trier school district.

The plan is an attempt to bring attention to the "ever growing school funding inequalities between rich, white and poor, minority school districts in the state," said Meeks, pastor of Salem Baptist Church, on Sunday.

Well Rev/Senator, the answer to your problem -unless you like tossing alot of dough to fill up the tanks of the school buses for the trip up to the North suburbs, where none of your constituents pay taxes, own homes or live in the school District - is School Choice.

However, Rev/Senator Meeks is a dyed in the wool Public School advocate and lusty voiced howl in the wilderness decrying any and every atom in universe perceived as an affront.

School Choice would bring real competition to public education forcing public schools to raise standards of behavior and performance in staff and expectations for students.

Instead, Meeks and others will cry havoc and let slip the dogs of victim hood - that remains at the core of public school funding.

Obama is for public school funding, as is the DNC.

John McCain is for school choice.“We must continue our efforts to set standards and hold schools accountable for their performance,” the likely GOP presidential nominee says in a 90-second video . “Our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible, and student-centered, not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable.”

“Let them compete for the most effective and character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them,” he adds in the statement. The text accompanying the video doesn’t include any specific proposals of what Sen. McCain would do as president to achieve those goals. On the stump and in debates, the candidate hasn’t said anything to explain how he would transform... &, &, & - Reality check Rev/Senator!



If Rev./Senator Meeks wants justice in American education, it is time that he dropped the public school cash cows and embraced School Choice.

Of course, he just might really like long bus rides.