The floor is yours today. Pick a topic, any topic. Tell us what’s on your mind.
39 thoughts on “Open Mic Monday”
I am a little concerned about Obama’s trip to Denmark being labeled a failure. I know it sounds good and “makes’ news”, but I can just see the headlines if he hadn’t gone… “Obama fails to support America’s bid for the games. At a time when Chicago still had a chance to win the games, Obama refused to get involved forcing the Olympic Committee to suspect a lack of interest in the part of the government.”
Rio was a better choice. Chicago was never a good choice, in my opinion.
We just got a letter from Caterpillar stating they have changed prescription drug coverage (again, yet again) and the ONLY pharmacies that will qualify for reasonable co-pays will be Walgreen’s and Wal-mart. No more using the local home town pharmacy that delivers and especially those short order prescriptions that are rare enough not to be stocked by the big boys who mainly cater to “normal” needs. I don’t know all the details and I know the costs are high for Caterpillar and all employers … but this is not a good deal for their employees and retirees.
This is driving me crazy!! Is the man in this pic you, CJ? It keeps popping up on Facebook.
Methodist Hospital expansion continues and Hamilton Blvd is now reopened.
They have built an inverted speed bump on Hamilton near the Crescent intersection that is jarring even at a speed under 20 mph.
I think it may have damaged the suspension on my vehicle.
Can we get Merle Widmer to drive up that hill so he can get it fixed?
Families who have been contributing to a pre-paid college tuition plan like the College Illinois Plan may find the commitments to full coverage of tuition for their children to be limited or non-existent. Most of these pre-paid funds are deeply underwater. Illinois’ is especially in trouble. Families who signed up for these, paying in $1000s of dollars a year to ensure their child can go to college may find that money GONE.
Kudos to our Representative Aaron Schock for his support of the present administration in Honduras while our president continues to link himself and his adminstartion to Chavez and cronies.
Two wrongs don’t make a right Merle.
Is it just me or the Illinois Furniture Closing (for remodeling) signs that keep appearing all over town totally misleading and on the verge of being illegal?
Don’t we have litter laws in place to prevent these signs from being strewn all over town on the public right of ways?
They have gotten out of hand. I saw some guy this weekend placing them along the road again. What is the difference between littering and this?
I think I will call them and tell them I will never shop at their store just because of the signs.
Big Al’s in the Madison theatre or in the parking lot next to the Mad? No thanks.
Merle: Please explain how Obama is linking himself to Chavez and his “cronies” and how Schock is helping anyone here in the States by parading down in Honduras. Is Schock securing the banana crop? Please try and explain how this helps with out the Faux News kool-aide. Maybe if the Republic Congress would stay home and work on health care, people like Michael would have a choice for his medicines instead of doing everything in their power to make this Administration fail. On second thought, Schock should stay down there.
Emtronics: We agree again–I voted for Schock–I apologize; it will be the last time. I’m tired of his constant efforts to ingratiate himself with the far right. I think he has previously enjoyed the votes from some of us vascillating in the middle–I think he’ll see a change the next time around.
“I think he’ll see a change the next time around”
Only if there is a credible challenger.
Schock will not get my vote either. He voted “no” on equal pay for women. He can pose for GQ all he wants, I’m done with him.
I got on to channel 17 a bit after King Hinton started defending his dumbing down grade mandate, but I was happy to hear Laura P take him to task. Ol’ kenny-poo didn’t like that at all! Kind of wished I didn’t get called away a little later because I had already counted the King use his crutch term of “with regards to” at least 21 times in that short time! OTOH can anybody explain how Hinton says he wants year around school at Lincoln based on allllllll the benefits from that while he still supports Wacky Wednesday for the others! What a an embarrassing joke ol’ “with regards to Hinton” has been!
without malice–
I thought about going to the meeting but haven’t been feeling well today so I opted to not even watch it. I will have to order a tape of it now! I would love to see someone actually take him to task! Wish they would have done that when he did the savings switcheroo on closing WHS (had originally said it would save us 2.7 mil then changed it to 1.5 without any comments/questions/concerns from board members BEFORE they voted.)
she’s a lady, talkin’ bout the little lady……….”this sucks” ……”it’s crap” …….can’t wait for the next meeting to see what pops out.
Tom–
she uses the same language that most of us use. It is what makes her more like us. We aren’t stodgy, old, stick in the muds and neither is she! Whether you like her use of language or not, she is effective in getting answers that other board members don’t even attempt to ask.
Good to know there is money in the budget for year-round schooling for some.
Is it common practice for assistant principals to serve in a leadership role in multiple district activities? I just noticed that an assistant principal in the district serves triple-duty as the leader of the jazz ensemble AND as the contact person for Fine Arts in Peoria Public Schools. Isn’t that spreading someone a bit too thin? Maybe the district is saving money by doing this (?), but it seems to me that an assistant principalship is a role that screams for one’s full attention, not half, one-third, or one-quarter.
I would rather hear Laura tell it like it is then all the yes, M’aam, Sir, Mrs. Mr. I will get that for you crap that never amounts to a hill of beans.
That assistant principal is new to her role as asst. principal. She is supposedly stepping down after this year from the jazz ensemble and has told the district that she does not want to hold the fine arts position any longer. They have not approached any one about that opening even though there is someone that would be interested in the position. SHe wants to be an assistant but her school is closing at the end of the year.
She was so focused on being asst. principal that a lot of the scheduling of teachers in the fine arts program became very muddled to the detriment of the students in the program.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Hinton’s behavior is like that of a fart in a windtunnel? Close a high school, change a middle school to year round, hire more and more and more consultants…….very schizaphrenic behavior…..school board, are you able to follow his thinking? I know I’m not….but, that’s just me.
The trick to being in public service… ha!… is to LOOK BUSY. Look like you are doing stuff and you can always rationalize it later… or apologize. Doesn’t matter how stupid, pointless, wasteful or dangerous it is… just do stuff and then you can always say… “Well, we had faulty intelligence.”
I’m confused: I am no longer confused; I believe I am as close to angry as I have ever been. I do not understand why the BOE is tolerating and worse yet seemingly supporting Hinton’s eractic behavior and decisions. He is bent on having a totally consistent grading system–micromanaged by an administrative plan that makes no sense–it was more confusing after last night’s discussion. Laura definitely and rightly expressed her complete disdain for the plan, and Jim did support teacher discretion in the grading process–everyone else was either silent or offered one comment that contributed little to the discussion. On the other hand, Hinton has now proposed a totally inconsistent plan as to the yearly schedules schools will follow. Three schools will be year-round schools and the others will follow the current schedule. Manual already has a different daily schedule–a longer day than the other three schools. This district doesn’t have that many schools. At this rate, they will all be operating on different daily and yearly schedules. Hinton will soon be gone and most of his proposals will be dangling in the air with no workable plans for their implementation. His argument for year-round school, amazingly enough, was based on a Johns Hopkins study that states that summer vacations interfere with retention of information, etc. I found that study on the Internet several months ago when I complained about the Johns Hopkins’ plan at Manual–English, math, science, and social studies at Manual are now semester courses instead of year courses. That plan means that Manual students go without an English, math, science or social studies class for a semester and a summer–how’s that for retention. In fact, the plan goes against Johns Hopkins’ own conclusions based on its research.
Sharon, why WOULD the BOE support these decisions? Think about it… Laura, the one actually qualified to sit on the school board is the one dissenting. What do the other “business” people on the board want? Educated graduates? Or graduates who can’t think for themselves and rely on the “good faith” of the employers and merchants these “business” people support? WE GOTTA KEEP THE SYSTEM GOING THE WAY IT IS!
Look at the Health Care debate… people are too stupid to realize the anti-public option argument is being orchestrated by the insurance companies themselves… they are spending BILLIONS of dollars in lobbying and propaganda efforts to defeat this plan. ( AND THEY WILL DEFEAT IT just as they did 15 years ago) Those billions come from premiums paid in to cover the cost of health care… heath care that is routinely denied because of profit concerns on the part of the insurance company!!! How twisted and ironic. We trust our politicians, we trust our insurance companies, we trust our TV and newspaper journalists, we trust our employers… as they steal us blind and exploit our labors for THEIR profits. .
Emtronics,
Manuel Zelaya was a marxist Chavez wannabe who tried to make himself president for life. Honduras’ congress and supreme court found him in violation of the nation’s constitution and removed him from office by having the military arrest him. The Obama administration, as with most other nations, falsely calls Zelaya’s ouster a “coup” even though Zelaya’s successor, Speaker of Congress Roberto Micheletti, is next in line as president and is also from Zelaya’s own political party. Also, Honduras’ government remains under civilian rule.
Here’s where Obama is in cahoots with Chavez: no nation recognizes Micheletti as Honduran president, and Brazil (in whose embassy Zelaya is taking refuge), Costa Rica, Venezuela and the US are working to get Zelaya restored to power. If the US recognized Micheletti, most other nations would as well, but by our’s and other nations’ refusal to do so, the Zelaya’s supporters are encouraged and Honduras is destabilizing.
In addition, the US is supporting UN resolutions calling for the return of Manuel Zelaya to power, and has suspended foreign aid. Micheletti was denied a visa to visit the UN last month, though anti-semitic, terrorist thug dictators such as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinijad and Libyan president Moammar Qhadaffi, in addition to Hugo Chavez himself, were given visas for their UN visit. All of this plays into Chavez’s hands.
These events are quite ominous as the thuggish Venezuelan dictator is doing his utmost to spread marxist revolution throughout Central and South America, and has allied himself with Iran’s mullahs and their crazy president Ahmedinijad. Thanks to Chavez, marxist dictatorships, instability and anti-semitism is spreading in Latin America. Whether Honduras goes Chavez’s way or can preserve its constitution determines how many other dominoes may fall.
Barack “Jimmy Carter” Obama is foolishly siding with Chavez on this issue, and I applaud Aaron Schock for going to Honduras.
David, whether someone knows anything about the Honduran mess or not, your post says it all:
“no nation recognizes Micheletti as Honduran president”
“the US is supporting UN resolutions calling for the return of Manuel Zelaya to power”
If Schock is so concerned about what he considers the rule of law, why isn’t he in NYC demanding Bloomberg be removed from power for repealing term limits and exiled out of the City, as was done to Zelaya?
My point exactly Jon. Why does anyone give a hoot about Honduras? Bush didn’t care and all this started during his 8 years. Schock has no business there and name one time, just one time, the Republicans have been right about anything foreign policy wise. Not Iraq. (We would be treated as liberators) Not Iraq. (WMDs not found) Not Iraq. (This war is “Mission Accomplished!”)
Grenada, Panama, (getting out of VN)
Grenada… Reagan would have had more trouble invading Creve Coeur. Panama…. getting rid of our own man… We put Noriega in power… and Hussein, Diem, Pinochet, and the Ayatolla, and every other 2 bit dictator we later tried to over throw…
They are our man as long as they play the capitalist game with us… as long as there are resources and money for us… once they start taking care of themselves… not acting like good little colonies of the US… we call them communists or fascists and invade them.
Jon,
The NYC Council voted to extend term limits, so Mayor Bloomberg didn’t violate any laws when he ran for a third term.
You quoted me, but obviously read it out of context. There was no coup in Honduras: the country’s supreme court legally removed Pres. Zelaya from power. Instead of kowtowing to Hugo Chavez, Obama should act like the leader of the free world and recognize Roberto Micheletti as the legitimate president of Honduras.
Emtronics,
Businessman Manuel Zelaya was elected president of Honduras as a free-marketer in early 2006, but subsequently changed to a leftist, allied with Hugo Chavez. That’s five years into Bush’s eight years as president. Funny though, how you blame him for it, but yet you don’t give a hoot. Can’t have it both ways.
And I see you’ve drunk the Keith Olbermann-Rachel Maddow-Chris Matthews-Ed Schultz Kool-Aid about Iraq. You don’t seem to realize that:
(1) We were in fact treated like liberators by the vast majority of Iraq’s population. A nation of 25 million people would have been impossible to liberate with less than 150,000 troops if they did not. Mistakes were made, yes, but despite the Left’s constant encouragement to our enemies in that country, we were eventually able to defeat Al-Qaida in Iraq and give that country a good shot at rooting itself as a democracy.
(2) There were many reasons to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein from power. He may or may not have had actual WMD’s in his possession, but had the ability to manufacture them since UN weapons inspectors were ousted in 1998. He was a terrorist who provided financial support to Hamas, whose bombings killed Americans in Israel. He continuously violated UN resolutions, and it is now known that he used the oil-for-food program to bribe UN officials to look the other way on enforcing those resolutions. These and many others justify his overthrow.
(3) “Mission Accomplished” refers to the end of major combat operations. The mission to oust Saddam Hussein from power had been accomplished. Obviously, the terrorist insurgency began a new phase within a few months.
kcdad,
As usual, you get an “F” in history.
Regarding Grenada, marxists overthrew the more moderate president, Maurice Bishop, from power and subsequently excuted him. This led to violence and imposition of strict martial law. With several hundred Americans on the island (going to medical school, IIRC), Reagan justified military action. Some Caribbean nations contributed invasion forces as well. The operation restored peace to the island.
We did not put Noriega in power. A military government took power in 1968 and Gen. Manuel Noriega was the last of its rulers. As soon as knowledge of his drug trafficking activities surfaced, we imposed sanctions and froze assets, eventually ousting Noriega by force when he was dumb enough to provoke an invasion.
Saddam Hussein was involved with Iraq’s Ba’athists when they took power in 1968. After becoming the country’s strongman, he forced the country’s president from power in 1979.
Yes, we helped place President Diem in power, but we also ousted him in a CIA-backed coup during Democrat John F. Kennedy’s administration. Diem was more preferrable to Ho Chi Minh, however, whose communists murdered many thousands after the fall of Saigon in 1975. And yes, Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran after Democrat Jimmy Carter engineered the fall of the Shah.
Pinochet, Chilean president Salvador Allende had been elected in 1970, but then cozied up to Cuba and the USSR. He imported weapons and planned to become the country’s dictator. Gen. Pinochet ousted him in a coup. Not defending Pinochet’s human rights abuses, but he did set the stage for what Chile is today: the most stable nation in Latin America, and one on the verge of entering the First World. Pinochet also stepped down from power without being forced to do so.
David, I’m sure you know that Zelaya’s term was set to expire at the end of this year. Further, I’m sure you know that the Honduran constitution specifically prohibited impeachment, and left in place that the Congress could disapprove of the President’s actions. I’m also sure you know that Zelaya asked for a public poll as to putting on the ballot the issue of creating an assembly to review the issue of rewriting the constitution (I can’t image why – e.g., I mean the difference between not impeaching someone and disapproving of them by removing them from office is clear as a bell!). Requesting that issue (changing the constitution) be put on the ballot as well as the poll itself was deemed illegal (so much for democracy), so what do they do? Remove him. Better yet, they force him out of the country – something that is specifically banned in their constitution. Constitutionally upheld by a kangaroo court. And need I mention the suspension of civil liberties under Micheletti? Again, so much for democratic ideals!
You may think I took your comments out of context but you seem to fail to understand the point – NO NATION recognizes Micheletti. Hey, but at least you and Schock do 🙂 Oh, yeah, what was the U.S. response? Stop sending non-humanitarian aid and try and negotiate a resolution. Micheletti said, fine, do what you want about the aid, but we ain’t taking Zelaya back. So just why does Schock care about this mess? It sure ain’t about democratic ideals. He just wants to play central American kingmaker to keep Chavez at bay. I don’t think we’ve been too good at that sort of thing.
As for Bloomberg, I’m sure you know, too, that it was by public referendum that NYC’s two term limit was imposed. So, the legislature just overturned the will of the people. Granted, I understand Bloomberg’s argument that the people ultimately WILL decide at the election booth. Too bad Zelaya never got that chance (again, so much for democracy).
I could care less if Zelaya is similar to Chavez. If the people freely elect him that’s their business. Maybe you would have preferred that we just send in the Navy Seals and taken care of him the old fashioned way?
And while you didn’t direct the “we had plenty justification to invade Iraq” comment to me, I’d just like to know who else is on the list? I mean, if you justify invading Iraq whether or not they had WMD (like Cheney), then why not North Korea, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Venezuela, etc.?
I love, too, how you say Iraq could have been making WMD since UN weapons inspectors were ousted in 1998, but fail to identify WHO “ousted” them. It was the U.S. who suggested they leave because we told everyone we were going to bomb the place. Or fail to mention that UN inspectors, under Hans Blix, came back in in 2002/3 and found nothing to that point and believed they were only months away from resolving all issues.
Forget it. Mr Jordan “sees” it all differently. We (the American people) were told by President Bush that Iraq HAD WMDs (not able to make them but HAD them) and would either sell them to our enemies or use them on US. In fact Bush said just before the war; “If Saddam would just place all his WMDs in a parking lot so we can pick them up, we will not invade.” We were also told by Bush that Iraq was trying to buy uranium for nuclear weapons which wasn’t true. We were told that we would be greeted as liberators which is false. Most American loving Iraqi’s had already fled the country which is why banks, museums, and everything else was looted while we just stood by and let it happen.
It amazes me the memory of the Right fails so often. We, in this country were led like sheep into a war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 or had WMDs. Every single thing Cheney or Rumsfield said would happen, didn’t. We are still there to this day in Iraq.
If I use Mr. Jordan’s logic on going to war with Iraq, then we should also be inside North Korea and Iran by now and even Venezuela too. Anyway you twist it, we were simply duped into a war that was un-necessary and we were lied to by Bush and all his cronies. Plain and simple.
Hey Jon, your good.
Jon,
Zelaya planned a referendum to change or replace the country’s constitution, but the Honduran Supreme Court ruled that the referendum was illegal absent approval from Congress. Zelaya went ahead with it anyway. He had ballots printed by Venezuela, but the military, normally responsible for managing elections, refused to distribute them. That’s when Zelaya and his supporters raided a military barracks where the ballots were stored. The Supreme Court then ordered the military to arrest Zelaya, and per the country’s constitution, Roberto Micheletti became president.
Yes, Honduras’ one mistake was kicking Zelaya out of the country, but he’s back. Martial Law is due to actions by Zelaya’s supporters. Lack of US support for Micheletti is only encouraging instability. Hopefully, whoever wins the presidency next month will also win international recognition.
Elections will go on as planned for November. Honduras does not want to become another Venezuela, with an elected president thugging his way toward dictatorship. Ousting Zelaya, a Chavez ally, saved Honduran democracy, yet misguided world pressure, led by the US, may yet kill it.
Iraq does not compare to those other countries. Moral equivalance is a dead end. And you’re correct on the UN weapons inspectors, but my point was that Saddam Hussein had four years to reconstitute his weapons programs before their return. Did he? We don’t know for sure, but why take the chance with someone who had used such weapons in the past? The Left accused Bush of ignoring known information and allowing 9-11 to happen. The solution was to preempt possible threats. Thus, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
David, I can’t let you distort history ALL the time… on Bishop: He was a Marxist. “In 1973 he became head of the Marxist New Jewel Movement (NJM) political party…Bishop began to build a close relationship with Cuba after he took power.”
“The invasion was criticized by the United Kingdom, Canada and the United Nations General Assembly, which condemned it as “a flagrant violation of international law”.”
Don’t let the truth interfere with your beliefs… it was another example of The US taking advantage of a civil war to impose or economic and political hegemony on another sovereign nation. hmmmm just like Iraq… except in that case we CAUSED the civil war.
kcdad,
Yes, Maurice Bishop was a marxist but wasn’t implementing marxists policies fast enough to satisfy his deputy prime minister, thus why I called Bishop “more moderate.” Our invasion ended the post-coup violence. THAT’S A FACT.
I am a little concerned about Obama’s trip to Denmark being labeled a failure. I know it sounds good and “makes’ news”, but I can just see the headlines if he hadn’t gone… “Obama fails to support America’s bid for the games. At a time when Chicago still had a chance to win the games, Obama refused to get involved forcing the Olympic Committee to suspect a lack of interest in the part of the government.”
Rio was a better choice. Chicago was never a good choice, in my opinion.
We just got a letter from Caterpillar stating they have changed prescription drug coverage (again, yet again) and the ONLY pharmacies that will qualify for reasonable co-pays will be Walgreen’s and Wal-mart. No more using the local home town pharmacy that delivers and especially those short order prescriptions that are rare enough not to be stocked by the big boys who mainly cater to “normal” needs. I don’t know all the details and I know the costs are high for Caterpillar and all employers … but this is not a good deal for their employees and retirees.
This is driving me crazy!! Is the man in this pic you, CJ? It keeps popping up on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=168940533031&ref=nf
Methodist Hospital expansion continues and Hamilton Blvd is now reopened.
They have built an inverted speed bump on Hamilton near the Crescent intersection that is jarring even at a speed under 20 mph.
I think it may have damaged the suspension on my vehicle.
Can we get Merle Widmer to drive up that hill so he can get it fixed?
Families who have been contributing to a pre-paid college tuition plan like the College Illinois Plan may find the commitments to full coverage of tuition for their children to be limited or non-existent. Most of these pre-paid funds are deeply underwater. Illinois’ is especially in trouble. Families who signed up for these, paying in $1000s of dollars a year to ensure their child can go to college may find that money GONE.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/education/05college.html
Unbelievable!!!!
Diane….yep that’s him.
Kudos to our Representative Aaron Schock for his support of the present administration in Honduras while our president continues to link himself and his adminstartion to Chavez and cronies.
Two wrongs don’t make a right Merle.
Is it just me or the Illinois Furniture Closing (for remodeling) signs that keep appearing all over town totally misleading and on the verge of being illegal?
Don’t we have litter laws in place to prevent these signs from being strewn all over town on the public right of ways?
They have gotten out of hand. I saw some guy this weekend placing them along the road again. What is the difference between littering and this?
I think I will call them and tell them I will never shop at their store just because of the signs.
Big Al’s in the Madison theatre or in the parking lot next to the Mad? No thanks.
Merle: Please explain how Obama is linking himself to Chavez and his “cronies” and how Schock is helping anyone here in the States by parading down in Honduras. Is Schock securing the banana crop? Please try and explain how this helps with out the Faux News kool-aide. Maybe if the Republic Congress would stay home and work on health care, people like Michael would have a choice for his medicines instead of doing everything in their power to make this Administration fail. On second thought, Schock should stay down there.
Emtronics: We agree again–I voted for Schock–I apologize; it will be the last time. I’m tired of his constant efforts to ingratiate himself with the far right. I think he has previously enjoyed the votes from some of us vascillating in the middle–I think he’ll see a change the next time around.
“I think he’ll see a change the next time around”
Only if there is a credible challenger.
Schock will not get my vote either. He voted “no” on equal pay for women. He can pose for GQ all he wants, I’m done with him.
http://www.middleagedwomanblogging.com/2009/04/schock-and-awe-from-fightin-18th.html
I got on to channel 17 a bit after King Hinton started defending his dumbing down grade mandate, but I was happy to hear Laura P take him to task. Ol’ kenny-poo didn’t like that at all! Kind of wished I didn’t get called away a little later because I had already counted the King use his crutch term of “with regards to” at least 21 times in that short time! OTOH can anybody explain how Hinton says he wants year around school at Lincoln based on allllllll the benefits from that while he still supports Wacky Wednesday for the others! What a an embarrassing joke ol’ “with regards to Hinton” has been!
without malice–
I thought about going to the meeting but haven’t been feeling well today so I opted to not even watch it. I will have to order a tape of it now! I would love to see someone actually take him to task! Wish they would have done that when he did the savings switcheroo on closing WHS (had originally said it would save us 2.7 mil then changed it to 1.5 without any comments/questions/concerns from board members BEFORE they voted.)
she’s a lady, talkin’ bout the little lady……….”this sucks” ……”it’s crap” …….can’t wait for the next meeting to see what pops out.
Tom–
she uses the same language that most of us use. It is what makes her more like us. We aren’t stodgy, old, stick in the muds and neither is she! Whether you like her use of language or not, she is effective in getting answers that other board members don’t even attempt to ask.
Good to know there is money in the budget for year-round schooling for some.
Is it common practice for assistant principals to serve in a leadership role in multiple district activities? I just noticed that an assistant principal in the district serves triple-duty as the leader of the jazz ensemble AND as the contact person for Fine Arts in Peoria Public Schools. Isn’t that spreading someone a bit too thin? Maybe the district is saving money by doing this (?), but it seems to me that an assistant principalship is a role that screams for one’s full attention, not half, one-third, or one-quarter.
I would rather hear Laura tell it like it is then all the yes, M’aam, Sir, Mrs. Mr. I will get that for you crap that never amounts to a hill of beans.
That assistant principal is new to her role as asst. principal. She is supposedly stepping down after this year from the jazz ensemble and has told the district that she does not want to hold the fine arts position any longer. They have not approached any one about that opening even though there is someone that would be interested in the position. SHe wants to be an assistant but her school is closing at the end of the year.
She was so focused on being asst. principal that a lot of the scheduling of teachers in the fine arts program became very muddled to the detriment of the students in the program.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Hinton’s behavior is like that of a fart in a windtunnel? Close a high school, change a middle school to year round, hire more and more and more consultants…….very schizaphrenic behavior…..school board, are you able to follow his thinking? I know I’m not….but, that’s just me.
The trick to being in public service… ha!… is to LOOK BUSY. Look like you are doing stuff and you can always rationalize it later… or apologize. Doesn’t matter how stupid, pointless, wasteful or dangerous it is… just do stuff and then you can always say… “Well, we had faulty intelligence.”
I’m confused: I am no longer confused; I believe I am as close to angry as I have ever been. I do not understand why the BOE is tolerating and worse yet seemingly supporting Hinton’s eractic behavior and decisions. He is bent on having a totally consistent grading system–micromanaged by an administrative plan that makes no sense–it was more confusing after last night’s discussion. Laura definitely and rightly expressed her complete disdain for the plan, and Jim did support teacher discretion in the grading process–everyone else was either silent or offered one comment that contributed little to the discussion. On the other hand, Hinton has now proposed a totally inconsistent plan as to the yearly schedules schools will follow. Three schools will be year-round schools and the others will follow the current schedule. Manual already has a different daily schedule–a longer day than the other three schools. This district doesn’t have that many schools. At this rate, they will all be operating on different daily and yearly schedules. Hinton will soon be gone and most of his proposals will be dangling in the air with no workable plans for their implementation. His argument for year-round school, amazingly enough, was based on a Johns Hopkins study that states that summer vacations interfere with retention of information, etc. I found that study on the Internet several months ago when I complained about the Johns Hopkins’ plan at Manual–English, math, science, and social studies at Manual are now semester courses instead of year courses. That plan means that Manual students go without an English, math, science or social studies class for a semester and a summer–how’s that for retention. In fact, the plan goes against Johns Hopkins’ own conclusions based on its research.
Sharon, why WOULD the BOE support these decisions? Think about it… Laura, the one actually qualified to sit on the school board is the one dissenting. What do the other “business” people on the board want? Educated graduates? Or graduates who can’t think for themselves and rely on the “good faith” of the employers and merchants these “business” people support? WE GOTTA KEEP THE SYSTEM GOING THE WAY IT IS!
Look at the Health Care debate… people are too stupid to realize the anti-public option argument is being orchestrated by the insurance companies themselves… they are spending BILLIONS of dollars in lobbying and propaganda efforts to defeat this plan. ( AND THEY WILL DEFEAT IT just as they did 15 years ago) Those billions come from premiums paid in to cover the cost of health care… heath care that is routinely denied because of profit concerns on the part of the insurance company!!! How twisted and ironic. We trust our politicians, we trust our insurance companies, we trust our TV and newspaper journalists, we trust our employers… as they steal us blind and exploit our labors for THEIR profits. .
Emtronics,
Manuel Zelaya was a marxist Chavez wannabe who tried to make himself president for life. Honduras’ congress and supreme court found him in violation of the nation’s constitution and removed him from office by having the military arrest him. The Obama administration, as with most other nations, falsely calls Zelaya’s ouster a “coup” even though Zelaya’s successor, Speaker of Congress Roberto Micheletti, is next in line as president and is also from Zelaya’s own political party. Also, Honduras’ government remains under civilian rule.
Here’s where Obama is in cahoots with Chavez: no nation recognizes Micheletti as Honduran president, and Brazil (in whose embassy Zelaya is taking refuge), Costa Rica, Venezuela and the US are working to get Zelaya restored to power. If the US recognized Micheletti, most other nations would as well, but by our’s and other nations’ refusal to do so, the Zelaya’s supporters are encouraged and Honduras is destabilizing.
In addition, the US is supporting UN resolutions calling for the return of Manuel Zelaya to power, and has suspended foreign aid. Micheletti was denied a visa to visit the UN last month, though anti-semitic, terrorist thug dictators such as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinijad and Libyan president Moammar Qhadaffi, in addition to Hugo Chavez himself, were given visas for their UN visit. All of this plays into Chavez’s hands.
These events are quite ominous as the thuggish Venezuelan dictator is doing his utmost to spread marxist revolution throughout Central and South America, and has allied himself with Iran’s mullahs and their crazy president Ahmedinijad. Thanks to Chavez, marxist dictatorships, instability and anti-semitism is spreading in Latin America. Whether Honduras goes Chavez’s way or can preserve its constitution determines how many other dominoes may fall.
Barack “Jimmy Carter” Obama is foolishly siding with Chavez on this issue, and I applaud Aaron Schock for going to Honduras.
David, whether someone knows anything about the Honduran mess or not, your post says it all:
“no nation recognizes Micheletti as Honduran president”
“the US is supporting UN resolutions calling for the return of Manuel Zelaya to power”
If Schock is so concerned about what he considers the rule of law, why isn’t he in NYC demanding Bloomberg be removed from power for repealing term limits and exiled out of the City, as was done to Zelaya?
My point exactly Jon. Why does anyone give a hoot about Honduras? Bush didn’t care and all this started during his 8 years. Schock has no business there and name one time, just one time, the Republicans have been right about anything foreign policy wise. Not Iraq. (We would be treated as liberators) Not Iraq. (WMDs not found) Not Iraq. (This war is “Mission Accomplished!”)
Grenada, Panama, (getting out of VN)
Grenada… Reagan would have had more trouble invading Creve Coeur. Panama…. getting rid of our own man… We put Noriega in power… and Hussein, Diem, Pinochet, and the Ayatolla, and every other 2 bit dictator we later tried to over throw…
They are our man as long as they play the capitalist game with us… as long as there are resources and money for us… once they start taking care of themselves… not acting like good little colonies of the US… we call them communists or fascists and invade them.
Jon,
The NYC Council voted to extend term limits, so Mayor Bloomberg didn’t violate any laws when he ran for a third term.
You quoted me, but obviously read it out of context. There was no coup in Honduras: the country’s supreme court legally removed Pres. Zelaya from power. Instead of kowtowing to Hugo Chavez, Obama should act like the leader of the free world and recognize Roberto Micheletti as the legitimate president of Honduras.
Emtronics,
Businessman Manuel Zelaya was elected president of Honduras as a free-marketer in early 2006, but subsequently changed to a leftist, allied with Hugo Chavez. That’s five years into Bush’s eight years as president. Funny though, how you blame him for it, but yet you don’t give a hoot. Can’t have it both ways.
And I see you’ve drunk the Keith Olbermann-Rachel Maddow-Chris Matthews-Ed Schultz Kool-Aid about Iraq. You don’t seem to realize that:
(1) We were in fact treated like liberators by the vast majority of Iraq’s population. A nation of 25 million people would have been impossible to liberate with less than 150,000 troops if they did not. Mistakes were made, yes, but despite the Left’s constant encouragement to our enemies in that country, we were eventually able to defeat Al-Qaida in Iraq and give that country a good shot at rooting itself as a democracy.
(2) There were many reasons to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein from power. He may or may not have had actual WMD’s in his possession, but had the ability to manufacture them since UN weapons inspectors were ousted in 1998. He was a terrorist who provided financial support to Hamas, whose bombings killed Americans in Israel. He continuously violated UN resolutions, and it is now known that he used the oil-for-food program to bribe UN officials to look the other way on enforcing those resolutions. These and many others justify his overthrow.
(3) “Mission Accomplished” refers to the end of major combat operations. The mission to oust Saddam Hussein from power had been accomplished. Obviously, the terrorist insurgency began a new phase within a few months.
kcdad,
As usual, you get an “F” in history.
Regarding Grenada, marxists overthrew the more moderate president, Maurice Bishop, from power and subsequently excuted him. This led to violence and imposition of strict martial law. With several hundred Americans on the island (going to medical school, IIRC), Reagan justified military action. Some Caribbean nations contributed invasion forces as well. The operation restored peace to the island.
We did not put Noriega in power. A military government took power in 1968 and Gen. Manuel Noriega was the last of its rulers. As soon as knowledge of his drug trafficking activities surfaced, we imposed sanctions and froze assets, eventually ousting Noriega by force when he was dumb enough to provoke an invasion.
Saddam Hussein was involved with Iraq’s Ba’athists when they took power in 1968. After becoming the country’s strongman, he forced the country’s president from power in 1979.
Yes, we helped place President Diem in power, but we also ousted him in a CIA-backed coup during Democrat John F. Kennedy’s administration. Diem was more preferrable to Ho Chi Minh, however, whose communists murdered many thousands after the fall of Saigon in 1975. And yes, Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran after Democrat Jimmy Carter engineered the fall of the Shah.
Pinochet, Chilean president Salvador Allende had been elected in 1970, but then cozied up to Cuba and the USSR. He imported weapons and planned to become the country’s dictator. Gen. Pinochet ousted him in a coup. Not defending Pinochet’s human rights abuses, but he did set the stage for what Chile is today: the most stable nation in Latin America, and one on the verge of entering the First World. Pinochet also stepped down from power without being forced to do so.
David, I’m sure you know that Zelaya’s term was set to expire at the end of this year. Further, I’m sure you know that the Honduran constitution specifically prohibited impeachment, and left in place that the Congress could disapprove of the President’s actions. I’m also sure you know that Zelaya asked for a public poll as to putting on the ballot the issue of creating an assembly to review the issue of rewriting the constitution (I can’t image why – e.g., I mean the difference between not impeaching someone and disapproving of them by removing them from office is clear as a bell!). Requesting that issue (changing the constitution) be put on the ballot as well as the poll itself was deemed illegal (so much for democracy), so what do they do? Remove him. Better yet, they force him out of the country – something that is specifically banned in their constitution. Constitutionally upheld by a kangaroo court. And need I mention the suspension of civil liberties under Micheletti? Again, so much for democratic ideals!
You may think I took your comments out of context but you seem to fail to understand the point – NO NATION recognizes Micheletti. Hey, but at least you and Schock do 🙂 Oh, yeah, what was the U.S. response? Stop sending non-humanitarian aid and try and negotiate a resolution. Micheletti said, fine, do what you want about the aid, but we ain’t taking Zelaya back. So just why does Schock care about this mess? It sure ain’t about democratic ideals. He just wants to play central American kingmaker to keep Chavez at bay. I don’t think we’ve been too good at that sort of thing.
As for Bloomberg, I’m sure you know, too, that it was by public referendum that NYC’s two term limit was imposed. So, the legislature just overturned the will of the people. Granted, I understand Bloomberg’s argument that the people ultimately WILL decide at the election booth. Too bad Zelaya never got that chance (again, so much for democracy).
I could care less if Zelaya is similar to Chavez. If the people freely elect him that’s their business. Maybe you would have preferred that we just send in the Navy Seals and taken care of him the old fashioned way?
And while you didn’t direct the “we had plenty justification to invade Iraq” comment to me, I’d just like to know who else is on the list? I mean, if you justify invading Iraq whether or not they had WMD (like Cheney), then why not North Korea, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Venezuela, etc.?
I love, too, how you say Iraq could have been making WMD since UN weapons inspectors were ousted in 1998, but fail to identify WHO “ousted” them. It was the U.S. who suggested they leave because we told everyone we were going to bomb the place. Or fail to mention that UN inspectors, under Hans Blix, came back in in 2002/3 and found nothing to that point and believed they were only months away from resolving all issues.
Forget it. Mr Jordan “sees” it all differently. We (the American people) were told by President Bush that Iraq HAD WMDs (not able to make them but HAD them) and would either sell them to our enemies or use them on US. In fact Bush said just before the war; “If Saddam would just place all his WMDs in a parking lot so we can pick them up, we will not invade.” We were also told by Bush that Iraq was trying to buy uranium for nuclear weapons which wasn’t true. We were told that we would be greeted as liberators which is false. Most American loving Iraqi’s had already fled the country which is why banks, museums, and everything else was looted while we just stood by and let it happen.
It amazes me the memory of the Right fails so often. We, in this country were led like sheep into a war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 or had WMDs. Every single thing Cheney or Rumsfield said would happen, didn’t. We are still there to this day in Iraq.
If I use Mr. Jordan’s logic on going to war with Iraq, then we should also be inside North Korea and Iran by now and even Venezuela too. Anyway you twist it, we were simply duped into a war that was un-necessary and we were lied to by Bush and all his cronies. Plain and simple.
Hey Jon, your good.
Jon,
Zelaya planned a referendum to change or replace the country’s constitution, but the Honduran Supreme Court ruled that the referendum was illegal absent approval from Congress. Zelaya went ahead with it anyway. He had ballots printed by Venezuela, but the military, normally responsible for managing elections, refused to distribute them. That’s when Zelaya and his supporters raided a military barracks where the ballots were stored. The Supreme Court then ordered the military to arrest Zelaya, and per the country’s constitution, Roberto Micheletti became president.
Yes, Honduras’ one mistake was kicking Zelaya out of the country, but he’s back. Martial Law is due to actions by Zelaya’s supporters. Lack of US support for Micheletti is only encouraging instability. Hopefully, whoever wins the presidency next month will also win international recognition.
Elections will go on as planned for November. Honduras does not want to become another Venezuela, with an elected president thugging his way toward dictatorship. Ousting Zelaya, a Chavez ally, saved Honduran democracy, yet misguided world pressure, led by the US, may yet kill it.
Iraq does not compare to those other countries. Moral equivalance is a dead end. And you’re correct on the UN weapons inspectors, but my point was that Saddam Hussein had four years to reconstitute his weapons programs before their return. Did he? We don’t know for sure, but why take the chance with someone who had used such weapons in the past? The Left accused Bush of ignoring known information and allowing 9-11 to happen. The solution was to preempt possible threats. Thus, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
David, I can’t let you distort history ALL the time… on Bishop: He was a Marxist. “In 1973 he became head of the Marxist New Jewel Movement (NJM) political party…Bishop began to build a close relationship with Cuba after he took power.”
“The invasion was criticized by the United Kingdom, Canada and the United Nations General Assembly, which condemned it as “a flagrant violation of international law”.”
Don’t let the truth interfere with your beliefs… it was another example of The US taking advantage of a civil war to impose or economic and political hegemony on another sovereign nation. hmmmm just like Iraq… except in that case we CAUSED the civil war.
kcdad,
Yes, Maurice Bishop was a marxist but wasn’t implementing marxists policies fast enough to satisfy his deputy prime minister, thus why I called Bishop “more moderate.” Our invasion ended the post-coup violence. THAT’S A FACT.