Showing posts with label Chicago Public Schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago Public Schools. Show all posts

Nine Kids Hit With Pepper Spray at Chicago School, Sent to Hospitals

Image: melookymelikey.com
June 19, 2013 - Nine children were hospitalized after being hit with pepper spray late this afternoon, reports WBBM 780 AM. The incident occurred inside a classroom of the Ruben Salazar Elementary Bilingual Center, part of the Chicago Public School system. The school is located at 160 West Wendell Street (map).

WGN reports that "a female student discharged pepper spray." The Chicago Tribune reports that the student "brought the pepper spray to school and at some point took the spray out in one of the classrooms. The spray discharged and nine students were overcome by the fumes."

"One student was taken in fair-to-serious condition and five others in good condition to Lurie Children's Hospital," says the Tribune. "Three more children were also taken in good condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to Fire Media."

Salazar serves children in pre-school through 8th grade. The student enrollment is approximately 430.

This is not the first time that school children in Chicago have been hit with pepper spray. In January, seven children hospitalized when a student sprayed pepper spray in a school lunchroom at a South Side elementary school (CBS Chicago).

Pepper can injure in forms other than spray, however. In May, reports Complex.com, three cafeteria workers at Highland Park High School in Chicago were hospitalized "after a sneaky, yet short-sighted teenager mixed extremely potent hot sauce with the cafeteria's marinara supply." The fumes from the resulting hot sauce "were so strong that the workers had to be hospitalized."

on No comments:
Tags , ,

Happy Friday: Chicago Sh-t Cans 850 Teachers

Photo: Museum of Science and Industry
June 14, 2013 - "About 850 teachers and staffers at schools doomed to either close this month or to reboot their staffs were handed pink slips Friday afternoon, according to Chicago Public Schools," reports the Chicago Sun-Times this afternoon.  

 It's about to get real ugly. Expect protests, and they won't be pretty.
At the 48 closing schools, 420 teachers of 1,005 total lost their jobs, plus 110 paraprofessionals and 133 bus aides and part-timers. At the five schools headed for “turnaround,” where the children remain in the building but all the adults are replaced, 192 staffers were laid off: 125 teachers, 20 paraprofessionals, 20 bus aides and part-timers and 27 clerks, custodians and security staffers. More at the Sun-Times.
And there's this from Chicagoist (my emphasis added):
Layoffs were on the mind of the Chicago Teachers Union earlier this week when CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett unveiled a five-year action plan for the school system aimed at improving education across all grades. CTU fears the evaluation pillar of the plan could result in as many as 6,000 teachers losing their jobs. While the teachers union fears the worst, additional cuts are already underway at CPS. More than $21 million in cuts  are being made at the central office, administrative positions and operations programs as CPS works to close a $1 billion budget deficit. CPS previously announced $31 million in other cuts. Under school based budgeting, principals are responsible for their own staffing plans and may lay off staff at their schools as needed to meet their budgets. More at Chicagoist.

Also See:
on No comments:
Tags , , ,

Crowd laughs as Chicago Teachers Union president talks about killing the rich

Jan. 9, 2013 - Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), thinks killing rich people is funny. So funny, in fact, that she recently joked about the prospect of union members killing the wealthy.

Karen Lewis, CTU Prez
(Chicago Magazine)
Her audience, a bunch of like-minded socialists, thought it was funny too. And why not? A good class warfare joke about murdering the rich is always welcome at these kinds of gatherings, nyet? Da!

Lewis delivered her speech to the Illinois Labor History Society “Salute to Labor’s Historic Heroes from the History Makers of Today,” on Dec. 2, 2013. It attracted attention this week after video of the event surfaced online, says the Daily Caller. "Lewis earned scattered applause from her audience by noting that, approximately 100 years ago, pro-union activists were ready to murder their rich bosses."

Lewis did not disappoint the crowd of class warriors. "She threw gasoline onto the fire of class warfare," notes EAG News, "and even mentioned mob killings of wealthy Americans." EAG quoted Lewis:

“… Do not think for a minute that the wealthy are ever going to allow you to legislate their riches away from them. Please understand that. However, we are in a moment where the wealth disparity in this country is very reminiscent of the robber baron ages. The labor leaders of that time, though, were ready to kill. They were. They were just – off with their heads. They were seriously talking about that.” Some in the audience laughed and clapped at her remark. She was just joking, the Liberal apologists on the Left will say. Uh huh, joking about murder.

"He who jokes confesses," says an old Italian proverb. Lewis's joke about killing the wealthy strikes a chord deep within the hearts of her supporters. Deep down, some of them actually do want to kill the wealthy. A lot of people who support unions really want to kill the rich.

And you can bet your rear end that there are plenty of CTU members who would actually kill the wealthy if ordered to. Of course, they would not kill the wealthy union bosses like Karen Lewis, who pulls down Big Bucks as CTU's pampered president.

Stalin Kill The Rich
Is this Karen Lewis's
spirit animal?
Lewis became CTU's president in June of 2010. "The previous CTU president pulled down nearly $300,000 a year in base salary and compensation," reported TownHall last year. "Local union watchdogs reported that top CTU officers and staff with six-figure salaries and bonuses also received:" 

In addition, top CTU officials received "... a monthly expense account for each administrator -- officers, coordinators and field representatives -- of $1,500; a car allowance of $7,000 per year (whether or not you have a car); 85 percent of car insurance and expenses paid; parking allowance; cellphone allowance; life insurance paid with union dues; and among other perks, a 53rd week of yearly pay for "working" over the Christmas holiday."

The TownHall report also said, "records show that [Lewis] made more than $71,000 for half a year's work in 2010 -- along with compensation from the Illinois Federation of Teachers in 2011 totaling at least an additional $64,000 on top of her unknown base salary and benefits."

Hope. Change. Murder.
EAG asks, "Big salaries with an average income in the $70,000 range. Generous benefits and pensions. Limited work days and nine-month work years. What are these people complaining about?"

Union leaders like Karen Lewis really don't give a damn about the quality of the education your kids are getting in the public schools. All of their agitation and protesting and striking is not "for the children." It's for them, it's for power, it's a means of advancing their socialist power agenda. Well, and a touch of personal greed for all the goodies they can soak the taxpayers for, too.

Lewis's fat salary is probably just barely enough to support her obvious gluttony. A raise might be in order for her, if only to protect the lives of others. After all, if she runs out of food she is likely to eat some of her fellow rich folk.

Related:
on No comments:
Tags , , , , , , ,

Chicago Teachers Strike Ends

Sept. 18, 2012 - The Chicago Teachers Union voted today to end their strike. Teachers will be back in classrooms tomorrow morning (Wednesday), as will some 350,000 affected students. The strike began on Monday, September 10.

"Union delegates voted overwhelmingly to formally suspend the strike," says Fox News today, "after discussing details of a proposed contract settlement worked out over the weekend. Classes were to resume Wednesday." The union only voted on whether or not to keep striking, and today's vote "was not on the contract offer itself," reports Fox, and the "contract will now be submitted to a vote by the full membership of more than 25,000 teachers."

Related:
on
Tags , , , ,

Chicago Teachers Union Infighting May Prolong Strike - CTU President Accused of Selling Out

September 16, 2012 - There are reports of discord and dissent within the ranks of the Chicago Teachers Union. Even as their delegates meet at this hour (3:00 p.m. CDT) to look over the latest version of a proposed deal with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), we are hearing that a number of those delegates are suspicious of CTU President Karen Lewis. This endangers the possibility of 350,000 children returning to school on Monday, Sept. 17.

"CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION SELLOUT"
"While CTU President Karen Lewis and her team are ready to present the details to the House of Delegates this afternoon," reports NBC5 Chicago today, "there is already a vocal faction promising to vote no, said the source. The source added that late into Saturday night, Lewis’ caucus shouted obscenities at her and the other leaders. 'You sold out' and 'Rahm’s getting everything they wanted, what the hell did we get?' The source quoted caucus members saying to her."

There is suspicion, indeed, that the "framework" agreed to by CTU and CPS is tainted. Author Stephen Lendman wrote at MostlyWater.org today that it doesn't smell right. "It's in the air. You can smell and taste it. It's not pleasant. Union bosses and city officials struck a deal." Lendman makes no bones about his feeling that Lewis sold out the union and the teachers it represents for an expedient deal.

on
Tags , , , , ,

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis Wants To Eat Your Children

UPDATE, MAY 7, 2013: 
Kill The Rich, Jokes Chicago Teachers Union President

Not really Karen Lewis,
but a close facsimile
Sept. 10, 2012 - The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) went on strike today, for the first time in over 25 years. More than 26,000 teachers today inconvenienced about 400,000 school kids, putting many in danger of street violence.

This fat pig of a union bully doesn't give a damn about the kids in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). She doesn't care about their parents, either, many of whom had to scramble today to make arrangements for safety of their children.

Here's a special note for you hypersensitive liberals out there who think I'm being rude by posting this image of the vile and grotesque Karen Lewis, or by calling her names. I've got two things to say to you: (1) Fear no art, and (2) Karen Lewis herself has a long history of publicly slandering and viciously mocking people she disagrees with. 

I'll hand you over momentarily to Michelle Malkin, who has some amazing videos of Lewis "bragging about smoking weed in college, cracking homophobic slurs about Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s lisp," and more. In other words, Karen Lewis is not only a big fat loudmouth, she's a cruel big fat loudmouth. Karma, baby.

Here's a video of Lewis telling the audience that she's "too fat to go to jail." She's speaking at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice conference in Seattle on October 1, 2011. While all the teachers union toadies in the audience applauded and laughed at just the right moments, normal people will find it disturbing that this is the kind of disgusting, vile people we have in charge of our kids' education.



My friend Lennie Jarrett made a good observation today at Champion News. He notes that Lewis claims that the CTU is not in the fight for merit pay proposals.

"For those that don’t know," explains Jarrett, "merit pay is based on educational outcomes of the students, not the years of employment or the number of degrees have. By not being interested in educational outcomes of the students, Karen Lewis is telling Chicago parents education doesn’t matter, we just want your money."

Education be damned. Safety of the kids, many left to roam Chicago's dangerous streets unattended, be damned. Taxpayers be damned. Fat cat union thug Karen Lewis just wants more cheese on that.

The strike was called after more than five months of negotiations finally failed late Sunday night, when Lewis announced in a press conference that CTU would man pickets lines instead of classrooms.  Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters today, "Don’t take it out on the kids of Chicago if you have a problem with me." His comments were obviously aimed at Lewis and the CTU.

The situation, by the way, has created some odd political bedfellows. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have publicly condemned the strike - and given public words of support to Mayor Emanuel, Obama's former White House Chief of Staff.

 

Romney said, "It was a strike of choice … it’s unnecessary, it’s avoidable and it’s wrong," reports The Washington Times.

"We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign," Ryan said today, "but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel."

"This does not have to divide the two parties," said Ryan today. "And so, we were going to ask, where does President Obama stand? Does he stand with his former Chief of Staff Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with the children and the parents, or does he stand with the union? On issues like this, we need to speak out and be really clear." Ryan was addressing the fact that Obama has so far not taken a stand on the strike action - and the White House has indicated that he won't. (More about Ryan's comments at ABC News.)

A lot of Republicans, if not all of them, support Emanuel in his fight against the greedy CTU. (One cannot help but think that Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker must have hiccups from laughing.)

To you libs who are "offended" by this, just please shut up. Until I see a flood of your letters and comments condemning Lewis for her offenses, I will just laugh at your own hypocrisy.

Related:
on
Tags , , , , , ,

Video Proof of Communists Indoctrinating Chicago School Children

Che Guevara: Psycho-killer beloved by the Left
May 20, 2010 - VIDEO BELOW - Beneath a “Revolucion” flag with the image of Che Guevara, a DJ played music for the kids in the big gymnasium. A hand made poster on the wall behind him said “Stop Raid Now Legalization.” Despite the bad spelling and grammar, the pro-illegal immigrant message was clear. These folks do not like America, and one of the best ways to bring down any nation is to destroy its borders.

This was part of a shockingly blatant day of communist indoctrination at a Chicago City Colleges (CCC) facility. Hundreds of Chicago students of all ages were invited into a day-long display of revolutionary communist propaganda at the “Social Justice Student Expo” in one of Chicago’s community colleges on the north side on Thursday, May 20.


Presented by Chicago Youth Initiating Change (CYIC), the event had the full blessing of CCC. Communist and socialist literature and artwork were displayed and offered in the Dave Rowland Sports Center on the campus of Harry S Truman College, 1145 West Wilson Avenue in Uptown. Posters told students that “Without Mexicans America Ain’t Nothin” and praising Che Guevara were on the walls.

Vendors sold stickers that were pro-Hugo Chavez (“Boycott ExxonMobil Buy Citgo”), anti-military (“Recruiters Lie Don’t Enlist”), and (believe it or not) stickers urging that we “Impeach Bush/Cheney.” Yes, it’s 2010, but they still want those impeachment hearings.

Many of us are aware of the decades-long efforts by the far Left to propagandize students of every age. We know that many others often do not believe us when we talk or write about it. Here, however, is proof that is undeniable.

No reasonable person could have walked through that expo without seeing it for what it was: Another attempt to indoctrinate young minds to be anti-American, anti-capitalist, and very pro-Communist. The CYIC even has a handy “Classroom Action Guide” for teachers posted at the expo’s website and also on YouTube. CYIC describes itself, in part, this way:

“Chicago Youth Initiating Change (CYIC) is a grassroots organization that brings together youth and teachers from diverse racial, economic and geographic backgrounds to create an educational space to explore social justice issues and carry out social justice initiatives. CYIC is a student and teacher led organization comprised of a wide array of Chicago area public, private, alternative, and charter school members.” See their full “About Us.”

Other items included pro-illegal immigrant books, buttons, shirts and stickers. The book “No One Is Illegal” was for sale, right next to a book titled “The Communist Manifesto - A Road Map to History’s Most Important Political Document.” To CYIC and its supporters, this is all standard fare.

CYIC describes the expo as being “set up like a science or history fair, only students (with support from their teachers) present social justice work that they have done in their classrooms, after-school programs, or community youth organizations. For example, students may present research projects that they conducted in their classrooms on equity in education, gentrification, or environmental racism. Students may also present their work organizing in their schools or communities on issues such as the Iraq War and military recruitment, school closings, or affordable housing.” 

Not a word about reading, writing or arithmetic. The reason is simple enough: The CYIC is really not about “education.” Rather, it’s all about furthering a far Left agenda by means of recruiting children into their cause. Their cause, from all appearances, is the destruction of American society as we know it and to replace it with a communist system.

Another table offered copies of International Socialist Review magazine. Another table displayed fliers urging students to “Build a Wall of Resistance - Don’t Talk to the F.B.I.” There were displays about the Atlantic slave trade (they just can’t let that go in Obama’s “post racial America”), gay power, and more.

A Malcom X display called him “The Liberator of Black Rights.” That odd phrase seems to ignore the fact that Malcom X liberated nothing whatsoever. It was Martin Luther King who brilliantly used a constitution created by white men over 230 years ago to bring full civil rights to Black Americans.

The Malcom X display ignores the fact that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was made possible not only by King’s insistent marching, but by the hundreds of thousands of white men who died in a civil war that brought down the Southern states’ slave economy. Lest we forget, the Civil Rights Act was pushed by President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, but was passed only because the Republicans in Congress supported it and outnumbered the many Democrats who voted against it.

But such is the memory of the communist and socialist crowd. The revisionism of history by the old bosses of the now-extinct Soviet Union is legendary. Those bosses, of course, were communists of the same mindset as those who presented the “Social Justice Student Expo” at Truman College on May 20.

On the night of May 20, the Texas Board of Education made a historically significant decision. Robert Moon reports at Examiner.com:
In a stunning break from the standard public "education" protocol of relentlessly brow-beating children with leftist misinformation against America, white people and Christianity, Texas has forced the textbook industry to start including multiple sides of the story. Through intense negotiations and petty partisan bickering, the Texas Board of Education (which has a huge influence over how textbooks are written in the U.S.) has reversed the trend of erasing our Founding Fathers from the curriculum--a core part of the leftist agenda...
Texas text book decision, however, will have minimal immediate impact nationwide. After decades of Leftist propagandizing in public schools and universities, there are already many millions of Americans whose political sympathies are closer to Mao and Stalin than to Jefferson and Franklin. Even with Texas-approved text books, socialist teachers and professors will continue to spew their Leftist ideology in classrooms.

The late Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI) warned us about this. It’s too bad that McCarthy wasn’t more skilled at public relations. Perhaps enough of us would have listened to him back when it was still not too late. Many others have tried to warn us as well. It's not too late to wake up, is it?

RELATED: 
on No comments:
Tags , , , , , ,

Olympian Lies and School Grades Manipulation

Chicago's Mayor Richard M. Daley is a liar. So are Ron Huberman and Arne Duncan, the current and former chiefs of Chicago Public Schools respectively. 

Here's why, plain and simple: (1) The "improved grades" of Chicago public school children is largely false, a lie perpetrated and probably instigated by Huberman, and probably with Daley's blessing, and (2) Daley's wild claims that the 2016 Olympics would give Chicago a massive profit are roundly shot down by experts.

(1) Daley's Olympic Economics Fantasies Crain's Chicago Business noted this past week that Daley's fantastical claims "that the 2016 Olympics would give Chicago's economy a $22.5-billion boost vastly overstates the likely benefits of hosting the games, experts say."

The Crain's report continued (emphasis added): "That's crazy," says Victor Matheson, a professor of economics at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts who has studied the economic impact of the Olympics. "Anyone using this $22.5-billion number as justification to vote for the Olympics is being led down the garden path." The figure far exceeds estimated benefits in forecasts prepared by other cities that have sought the games. Atlanta, for example, figured the games it hosted in 1996 would produce an economic jolt of just $7 billion in 2009 dollars. (See the full article...)

Professor Matheson doesn't live in Chicago. It's doubtful that he has a partisan interest in the pro vs. con Chicago 2016 argument. It's undoubtedly safe to say that he knows a hell of lot more about the economics of hosting an Olympics than does Richard M. Daley, and that Matheson is more objective about it. We already knew in June that Daley lied when he said that the taxpayers would not lose a dime if Chicago get the Olympics, and the ill-fated meeting in Switzerland proved it. At the meeting, Daley announced that he would "sign the standard Olympic host city contract, which would give the city full financial responsibility for mounting the 2016 Summer Games." (Source) In other words, Chicago taxpayers would get stuck holding the bag if or when the Chicago Olympics loses money.

(2) The Chicago Public Schools Grades Conspiracy Many of us have known for a long time that claims of Chicago school kids' grades improving is a huge exaggeration, if not an outright lie. Now, thanks to the Chicago Sun-Times, we know that grades have been artificially raised in large numbers. An August 29 article, titled "1 in 5 Chicago Public High School teachers say they felt pressure to change grades last school year" demonstrates this with sharp clarity. The report surveyed more than 1,200 Chicago Teachers Union members and sheds light on how desperate city officials are to give the illusion of improvement where there is none.

 An excerpt from that article: The findings raise serious questions about whether some of the data used to judge Chicago public schools has been inflated, artificially manipulated -- or in some cases outright altered.

Back in June, Greg Hinz wrote about the horrible failure of Chicago's public (government-run) schools. In his blog at Crain's Chicago Business, Hinz wrote this (emphasis added): Half of the students drop out by high school, and of those who remain until 11th grade, 70% fail to meet state standards, the report says. In fact, "In the regular (non-magnet) neighborhood high schools, which serve the vast preponderance of students, almost no students are prepared to succeed in college." The report directly challenges widespread claims by current and former CPS officials that local students have shown substantial progress over the last decade on standardized tests. 

 Hinz cites a stunning June, 2009 report (see the PDF) by the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago, which condemns Chicago's public schools in it conclusion (emphasis added): CPS has reported that Chicago s elementary schools have made enormous progress in the course of the past decade - achieving double-digit increases in all grades and all subjects. This claim jarringly conflicts with the flat trends reported in the high schools, and is contrary to the NAEP ("Nation s Report Card”) results. The remarkable apparent progress in the elementary schools appears to be due mostly to changes in the ISAT tests and testing procedures - rather than real improvement in student learning.

Without saying so directly, the report calls Daley, Huberman and Duncan liars.
So we'll say it for them: Daley, Huberman, and Duncan are liars. 

 Schools-Related (Olympics-Related follows):


Olympics-Related:

on No comments:
Tags , , , , , , , ,

Chicago Elementary Students to March in Gay Pride Parade

UPDATE 6/21/09: A well-written article by Wes Lawson at Windy City Times (June 17) gives more information, including fair coverage of my comments with one disagreement - I did not say that I "overstated my case."

 WARNING: This post and its comments deal with controversial sexual and social topics in a blunt and truthful way that most "politically correct" people are incapable of understanding.

 Children at Nettlehorst Elementary will be made to march in a gay pride parade in Chicago during the weekend of June 26-27. Nettlehorst is located at 3252 N. Broadway Street, Chicago, in the East Lakeview neighborhood, also known as "Boys Town."

A typical shop window along a main strip of Boys Town (top left) gives you an idea of the predominant "culture" in this part of Chicago. That culture is based largely on anal intercourse and the pursuit thereof.

 Nettlehorst is a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Magnet Cluster School, a CPS Community School and Fine Arts and Performing Arts Program Site. That's wonderful, but Nettlehorst seems to also be an indoctrination center for gay activism.

On Friday, June 5, a colorful event was held on the asphalt playground of Nettlehorst. Brightly colored swaths of cloth were tied to the wrought iron fence. The cloth was symbolic, and laminated notices attached to the fence explained (my emphasis added):

"Hey, What's This All About? Each Nettlehorst student has tied a piece of fabric to the fence as a tangible sign of his or her personal intention to create a better world. As [sic] Nettlehorst, we've also made a collective intention: that each of us becomes kinder, gentler, and more tolerant. Here, the rainbow colors of gay pride are a visible sign of our respect for the neighborhood of which we are a part, and the diversity of families that we serve. In June, Nettlehorst will be the first public school to walk in Chicago's Gay Pride Parade. We believe family means everybody."

"Everybody," say the little signs of explanation. Does this mean we can look forward to Nettlehorst having the kids tie red, white and blue ribbons to that fence as "a visible sign" of respect for the veterans fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan?
 

How about a pro-gun rally for the kids? Surely there must be one or two Nettlehorst parents who are veterans and/or believe in the right to own a gun for self-protection. No?

Perhaps Nettlehorst can load the kids into some buses and take them to a neighborhood where the biggest annual event does not involve drunken men flashing their bare asses from floats on a public street in a show of "pride." After all, if you really want to round out the kids' education, and if you really believe in teaching diversity and tolerance, shouldn't they include the heterosexual culture as well? Well?

According to the Family Equality Council, "The school has a gay and lesbian parent social group. There are LGBT staff, but the staff overall seems to be very inclusive. Teachers have age-appropriate LGBT books in their classrooms, and the school is participating in the gay pride parade this year...."

Are there any age-appropriate heterosexual books in the classrooms? If so, why not brag about that, too? The staff is "very inclusive?" I challenge any pro-life group to set up a speaking engagement there. Better yet, I challenge Nettlehorst to invite a pro-life group to speak there. That would be very inclusive of them.
on No comments:
Tags , , ,

Funny Alderman Berny Stone Video

If you've never been to a 50th Ward meeting - or any meeting - conducted by Chicago Alderman Berny Stone, I urge you to do so. It's like Vaudeville and Broadway mixed up with the Catskills, packed with drama and finger pointing. I recorded this video on January 14, 2009 at a community meeting in West Ridge (a.k.a, West Rogers Park). The weather was cold as hell that night, but the meeting hall was packed with neighbors concerned about potential parking problems resulting from the new Boone-Clinton public school to be built at 6700 North Whipple. Ald. Stone has a reputation for falling asleep at meetings when he's not the one in charge, but when he is in charge, it's guaranteed that everyone in the room will remain wide awake. I recorded this video mainly for my own archives, but it turns out that it's funny as hell even thought the quality is low. Upon viewing it again, it made me laugh so hard that I wanted to share it with you. Leave a Comment Here... See our cool merchandise... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Hey! ChiNewsBench is on Twitter
on No comments:
Tags , , , ,

Kilmer to Reopen Wednesday, May 6

Kilmer Elementary was shut down on April 29 when a female student there was suspected of having swine flu (influenza strain A9-H1N1). Kilmer is a Chicago government-run school in Rogers Park's 40th Ward, just south of W. Pratt on N. Greenview. Sullivan High School, another government school, is next door to Kilmer but remained open during the Great Rogers Park Flu Panic of 2009. Lake Shore School, a privately run facility half a block from Kilmer, also remained open. (Also see the video about swine flu, below the related items.) RELATED: Chicago school set to reopen after swine flu case - KWQC 6 - May 5, 2009 - Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond says Kilmer Elementary School on the city's North Side will reopen on Wednesday... Schools closed for swine flu set to re-open - Chicago Breaking News - Tribune - May 5, 2009 - Classes will resume at Kilmer Elementary School, 6700 N. Greenview Ave., after officials shut the school down last Wednesday... CommieBama Hats and More Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Follow ChiNewsBench on Twitter
on No comments:
Tags , , ,

No Panic in Rogers Park, Just Stupidity

Is there panic in Rogers Park, Chicago? That's where the first known case of the virus in Illinois caused Kilmer Elementary to be closed yesterday morning (April 29). The short answer: Not really. The longer answer: Yes, but only among a handful of people, and their panic is being fueled by sensationalizing blog posts and small cadre of serial blog commenters. I've been holding back on any real commentary about the "swine flu" in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago until all of the facts have been settled. As of 5:00 p.m. today (April 30), there are just over 40 "probable" cases of swine flu in Illinois. A total of eight Chicago-area schools are now closed in response to known or suspected swine flu cases (source: ABC7 Chicago). There is still only one known case in Rogers Park as far as I can tell from scanning news reports. One single case. Let me correct that. A single known case of one of many strains of influenza. 36,000 Americans die every year of various strains of influenza. Even as the sick Kilmer student was hospitalized yesterday (and we wish her well), there is an unknown number of people in Rogers Park who have some strain of flu or, for that matter, another communicable disease. HIV, for example, or tuberculosis. Of the 60,000 people who are tightly packed into that 2-square mile neighborhood, a single case of influenza should be no cause for panic. I visited Rogers Park on the evening of April 29, the day Kilmer was closed. I walked around and spoke with people at random on the streets. The foot traffic seemed to be normal, with plenty of people walking around. I lived a block and a half north of Kilmer Elementary for 10 years, until last October. I know the neighborhood and its traffic patterns, its feel and its general attitude. By 6:00 p.m., everyone in the neighborhood was aware of the Kilmer flu case. Nobody, not a single person that I spoke with, could be described as being in a state of panic. I saw one girl, perhaps 14 years old, walking with two friends about two blocks from Kilmer, at Pratt and Glenwood. She wore a green surgical mask. Her friends did not, and I saw nobody else wearing a mask or, for that matter, gloves. As I walked around Kilmer Elementary just past 6:00 p.m., a lonley Channel 7 news crew was packing up their gear. The big press conference was that morning at 7:00, when media and media whores gathered to sensationalize and capitalize on the solitary flu case. The crew that I saw had returned to to a live standup report outside of the school. Fear and sensationalism gets viewers, and Channel 7 is in the business of getting viewers. Lake Shore Schools (preschool and grade school) sits at the corner of Glenwood and Pratt, have a block from Kilmer. I spoke with someone at LSS as the staff was leaving. She showed no signs of panic, and said they're keeping an eye on the situation but had no immediate plans to close. LSS is a private school. They have signs on all of their doors that say, "All adults and children must wash their hands" as they enter the school. (Click to enlarge it.) So is one of the local bloggers, Craig Gernhardt, who has been breathlessly posting update after breathless update about the Kilmer case. Since the morning of April 29, he has posting 24 "updates" on the situation (when I looked at 5:50 p.m., April 30). That averages one update every 85 minutes; more often, really, since update #24 came well before 5:50 p.m. today. To be fair, much of what he's written has been tongue-in-cheek. For example, "Furthermore, [49th Ward Alderman] Joe Moore is leading the charge to create an ordinance banned [sic] swine flu in Chicago. After going though [sic] a few committee hearings, the swine flu ban is expected to reach a full city council vote in November." Y'okay, ha ha. Gernhardt cornered Ald. Moore on video on the 29th. Kilmer Elementary is just south of Moore's 49th Ward border, but there he was, jumping in front of every TV camera in the neighborhood, whoring for exposure. and asks him a very good question: "Why are you concerned about this when you've had a couple murders in the past six months in your ward? Shouldn't murders be as much of an issue as swine flu in the 40th Ward?" One of those murders was right outside of Moore's own ward service office at Jarvis and Greenview. Moore's answer: "Clearly this is a public health issue and it's important to get the information out." Moore is well known as a hypocrite to residents of his ward. He seems to be saying that a rash of murders, not to mention the endemic narcotics street trade in the 49th Ward, are not public health concerns. Although he rushed out to get on camera at Kilmer, Moore never rushes out to the scene of a murder. He never stands vigil on any corners known to be hot spots of gang activity or drug sales. Judging from his actions, Joe Moore is indeed more interested a single case of influenza than in the greater, longer-term effects of crack sales, murder, prostitution, robbery, sex offenses, kidnapping, and... the list is endless. If only the victims of those crimes were suffering from a bout of influenza. Perhaps then Mr. Moore would show some public sympathy for them. Maybe, but only if he could be guaranteed that television crews would be there. Moore and the Chicago City Council happily allow unregulated, uninspected vendors to sell their unrefrigerated food from filthy plywood carts on the streets of Rogers Park. But a case of flu in a neighboring ward? Now that's a public health issue. There is now at least one more suspected case of swine flu in Rogers Park. Loyola University's campus in Rogers Park is just a few blocks from Kilmer Elementary. After Moore was done whoring his media time, "officials at Loyola University Chicago announced later in the day that one Loyola student, a 20-year-old male who lived on campus, had probably contracted swine flu." (Source) It is "suspected," not yet confirmed. Only the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta can officially declare it to be a particular strain of influenza, and testing can take from 24 to 72 hours. Mayor Daley is another hypocrite in the whole swine flu hype, too. Vice President Joe Biden was criticized by Daley for a comment he made on NBC News' Today show on April 30. "I would tell members of my family, and I have, 'I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now,''' Biden said (source). Now, far be for me to agree with Joe Biden, but that comment seems like good advice. Yet Mayor Daley, the man who is ordering entire schools shut down because of individual cases of influenza, criticized Biden for saying that. Daley's response was self-contradictory. "We all have to get to work. I mean, we’d be staying out of our cars. We’d be staying out of subways, out of elevators – how about elevators? No, no, no. You have to remember – we have to … use some common sense." (source). Uh, yes, and Biden's advice was good common sense. If you don't have to be in a closed, confined space, don't be. We all have to get to work, Daley tells us. That's easy for him to say - the anti-gun mayor has armed security people to chauffeur him anywhere he wants to go. Daley doesn't need to worry about catching anything on a bus or subway. But what if you get sick? Or what if you're afraid that many others around you might be ill - and contagious? It makes sense, under such circumstances, to take a car instead of public transit if you can, or take the steps up a flight or two instead of an elevator. Daley has no problem, apparently, with you or your child catching the flu on a CTA train or bus, or in an elevator. Just don't catch it in a public school. Meanwhile, everyone who has come in contact with the Loyola student or the 12-year old at Kilmer are free to ride in crowded elevators, subway cars, or stroll through crowded shopping malls. Should they be stopped? No, and in that regard Daley is right and it exposes the lie that all the hype about this version of swine flu really is. This all reminds of me a quote by local boy Rahm Emanuel, a good friend of Joe Biden. Emanuel said, "It's important not to let a crisis go to waste." (Source) That applies to any crisis, I suppose, whether it's real, manufactured, or greatly exaggerated. The weird thing is that nobody seems to taking any great advantage of the "crisis" of pending pandemic swine flu except for some of the pharmaceutical companies, and they've essentially been given marching orders by government. So, if this "crisis" really is a crisis, it seems that the politicians are letting it go to waste. Why not just declare martial law now and order us all to wear masks under threat of summary execution? Why no drastic measures for what they keep saying is a drastic situation? It makes no sense. If the government is so concerned with this health care "crisis," and if it's really about to become a pandemic, as the World Health Organization (WHO) is now warning, why are people not being quarantined? I am not advocating quarantining, but if the government truly believes this to be such a threat, then why are they not using that option? Why are people like Mayor Daley not praising Joe Biden for his comment, and even urging citizens to avoid unnecessary trips on public transportation? The short answer: It's all B.S. It's not really the big deal they say it is. It's just another wave of flu, but it's a great opportunity for camera face time and, by God, it sure sells a lot of newspapers. Oh, and Big Pharma is loving this, too. As I walked around Rogers Park, I spotted two youngster sitting on some steps behind Kilmer Elementary. Two boys, about 14 or 15 years old, chatting after dinner. I asked them if they knew about the school being closed. They did. I asked if they were scared by all the talk of the swine flu. "I'm not scared," one said with smile, "maybe a little bit worried, but I wash my hands." "Are you washing your hands more now than before this swine flu?" I asked him. "No," he said, "I always wash my hands. That's just good hygiene. People should wash their hands." His friend was nodding as he said this. Perhaps Joe Biden should have just suggested hand washing. RELATED: State labs: US swine flu cases likely higher Cases of swine flu suspected in Rogers Park and at Loyola More than 40 probable swine flu cases reported in Illinois More schools close, swine flu cases pass 100 Transportation agencies voice frustration over Biden's remarks Ben Goldacre: Swine flu and hype – a media illness Comment is ... Egyptian farmers forced to kill swine herds CommieBama Hats and More Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Follow ChiNewsBench on Twitter
on No comments:
Tags , , , , , ,

Huberman Furor Heats Up

No sign of the Huberman Outrage letting up. In fact, it seems to be building. A former mayoral candidate is challenging Mayor Daley's process in his selection (crowning) of Ron Huberman as the new chief of Chicago Public Schools. William Dock Walls, according to Chi-Town Daily News, "is attacking Mayor Richard M. Daley’s choice to run the Chicago Public Schools. In a suit filed today in Cook County Circuit Court, one-time Harold Washington aide and 2007 Mayoral candidate William Dock Walls alleges Daley violated the city’s municipal code, when he appointed former CTA President Ron Huberman schools CEO." Full Story at Chi-Town Daily News... Gee, Mayor Daley violating the city's municipal code? Is that the same Mayor Daley who bulldozed Meigs Field in the middle of the night? That Mayor Daley? Nah! Is Daley a Racist? Is Jesse Jackson a Homophobe? Huberman had a public coming-out moment last week when he announced that he's gay. Since then, anybody who criticizes him - anybody, that is, who is perceived to be conservative - is instantly labeled as a bigot, a homophobe, or just a hateful person. Why are the Gay Community and Liberals not calling Reverend Jesse Jackson or Dock Walls or Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown those names for opposing the Huberman appointment? Why isn't Mayor Daley being labeled a racist and a sexist because he chose a non-black man over a more qualified African-American woman (Barbara Eason-Watkins)? Hmmm? Even the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is criticizing the Huberman coronation. (Are they bigoted homophobes, too?) They wrote: The outrage from the school board’s proposal was intensified by Daley’s appointment of former Chicago Transit Authority CEO Ron Huberman to replace Duncan. During his tenure at CTA, Huberman cut services, raised fares and slashed jobs. Full Article at pslweb.org... I don't often agree with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, but we're in agreement here. When will the people of Chicago finally storm City Hall with pitchforks and torches and demand an end to the tyranny? It will be interesting to see how the City Council responds to all of this. Don't count on any of them going against Daley. Well, perhaps Joe Moore, but only if it looks like it will pass anyway. That way, he can safely say that he went against Daley. RELATED: Black leaders say no to Huberman for CPS (Chicago Defender) Black leaders lament Huberman appointment (Chicago Defender) Ron Huberman the wrong choice for CPS (Austin Weekly News) Ron Huberman booed, heckled at his 1st school board meeting (Chicago Tribune) Huberman Flies Into the Gay-dar (Chicago News Bench) Huberman Flies Into the Gay-dar (Illinois Review) Ron Huberman: The mayor's man (Chicago Sun-Times) CNB RSS Feed
on No comments:
Tags , , ,

Charter Schools, Choice, and Moral Controversy

Fran Eaton writes a great column in today's Southtown Star, in which she discusses Ron Huberman, the state of the public schools, parental choice and more. School choice advocates say the debate about education alternatives is long overdue, and they're absolutely right....The debate over schools, children and funding has been focused too long on how many education dollars are available and whether or not they are evenly distributed. Perhaps this moral controversy over CPS leadership will finally turn the discussion to what matters most. Full Article... CNB RSS Feed
on No comments:
Tags , , ,

Bigoted Hissy-Fit From Windy City Watch

Oooo, they're soooo sennn-sitive over at Windy City Watch (WCW). Seems their boa feathers are all ruffled over two posts about Ron Huberman, one by me on Monday, Feb. 2, and another by Illinois Review (IR).

The IR post drew heavily from my post of the same title, "Huberman Flies Into the Gay-dar." WCW is accusing us of bigotry and homophobia. Like the "Reverend" Jesse Jackson's knee-jerk, viper-quick ability to falsely accuse good people of racism, the anonymous writer at WCW has falsely accused me of homophobia and bigotry in a post today (Feb. 3). They're wrong, and pitifully so, made all the worse by the glaring fact that the nameless WCW writer seems to have completely missed the points of what both Illinois Review and I were making. 

(WARNING: This will be a long post, probably too long for the hate-addled writer at WCW to be able to focus on to the end, but I have faith that the rest of you can tough it out.)
Let's review what Windy City Watch wrote in its off-target post, incorrectly titled "Illinois Review goes all homophobic on Ron Huberman."
In a commentary posted this week regarding Ron Huberman's appointment to be the new CEO of the Chicago Public Schools and the revelation that he is gay, the Illinois Review (IR) wrote: Frankly we agree with (Tom) Mannis, that it's all rather disturbing that the Mayor kept that particular important part of Huberman's social life a secret until after the new CPS CEO was confirmed by the school board. It's like finding out after the fact that your new Treasury Secretary had no problem ripping off the IRS. You feel foolish for trusting those in authority to appoint not only qualified, but moral people. 
Let's pause here for analysis. Notice, please, that up to this point WCW is quoting Illinois Review, not me. Before we proceed, a quick trip backwards in time to Salem, Massachusetts might be fun: "She's a witch," the old priests would to scream. 

Suddenly, because of fear and paranoia, and because someone with "authority" declared it so, villagers who had been long time friends with the now-accused "witch" believed the accusation. Why? Well, they all just knew that there witches living among them, and so they were eager to ferret them out.

WCW is hunting witches. Indoctrinated by years of hateful anti-heterosexual (heterophobic) propaganda, people like the nameless writer at WCW have been made to be bigots themselves, prejudiced to the point where they assume that even legitimate criticism of a man's actual qualifications - or lack thereof, in the Huberman case - must be homophobia, xenophobia, or some other phobia. WCW and other paranoids succumb to hysteria and are convinced that they see bigotry even when it cannot be rationally demonstrated. The only true offense here is the false accusation of bigotry made by WCW against Illinois Review and me.

Let's continue with WCW's poorly considered rant:
Say what? We would like IR and Mannis to explain to us how Huberman keeping his sexual orientation a secret is disturbing. It is his own private business and has no impact on his ability to serve the people of Chicago admirably and honorably. The homophobic neanderthals [sic] over at IR might be startled to learn that over their many collective years of schooling a few of their teachers most likely belonged to GLBT community. Its [sic] this type of unabashed bigotry that makes it hard for us to take the ultra conservative movement seriously. 
WCW is asking, in an australopithecine way, for an explanation from Illinois Review and me as to why "[Huberman] keeping his sexual orientation a secret is disturbing."

I cannot speak for IR, but after re-reading their post several times it is my opinion that there is no homophobia or bigotry there.

Illinois Review wrote: 
"You feel foolish for trusting those in authority to appoint not only qualified, but moral people. And in the case of Huberman, the education qualifications to head the nation's third largest school district are especially skimpy." 
Many education leaders in Chicago agree that Huberman is not qualified to lead CPS. As for the "moral" reference, the crux of my post - which Illinois Review was agreeing with - was that Huberman has been less than honest about being gay. Dishonesty, most of would agree, is immoral. (Imagine if Rahm Emanuel had never publicly admitted to being Jewish, but then held a press conference after Obama's inauguration to announce that fact. How would people feel about him being ashamed of what he is, and of being deceitful about it until it was politically convenient to come out with it?

Suppose Mitt Romney had been elected president, and then announced that he'd been a Mormon all his life.) I will explain what I wrote, as requested by WCW.

Let me start my explanation by suggesting to WCW that he/she re-read my post, but this time think about what I wrote rather than only reacting to what he/she imagined I wrote. To aid in the explanation, I will present excerpts from my post.

I began my post with, "Normally, I don't care what somebody's sexual orientation is so long as it only involves consenting adults." That is hardly "unabashed bigotry."

I then wrote, "There is an aspect to the story....and that's Huberman's dishonesty. Up til now, Huberman has been flying under the gay-dar. That is, many of us knew or suspected that he was gay, but he did not wear it on his sleeve. Stories about him slinking around the gay clubs along Halsted and Broadway in Boys' Town (usually at Sidetrack) have circulated for years, but he did not acknowledge it publicly."

Everything in the above paragraph is true. I made no comment on his gay clubbing. ("Slinking," by the way, is not homo-specific. News flash: Plenty of heterosexuals also "slink" from bar to bar every night.) Keep in mind, as you continue to read, that militant gay organizations often "out" closeted gay people. Nobody accuses them of being homophobic, bigoted or Neanderthals.

Here is where I made the main point of my post: 
Suddenly, however, Huberman could no longer hide this fact when, in the wake of Daley's announcement, gay blogs throughout Chicago were emblazoned with posts screaming about Huberman finally coming out of the closet. Comments sections were steaming, too. Then tell us why the proud gay Huberman waited until now to admit that he's gay. Does that sound "proud" to you? And are you ready to admit that he probably would not have gone public had it not been for his outing in the gay media? When I, a straight guy, simply said that he was "popular in the gay community," I stopped short of outing the man. I did that out of respect for his privacy. How much respect have the gay websites shown Huberman by outing him for nothing more than a petty, selfish desire to seize upon some misdirected need to self actuate?
WCW, too busy wiping the foaming spittle from his/her rage-twisted, twitching lips to properly analyze my post, missed my point and the fact that I was actually dissing the gay web sites for outing Huberman, which probably contributed to the Daley-Huberman decision to announce his sexual orientation. In other words, I actually defended Huberman's right to privacy, and at no time have I written that his homosexuality disqualifies him for any job with the city. What I said, to paraphrase myself, was that Huberman, apparently embarrassed by his homosexuality for many years, finally admitted it publicly but only after being effectively outed by bloggers from within his own community.

I will add that Huberman and Daley announced it for political expediency, period. Homosexuality in the case of a CTA chief is irrelevant, whereas it is very relevant in the minds of many for a man taking the reigns of a school system. It is not about sexual preference, however. It's about a man whose character caused him to hide that sexual preference, even from most of his own gay brethren, and even in a city and an era wherein such closeted behavior is rarely necessary. It is about a man with zero experience in education administration. It is about a man who was not forthright or transparent, and so this is about a man who is - to put it simply - deceitful. What else might Ron Huberman be hiding? What else is he ashamed of? 

Daley and Huberman, intelligent men both, understood this and undoubtedly discussed an announcement of Huberman's gayness before the announcement that he was the one chosen by Daley to head CPS. I believe it is safe to say that, had Daley chosen Huberman to head up Streets and Sanitation, there would have been no announcement that Huberman is gay. There would have been no political reason to. Daley and Huberman were smart enough to realize immediately, however, that as CPS chief, Huberman's sexual orientation would have come to light sooner than later. Better to come forth with it publicly and early on, they probably reasoned, rather than have it leaked or revealed and let the story spin itself out of control. It was a brilliant thing to do. 

As I said, it exposed a dishonesty on the part of Huberman. He was dishonest to his own gay community. To have pretended not be with them was disrespectful and insulting. Some Chicago gays knew he was homosexual, but as many surprised commenters on the gay websites have demonstrated, most did not. 

I finished my post with this:
In short Huberman has been living a public lie. He has insulted the LGBT community by hiding his homosexuality. How's that for "pride?" How does one justify that in this day and age, when tolerance for gays is virtually universal in this country? What does Huberman's dishonesty about the essence of what and who he is say about his overall character?
WCW wrapped up his/her angry post with this:
What is immoral with hiring a gay man with an excellent resume and proven track record to run a school system? Awe bigotry, isn't amazing. [sic]
I never said that hiring Huberman was "immoral," although I did criticize Daley's decision to put Huberman in charge of CPS, which is a more complicated creature than CTA is, based only on what I perceive as his shoddy performance as head of CTA. As for bigotry being amazing, well, it certainly can be. It can blind one to reason and clear thinking, as WCW has shown us. The false perception of bigotry is equally amazing. What's disturbing, however, is the assumption - indeed, the prejudiced expectation - of bigotry, and then seeing bigotry where none exists. 

To wrap all of this up, and provide myself with one more opportunity to mock Windy City Watch, let me say that I would like WCW to explain to me how Huberman being ashamed of his sexual orientation and so keeping it a secret is not disturbing. 

I agree, as I have written more than once, that it is his own private business and has no impact on his ability to serve the people of Chicago admirably and honorably. The heterophobic, paranoid neanderthals over at IR might be startled to learn that over their many collective years of schooling a few of their teachers most likely belonged to GLBT community. 
on No comments:
Tags , , , , , , , ,

14 Year Old Boy Impersonates Mayor of Chicago

How the hell does the idiot Mayor of Chicago keep getting re-elected? By now, you've all heard about the 14 year old boy who impersonated a Chicago police officer. In yesterday's Chicago Tribune, Daley was quoted as defending - hang on, this gets frikking weirder by the sentence - as defending Police Superintendent Jody Weis's decision to have the US Secret Service investigate the boy and the utter lack of prudence by police officials. That kid would have been asked for a photo ID by just about any 7-Eleven clerk if he'd asked for cigarettes. The cops just hand out cars now without an ID? To little boys? And the Secret Service is investigating?!? And the CPD can't do its own internal investigation?!?!? WTF!?!?! The Tribune quoted Mayor Daley: "What bothers me is I’d hate to see it at Halloween if everybody walks in – a 12- or 14-year-old walks into a police station on Halloween, they'll be handed a desk. They'll give them a car. They'll give them a badge … That's a real concern that we have." Well, maybe now it's a real concern, but obviously it was not much of one when the kid bamboozled half the CPD. God Almighty, and Mayor Daley thinks Weis is just wonderful for asking the Secret Service to do the investigation? By the way, doesn't the Secret Service have more urgent things to worry about? I might be wrong, but I think they do. Okay, so after giving his stamp of approval to a police superintendent whose force allowed a kid, a boy, to fake his way into a uniform and a squad car, Mayor Daley goes on to give his stamp of approval to Ron Huberman, his pick for new head of Chicago Public Schools. And what is the reason that Daley gave for thinking Huberman is the perfect guy for they job? What the...!?!? Why, Huberman's perfect because he has no experience at running a school system! Really!!! Nobody could make this shit up, people! If you wrote this as a screenplay you'd be laughed out of the producer's office. Hell, it would never make past the first reading, actually, but here's Mayor Daley blessing two of his top guys - one for not doing his job well, the other for knowing nothing about the job he's about to take on! Huh?!?! CNB RSS Feed
on No comments:
Tags , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)