Wednesday Open Thread

8 Sep 2010 Author: rikyrah

WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 07: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Judith Jamison observes a workshop with dance students from across the country in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2010 in Washington, DC. First Lady Michelle Obama is hosting The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison to honor Jamison for her outstanding career as an American dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of the dance theater for the past 20 years.
—-Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Good Morning.

As you make it through Hump Day, don’t forget JJP.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And always, have a peaceful day.

Students from different dancing schools take part in a workshop in the East Room at the White House in Washington on September 7, 2010. US First Lady Michelle Obama invited world renowned dance companies to perform at the Administration?s first event celebrating dance. The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison will honor Jamison for her outstanding career as dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the past 20 years.
—-JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison ceremony in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 7, 2010. Michelle Obama invited world renowned dance companies to perform at the Administration?s first event celebrating dance. The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison will honor Jamison for her outstanding career as an American dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the past 20 years.
—-JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Linda Celeste Sims of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs during “The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison” in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 7, 2010. US First Lady Michelle Obama invited world renowned dance companies to perform at the Administration?s first event celebrating dance. The event was organized to tribute to Judith Jamison for her outstanding career as an American dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the past 20 years.
—-JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 07: The East Room of the White House is transformed into a dance studio during a workshop for students from across the country September 7, 2010 in Washington, DC. First Lady Michelle Obama is hosting the workshop with students from the Alvin Ailey School, Ballet Hispanico, Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Washington School of Ballet, the National Dance Institute’s New York, Colorado and New Mexico affiliates, the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center and the Philadelphia School for Creative and Performing Arts.
—-Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 07: Malia Obama (L) and Sasha Obama (R) attend the first White House Dance Series with their mother, First Lady Michelle Obama, in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2010 in Washington, DC. The dance event was a tribute to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Judith Jamison, a famous modern dancer, choreographer and muse to Alvin Ailey.
—-Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a tribute to renowned dancer, Judith Jamison, choreographer and artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010.
—-AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 07: First Lady Michelle Obama embraces Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Judith Jamison during the first White House Dance Series in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2010 in Washington, DC. The dance event was a tribute Jamison, a famous modern dancer, choreographer and muse to Alvin Ailey.
—-Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
rikyrah
Obama Against a Compromise on Extension of Bush Tax Cuts
By JACKIE CALMES
Published: September 7, 2010
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday will make clear that he opposes any compromise that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy beyond this year, officials said, adding a populist twist to an election-season economic package that is otherwise designed to entice support from big businesses and their Republican allies
Mr. Obama’s opposition to allowing the high-end tax cuts to remain in place for even another year or two would be the signal many Congressional Democrats have been awaiting as they prepare for a showdown with Republicans on the issue and ends speculation that the White House might be open to an extension. Democrats say only the president can rally wavering lawmakers who, amid the party’s weakened poll numbers, feel increasingly vulnerable to Republican attacks if they let the top rates lapse at the end of this year as scheduled.
It is not clear that Mr. Obama can prevail given his own diminished popularity, the tepid economic recovery and the divisions within his party. But by proposing to extend the rates for the 98 percent of households with income below $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals — and insisting that federal income tax rates in 2011 go back to their pre-2001 levels for income above those cutoffs — he intends to cast the issue as a choice between supporting the middle class or giving breaks to the wealthy.
In a speech in Cleveland on Wednesday, Mr. Obama will also make a case for the package of roughly $180 billion in expanded business tax cuts and infrastructure spending disclosed by the White House in bits and pieces over the past few days. He would offset the cost by closing other tax breaks for multinational corporations, oil and gas companies and others.
While the speech will be centrist in its policy prescriptions other than the Bush tax cuts, Mr. Obama’s language will be partisan as he seeks to sharpen the contrasts between Republicans’ record and efforts by Democrats to create more jobs, aides said.
White House officials have strenuously avoided labeling the proposal a second stimulus plan, a phrase that has taken on negative political connotations since the original roughly $800 billion recovery plan and subsequent additions have failed to push unemployment down substantially.
But it would provide his party with an agenda for the home stretch of the midterm campaign — though one with a small chance of being enacted quickly or helping the economy before Election Day if it were.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/us/politics/08obama.html
rikyrah
In a New Role, Teachers Move to Run Schools
By WINNIE HU
Published: September 6, 2010
NEWARK — Shortly after landing at Malcolm X Shabazz High School as a Teach for America recruit, Dominique D. Lee grew disgusted with a system that produced ninth graders who could not name the seven continents or the governor of their state. He started wondering: What if I were in charge?
Three years later, Mr. Lee, at just 25, is getting a chance to find out. Today, Mr. Lee and five other teachers — all veterans of Teach for America, a corps of college graduates who undergo five weeks of training and make a two-year commitment to teaching — are running a public school here with 650 children from kindergarten through eighth grade.
As the doors opened on Thursday at Brick Avon Academy, they welcomed students not as novice teachers following orders from the central office, but as “teacher-leaders.”
“This is a fantasy,” Mr. Lee said. “It’s six passionate people who came together and said, ‘Enough is enough.’ We’re just tired of seeing failure.”
The Newark teachers are part of a growing experiment around the country to allow teachers to step up from the classroom and lead efforts to turn around struggling urban school systems. Brick Avon is one of the first teacher-run schools in the New York region, joining a charter school in Brooklyn started in 2005 by the United Federation of Teachers.
Others have opened in Boston, Denver, Detroit and Los Angeles.
At Brick Avon, the principal, Charity Haygood, who calls herself the “principal teacher,” teaches every day, as do the two vice principals; Ms. Haygood started her career in Teach for America and eventually became vice principal for five years at another school.
While they are in charge of disciplining and evaluating staff members, they plan to defer all decisions about curriculum, policies, hiring and the budget to a governance committee made up largely of teachers elected by colleagues.
The school has 38 teachers, including Mr. Lee, Ms. Haygood and the other four Teach for America veterans who took it over.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/education/07teachers.html?src=me&ref=general
rikyrah
Narrative-Busting New Gallup Poll Excites Dems Briefly
Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 7, 2010, 6:25PM
A week after leading the charge of polls showing the GOP with a huge lead in generic congressional ballot polls, Gallup is out with new numbers today that dump a bucket of cold water on that very idea.
According to the latest Gallup survey of registered voters, Republicans and Democrats are tied on the congressional ballot question with each drawing 46% of the vote. Last week's poll showed the GOP ahead by 10, leading 51-41.
Not surprisingly, Republicans flooded reporters' inboxes with the results of last week's Gallup poll. Same story for coverage of today's big national polls from ABC News/Washington Post and NBC News/Wall Street Journal, both of which showed Republicans with big leads among likely voters. Tonight, it's the Democrats' turn to hit the “fwd” button, blanketing the fourth estate with links to the Gallup poll ostensibly bursting the “Democratic strategy = rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” narrative.
How long will the euphoria last for Democrats?
Guess it depends on what the next poll says. The TPM Poll Average shows Republicans leading the generic ballot question 49.1-41.7, meaning that in aggregate the signs are still very bad for Democrats.
Especially when you consider that the worst news for Democrats in the polls concerns voter enthusiasm, or the likelihood that a given party's base will actually show up to the polls in November. Republicans have dominated that race for months, with Democrats lagging while supporters of a potential GOP-run Congress seemingly get more and more fired up. Today's Gallup poll, though something of a mini-narrative buster on the generic ballot front, confirms that Democrats are still in a heap of trouble when it comes to voter enthusiasm.
“There has been no change in the advantage Republicans hold over Democrats on motivation to vote in the fall elections,” the venerated pollster reported today. “Republicans remain twice as likely as Democrats to be 'very enthusiastic' about voting, tied with the previous week's measure as the largest such advantage of the year.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/narrative-busting-new-gallup-poll-of-2010-excites-dems-briefly.php
rikyrah
New account undermines Coburn's public claims about role in Ensign affair Hotlist
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by Jed Lewison
Tue Sep 07, 2010 at 06:30:05 PM PDT
In the latest issue of New Yorker, Peter J. Boyer delivers a fascinating portrait of The Fellowship, the secretive religious group behind the C Street house. Among the interesting nuggets in Boyer's piece are some new details about Tom Coburn's role in ending John Ensign's affair with the wife of Ensign's former top aide.
As you may recall, both Coburn and Ensign were residents of the C Street house during the affair. Ensign publicly admitted to the affair in June, 2009 after the husband of Ensign's former mistress told Fox News about the senator's indiscretions. (Ensign's office said he had learned that Hampton had contacted FNC before Ensign's public admission. Nonetheless, despite learning about the affair before any other cable news channel, Fox waited until Ensign's public confession to report the story. In fact, Fox was the last cable news channel to report on it.)
Tom Coburn
When the husband of Ensign's former mistress contacted Fox about the affair, he told them that Tom Coburn had been aware of it since at least February, 2008. That brought Coburn into the story, albeit unwillingly. Of particular interest was the husband's claim that Coburn had urged Ensign to offer the mistress money as compensation for the hardship the affair had caused, a claim Coburn vehemently denied.
Boyer's new article doesn't deal with the financial question, but the story he tells does challenge several of Coburn's claims about his knowledge and role (claims that never added up in the first place). Here's a summary of the instances in which Boyer's narrative contradicts or questions Coburn's public claims:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/7/899607/-New-account-undermines-Coburns-public-claims-about-role-in-Ensign-affair
rikyrah
Barack Obama: $400 Billion in Major New Investments in America
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 | Posted by Spandan C. aka Deaniac83
I think that by now you all caught yesterday's Labor Fest speech by President Obama. The President was fired up (if you haven't watched the speech yet, by the way, follow the link and you can see the video), and so was the crowd. But the President didn't go there just to rally the troops. He proposed an important new investment in the nation's infrastructure: $50 billion in new federal infrastructure spending.
Alongside it, the Obama administration is proposing two more economic investment measures: a $100 billion incentive for research and development by increasing extending the R&D tax credit permanently, and a $200 billion plan to let businesses write off all capital investments. Of course, Democrats and the President are still pushing for the small business jobs bill that the Republicans have been blocking in the Senate, with $30 billion in loan guarantees and $12 billion in tax cuts for small business.
Put them all together, and the Obama administration is front-loading a near-$400 billion investment in America's economy and jobs. Let's go through these investments one by one.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/
rikyrah
Update: About that 10-pt Gallup Gap… Hotlist
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by Brainwrap [Subscribe]
Tue Sep 07, 2010 at 02:45:31 PM PDT
OK, I know that things are looking pretty bad across the board at the moment, and I know that we can NOT afford to be complacent in any way, shape or form.
And yes, I realize that you can't take a single snapshot poll and draw any real conclusions; this weeks' results are just as likely to be a major outlier as last weeks'.
And yes, the same poll also reiterates a massive “enthiusiasm gap” for the Dems.
Still, when I read this all I could say was…WTF???
* Brainwrap's diary :: ::
*
Dems close gap to tie GOP in Gallup's generic ballot poll
Democrats and Republicans are tied in a test of voters' preference for generic congressional candidates, a new Gallup poll found Tuesday.
Gallup's weekly tracking poll of the generic ballot, a key predictor of voters' actions in elections, showed Democrats and Republicans tied at 46 percent — down from the 10-point lead the GOP held just a week ago.
The shift, the polling group noted, marked the first time in five weeks where Republicans didn't hold some sort of advantage over Democrats. Last week's 51-41 percent lead was heralded as “unprecedented” for Republicans.
Really?? Don't get me wrong, I certainly hope that this is an accurate representation of a strong trend back in the Dems favor–it'd be nice if the electorate at large has finally snapped out of it and realized that there's a huge difference between “well-meaning but somewhat ineffectual” and “evil, stupid and insane”. However, has there really been any dramatic events in the past week that have somehow shifted the zeitgeist that much?
Let's hope it's legit, and that it continues in this direction.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/7/899901/-Update:-About-that-10-pt-Gallup-Gap…
rikyrah
Charter vs. Public Schools: Fear and loathing in education
How perceptions about charter schools can lead us astray
By: John S. Wilson | TheLoop21 (Add to your loop)
Thu, 09/02/2010 – 00:33
A charter school opens, does well, wins praise, and becomes a model of reform for many others. Does this sound familiar? It should. It’s practically the charter school movement’s slogan. And it’s a somewhat similar happenstance when a public school or district is successful as well.
But that’s where the similarities end. Because when both the charter school and the public school are underperforming, they are each treated quite differently. The charter school typically gets the ‘one bad apple shouldn’t ruin the whole bunch’ treatment while the public school is deemed emblematic of a dysfunctional national public school system. Why is this the case? Largely, it is a matter of perception and not reality.
First, the reality: charter schools are independently operated and exempt from many school board regulations, and they are financed with public dollars and open to all students. This operational independence has led to the perception that they are more autonomous, and consumed by less bureaucracy, thus, more nimble and better suited for current educational reform. And since charter schools are not a collective, it has also reinforced the one bad apple theory that doesn’t shackle all charters with the failure of one school.
Phi Delta Kappa, a prestigious professional association for educators, has done polling on perceptions of K-12 education since 1985. Most recently, when respondents were asked: “What grade would you give the public schools nationally — A, B, C, D, or FAIL?” A whopping 79 percent gave a C grade or lower, an increase of 16 percent from just five years ago.
While perceptions about public schools was deteriorating, they were increasing on multiple measures for charter schools. Respondents were asked a number of questions about charter schools. Three in particular stand out:
“Do you favor or oppose the idea of charter schools?”
68 percent were in support, an increase of 19 percent from five years ago.
“Generally speaking, would you support a large increase in the number of public charter
schools operating in the United States?”
60 percent said yes.
“Would you support new public charter schools in your community?”
65 percent were in favor.
Clearly, if the public believes that reform is possible — and it is safe to say they do because there is a considerable amount of clamor for it (although debate rages as to what reform should consist of) — then the increased support for charter schools may equate to stronger confidence that they can get the job done.
And it is this confluence of facts, opinions, and a yearning for something to be done that essentially determines how people feel about a charter school failure versus a public school one.
http://www.theloop21.com/society/fear-and-loathing-education
rikyrah
September 06, 2010 05:00 PM
Ali Velshi: Working Men and Women and the Unemployed are Not a Special Interest Group
By Heather
Here's something I never thought I'd hear myself saying… thank you Ali Velshi! He's absolutely correct here and the working class and the unemployed in America are not a “special interest group” as RNC Communications Director Doug Heye called them earlier in this segment on CNN's Rick List, following President Obama's barn burner of a speech he gave for Labor Day. He also did a nice job of knocking back his talking points on small businesses feeling “squeezed” by Obama's policies and not hiring because of “unpredictability” on government policy.
SANCHEZ: Ali, what did you see? And, you know, you look at the economic side of this. There are some new numbers out today that seem to show that more and more Americans are taking jobs that they don't necessarily want, but you know what? Any port in a storm, buddy.
ALI VELSHI: That is exactly right.
SANCHEZ: Sometimes you don't get the job you want. You get the job you can get at the time.
So, the president is pushing on special interests, seeming to be blaming corporatists for keeping Americans from those jobs. That's what I heard. Is he right?
VELSHI: Let me just give you a little perspective.
Doug said something that I think needs to be challenged here. There are special interests in this group. There's no question. And everybody caters to them. Working men and women of America and those 14 million who are not working who would like to be, they are not a special interest group.
You want GDP to go up? People have to have jobs. You want to stop foreclosing on homes? People have to have jobs. So to say that the president talking to working people is pandering to a special interest is quite remarkable to me.
Now, back to the point, the fact is you're right. This was a campaign — this was a president on fire. This was a president who was back into campaign mode. But the reality is there is an anger out there that we have seen in our polling that indicates that people feel that not enough is being done and this is an urgent situation in the economy. And I think it is better that we all treat it that way and that's the kind of conversation we're going to have.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, Ali, you mind — since you kind of challenged Doug there a little bit, you mind if we bring Doug in to let him respond?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Absolutely. I would be happy to. I think he makes a lot of sense on a lot of things, but we do not call workers in this country — we do not call workers in this country special interests, Doug. You need to learn that.
DOUG HEYE: Well, no. Absolutely. People who work, who drive the economy — small business is the engine that drives this economy.
VELSHI: Absolutely right.
HEYE: That's why it was interesting to say that “The Washington Post” today had a story that said small businesses feel squeezed by Obama policies.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Small businesses are squeezed because they can't get loans from private banks.
HEYE: But loans have not driven jobs yet.
Look, I was the former — I'm former press secretary to the Small Business Administration. I know how important our 7(a) loan program is. I know how important contracts and access to capital is. These are critical for business, no question about it.
So is predictability. So are low tax rates. So are fiscal policies that don't squeeze our credit.
VELSHI: Doug, how many businesses do you know that don't make decisions to hire people because they're concerned about government policy? That is a big business problem. It's not a mom and pop shop problem. They want credit.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/ali-velshi-working-men-and-women-and-unemp
rikyrah
Margaret and Helen have posted:
100 Grand Bore
Margaret please tell Howard that 100,000 people will show up to a tractor pull if the entry fee is cheap enough. Big deal. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to ignore them and have some pie.
As I see it dear, if more than a hundred thousand dead civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan can be dismissed, so can slightly less than a hundred thousand peckerwoods at a Beck rally.
If the civil rights of millions of gay and lesbian Americans are not important, then neither are the pathetic rants of almost a hundred thousand Palin addicts.
If millions of children without healthcare are inconsequential then why should I give a rat’s ass about a hundred thousand shitheads who actually think Beck and Palin have something worthwhile to say?
As long as millions of American Muslims don’t have religious freedom, a hundred thousand Tea Party yahoos shouldn’t be allowed to have cable television. It only seems fair…
I just can’t believe 87,000 people are dumb enough to buy that crap. If Beck and Palin want a government so focused on one God and one religion, they should visit the Middle East and see how that concept is working out. It’s gotten to the point where you can’t distinguish Fox News from the Christian Broadcasting Network. It’s nauseating.
Palin and Beck don’t care about you, me or anyone except themselves. They are getting filthy rich pandering to angry white mobs so transparent in their racist feelings toward the President that a sheet of Saran Wrap would cast a darker shadow.
The greatest threat against America is not terrorism. It’s not a mosque in Manhattan. It’s not gay marriage. It’s not healthcare reform. And, believe it or not, it’s not even Beck or Palin. The greatest threat against America are the tens of millions of Americans who won’t turn out to vote this November effectively giving power to 87,000 angry assholes.
Sarah Palin is an idiot. Glenn Beck is a moron. And I am sick of Fox News. I mean it. Really.
http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/100-grand-bore/
rikyrah
September 05, 2010
A Fallen Tiger and His Private Golden Girl
Ah, the Tiger Woods/Elin Nordegren fairy tale that was never to have it's happily ever after. The dust is finally starting to settle. Elin walks away with a cool one hundred million and a fresh start. Tiger turns the page and begins his new bachelor life, similar to the one he previously had, only this time there won't be a wife.
I've read a couple of the articles circulating over the past few weeks concerning the divorce settlement, custody of the children and even a bit of speculation as to whether Tiger would actually hook back up with one of the many whores he adulterously copulated with during his marriage.
None of that is of any significance to me. However, a few of the articles I've read have left me with that wide-eyed-jaw-dropping stare usually saved for the kid who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Laura Kipnis of Slate published a piece last week What Tiger Didn't Understand About His Mistresses. She theorizes that a strong craving for the spotlight through sexual indiscretions with married celebrities, professional athletes, and so on should be a telltale sign for the celebrity to walk away slowly and not look back. It indicates a couple of things. One, they cannot be trusted to keep your little dirty secret a secret for very long, and two, it's more about them and not so much about you.
She goes on to point out how Twitter, camera phones and other instantaneous communication devices make the job of disseminating rather private information a lot easier for the scorned lover you've been hiding and forgot to invite over for a booty call the last time you were in town. No more saving nasty little dresses to conveniently be picked up by the friend you trusted with your nasty little secret about your nasty little dress. In other words, read between the lines. Realize that it more than likely really isn't about you. It's about who you are and what they can be by affiliating themselves with you.
And while some of this is most likely true, how about we stop making the mistresses out to be these star crazed, do-anything-to-get-their-15-minutes-of fame obsessive paramours and cast a bit of the blame off on the guy whose Johnson should have been utilized for two purposes, pissing and satisfying his wife. There is something to be said about commitment, fidelity and trust. None of the gazillion women who admitted to sleeping with Tiger owed Elin a damn thing. HE DID!
Next!
http://www.inconsequentiallogic.com/2010/09/fallen-tiger-and-his-private-golden.html
rikyrah
How D.C. schools might be affected if Rhee decides to move on
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The scenario is familiar in the District and big cities across the country: An ambitious leader is appointed to reform schools. Policies and practices are upended, five-year plans unveiled, a flurry of initiatives launched with high hopes. After two or three years, political pressure from interests and constituencies unhappy with the changes forces the newcomer out.
Enter a successor, with a new agenda.
That is what many supporters of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee fear will happen if Fenty loses to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray in the Sept. 14 Democratic mayoral primary.
Gray has not committed to retaining the chancellor Fenty named in 2007, and he has criticized Rhee for her hard-edged management style and prickly relations with some community stakeholders. A Washington Post poll taken last month showed that support for Rhee among black residents has fallen sharply over two years, to 27 percent. More than three-fourths of D.C. public school children are African American.
Rhee has hinted broadly that she cannot work for Gray because she doubts his resolve to support the unpopular personnel and budget decisions that have marked her tenure. She has said that if Fenty is reelected, she's prepared to stay for his second term.
If she leaves, her successor would be the school system's fourth head in 10 years — not counting interim leaders. Rhee's advocates say instability at the top would jeopardize gains in academic achievement, enrollment and teacher quality that have not had a chance to take root. Some urban school experts agree.
“It's really tough to make a dent in one to three years,” said Harvard education professor Thomas Payzant, who had uncommon decade-long stints as superintendent in San Diego and Boston. The average tenure for a big-city schools leader is about 3 1/2 years. It's a measure of the District's revolving-door history that if Rhee leaves early next year, she would still be the longest-serving schools leader in the past 20 years.
By contrast, Superintendent Jerry D. Weast plans to step down next year after 12 years at the helm of Montgomery County schools. Loudoun County Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III has led that school system since 1991.
Yet there is reason to believe that if Rhee leaves, the old patterns of churn and change may not play out again in the same way. Major shifts in education policy, wrought by measures such as the 2002 No Child Left Behind law and President Obama's Race to the Top grant competition, have created expectations and commitments that will be difficult for any new administration to compromise or reverse.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/06/AR2010090603195.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
rikyrah
Rhee's appearance at D.C. Mayor Fenty's rally shows disregard for law
By Courtland Milloy
Monday, September 6, 2010
“I'm here as a private citizen,” D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said at Saturday's campaign rally for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “I consulted with my lawyer, and he told me it was okay to be here as a private citizen.”
Why does Rhee play games like that? The Hatch Act tells government employees not to use their positions to influence elections. Maybe that “private citizen” ruse puts her in compliance with the letter of the law, but she sure comes off as showing an arrogant disregard for the spirit of it.
Being too clever by half — that's at the crux of Rhee's unpopularity among many black voters. A recent Washington Post poll found that 54 percent of blacks said they would not vote for Fenty in the coming Democratic primary because he put her in the job.
“There's something about her I don't like. Can't put my finger on it,” said Clarise Whitfield, 68, a resident of predominantly black Ward 7.
That's the way people talk when they suspect you of being a con artist. Turn the school budget into a shell game, fire teachers with the spin of a roulette wheel, say things that don't quite ring true. Take Rhee's explanation for the achievement gap between students in predominantly white Ward 3 and students in wards 7 and 8, also predominantly black, that has widened as she begins her fourth school year as chancellor.
“It's important for people not to directly correlate that to race or income,” Rhee wrote in an e-mail to Post education writer Bill Turque last month. “The ward by ward breakdown is where kids attend school, not where they live. Therefore Ward 3 schools doing better doesn't correlate to white and wealthy kids doing better necessarily. . . . The growth in 3 could be driven by the Ward 7 and 8 kids traveling there.”
Who is she kidding?
Why not just tell the truth: There are circumstances beyond the classroom that make learning more difficult for poor children. And it's easier to improve schools in a ward where half the parents have advanced degrees and 10 times the wealth of those who live in wards where high school diplomas are the norm and unemployment is running above 20 percent.
Although 34 percent of black voters say their schools have improved under Rhee, many are insulted by how she's gone about it. The renovation of Wilson High in the largely white Ward 3 and Anacostia High in Ward 8 is a case in point.
Wilson High students have been moved to a specially equipped building at the University of the District of Columbia. Anacostia students, on the other hand, must stay put despite community concerns that they could be exposed to construction dust and toxic materials, including asbestos, while being bombarded with noise from trucks, hammers, saws and the like.
Rhee's response: There was not enough space at Wilson to keep its 1,500 students on site, but there is space at Anacostia for its 700 or so students.
But hey, both wards are getting renovated schools. Or, as Fenty put it while campaigning in Ward 3, “If you go to Ward 8, it's almost a mirror image.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/05/AR2010090503408.html
rikyrah
Obama 9/11 Anniversary Speech To Take Place At The Pentagon
WASHINGTON — The White House says President Barack Obama will mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Pentagon.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs says Vice President Joe Biden will travel to New York for Saturday's anniversary. First Lady Michelle Obama will join former first lady Laura Bush in Pennsylvania for ceremonies marking the crash of United Flight 93.
Obama also spoke at the remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon last year, the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks since he took office.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/obama-911-anniversary-spe_n_707601.html
rikyrah
Anti-Muslim Acts In Five States Being Investigated By Department Of Justice
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating a handful of apparently anti-Muslim incidents in four states, including the stabbing of a Muslim cab driver in New York City.
FBI agents and civil rights division investigators also are looking into vandalism and other incidents at mosques or mosque construction sites in Arlington, Texas; Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Madera, Calif.; and Waterport, N.Y.
The open criminal investigations were confirmed by civil rights division spokeswoman Xochitl (SOH-chee) Hinojosa in response to a query from The Associated Press.
The suspected anti-Muslim incidents, following the uproar over a planned mosque near ground zero in New York and Saturday's planned burning of copies of the Quran at a church in Gainesville, Fla., were the topics of a meeting Tuesday between Attorney General Eric Holder and Muslim and other religious leaders.
Holder called the planned Quran burning, to coincide with the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, “idiotic and dangerous,” the religious leaders said following the private meeting.
A Justice Department official who was present confirmed Holder said that the plan by the Rev. Terry Jones to burn copies of the Quran at his church was idiotic. But the official, who requested anonymity because the meeting was private, said Holder was quoting Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, when he used the word “dangerous.” Petraeus said the book burning could endanger U.S. troops.
Justice spokesman Matthew Miller said afterward that Holder “reiterated the department's strong commitment to prosecuting hate crimes, and noted several successes.”
In the past 18 months, the department “has prosecuted three men who burned a mosque in Tennessee, two others who burned an African-American church in Massachusetts and another who spray-painted threats on a synagogue in Alabama, among other cases,” Miller said. “Violence against individuals or institutions based on religious bias is intolerable and the department will bring anyone who commits such crimes to justice.”
The religious leaders had sought a forceful public statement from Holder condemning hate crimes, and suggested he speak out before the Sept. 11 anniversary. They also want an order for his community relations service to try to defuse tensions over Jones' plans.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/antimuslim-acts-in-five-s_n_708088.html
rikyrah
NRCC Press Aide Tweets Home Addresses Of Virginia Dem's Staffers
A press assistant for the National Republican Congressional Campaign tweeted the home addresses of campaign staffers for Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) Tuesday night.
Andy Sere, a press hand for the NRCC who handles southern congressional races, made the highly unorthodox move after Perriello's staff called the chief of staff of his opponent, state senator Robert Hurt, a “carpetbagger”. Sere responded with six separate tweets noting each staffer that Perriello himself employed from out of the district and calling on the Virginia Democrat to fire those aides or risk being labeled a hypocrite.
The Republican listed the exact home addresses of those six Democratic staffers, relying on what another NRCC hand said were July quarterly reports.
During a climate season already marked by fevered rhetoric, political threats and even the occasional act of vandalism, Sere's tweets sparked concern and outrage among Perriello supporters.
“NRCC spokesperson Andy Sere clearly crossed the line tonight, but will Robert Hurt stand by idly while those who recruited him and represented his campaign carry out these dangerous and unethical practices? It's appalling and outrageous,” Perriello campaign spokeswoman Jessica Barba said. “Robert Hurt should refuse to accept any more support from the NRCC unless Andy Sere is fired, especially given the history here.”
Sere's tweets also potentially be in violation of Twitter's privacy restrictions, which allow users to file complaints if someone has posted their private information against their will.
Reached for comment late Tuesday night, the NRCC stood by Sere's tweets, casting blame for the matter on Perriello's earlier remark.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/nrcc-press-aide-tweets-staffers-home-addresses_n_708379.html
rikyrah
Obama Left Largely Helpless As Judicial Vacancies Reach Crisis
The Obama administration is aware of the growing alarm over its inability to fill long-standing judicial vacancies. White House officials frequently voice displeasure with the pace, offer heated indictments of the GOP's stalling tactics, and occasionally threaten to circumvent the Congressional process. But for all the rhetoric, threats and critiques, even sympathetic observers acknowledge that the president is largely powerless (if not helpless) on the matter.
That's because both he and allies in Congress simply lack the tools to force the Republican Party's hand.
This past Friday, the Associated Press published a rather shocking report about just how poor Obama's record on judicial vacancies is. “Fewer than half of Obama's nominees have been confirmed,” the news wire wrote, “102 out of 854 judgeships are vacant,” and “forty-seven of those vacancies have been labeled emergencies by the judiciary because of heavy caseloads.”
When pressed about the article's findings during Tuesday's daily briefing, however, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs offered only a well-trodden denunciation of the GOP's tactics.
“We have seen a lack of any sort of cooperation in moving a number of these nominees along,” he said. “And look, every president and Congress of different parties is going to have some fights about this but there continue to be an absurd number of judges who have passed… unanimously out of committee that need to be considered quickly by Congress.”
Whether Gibbs could have said more and to what effect is debatable — underscoring, in its own way, the scope of the problem the White House faces. Noticeably absent from his response, for instance, was an overt threat to appoint a justice or two during the remaining week of Congressional recess.
“I can't look into my crystal ball and tell you what's ahead,” he said, when asked about exercising that president power.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/obama-left-largely-helple_n_707859.html
rikyrah
BUT…BUT…BUT…..BUT…
I thought federal money was EEEEEVIL.
………………
September 07, 2010
Categories:
* 2012
Pawlenty seeks Medicaid funds
Tim Pawlenty's decision to turn down some of the money associated with the health care overhaul was probably good national Republican politics, but it seems to have proved a headache at home, and today he announced that he's asking for $260 million in federal funds:
Gov. Tim Pawlenty has decided to accept about $260 million in federal medical assistance aid after directing state agencies to avoid some federal grants associated with the health care overhaul. …
Pawlenty's letter to Sebelius says the Medicaid dollars “reflect current and longstanding Minnesota policy objectives and commitments.” He also notes that Minnesota pays more to the federal government than it gets back.
This is money from the jobs bill — which Pawlenty called “reckless” — not from the health care legislation. But it comes after Pawlenty took a local beating, including from the Mayo Clinic, as well as some gloating from the DNC about his declining local popularity.
Pawlenty — the only Republican really running for president in a straightforward way at the moment — isn't seeking reelection, and principled stands may be a bit easier once he's out.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0910/Pawlenty_seeks_Medicaid_funds.html
rikyrah
September 07, 2010 06:30 AM
David Gergen and Co. Continue the 'Obama Needs to Move to the Center' Nonsense
By Heather
As predicted by Steve Benen, here's the AC360 panel discussing the midterm elections, and one David Gergen claiming that President Obama isn't going to be able to get his “liberal agenda” passed now and that he's going to have to “come to the middle” if the Republicans take back the Congress. Sorry David, but President Obama already “came to the middle”, in fact he unfortunately started there with way too many of the bills he either got passed or attempted to get passed and all he got in return was Republican obstruction.
Apparently Gergen and thinks that “coming to the middle” means passing a Republican agenda.
COOPER: Ed and David, you both have seen in White Houses, you know, a president who, going into midterm elections, faced a tough battle. And different presidents react differently: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton. How do you think — if the House goes back to Republican — David, let's start with you — how do you think that affects President Obama? How — what changes?
GERGEN: Well, in the first place, he's not going to be able to get his liberal agenda through. That's just — that's going to be finished.
And — but the question is whether he's going to come to the middle and whether Republicans will do that, and we can actually get some real progress, not only on jobs, but on the deficits. I think it could be — it could be serious gridlock, or we could go the other way. I don't think we know the answer to that yet.
I do think, if he demonizes John Boehner, to go back to the point just made, I think it could become harder to work with him.
I'd love for David Gergen to explain how John Boehner could be any harder to work with than he has been already. The President needs to do more of and not less of what he did during his Labor Day speech with calling out the GOP for their obstruction, no matter what the talking heads like the ones on this panel had to say. And John Ridley, you should be ashamed of yourself for saying you'd like to give the Republicans a chance to show what they stand for, like you don't know already. What ought to be nerve-wracking for you is what happens to our economy if the Republicans are allowed to put any fixes on hold for the next two years.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/david-gergen-and-co-continue-obama-needs-m
mon_dieu_ishmael
Medicaid is punching a big hole in state's budgets now. In 2014 when the number of people eligible for Medicaid more than doubles, most states with large urban populations will be screaming in budget pain.
mon_dieu_ishmael
File this under “you can't get something to nothing”:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720004575478200948908976.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats' efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections.
Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.
These and other insurers say Congress's landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a brutal fight, is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted.
Democrats front-loaded the legislation with early provisions they hoped would boost public support. Those include letting children stay on their parents' insurance policies until age 26, eliminating co-payments for preventive care and barring insurers from denying policies to children with pre-existing conditions, plus the elimination of the coverage caps.
Weeks before the election, insurance companies began telling state regulators it is those very provisions that are forcing them to increase their rates.
The industry contends its increases are justified. “Anytime you add a benefit, there are increased costs,” said Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's lobbying group.
Massachusetts, which enacted universal insurance coverage several years ago, also has seen steadily rising insurance premiums since then. Proponents of that plan attribute the hikes there to an overall increase in medical costs, while insurers cite it as a cautionary example of what can happen when new mandates to improve benefits aren't coupled with a strong enough provision to force healthy people to buy coverage.
http://www.inconsequentiallogic.com Roschelle
good morning all. escaped the grind a few hours early this morning. hope you all have an absolutely awesome day!!
http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/about/ EC Thompson, MD
He will change his mind. He has to. This is too unpopular. Extend the tax cuts until the economy begins to turn around. In the meantime, hammer the R's on the budget and deficits. Say that you can't let the tax cuts expire because R's love deficits. Time to go on the offensive.
Angelar
I agree about the voters not turning out, as someone who votes in both presidential and mid-term elections it is totally frustrating. I guess alot of voters just don't get the whole picture.
http://theothertwofifths.blogspot.com/ ProfGeo
“the NRCC stood by Sere's tweets”
I must admit, lines like that give me a chuckle. Call me old-fashioned. :-)
rikyrah
good morning :)
http://theothertwofifths.blogspot.com/ ProfGeo
Just a guess: They're still the same insurers. They'll pass on whatever they can and keep a straight face. 37% makes news and that won't happen again. With single digit increases (spread out so's we don't notice, of course) it looks kind of normal.
RonnieB
I don't live in DC, so I'm not privy to the educational happenings there. But it looks like Michelle Rhee (who's engaged to my Sac-town homeboy Kevin Johnson) is in a no-win situation. Even though she's about to marry a brotha, she's still non-Black and is trying to overhaul a failed education system. A system that–let's face it–was in the hands of Black folks for decades. Couple that with her being from the Korean American community–who, culturally, haven't always had our best interests at heart–and one can sense a faint whiff of condescension on her part. As in “yo, y'all have had decades to get this thing right–if you ain't gonna do it, then step aside and let [an Asian American] do it for you“.
I would concur with many of the unspoken sentiments: It would “look” better if Ms. Rhee were Black. But she isn't. And if nobody else is going to take *action* to change things, then perhaps folks need to step out of Rhee's way while she works. Encourage her to lose the condescending attitude, but let her do what needs to be (and hasn't been) done.
Just sayin'.
SouthernGirl2
Good morning, Roschelle!
SouthernGirl2
Pawlenty's full of it. Didn't he say government was like a drug dealer,& drug hustler? But now he wants their money?
lamh32
Can we see this Dance Series on PBS anytime soon?
lamh32
Damn, doesn't Halle Berry have enough going on for her??? Now she has Olivier Martinez too!!

“Halle Berry Hooking Up With Her Hot New Co-star”

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20419125,00.html
For ya'll who don't know, Olivier Martinez is the hot dude from that movie “Unfaithful” with Diane Lane and Richard Gere, that came out 'bout 5 years ago. Here's a pic from the movie:

http://www.rowthree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/unfaithful.jpg
Sh*& I ain't that mad-atcha Halle, cause if ya gonna be down with the swirl, ya better damn well make sure that the vanilla part of the “swirl” is hot as hell!
rikyrah
uh uh uh..
damn.
rikyrah
don't know..I hope so.
RobM
You're speaking facts about the costs but somehow you always miss the politics of it.
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