My Beauty Best Teacher

Leo Igwe indicts the Nigerian Police Force:

In a police station in Owerri, it costs up to 20 thousand naira(170 dollars) to mobilize police officers after a case had been reported. At the zonal headquarters, police officers charge up to 40 thousand naira(380 dollars) before they can get into action. The mobilization fee is negotiated and paid directly to the Investigation Police officer (IPO) who does not issue any receipts for the payment. Non-payment of mobilization fee means that the case would be attended to. It means that the complaint would be thrown aside no matter how serious it is.

Here in Detroit, a recent audit by the Detroit News turned up more evidence that we are descending into a police state- in this case, the News found out that police are being forced to write tickets in order to fund their operations. This could be a good thing- self-sufficient government and all that libertarian stuff- but I think it is a bad thing- there is more and more pressure on officials to enforce every law without regard to fairness and justice, just to make a buck.

This line in the article in particular bothers me:

The attempt to have Shelby (Township Police) officers write more tickets is likely tied to a proposed $23 million police and court complex.

So, police buy themselves new palaces from which to dispense justice, and pay for it by ticketing citizens- and if enough citizens aren't breaking the law, what then? Is there pressure then for them to accuse citizens of breaking the law even if they aren't, just to raise money? Yes, there is. Is there pressure for them to make more things illegal, just so more tickets can be issued, to raise more money? Yes there is. I don't like this quota policy- and either did voters of Michigan when they outlawed it in 1979.

In the Guardian:

Many members of the Nigerian police are more likely to commit crimes than prevent them, a report claimed...Police personnel routinely kill suspects, use torture as a principal means of investigation, commit rapes of both sexes and engage in extortion at nearly every opportunity, according to joint findings by watchdogs in Nigeria and the US...[continue reading]

via Naija Blog

Police forces across SSA are generally viewed with suspicion, fear and derision. They are largely seen as non-representative instruments of authority- a force apart from society itself.In further examination of the institutional decentralisation theme we look at ,a paper by Gareth Newham which examines the implementation of local civilian oversight of police forces in South Africa. It came up with a number recommendations which include:

• Developing training and other resources to enhance the understanding and practice of civilian oversight of police agencies at local level;

• Ensuring that independent evaluations are conducted on key aspects of MPD performance and conduct;

• Ensuring that local level oversight committees include a focus on the policies, procedures and systems of MPDs to receive and deal with public complaints of police misconduct;

• Inviting feedback from various stakeholders as to their perceptions and experiences of the MPDs;

• Assisting in clarifying the role of the Civilian Oversight Committees and then capacitating them to play this role.

The federal government paid taxpayer dollars to advertise during the Superbowl recently, and I'm pretty sure that their real advertisement was not for the census but instead was the Green Police ad.

I know at the end of this advertisement it says "Audi", but the Green Police ad fits a lot better with what the Democrats and Obama want to to do to our nation. In the ad, people are arrested by fascist thugs who disregard rights to due process and rule of law for the following offenses: using plastic bags, throwing away batteries, not composting, installing incandescent light bulbs, using plastic bottles, setting a hot tub temperature too high, and for driving automobiles that aren't environmentally friendly. These 'police' go through garbage, drag people out of their homes, and search cars without cause in order to catch people who aren't 'being environmentally friendly.' This is the future, boys and girls.

And if you happen to think that a freedom-sucking ‘Green Police’ scenario as depicted below is absurd and impossible, I direct your attention to these videos over on Restore–DC–Catholicism. In the second video, Lord Christopher Monckton, who debunked the global-warming junk science notes of the shenanigans discovered at the recent Copenhagan meeting, a meeting which Democrats and liberals and Obama and Pelosi all supported.

Here is the commercial and the vision of the liberal future:

In today's Detroit News, there was a story about the police breaking up protests at a recent World Trade Organization meeting. The WTO is a group that is determined to make a more peaceful and prosperous world by lowering tariffs and removing barriers to trade, and there are people out there that do not like peace and prosperity, instead preferring anarchism and nationalism, and so every time the WTO has a meeting, there are protests.

These protesters typically pull themselves into what is called a Black Bloc. A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, ski masks and motorcycle helmets with padding, steel-toed boots and often carrying their own shields and truncheons. The clothing is used to avoid being identified, and to theoretically, appear as one large mass, promoting solidarity, and creating a clear revolutionary presence. Tactics of a black bloc can include vandalism, rioting and street fighting, demonstrating without a permit, misleading the authorities, assisting in the escape of people arrested by the police, building barricades, and attacking police.

In Geneva, these 'peaceful protesters' set fire to cars, broke shop windows and committed other acts of violence. An 80-year-old women was knocked over and fell and had to be hospitalized, police said. These are the tactics of these 'far left' or 'far right' or 'middle way' groups who demonstrate against the WTO.

You can tell the quality of a person by the company they keep. These Black Bloc groups oppose lower tariffs, oppose capitalism, oppose the war in Iraq, and support Earth Day. Do you?

These anti-WTO protester's are an interesting mix of left-wing groups ranging from the outright communist (Autonomism) to the clearly fascist (National-Anarchism). Many of the issues and causes these groups promote are very close to the causes and issues that the Democrats support today- the main difference is in the methods used, not the goals. These left wing fascist and communist groups blame the United States for being at the root of most bad things in the world, want the US to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and let the terrorists win, want to have the government play a larger and larger role in 'combating global warming' and 'supporting gay rights,' and even believe in free state-provided healthcare for everyone.

Yes indeed, there are many similarities between these Black Bloc groups and the Democratic Party. What there isn't is any similarities between the goals, methods, and agenda of this blog and those who support Black Blocs. We are clearly different in our agenda's, as I am a conservative teacher who supports lower tariffs, loves capitalism, supports the War on Terror, opposes government control to fight the myth of global warming, and loves freedom and liberty more than violence and revolutionary zeal.

Change might live on the left, but so does the Black Bloc. Pick your side.

Bill Turque in his DC Schools Insider blog further examined Rhee's now infamous comments to Fast Co. magazine that she "got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had sex with children." Since it is likely that Turque's examination of this story won't make the mainstream press- I decided to post it here.

Lanier: Only 1 teacher arrested for abuse

Rapture in Death: Three apparent suicides: a brilliant engineer, an infamous lawyer, and a controversial politician. Three strangers with nothing in common - and no obvious reasons for killing themselves. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the deaths suspicious. And her instincts paid off when autopsies revealed small burns on the brains of the victims. Was it a genetic abnormality or a high-tech method of murder? Ceremony in Death: Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Vengeance in Death: Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the first victim butchered in his own home. The second lost his life in a vacant luxury apartment. The two men had little in common. Both suffered unspeakable torture before their deaths. And both had ties to an ugly secret of ten years past - a secret shared by none other than Eve's new husband, Roarke.

 

Click here to buy from Amazon

Salisu Suleiman writes about a service in dire need of reform:

The Nigeria police was established as a coercive arm of the British colonialists and it is yet to free itself of that mentality. The language it speaks best is the language of force and violence. For the police, it is always ‘we’ against ‘them’. Similarly, criminal law in the country is mostly antiquated. The penal code was drafted in 1903, and bears little or no bearing to the social realities in Nigeria today. Our Arbitration laws are so outdated that legal practitioners prefer to take arbitration cases to other countries. Despite the advancements witnessed in the medical sciences in the last half century, the country’s Pharmacy Act has not changed in the nearly 50 years. Forensic science is primeval. Despite the fact that DNA evidence is regarded as nearly 100 percent accurate, it hardly appears anywhere in our statues.

More here

Via Students For Academic Freedom we find out that Central Michigan University has derecognized and revoked the registered student organization privileges of Campus Conservatives for hosting nationally-known conservative author and commentator David Horowitz on Oct. 14, 2008.

Student Life assistant director Tom Idema sent an e-mail message dated Friday to Campus Conservatives president Bryant Greiner indicating the school’s oldest political club and only outlet for conservative students was no longer “recognized as a registered student organization and granted the privileges that are associated with being a RSO.”

No explanation or reason was given for the de-recognizing of the club, but sources indicate that it was because Tom didn't like David Harowitz and decided to abuse the power of the office to get revenge on those who were bringing Mr. Harowitz in to speak. Apparently Tom is an intolerant, hate-filled man who likes to discriminate against others who do not share his views, and is willing to use and abuse the power of his position at a public university to force his hate-filled intolerant views on others.

Tom Idema didn't even have the authority to take this measure, as according to the student handbook, there is a process that one has to go through before revoking the standing of a registered student organization, which includes notification and a hearing that affords a student organization its due process rights, neither of which were done. Tom apparently doesn't care though about due process, individual rights, liberty, freedom, or diversity, instead pushing a liberal agenda and attempting to shut down any group that offers up alternative views.

Without standing as a registered student organization, Campus Conservatives was unable to reserve a room at any CMU facilities, and are being forced to meet as fugitives in public rooms within facilities. But this is the not the first time that publicly-funded CMU has attempted to destroy conservative voices on campus.

CMU has tried repeatedly since February to charge Campus Conservatives for security provided by school police officers at last October’s event with Horowitz. The organization has steadfastly refused to pay for police protection, citing a letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education legal defense group to then-CMU president Michael Rao warning that such a charge would be unconstitutional under the decision Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement . CMU has made no attempts to charge any other student organization for police services, singling out only the conservative voices on campus for expressing voices that the university disagrees with.

In October 2001, CMU students were prohibited from displaying the American flag on doors to student dorms because it was “offensive” to Muslim students. Under threat of litigation from FIRE, the unconstitutional prohibition was dropped.

For more information about this story, including how you can help, please contact cmucampusconservatives@gmail.com.

To contact your legislator about this event and encourage them to cease funding a public university that acts in such a manner, find and email your Michigan House member by clicking here.

To contact someone at Central Michigan University to express your outrage, try contacting Student life at studentlife@cmich.edu, or Alumni Relations at alumni@cmich.edu, or the Student Ombuds Office at ombuds@cmich.edu, or contact members of the Board of Trustees by going to this link and then emailing various members.

Today at McKinley after layoff notices were dispensed to teachers, counselors and other staff, it was reported that DC police officers committed acts of brutality against high school students for protesting layoffs. One young female student described at length incidents in which police covered their badges, rough housed students, pushed a student to the ground injuring her face on the concrete and using pepper spray against another. Unfortunately the details of this student report was not shown on all local news stations but was reported on channel 7. One McKinley high school student has been incarcerated as a result and remains in jail along with a parent who came to defend students right to assemble. Students and teachers reported that no security was present today at McKinley or Woodson Senior High.

To date it seems that school counselors have been hardest hit. In addition, four members of our Washington Teachers' Union Executive board have all been laid off including a school counselor who recently donned the Wash. Post metro at our rank and file rally on September 24. Two school counselors from Mckinley Technology high school were let go while another one of the school counselors reportedly left today leaving a school counselor for approximately 700 students. In addition, an attendance clerk and the school registrar were let go as well.

It has also been reported that nine staff members from Roosevelt Senior High were laid off with seven of them being teachers and most of them were African American women with 15 years of experience as reported by WTU Building Rep. Tom O'Rourke. A school counselor from Ann Beers elementary was let go after 21 years of service. A school counselor from Spingarn high school with 20 years of experience was let go. Fourteen staff members were let go from Woodson Senior High and 10 of these staff members were teachers. Many of the calls I received were from mid level teachers with 20 plus years of experience or more, disproportionately of color and disproportionately 40 and over.

What a sad day in the neighborhood for us all and what a sad day to work for DCPS.

Posted by The washington Teacher featuring Candi Peterson, bloger in residence,
Video courtesy of wjla.com

Today I was talking with a friend of mine who recently sat down with several state legislators to discuss Governor Synder's proposed budget cuts. He was there representing teachers, and argued that teachers should not be having their funding cut. Also there was the head of a local movie company who was arguing against cuts to subsidies for movies studios, and there was a retiree there arguing against taxing retirees, and there was a police officer there arguing against cuts to police, and there was a local government official there arguing against cuts to local government funding. According to my friend, they all supported one another and backed one another up as they badgered the legislators who talked with them to make no cuts to any of them.

Now, in Michigan the budget has to be cut- there isn't revenue to match expenditures at the state level and the state of Michigan has to have a balanced budget, and our current Governor doesn't have the advantage of getting federal bailouts or tobacco settlements and isn't willing to paper over the debt with creative accounting measures or push it to future years. So I pointed out to my friend that someone has to be the 'loser' in this budget- not everyone can be a 'winner'.

He disagreed with me, but not really- as a good solid liberal, he explained the way that unions, teachers, green companies, movie stars, police, retirees, and librarians can 'win' this budget battle- by making everyone else be a loser. Like most liberals, the secret is to tax and tax and tax some more, and direct those taxes to those groups in our society who have the luxury of being able to have or make money- under his plan (which fits with what the liberal Governor we had previously did), taxes would be raised on young workers, small businesses, 'unfavorable' businesses, the rich, the wealthy, those who invest, and those who are productive. By extracting more wealth from these groups, he argued, everyone in society would win, except for those who lost, but they don't count to him because they are all bad people.

You see, the beauty of a budget is that it forces you to make choices and decide where you stand on issues- what groups or services or powers or abilities government should have and which ones it should not have or do. At the federal level, our national government wanders around spending more and more money and never figures out its place in society because it does not make and keep a balanced budget, but at the state level, our budget will produce winners and losers, and we can't all be winners.

Someone has to lose in this budget. Myself, I think teachers can take a small loss, but not on the level that Synder is pitching, and I think that other groups should be big losers (like movie studies, government employees, and other companies that get tax credits because of their political connections). Winners should be wealth generators, because when they are free to generate wealth and be wealthy, all of society will benefit from the surplus of life, liberty, and property that they generate freed from the bounds of government control and taxes.

The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley described in a recent post being knocked out by a Danish cop in Copenhagen as he attended the party that was the UN Climatefest of Global Warming Believers. When he came to, he was struck with the brilliance that only can come as you realize he horror that you are in an insane asylum and the inmates are running it:

...I came to some time later (not sure exactly how long), to find my head being cradled by my friends, some of whom were doing their best to keep the police thugs at bay while the volunteer ambulance-men attended to me....

...However, the Danish police were far too free with their hands when pushing us around, and that is not acceptable in a free society. But then, Europe is no longer a free society. It is, in effect, a tyranny ruled by the unelected Kommissars of the European Union. That is perhaps one reason why police forces throughout Europe, including that in the UK, have become far more brutal than was once acceptable in their treatment of the citizens they are sworn to serve.

It is exactly this species of tyranny that the UN would like to impose upon the entire planet, in the name of saving us from ourselves – or, as Ugo Chavez would put it, saving us from Western capitalist democracy.

A few weeks ago, at a major conference in New York, I spoke about this tendency towards tyranny with Dr. Vaclav Klaus, the distinguished economist and doughty fighter for freedom and democracy who is President of the Czech Republic.

While we still have one or two statesmen of his caliber, there is hope for Europe and the world. Unfortunately, he refused to come to Copenhagen, telling me that there was no point, now that the lunatics were firmly in control of the asylum.

However, I asked him whether the draft Copenhagen Treaty’s proposal for what amounted to a communistic world government reminded him of he Communism under which he and his country had suffered for so long.He thought for a moment – as statesmen always do before answering an unusual question – and said, “Maybe it is not brutal. But in all other respects, what it proposes is far too close to Communism for comfort.”

Today, as I lay in the snow with a cut knee, a bruised back, a banged head, a ruined suit, and a written-off coat, I wondered whether the brutality of the New World Order was moving closer than President Klaus – or any of us – had realized.

Modifying a bit from what Richard Fernandez at the Belmont Club says in his post on this, people have always believed that ‘they can’t do that here; they can’t foist this fraud on me; they can’t take over 15% of the US economy just like that; they can’t give my tax money to Hugo Chavez; they can’t borrow money from China in my name and give to China, etc.’ But one day the answer to those questions will be “Yes, they can”.

Time magazine put together a report on the Five Supreme Court Cases to watch this term. There are some interesting ones in here:

Case #1: Salazar v. Buono
At issue: Whether the government can permit the display of a crucifix on public land as per the Establishment Clause.

An 8-ft.-tall crucifix has stood on an outcrop called Sunrise Rock on the Mojave National Preserve since 1934, but in one of the court's earliest arguments of the term, the Justices will be asked to consider whether it should be removed. The battle has been brewing for a while - the cross, erected without government approval, was slated for removal by the U.S. National Park Service after a request from Buddhists to create their own memorial near the site was denied. But in 2000, Congress hastily passed a law prohibiting the use of public funds to remove the cross, in essence tying the National Park Service's hands. Congress declared the cross a National Memorial in 2002, and in 2003 it gave the small parcel of land to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) - the group that constructed the original cross.

My view of this case at first glance is that the 1st amendment does prohibit the government from favoring one group over the other, so I'm inclined to say that to be fair, the cross should be removed. But I'd want to know more about the decision making process- why was it left there so long- and whether there is any historical value of the cross now.

Case #2: Maryland v. Shatzer
At issue: The scope of the rights of police suspects, as given in the court's landmark 1966 decision, Miranda v. Arizona.

In Maryland v. Shatzer, Michael Shatzer was questioned by police about sexual abuse of his 3-year-old child, and after being told he had the right to counsel as part of his Miranda rights, declined to answer any questions without an attorney present. The officer never pursued Shatzer further, but nearly three years later, a different detective questioned Shatzer, at which point he admitted abuse. Shatzer now argues this confession is inadmissible because the second police officer, who was unaware of Shatzer's original Miranda request, questioned him without an attorney present.

My view of this case is that the Miranda rules were designed to protect those people who didn't know their rights. In this case, Shatzer knew his rights- they were told to him earlier- yet he still answered questions, and then later was told that he had forgotten his own rights and so the he wants the evidence inadmissible? No way- the cops read them off, that's all they need to do, and if you don't listen or forget, that's your fault.

Case #3: Graham v. Florida / Sullivan v. Florida
At issue: Whether life imprisonment for juveniles on nonhomicide charges constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

The Eighth Amendment precludes cruel and unusual punishment, but it has long been left to the Supreme Court to define exactly what that term means. This court will be asked to consider it again in a pair of cases on the docket. In Sullivan, the petitioner was 13 years old when he was indicted as an adult and sentenced to life in prison without parole in Florida for sexual assault of an elderly woman. In Graham, a 19-year-old violated his parole by committing attempted armed robbery while on parole for two previous robbery attempts he had committed while he was a minor. He too was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

My view on this case is that cruel and unusual punishment most definitely does not mean life in prison. That is a humane and usual punishment. I can't understand how these cases are even controversial- this should be pretty easy to determine. If the Supreme Court interprets life in prison as cruel and unusual, soon it could interpret prison as cruel and unusual, and then a stern talking to as cruel and unusual, and then there are no more punishments in liberal utopia unreal world.

Case #4: National Rifle Association v. Chicago / McDonald v. Chicago
At issue: Second Amendment rights to gun ownership.

A pair of cases challenge Chicago's 27-year-old ban on handgun sales within the city limits. Originally designed to curb violence in the city, the ban has long irked Second Amendment advocates, who take an expansive view of the amendment's wording that the "right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." But the Supreme Court had long held that the Second Amendment pertained only to federal laws, until a 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller struck down a ban on handguns and automatic weapons in Washington, D.C. The ruling marked the first time the Supreme Court acknowledged an individual right to bear arms, and it opened the door for these challenges to the Chicago regulation.

My view is that in the Heller decision the Supreme Court recognized an individuals inherent right to keep and bear arms and that that right could not be infringed (ie, the 2nd amendment), and that therefore under the 14th amendment clause, the 2nd amendment is now incorporated to the states, and thus the Chicago anti-2nd amendment laws are unconstitutional. Another easy one.

Case #5: American Needle v. National Football League

At issue: Whether sporting leagues should be exempt from antitrust regulations.

Experts say American Needle may turn out to be the most important legal decision in sporting history. The sportswear manufacturer contracted with NFL teams to produce hats and headgear with official team logos. But the NFL decided to give an exclusive leaguewide license to Reebok in 2000, leading American Needle to sue, claiming the NFL's action violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by limiting the market for who could produce team-branded merchandise.

The fundamental question for the court to decide is whether the NFL should be considered a single entity or a collection of 32 individual businesses. The answer to this question has repercussions beyond the production of licensed merchandise. If the NFL is considered a single entity, it would largely be exempt from antitrust laws, giving the league not only continued right to grant exclusive licenses for team apparel but also the ability to make decisions on a leaguewide basis. This opens the door to the NFL - rather than individual teams - determining things like ticket prices and player salaries. Indeed, the bargaining power of the NFL Players Union is based on antitrust legislation that the league would largely be immune to if it receives a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court. Other sporting leagues are watching the American Needle case closely; many have filed briefs in favor of the NFL's position.

My view on this one is that the NFL is a single entity and thus exempt from the Sherman Antitrust Act. So is the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, MMA, and any other league. They have a single commissioner and play under unified rules, and thus are their own single entity.

Seems like DC Public schools draft discipline plan just released on February 3rd may be too little too late for Tuesday's brawl at Cardozo Senior High School. On Tuesday, sixteen students were arrested at Cardozo Senior High after a lunchtime melee. AP stories appeared on the Internet on this touchy subject mid-day on school violence and on the evening news and in local newspapers. In a WaPo Wednesday article , Paul Duggan reported that "More than a dozen students at the District's Cardozo High School were injured yesterday and 16 were arrested after a large group of girls began fighting in the basement lunchroom and several smaller fights broke out nearby, police and witnesses said." On the Internet, some students were quoted as saying "blood was everywhere."

The 4^th of July
In a late-night showdown after a near-fatal chase, San Francisco police lieutenant Lindsay Boxer has to make an instantaneous decision - and sets off a chain of events that leaves a police force disgraced and an entire city divided. As summer comes into full swing, Lindsay and her friends in the Women's Murder Club battle for her life on two fronts: before a judge an jury as her trial comes to a climax, and facing unknown adversaries who will do anything to keep her from the truth.

The 5^th Horseman
It is a wild race against time as Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer and the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, attorney Yuki Castellano, lead an investigation into a string of mysterious patient deaths and reveal a hospital administration determined to shield its reputation at all costs. While the hospital wages an explosive court battle that grips the entire nation, the Women's Murder Club hunts for a merciless killer among its esteemed medical staff.

The 6^th Target
While Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano prepares to prosecute the toughest trial of her life, the city is in the grip of a chilling crime spree. Children of well-to-do families are being abducted. But the kidnappings are followed by devastating silence -no demand for ransom. Working frantically with her new partner, Lindsay Boxer struggles to find the connection that will help them make sense of these horrific crimes.

 

Click here to buy from Amazon

The discussion on the firing of the Hart principal, Ms. Webster has sparked a lively debate on blogs, amongst colleagues, parents, community members and on Wash. Post blogs. Surprisingly in the comments I read, many expressed outrage that termination is the only strategy that our DC chancellor uses to address the multiple problems that our urban school system faces. An anonymous poster on this blog wrote: "Rhee believes she is a weapons expert at DC police academy. "Fire, Fire, Fire". Donald Trump is starting to look a little soft."

Jerome Brocks, a DCPS special educator of 34 years speaks out about the situation at Hart middle school. Having worked at Hart during his career , Jerome contacted me and asked if I would post his comments on my blog. I titled this entry: Taking It To Hart. Here goes:

"Let the truth be told. No one seems to be willing to tell the truth about the problems at Hart Middle School. Not the president of the Washington Teachers' Union , who blames the problem on administrators, not Chancellor Rhee who does not have a clue about what is going on in the neighborhoods of DC which is evidenced by her decision to close down PR Harris and send students to Hart and subsequently fire the principal because she (Rhee) can't solve our schools multifaceted problems, and certainly not the Washington Post who fails to do a full investigation and print the truth.

Two years ago, I witnessed a mob of students from Hart Middle School entering PR Harris Educational Center looking for several students from PR Harris. Both schools have an ongoing rivalry. The Hart students went through the building looking for their victims until the police came and then they ran from the building. Everyone knew there was an ongoing battle between Hart and PR Harris students. Michelle Rhee decided to close down PR Harris and transfer many of these students to Hart MS making an already bad situation worse. This is what happens when a new person comes to our city and is not aware of important facts when making decisions to close schools and relocate students from one neighborhood to another.

Ms. Webster, principal of Hart was set up for failure. Adequate staffing and supervision was never received. Teachers were put in dangerous situations where their safety was at stake. This person that we call chancellor is responsible for all the problems that have been allowed to occur at Hart and she should be held accountable. Equally responsible is George Parker, so called president of the WTU who has been derelict in his duties as he has failed to take an active role in speaking out on what is in the best interests of DC students and teachers. Shame on all of them who have been directly and indirectly involved in sidestepping the multiple problems at schools like Hart middle school. They say children first -what hypocrites they are!!!! If anyone should be fired it should not be principals and not teachers but Rhee herself should be fired immediately ! Lastly, WTU President George Parker needs to resign at once !" (Posted by The Washington Teacher).

Jerome Brocks
DC Teacher ( 34 years)

Although I said long ago that the election of Obama would not be good for our nation because of his fascist tendencies (before dismissing my comments out-of-hand, read my posts here and here), I really thought it would take longer for America go to bad. I was wrong.

Today, an Oklahoma City police officer pulled a man's car over for having an anti-Obama sign in the window of his vehicle, and then took the sign from the man. The sign read "Abort Obama Not the Unborn", which clearly states the fact that the man disagrees with Obama's abortion policies and wishes that he was not around, stated in a rather controversial way, but it's a free country. Or it was. The officer felt that this sign was a threat to Obama, pulled over the man, and took his sign away. Then the Secret Service were called and went through the man's home, making sure that he wasn't part of a hate group or something (apparently being conservative is now borderline hate-group status). The good thing is that the police feel that his rights were not violated with this harassment- the good citizen on the other hand has not said whether he is suing or not. This is a true story, and a sign of things to come. Read the whole thing and watch some video by clicking on this link.

Also, since I am sure you didn't hear about it on the mainstream news, did you know that Obama is increasingly unpopular and already being protested by ever-enlarging crowds wherever he goes? It is true. Yesterday, greeting the President in Arizona was a crowd of about 200 people who were there to express their views on the stimulus bill and other pieces of legislation that Obama is supporting. Read about this here.

How does Obama intend to combat the swelling groundswell against his policies? By hiring celebrities. Yes, Obama intends to use taxpayer money to pay millionaires to lecture us on why we should support Obama. Remember that ad where McCain linked Obama to celebrities, and how good it was? So do I (it's a bummer McCain stupidly didn't follow it up). The message was that Obama was a passing fad, with shallow ideas, and was only popular because he was a celebrity. And now he hires celebrities to parrot his policies. Read about this here.

Where is this all heading? Obama wanted our nation to be international- remember the people around the world loved him. Probably because he wants to turn our nation into an undemocratic and elitist project comparable to the communist dictatorships of eastern Europe, that forbade alternative thinking, violated citizens rights, and were poor and unfree. Kind of like the EU is turning into, as Czech President Vaclav Klaus told the European Parliament on Thursday. Speaking about the EU, Klaus said "Those who dare thinking about a different option are labeled as enemies"- which increasingly describes conservatives, Republicans, and libertarians in this liberal Democrat-run nation.

Next thing you know,, it will be considered 'patriotic' to never question the government, pay more in taxes, and bow to the increasing authority of the state... oh wait, several Democrats already think this...

Profiles In Courage
Angry over budget cuts, L.A. teachers planned a 1 day strike to protest teacher lay offs outside their school district's headquarters . Even though a judge issued a restraining order against the 1 day strike, teachers protested cutbacks through an organized sit-in, city-wide sick-out and hundreds of high school students walked out of classes in acts of civil disobedience. Their slogan read " One Day's Pay 4 The Kids of L.A." (pictured right ). Updated reports indicate that fourty-five in total were arrested outside school district offices including L.A. Teachers' Union President, A.J. Duffy (pictured above) on Friday, May 15, 2009.

Here's to you United Teachers' of Los Angeles (UTLA) President Duffy and all of the L.A. teachers and students for taking a stand in the best interests of teaching and learning ! An L.A. public school student said it best when discussing the cutbacks : "We care about the teachers," Jasmine Guerrero, a senior, said in a phone interview. "But it's more about us. One teacher for 45 students, it's not a productive learning environment." Here's the story as reported courtesy of the LA Times, written by Jason Song and Howard Blume:

Anger over budget cuts boils over at L.A. schools
"United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy was arrested at a protest outside the school district headquarters. Hundreds of teachers call in sick and hundreds of high school students walk out of classrooms. The teachers union president is among 39 arrested at a sit-in outside L.A. Unified headquarters.

The head of the Los Angeles teachers union was among 39 people arrested Friday during a sit-in outside the school district headquarters, one among dozens of peaceful protests around the city by teachers and students outraged by plans for deep cuts in education spending."Don't raise class size!" the protesters chanted before Los Angeles Police Department officers moved in to break up the demonstration.

Is all this really for the children?
United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy was among those who had raised his fist in response to police requests to disperse, and who was bound with plastic handcuffs and taken away in an LAPD bus for booking on a charge of blocking a public street. All of those arrested were later released.The protesters' ire was stoked by plans for layoffs of as many as 2,500 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers, the consequence of billions of dollars in statewide cuts to education.

Schools throughout L.A. were disrupted as hundreds of teachers called in sick and hundreds of high school students walked out of classrooms to protest the cutbacks at the district, the nation's second-largest after New York City. Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said after the protests that Duffy and a top aide had met with him the day before to suggest a compromise: The district would spend more of its federal stimulus money than planned in the coming year, forestalling the need for any teacher layoffs, and the union would agree to concessions, such as a wage freeze or unpaid furloughs.Cortines said he was open to such a deal, and that he might be able to offer jobs as long-term substitutes to laid-off teachers.Duffy had no comment on those negotiations.Danis Cybulski, a fourth-grade teacher at Aldama Elementary School in Highland Park, said she could accept a pay freeze or furlough days."I would stand behind the union as long as class sizes aren't increased and wasteful spending stopped," she said.Earlier in the week, a judge issued a restraining order prohibiting the teachers union from holding a one-day strike to protest the budget cuts.Cortines said the headquarters demonstration had not violated the order because the teachers involved were either on a break between semesters at year-round schools or had arranged for substitute teachers.

The superintendent, however, said he was not happy with the civil disobedience."I don't think that's the kind of image I want for our system," he said.The school district reported that it had 3,152 requests for substitute teachers, or roughly 700 more than usual for a Friday in May.Students walked out of class at several high schools and held sit-ins in support of teachers.About 500 students at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles held a sit-in Friday morning in the school's central yard. Later, they moved to the athletic field bleachers, and the school provided a sound system so they could discuss why they didn't want teachers laid off. Garfield could lose 13 English and social studies teachers. At Jordan High School in South Los Angeles, about 200 students gathered in the quad to show solidarity with teachers, and the campus was put on lock down in what Principal Stephen Strachan called a routine security measure.When students refused to go back into class, Strachan said, he gave them a microphone and about 15 students spoke out about the proposed layoffs."I'm very proud of our kids and their willingness to cooperate," he said. Hundreds of students also walked out at Maywood Academy. And scores of students chose not to return to their classrooms after a morning break at Franklin High School in Highland Park. " (Pictures/article courtesy of http://www.latimes.com/) Posted by The Washington Teacher.