It's OK to Break the Law to Accomodate Shortcomings and Incompetence

The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools on Monday blasted the Philadelphia School Reform Commission's decision to suspend part of state law so it could control charter-school growth, and said the move could trigger legal challenges.

The coalition said in a statement that it was "blindsided, shocked, and dismayed" by the SRC's vote Thursday night to suspend a section of the school code that prevents districts from capping charter enrollment.

In an interview Monday, Bob Fayfich, the coalition's executive director, said the item was added to the agenda at the last minute and voted on without public comment.
 

So, in summary, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission decided to break the law to keep the enrollment of Pennsylvania Charter Schools from increasing, and their own Public School's enrollment from decreasing.  This is taking place little over a week after the same commission took out a $300 Million loan just to make payroll on the Public side.

In other words, the students (and their families) rather attend the more successful (and probably safer) Charter schools.  However, for each student who goes to the Charter school, the Public system loses just over $7,600 of taxpayer funds.  The Public schools of Philadelphia suck, and this commission is breaking the law to keep them afloat. 

This is the same mentality and political figureheads who will be running our health care system soon.  Happy days!!!

Happy Birthday Mr. Vice President

 

Try not to eat the candles...

It's Like Randy Newman Doing the Soundtrack for Dr. Zhivago

I caught the trailer for "Gangster Squad" the other day and I had to shake my head to get the marbles moving again.  I think a lost a few IQ points taking in all the snappy one liners.  But, that's not what bothered me the most (and that's saying something).

Keep in mind, this is a 1950's era film about the rise of Mickey Cohen.  I'll say that again.  It takes place throughout the 1950's.  So to set the tone and hook you in, the trailer music is a rap by Jay-Z.  While that noisy garbage is playing, the trailer institutes Wachowski/The Matrix like slow motion multi-view renditions of violence.

As far as I'm aware, rap wasn't even invented until the late seventies.  Mickey Cohen was dead by then.

Here...see for yourself.  If this is a reflection of our popular culture, I much rather be considered eccentric.

What Do You Mean that the Federal Govt. Doesn't Want to Help Alabama?

CORDOVA, Ala. (AP) — Main Street in this old mill town looks about the same as it did the day after tornadoes killed about 250 people across Alabama a year and a half ago: Battered red bricks and broken glass litter the pavement, and the buildings still standing are rickety and roofless.

The entire one-block downtown, still deemed unsafe, remains sealed off by a chain-link fence. City officials blame the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying the money to demolish skeletons of the old buildings is mired in miles of red tape.

When one request for photos or historical documentation is met, FEMA makes another, the mayor and others in this town of 2,100 say. One crop of workers is replaced by another, forcing locals to constantly explain their problems to new people.
 

Guys...I know this happened in 2011 and more people were killed than during Hurricane Sandy, but your state is not Obama Territory.  You didn't vote for him in 2008.  You didn't vote for him in 2012.  You're not likely to vote for the Democrat candidate in 2016.  There are no opportunities to use photo opportunities in Alabama, because it will do no good.   And, to add insult to injury, Cordova, Alabama is a coal region.  Help ain't coming...ever.

The Freedom to Offend

At freshman orientation this fall, Ursinus College told incoming students there was a "no-tolerance policy on no tolerance."

That policy is being tested now as the small suburban liberal-arts college holds disciplinary hearings for a student who wore blackface to a campus-sponsored Halloween party and another who created a website asking students to rank one another as "hot or crazy."

Both incidents were quickly condemned by administrators and student leaders, who held town-hall meetings to air their grievances.

In a statement Monday, college president Bobby Fong said the campus response to the incidents was "indicative of the health of a community unafraid to speak truth and caring enough to help those who act inappropriately learn from error."

Fong, son of Chinese immigrants, has emphasized open discussions about racial issues since he came to Ursinus in July 2011.

In the Halloween case, a group of male students dressed as the U.S. women's gymnastic team, and one painted his face black to portray Gabby Douglas. Several students approached him and told him it was offensive.

Fong said the student appeared to have acted out of ignorance rather than callousness. He has been meeting with the offended parties and has apologized, Fong said.

Epiphany Summers, president of the college's black student union, was skeptical.
 

Yeah...a couple of things.  First off, if you have a significant amount of melanin in your skin tone and your name is Epiphany, you have no cause to be looking around for stereotypes to complain about.  You are one.   Not that there's anything wrong with being a stereotype since most of them are based on at least one salient fact.

Secondly,  I get that the Student ID's were misused.   But, if they were available for public access and the school holds no licensing options on them...Guess what?   And, technically, even if there is licensing, the website used to rate students (in whatever capacity) is an application of the Fair Use Doctrine.

Third...and most important...the First Amendment gives us the absolute RIGHT to offend anyone we want...end of story.  This is even more important when the offense is through perception and not in a purposeful way. 

You'd think someone who was raised by Chinese immigrants and, presumably, escaped the rule of Communist China would tolerate and even appreciate these nuances in a free society.  Guess not.

One other thing.  Again, I am reminded of the SK Energy commercial on the radio these days starring 50 Cent (Curtis James Jackson III).  Apparently, to be accepted in "cool" society you have to drink this hopped up energy formula and you turn from a nerdy white guy to a smooth grammatically challenged winner who gets to take shorties to the candy store...or some such nonsense.

Life used to be easier, because it was harder.  You were forced to compete and build up thicker skin.  There weren't "time-outs" if you misbehaved.  There was honest discipline.  There weren't certificates of participation.  There were trophies for the winner.  There weren't whiny little creatures looking for every opportunity to be offended.

Bush's Fault (For every occasion)

Oh, hey look, a government agency that was supposed to build up business in Northern Vermon that can't account for their lost funds.

Three years after an economic-development agency serving northern Vermont counties collapsed, the financial missteps that led to its failure remain shrouded in confusion and largely uninvestigated.

Former employees and members of its large board say the Economic Development Council based in St. Albans operated with scant oversight from its board and from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration — the agency which provided the council with its grant money.
 

It's closed down now, and no one knows where the missing hundreds of thousands went, but the inept long-term director has someone to blame.

 She attributed the financial problems in 2008 and 2009 to the hostility of President George W. Bush to development councils. “When Bush came in,” she said, “many of us went of of business. It was a struggle. I sleep well at night,” she said.
 

Oh...alright then.  George Bush's fault.  Why didn't you just put that in the headline, and no one would have to read any further.  They could have left out the parts about personal purchases on council credit cards, lack of documentation on expense allocation, lack of updating on financial reports, company vehicles without documentation logs, and the shifty undocumented loans to accomodate short falls. 

They could have avoided all the embarrassment and scrutiny if they had just come right out front and yelled it over hill and dale.  "IT WAS GEORGE W. BUSH'S FAULT THAT MADE US ACT LIKE INCOMPETENT IDIOTS!!!!"

Let's Play "Search for the Political Party"

A Philadelphia nonprofit with ties to State Rep. Dwight Evans mismanaged $1.5 million in state grants since 2006, raising questions about how the money was obtained and spent, according to a confidential state audit.

At Evans' direction, the Urban Affairs Coalition put a Philadelphia pastor and his aide on its payroll, the auditors found, then used taxpayer funds to pay them $365,000 for work that auditors said they could not verify.

The grants included $1 million that went to renovate a nursing home run by Leland Beloff, a former Philadelphia city councilman who was convicted in an extortion scheme in 1987 with mob boss Nicodemo Scarfo.

The home, Harlee Manor, should have been ineligible because it is a for-profit venture, auditors found. They also cited e-mails showing a top aide to U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, who was a Beloff friend, sought status reports on the grants.

 The report, obtained by The Inquirer, was commissioned by the state Office of Inspector General Kenya Mann Faulkner and completed in May by the KPMG accounting firm.
 

Damn...I don't see it anywhere.  Hold on, I'll keep looking.

 Evans, once Philadelphia's most powerful House Democrat, did not respond to requests left at his office and on his cellphone to discuss the audit or his role in the grants.
 

 Aha...there it is down in paragraph # 11.  This guy used to be in charge of the  House Appropriations Committee which oversaw budget requests and money grants.  He was the most influential Philadelphia politician in the State House, but the Philadelphia Inquirer doesn't think we need to know that in the by-line, or the first 11 paragraphs.  You know, someone might make the association between the Democrat party and graft should they do so.

Incidentally, Rep. Evans was noted as one of the top ten influential African-Americans in Philadelphia back in 2010.  Here's hoping he becomes one of the top 10 influential African-Americans at Graterford Prison real soon.