THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
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Nov. 9, 2009
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But the concerns of parents have never simply been focused on
just academic rigor. Social climbing, boosting careers, seeking
values- or religious-based instruction, even exposing their
children to diverse culture, is as much a concern, if not more
so... And yet school reformers, like those in the public
education establishment, fail to take the needs or desires of
parents to heart. |
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Oct. 16, 2009
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But two years later, Ballard's grassroots supporters
accuse him of being "disgusting" and of "abandoning" Republican
principles by failing to roll back the income tax increase. He
has also taken flack for successfully pushing an $8 million
increase the city's hotel and beverage sales taxes. The latter
move, along with a loan from Indiana's state government, will
help bail out the city's Capital Improvement Board... |
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Oct. 16, 2009
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California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and the state's Democratically-controlled
legislature have become better-known for dysfunctional sparring
matches and dueling tax increase packages than for any form of
unanimous agreement. So the last month proved to be amazing as
legislators agreed to pass a string of the Governator's school
reform measures...
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School Choice Even
Obama Supports
Oct. 9, 2009
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But these
days, it's been the NEA and the American
Federation of Teachers that have been spitting mad, while school
choice supporters have reasons to smile. Why? Because Obama and
his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, are using federal
stimulus funds and their respective bully pulpits to force
states into spurring the growth of public charter schools |
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Running from Reform
Sept. 28, 2009
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But mayors aren't measured by bold
school initiatives, muscular
physiques and fundraising machines alone. As another
reform-minded Democrat, Bart Peterson, learned the hard way
two years ago, mayors must reduce crime, competently run
sprawling city governments, keep taxes low, address
quality-of-life concerns and stay out of meaningless sparring
matches. |
Golden
Apples
Jan. 12, 2009 |
An
even more fractious battle is emerging over the
array of generous defined-benefit pensions, employer-subsidized
healthcare plans, job protections and degree- and
seniority-based pay scales struck by states, districts and
locals of the National Education Association and American
Federation of Teachers... |
No Democrat Left Behind
Dec. 17, 2008 |
There wasn't much celebration
yesterday for Barack
Obama's nomination of Arne Duncan as
Secretary of Education from either the American Federation
of Teachers President Randi Weingarten (who praised Duncan
for helping "students with the greatest needs") or from
National Education Association honcho Dennis Van Roekel (who
said nothing at all)... |
The End
Dec. 9, 2008 |
Even in Illinois, where the twin specters of
political corruption and federal bribery convictions are as
common as Lake Effect snow, Milorad Blagojevich now stands out... |
Blade Runner
Nov. 3, 2008 |
After winning
the Indiana governorship --
and ending a 16-year string of Democratic control -- [Mitch]
Daniels lived up to both his nickname and his reputation... |
Justice Daleyed
Aug. 18, 2008 |
The blatant sleaze is as familiar to the
average Chicago resident as a Carl Sandberg poem. After all,
this is stomping grounds of the most legendary of American
mobsters, Al Capone, who bribed every city official he
could, and the spectacularly dishonest "Big Bill" Thompson,
who collected three bucks from every city worker seeking a
job. |
H-1B Education
Aug. 12, 2008 |
You would
expect high tech giants such as Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and the U.S.
division of India's tech support powerhouse, Infosys, to be among the
biggest users of H-1B skilled-labor visas. The same holds true for
universities such as Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan and
Purdue -- the world's training ground for skilled workers and
research-and-development... |
Trade School
Aug.
5, 2008 |
The students returning this fall to Hollywood High School in
Los Angeles probably know more about such Tinseltown
landmarks at the Walk of Fame than about the Doha Round of
trade talks that collapsed for the umpteenth time last week.
Nor are they likely to know about the arguments being made
by the AFL-CIO, Ralph Nader's Public Citizen, and other
groups opposed to free trade, for which the stalled
negotiations were the sweetest music |
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