Parent Involvement series in MJS--first reactions (note updates below)

by folkbum

Many moons ago, I mentioned here that Erin Richards of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was working on a series about parent involvement in schools.

It is running this week, finally, and it is good. (It seems I have a cameo in today's story.)

Yesterday's story, the first, has some sobering statistics about MPS and its failure to connect with parents. Here's something from it, featuring the blame-teachers-first mentality of our present administration:

But MPS has a spotty record, long operating a splintered outreach program that makes it easy to catch the same parents repeatedly and miss the vast majority that needs assistance. [. . .]

"(Teachers) still view themselves as individual practitioners," [Superintendent William] Andrekopoulos said. "We will try to work with them and resolve these issues, but we don't have any language in the (union) contract that says they absolutely have to work with parents."

But leaders in the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association [MTEA] say the administration has never tried to engage the union at the bargaining table on the issue.

Blame the union, blame the union--and miss a key point. A teacher's work with parents is, in fact, a part of the evaluation process we all undergo (teachers are evaluated annually for the first five years, then every three years after that or as deemed necessary by the principal). Principals can identify problem areas in evaluations and require teachers to work on those. If word came from the top that every principal would be checking parent contacts during evaluations, you'd better believe the contacts we make (for indeed, we do try) would be better documented.

In addition, it's a fairly common thing for schools to include in their School Improvement Plans (all of which are public documents available from the MPS website; search for a school name and "school improvement plan" to see specific ones) better coordination and contact with parents. Service to the SIP is also a factor in teacher evaluations.

Finally, I would add that the amount of training I have had as a professional on dealing with parents is right about zero. No district or school inservices that I can recall had parent outreach as a topic. Teachers and the union don't set those topics. The one moment I do remember learning about better parent outreach came in an MTEA presentation for new teachers back when I first started in the district. I gathered with a bunch of other newbies in the basement of the MTEA building, on my own time, and heard suggestions from a panel of experienced teachers.

So why, again, are we blaming the union?

UPDATED to add two things: One, not seen yet (though it may be coming) in the discussion about parents and MPS is the fact that so many MPS parents send their children, particularly older children, to schools far away from home or even work. At a public meeting held for the community of my school regarding significant potential changes to the school, not one parent showed up to speak. Not one. Admittedly, the meeting was a bit short-notice (a different story entirely), but that not one parent was there is stunning to contemplate. (I addressed the myth of the Neighborhood Student in my last Compass column.)

Two, bills up for consideration right now to move away from elected leadership in the district to appointed leadership under the control of the mayor will just further remove parents from the process. Indeed, the leading bill, Colón-Taylor, would re-purpose the elected school board to be a buffer between parents and the real governance of the district. Given what we already know, thanks in large part to Erin Richards's collecting all the info into one place--about MPS's failures with parents, how is it rational that such a move is even being considered?

FriTunes: Almost forgot in my holiday stupor

by folkbum



Amy LaVere, who slaps a mean bass.

Possibly related: Jim Morrison returns to soothe a woman from the bottom of her iron.

Paul Ryan: Number 5!

by folkbum

Number five on the list of top Republican distortions, anyway.

Although I would argue he should also be number three, since he was caught using that fake statistic just two weeks ago.

Buy Nothing Day

by folkbum

So far so good. Although later I may go out to dinner at a locally-owned eatery.

Thankful

by folkbum

You betcha. Happy day, all.

"Climategate"

by folkbum

People want comment? Sure. In the form of a deep thought:

Deep Thought
Apparently climate-change deniers who have hacked access to fifteen years' worth of scientists' emails can't find a smoking gun more powerful than one scientist admitting that he substituted actual thermometer readings in place of proxy measures for temperature in one of his papers.

Happy?

Classic Slice

by folkbum

If there is any flaw in the Classic Slice business model, it's that the slices are so big that the crust is cold by the time you get to it. Still, thankful for that.

"Now, there are some who would like to rewrite history—revisionist historians is what I like to call them."

--George W. Bush, June 16, 2003

"We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."
--Dana Perino, former Bush spokeswoman, November 24, 2009

Internet polls are meaningless

by folkbum

But just in case they aren't ...

... and, sadly, nowhere to write in anyone.

Apples to Horse Apples

by folkbum

There's an ugly internet rumor going around that Sarah Palin's poll numbers are as good as Barack Obama's. It's not true. (Graphs below are as of 11/24; click on them to be magically transported to pollster for current data.)



(And for kicks, you can play with the graphs to remove the outlier Rassmussen, watch the two get farther apart.)

Meanwhile, Over at the Americans for Prosperity Meeting

By Keith R. Schmitz

Context matters. Except when it doesn't.

by folkbum

A moth or so ago--at the current pace of things, it may as well have been last century--then-current (now former) White House Communications Director Anita Dunn was flogged across the wingnutoverse because, in a speech that included quotes from the likes of Mother Teresa, she quoted a line from Mao Tse Tung that meant, roughly, "choose your battles wisely." Not a jarring sentiment in and of itself, but the context, we were told--after all, Mao was a Communist Bastard responsible for Countless Deaths and other Crimes Against Humanity And Decency--that context mattered, and Dunn's repetition of that quotation, however banal, crossed a significant line.

This week, those same futzes are all super-duper amused with themselves passing on the latest dimwit internet meme: "Pray for Obama," they say, citing a Bible verse, Psalms 109:8. That verse, if you haven't seen it, is "May his days be few; may another take his office" (depending on the translation). That's an ambiguous enough sentiment by itself to be not terrible. However, the context--reading the rest of the Psalm excerpted--makes it clear that this is one of a series of consequences imagined by the Psalmist after an enemy of his dies. The very next verse, for example, is "May his wife be widowed and his children be orphans." The whole thing is a prayer for death, not just a wish for a short term in charge.

So which is it, wingnuts? Does context matter, as in the Dunn case? Or does context not matter, as in your wish for Obama's assassination?

None of this should come as a surprise, by the way. Even just tracking the local hate-typists, you can see that in addition to thinking Obama's death a la Psalms is great, they think killing any Democrat is a hoot.

Laughing With Lyrical Love

By 3rd Way

The genius of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee's decision to exclude the Islamic members of their group on a trip to the Mideast made me think of the lyrics to Regina Spektor's* "Laughing With".

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God
When the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
When it’s gotten real late
And their kid’s not back from the party yet

No one laughs at God
When their airplane start to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else
And they hope that they’re mistaken

...

*Chorus*
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’ve lost all they’ve got
And they don’t know what for

...

No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
We’re all laughing with God

I like the idea of a jocular God, but I don't think God would be laughing with this interfaith group.

*apologies to Jay for featuring an anti-folk artist

Caption Contest

by folkbum

It's Superman! He'll save us!

(stolen from)

Only if I get to pick which state

by folkbum

They've started the campaign, it seems.



UPDATED to add, to the naysayers who think I would not be qualified: I believe that I am because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many other Wisconsin values. And I believe that what Wisconsinites are seeking is not the elitism, the kind of a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with some kind of elite Ivy League education and a fact resume that's based on anything but hard work and private sector, free enterprise principles. Wisconsinites could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I'm not saying that has to be me.

FriTunes

by folkbum

A preview of tonight's entertainment:

Deep Thought

by folkbum

If I'm an Outpost owner--and I am--can I ban this guy from the store?

Alternately, going after the comments: I did a google search [on] organic vs. nonorganic and all the articles I read will tout organic farming methods, manure vs other fertilizer, non use of pesticides, some even claim organic vegetables have a higher content of a certain nutrient. What I find interesting is that every article I read is very careful to explain (usually somewhere near the bottom) that organic is not healthier for you.

Because ingesting and inhaling and living in a world full of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is the healthiest thing ever!

Land of the Little People

By Keith R. Schmitz

The terror trials are coming to New York City and there is a possibility that a prison in North Illinois (with the lusty urging of the locals) will take some of the Gitmo inmates. And like clockwork the exploitation begins.

This morning Politico.com tells us that in predictable fashion and like dogs salivating to Pavlov's bell, the GOP will look to exploit the ginned up concern in next year's midterms. And why not. They have little else to offer us and how can they when they hate government. Several GOP members in Congress have already jumped in on the panic.

So no surprise mistress-marrying, criminal crony promoter, 9/11 parrot Rudy Guiliani is whipping this issue like a rented mule. Locally one TV station did a 10:00 news promo the other night with the alarmist statement "are terrorists coming to Illinois near the Wisconsin border?"

The question is if we are the strongest nation on earth, how come those who spout that statement the most are acting like it the least?

FIXX in Three

by folkbum

Days, that is.

Paninis, coffee, soup, CD-release fever (less contagious than swine flu, and without the runny nose), and two hours of quality original music. Starts at 7:30 Saturday, at St. Francis's best strip-mall coffee house.

The Real Job Killers

By Keith R. Schmitz

Health insurance companies.

Some tip of the iceberg stories about small business' struggles with health insurance coverage from the AHIP protests in Chicago today.

Alternative MPS proposal better, still not focused on children

by folkbum

Not a lot of time this morning, but a quick comment about Grigsby-Coggs: It offers the mayor a strong hand in helping to set the direction for the Milwaukee Public Schools (some budget, superintendent-selection powers), but retains the democratically elected Board. It's a compromise position, really, between status quo and the the "TEACH" Act from Taylor, et al.

However, as with the other proposals, this is mostly about shuffling the cards at the top of the deck a little bit, and generally not focused on where the rubber meets the road, if you'll permit me to mix metaphors. Seems to be some in there about better school-level leadership and better early math and reading curricula, but still mostly nothing that will fundamentally change the daily interactions between students and their learning environments--or change facts about students' home environments to make learning easier, more appealing, and better-supported within stable, healthy families.

But anyway. Time to go put my rubber to the road.

Hm. Maybe I should go after Tom Barrett every day.

by folkbum



[WRY COMMENT DELETED AFTER GOOGLE THREATENS TO DANGLE BLOG OVER BALCONY LIKE SOME POP STAR'S CHILD].

You do know that speech is about suicide, right?

by folkbum

Steven Walters, writing today about moves by various politicos to take over or otherwise mangle the Milwaukee Public Schools:

Hamlet's Act 3 "to be or not to be" soliloquy includes this lament: "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all..."

Great Moments in Sports

By Keith R. Schmitz

When the Bears lose, the fans are exquisite in their anguish. The Friday morning after the Bears lost to San Francisco thanks to QB Jay Culter gave up five interceptions the Sun Times ran a headline over a picture of Culter sitting dejectedly on the turf that read "Bay of Picks." Think of the fun if the regular news hole was given this kind of literary license.

Over at the Badger -- Alaska Anchorage Seawolves hockey match at the Kohl Center Friday night, the inventive UW fans showed their mass inspiration by taunting the loosing Seawolves with (imagine the Matt Unertl cheer from 1999) "I See Russia" followed by "Sarah Palin" followed by "Start the Dog Sled."

Who's going to challenge Tom Barrett from the left?

or, maybe Soglin should file papers after all

by folkbum

As noted here previously, Tom Barrett has spent much of the last few months--and any number of Democrats have on his behalf--dumping on Milwaukee by slandering and demanding control of the Milwaukee Public Schools.

No candidate from Milwaukee can be elected governor, you see, without making certain that they are not viewed as being of Milwaukee. At least, that's as reasonable an explanation as one can draw from Wisconsin's history of not having elected candidates from Milwaukee to statewide office since forever. (Someone who has lived here longer than I have--I started college here in 1992 and stuck around--can probably tell me the last time that happened. But if the Wikipedia can be believed, Lee Dreyfus was the last Milwaukeean elected governor, though he hadn't lived in Milwaukee for years at the time.)

So here's what we're going to end up with: three major-party candidates (Barrett plus Republicans Scott Walker and Mark Nuemann), none of whom will stick up for the state's major urban center, none of whom will advocate for the state's minority population, none of whom will argue that unless we reignite the fires of Milwaukee's economic engine, its idling could drag this state's recovery out for years. (Wisconsin's second major urban area, Madison, has an economy that just keeps racing along, it seems.) Walker will not run a pro-Milwaukee campaign, because he, too, is from here. And Neumann won't because it will not earn him a single vote in a Republican primary.

Sp who's going to challenge Barrett from the left? Who's going to run a progressive, pro-Milwaukee, pro-public education, pro-urban renewal campaign that will force Barrett (and, I would hope, by extension the Republican candidates) to pay attention to progressive issues and stay honest about the needs of Milwaukee's largest city and most desperate economic disaster-in-waiting?

If there is any lesson to be learned from the election two weeks ago in Virginia, it's that running away from the people and the issues that mobilized and energized Barack Obama's voters is a losing proposition. Creigh Deeds was the least progressive candidate from Virginia's Dem primary and he ran hard away from Obama's signature issues like health care reform. Obama voters stayed home, and Deeds lost miserably.

Barrett needs a serious opponent in this primary who can make sure that doesn't happen. Barb Lawton could have been that candidate (though she also had a reasonable chance to beat Barrett--I doubt any other candidate now does). Kevin Conroy is not that person. Kathleen Falk maybe is, but she might not have another statewide run in her. Tammy Baldwin is saving up to replace Herb Kohl in 2012. So that leaves ... who? Paul, are you listening?

Updated to add, from Thomas J. Mertz in the comments, this:
I think there is a larger issue here about who among the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's state elected officials is willing to act on "progressive, pro-Milwaukee, pro-public education, pro-urban renewal..." principles. You could add tax reform and many other things to this list. [. . .] We are at the point where the far right is defining the GOP agenda, the GOP agenda is defining the moderate Democratic agenda and the moderate Democratic agenda is being pushed or defended by "Progressive" elected officials. This isn't good.

What he said.

Deep Thought

by folkbum

If we wear out the whole "The world's gonna end in December 2012" meme now, what are we going to talk about for the next three years?

Leggies who blame MPS for its failures need to look first at what they've done--and not done

by folkbum

I generally like My State Senator, Tim Carpenter. But he, along with Sen. Lena Taylor and Rep. Pedro Colón, have an op-ed in the paper this morning defending their Milwaukee Public Schools takeover bill, and he's just wrong here.

The title of the op-ed is a compound imperative, and both parts are at least somewhat wrong: "MPS must improve; change in governance is necessary." First, I agree that MPS's results must improve; there is no question about that. I spend eight (sometimes ten or twelve) hours a day trying from my little corner of the district to make that happen. And while there are things that he district can and should be doing differently, there is nothing--as I have argued time and time again--that we can do inside the schools to produce large-scale, system-wide changes to the problems created by factors outside the schools. At best, tinkering inside the schools will provide small results at the margins, something shown over and over again by urban districts all across the country facing exactly the same issues MPS is.

Second, simply changing the governance of MPS--at least, changing it as proposed, which includes handing over vast power to the mayor of Milwaukee and weakening the elected board to the point of irrelevance--is not the solution. This is true for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that no proponent of a governance change has offered a single specific idea of how MPS would be different under new leadership, except to say that the leadership would be different. There's also the sad-but-true fact that districts under mayoral control generally do not see vast improvement, and the not sad but devastatingly true fact that voters in this city and this state roundly rejected municipal control of MPS at the ballot box last spring by defeating the candidate who endorsed it.

But what gets me about the argument here presented by Carpenter, Taylor, and Colón is that they blame MPS's failures on a lot of things that they, as legislators, have the power to change immediately without interfering in the governance structure of MPS.

For starters, I'll suggest the one thing they don't name, which is what I noted above and overandoverandoveragain on this blog: MPS students spend the vast majority of their lives outside of the system (between birth and the time she graduates at 18, a student spends just 15% of her life in school). As state legislators from the city of Milwaukee, these three have considerable power and authority to affect the other 85% of our students' lives. All of the things that correlate strongly to poor achievement, from poverty and homelessness to poor health care and transience, are things a legislature could be working on. These are not problems that will be solved by MPS.

However, here's the really galling part:

Additionally, for the past several years, MPS has had to rely on a one-time state budget amendment, one-time federal stimulus funds and even state borrowing from other funds just to remain afloat. This patchwork funding pattern cannot continue while outcomes are not improving. Due to the downturn in the economy, we have seen the state pull back on its commitment to fund two-thirds of educational costs.

To further complicate matters, the Milwaukee school choice funding flaw has burdened property taxpayers in Milwaukee, as has the open enrollment policy. According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the net aid reduction for MPS in 2009-'10 will be $44.4 million and in 2008-'09, the net aid transfer out of MPS under the open enrollment program was $21.7 million.

These are consecutive paragraphs of the op-ed, unedited and unaltered. They really did just go there: They slammed MPS's budget situation and then fingered two state programs as being significantly responsible for MPS's loss of funds. These state programs, designed, approved, implemented, and maintained by the state legislature, suck funds out of MPS that then these legislators have the nerve to complain about needing to replace.

While yes, there have been some demographic changes in the city that have decreased enrollment, the primary culprits have been state legislators who say to students and parents, "We're not concerned with making sure MPS and the city it serves have what they need to succeed, so we'll just make it easier for you to go somewhere else." It's as if the state handed out coupons to Subway and then blamed Cousins for its declining sales.

If the legislature were serious about wanting to shore up MPS finances, they should stop handing out those coupons. End those programs. Stop offering incentives for the most-involved parents and the highest-achieving students to leave, and the financial (not to mention academic) picture looks better. We are, for example, supporting retirees from a 120,000-student district on revenues from 80,000 students--in large part because the state has facilitated declining enrollment. School climates have changed for the same reason. Special education enrollment ratios have ballooned. Buildings now stand half-empty that were once bustling hubs of neighborhood activity.

And, after this year's talk of dismantling the democratic leadership of MPS, the city is ready to blow apart at the seams.

There's a lot a legislature could do to help MPS, and, as Carpenter, Taylor, and Colón write, "show the federal government that we are serious about education reform and that Wisconsin is worthy of Race to the Top funds." Standing up to Arne Duncan, who is wrong about mayoral control, may not be the easiest way to do it. It would, however, be the best thing for Milwaukee and its children.

FriTunes, NaNoWriMo edition

by folkbum

Here's one for everyone celebrating National Novel Writing Month by actually, you know, writing their novels.

Deep Thought

by folkbum

Asking Sarah Palin for advice on how to be governor is like asking David Lee Roth for advice on how to lead a rock band.

Veterans' Day, 2009

by folkbum

There is no greater duty than to defend the liberty of your contrymen. Thanks to all who have served, are serving, and will serve.

Final Bracey Report: Mayoral control "disturbing," "undemocratic and ineffectual"

by folkbum

One of the things that the late Gerald Bracey did for years is produce his annual "Bracey Report," which is a look at the various education reform efforts over the course of the past year, good and bad, with a careful examination of the data.

This year's report (.pdf), released today, is particularly timely for us here in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Today, a group of well meaning but seriously misguided Democrats are introducing a bill, announced two weeks ago, that would strip meaningful control of the Milwaukee Public Schools from the elected board and place it in the hands of the mayor. (Details here.)

Bracey takes the idea of mayoral control on full force, and he is not kind to the idea. Using National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, Bracey looks at claims about New York's and Chicago's schools under mayoral control, and finds the claims of great success to be flat-out false. He comes very close to literally calling Arne Duncan, late of Chicago and now US Secretary of Education, a liar, and he is no kinder to Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein New York.

Bracey finds that the achievement gaps are wider, graduation rates are no better, and the regimes established under the mayors in those cities are oppressively undemocratic.

(As an aside: I still get angry thinking about the abomination that is No Child Left Behind, and that its existence is entirely premised on the utterly mythical "Houston Miracle" supposedly spearheaded by George W. Bush's first Secretary of Education Rod Paige. Now we have this "Race to the Top" premised on the mythical success of Chicago's schools under Arne Duncan. I thought history was supposed to wait a bit longer before repeating itself.)

Here's Bracey's conculsion:

A close look at the two most visible exemplars of mayoral control, Chicago and New York, yields results that counter the image created by those in control. 'Reforms' that are supposed to help children do better are primarily used to make the adults who control the schools look good. Performance on tests that are subject to manipulation show improvement. Performance on tests that are free of manipulation show no improvement and no closing of ethnic achievement gaps. In reading the literature about the mayoral systems, one repeatedly encounters words like bully, authoritarian, autocratic, arbitrary, intrusive, despotic, dictatorial, disenfranchisement, rubber stamp, exclusion (of parents) even 'Brezhnev-era Soviet Union.' [. . .] Now, Arne Duncan aids, abets—and requires—this version of reform with the lure of big government grants.

In short, Bracey is just the latest in long series of policy and educational researchers to raise serious questions about the efficacy of mayoral control of urban school districts. Every data-backed, peer-reviewed study I have seen of the question comes to the same conclusion: mayoral control doesn't change achievement rates of large urban districts. Given the significant downsides to making such a change in Milwaukee--including opening a racial rift in this city the size of which we haven't seen in decades--and the absence of any data suggesting city schools do better under mayoral control, it would behoove our legislators to reconsider the proposal on the table.

Yes, yes, I get the whole thing about "Race to the Top" money and whatnot. But as I have written before, chasing worthless reforms in pursuit of grant money is a proven losing proposition. It's demeaning and degrading and distracting, and, again, not worth the consequences. If what it takes to earn the money is ultimately to do further disservice to our students, the screw the money, I say.

I don't want to dance to Arne Duncan's music, especially knowing that the melody is a pack of lies to begin with. Our legislators shouldn't give in to the music, either.

Deep Thought

by folkbum

Not one of the local conservative bloggers who used unusually cold days in September to mock "global warming" has noted the recent unusually warm days in November.

Jay Weber does the talk-radio taxidermy

by bert
Here is another transparent tactic used by on-air pundits of the right wing in order to mangle the truth and score points. I call it talk-radio taxidermy. What you do is after a story is dead and gone, you doctor up the corpse to represent some scene that never was.

This tactic is most useful when your right-wing smears could not adhere to the living truth at the time. But maybe later, when memories fade, you can fool your listeners by posing and grooming this dead story to reflect what it never meant. The Iraq War is one example. You will continue to hear this year a persistent subordinate clause that "Bush achieved victory".

This morning, Jay Weber on WISN-AM was, I guess, trying to tell us that Barack Obama doesn't care about soldiers. You see, the retiree George W. Bush traveled within his own state and without the press to visit Fort Hood over the weekend. Good for George Bush. You see, Obama has not yet visited.

Then came the doctored-up corpse. Weber said something today such as: remember when Obama was going to visit injured soldiers in Germany during his campaign and then called off the visit because reporters were not allowed to go along?

The more nuanced story is covered here with some integrity by the Talking Points Memo web site. The army changed its ground rules for the planned Obama visit to the Landstuhl base in the middle of Obama's European trip in the summer of 2008.

The Obama campaign seems to have concluded that to contest those changed rules or continue with the visit, if possible at all under the new rules, would send the wrong signals. If anything, the motive was to avoid politicizing such a visit. That's far from calling it off when they found they could not politicize it, which was what Weber wants the story to be.

The fact is that right-wingers relish the anger produced by the Fort Hood shootings. Because any pundit worth his or her salt should be able to find a means to refashion and redirect anger so that it aims toward blame of a democrat.

After this Fort Hood story also goes dormant, go back and tally the on-air minutes devoted to Obama -- who is sort of peripheral to this story -- versus the minutes devoted to Amy Krueger, Russell Seager, or Amber Bahr .

Deep Thought

by folkbum

Reagan-era unemployment numbers mean we should be demanding a return to Reagan-era tax rates.

FriTunes, throwback edition

by folkbum



I have always loved this song, but what makes the video for me is the Wayne's World quality production. The zoom in up the nostrils shot is archetypal, of course, but it doesn't really make anyone attractive.

Tragedy at Ft. Hood

by folkbum

Puts whatever stresses and problems you have at your own job in perspective, no? Thoughts with them, please.

Maybe They Were Punked -- Again

By Keith R. Schmitz

Looking for light for what for them are the darkest of places, the right has been chaffing over the notion that their Stalinization program in the GOP led to a loss of the 23rd district for the Republican Party for the first time in over 100 years, based on what they call the mainstream media "meme." The claim is that a Democrat Michael McNulty held that seat in the late 1990's and into this century, so the MSM is in their minds, wrong as usual.

Turns out their breathless protests were based on something that appeared in all places, Wikipedia. Whenever they can, they will pick up a fumble and run with it, even when it is whistled dead because it leaves a trail of misinformation on the nets that their minions will pick up and repeat for months to come.

If they would have double checked their "facts" they would have found in places such as the contemporary report in the New York Times and in the Library of Congress that McNulty served in the 21st. The memorable Sherwood Boehlert won the 23rd in 1998.

By the way, Wikipedia moved McNulty's seat to the 21st.

Please play again. Thanks you.

Kill my wife, please

by folkbum

From a man who once had the gall to call me a misogynist.

Interesting--but generally disappointing--results last night

by folkbum

Most disappointing, I think, in Maine, where once again the reactionary forces of bigotry turned out in greater numbers than the forces of goodness and light, and repealed the state's same-sex marriage law. The civil rights efforts of this generation have been dealt another severe setback. (At the same time, Washington State seems to have approved fully equal rights for civil unions; good for them.)

The Virginia race suggests two things: One, Democrats will have to work very hard--and will need to recapture or somehow replace the personally inspirational figure of Barack Obama--to spur base turnout in 2010. It doesn't seem that the voters who elected Obama in Virginia rejected him last night; rather, they stayed home, and that's a different, but equally deadly, problem. Two, it suggests that contra the tea-party philosophy, Republicans who run away from the crazy (Bob McDonnell did everything he could to paint himself as a reasonable moderate) can win. Put that up against NY-23, where the in-all-but-name Republican went the Full Palin, and lost a seat that Republicans had held since 1850 to the moderate Democrat. (The other federal race, CA-10, also went to the Democrat. Two races does not a trend make--it takes three!--but clearly voters did not reject Nancy Pelosi, either, last night.)

In New Jersey, I think the lesson is that when things are sucky, it's difficult for an incumbent to win, even against a scandal-mired candidate. (I'm sure many Republicans believe this is the lesson of 2008.) NJ's economic climate is ugly--much moreso than Virginia's--and the vote there is clearly a rejection of current policies in a way that Virginia's vote, where there was no incumbent and the Democrat was not all that closely tied to his predecessor, was probably not.

More locally, the North Shore once again suggests it's not necessarily going to be receptive to the Full Palin--no tax is a good tax--in the future, either. Not that I love taxes or that I think the first answer to any question is to raise them, but the tea-party vanguard has at its core the polar opposite of that message, and it did not win last night in New York, in Whitefish Bay, or anywhere else.

And one final question remains, one year out from 2010: Who's our Democratic candidate for governor? I said it wouldn't be me, but clearly they must be getting pretty far along the list of people ahead of me who would all have to say no before it's my turn. I mean, seriously, guys. Someone's gotta step up.

I'm not sure which was funnier ...

by folkbum

... my Comedy Sportz show or the County budget hearing. I suppose the budget thing was more sadly tragicomic, eh?

Special shout-out to the Audubon contingent who came out to the show. Good to see you all again!

Also: Regular blogging should resume again after my in-laws leave this weekend. Busybusybusy.

Your 24-hour warning: Funny ahead

by folkbum

Look, I know that you want nothing more than to laugh at me. Hell, many of you are probably doing that very thing right now from the convenience of your own home. However, if you would rather do it in person, for free, you can, Monday night. Come on over to Comedy Sportz Milwaukee at 7 PM. My improv classmates and I are putting on a free showcase performance, and we need an audience to suggest stupid and embarrassing things for us to do. Plus the bar will be open!

Well, somewhere out in the Midwest anyway

by bert

I get the overall point from the writer in today's New York Times about how jarring are the regional differences in Iraq versus those between two Midwestern states:

The invisible line that separates Iraqi Kurdistan from Iraq’s lower
provinces should be little different than crossing from, say, Michigan into Illinois. . .

But I guess Alissa J. Rubin or others on the East Coast wouldn't bother to know that Michigan and Illinois don't share a border. (To be fair, I don't spend much time out East and I'm never sure if places like Delaware and New Jersey butt up against each other???)

It reminds me of the famous drawing by Saul Steinberg from a 1976 New Yorker magazine cover.

Ryan pitches health insurance scare tactics

by bert
The insurance industry would not hold a gun to our heads in order to kill any reform of health care. That's because they've paid good money to have lawmakers such as Rep. Paul Ryan do that for them.

Here is Ryan this week on the floor of the House warning that premiums will more than double if the health-care-reform proposals that he and the industry dislike were to become law.



What a coincidence. Because, speaking of the insurance business, Ryan happens to feed at their lobby trough.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the insurance business is a close second in the ranking of industries as a source of his campaign contributions. His $57,550 worth of contributions in this election cycle from either individuals or PACs tied to insurance is about four times the average contribution the industry devotes to individual lawmakers. Ryan ranks in the top 20 of all recipients of insurance lobbyist largesse in the House.

Unfortunately for those pimping Ryan, this scare tactic doesn't work on people who are already shell-shocked by exploding insurance costs. Oh, no, not rising premiums!!

According to the National Coalition on Health Care, premium costs for both employers and workers has risen on average 131 percent over the last decade. A White House report finds some states with increases over that period as high as 150 percent.

So Ryan's threat, when you look at the numbers, boils down to a claim that me and my boys will keep doing to you what we have already done. The worse that can happen is more of the same.

Incidentally, Ryan has also used scare tactics about threats to Medicare in his dutiful service to the insurance industry and its fight against reform. Kelly Gallaher of the Racine area did a good job of exposing this.

FriTunes

by folkbum



Kind of a depressing song--Foucault is known for that--but if you want the funny, you have to come see me at Comedy Sportz Monday, 11/2, at 7 PM. That show is free and guaranteed to make you laugh.

Props to Arnold for this one

by folkbum

It's the sort of thing I would do if I were in charge, which is why I'm not running for governor. WARNING: Not safe for work, small children, or people who have never read blogs before.

Impatience

by folkbum

Why haven't those idiots gone Galt yet?

Vast majority of Americans now a "formidable liberal interest group"

by folkbum

Dana Milbank, this morning: "For Reid, [introducing a bill with a public option] was an admission of the formidable power of liberal interest groups."

Recent polling:

• USA Today/Gallup Poll. Oct. 16-19, 2009: If Congress passes a health care bill, do you think it should or should not include a public, government-run insurance plan to compete with plans offered by private insurance companies? Should, 50%
• CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Oct. 16-18, 2009: Would you favor or oppose creating a public health insurance option administered by the federal government that would compete with plans offered by private health insurance companies? Favor, 61%
• ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Oct. 15-18, 2009: Would you support or oppose having the government create a new health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans? Support, 76%
• CBS News Poll. Oct. 5-8, 2009: Would you favor or oppose the government offering everyone a government-administered health insurance plan -- something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get -- that would compete with private health insurance plans? Favor, 62%
• Ipsos/McClatchy Poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs. Oct. 1-5, 2009: One of the points being debated is whether or not the government should create a public health insurance plan as an alternative to private insurance plans. Public plan is necessary, 53%
• Quinnipiac University Poll. Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2009: Do you support or oppose giving people the option of being covered by a government health insurance plan that would compete with private plans? Support, 61%
• Pew Research Center Poll. Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2009: Would you favor or oppose a government health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans? Favor, 55%

If nominated, I will not run

by folkbum

If elected, I will not serve. Even if it means no one runs ...

More seriously, I was looking forward to campaigning for Barbara Lawton. I think a lot of the so-called "serious people" on the right assumed she was a lightweight who would never connect with voters. I disagree. Today's news is surprising and disappointing.

... adding, it is supremely disheartening that in a blue state like this, the two likely candidates remaining--unless Ron Kind changes his mind (which is not the end of the world)--are the also-rans from eight years ago. Where the hell is our leadership development?

Haloscanned

by folkbum

Comments may not be working right, and this site might be slow to load, too. Happy Monday!

Seems fine now. Flame away.

Signs of the times

by folkbum

1. One of the best, longest-standing, and most important bloggers on the planet is about to get evicted; if you can help--I can't, times being what they are--you should.

2. We've been turning away the neighborhood kids and I had to rake the leaves myself today because my labor is free. Ugh.

WTMJ, WISN: Pimples of the GOP Party

by bert
Predictably -- and right-wing radio shows are always predictable – the talk shows of our local AM stations WTMJ and WISN spent last week hammering the White House’s criticism of Fox News.

What's provoked their push-back was that President Obama’s staff members said in interviews since last Sunday that we Americans, and especially other reporters, should all just stop pretending Fox is journalism.

Dan Peiffer, an Obama spokesman, said "we simply decided to stop abiding by the fiction, which is aided and abetted by the mainstream press, that Fox is a traditional news organization.” Anita Dunn, another White House flak, stated the obvious when she said Fox News is an arm of the Republican Party.

If Fox’s defenders had an argument it was that you can’t confuse commentators in the evening such as Beck or Hannity with the serious, balanced journalism the Fox channel presents during the day. I had to laugh, recalling the teabagger protests last summer when Fox reporters were literally cheering on and pumping up the protesters. I also seem to recall that Hannity never makes those distinctions in declaring all media except Fox as inthetankforObama.


I think it is rich that the local radio is acting all shocked at such an accusation, that a news organization would carry water for a political party. Because I know what folks like Dunn would conclude if she listened to these stations around here. She would see very quickly that, while too insignificant nationally to be an arm of the GOP, WTMJ and WISN are at least pimples of the party.

The local stations, like Fox, pretend they have “news departments” apart from their talk shows. At WISN in the morning the straight news guy is Ken Herrera. True, many times Herrera will just deliver a straight news story, say the spillage of animal offal on the freeway.

But at other times you'll see him serving as the sort of Ed McMahon to talk-show-host Jay Weber. I remember Herrera, for example, gushing his enthusiasm for Sarah Palin, agreeing with an equally aroused Weber about how awesome she was going to be on the day Palin was announced as John McCain’s V.P. candidate a good year ago.

Even worse is another WISN fill-in Nick Reed, who does both straight news and fills in for other hosts. One afternoon Reed is going off forever against Doyle or Pelosi, blah, blah, blah. Then the next day he’ll be the guy reading a story at the top of the hour about state government.

Does anyone remember when, as part of their straight news, WISN would run a feature during their straight news called “good news from the front” that would try to sell the wars under George Bush with fluffy features about schools being built in Karbala, or an election, etc.? That feature stopped about when Bush’s term stopped. Hmmmm?


When it comes to their competitor WTMJ and its supposed journalism, it's hard to know where to start. What contaminates any claim that WTMJ can make that it engages in actual news is the damage wrought by the influence at that company wielded by show-host Charlie Sykes, who is an open GOP operative and MC of GOP fund-raisers.

Like the tick on a rat, Sykes is the carrier of GOP infection afflicting WTMJ’s news. The exposé by former WTMJ news and programming guy Dan Shelley documented how Sykes would rant and throw his weight around. Here's an excerpt of Shelley's article:

Another tense moment arose when the Harley-Davidson 100th anniversary was captivating the community – and our on-air coverage – in 2003, but Charlie
wanted to talk about school choice for seemingly the 100,000th time. He literally threw a fit, off the air and on, belittling other hosts, the news department and station management for devoting resources to Harley’s 100th coverage. “The Green House” newsman Phil Cianciola countered that afternoon with a joke about Charlie riding a Harley wearing loafers. Charlie complained to management about Phil and wouldn’t speak civilly about him in my presence again.

Cianciola was fired from WTMJ recently, by the way.

Although Shelley claimed in this article there is a sort of church-state barrier at the station between news and talk, I see a lot of leakage. Routinely, the news portion runs sound bites from folks who had been “interviewed” by Sykes.

But the problem is that Sykes does not interview. His questions lovingly caress the likes of Dick Cheney, Scott Walker, or Jim Sensenbrenner. While, if the interviewee is an enemy, Sykes uses questions to bludgeon them. For example, while interviewing then County Chair Karen Ordinans, Sykes attacked with interjections such as “I mean, hello??!!”

A print reporter would not run as a quote for an article about Taco Bell the line “think outside the bun” -- or quote "you're in good hands with All-State" while writing about insurance -- as if those quotes came from an interview with company executives. So why should WTMJ news re-run supposed interview bites that in fact were situated within the 3.5-hour commercial for the GOP that Sykes orchestrates every weekday?

So, no, I’m sorry, the White House is obviously correct here about even more than the Fox News they were talking about. And so they shouldn't back down.

Danke

By Keith R. Schmitz

Here's a shock. Being German by heritage we are not known necessarily for our generosity.

But when it comes down to it, many of us are community-minded.

Here's a fresh example. A group of wealthy Germans is petitioning Chancellor Angela Merkel to increase taxes on those with personal fortunes of more than 500,000 euros ($750,000). The effort is an attempt to alleviate the budget crisis and target the money to social services.

As one member of the group put it:

The gap between the poor and the rich in Germany has widened during the last 15 years. One of the reasons for this were past governments' tax reduction policies that favored businesses and the rich.

When we keep hearing from the right that the money isn't there to do social programs or infrastructure programs, or whatever, the money is there.

We just have to go and get it.

We Have Run out of Excuses

By Keith R. Schmitz

For those in this country who are worried that the Chinese are not going to do anything about climate change and therefore we will become uncompetitive if we do, looks like the Chinese will be in fact going after the problem.

And for those of you in the peanut gallery who though you only believe the likes of sociopaths like Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh and John Bolton; and who will be skeptical, the proof is that the Chinese will be looking to make money off of their push.

That, for a country like ours that gives credence to nonsense such as creationism and intelligent design rather than legitimate science, plus in the virtue of exporting jobs overseas, that is the bad news.

Congrats to Stacie and Jason

by folkbum

Five and a half years ago, I got an email from some guy in Madison about becoming the blogger for the new alt-weekly newspaper he and his friend Jason Haas was starting up. I passed, but recommended an old college friend, Stacie Rosenzweig, for the gig, which she accepted.

Later today, Stacie and Jason are getting married. L'chaim!

Tenuousness Lyrical Love

by 3rd Way

One of the many charms of the blogosphere is it's inhabitants proclivity towards promoting their musical tastes. My blog reading habit has turned me onto some musicians I may not have found otherwise, but I fear most musical posts are skipped over by the average reader. Blog-centric communication is likely most successful when the content is literary and visual opposed to aural.

Tonight I decided from now on I will start to share selected lines from musicians whose lyricism moves me enough to make me want to share with others.

To kick off my new tradition I wanted to post some lines from Andrew Bird's "Tenuousness". I really wish I would have seen him when he was in town last weekend.

Love of hate acts as an axis
First it wanes and then it waxes

(So procreate and pay your taxes)

...

When Copraphagia was writ
Know when to stand know when to sit

Can’t stand to stand can’t stand to sit and
who would want to know this
Click click click

I had to go "click click click" to find out what copraphagia means. I guess those that consume what Beck and other Fox commentators expel could be described as Copraphagians.

FriTunes, with show reminder

by folkbum

A reminder that tomorrow night (Saturday, 10/24), I'm playing a double bill with my and fellow songwriter friend Chris Head. The show is at the Coffee House on 19th and Wisconsin in Milwaukee, it starts at 8 PM, and it will cost you a measly $5.

I won't be doing many covers--in such a short set I can get away with playing all originals--but I will do my version of this classic:



But I do it ... happy. I never understood why a love song such as this needs to be a dirge.

Once again, the teachers have to MOP up

by folkbum

It never fails: Time after time, I write here about what could be better about schooling in general and the Milwaukee Public Schools in particular. Comments are, well, few and far between. And, time after time (at least lately), I detail why a coup, a forced takeover of the Milwaukee Public Schools by the mayor is both unnecessary and a bad idea. Comments are, well, along the lines of "Well what's your plan, idiot?"

You can see why I get frustrated about this.

Now, though, there's a solid, complete competing plan, written by teachers for the district and the classrooms that they know better than anyone else. It's being called the Milwaukee Opportunity Plan, and it's being presented by the local and state teachers unions.

To be clear: I had nothing to do with the development of this plan; I didn't even know it was coming until I saw the news yesterday afternoon. But I have read through it, and, let me tell you that it is head and shoulders above anything the mayor, the governor, or the daily paper--all the big takeover proponents--have put forward. (The paper's answer to "where's the plan" was, in fact--and I'm not making up this quote--"In our book, getting a traditionally ineffectual board out of the way is a plan." Please!)

And also to be clear: I do not believe that this plan is going to make all the bad go away and turn MPS into a rainbow factory full of ponies and kittens. The MOP proposals here are research-based, seem sensible, and no doubt will have an effect. But all of these things, like most other reforms proposed or implemented in the last two decades, will create at best small gains at the margins. I will argue now as I have consistently since I started writing on the matter that the problems of the Milwaukee Public Schools are generally Milwaukee problems, and not schools problems. As long as our students struggle with poverty, crime, unstable families, homelessness and transience, and poor health, our job is going to be incredibly difficult. It's not that I don't like this plan--I do, much better than the no-plan of mayoral control--but I don't have faith that this alone is going to significantly close the achievement gap or get MPS off the District Identified for Improvement list.

The MOP is comprehensive but straightforward, and covers all of MPS's problem areas. This includes separating leadership of the district into a CEO and a CAO (A for academic). The board is already leaning that way, through the creation of an Office of Accountability that put some of the financial operation more directly under board control. Which is not to say that MPS doesn't handle its financial operations well--it wins awards, after all--but overseeing a billion-dollar budget and the education of 83,000 students is tough. I mean, I wouldn't want to have to do it. Having someone whose only job is to keep an eye on the day-to-day operations means more efficient budgets, and that should ameliorate one of the biggest knocks against MPS.

The MOP also includes a governance change at the board level--though one again already proposed by the board--of redistricting the board to eliminate the city-wide seat and giving the near south side its own representative. There are plenty of more proposed changes to the bureaucracy, too, including some to bring the district in line with national norms, something we don't always follow and that got us dinged in the McKinsey audit last spring.

There is, as can be expected from a plan proposed by teachers, a lot to do with the classroom, too, including many of the things I talk about regularly here as well as some of the things being proposed by the current district leadership. This includes everything from re-establishment of alternative programs for chronically disruptive students to standardizing curricula across schools to combat the effects of high student mobility. (I generally don't like the latter idea; it is an admission of defeat regarding one of the city's biggest problems and it will gut the variety and diversity of our schools.) The plan includes better professional development and more mentoring of new teachers. The MOP also asks for an expansion of the union's TEAM program, which has proven effective at improving teacher quality (and helping many bad teachers find the door); eliminating the residency requirement; and changing the teacher pay system.

In addition, the plan offers a number of ideas that I have floated here in the past: incentives to MPS students to become MPS teachers; smaller class sizes at key grades, like grade 9; better principal training and leadership; and bringing back arts education for all young students--the data are clear that arts education early makes later education in other subjects easier.

There is also a set of reforms to the school day and the school year. Earlier this year, the administration proposed using one-time stimulus money to extend the school day long-term; the union pointed out that that was a bad idea. But here they are at the table with a long-term, sustainable, thoughtful plan for more time in school daily and extended school year opportunities for our lowest-performing students.

The MOP proposal begins with what is perhaps most important--parental involvement. I noted at the top of this post that I don't believe that this plan alone, or any plan that focuses on the schools rather than the wider community as the locus of reform, won't produce significantly different results. I really do believe that. However, I know that we won't get any results if we don't have the parents and the community on board with the changes we do make within the schools. And that's the key difference between something like the teachers' plan here and the takeover plan that might be imposed from above: Teachers know that reaching out to the community, rather than tearing the community apart, creates a better learning environment. Will this plan have any better luck than efforts currently underway to expand parental involvement? I don't know; this is a hard thing and has been for some time. But this at least starts with the simple proposition that the parents and the community have value and hold many of the keys to success--and they need to be our partners, not our enemies.

As I said, at the very least, this offers a starting point for the "Well, what's your plan?" crowd. The documents about the MOP are here; read and ask why this isn't worth pursuing at least as vigorously (although ...) as the mayoral takeover idea.

RIP, Gerald Bracey

by folkbum

One of the most ardent supporters of public schools has died. Thomas A. Mertz has the sad news.

Said the guy whose contract negotiators refused to meet with the union between May and September this year

by folkbum

"The truth of the matter is we can't continue as an organization with these benefit increases and have viable programs in our schools," Andrekopoulos said. "We just can't survive this."

He called for unions and employees to cooperate in fixing the problem.

4th Street Follow-Up

by folkbum

I still want to say more about the content of the discussion of the 4th Street Forum I participated in last week, but let me say in brief that I had a great time and thought, overall, that it went well. (The camera seemed to add about 150 pounds, though.)

Two links for you: One, MPTV has the video posted here will have the footage posted here, soon. Look for "4th Street Forum" episode 805. Two, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee does teaser interviews with all the participants, and they're available here.

Is Gov. Jim Doyle calling Rep. Gwen Moore a liar?

by folkbum

Because if he is, he should just use those words, and not beat around the bush:

Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday the state must give control of Milwaukee schools to the mayor to put in a "good faith" application for federal economic stimulus funds.

Gwen Moore, repeatedly, earlier:

During our discussion on July 9, you [Secretary of Education Arne Duncan] discussed your goals for Race to the Top, as well as the qualifications and standards that states need to follow in order to qualify for funding. I commend you for your transparency during this process, as well as for your willingness to clarify points of particular concern for my constituents at our meeting. Responding to my query regarding requirements for governance of school boards, you unequivocally stated that mayoral control of the school board is not a prerequisite to compete for Race to the Top funds--a position made clearer by the fact that the proposed rule does not mention the type of local school board control required to qualify for dollars.

One of the two must be lying or pushing a personal agenda regardless of the truth. And given that Gwen Moore has the documentation on her side (seriously, read about the Race funds and look for anything about urban district governance), I tend to believe her. If the governor knows something she doesn't, he needs to put that on the table or he'll keep looking like a fool.

There's a Rep for that

by folkbum

NFL Shoots Down a Blimp

By Keith R. Schmitz

Sort of missed the possibility of the pending spectacle of having Rush Limbaugh being part owner of the currently hapless St. Louis Rams for a multitude of reasons.

One of the shots I always hate is the obligatory camera on the owner's box. It would be great however seeing fans hurling food into the perch in order to "feed" Bouncy, Bouncy.

It would be great to listen to the protests of the minority players having to perform for one of America's leading racists.

And it would be great to have someone who is a major promoter of out-off-control-capitalism being associated with an organization that may not necessarily socialistic, but is a great example of very well regulated capitalism. Working so damned well to boot.

This would have added another entertaining dimension that would have matched Howard Cosell in the broadcast booth.

All we get instead is classic conservative victimhood.

FriTunes

by folkbum



The Everybodyfields.

Weirdest. Amber Alert. Ever.

by folkbum

But at least the boy was eventually found safe.

What would it take?

by folkbum

I think I have made it pretty clear that I oppose the current effort--if you can call it an effort, as it seems, so far, all talk and no action--to place control of the Milwaukee Public Schools in the hands of the mayor. I think I have pretty well laid out my reasons: the public voted down a similar plan in the spring election for State Superintendent; the mayor hasn't managed to fix in the city the same problems he's gunning for in the schools; there is a real and dangerous divide already forming along racial lines over the issue that could tear this city apart; claims of success in other districts under municipal control tend to be inflated or illusory; the primary impetus for the move seems to be the erroneous assumption that we have to do it to get the "race to the top" funds the feds have promised.

But I'm not an unreasonable man, and I'd like to believe that if a solid case for a governance change came my way I could be convinced. I haven't seen that case yet, and I don't have such an aggrandized sense of self that I wait daily for the phone to ring with Mayor Barrett on the other line asking me what it would take. However, I feel that, since I have in my head been developing a list of, as it were, demands, it seems like I ought to share them.

And, since later today I go tape the 4th Street Forum episode on MPS reform, I'm running out of time to put this forward. So. What would it take?

First and foremost, as I alluded to earlier, Tom Barrett can't run for governor. Bruce Murphy, a pro-takeover guy, makes the case that it would actually be a great campaign point for Barrett for a variety of reasons. I disagree. In my earlier post, I make it clear that at least this Milwaukeean (and MPS teacher) sees this as part of a crap-on-Milwaukee strategy. Think of it as Barrett's Sista Souldja moment; out-state voters won't vote for a Milaukeean unless that Milwaukeean can blame Milwaukee as much as they do.

More importantly, Barrett's asking for a great deal of not just authority but responsibility to be placed in his office. If he's serious about exercising that authority and living up to that responsibility, he needs to make a commitment to see the process through. If he can't do that, I'm not sure how we can take him seriously.

Second, something needs to be in it for us. In places where municipal control hasn't been such a disaster that the voters haven't taken it back--I'm looking at you, Detroit!--the city has offered its resources to help. In the most complete written list of ideas the mayor has offered to date (at least, that I know of; I'm happy to see something else if it's out there) there is nothing from his side of the bargain on the table.

I would be happy to see anything, here, whether it's the city picking up the tab for stationing MPD resource officers in schools or a promise to put a public health nurse in every building. Something like partnering a city social worker with every school social worker would literally double the manpower in one of the most difficult--but most important--positions in MPS. Barrett could offer to bring city and school unions together to increase bargaining power for health care and pensions, or to supplement and expand the district's recreation division. Something. But we've gotten nothing from Barrett on that front, at all, in theory or in his recent budget proposal.

A simple and perhaps effective approach would be to pair the city's and the district's resources on combatting the kinds of problems highlighted in this report (.pdf) by researchers at UW-Milwaukee, which is all about neighborhood and community factors that affect children and their ability to succeed later in school--things like unemployment, early child care issues, child safety, crime rates, and housing challenges. These are things far outside of the control of the schools, but that have a tremendous impact on how hard it is for schools to do their jobs well. These are, however, things the city could be working on; a commitment from the mayor, accompanied by some real action on his part, would be a positive sign. (For more on the report, see the UWM page; BloggingMPS also has three posts up, with links to a video presentation: 1 2 3.)

Third, Barrett would have to do something to pre-empt the inevitable racial schism his proposal seems to be creating. He needs the African American and Latino communities to be partners with him if he wants schools to succeed, but lines are being drawn that call the idea of unity into serious question. The NACCP, MICAH, and other groups have been squarely against the takeover; even Pedro Colon, fan of reform, is unwilling to cede full control to the mayor. Barrett needs to bring them back if he wants to be successful here. Barrett can do this in a number of ways; one easy one would be to call together a council of advisors from the community. If he plans to appoint a nine-member school board, ask this council to give him five or six names, as he appoints the other three or four. Give this council a say in selecting the superintendent, too.

In the end, I don't see all or, really, any of this happening. I'm actually quite surprised that Tom Barrett hasn't announced his gubernatorial run by now. But this is what it would take to get me on board. Until then, I remain opposed.

4th Street Forum reminder

by folkbum

Pack your lunches and set your DVRs (I will not be singing):

FROM: 4th STREET FORUM at MILWAUKEE TURNER HALL

MPS + X = SUCCESS?
Is there a winning formula for urban school districts?
If so, will Milwaukee figure it out?
The knowns and unknowns of educational achievement.

Each forum is taped in front of a studio audience for later broadcast on MPTV Channel 10.1. The audience can participate by asking questions of the panelists. The forums are free and open to the public. Attendees can bring their lunch.

FORUM DATE AND TIME: Thursday, October 15, NOON
WHERE: Milwaukee Turner Hall, 2nd Floor, 1034 North 4th Street (4th and Highland)

BROADCAST DATES and TIMES: Milwaukee Public Television will tape this forum for broadcast on Channel 10.1/10 - Friday, October 16, 10PM and Sunday, October 18, 9AM. It will also run on Time Warner's, "Wisconsin on Demand," (WIOD). This
year, full-length viewing of each program will be available at www.mptv.org. Refer to show number 805.

MODERATOR: SONYA JONGSMA KNAUSS, Editor, MilwaukeeMoms.com, Journal Interactive,
www.milwaukeemoms.com

WITH GUESTS

ALAN BORSUK
Education Columnist, Journal Sentinel
www.jsonline.com

JAY BULLOCK
English Teacher at Bay View High School
Blogger on Education, http://folkbum.com

ANNELIESE DICKMAN, JD
Research Director
Public Policy Forum, www.publicpolicyforum.org

GARY WILLIAMS, PhD
Assistant Professor of Urban Education
Director, Institute for Cultural Research
UW-Milwaukee, www.uwm.edu

4th Street Forum is sponsored by the Milwaukee Turners, co-sponsored by Milwaukee Public Television, and in collaboration with UWM Milwaukee Center for Urban Initiatives and Research.

Doing my job for me

by folkbum

I was going to post a hypothetical this morning, running something along these lines.

Imagine, I would start, if this article from today's paper were a little different, and instead of firefighters protesting budget cuts in their red union shirts, you has AFSCME protesting budget cuts in their green union shirts. What kind of reaction, I would have asked, you be getting from the usual suspects? (photo by Michael Sears of the MJS)

The joke, there, would be that the right-wing bloggers and pundits all hate government union thugs and think they should have their pay and benefits and workforce slashed, except for those government union thugs that they like and think ought to be given everything they ask for.

The sad--or happy, since it makes my job easier--thing is that I don't need to make it a hypothetical at all, since the oblivious tools at BadgerBlogger have demonstrated, in two consecutive posts yesterday, no less, exactly this joke. They even managed to get a picture of AFSCME workers in their green union gear. Perfect!

Mess America

By Keith R. Schmitz

Can the Miss America pageant make itself any more tragically irrelevant?

You bet!

Support the Vets

by folkbum

Earlier this month, I got an email from somebody, now long deleted and relegated to the dustbin of electrons and neurons, about Guitars for Vets. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but at last night's Peter Mulvey show, the group had a table and literature and swag.

The idea is that getting guitars into the hands of veterans, and teaching them how to play, helps their recovery. The group was started by a Vietnam veteran here in Milwaukee through the Milwaukee VA, and with the help of donors and volunteers has spread to other cities and is likely to keep growing.

If the economic circumstances of my household were different, I would be giving more than just my support here on the blog. But you can donate online here, or buy some of their swag for yourself.

Bonus YouTube: No one has yet uploaded anything from the Pabst last night, but here's one from this past spring at the Cafe Carpe. Not only was I at this show, too, that's my fat head in the bottom left of your screen:

FriTunes

by folkbum

A preview of tonight's entertainment:

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

By Keith R. Schmitz

Incoming bile.

After a week of celebrating the turndown of Chicago and America by the International Olympics Committee, we can look forward to a weekend of conduct unbecoming by the right wing thanks to the President winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at making us (the world that is) safer.

But let's face it, when it comes to the turn of events,

The President is Bugs Bunny

The right is Elmer Fudd


Update from folkbum: Okay, honestly, this one surprises me, too. I mean, the conspiracy's secret website clearly says that this was supposed to happen next year, to cover up all the fraud we're planning for the '10 elections.

Acorns and Oaks

by bert

UPDATE: Jon Stewart is on it.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rape-Nuts
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

On a scale of depravity, how would you rank those federal contractors who gang-rape and imprison compared to those contractors who talk agreeably to actors pretending to want to pimp under-age immigrants?

Last week, as right-wing pundits were installing wall-to-wall astro-outrage over the airwaves based on the prostitute trick that some ACORN staff fell for, I was reminded of the case of Jamie Leigh Jones.

Good for the new guy Al Franken for bringing some light to one of the many, many outrageous cases that don't help The Right, and therefore seem to sink out of reporters' sight (like the murdered census worker in Kentucky, for example).

Remember when ...

by folkbum

... the Democratic National Committee issued a statement demanding that Sarah Palin be put "in her place"? Yeah, me neither. But it must have happened, since they keep telling us that it's Democrats who are afraid of strong women who aren't afraid to etc.

59 Milwaukee County residents support a mayoral takeover of MPS

by folkbum

You read that right--not 59 percent of, just 59 Milwaukee County residents support handing over the Milwaukee Public Schools to the mayor of Milwaukee.

At least, that's according to a new poll by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (done by the "public option" UW polling center):

According to the poll results, slightly more than half of the 112 Milwaukee County residents surveyed , or 53%, said they supported the proposal for a mayoral takeover of MPS, a plan proposed by Gov. Jim Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in August.

When you do that math, that adds up to 59 people.

Now, I'm no statistician, but I do like to play one on the internet sometimes. I appreciate a well-constructed sample, and I have no doubt that the people at the UW aren't playing fast and loose with the data. But a sample size of 112 for a county of more than 900,000 people seems a bit of a stretch. Doing the math (using ARG's calculator), it turns out that this subsample has a margin of error of more than ±9%--not something to write home about.

Mostly, I'm suspicious because, in fact, the mayoral takeover has been put to voters, and it lost. It didn't come up in the last election of either Gov. Doyle or Mayor Barrett, but it was certainly on the table in the State Superintendent election this past spring between Tony Evers and Rose Fernandez. Both candidates put forward Milwaukee plans in the election, and Fernandez's plan was, while not a mayoral takeover, a similar concept. She proposed eliminating the current, elected school board and replacing it with a "turnaround team" made up of members appointed by herself, the mayor, and the county executive.

Fernandez lost by 14 points statewide. It was closer to 20 points in the City of Milwaukee.

What might have changed in six months to turn sentiment around? Nothing that I know of. In fact, in every public forum so far (like the one last week, and--I anticipate--the one tomorrow night) the public opinion has been strongly against the idea. The loudest support has been from the daily newspaper's editorial board and the business community, neither of which truly represents the parents and families in the cities.

Given the way community organizations are lining up against this--and the real risk of an unmendable divide in the community if it happens--it seems like 59 people don't make for a good reason to go ahead.

Great Big Sea at the Pabst

by folkbum

I was sitting on the other side of the theatre. A friend who snagged a set list confirms this cover was not planned. The way it takes Alan a minute to figure out the song is priceless.

Posts I shouldn't have to write

by folkbum

Olympics
Every two years, dozens of cities submit applications to host the summer or winter Olympic games, and when all but one are rejected, life goes on as normal in those countries. Duh.

Olympics, 2
The IOC rejected the leftist, activist, union-thug supported brown guy and instead embraced the leftist, activist, union-thug supported brown guy.

Olympics, 3
I would like to retroactively blame George W. Bush for making us lose the 2012 winter summer games in 2005 because the world hated him and he ruined our reputation. Also.

David Letterman
He had sex with underlings? Really? In other news, dog bites man.

Roman Polanski
It shouldn't matter if he was convicted of rape, "rape-rape," or running a stop sign. He fled his sentence; he should have been brought back long ago.

I'l Have What He's Having

By Keith R. Schmitz

Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson has created a minor cable TV furor with his tongue-in-cheek dig that the GOP plan for health care is "just die."

In predictable fashion, the dish it out but can't take it GOP is crying like babies. Since the dawn of August we have seen a parade of Republican congress members lay wild charges about death panels, government control of health care, and of course, an apology from Joe Wilson that isn't an apology because he is fund raising off his disruption.

So now we have Freshman representative Grayson not only using his apology to dig the dig deeper, but bursting onto the set at CNN and audaciously taking on an entire panel and standing his ground.

I for one would like more reasoned discussion but we haven't seen it from the GOP. Sure supporters of health care from time to time have gone off the road, but we all know who has ginned up the hysteria. So for the time being, this the way the game is being played. Though well-framed arguments are great, it is overpowering the other side that carries the day. Just the way it is right now.

We need more Democrats like Alan Grayson.