Superintendent’s shocking comment reminds us that school choice is an uphill battle

Superintendent’s shocking comment reminds us that school choice is an uphill battle - EAGnews.org :: Education Research, Reporting, Analysis and Commentary:
“I think Milwaukee is a good example of what will happen on a smaller scale here. 

In Milwaukee, it’s pretty much been white families who’ve taken advantage of private schools, with a few African-American families. 

The African-American families are the ones who are most prone to enroll their kids in the fly-by-night schools that cropped up after vouchers existed.
“They don’t know how to make good choices for their children. 

They really don’t. 

They didn’t have parents who made good choices for them or help them learn how to make good choices, so they don’t know how to do that.”

U.S. Ready to Spend Up to $300,000 for ‘Workforce Development’--In Serbia

U.S. Ready to Spend Up to $300,000 for ‘Workforce Development’--In Serbia | CNS News
“Currently, there is a mismatch between private sector needs and the capacity of the existing workforce, which continues to contribute to the high unemployment rate, especially among youth,” said USAID in a March 29 announcement.
“Therefore, USAID/Serbia has identified workforce development as a means to address the broader problem of unemployment,” reads the announcement."

The World-Changing Margaret Thatcher

Paul Johnson: The World-Changing Margaret Thatcher - WSJ.com:
"Margaret Thatcher had more impact on the world than any woman ruler since Catherine the Great of Russia.
Not only did she turn around—decisively—the British economy in the 1980s, she also saw her methods copied in more than 50 countries.
"Thatcherism" was the most popular and successful way of running a country in the last quarter of the 20th century and into the 21st."

Army Email Labels Christian Ministries as “Domestic Hate Groups”

Army Email Labels Christian Ministries as “Domestic Hate Groups” | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes:
“It’s very disturbing to see where the Obama Administration is taking the military and using it as a laboratory for social experimentation  — and also as an instrument to fundamentally change the culture,” he said.
“The message is very clear – if you are a Christian who believes in the Bible, who believes in transcendent truth, there is no place for you in the military.”

Caribou leaving Michigan; Some stores will close, others will become Peet's Coffee

Caribou leaving Michigan; Some stores will close, others will become Peet's Coffee | Crain's Detroit Business: "He noted that 80 "underperforming" Midwest and East Coast locations would close on Sunday, while 88 others will be converted to Peet's."

Catholic University Bans Catholic Group over Catholicism

Catholic University Bans Catholic Group over Catholicism | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes: "Gonzaga University will not allow students to organize a Knights of Columbus chapter because the group only admits Catholics – a violation of the school’s non-discrimination policy."

Illinois senator calls S.S. Badger 'filthy,' pushes for stronger restrictions

Illinois senator calls S.S. Badger 'filthy,' pushes for stronger restrictions | wzzm13.com:
"Sen. Dick Durbin of Chicago is continuing to push for even stronger restrictions than those proposed by federal regulators for the S.S. Badger, the last coal-fired ferry operating on the Great Lakes."

Blue Angels crushed!

Cancellations blamed on federal budget cuts | wzzm13.com:
"The U.S. Navy has canceled the remainder of the elite Blue Angels demonstration team's 2013 season because of federal cuts."

Medicaid Vs. Veterans Benefits

Infographic: Medicaid Vs. Veterans Benefits | NetRight Daily

Fluffed up ferrets sold as toy poodles

Quirky News Article | Orange UK:
"One pensioner was duped into buying two of the "pedigree" pets from a market in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
But when he took the animals to a vet for their vaccinations he was told he had bought two ferrets which are known in Argentine as 'Brazilian rats'."

Muskegon City Commission moves toward support of downtown farmers market plan, vote Tuesday

Muskegon City Commission moves toward support of downtown farmers market plan, vote Tuesday | MLive.com:
"The plans are for private donations to build the $3 million facility on land donated by the Downtown Muskegon Development Corp. and then deeded to the city of Muskegon to operate like the current facility."

Obama on Gun Control: 'This Is Not About Politics' ...Unless You Disagree With Me

Obama on Gun Control: 'This Is Not About Politics' ...Unless You Disagree With Me - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
"In Obama's telling, only "powerful interests that are very good at confusing the subject, that are good at amplifying conflict and extremes, that are good at drowning out rational debate, good at ginning up irrational fears."
That's pretty rich, coming from a man who claims 
that massacres like the one that took 26 lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, last December have become "routine," 
who falsely asserts that the man responsible for those murders used a "fully automatic weapon," 
and who in response to that horrible event pushes policies that could not possibly have prevented it, while citing the grief and outrage it generated as if they were arguments for the same gun control policies he has supported all along."

The Next Domino: Australia Doubles Tax On Retirement Savings

The Next Domino: Australia Doubles Tax On Retirement Savings | Zero Hedge:
"On the flip side, though, the Australian government has just announced new rules which penalize citizens who have responsibly set aside savings for their own retirement.
Any income over A$100,000 drawn from a superannuation fund (the equivalent of an IRA in the United States) will now be taxed at 15%. 
Previously, all such income was tax-free.
The really offensive part about this is that the government is going to tax people’s savings ‘on both ends,’ meaning that people are taxed on money they move INTO the retirement fund, and now they can be taxed again when they pull money out.
The Cyprus debacle drew a line in the sand– fleecing people with assets, or income, in excess of 100,000 dollars, euros, etc. is now acceptable. This is the definition of ‘rich’ in the sole discretion of governments."

False rumors of #UVAdormsearch prompt alcohol dumping, hilarious tweets

False rumors of #UVAdormsearch prompt alcohol dumping, hilarious tweets:
"Fear and outrage quickly spread across the grounds of Thomas Jefferson’s university, where a historic bawdy drinking song includes this verse:
“From Rugby Road to Vinegar Hill, we’re gonna get drunk tonight. The faculty’s afraid of us; They know we’re in the right. So fill up your cups, your loving cups, as full as full can be. And as long as love and liquor last, we’ll drink to the U of V.”
Fun fact: an unofficial U-Va. mascot is the wahoo, a fish that can apparently drink twice its own weight."

MSNBC Host: Your Kids Belong to the Collective

» MSNBC Host: Your Kids Belong to the Collective Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
“We have to break through our private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families,” says the professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South.
Kids belong to whole communities, she insists, and once we realize this we’ll make “better investments” in government indoctrination of children."

Mason County wind farm neighbors sue Consumers Energy, claim physical harm from Lake Winds Energy Park

Mason County wind farm neighbors sue Consumers Energy, claim physical harm from Lake Winds Energy Park | MLive.com:
"Winds Energy Park wind farm south of Ludington have sued Consumers Energy Co., alleging that noise, vibrations and flickering lights from its 56 towering turbines are causing sleeplessness, headaches, dizziness and other physical symptoms as well as economic loss."

Eye on Muskegon -4-7-13

http://youtu.be/MY6AbHd19p4

Obama: 'The Truth Is, Our Deficits Are Already Shrinking'

Obama: 'The Truth Is, Our Deficits Are Already Shrinking' | The Weekly Standard:
"In his weekly radio address, President Obama explained the budget he'll rollout next week, and said, "the truth is, our deficits are already shrinking."
"My budget will reduce our deficits not with aimless, reckless spending cuts that hurt students and seniors and middle-class families – but through the balanced approach that the American people prefer, and the investments that a growing economy demands," said Obama."

Record 89,967,000 Not in Labor Force; Another 663,000 Drop Out In March

Record 89,967,000 Not in Labor Force; Another 663,000 Drop Out In March | CNS News:
"
A record 89,967,000 Americans were not in the labor force in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That is an increase of 663,000 from the 89,304,000 Americans who were not in the labor force in February."

Obama Daughters are Michelle's 'Senior Staffers' |

Obama Daughters are Michelle's 'Senior Staffers' 
Michelle was caught cheating on her expense report.
What a show of arrogance!
This information was obtained by Judicial Watch March, 2012.
The administration had to be sue to get this through the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.

Michelle Obama listed daughters as ‘Senior Staffers’ to justify her expensive African vacation and safari.
October 5, 2011, Judicial Watch said the U.S. Air Force provided a C-32 ( a Boeing 757 ), modified by the military for the purpose of flying big-wigs around the world, to fly the First Lady and her entourage to and from Africa , at a cost of $424,142. 

Another $928.44 was listed as ‘bulk food’ costs per meal for the192 on board meals for the 21 people who made the trip. 

Lobster ain’t cheap when you fly it around the world.

Game of Drones

Game of Drones | Hoover Institution:
Again, there was little controversy over drones extending their mission beyond the conventional battlefield to nearby Pakistan—at least as long as the missions were relatively few (about 50-70 during the two Bush administration terms) and were thought to be mostly adjunct operations in the ongoing ground war against the Taliban.

Since 2009, however, three unexpected developments have raised a national outcry about the use of drones. First, the politics of UAVs became almost surreal. Barack Obama, who ran in 2008 against the Bush-Cheney anti-terrorism protocols, arguing that they were either without utility or constitutional support, increased the frequency of drone attacks radically when he became president. Indeed, in just four years, he outdid the Bush total of eight years by a factor of six—to over 400 separate missions. Kills were now not just confined to enemy combatants on the battlefield, or even a top twenty cadre from the al Qaeda or Taliban high command, but, by 2013, may have accounted for somewhere between 2,500-3,500 deaths. Strikes blew up suspected enemies from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen, Somalia, and Libya.

Conservatives seemed exasperated: should they cheer on the Obama conversion (the President likewise kept Guantanamo Bay open, and embraced or expanded renditions, tribunals, and preventative detentions), or damn his prior harmful and hypocritical opposition? Should liberals ignore the legal implications of targeting those without uniforms and distant from the battlefield, in fear of imperiling the otherwise progressive Obama agenda? Or should they keep intact their civil liberties fides by faulting Obama as they did Bush? Or should they point proudly to liberals’ newfound credibility on national security?

In addition, there was a political incongruity. 

The Bush administration’s waterboarding of three confessed terrorists was considered illegal torture, while vaporizing well over 2,000 suspected terrorists by judge/jury/executioner drones was not considered such a drastic anti-terrorism measure.

900,000 choose to come off sickness benefit ahead of tests

900,000 choose to come off sickness benefit ahead of tests - Telegraph:
"The 878,300 who decided not to have an official assessment of whether they were fit for work was more than a third of the total number of people claiming sickness-related benefits.
The statistics also revealed that some claimants cited conditions such as “blisters”, “sprains and strains” and “acne” as preventing them from having a job."

Sundown in America

Sundown in America - NYTimes.com:
"Over the last 13 years, the stock market has twice crashed and touched off a recession: American households lost $5 trillion in the 2000 dot-com bust and more than $7 trillion in the 2007 housing crash. Sooner or later — within a few years, I predict — this latest Wall Street bubble, inflated by an egregious flood of phony money from the Federal Reserve rather than real economic gains, will explode, too."

We happy few

Blog: We happy few:
"Using the numbers from recovery.gov, the website that explains, sort of, how the ARRA stimulus money was spent, we find that the state of New York had created 5,856 "recipient reported jobs" at cost of  $14.321 billion.
That's about $2.4 million per job.
California had 14,079 "recipient reported jobs" at a cost of  $27.254 billion. 
About $1.9 million per job.
The state of Washington used $3.3 million for each job.
Ohio ran $1.7 million per job, and thrifty Florida spent only $1.1 million on each job created with the ARRA stimulus funds. 
Will you be remembering these numbers as you pay your Federal taxes on April 15th this year?"