EmergePeoria Crime View Technology

We know where the crime is - so why are we still in reactionary mode? The PPD is facing cuts at the same time citizens are being told by the Mayor it is time to consider taking up arms. This is what we get for voting for a person who ran for office with crime as his platform? Guess that's all it was... a platform and now there is the grandstanding (i.e, the concealed carry suggestion).

This information is not based on any specific studies. It is Emerge Peoria's tongue in cheek perception of crime as illustrated by news reports. If you think your neighborhood is wrongfully represented, let me know.

SEVERE: Downtown, Franklin School, Gale Avenue, Gift Area, Glen Oak Historic, Glen Oak Park, Goose Lake, Heart of Peoria, High Wine, I-74, Moss Bradley, RiverWest, Water Street, Riverplex, Southtown, Near Northside, North Prospect, Prospect Road, Spring Grove, Sunset Hills, Uplands, West Main, West Meadows Place, Vinton Highlands, Creighton Woods, Lynhurst, Harrison Homes, Bradford Woods, Sheridan Triangle

HIGH: Altamont Park, Armstrong Ellis, Averyville, Bevalon, Columbia Terrace North, Cottage District East Bluff NHS, East Bluff Serenity, East Bluff United, Glencrest, Lyndale Road, Olde Towne North, Orchard District, Parkview, University East, Williamsburg, Willow Knolls, Willow Lake Village, Detweiller Marina

ELEVATED: Hawley Hills, Hawthorne Hills, Rolling Acres, Sherwood Forest, West Central

GUARDED: Knoll Crest, Edgewild, Fairfax Addition, High Point, Idyllbrook, Joeanne Manor, Kellar Heights, Knoll Crest, Knollls, Northgate, Northmoor Knolls, Northmoore Hills, Oakcliff, Randolph-Roanoke, Richwoods Knolls, Skyline Drive, West Park Knolls, Woodbrook Manor

LOW: N/A

Granny get your gun

Mayor Ardis wants Peoria to become a test city for concealed-carry legislation. I don't dislike Mayor Ardis, but on a smaller scale, he kind of does for me, what Ken Hinton does for a lot of you. :) I ofen find myself asking "wth"? To raise the highly excitable issue of concealed carry at a time when the City of Peoria is in the midst of a rash of shootings - once again I am left asking "wth".

I hope that he has seen the ignorant, immature comments in the Journal Star in response to his suggestion. I pray that he will be embarassed by what he sees there and drops the issue. If you arm these people along with the criminals and the police, it's time for Granny (and everybody else) to get her gun.

(Granny already got the gun, just need to get her papers in order).

Big ups to the Grannys with scanners...

When my nieces and nephews were younger, they giggled at Granny and her friends for spending time listening to the Cardinals on the radio and for listening to the police scanner. Thank God for Granny, she is still listening to the radio.

My family is spread out across Peoria and we stay in contact with each other. Yesterday, when the police were running down the culprits who tried to rob somebody at Newman Golf Course, the phones started to ring. It was Granny who called and said “watch out there’s somebody in your area the police is chasin.” Last night, when the murder was going down at the gas station on McClure, it was Granny who called members of the family and said “stay in the house, they lookin’ for somebody in that area who got a gun.”

See what I’m getting at? Is it Granny’s job to notify those in harms way that the police and scary criminals are running through your neighborhood with guns, stay in the house? No, it is the Police Department’s job to let people know it is not safe to be out.

Don't they have a bull horn or something they could use to tell people to stay in the house and lock your doors? Or here is a thought, can't that spiffy CrimeView technology call each home in a specific area and tell people what to do to be safe? If it can, I hope they start to use it soon, because otherwise with all of this cops and robbers going on, it’s just a matter of time before an innocent bystander gets hurt.

Keep listening Granny, we love you.

Parents from the 61603 can make a difference too.

Even though I am really looking forward to Summer vacation this year, I can’t help but feel a little melancholy as the year comes to a close. I volunteer weekly at our school of choice and I will miss and worry about a lot of the children who I have encountered at school.

Volunteering has been enjoyable, but almost did not happen. Long story short, I had to contend with a exclusionary PTO and a go-along Principle before I could even begin to volunteer doing the things I am capable of doing. Since my daughter is at this particular school on a waiver, the PTO felt that I was not a true part of that School’s community, therefore, I needed to be limited on what my participation in the school and PTO was/is.

Thankfully, there was one teacher, a tenured teacher, who did not have to care about what the PTO and the Principal thought and she made it possible for me to volunteer in her classroom. It is three years later and I am still volunteering in her classroom.

When I first started reading with her children, I only gave books to the children with the most problems. However, now due to the continuous and generous donations from my siblings (THANKS FAM), for the second year in a row, I am again able to donate a book to all of the children in her class.

At this time, I would like to thank the PTO for shutting me out and propelling me to find better, more effective ways to make a difference for my daughter and the children at her school. No gossip, no bullshit, I am there for the kids.

Hey PTO, I see you looking - watch me work... Oh, and by the way, see ya next year!

Is this the Court's first Latina Justice?

Wikipedia states this about Sonia Sotomayor:

Sonia Sotomayor a 54 year old federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, was nominated by President Barack Obama for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Sotomayor is of Latina of Puerto Rican descent, and was born in the Bronx. Her father died when she was nine, and she was raised by her mother. Sotomayor graduated with an A.B., summa cum laude, from Princeton in 1976, and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979, where she was an editor at the Yale Law Journal.

The GOP talking points states this about Sonia Sotomayor:

Isn't that the equivalent of calling her a dumb b**ch?

Peoria's Brody Jenner makes another cover...

Democrat Tom Perriello and Republican Aaron Schock, a Freshman bromance.

“Our” Congressman, Aaron Schock is featured on the cover of June's issue of the American Prospect.

While I couldn’t waste my time reading it, I did waste the time running it through the ole “what the hell are all of these words about software”.


Just an FYI, the more a word/name is mentioned, the more prominently it figures in the group. Peoria was mentioned 8 times.

The Librarian vs. the Accelerated Reader Program

You want to keep the Librarians – get rid of the Accelerated Reader Program.

In our home we enjoy reading. We take our children on regular trips to the bookstore and books are often gifts from family members. However, for the little one, recently, reading is not enjoyable – it is a chore – it is the Accelerated Reader Program.

When we tried to read books that we picked out from the bookstore and enjoyed, we ran up against books that are required reading for the Accelerated Reader Program. If a child reads what is required by Accelerated Reader and does the other reading that is required from a Reading class, in addition to their other homework and an extra curricular – there is no time to read books just for the love of reading a book.

As a matter of fact, my little one's class has had a huge end of the year push to read Accelerated Reader books (a goal which she met two weeks ago). She is now burnt out on reading - I have not given her one more thing to read; I have not encouraged her to spend time in her cozy, little reading corner; and she has not sat in it voluntarily. She needs a break from reading for right now.

So you ask, "how can District 150 do away with Librarians?" Here's how... teachers are suggesting what children should read to get their points. Teachers have many of the Accelerated Reader books in their classroom. Teachers are running interventions and encouraging reading in groups – not Librarians. Once the children read the books, a teacher's aide will oversee administration of the Accelerated Reader testing in the Library (or the classroom) – not the Librarian.

Again, after reading the required Accelerated Reader Books and getting the necessary points within a specific period, there is little time for checking any book out of the Library, let alone reading a personal favorite that Grandma may have given you.

To their credit, Accelerated Reader has now published their list and children who can afford books, can purchase many of the books (which may be more to their liking) from Barnes and Noble. As a result, our Summer reading list will more than likely include the books worth the most points from the Accelerated Reader list.

Accelerated Reader may help children who do not have books in their home/or who will not read unless forced, other than that – it is a hindrance to a family who wants to instill the joy of reading a book just because you can.

Problem is - Accelerated Reader is effective in that it encourages reading and gives children time in school to do so. The District's AYP for reading is 61.7%, I would be willing to bet that Accelerated Reader is helping to make that possible. Today's students have very little time that they can spend in school Libraries. Library times average about 30 minutes per week. In this scenario, the Librarians are not the saving grace for readers who may fall through the cracks - the teachers are.

What is the Accelerated Reader Program?
The Accelerated Reader program is a computerized program that tests reading comprehension. Students select books on their reading level, read independently or with a buddy, and take an independent comprehension test on the computer. Each book is worth a certain number of points based on its length and reading level. Students get a percentage of these points based on how many of the test questions they get right. The program tracks their progress over the course of the school year.

For info on long term effects of Accelerated Reader go here…

Does it mean we are safe if it's not in the news?

As has been determined, by those of us who watch local main stream media, crimes in certain parts of Peoria some times go unreported. Along those lines, although I did not get it from any news report, if I heard correctly, Nick N Willey's in the Metro Center was robbed the other day...

62 days ago:

It was Tuesday, March 23, 2009, a much ballyhooed press conference; Peoria Police have announced that they have arrested four people suspected in the string of armed robberies that have plagued Peoria; the now infamous "... we are safer" comment as shown in the graphic above was made.

Here are the crime related items that were reported on by local mainstream media from March 24 , 2009 through today, Memorial Day, May 25, 2009. Are we safer?

Police Looking For Burglars
Monday, May 25, 2009 @04:07am CST
WMBD/WYZZ – Peoria police are looking into several overnight burglaries that happened on Monday. The first happened in the 7300 block of Knoxville Avenue.Police found the door of Specialty Healthcare propped open just before 1:00 a.m. It isn't clear what, if anything, was stolen.Officers are also looking for suspects after a house was burglarized in the 1000 block of State Street in Peoria county.
Man in Critical Condition After Being Shot by Officer
Monday, May 25, 2009 @04:02am CST
WMBD/WYZZ – Police responded around on 1:00 a.m. to the 900 block of Greenlawn Street where they found a man struggling with a woman. The man fled on foot when police arrived, he was pursued by an officer. During the chase, the man pointed a handgun at the police officer, who fired a single shot into the man's stomach.
Pair accused of punching man, shoving women
Posted May 24, 2009 @ 11:24 PM
Two Peorians were arrested Sunday morning after allegedly punching a man in the face and shoving two women as they were walking to their car in the Commerce Bank parking deck.
South Peoria man runs from men with guns
Posted May 23, 2009 @ 10:24 PM
A South Peoria man escaped an armed-robbery attempt Friday night. The man had just arrived at his home in the 1500 block of South Livingston Street about 10:55 p.m. when he saw two men walking toward him.
Man robbed at gunpoint while walking in East Bluff
Posted May 23, 2009 @ 10:22 PM
A man was robbed at gunpoint Saturday morning while walking in the East Bluff.
Two men held up at gunpoint in South Peoria
Posted May 23, 2009 @ 10:21 PM
A Peoria man and his friend were held up at gunpoint early Saturday in South Peoria.
Theft of compact discs, pork loins thwarted
Posted May 20, 2009 @ 08:32 PM
After stealing a bag filled with compact discs and four pork loins Saturday during separate burglaries, a thief abandoned his booty and fled when confronted.
Police: Woman strikes officer escorting her from burning home
Posted May 20, 2009 @ 03:26 PM
A house fire Tuesday night on Prospect Road left one resident jailed for allegedly striking police officers, and the State Fire Marshal's Office investigating a possible arson.
Woman shot in head expected to survive
Posted May 20, 2009 @ 03:13 PM
The Peoria woman who was shot in the head during an apparent domestic dispute early Tuesday morning was in considerably better condition by Wednesday, according to Peoria police.
13-year-old indicted in South Side Bank robbery
Posted May 19, 2009 @ 10:10 PM
A 13-year-old boy was indicted Tuesday by a Peoria County grand jury for allegedly robbing a South Side Bank branch last month at gunpoint.

Read more here...

So many words...

Back on May 14, 2009, the Peoria Chronicle posted an article entitled “Journal Star might want to pay closer attention to numbers, especially when they come from District 150”. On May 15, 2009, yours truly commented on that thread. As I am posting this today, people are still commenting on that thread.

When I saw that there are now 241 responses, I couldn't’t help but wonder “what the hell could these people still be talking about that would require 241 responses?”

Lately I have been spending a lot more time out of doors, hanging with the fam in the yard (see my garden photos below). Frankly, I don’t have time to read all of the stuff on the Chronicle thread, so I ran the text in the thread through a software program.

Interesting to see what pops out. There are a few names in the conversation that didn't show(diane, janel and teachingrocks). The more a word/name was used, the bigger it is… umm, what was the topic again?

Click on the photo to get a larger image.

Go outside and play!

We love this time of year at our house. Most days are spent in the yard hanging with the fam. The best part of it is watching my garden grow...

... and yes, I had a garden before Michelle Obama made them so popular. lol The Siberian Iris and the Hosta are my family heirloom plants. I look forward to seeing them growing in my granddaughter's garden one day.

Aspiring school teachers fail in math...

only 27 percent of the teaching candidates pass.

The discussion on Peoria Chronicle is hot and heavy about how well educated teachers may or may not be, well take a look at this...

MALDEN, Mass. (WPRI) - According to state education officials, nearly three-quarters of the people who took the state elementary school teacher’s licensing exam this year failed the new math section.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the results Tuesday. They say that only 27 percent of the more than 600 candidates who took the test passed. The test was administered in March of this year.

The teacher’s licensing exam tested potential teachers on their knowledge of elementary school mathematics. This included geometry, statistics, and probability.

Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester was not surprised by the results. He told the Boston Globe that these results indicate many students are not receiving an adequate math education.
Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents , said

"The high failure rate puts a shining light on a deficiency in teacher-prep programs."

Ever since GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip...

came home with me - he has been saving lifes:

That time Barbie was trapped under the hostas - he was a life saver. When she slipped and fell off the back of a kitchen chair while smelling a flower - he caught her.
When she slipped and fell on the rocks in the Zen Garden - he was there to pull her to safety:
However, today the Kung Fu Grip failed and tragedy struck...
__________________________________

Students with the Eye of the Tiger

Morehouse College graduates 400

For those who are unfamiliar with Morehouse College, it is a private, all-male, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Morehouse is also the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is one of four remaining traditional men’s colleges in the United States. In 2008, Morehouse had its first white valedictorian in 141 years of existence.

From the Morehouse website:

Amid lamentations about the dearth of black men in higher education, in 2006 Morehouse graduated its largest class ever - nearly 600 educated African American men. No other institution in the world can match this impressive number.

Read more here...

Obama offers incentive to help failing schools

President Obama intends to use $5 billion to prod local officials to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals. The goal is to turn around 5,000 failing schools in the next five years, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday, by beefing up funding for the federal school turnaround program created by the No Child Left Behind law.

Obama doesn't have authority to close and reopen schools himself. That power rests with local school districts and states. But he has an incentive in the economic stimulus law, which requires states to help failing schools improve.

Duncan said that might mean firing an entire staff and bringing in a new one, replacing a principal or turning a school over to a charter school operator. The point, he said, is to take bold action in persistently low-achieving schools.

"Our students have one chance - one chance - to get a quality education," Duncan said in a speech Monday to the Brookings Institution think tank.

"If we turn around just the bottom 1%, the bottom thousand schools per year for the next five years, we could really move the needle, lift the bottom and change the lives of tens of millions of under served children," Duncan said.

In particular, the administration wants to fix middle schools and high schools, focusing on "dropout factories" where two in five kids don't make it to graduation.

Read more here...

Related reading: The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools

Is this the end of outsourcing Pre-K education?

I hope so...

All across the City of Peoria children are completing pre-school. As local parents thoughts turn toward kindergarten, they are sure to be faced with a great deal of uncertainty about where to start their child to school.

District 150 is currently in the process of constructing community learning centers. In the near future, parents can look forward to birth through eighth grade community learning centers at Harrison and Glen Oak and a birth through 4th grade community learning center in the Woodruff attendance area.

We all know that the logistics of being an involved parent can be daunting when your children attend two or three different schools. These centers will provide a place were toddlers, their parents and their older siblings can have access to education and resources in one location.

It is said that 85% of our brains develop during the first five years of life. Therein lies the tragedy in the current pre-school situation – public education efforts don’t begin until a child is six years old.

Even though District 150 does not currently service pre-school age children, they have long standing relationships with local pre-school and head start programs. These programs for pre-school age children and their parents receive funding through the Early Childhood Education Block Grant. The Block Grant was created by combining the following programs: Preschool Education, Parental Training and Prevention Initiative.

The community learning center concept is bound to impact local head start and pre-school program funding. However, the consolidation of services and access to early education that community learning centers can provide is integral to the District’s attempts to level the educational landscape.

To illustrate the current logistics of services, locations and funding of local pre-school and head start programs, we can take a look at Peoria's Children and Early Learning Experience at Rogy’s and PCCEO's HeadStart :

Peoria's Children and Early Learning Experience at Rogy’s - Special Programs headed by Kathie Raiborn.
Rogy’s Learning Place provides child care services in the Peoria and Bloomington areas for infants through school-age children. Rogy’s also provides State Pre-K programming at 5 out of 7 Peoria facilities. (Rogy's actually has 18 facilities in five central Illinois communities, four in the Chicago area, and two locations in Ohio)

PCCEO HeadStart - headed by McFarland Bragg.
The mission of PCCEO Early HeadStart is to provide family-centered services to economically challenged families with children 0-3. These services are designed to enhance the physical, social, emotional and intellectual development of the children; to enable parents to fulfill their roles as parents; and to help parents move towards self-sufficiency.

Both PCCEO HeadStart and Rogy's receive the following funding:

• State Early Childhood Block Grant from IL State Board of Education
• State Child Care Assistance Program through contract with IL Dept. of Human Services
• State Child Care Assistance Program through local Child Care Resource & Referral Agency certificate program
• Other: CACFP, Local Funders (Community Foundation), IDHS Enhancement Grants
• Federal Early/Head Start (Rogy's Small Wonders receives this)
• Parent Fees (Rogy’s charges parent fees)

Pre-school education is a lucrative business, paid for in large part by tax payer dollars. It is past time that school Districts stopped outsourcing these important services. Community learning centers will provide much needed oversight in the areas of getting children and their parents ready to learn.

Related information:
Shared Responsibility to Help the Most Vulnerable Kids
Early Childhood Program Matrix
Great info on this site - State developed standards and quality indicators for birth-to-three programs, which are aligned with standards for pre-k and elementary school

Charter public schools can work in Peoria

While the school lottery by nature can be chaotic, charter public schools are the only hope for many inner city families.

Don't underestimate what charter schools will mean to inner city parents:

Sharpton to Lead Quality Education March on May 16

NNPA Report - Al Sharpton will lead a march on Washington to protest inequality in education.

(May 5, 2009) - Activist Al Sharpton, leader of the National Action Network, has announced that he will lead a march at the White House Ellipse, Constitution Avenue and 15th Street on May 16.

The 10 a.m. gathering is in commemoration of the 55th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education decision, May 17, 1954. Sharpton describes the May 16 event as a new “call to action” in the wake of separate and unequal education that still remains. “Fifty-five years later our government still supports a broken and unequal system of public education; a system that fails to serve poor and minority children and condemns them to a lifetime of limited opportunities,” Sharpton said in a release.

Citing new federal education test results that shows a large racial achievement gap, Sharpton says he is calling upon “Americans of all races, backgrounds, ages and philosophies'' to join him for the march, which he hopes will bring attention to the inequality and formally kick off a campaign to close the gap.

NAN will assemble along with the UNCF, La Raza, and the Education Equality Project, which Rev. Sharpton helped found. According to a press statement, a diverse group of speakers will assemble, including civil rights leaders, mayors, elected officials and clergy. Also, former Speaker of The House Newt Gingrich and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is expected to attend. Sharpton says people from over 20 states and 35 cities have signed up to come to Washington on that day.

Sharpton says, “Fifty-five years ago, the King era civil rights movement began when Americans of all colors demanded that every child have equality of opportunity in education. On May 16, we will renew the urgency felt 55 years ago to save the future of our children and of our nation. We all must recognize that we have a crisis in education, and crises demand extraordinary action.

BREAKING NEWS - The GOP is without a plumber

Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, recently told TIME that he is so outraged by GOP overspending, that he is quitting the party. Whatever will they do without his special abilities to bring out the ugly in every political issue? I shudder to think who will be the next spokesperson for the GOP hate mongering machine.

Don't get me wrong, I actually have some friends who like Joe the Plumber, but they know where I stand and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children.

Dear Congressman Shock: Please support HR 1064

Peoria – the proverbial tale of two cities. One tale is about a Peoria that produces the youngest member of Congress, who thrives and is on the world stage by the age of 26; and the other tale is about a Peoria, that produces a 13 year old bank robber – a throw away child (if the State’s Attorney is to be believed).

Deonte Moore is just the most recent example of the plague of gang/youth violence that we face daily. Gangs do not exist in a vacuum. They are born out of an environment of poverty, lack of jobs, training, educational opportunities, and an absence of inclusion and spiritual engagement. We should be deeply disturbed that our Community has produced (and subsequently failed) Deonte Moore.

On February 13, 2009, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced H.R.1064 and S. 435, identical House and Senate bills to fund prevention and intervention programs that are comprehensive, community-centered and evidence-based efforts to combat gangs and youth violence. The Bill is called the Youth PROMISE Bill.


PROMISE stands for Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education and is sponsored by Representatives Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) and Michael Castle (R-DE) as well as Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). In response to gang bills that emphasized suppression and incarceration over prevention and intervention, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va) introduced legislation that champions evidenced-based practices and provides an alternative approach for lawmakers looking for effective responses to youth crime and delinquency.

The Youth PROMISE Act builds upon evidence-based methods proven to reduce youth violence and delinquency at the community level. Under the Youth PROMISE Act, communities facing the greatest youth gang and crime challenges will come together – via a local council that includes law enforcement, community-based organizations, schools, faith organizations, health, social service, and mental health providers – to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies targeted at young people and their families to make our communities safer, reduce victimization, and help at-risk young people to lead law-abiding and healthy lives, free from gang and/or other criminal involvement.

The Peoria Community is rich with resources, inclusive of a superstar Congressman named Aaron Schock. What better person to get behind this Bill and push for it’s passing than Aaron Schock. After all, the travesty that surrounds Deonte Moore is playing out right here in his home town. Congressman Aaron Schock should care about the passing of this Bill.

I encourage all readers of this blog to write Congressman Schock, tell him it is okay to support this important act. As a matter of fact we need to contact all Senators and Representatives now and ask for their support of S. 435 and H.R. 1064. Go here to sign a letter (scroll to bottom of page).

Click below to view a Section-by-Section Summary of the bill, including a list of current co-sponsors. Section-by-Section Summary

Survivor-the GOP Edition with lyrics by Destiny Child

This video is great. The only thing missing is Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle (a/k/a the now defunct Destiny Child) in the background shouting:

I'm a survivor (What?)
I'm not gon give up (What?)
I'm not gon stop (What?)
I'm gon work harder (What?)
I'm a survivor (What?)
I'm gonna make it (What?)
I will survive (What?)
Keep on survivin' (What?)

13 year old bank robber to be tried as an adult

What path did Deonte Moore’s life take that he now finds himself an adult at the age of 13? What happened to Deonte before he was found covered in red ink, cowering in a garage, with an unloaded 22 caliber gun?

The Judge found the 13 year old bank robber “extremely aggressive and menacing”; a boy who had not complied with probation and missed several appointments; a boy who had been suspended from school … for alleged gang activity who never went back. As a result, Judge Chris Fredericksen deemed this 13 year old boy - Deonte Moore - an adult.

Judge Fredericksen’s ruling assures us that Deonte will receive little or no education, mental health treatment, or rehabilitative programming; Deonte will have an adult criminal record which will limit his future education and employment opportunities; Deonte will be at great risk of rape, assault and maybe even death in adult jails and prisons with adult inmates and then he will be released (if he makes it out) – back to Peoria. If Judge Fredericksen finds Deonte Moore “extremely aggressive and menacing now”, just wait until this little boy finishes his stint with the big boys.

Condolezza Rice gets jiggy with a student who dared to question her about "torture".

This video of Condo talking down to a student is embarrassing. The conviction at which she defends "torture" is nothing short of astounding. So, it was she who "conveyed the authorization" for "torture". If she is going back to academia, she has got a lot of explaining to do. Hopefully students will hold her feet to the fire and not buy in to her twisted rationale. One would think an individual on her level could handle the questions better.

Related article: Condi Rice's Tortured Macaca Moment

My pick for next Supreme

Leah Ward Sears is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Georgia. She is also Chair of the Judicial Council of Georgia, the 200 million dollar agency in charge of the state judicial system. When sworn in on June 28, 2005, Sears became the first African-American female Chief Justice in the United States. When she was first appointed as justice in 1992 by then Governor Zell Miller, she became the first woman and youngest person to sit on the Supreme Court of Georgia.

She announced in October of 2008, that she would leave the court at the end of June 2009, to "explore another chapter in my life". At 53, with a career filled with "first", she is well positioned to succeed retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter and become the first African-American female Supreme Court Justice.

School Activity Fund Frauds: An Accident Waiting to Happen

From auditnet.blogspot.com:

The following article appeared in the Washington Post on November 9, 2007 (Student Money Vanishes, but Few Are Punished Activity Funds Are Often Plundered and Mismanaged by Adults):

I have maintained for a long time that management of these funds was an accident waiting to happen. As an internal auditor for Fairfax County Public Schools I observed firsthand the types of abuses that occur regularly in school activity funds. Despite reporting mechanisms such as independent audits that show control weaknesses many of the abuses are repeated year after year. This is in large part due to who controls the funds, lack of effective policies and procedures, and an overall position that these are not material to the financial statements and therefore do not warrant attention.

Across the United States millions of dollars are collected each year for student activity funds. These funds are under the direct control of the principal of the school. While the funds may seem immaterial (from several hundred dollars up to hundreds of thousands of dollars) when you consider the amounts collected by school district the number easily reach millions of dollars a year.

Student activity money is collected from vending machines, sporting events, bake sales and other activities approved by the school principal.

The funds are supposed to be used to promote the general welfare, education and morale of students through activities such as field trips, school publications etc.

The funds are the responsibility of the school principal.School districts are supposed to have policies and procedures covering the collection, safeguarding, and expenditure of school activity funds.

The funds should be audited each year by an independent accounting firm.

However the reality is that procedures for collection, safeguarding and dissemination are not always followed. Not all the money collected is recorded in the school's accounting system. Funds are not promptly deposited and are kept in insecure locations (unlocked desks) or safes with access by multiple personnel. Funds are spent for purposes other than the benefit of students.

School principals routinely give the responsibility for oversight of the funds to individuals not properly trained. Due to lack of internal resources (such as internal auditors) funds are not audited on a regular basis. Additionally the school districts external auditors may not even be aware of the funds available and therefore do not look at whether appropriate internal controls are in place.

Read more here...

What to expect when blood is in the water...

As concerned citizens continue to question the findings of the auditors report for Lindbergh Middle School, the talk on local blogs is to call in the State’s Attorney, the FBI, the State Police and/or maybe even United States Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald. If these agencies have been notified and there is cause, we should be seeing some kind of injunction filed against District 150 soon, right? And if we don't see any kind of intervention from an outside agency?