Tag: Blithe Spirit

Pants-on-fire extinguisher, quick!

A shop window advertising payday loans.
Image via Wikipedia

Those Madigans can’t keep track of their in-laws, darn it.

[Ill. Atty. Genl.] Lisa Madigan says she was unaware of her brother-in-law’s [lobbyist] role, according to a spokeswoman. “The attorney general didn’t know that Jordan worked for Veritec, and she did not know that her office was in contact with him about the payday loan bill [from which
Veritec profits greatly],” Robyn Ziegler said.

[Her father, State Rep.] Michael Madigan “doesn’t recall talking to Jordan about this bill,” says Steve Brown, the [Ill. House] speaker’s spokesman, adding, “Jordan wasn’t his son-in-law” yet when the speaker voted for the bill.

No wonder. They are consumed by their zeal for public service.

Bad schools for a reason, says U. of Illinois prof

It’s the students, stupid! (It’s the stupid students?)

The new book by sometime VDARE.com contributor Robert Weissberg, Bad Students, Not Bad Schools, has become even timelier following the recent popping of the test score bubble in New York City public schools.

Weissberg, a professor of political science emeritus at the U. of Illinois, wittily surveys in his conversational prose style a half century of educational research. He debunks the fluff that comprises most of this fad-driven field, while highlighting the replicable social science whose lessons go ignored.

Weissberg’s conclusion: the quality of students‘ intelligence and motivation is by far the most important factor in whether a school is bad or good.

Etc.

U. of I., eh? What do you know?

Two mistakes by an Alinskyite

Saul Alinsky
The hero himself, left out of column

Bill Droel’s Chi Cath News column “The Working Catholic: Church once heavily interested in labor relations” has an egregious error, explainable perhaps by his working at a far south suburban community college:

Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. . . . the National Center for the Laity sponsors a Labor Weekend Mass. The place is St. Catherine/St. Lucy (38 N. Austin, Oak Park; just north of Madison Ave.)

Avenue? The street of advertising dreams in New Yawk?  Madison Street, Droel, before you have your columnist’s license revoked.

Only slightly more egregious is his talking up an organizing effort in his immediately previous [headline-free] column, in which he has this remarkable item:

The Industrial Areas Foundation (637 S. Dearborn St. #100, Chicago, IL 60605; http://www.10percentisenough.org), a 70-year-old national network of community organizations, has launched a “Ten Percent Is Enough” anti-usury campaign. IAF’s material, which refers to religious tradition, suggests that they understand legal victories and legislative changes are insufficient. A solution must include moral change.

Why remarkable?  Because it identifies the IAF sans reference to its founder and inspiration and guiding light for its first 32 years, the one and only radical organizer Saul Alinsky! Now why would Droel omit such an important piece of information?

I think he’s trying to fool us, which is naughty indeed.

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