YouTube - Gingrich: I’m deeply worried

YouTube - Gingrich: I’m deeply worried

Why he didn’t run, I would like to know.

FOXNews.com - Angelina Jolie Says Troop Surge Creating Opportunity to Help Iraqi Refugees - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment

Shocking, someone in Hollywood with some sense. Now who would have thought it would be Angelina Jolie? Well, I am a big fan of Mr. & Mrs. Smith so that’s something!

It’s about time that someone saw that cutting and running is not the answer in Iraq. The price has been high but to pull out now would mean a terrible regression in Iraq.

FOXNews.com - Angelina Jolie Says Troop Surge Creating Opportunity to Help Iraqi Refugees - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment

Illinois Rally for Mitt

**Updated**

I just received word that Mitt is coming through Illinois, he will be here on Sunday. I plan on coming down, if anyone would like to go please let me know. Response has been so strong they had to move it to a bigger venue!!

Rally For Romney
Sunday, February 3rd @ 11:50 AM
McAnninch Arts Center
College of DuPage
425 Fawell Blvd
Glen Ellyn IL 60137

Please check out the flyer attached: Rally For Romney Flyer (Updated)

View Larger Map

Jackie Mason On John McCain

Need more evidence and thought on John McCain and his misleading statements? How about this for an unlikely source — Jackie Mason!!

“Straight Talk Express”?? Here’s The Truth On McCain

CNN Jeff’s Toobin laid it out plain as day for people after the California debate. McCain has continually misrepresented Mitt’s position and it’s about time someone in the mainstream media called him on it.

Schoolboy deaf for nine years regains hearing after cotton bud pops out of his ear | the Daily Mail

All excited to get universal health care courtesy of Hillary or Obama? You might want to read this article first!

Schoolboy deaf for nine years regains hearing after cotton bud pops out of his ear | the Daily Mail

(Again) Who Gets The Credit For Round Lake Area Schools

Two years ago I wrote a blog entry about some credit-taking that was going on after our former CEO announced his retirement. Well, two years have gone by and there appears to be more credit-taking going on for the recovery of RLAS. Political campaigns can be that way though with roles being, shall we say, “beefed up” to curry favor with the voters.

I thought I would repost my entry from two years ago to give an insider’s view on who deserves the credit and why for the recovery. Also, we received financial recognition for the second straight year recently, continuing to prove things are headed in the right direction in Round Lake.

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On Friday the Daily Herald ran an article covering the resignation of Dennis Stonewall as CEO of the Round Lake Area Schools. Jason King, the writer, went on to subtly give credit to Mr. Stonewall accurately pointing out “Under his direction and that of his chief financial officer, Walter Korpan, the duo has dramatically improved the district’s finances.” While this may be accurate, in that the rewards of the turnaround came during his tenure, it would be incorrect to start or stop there with who deserves the credit.

To figure this out we have to do a little time trip and that most appropriately begins when the state came in with the Financial Oversight Panel (FOP), the predecessor to the School Finance Authority (SFA). This is where we get to our first people who get credit.

First off, in my mind, is Eric Anderson from Harris Bank. Just prior to the state coming in Mr. Anderson and Harris had stepped up to be the district’s main finance broker. Whenever a bond, tax anticipation warrant, or other financial instrument needs to be executed the Board has to find buyers and that is what Mr. Anderson does. This was not a fun job to have when he got here and, in fact, he made it clear to the Board at the time that he was not going to be able to find a buyer for many more tax anticipation warrants as the district was in the unheard of position of procuring them on taxes it wouldn’t receive for another two years. From many I have talked to it was Mr. Anderson’s emphatic plea to the Board that finally forced them to request the State Board of Education (ISBE) put a FOP in place in Round Lake.

Shortly after that the panel was appointed and my second recipient of credit was appointed the chair, Marc Spivak. Mr. Spivak, an attorney with Topper & Weiss in Chicago and a former school board president, brought the calm, analytical demeanor needed to succeed in this position because in the district, things are coming unhinged. Bill Thompson and Joe Monahan two retired school business managers brought the in-depth knowledge and skill to assess where things were at and get Round Lake going in the right direction.

The FOP brought in several consultants, the first being Lutaf Dhanidina. Mr. Dhanidina had served as director of financial planning for the Chicago Public School and was most recently Chief Financial Officer for Evanston/Skokie District 65. Mr. Dhanidina or “Lutaf” as we would all call him because of his difficult to pronounce last name, began an in depth analysis of the district’s financial status and something that hadn’t been done for some time, projections for its future status. It was these projections, and how dire they looked, that led ISBE to get legislation to put a Finance Authority in Round Lake and eventually cause the FOP to request such an authority. It wasn’t the only thing that caused that though.

The Board fought with the FOP tooth and nail. Immediately after my election in April 2001 I began direct communications with Mr. Spivak in an attempt to get the Board to work cooperatively with the FOP and not against them. After I was seated, aside from the lambasting I would get from my fellow members, closed sessions were full of disdain for the FOP and representatives from ISBE. I remember them being referred to as “egg heads”, “bean counters” and “smarmy”. This Board was suffering from what is commonly referred to as “bunkering” — perceiving threats from all sides and then engaging in paranoid behavior that everyone is out to get them. The truth of the matter was, they were here to get it straightened out and had they cooperated, the SFA might never have come to pass.

This leads us to some blame. No individual board member or board officer is responsible for what happened in Round Lake, it was a collective failure. Nor is it the fault of Dr. Mary Davis our former superintendent because at the end of the day the Board sets the agenda and that agenda was faulty for a number of years going back to when Dr. Clif Houghton was forced to retire. The subsequent Boards would follow a philosophy of having an educational program no matter what the cost to the district. This is the faulty reasoning of many many board members and not just those in Round Lake. A board member is not there to do it “for the kids”, the board member should do what is right for the kids within the restraints of the community’s wishes. If the Board has inadequate funding it goes to referendum, if the community believes the funding it is needed it provides it (as the people of Round Lake have done many times) or it does not. It’s then up to the Board to act with this mandate from the people, not to mandate to the people what they will pay for.

Additionally the district did not have a clean handoff from our prior Business Manager to the one in place when I came to the Board. She was quite clearly totally overwhelmed by the scope of the position. I believe she did the best she could but the task was beyond her and the support system wasn’t there for her either. The district needed a strong business manager who would be able to take on this task and then put the support system in place himself. That person turned out to be Walter Korpan.

When Mr. Korpan was hired I caused a big stink about how it was done. He was picked, the Board President had agreed to the pick and the Board was to rubber stamp his appointment. I was concerned a more thorough search wasn’t done. After interviewing Mr. Korpan though I became convinced, and I told him so at the meeting, that I was pleased with the selection and would vote for it despite my misgivings on how it was done.

Mr. Korpan has done the yeoman’s effort in getting this district turned around but he would be the first to tell you he had a lot of help. However, one cannot deny the fact that two things started things going down the right path — insistence on a balanced budget from the FOP and Walter Korpan overhauling the districts business practices. For years our auditors Eder, Casella & Co. had warned of poor business practices, they just weren’t followed. In fact, the district illegally transferred funds several times. Mr. Korpan immediately made sweeping changes including overhauling the district’s method of taking attendance which recouped the loss of state funding (since all state funding is based on Average Daily Attendance (ADA) within the district). We couldn’t even properly tell the state how many kids we had in class!! He started there and went on to running a lunch program that broke even instead of losing money, creditors who held intercepts on our tax money had proper balances set aside to disable the intercepts, and many other significant changes.

The results are plain to see. In FY2001 the district ran a deficit of $1.05 mil, with $23.4 3mil in state funding and $17.68 mil in local funding according to ILEARN. Some of this deficit is actually incorrect since the district had money expended for construction projects that were previously bonded (i.e. in FY2000 the district got money for a project not done and paid for until FY2001 so a deficit will be shown). But this is where local funding numbers started to step up, in FY2002 state funding was $21.81 mil (49%) and local funding was $19.87 mil (45%), up two million from the prior year. In FY2003 state funding was $20.77 mil (47%) and local was $21.18 mil, up another million and change.

However, in FY2004 the first “benefit” of the SFA went into effect. As part of the legislation that created the Round Lake SFA, known as the Downstate Finance Authority Act, the district got to “reset” its tax cap for one year. That is, the district was no longer bound by the tax caps imposed on every other district (except Chicago) in Illinois which limits the amount of taxes they can levy. In other words, a district has authority from taxpayers to levy a certain amount in taxes and can increase that amount from year to year based on rises in cost of living, etc. Most district in Illinois can’t raise it to that cost of living because of tax caps, Round Lake could in FY2004. So, in FY2004 state funding was $24.47 mil (46%) and local funding was $26.57 mil (50%). For the first time in years the district got more from its taxpayers than it did from the state. In FY2001 the number was 41% and had been for a number of years, it moved up 9% in three years and with static state funding, that has been a major reason for the turnaround in the district.

For FY2005 that number has dipped a bit. But the Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) of the district continues to grow. EAV is the value of taxable property in the district, EAV per pupil is a key figure in discriminating poorer districts from affluent ones. In FY2001 the EAV per pupil was $55,925 and ranked 281st in the state. In FY2005 it is now $69,776 and 257th in the state. This rise has accounted for the nearly $7 mil per year the district has available and, together with sound financial policies, this is why the district is getting turned around and future projections continue to look good. So, my #1 serving of credit for the turnaround in Round Lake? The Round Lake taxpayers who endured their tax caps protection being lifted and continue to live under the threat of mandated taxes without referendum — taxation without representation by an appointed SFA.

So, does Mr. Stonewall deserve some credit? Absolutely. Does the Board, that has continued to wrangle with him, this author being one of the lead antagonists, still have concerns? You betcha. I’m concerned with our administrative turnover. I’m concerned with use of authority (such as with the use of Magee I covered earlier) without consultation with either the Board or the SFA. I’m concerned with our three-headed administrative structure that can result in miscommunication or lack of communication. I’m concerned about administrative costs. I’m concerned that we had a referendum pass yet the only sizable construction work that got done this summer was the administrative building parking lot.

Frankly, I was dismayed when Mr. Stonewall told us point blank that he was going to abide by our decision to fund the mobile classrooms project with fund balances and then went to the SFA with his plan to have them issue bonds anyway. Fortunately the SFA unanimously voted that down. Finally, I’m concerned that we don’t truly have a superintendent.

Why is that important? There are things a chief executive in a school district has to do that are not merely business. I applaud good business sense in all decisions and I frequently question our administration on how we spend money. However, there are some real truths to school districts. First off, no, we do not have “customers”. The “customer” in schools is the taxpayer, not the parents. There are thousands of people in our district — seniors, young people without children, those who send their children to private schools, to name a few — who do not use our services but pay for them. This is a huge fundamental fact that cannot be taken for granted or denied. I am all for better customer service for those who do use our services but our responsibility, our accountability, is to the taxpayer and not to the parents alone. I think the vast number of those taxpayers understand how important a good public school is to our community’s well-being and success. We need to educate them on that though so they understand what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and that we’re being responsible with their hard earned money, money that for everyone is the largest single item on our property tax bill.

Additionally there are nuances of labor relations, state standards, community outreach, and other items that an experienced superintendent comes to grasp. And, finally, a good superintendent knows he/she serves at the pleasure of the Board but is not afraid to tell the Board when it’s doing something wrong. Had we a Board that more properly understood this oversight role and a Superintendent willing to stand up and insist on proper business practices and accounting then perhaps this entire issue of who gets the credit for Round Lake rebounding wouldn’t be necessary.

Cubs — What, me worry?

Yes, it’s time to worry now and no, I’m not happy with how Lilly pitched last night. Our pitchers are pressing though because we aren’t getting any offense.

This series is very simple — if Lee and Ramirez do not hit, we will not win. We’ve paid these guys a boatload of money, Lee butchered us in 2003 so we know he can hit in the post-season. Where is it? Some have mentioned Soriano but I see Soriano getting on base at least which is a far cry more than Lee and Ramirez right now. If healthy he would have made that catch against the wall but he’s clearly toughing his injury out and smashing into a wall to play a ball is not going to happen rought now. We’re not getting any offense anyway so maybe Pie in center wouldn’t have been a bad idea right now.

The Cubs can still win this series, I know they can. But it will take Lee and Ramirez showing up to do it. If our big guns can’t outduel the great Augie Ojeda and Stephen Drew we don’t deserve to advance anyway. Both of them seem to have no timing at all with Lee not looking at all comfortable and Ramirez trying to swing out of his shoes every time up.

Soriano has been aggressive on silly pitches though, he could have jumped on first pitch fastballs (Valverde gave him one two nights in a row) in the zone but has waited. Then he’s been chasing curve balls later in the count.

One ray of hope out of all this — Kerry Wood was truly impressive. That, and the play of Soto was good to see. The rest of these guys need to step it up or it’s going to be a long winter.

Cubs Loss, More Stupid Cubs Columns

You know, if there’s one overriding reason I would like for the Cubs to win besides the one from my last post, it’s to shut stupid sports writers up. I’m serious, I’ve had it with these boneheads. You know what really stinks? In the playoffs they add even more boneheads to cover and offer commentary on the game.

I knew I would see this junk though when I went to bed last night, just knew it in my bones. So let me clear up some facts here for everyone.

FACT: No matter what decision Piniella made with Zambrano the Cubs only scored one run. The way these nonsense columns were written you would think the Cubs had a lead and he pulled Zambrano and the bullpen blew it. That wasn’t the case.

FACT: Carlos Marmol has been the Cubs’ best reliever all year, has a miniscule ERA and an insane strikeout ratio. He’s young though, this was a great situation to put him in and if he’s going to blow something it’s a great time for him to blow it — Game 1 where there’s plenty of time left to play. It should steady his nerves, he was clearly trying to overthrow.

FACT: Zambrano has had his cramping issues past the point he was pulled last night. There is no guarnatee he was going to continue to pitch that way, it was a great performance. Pulling him with the game tied preserves his strength and his psyche. He’ll be back in Game 4 and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the game the Cubs close out the series. There is no doubt in my mind they can take the next three in a row.

Now that I’ve thrown those to facts out there I’ll put out some opinions.

For the D’backs this was a must win game, for the Cubs it was not. Webb is not slated to come back to pitch until Game 5, the Cubs can win this series without ever seeing him again. There is a precipitous dropoff of starting pitching talent after Webb. In fact, the remaining 3 guys are barely .500 if they are that and have high ERAs. The Cubs can bomb these kids now and it starts tonight with Ted Lilly who has playoff experience with Oakland. The Cubs put up a good showing against the stud (I should know, Webb is a keeper I’ve had for two years on my fantasy team). That was a good showing against Webb, I was disappointed they didn’t get more out of the 6th inning with the bases loaded. In fact, I was thinking to myself that Lou should have pulled Zambrano there. I would have much rather seen Daryle Ward coming up then with the bases still juiced and the Cubs ready to put Webb and the D’backs to bed. Webb was losing it in that inning, Zambrano couldn’t connect despite Webb still getting the ball up and not getting much bite on his sinker.

So despite the Cubs top of the lineup being unable to drive in Zambrano after a lead-off double in the 3rd inning this is somehow Lou’s fault according to a vast assortment of boneheads.

Mike Downey said today, “A decision that Lou Piniella made in the pressure cooker of the playoffs blew up in the manager’s face Wednesday night and cost his guys Game 1.” Horse manure. Did the Cubs have a lead when Zambrano was pulled? No they did not. Did Piniella fail to drive in runners in scoring position for three consecutive innings? No he did not. Let’s follow the great Mike Downey’s absurd logic here, the Cubs should have left Zambrano in. For how long? Another inning? The rest of the game? Let’s assume Zambrano pitches the rest of the game, doesn’t give up anything. Guess what Mike, the Cubs didn’t score another run the rest of the game. So I guess Lou should have just burned up his best pitcher in the first game when the offense clearly wasn’t clicking. Great idea Mike!

Next up we have Rick Morrissey who in the same paragraph acknowledges the Cubs had no offense going but this is Piniella’s fault for not leaving Zambrano in. Huh? Rick, again, the game was 1-1, the Cubs did not have a lead, they didn’t score another run, having Zambrano continue would have done what essentially other than assure he will not come back ready on 3 days rest for Game 4? “There might not be a Game 4″ Morrissey chirps. You’re right Rick, if the Cubs continue to face Brandon Webb the next two games and can’t put any offense against him there might not be one. Oh wait, Brandon Webb isn’t coming back until Game 5 though is he Rick? I can’t fathom the stupidity of this column, it makes no sense whatsoever. Piniella saw his offense sputtering against Webb and not cashing in its chances. Maybe if the Cubs get more than one run in the 6th he pushes Zambrano more and tries to take Game 1 and deal a near death blow to the D’backs. They didn’t though and he knew he would be taking a huge risk pushing Zambrano in a game they weren’t winning and weren’t generating much offense in. That’s why he’s in the dugout and you’re behind a computer Rick.

Next up, Phil Rogers writes a column about going with a three-man rotation being dumb. I normally like Phil and agree with his columns but this one is dumb as well. The Cubs don’t have a reliable fourth starter, period. Who are the D’backs going to throw against the Cubs in Game 4 at Wrigley? The vaunted Micah Owings who pitched two good games his last two starts against two very bad teams but only lasted 2 1/3 against the mighty St. Louis Cardinals the start before that and gave up five runs in three innings against the Padres before that one. The Cubs put up three runs on seven hits in six innings on August 24th the second time seeing him. He started out 4-1 but ended up 8-8, has a 4.303 ERA and a 1.284 WHIP, I’m not scared. Rogers makes a reference to the 2003 Cubs starting a rested Kerry Wood in Game 4 against the Braves in the NLDS. The Cubs had four solid starters in 2003, they do not in 2007. I knew Kerry Wood, Phil, Jason Marquis is no Kerry Wood. Wrap fish with that column.

Let’s stop picking on the Tribune now, over at CBS Sportsline Scott Miller wrote a pretty even handed article about the move. Despite cracking some jokes about the Cubs, perpetual losers, looking ahead he covered the reasons Piniella made the move, how solid Marmol has been, etc. Good column.

Over at the Daily Herald something weird was going on. Even handed columns were being written while being tainted with stupid headlines. You can only see these in the print edition, the web headlines are different. So I encourage you to pick up today’s edition of the Daily Herald and look at the goofy blatantly stupid “No really good reason to lift Big Z” a sentiment not found anywhere in Mike Imrem’s column. I like Mike very much, I think he always writes a great column. So does Barry Rozner who I think jumped the gun as are many Cubs fans. We won’t know if Piniella came up short on the move last night until Game 5.

Even if the Cubs lose this series, it doesn’t change the fact they only scored a single run. Soriano came up in the bottom of the 9th and got the fastball he should have been looking for right over the heart of the plate — he looked at it. That pretty much sums up the Cubs offensive performance last night, guessing wrong. That is why they lost last night, not anything Piniella did.

Cub Hope Springs Eternal In Heaven

It’s here, the day is upon us when the beloved Chicago Cubs will take to the field in the National League Divisional Series. It’s been four years since they were last there but it seems like a lifetime ago when you look at all the changes to the Cubs roster. It’s even more staggering when you consider how long it has been since the Cubs have been in a World Series let alone won one.

I come from a long line of die-hards on both sides of the family and die many of them have. I even have a relative who died at Wrigley Field. For decades my family has watched the Cubs try and fail and try and fail again. So here we are, in the playoffs again and every Cub fan asks himself “is this finally the year” or “will it finally be different this time”? All I can tell you is hope springs eternal in heaven.

My father has been gone for 8 years now and in his 55 years he never saw the Cubs play in the World Series, that he could have remembered anyway. When I think of it now the suffering he endured during his life at the hands of one Cubs team after another it’s quite unimaginable. Add to that his parents, his brother and sister, virtually an entire side of my family that has risen and fallen in the time since the Cubs last won a World Series. That’s the perspective it needs to be put in. To many this just may be sport, not anything to get all caught up in, but those of us who have lived the life of a Cubs fan know that it is far more than that, it’s about hopes and dreams you’ve held since you were a child. Now it’s gotten to the point where the hopes and dreams of generations are being pinned on the Cubs.

I can honestly say though this team has given me a lot of hope but I am giving them the high expectations they should be riding on. This team was bought and paid for to win and win it should. The Cubs definitely have as good a shot as any other team. The regular season is over and the real season starts today. What happened before today means nothing now. We finally have a manager who cares about one thing and that’s winning. Lou Piniella doesn’t care about what the reporters say, what his players say, or what anyone has to say about how he runs the ballclub. He manages to win and that’s all there is to it.

So when I heard Lou speak about getting teary-eyed to the strains of “Go Cubs Go” piped from the Wrigley rafters when the Cubs win I think I realized that Lou really does get it here. The Cubs have been a franchise of hope surrounded by a century of misery, every Cub fan knows that. We also know the ones who have their seats in heaven now including Steve Goodman who wrote and sang “Go Cubs Go”. There are many that have come and gone over the years and many more who are trying to hold on so that they can see the day. That day would be when the Cubs win the World Series and all the nonsense of curses and goats and Bartman generated by lazy sports writers will be dead and buried - exorcised from our favorite franchise forever. Then again, as it should be today and as it should always be, it will be about winning.

I demand a World Series victory for myself, for my family and for all those who have come and gone who won’t be living to see it. The Cubs owe us that much and we should demand it from them. World Championship and anything short of that is a disappointment. Hope does spring eternal, but hope is not a method. The Cubs need to get it done. Go Cubs Go!!

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