Mariucci... Gone

The Lions have fired Steve Mariucci. Think Brett would stick around if Mooch were the coach next year?

The infamous Dennis York post...

By now everyone has seen the brilliant post on 11/17 (linked below).


I found this apparent precurser from a few days earlier...

May the force be with you...

A new Blogger with a "Different Take" on the State legislature.

The rest of his blog looks interesting as well...

A poke at Badger Blog Alliance...

Our Republican friends over at Badger Blog Alliance
either made a simple geography mistake or perhaps uncovered another closed door Republican caucus decision (re-drawing County borders). No wonder they keep winning elections around here...


Elm Grove is still in Waukesha County, folks...

Now this is talent

This is the best writing I have come across in quite a while...



No wonder no one reads my blog...

Mary Lazich and abstinence...

I see that Senator Mary Lazich's abstinence bill is gaining momentum in the legislature. Looking around the County, we now have Senator Kedsie and his bullying mandate bill, Rep. Jensen and his same sex classrooms bill and Lazich's abstinence bill. Without regard to the merits of each, it is certainly reassuring to see our elected officials taking on some of the most pressing issues facing public education today.

I can hardly wait to read more about these bills when the next round of updates or campaign brouchures begin to descend to my mailbox, reminding me that all of our legislators are supportors of quality public education.

Perhaps next they can tackle whether spaghetti straps should be worn in high schools...

A couple of thoughts on Wisconsin Eye

Wispolitics has posted a press release stating that six new members have been added to the Wisconsin Eye Network Board of Directors, including former State Senator and Lt. Governor Margaret Farrow. A couple of questions come to mind...

1. How long until our MSM talk show hosts jump all over this story? Remember the hoopla over the naming of Tom Loftus as interim network president? I wonder how quickly the talking heads will criticize this as a partisan move. My guess is that Charley and company will remain silent.

2. Can anyone explain to me why it has taken four years (and counting) to get this project on the air? What has this network agreed to NOT show?

3. Are we allowing Wisconsin Eye into the caucus meetings? Obviously, the answer is no. So what good will this network be? After all, the great majority of State government is done behind those caucus doors. Example... Last week, Senate Republicans spent hours in caucus trying to figure out a way to stop Sen. Tom Reynolds from pulling his gasoline tax bill out of committee. They finally concocted an agreement which would keep everyone happy and, in effect, render the open session of the State Senate that day useless. Votes were decided, walking quorums were obtained and final outcomes were determined. Anywhere outside of Madison, that would be an open meetings violation. In the Capitol, however, it's business as usual...

So why watch the new Wisconsin Eye network? Well, it will certainly give bloggers more material...

Florence school referendum passes

A last ditch attempt to save the Florence County School District appears to have worked as their referendum tonight narrowly passed. This is truly good news for the students up there. How it affects the school funding debate in Madison remains to be seen.

Will anyone in the MSM admit they were wrong about the Bucks trade?

The twenty four hours after the Desmond Mason trade were filled with talk radio condenming the move. Mark Belling spent two segments trying to find someone who liked the trade. It is still obviously too early to make any judgements on the longterm effects of the move, but a couple of things that were widely agreed upon are flat out wrong...

1. This trade is a clear signal that the Bucks are not happy with the progress of Andrew Bogut. Clearly, this is not the case. In fact, the trade may be a sign that the Bucks think Andrew is ready to handle the role of a 4 or a 5. His playing time hasn't diminished with the addition of Magloire and he is handling himself quite well through three games.

2. The Bucks gave up too much.
Huh? The Bucks have a boat load of 2's and 3's and haven't had an inside presence in fifteen years, yet Mason was too much? Who was going to sit to get Mason minutes? Simmons? Redd?

3-0 is hardly a season but a couple of things are pretty clear. The Bucks, while their set offense is still sputtering, is outrebounding their opponents by a margin of 6. An opponent driving the lane with Magloire and Bogut doesn't have the walk in the park of old Bucks' defenses. And perhaps most importantly, TJ Ford's abilities are even more enhanced on a good rebounding team.

A trade well-done, Mr. Harris.

A TABOR-free week

Are you as amazed as I am about the hush that has fallen on the talking heads over the TABOR issue? If things would have went well for them in Colorado last week, we would have never heard the end of it. Much like every local conservative who wins is billed as a mandate on the taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Well, the state that has been held up for two years as an example of why we need TABOR indeed had a referendum on the subject last week. Voters there decided that they needed a five-year break from the idea. That's right, Colorado voters decided to forego five years of tax savings because of the harm TABOR had done their state. One of the biggest supporters of the original push for TABOR, Gov. Bill Owens, led the charge to take the five year hiatus.

A couple of Wisconsin supporters have done their best to spin the loss into something they can swallow. Representative Pridemore, however, wins this week's award for reaching in a recent press release...


This week, Colorado voters decided to allow the government to keep the next five years worth of surpluses. These surpluses, due to the Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, ordinarily must be returned to the voters under the same constitutional amendment.
State Representative Don Pridemore, in response to this, said, “This shows the inherent genius of a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights."

Huh?

My annual thank you to Pres. Bush and Sen. Kennedy for NCLB

My daughter just finished her standardized testing last week. I thought it appropriate to comment on why NCLB may be the worst piece of educational legislation in thirty years.

Teachers unions will continue to argue standardized tests are inherently unfair and do nothing to actually teach children. I agree. Supporters of NCLB will talk of a lack of acountability in public schools. Taxpayers have a right to know if their tax dollars are being used wisely. Again, I agree.

I fail to see, however, how anyone who objectively looks at the effects of NCLB in our schools can support it. Remember the conservative's battle cry in the 90's of how public schools have dumbed down curiculum? Our very own Charley Sykes even wrote a book on the subject. Yet they all seem to be in support of a federal law that does more to dumb down public schools than any new textbook or teaching theory.

NCLB tests every child in grades 3-8 and demands annual yearly progress (AYP) in a number of sub-categories as defined by race, learning challenges etc. Schools and even school districts that don't meet AYP several years in a row can face financial sanctions, among other penalties. AYP, however, is defined by our federal government to be moving students from the miminal and basic levels to the proficient and advanced levels.

Here lies the problem. My daughter already tests in the proficient and advanced areas in all subjects. According to President Bush and Senator Kennedy, her continued progress in school is no longer important. So she is subjected to weeks and weeks, (no, not days) of wasted educational time while teachers review school work done months and, in many cases, years ago. Review aimed at students on the threshold of reaching the proficient level on these standardized tests. Then, of course, there are the testing days themselves. Again, a waste of my daughter's time. How many times does the federal government think I need to see a 80-90% national aggregate score to understand I am blessed with a smart daughter? I believe the seventh or eighth time probably did the trick. STOP WASTING HER SCHOOL TIME!

Sound like a rant from a parent with an exceptional child? Think again. In Waukesha County, roughly 80-85% of all students are already scoring in the proficient and advanced areas. That's right, parents, your student's continued progress in school isn't important to our federal leaders either. Schools are being judged as "in need of improvement" not by how they teach the majority of their students but by how a small percentage of kids fare on high-stakes tests.

School districts around the county are responding to NCLB. Responding by refocusing their time, energy and, yes, resources toward making sure the 15% continue to show progress. The losers? The 85% we are ignoring. The 85% who see less of the classroom time spent on their academic level. The 85% who are seeing programs that help them cut to meet the demands of NCLB.

If it sounds like I don't believe their is an achievement gap in this country, you are wrong. It is, in fact, the biggest problem facing public schools today. Their are things we need to do to ensure the success of all children. Dumbing down our schools, however, isn't one of them...

Packer thoughts...

A couple of thoughts on the latest Packer loss...

1. Robert Thomas looks like a player.

2. Nick Barnett cannot tackle.

3. I'm struggling not to go the route of many bloggers and start calling for heads. But I sincerely hope Ryan Longwell doesn't blame someone else for his missed kick again. Yes, he's won a lot of games for us. Quite frankly, however, I'm tired of the excuses, even if they have some validity. You are paid to make the kicks.

4. Is Sherman or Favre deciding to huddle when down two scores late in the game? This has to be the fourth time I have noticed it this year and, based on the response from the crowd, my anger is not alone.

5. As stated in a previous post, eight more chances to watch the greatest QB in Packer history. He certainly makes things interesting every week. He deserves a better ending to his career, however.