The in box. The criminal behavior is not limited to Illinois.
Good for you, Fred. Today’s attacks against teachers, their unions, and their pensions is emblematic of the disdain the elite have for those they see as beneath them. In many ways, teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and others in public service are today’s serfs for the lords of the 1%, and those they hold sway [...]
Saturday coffee.
Retired teacher Ken Previti leaves these cards around to show the impact of teacher pensions on the Illinois economy. The transition from active to retired teacher has been an eye opener for me. I don’t think that Quinn, Madigan, Cross and Fahner get who they’re dealing with. The movement of retired teachers and other state [...]
Quinn the Governor.
Sent by a reader. With apologies to Bob Dylan. Come all without, come all within You’ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn Come all without, come all within You’ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn Everybody’s after teachers pension funds Some are after retirement funds, others are jotting down notes Everybody’s in [...]
Hey, if you think it is only lousy for teachers.
Yesterday I stopped in for a cold one at the Red Line Tap. “Aw, stop your whining Klonsky,” said Tony. “Huh?” “I read your blog. What’s with all this fair crap?” I went into my standard rap about our pension, how we’ve paid in for 40 years and the state hasn’t paid their share. “Aw. Boo [...]
At the table for a few minutes, but handed the wrong menu.
According to Illinois State Representative Elaine Nekritz, as Tim Furman reports on his blog, union representatives were consulted for about an hour or so by Governor Quinn’s pension panel. We were among the stakeholders they talked to. Stakeholders? Elaine. We’re not just stakeholders. That’s our retirement savings that we’re talking about. Or not getting to [...]
The in box. “So few people understand function, and its dependencies, so they focus on form, on which anyone may opine.”
Fred, I still recall the important phrase “form follows function” from my introductory engineering design class thirty years ago. So few people understand function, and its dependencies, so they focus on form, on which anyone may opine. As I approach my fifth decade, the reality that those in power know so little is most disconcerting. [...]
Rahm’s poll numbers tanking. Confrontation with teachers is pulling him down.
Rahm may control the city council like a Soviet commisar. But his honeymoon with the city’s voters has ended. His reputation for controlling the message is fading. Blame it on his confrontational approach to the teacher union, teachers, parents and schools. “I’m not making the case that people hate Rahm right now, but they have [...]
Form follows function.
Chicago’s master architect, Louis Sullivan. As an art teacher with an admiration for good design I was won over early to the notion popularized by Chicago architect Louis Sullivan that form follows function. The shape of something should reveal and enhance its purpose. This morning the Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss posts a column on the [...]
Putting faces on the pension fight. A letter to Quinn.
H/T: Tim Furman From: Wyman on Media, New Place & Life Governor Pat Quinn Office of the Governor 207 State House Springfield, Illinois 62706 Dear Governor Quinn: I watched your press conference last Friday where you announced sweeping pension changes for active Illinois teachers. These changes will hurt my family, and I object [...]
The Fahner confession. A 40 year criminal conspiracy.
“This was not created by the people entitled to the benefits,” said Ty Fahner of the Civic Committee last night on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. “You told one of our producers that if this had happened in the private sector…well, you finish your thought,” said host, Phil Ponce. “Well, if this happened in the private sector…if [...]
What the state has done to teacher pensions is criminal, says Ty Fahner.
The former Illinois AG and now Civic Committee President, Ty Fahner, admits that if the private sector did to their employees’s pensions what the state has done to teacher pensions, they would have been prosecuted. “It would have been criminal,” agrees Fahner.
Old superintendents.
I got a call yesterday from Dr. Fred. About ten years ago and for about ten years before that he was our district’s superintendent. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a great fan of administrators. But every once in a while one comes along that makes me think twice. Dr. Fred called to apologize [...]
Interview with myself. Quinn’s pension proposals.
Q. Who is impacted by the Governor’s plan? A. Quinn’s plan is aimed at all active employee who are in Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), the State Universities Retirement System (SURS), the State Employee Retirement System (SERS), and the General Assembly Retirement System (GARS). Q. How much more would we have to pay into our pension plans? [...]
Gaming the robo-reader. Don’t worry about the truth.
The NY Times’ Michael Winerip has an article about robo-readers, computer scanners that read and score test essay answers. My old friend Les Perelman of MIT is quoted. Mr. Perelman enjoys studying algorithms from E.T.S. research papers when he is not teaching undergraduates. This has taught him to think like e-Rater. While his research is limited, [...]
Shifting the pension obligations to school districts. Higher property taxes and teachers will never see a pay raise again.
What Governor Quinn isn’t talking about. Part of his pension plan that he says he was put on earth to enact will shift the part of pension payments to local school districts. At present teachers pay almost 10% of their salary into TRS and the state is obligated to pay a smaller share. The state [...]
Sunday links.
John Dillon explains the meaning of schadenfreude. “Glad it’s you and not me, pal.” If you are a retired Illinois teacher and think that Quinn’s pension plan keeps you and yours safe, think again. The New York Times finally discovers the dirty deeds of ALEC. Why the US is destroying it’s education system. “A nation [...]
Illinois Democrat’s plan to blow up the public school system.
Illinois is a blue state. We’re not talking about Walker’s Wisconsin or Kasich’s Ohio. We talking Democrats. Chicago’s Mayor Emanuel. Governor Quinn. Party Chairman and Speaker Madigan. Senate President Cullerton. Governor Pat Quinn’s pension proposal, which he claims he was “put on this earth” to create, will blow up the state’s public schools just as [...]