Free Republic

Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, the Democratic nominee for the South Carolina First Congressional District special election, is listed twice on today's ballot. Colbert-Busch is also the nominee of the Working Families party. "She's been nominated by both parties. There's no prohibition in South Carolina against that," explains Chris Whitmire, director of public information and training at the South Carolina State Election Commission. All votes for Colbert-Busch "go to Colbert-Busch," regardless of whether the voter selects the Democratic Busch or the Working Families Busch. But tonight, when the votes are counted, Busch's votes will be separated by party, even if it's the cumulative...

Bill Ayers, a retired professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in no uncertain terms takes aim in this post at federal school policies that led to the Atlanta cheating scandal. Ayers, a radical activist during the 1960s and ’70s, had the national spotlight thrown on him during the 2008 presidential campaign when right-wing commentators tried, incorrectly, to say he had a close relationship with then candidate Barack Obama. In any case, Ayers is a well-known Chicago educator who worked with mayor Richard Daley on school reform and who taught and did research for years at the...

DENVER — Colorado Democrats are planning sweeping changes to how elections are run in the state, to the dismay of Republican leaders who say they've been excluded from crafting a bill that that would allow same-day voter registration and require mailed ballots to every eligible voter. A bill of more than 100 pages is expected to be introduced this week, likely sparking a big partisan fight over whether the changes benefit one party over the other. Supporters of the changes, which also include eliminating the so-called "inactive voter" status, say the goal is to make voting more accessible. "I think...

Former 'Superintendent Of The Year' Could Go To Prison For 45 Years Rebecca Baird-RembaApril 2, 2013, 6:13 PM Dr. Beverly Hall arrives for her last school board meeting in 2011. Thirty-five Atlanta educators were indicted last week for allegedly participating in a cheating conspiracy involving one of America's most storied school superintendents. Retired Atlanta schools chief Beverly Hall was named "National Superintendent of the Year" in 2009 and had previously headed troubled school districts in New York and Newark. She was credited with rescuing the struggling Atlanta school system and helping it meet testing standards set by the Bush-era No...

<p>ATLANTA (AP) — Juwanna Guffie was sitting in her fifth-grade classroom taking a standardized test when, authorities say, the teacher came around offering information and asking the students to rewrite their answers. Juwanna rejected the help.</p> <p>"I don't want your answers, I want to take my own test," Juwanna told her teacher, according to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.</p>

Atlanta (CNN) -- In what has been described as one of the largest cheating scandals to hit the nation's public education system, 35 Atlanta Public Schools educators and administrators were indicted Friday on charges of racketeering and corruption. The indictment is the bookend to a story that was once touted as a model for the nation's school districts after the district's test scores dramatically improved in some of its toughest urban schools. Among those indicted by a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury was Beverly Hall, the former schools superintendent who gained national recognition in 2009 for turning around Atlanta's school...

Beer drinkers in the US have filed a $5m lawsuit accusing Anheuser-Busch of watering down its beer. The lawsuits, filed in Pennsylvania, California and other states, claim consumers have been cheated out of the alcohol content stated on beer labels. The suit involves 10 Anheuser-Busch beers including Budweiser and Michelob. Anheuser-Busch InBev have called the claims "completely false", and said in a statement "our beers are in full compliance with labelling laws". The lawsuits are based on information from former employees at breweries owned by the multinational. "Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that,...

There is a problem with Election Day registrations: the people registering are not checked for eligibility before their votes are counted. That is why the Minnesota Voters Alliance and other plaintiffs are before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that Minnesota must confirm the eligibility of all voters before counting their ballots. That includes the more than 500,000 who register on Election Day in presidential-election years. Our lawsuit is based on the plain text of Article VII, Section 1 of the Minnesota Constitution, which says, "The following persons shall not be entitled or permitted to vote at any election...

Over half of Harvard University students caught in a wide-ranging cheating scandal in an "Intro to Congress" course have reportedly had to withdraw from the Ivy League school. According to The Boston Globe, the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences told the Harvard community in an email that more than half of the students brought before the school's Administration Board in the fall were required to withdraw for some period of time. Of the students not required to withdraw, roughly half were placed on disciplinary probation, while the rest received no punishment and had their cases dismissed. While...

As many as 60 students have been forced to withdraw from Harvard University after cheating on a final exam last year in what has become the largest academic scandal to hit the Ivy League school in recent memory. Michael Smith, Harvard's Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, sent an email on Friday saying that more than half of the students who faced the school's Administrative Board have been suspended for a time. Roughly 125 undergraduates were involved in the scandal, which came to light at the end of the spring semester after a professor noticed similarities on a...

Public Schools - Crooked Teachers And Lying Principals Politics / Educating ChildrenJan 08, 2013 - 05:56 AM Walter E. Williams writes: Nearly two years ago, U.S. News & World Report came out with a story titled "Educators Implicated in Atlanta Cheating Scandal." It reported that "for 10 years, hundreds of Atlanta public school teachers and principals changed answers on state tests in one of the largest cheating scandals in U.S. history." More than three-quarters of the 56 Atlanta schools investigated had cheated on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, sometimes called the national report card. Cheating orders came from...

Fans argue all the time that a referee missed a call, but those arguments are usually subjective. The holding call that killed the drive might have been ticky-tack, but it wasn't black and white that it was a missed call. The pass interference that set up the game-winning touchdown wasn't just a phantom call - it might have been a tough call but it was debatable. You very rarely see a football official flat out miss a call. A fourth-quarter call in the Outback Bowl was black and white. There really can be no debate. It was a blown call...

Election Fraud? Obama Won More Than 99 Percent Of The Vote In More Than 100 Ohio Precincts By Michael Snyder November 11th, 2012 Barack Obama received more than 99% of the vote in more than 100 precincts in Cuyahoga County, Ohio on election day. In fact, there were a substantial number of precincts where Mitt Romney got exactly zero votes. So how in the world did this happen? Third world dictators don't even get 99% of the vote. Overall, Mitt Romney received 30.12% of the vote in Cuyahoga County. There were even a bunch of precincts in Cuyahoga County that...

November 1, 2012 RNC pushes 6 states to fix machines that give Romney votes to Obama Joel Gehrke Following reports that swing state voters attempting to cast a ballot for Mitt Romney saw the machine check President Obama’s name instead, the Republican National Committee is pushing six states to ensure that ballots are properly cast. “I understand that, in a significant number of cases, voting machines in your states have populated a vote for Barack Obama when a voter cast his or her ballot for Mitt Romney,” wrote RNC chief counsel John Phillipe to secretaries of state in Nevada, Ohio,...

Drudge has had that picture up since yesterday. There is a point he is trying to make. Is it about the earpiece???? Other pictures of Obama with an earpiece

Candy Crowley, the moderator of the presidential debate at Hofstra University on October 16, interfered in this U.S. presidential race in a way no one ever has before and—let’s hope—no one ever will again. Crowley loudly validated President Barack Obama’s version of reality—and contradicted Governor Mitt Romney’s recollection of actual reality—regarding what the president said in the Rose Garden about what happened in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2011. During the debate President Obama said he called the murder of four Americans an act of terrorism. Romney said he didn’t. Crowley said he did. And Crowley told them they had...

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 18, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Critics of CNN moderator Candy Crowley’s performance in the second presidential debate Tuesday night claim that it is part of a larger pattern that sees Democrats consistently receiving more time to speak, being interrupted less often, and being asked fewer probing questions than their Republican challengers.Republicans have cried foul after Crowley wrongly corrected Mitt Romney’s statement that Barack Obama did not refer to the assault on the Libyan embassy as an act of terrorism. A transcript indicates Obama did use the term “act of terror� the day after the attack, but in reference...

Watch again the exchange between Mitt Romney and Obama during the last debate when the issue of Benghazigate came up. Listen to how Obama tells Candy Crowley to ‘get the transcript’ after Romney asks Obama if he called the Benghazi terrorist attack an ‘act of terror’ in the rose garden before he popped off the Las Vegas for a fund raiser. Like a good lapdog, Crowley retrieves the transcript to ‘correct’ Romney and protect Obama. She later appeared on the CNN post debate recap to admit Mitt Romney was in fact right that Obama never referred to the actual terrorist...

ROMNEY: The — the greatest failure we’ve had with regards to — to gun violence in some respects is what — what is known as Fast and Furious. Which was a program under this administration, and how it worked exactly I think we don’t know precisely, where thousands of automatic, and AK-47 type weapons were — were given to people that ultimately gave them to — to drug lords. They used those weapons against — against their own citizens and killed Americans with them. And this was a — this was a program of the government. For what purpose...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH. So let's see. Martha Raddatz, who is going to moderate the vice presidential debate on Thursday night between Paul Ryan and Joe Bite Me, hosted Barack Obama at her wedding. She used to be married to the FCC commissioner, Julius Genachowski. Raddatz, Genachowski, and Obama all went to Harvard. (Who didn't in this regime?) Now ABC's doing everything they can to say, "Oh, it doesn't matter! Nothing to see here. What does that mean?" Well, how about she tell us who she voted for in 2008? And how about she tell us who she's gonna vote for...

Posted By Bryan Preston On October 10, 2012 @ 8:29 am In media,Politics | 52 Comments The Daily Caller has a disturbing story up today. The outline goes like this: The moderator of Thursday's vice presidential debate is Martha Raddatz of ABC News. She is the network's senior foreign correspondent, and she is the sole moderator of the veep debate, which will center on foreign policy.Raddatz has a connection with Barack Obama going all the way back to their days at Harvard. They worked on the Harvard Law Review together, and Obama attended her 1991 wedding. Fast forward to the...

ABC News told the Daily Caller Wednesday that vice presidential debate moderator and ABC News senior foreign correspondent Martha Raddatz was not at President Barack Obama’s wedding to Michelle in 1992. The news outlet, however, did not deny that Raddatz was invited to the Obama wedding when asked. Raddatz’s then husband, Julius Genachowski, was in attendance..An earlier investigation by TheDC revealed that Obama attended Raddatz’s wedding the year prior when she married Genachowski

Barack Obama was a guest at the 1991 wedding of ABC senior foreign correspondent and vice presidential debate moderator Martha Raddatz, The Daily Caller has learned. Obama and groom Julius Genachowski, whom Obama would later tap to head the Federal Communications Commission, were Harvard Law School classmates at the time and members of the Harvard Law Review. After TheDC made preliminary inquiries Monday to confirm Obama’s attendance at the wedding, ABC leaked a pre-emptive statement to liberal-leaning news outlets including Politico and The Daily Beast Tuesday, revealing what may have been internal network pressure felt just days before Raddatz was...

Florida Republicans are outraged after a school district allowed a pro-Obama organization to conduct student voter registration drives and deliver speeches to classes – but denied the Romney campaign similar opportunities.

Over the past day the game tape of the debate has been reviewed. While Mitt Romney still enjoys the afterglow of the debate, the lies and half truths he told are being dissected. From tax policy to hiring teachers. From cracking down on Wall Street (and Sesame Street) to coverage for the uninsured. From Medicare to shipping jobs overseas the fact checkers have been very busy correcting the record and pointing out falsehoods. Even Team Romney had to correct the candidate on health care immediately after the debate. As I predicted earlier this week, Romney had an October Surprise planned...

Story after story has come out showing the populace somewhat evenly divided between the two Presidential candidates. However, on the street where the "real" people live, we all know the story is VERY different from the polls. The ONLY people I hear advocating for the Democrat Party are the individuals like the "Obama gave us a cellphone" woman and they do not make up a significant part of the population. Very few cars now sport Obama stickers anymore. They've all been peeled off. The invective used by people when discussing the Democrat Party and Obama is severe. The only conclusion...

More cheating scandals inevitable, as states can’t ensure test integrityNational education policy built on test scores is undermined By Michael Pell The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Updated: 7:56 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 The stain of cheating spread unchecked across 44 Atlanta schools before the state finally stepped in and cleaned it up. But across the country, oversight remains so haphazard that most states cannot guarantee the integrity of their standardized tests, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found. Poor oversight means that cheating scandals in other states are inevitable. It also undermines a national education policy built on test scores, which the states...

After George W. Bush defeated Al Gore at the ballot box and in a rare show of fortitude for a Republican, didn't stand by haplessly wringing his hands when Gore tried to lawyer his way into the White House, liberals were outraged. Sure, Gore had never been ahead at any point, but OBVIOUSLY voter fraud had cost Democrats the election. Afterwards, Democrats DEMANDED that we do more to insure the integrity of our elections. Republicans agreed and for a while, we finally had an issue where there was genuine bipartisan agreement. Then came the 2004 elections and many of the...

The best argument against liberalism is that it doesn’t work. That should be obvious to any teacher who has to deal with student cheating. Even some sociology teachers are beginning to learn this although they are not aware that they are learning it. Like rats in a Skinner box, their behavior is being modified by reality even when they lack the intellectual capacity to recognize it. It warms my heart to see old liberals changing their ways, even if mindlessly. So I have written a column about it, which I am hoping will someday be reprinted by the New York...

A Mexican who was deported decades ago for drug trafficking pleaded guilty this week to living illegally in Escondido under a false identity and fraudulently voting in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, federal authorities said Friday. Ricardo Lopez-Munguia, 45, pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted entry to the U.S. after deportation, making a false claim to U.S. citizenship, and voter fraud by an illegal alien, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. Lopez-Munguia faces a maximum term of 28 years in federal prison, followed by deportation. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 19 in San Diego. In 1986,...

A Maryland Democratic candidate quit her congressional race Monday after her own party told state officials that she had committed fraud by voting in both Maryland and Florida in recent elections. Wendy Rosen, a small-business owner running against freshman Rep. Andy Harris (R) in the Eastern Shore-based 1st Congressional District, released a statement saying that “with great regret, and much sorrow” she was resigning from the contest. “Personal issues have made this the hardest decision that I have had to make,” Rosen said Rosen’s announcement came the same day the state Democratic party released a letter to state Attorney General...

Wendy Rosen, the Democratic challenger to Republican Rep. Andy Harris in the 1st Congressional District, withdrew from the race Monday amid allegations that she voted in elections in both Maryland and Florida in 2006 and 2008. It was unclear, however, whether she could remove her name from the ballot with the election less than two months away. Under state law, a candidate has until 70 days before an election to remove his or her name from the ballot. The deadline for the Nov. 6 election passed on Aug. 28. Snip Republicans, meanwhile, said the allegations prove that voter fraud is...

A former fifth-grade teacher implicated in a cheating scandal reportedly gave students the illegal assistance because she thought they were “dumb as hell.”... Schajuan Jones, who taught a fourth-grade class across the hall from Smith’s former room, overheard her talking to another teacher about the test. “The words were, ‘I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they’re dumb as hell,’” Jones was quoted as saying about the interaction between Smith and the unidentified third teacher.

Harvard College's disciplinary board is investigating nearly half of the 279 students who enrolled in Government 1310: "Introduction to Congress" last spring for allegedly plagiarizing answers or inappropriately collaborating on the class' final take-home exam. Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris said the magnitude of the case was "unprecedented in anyone's living memory."

More than 125 Harvard University undergraduates are being investigated for plagiarism and other academic misconduct surrounding final examinations, according to Bloomberg News. The incident is the "most wide-spread cheating scandal" known to rock Harvard, school officials told Bloomberg News. All of the students were in a class of around 250 undergraduates. The group being accused will now face the Harvard Administrative board. Officials said they discovered suspicious similarities while reading through the students' end-of-year take-home exams during the summer, according to Bloomberg News. If the students are proven guilty, they may have to withdraw from school for an academic year....

The state is investigating cheating on standardized tests in four of the township’s 24 public schools — and three teachers and two principals were suspended Monday night due to the ongoing investigation, the district says. High rates of erasures on the NJ ASK tests in some schools prompted a closer look by the Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance within the state’s Department of Education, according to Brian Small, the president of the Woodbridge Board of Education. In Woodbridge the investigation centered on four of the township’s schools.

Two proposed constitutional amendments will be presented to voters on November's ballot in the way the Legislature intended, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday, Aug. 27. Both decisions were victories for conservatives. The Republican-controlled Legislature pushed both proposed amendments through over opposition from Democrats including Gov. Mark Dayton. Dayton last year vetoed a bill to require photo ID, but has no power to block constitutional amendments that are sent directly to voters.

Just a year ago, results on state tests for reading and math showed Herzog elementary school students outperforming their peers at other schools in the St. Louis district. Those passing rates on tests plummeted this year, according to data made public this week by state education officials. The likely factor: a crackdown on cheating. The school was one of at least three where administrators investigated cheating allegations in 2011. Following the inquiries, two employees at Herzog are no longer with the district. Superintendent Kelvin Adams stepped up efforts to ensure the results were valid during testing in the spring, hiring...

Discipline Decided In North Central Cheating Scandal1 Teacher Resigns, 5 Others Suspended Without Pay UPDATED: 9:37 pm EDT June 29, 2012 INDIANAPOLIS -- Disciplinary action has been decided for the six North Central High School biology teachers involved in an ISTEP cheating scandal. The Washington Township School District and the Indiana Department of Education conducted an investigation that found that a North Central biology teacher took extensive handwritten notes on the test's questions while students completed the online exam in 2009 and 2010. **SNIP** "Teacher A" shared the typed document with four other biology teachers at the school, one of...

19 APS educators may lose licenses over cheatingBy Jaime Sarrio The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5:20 p.m. Thursday, June 14, 2012 The Georgia Professional Standards Commission recommended Thursday that 19 Atlanta educators caught up in the nation's largest test cheating scandal be barred from the classroom. The commission, which licenses and polices Georgia educators, voted to yank the certificates of the educators, who were implicated in a state cheating investigation report released last year. Ten educators in leadership positions had their certificates revoked; nine teachers had their certificates suspended for two years. Thursday's action brings to 134 the number of Atlanta Public...

Atlanta educator prevails in tribunalBy Daarel Burnette The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 4:50 p.m. Saturday, June 9, 2012 An Atlanta educator on Saturday became the first teacher to prevail in a series of disciplinary tribunals held as a result of a widespread cheating investigation. Now Angela Williamson, formerly of Dobbs Elementary School, awaits a decision from the Atlanta school board on the status of her employment. The board can follow the superintendent's recommendation to terminate her or vote to reinstate her. **SNIP** Where they stand now About 89 educators of 178 suspected of cheating remain on the Atlanta Public Schools district's payroll,...

Tribunals fire two in APS cheating casesBy Jaime Sarrio The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 6:51 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, 2012 Idalina Couto's blemish-free teaching career with Atlanta Public Schools ended after 20 years Tuesday when a panel of educators upheld a decision to fire her for breaking testing procedure and failing to report cheating. A decision to fire a second teacher, Vanessa Jackson, was also upheld, bringing to seven the number of educators terminated as a result of cheating allegations. Couto, a third grade teacher at Jones Elementary, allegedly told GBI agents she prompted students to reread incorrect questions on 2009 state...

Firing of Dobbs Elementary teacher upheld for aiding students on testsBy Jaime Sarrio The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5:59 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, 2012 The firing of a fifth teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal was upheld Wednesday by a tribunal. Derrick Broadwater, a teacher at Dobbs Elementary, was accused of helping students with words they didn't know and prompting them to recheck answers if he suspected something was incorrect. The tribunal voted to uphold APS' decision to terminate Broadwater after hearing recordings of the teacher talking to GBI investigators in March 2011. “I always tell my kids to go...

Test coordinator accused of ‘ultimate betrayal' of studentsBy D. Aileen Dodd The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 6:37 p.m. Friday, May 11, 2012 A Slater Elementary School teacher allowed her colleagues to cheat as they erased stray marks on 2009 state exam sheets, resulting in the "ultimate betrayal" of students, an Atlanta Public Schools lawyer said at the teacher's termination hearing. The teacher and test coordinator, Vanessa Jackson, denied the allegations, saying she went "beyond my call of duty" in her job. The termination hearing will continue next Friday as the defense presents its case. Atlanta Public Schools officials said Jackson was responsible...

Principal at center of APS cheating scandal resignsBy Jaime Sarrio The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 8:24 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Christopher Waller, a middle school principal accused of coordinating mass test cheating, resigned Tuesday after Atlanta Public Schools issued plans to fire him. Waller emerged as one of the key figures in a 400-plus page state investigative report into test cheating, an example, investigators noted, of the toxic culture they said existed in APS. Waller, according to the investigation, bullied Parks Middle School teachers into copying exams and erasing wrong answers on state achievement tests. All the while, he garnered praise...

One by one, they swore to tell the truth. One by one, they sat in a witness chair and told a similar tale of suggestion, persuasion and pressure. During the first day Friday of what is expected to be a two-day tribunal, former and current teachers at Atlanta's Usher Elementary School pointed a collective finger of blame at Donald Bullock Friday as the mastermind behind test cheating at that school. Bullock's attorney, Daniel Digby, said his client did nothing wrong. Atlanta Public Schools, however, laid out a 16-point letter of charges against Bullock, who served as testing coordinator at Usher...

Three more Atlanta educators face firing for cheatingBy Jaime Sarrio The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 12:01 p.m. Friday, March 30, 2012 Three Atlanta educators implicated in a widespread cheating scandal were notified of the district's plans to fire them, according to letters sent Friday and Monday. **SNIP** That brings to 19 the number of educators the district has taken steps to terminate after months of delay and millions spent in payroll and legal expenses. APS is paying about $1 million a month to some 110 educators accused of cheating who remain on leave, but the system is trying to resolve the cases...

Tiger Woods finally brought the buzz back to the very thing that made him famous - winning. Two weeks after another injury scare, and two days before his former coach's book goes on sale, Woods looked dominant as ever in that red shirt on Sunday to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It was his first PGA Tour victory since a sex scandal at the end of 2009 led to one of the greatest downfalls in sports. And with the Masters only two weeks away, Woods looks more capable of ever than resuming his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus in the majors.

Suspicious test scores in roughly 200 school districts resemble those that entangled Atlanta in the biggest cheating scandal in American history, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows. The newspaper analyzed test results for 69,000 public schools and found high concentrations of suspect math or reading scores in school systems from coast to coast. The findings represent an unprecedented examination of the integrity of school testing. The analysis doesn’t prove cheating. But it reveals that test scores in hundreds of cities followed a pattern that, in Atlanta, indicated cheating in multiple schools. A tainted and largely unpoliced universe of untrustworthy...

Hearings first step to firing educators9 accused Atlanta educators to go before tribunals next week By Jaime Sarrio The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5:38 a.m. Friday, March 9, 2012 Atlanta Public Schools next week will hold the first in a series of hearings necessary to fire educators accused of cheating, the district confirmed Thursday. After months of delay and millions spent in payroll and legal expenses, nine educators suspected of some of the most egregious of the school system’s widespread test cheating are scheduled to go before a tribunal. For the school district, it’s a chance to bring resolution to a case...