Free Republic

Chicago tops nation in tax burden for travelers For an average visit to downtown Chicago, a traveler will pay about $40.31 in combined taxes per day, a study finds. Three Florida cities tied for lowest cost. By Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times September 10, 2012 Chicago, the city that brought us deep-dish pizza, Oprah and "da Bears," is also home to the nation's highest tax burden for travelers. The lowest taxes imposed on travelers can be found in the Florida cities of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach. Those are among the findings of new research by the...

Works about as well as gun control… Paying tribute to thugs to ‘prevent’ crime nets us this gem… (GunNews) – Ceasefire Illinois got a million dollars from the City of Chicago earlier this summer to hire ex-convicts to “mediate” disputes between violent criminals and to “prevent” crime. It’s true. This isn’t April Fool’s and sadly, it’s not a joke: Chicago (Sun-Times) – Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Friday he’s proceeding with caution in forging a city partnership with CeaseFire Illinois ­ and not writing a “blank check” ­ to make certain ex-offenders hired by the group are “preventing crime, not committing...

More Hope and Change… Mike Klonsky, an Obama supporter and former associate of the radicals who formed the terrorist group the Weatherman, received a $175,000 grant from the William Ayers/Barack Obama-led Annenberg Challenge to run the Small Schools Workshop. Klonsky belonged to the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and was best friends with friends William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who later became famous for their acts of terrorism. Later he started a blog on the Obama website: Between 1979 and 1981, Communist Party chairman and Obama supporter Mike Klonsky was repeatedly feted with state-dinner-level visits to Beijing. And get...

CHICAGO (BHN) - In a city already plagued by runaway crime, corruption, and years of liberal mismanagement, Chicago's Teacher's Union has struck that city after refusing an offer for a 16% pay increase. Chicago's teachers are already among the highest paid in the country, averaging over $76K a year before benefits. Despite the extravagant pay, Chicago kids test among the lowest in the country, leading many to question why the city doesn't fire the greedy "educators" and bring in real ones. Union president Karen "The Hut" Lewis, defended her union's decision to strike, saying, "Yo, give us the [f-ng] money...

It’s practically a fantasy come to life: work a single day and get a golden parachute that will guarantee one’s retirement in comfort and luxury. Only in Illinois, it’s not just a fantasy, it’s a dream come true for two high-ranking union officials who worked a single day in a public school. Thanks to a loophole in the law that the state legislature inserted into a “reform” law, that one day as substitute teachers will cost Illinois taxpayers a few million dollars in pensions: Two lobbyists with no prior teaching experience were allowed to count their years as union employees...

Illinois' credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor's on Wednesday, a move that came after Gov. Pat Quinn's inability to persuade lawmakers to cut costs in the state's debt-ridden public employee pension system. The agency lowered the state's credit rating from A+ to A, citing a "lack of action" on changes aimed at decreasing the pension system's unfunded liability, which could hit $93 billion by next summer if nothing is done. Standard & Poor's also gave Illinois a "negative outlook," saying the state's budget future remains uncertain. It's unclear what impact the new rating will have on Illinois' pocketbook,...

Valerie Jarrett, long known in some circles as the "other half of Barack's brain," and in other circles as a Chicago slumlord, has her own security detail. Jarrett's official title is "Senior Advisor to the President." Here's the point: The idea that someone such as Jarrett--who officially plays no role in national security or counter-terrorism--would receive USSS protection would be laughable if it weren’t, in fact, real. It’s like a tale out of the Versailles Court of the Sun King--the sort of anecdote that provokes the peasants, eventually, to revolution. But in the meantime, before the deluge, Jarrett plans to...

Public Employee Unions: In a city with double-digit unemployment, teachers who can't be fired and who make more than double what their students' parents make, have gone on strike. Anyone for school choice? Public sector unions reared their burdensome and inefficient head Monday when some 25,000 unionized Chicago Public School teachers went on strike, unhappy with a salary the parents of their students can only envy, leaving 350,000 students and their overtaxed parents struggling in the educational lurch. The Chicago Teachers Union walked away from a contract offer that amounted to a 16% raise over four years for the average...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Last week I asked a stupid question, and it took me a couple of hours on Friday to figure it out. I've been hoping I wouldn't forget it all weekend. And here we are, and I remember what it was. The stupid question I asked was: "Why are the teachers in Chicago going on strike?" The answer is very simple: So Obama can solve it as a campaign issue. That's why they're on strike. It won't be long before we hear Moochelle say that he's up late at night on the campaign trail practically crying, reading letters...

Chicago teachers went on strike today for the first time in 25 years. 400,000 students and their families were affected. Teachers in Chicago make an average $74,839 a year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bKmzG8-bmWY** The teachers want a 16% raise over 4 years costing the city $400 million. (Who gets that kind of a raise these days?) Tens of thousands of teachers and support staff in Chicago went on strike Monday after their union and school officials failed to reach a contract agreement. The AP reported: Chicago teachers went on strike Monday for the first time in 25 years after their union and district...

Leslie Daniels enrolled her son in a Chicago charter school three years ago because she didn't like the education he was getting in his local neighborhood school. In the back of her mind, she also knew the school was less likely to be affected by labor problems because its teachers are not members of the Chicago Teachers Union. That's an added benefit now that the union has called for its first walkout in 25 years. All of the city's charter schools will remain open Monday. "I'm glad I made the switch," said Daniels, 55. "I feel for the other parents...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Why do so many public school teachers send their own children to private schools? The Washington Times reports:“Nationwide, public school teachers are almost twice as likely as other parents to choose private schools for their own children, the study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found. More than 1 in 5 public school teachers said their children attend private schools.”“In Washington (28 percent), Baltimore (35 percent) and 16 other major cities, the figure is more than 1 in 4. In some cities, nearly half of the children of public school teachers have abandoned public schools.”“In Philadelphia,...

Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke out against the Chicago Teachers Union strike on Monday, saying he stands behind Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's opposition to the demonstration. "Mayor Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher's union strike is unnecessary and wrong," Ryan said in Portland, Ore., according to a pool report transcript. "We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel." More than 26,000 education professionals in the Chicago area did not attend work on Monday over a contract negotiation dispute with the...

Mitt Romney on Monday blasted the Chicago Teachers Union for its decision to “turn its back” on students in the Windy City after the labor group, representing teachers and support staff in the nation’s third-largest public school system, walked off the job for the first time time in 25 years. “Teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict with those of our children, and today we are seeing one of the clearest examples yet,” said Mr. Romney, the GOP’s presidential nominee. The two sides are reportedly not far apart in salary negotiations, but other issues — such...

Rush Limbaugh: Chicago strike is Democratic ‘setup’ By: Kevin Robillard September 10, 2012 03:14 PM EDT Rush Limbaugh said Monday a strike by the 26,000-member Chicago Teachers’ Union was nothing but a ploy to help President Barack Obama’s reelection. “Let’s just see how long this thing goes on, and let’s see how it gets solved,” the conservative talk show host said on his radio show. “Anybody want to bet against me that Obama’s the one that gets credit for this, in a few short days? Anybody want to bet that there might be a little bit of violence and finally...

White House spokesman Jay Carney says President Barack Obama has no comment on the teacher strike in Chicago: The president, as I think you just heard from me, has not expressed any opinion or made any assessment about this particular incident."

For the first time in nearly three decades, Chicago public school teachers went on strike this morning. At first glance, you might be tempted to think that what happens in Chicago has little to no effect on the politics of Washington and the presidential race. But, you’d be wrong. There are several reasons to believe that what happens in Chicago could have a real — and negative — impact on President Obama and the broader race for the White House this fall. We list the three biggest reasons below. * It’s Chicago: Yes, we know that President Obama has no...

U.S. Department of Education: 79% of Chicago 8th Graders Not Proficient in Reading By Terence P. Jeffrey September 10, 2012 (CNSNews.com) - Seventy-nine percent of the 8th graders in the Chicago Public Schools are not grade-level proficient in reading, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and 80 percent are not grade-level proficient in math. Chicago public school teachers went on strike on Monday and one of the major issues behind the strike is a new system Chicago plans to use for evaluating public school teachers in which student improvement on standardized tests will count for 40 percent of a...

Negotiators for the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union are back at the bargaining table this morning. The talks began around 10 a.m.10:30 a.m. Some students balk at crossing pickets