I will freely admit to not being the biggest Michael Jackson fan in the world while he was alive, but I had a ton of respect for him as a performer. His life story was tragic, and you have to wonder how it would have turned out if he was allowed to have a normal childhood.
My two personal favorite songs/videos were “Man in the Mirror” and “Black or White.”
“Man in the Mirror” is below. There’s a link to “Black or White.”
In response to Governor Mitch Daniels statement yesterday that he will not be “blackmailed into bankruptcy” by House Democrats when it comes to the budget the State Democratic Party put out the following news release this afternoon.
INDIANAPOLIS — This afternoon, Indiana Democratic Party Chair Dan Parker released the following statement in response to Governor Mitch Daniels’ recent comments on the budget negotiation process:
“I know that Mitch Daniels has spent a lot of time with his friends in Washington lately, but someone needs to remind him that he is still the governor of this state.
“While throwing around words like ‘blackmail’ and ‘bullying’ may make for great press, what this state needs right now is a leader, not a candidate for higher office.
“There are significant issues that deserve to be discussed as part of this budget negotiation process, but Mitch Daniels seems more concerned with starting fires than putting them out.
“With nearly sixty-percent of schools in this state facing a funding cut under current the Republican budget plan, Governor Daniels needs to realize that the more Hoosiers hear about his out-of-touch priorities, the less they like.
“And while the governor may not value the opinions of others, his ‘my way or the highway’ attitude is hurting, not helping the hard work being done at the General Assembly.
“It’s time for Mitch Daniels to put down the campaign trail rhetoric and join the adults in the room for a real discussion about the future of public education in this great state.”
No formal statement yet from the Indiana GOP, but when there is, I’ll post it.
Lawmakers have five days left to pass a budget.
Here we go again!
Conservative Politician A, with Presidential aspirations and who loves to preach family values, gets caught with his hands, or other parts of his anatomy, in somebody’s cookie jar.
When will these people learn?
Whether it’s South Carolina Governor Mark Sandford, John Ensign, John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer, the list goes on, it never changes.
What makes matters worse is a good chunk of these individuals have built their careers on preaching morality and family values, but somehow they managed to miss out on having their own.
Although I am not a big fan of the family values crowd because I think a healthy economic climate is the best thing that can build strong families, they are still entitled to express their opinion and be part of the national debate. But for crying out loud people, get with the program.
And for those of you who want to say all form of hypocrisy are equal, I am inclined to agree with you, but there is just something about sexual hypocrisy that real gets under Americans’ skin that they have a hard time letting slip by; it must be our puritan upbringing.
And I have to say when I heard Sandford say “he spent the last five days of his life crying in Argentina” all I could think of was Eva Peron.
I don’t think anyone will cry for Mark Sandford, no matter how sad he looks.
Will someone please tell me if the Indianapolis Public School system is worth shutting down the government of Indiana?
At the end of the day, this is what this budget deadlock is coming down to. Some folks in the legislature want to protect the state’s largest school system; and I would argue to the detriment of everything else.
Now ask yourself these questions.
If you’re having trouble answering these questions, allow me to remind you of a few facts.
So I ask again, is IPS worth shutting down the government of Indiana? You tell me.
And by the way, here are a couple Senate Memos on the government shutdown for your reading pleasure.
I did a quick sprint through the Statehouse yesterday as lawmakers were about to enter into the home strech of the current budget phase. I spoke to several of them both on and off the record. The on the record interviews are below. Off the record many lawmakers think that this has gone beyond disagreements over policy and it has become personal and who has the bigger pair of “you know what.” I’ll let you listen to the interviews and then you make the call.
I will freely admit to not spending as much time at the Legislature during this special session as I thought I would have. I’ve still managed to keep tabs on everything via watching lawmakers on the Internet, a few phone calls and some text messaging. And surprisingly enough, even though I’m not there, I have come to the conclusion I have not missed a thing.
Republicans want a 2-year budget, Democrats want one year. Republicans want a school funding formula that follows the student, Democrats want money to go to school districts. And don’t even get me started on the CIB.
Regardless, if lawmakers don’t pass a budget by the end of the month, then each one should write the taxpayers a check for how much they’ve been paid for the past six months. The only thing lawmakers have to do when they convene is pass a budget. That’s it. All the other stuff is extra. So if they don’t pass a budget by June 30, they haven’t done their job. And if you or I don;t do our jobs, we don’t get paid. Why should lawmakers be any different?
The average salary in the legislature is about $44,000 in salary, mileage, and other benefits. So if there is no budget by next Tuesday, somebody needs to write the taxpayers a check for six months worth of work that didn’t get done.
Although many legal scholars are paying attention to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Voting Rights Act, there was another opinion today that could have a big impact on Indiana’s largest school district.
From the SCOTUS blog…
The U.S. Supreme Court today by a 6-3 vote ruled that parents of a disabled child, who decide on their own to transfer the child to a private school, are entitled to tuition reimbursement from the local school district even if the child had never received any special education aid previously.
If a public school fails to provide an adequate education for the child, the Court said in the opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the parents are entitled to be repaid for the money they spend at a private school as an alternative.
(Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 08-305).
You can read the entire opinion here: Forest Grove School District v. T.A.
There are 6,897 students in IPS labelled as special education and I can’t help but wonder how many of them would be impacted by this decision should their parents choose to pursue their legal options.
Stay tuned.
Rep. Dan Burton: trying to keep Congress safe?
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) seems afraid of being on the House floor.
Burton offered an amendment to H.R. 2918 that said the following: “Would require the Comptroller General to submit a report to the Committee on House Administration within 6 months of enactment analyzing the security arrangements of the House Chamber, including whether enclosing the House galleries in a transparent shield would be an appropriate and cost-effective measure.”
Basically, Burton wanted a study to be done that would determine whether closing the House galleries would be “a cost effective security measure,” explained his spokesman John Donnelly. Or, in laymen’s terms as told to us by someone familiar with the situation, “he wants a plexiglass wall to stop the public” from doing anything dangerous from the House gallery.
He has nothing against visitors or the Capitol Police who do a great job Donnelly tells Shenanigans, but the fact remains that “the Capitol Building is one of the top 2 targets for terrorists in the world,” Donnelly explains.
And at first if you don’t succeed, try again. This isn’t Burton’s first go at talking about closing the House galleries – or to have a study to see if closing the House galleries worthwhile – back in the 1980’s Burton asked the same thing.
“It’s a perennial of Burton’s,” another source says. “It has been routinely rejected because both parties have viewed it as separating the people from their House, and sends the wrong message. Rules has never highlighted.” And, sadly that’s what happened Thursday after the vote-o-rama, the Rules Committee didn’t approve it to be considered.
House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer was one of the speakers at Saturday night’s Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Indianapolis.
The speaker went after the Governor on schools, the budget and accused him of engaging in a “hostile takeover” of state government during the special session. He also encouraged Democrats to circumvent the news media and “twitter” their message to the public directly.
The Speaker was in somewhat rare form. You can hear his entire commments below.
It’s about six minutes long.
Enjoy.
I’m at the Indiana Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. I’ll be live blogging tonight. You can see my remarks at my Twitter feed. Meanwhile, here’s some audio from a few lawmakers I’ve run into this evening.
Andre Carson opening welcome remarks
State Rep John Barnes on charter schools.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay on a casino in Gary.
State Rep Trent van Haaften on the Capital Improvement Board.
Former President Bill Clinton is the keynote speaker. Senator Evan Bayh, House Speaker Pat Bauer and Senate Democratic Leader Vi Simpson will also be taking turns at the podium tonight.
