Chicago Daily Observer

Click the above link to download the 10 page document, “Illinois 21st Century School Reform Initiative”.

We believe in the philosphy of Ron Edmonds who said “We can, whenever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interst to us. we already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”

What drives this effort is the well-documented fact that too many students are failing to learn, failing to compete academically, and failing to complete their education in Illinois. That failure is compounded by the reality that youth of today will be confronted with a world-information economy that demands better than we’ve produced in the past-and therefore makes the prospects for those who fall short of success even gloomier than we now face.

To not fix these problems ... Read More...

Writing on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, thoughts and memories zip by—such as:

If Barack Obama had any sense of humor he would have introduced Joe Biden, his vice presidential choice, as a man both clean and articulate.

How many white guys get an intro like that?

The Biden choice has numerous implications, the most important of which is that the campaign concluded that the “experience” gap in Obama’s resume was potentially fatal to his candidacy. Otherwise he would not have selected a long-time Washington insider with tons of baggage who snuffs out any hint of “change” and adds hardly anything to electoral geographics.

On the plus side—in addition to a ream of foreign policy and national security credentials—Biden is Catholic, which will be a great help, has a heart-wrenching back-story and is solidly working class. OK—so his father once had a fortune, lost it all and the ... Read More...

Have you ever been a friend or business associate of a terrorist? Not someone who, to your shock and horror, turned out secretly to have bombed government buildings. No, the question is whether you’ve ever befriended an unreconstructed radical whose past was well known to you when you entered his orbit and walked through doors he opened for you. Have you been chummy with an unapologetic terrorist who, years after you’d known and worked closely with him, was still telling the New York Times he regretted only failing to carry out more attacks — and that America still “makes me want to puke”?

Barack Obama has.

Hillary Rodham Clinton recited her lines and hit all of the chalk marks when she assumed center stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Tuesday, but something seemed to be lacking.

Her speech was crafted and approved by the Obama team, but for some strange reason the junior Senator from New York never managed to achieve the maximum response from the planned applause lines. Was Clinton’s delivery less than perfect or were her supporters in the convention hall sitting on their hands? Whenever Clinton spoke about her personal experiences during the past campaign, there was a greater degree of emotion in her voice. When speaking of Barack Obama, she resorted to a flat monotone.

Predictably enough, the mainstream media lauded Clinton’s performance and pronounced the Democratic Party united for the fall campaign. Then why was the assembly hall so quiet? You might hear louder applause from polite spectators ... Read More...

Orders for U.S. durable goods unexpectedly increased in July, indicating that growing demand from abroad is still helping companies weather a slump in domestic spending.

The 1.3 percent gain in bookings of goods meant to last several years matched the previous month’s rise, which was larger than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.

While some economists argue a recession is underway, it is hard to tell from the data. Yes, the unemployment rate has been rising, but almost all the weakness is coming from housing and high energy prices. Other areas of the economy are still doing well and overall economic growth has been positive. What is clear is that strong productivity growth is allowing the US economy to move forward despite headwinds.

While gross domestic product measures the total output of goods and services, productivity measures output per hour. And even as the number of hours worked has declined, output per hour has gone up enough to keep total output rising.

In fact, output per hour in the non-farm business sector is up 2.8% versus last year and is likely to be revised up to about 3% when new figures arrive in the first week of September. In the past ten years, ... Read More...