Bravo, Southtown Star, for a brilliant editorial Sunday defending homeschoolers.  We encourage you to visit their site and "like" the paper's opinion:

We’re in trouble here in Illinois.We can’t secure our teachers’ futures, pay our firefighters’ pensions or fix our bridges. We’re bleeding jobs across the border. We can’t pay the people who serve our poor and needy.

But perhaps the biggest trouble is how we leave too many children far behind. In 2010, 54 percent of our students met expectations in their reading skills, 52.7 percent in math.

The others? Almost half of all our children?

They failed.

That’s why we’re bewildered by a plan by some state legislators to try to “fix” home education.

Across the state, thousands of families are quietly pursing their own path. Not burdening the system, not asking for a handout, not sucking up tax dollars, not filling up the youth prisons or wreaking havoc on the streets. (No, we don’t have numbers on this. But do you know anybody mugged by a homeschooler?)

In a time when the burdens of Illinois are staggering, the menace of unregistered homeschoolers seems to rank — oh, maybe 145,678 on the list of things that need fixing, somewhere after rules on toilet paper ply-strength and gerbil husbandry.

We don’t want to make light of any child’s education or their chances at the future. But we do find a tinge of the preposterous here. Is it possible that some families are not providing their children adequate instruction? Surely.

The skill of parent-teachers runs the gamut — just as it does in public schools, where teachers range from inspirational to reprehensible. (That’s why we suspect firing Mom might be easier than firing a tenured teacher.)

To Sen. Ed Maloney (D-Chicago), who worries that officialdom of Illinois doesn’t have the legal right to reach into a family’s home, we say: That’s a hallmark of a free life. Life isn’t perfect. It doesn’t come with guarantees. Parents are free to raise their children under the laws of Illinois.

Some children are reading Shakespeare in utero, others spend their babyhood propped up by a TV screen. Some kids go to Harvard, and some are passed to 10th grade in the public schools yet struggle to read.

At a time when the state clearly cannot educate the children in its purview, we think it would behoove it not to seek out more to monitor. That’s what Senate Bill 136 sets out to do — register homeschool students so the state can track their whereabouts.

It’s not a far-fetched paranoia to wonder what comes next, and how Maloney wants to use this data. In fact, that’s pretty clear.

“There are virtually no regulations on homeschools. No curriculum, no periodic checks on their progress,” he said. “We want more accountability.”

We understand Maloney’s concern to protect the children of this state.Yes, it’s a gamble to believe all parents do the right thing — just as we gamble that they offer good nutrition and clean diapers and love and books in the family home. We’re not prepared to hire nannies of the state, and we’re not preparged to force homeschool families to be under state control.

As a newspaper, we believe strongly in the need for public education. That’s to ensure every child has a chance to learn — whether or not a parent is willing or able to spend hours every day on education.For the small number of families that choose to take that burden on themselves, we are willing to take that risk in exchange for the right to choose our own educational path.

These kids might be a little different; they might learn slightly different things in slightly different ways.

But we’re Americans, and we approve of that.

In order for citizens to initiate a recall election, they need to collect about 550,000 signatures from voters in 150 days (15% of the number of votes in the last governor election). In reality, it should be double that to deal with the inevitable signature challenges and court fight to throw out signatures. That, however, isn’t the worst provision.

Before a single signature can be gathered, an affidavit signed by at least 20 State Representatives (10 Republicans, 10 Democrats) and at least 10 State Senators (5 Republicans, 5 Democrats) needs to be filed with the Secretary of State. You see, in Illinois politicians will let you hold them accountable only when they think it is ok.

Read more at Part-Time Pundit

The First Amendment of the Constitution requires it. The amendment, perhaps the most cherished of the Bill of Rights, guarantees that government may not interfere with the practice of religion.

Not that Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf and his Cordoba House have earned such protections. The widespread feeling is that the imam is using our deeply rooted belief in liberty to shove his mosque down our throats, knowing full well that most Americans oppose building it near the 9/11 killing field.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

image 1976 Chrysler Cordoba

The deaf politicians and the rest of the political class, who, oblivious to the tumult growing around them, continue to do the same stupid things that got the public so riled in the first place.

An exhibit: Cedra Crenshaw, the Republican candidate for the state Senate seat from the 43rd District in Will County. The Democratic-controlled county election commission threw her off the November election ballot because the language in her nominating petition contained a minor mistake. She had more than enough signatures, but the error, while frivolous, gave her Democratic opponent, Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi and the Democratic machine, all they legally needed to get her tossed.

The law, with its complex and detailed requirements, is designed to help incumbents — of both parties — fight off challenges by candidates like Crenshaw.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

Ed Yohnka ACLU Spokes-guy could not get back to me about whether or not The American Civil Liberties Union will take up the cause of Professor Kenneth Howell, the religion professor and Roman Catholic, fired for making Hate Speech in an e-mail response to a student – “Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY,” he wrote in the e-mail. “In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.”

According Professor Howell’s Department Head who tracked the e-mails, a friend of the student who posed the question was “offended” and deemed this hate speech.

Howell, a practicing Roman Catholic, teaches a course about Catholicism and Modern Culture. A student asks a question via e-mail. The student’s friend sees the e-mail, though he was not involved in the exchange. A University of Illinois colleague intercepts the ambush question and gets Ken Howell fired for promoting hate speech.

Hate Speech is a Progressive parlor game. It is bullied into law and is used to drive wedges between neighbors. Hate Speech is only important when Progressives determine for whom the Bell Shall Toll. It tolls for Catholics, it tolls for devout religious Jews, it tolls for any person who finds abortion a Prime Offence and it tolls for anyone who disagrees that marriage should be between “Non-Complementary” Human Beings.

Catholics, bishops down to little girls in First Communion dresses must shut up, or fully agree that gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, and redistribution of wealth are just wonderful.

The Gay Advocacy Industry is on full boil as is their Progressive Overlords.

The San Francisco Based Beyond Chron – The Alternative In-Line Daily is pointed antagonistic and revealing –

“Kenneth Howell lost his job (his contract was not renewed) as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois teaching a course on “Catholicism and Modern Catholic Thought,” because he may have gone far beyond merely presenting the Catholic Church’s view on homosexuality. Judging by an email he sent to his students, he pushed hard for them to buy the Catholic line that queers are inherently immoral. Instructing students on how to deal with questions about homosexuality in their final exam, Howell’s email described a sexual relationship between two men in which “one of them tends to act as the “woman” while the other acts as the “man.” In this scenario, homosexual men have been known to engage in certain types of acts for which their bodies are not fitted.”

Expounding on this, Howell, an admitted Catholic, wrote that “a physician has told me that these acts are deleterious to the health of one or possibly both of the men.” A physician? A single physician? . . . “

An “Admitted Catholic?”

I called the Illinois ACLU and could raise no human voice in response to my inquiries.

“This is Ed Yohnka, if you are a member of the media and happen to be on deadline, call me at (847) 687-XXXX which I did repeatedly.

July 12m 2001 – 10:07 AM
9:38 AM

Again at the ACLU ( 312) 207-9740 extension #3 at 9:41 AM
9:40 AM
8:45 AM
8:15 AM

The ACLU will not and has never in the past taken up the cause of an American Catholic in defense of his beliefs and under assault.

Hell, the ACLU is the Storm Troopers doing the assault.

UPDATE – July 12, 2010 -10:56 AM Ed Yohnka –“ I was in meetings all morning and I apologize for getting back so late. I am aware of the circumstance and only from newpapers –these issues are facts specific and the only facts are the one’s in paper. At this time the only facts that I am aware of come from the newspapers. We have not been contacted by anyone and we would reserve comment until we talked to someone. If you need any thing else, please call. . . .(312) ) 207-9740 extension XXX”

Ed Yohnka is a very gracious man. I doubt very much that the ACLU will take up the cause of Kenneth Howell.

**

Pat Hickey is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer, and an admitted Catholic.

image Cardinal John Henry Newman

If you agree, but think that government can forbid you from defending yourself with a handgun, then you have to say what weapon you can have. Sounds simple enough, but let’s try it as an exercise:

Landmines (or improvised explosive devices). Okay, a little extreme, but it meets the objections of anti-gun activists. Landmines are not portable. You can’t carry concealed landmines and they’re unlikely to be stolen and fall into the hands of criminals. Unless they know the landmines are there and how to dig them up without blowing themselves up.
Bats. The kind that flies around at night and smothers an unsuspecting intruder with a mound of guano is a satisfying thought, but unworkable. A baseball bat, what I had in mind, is useful for crushing an intruder’s head. A bat can’t be accidentally discharged, so no chance of taking out a relative in a moment of panic. Bats can be safely stored under your bed, and require no child safety locks. Bats are readily available and require no license. At least not yet. Of course, your bat isn’t worth much if the intruder has a gun. Bang, you’re dead.

Tazers. Wait, sorry. I think that the same rules apply to Tazers as to handguns.

Lance, samurai sword, catapult, dagger and other Medieval weapons. Once word gets out that you’ve got a pole axe sequestered in your bedroom, a city inspector will show up and demand a pay-off for keeping it quiet.

Seriously, the Chicago gun ban didn’t leave you with much of a choice for a legal and effective way protect yourself in your home. Putting aside legalisms, common sense and whatever philosophical model you subscribe to, the right to protect yourself in home in reasonable manner is fundamental. Unless you’re so blinded by your ideology that you believe that you have no right to protect yourself in your home. As “progressives” like to say, “Just don’t force your beliefs on me.”

For decent folks who feel (and are in fact) unprotected in their own homes from the gangs and thugs, this is no ideological debate. In fact, the Chicago gun ban has not prevented the murder and violence that afflicts so many innocent people.

It’s no accident that support for a gun ban repeal is so strong in impoverished neighborhoods. The gun ban is another example of liberals love to impose their ideology, even in matters of life and death, on the very people they claim to represent.

Remember, this is not about whether you can carry a gun in your glove compartment, or in a concealed or even visible holster. It’s about having a weapon in your home that is commensurate in power and intimidation to what an intruder might be carrying.

Reason, however, will not deter Mayor Richard M. Daley from drawing up so many restrictions on having a handgun in your house that the very people who most need to protect themselves will be unable to comply. Just who does Daley think he is protecting with this nonsense?

**

Dennis Byrne is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer

A week or two ago Obama appeared to be drowning in the oil-soiled waters of Gulf of Mexico. Today he is the beneficiary of unintended largesse from a string of gaffe-prone Republican candidates and office-holders who, one way or another, appear to be siding with BP against him. Poor, beleaguered BP.

With Obama’s stock apparently on the upswing, one cannot overlook the contributions of the best enemy of them all, BP’s tone-deaf CEO Tony “Wayward” Hayward, who is the gift that keeps on gaffing. I expect we’ll soon see little booklets collecting all of Hayward’s reverse public-relations gestures, much like those that gathered George W. Bush’s multiplicity of verbal mishaps every year.

Last week marked what some of the White House gang like to call an inflection point—a turnaround in the president’s long slide in popularity. Starting with a universally disdained speech from the Oval Office, he moved quickly to demonstrate command and control over the political flack from his handling of the gulf tragedy by forcing BP to cough up a minimum of $20 billion to begin compensating victims of the oil spill.

Please note here the perfect pitch of Obama’s language—which some fools questioned. Before meeting with BP bigwigs he said he would “instruct” the oil company to come up with the cash. He did not say “order,” because he could not legally issue such an order; he did not say “request” because that would appear to make the president a supplicant before the corporation.

Needless to say, BP’s executives followed his instructions and tried to seem glad to be doing so. Plus they agreed to withhold further dividends for the year, possibly the ultimate act of corporate contrition.

Is there any question now that Obama is in charge?

Is there any serious question in the public mind that this is a good and great thing he has done?

Well, there may not be any question from the public at large, but look at the fire he has drawn from the wing-nut right—especially from the damn fool congressman who first apologized to the BPsters for Obama’s “shakedown,” then was ordered by his party leaders to recant the apology.

Even those conservatives in congress who may philosophically believe Obama acted improperly recognize he is on the right side of public opinion—by an overwhelming majority. But this will not shut up the Rand Pauls and Sharron Angles or the prattling talk hosts who seem to be the real movers of the Republican Party.

Another stroke of genius on the part of the resurgent White House was to name Ken Feinberg as administrator of the BP funds. Feinberg was universally applauded for his work in administering compensation to victims of the 9/11 attack. This suggests not only would there be fairness and equity, but that Obama put the gulf tragedy on a par with 9/11.

Further good news for Obama also came in a little-noticed poll showing the highest level of support for his health-care package since last September, well before it even became law.

A small majority of 45 percent to 42 percent now favors the law, apparently because several of its immediate benefits seem to have penetrated the public consciousness according to a new AP-GfK poll. Among the selling points, according to the Associated Press, were coverage for young adults up to age 26 on their parents’ insurance plans, rebates for Medicare patients with high prescription drug costs, tax credits to small businesses for employee insurance programs and federal funds to train more doctors and nurses.

The poll results appear to be the first tangible dividends of the administration’s new, high-powered campaign to sell the health-care law. There is every good chance that support will continue to grow as more and more word gets out.

That, coupled with the possibility of better numbers for the president as a result of his BP triumph, the November elections may not be a total catastrophe for the Democrats. If they ever plug that damned leak, that is.

**

Don Rose is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer

The brigade of cooks was given no choice. They took turns lugging close to 200 quart-size glass jars from their subterranean pantry into the back alley, where an inspector watched as they emptied the contents of each into the Dumpster—not because anything was found to be harmful, but solely because Lula didn’t have approval to practice what the government calls “modified atmosphere packaging.”

Read more at Time Out Chicago

Case in point: During the past few years, several Chicago entrepreneurs noticed that some folks who prepared food for a living needed to use a commercial kitchen but could not afford a kitchen of their own. These creative entrepreneurs came up with a solution. They built big, shiny commercial kitchens with room for several enterprises to work at once. They followed all the legal requirements for construction and sanitation and passed inspections with flying colors. Then they rented out space in the kitchens by the hour.

Chicago Tribune video of health inspectors destroying the property of IJ Clinic client Flora Lazar.
The owners of the community kitchens profited by providing a needed resource. Small businesses grew without the risk of illegally selling food they cooked at home. The whole city enjoyed the benefits of new businesses starting up: new jobs, new wealth and new, yummy food products.

But not so fast.

When Flora Lazar—an IJ Clinic client who owns “Flora Confections”—and others applied for a license to run a food service business out of Kitchen Chicago, a rental kitchen, a city representative said he could not give more than one license to operate at one address. Unwilling to believe that the city would outlaw their meticulously run businesses simply because they shared a mailing address, the kitchen owners and renters proceeded to make their meals

Read more at the Institute of Justice

image candied citrus peels from Flora’s Confections

Go Home and Shut Up – that is Progressive Doctrine. Hegel and Dewey set the framework for progressive cheerleaders. The cheerleaders Helen Thomas, Bill Maher and Eric Zorn have been given handouts – redactions of thoughts – from their gurus in the Progressive Movement –Noam Chomsky, Ward Churchill, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

I have never yet met a Progressive who

1. Had an original thought or frame of reference of their own
2. Had an inclination to actually help another person
3. Had any real sense of history
4. Had an once courage or conviction – cover and camouflage yes to be sure courage and conviction? – not a jot.

Progressives should not be confused with liberals who tend to believe that politics is a means by which to shape culture and improve lives – the arts should be publicly funded, health care should be free, the unemployed should be given work. Liberals tend to understand that there is a middle ground and often work and play very well with people who believe that shared beliefs and culture are what give politics its impetus – conservatives. Protection of human life from conception to the grave is root of culture. Shelter begets shared communications. Human beings in a warmer and safer shelter share thoughts of what is beyond them. They think of the other person in the cave – share meat, fire and ideas. Eventually, ideas turn to what is beyond the cave and beyond the horizon – God. Shelter begets architecture. Architecture is all about God – whether you are a Jew, a Babylonian or a Roman.

Bill Maher seems to have been the class suck-up altar boy who will go along to get along. He had his butt handed to him by George Will and writer S.E. Cupp, because Maher was unprepared for a conversation about finance policy and religion. Helen Thomas is and has been a hateful old troll in a red dress, but went a bit too far shooting her bazoo off to a Rabbi journalist. Helen Thomas hates Jews. Progressives with Jewish parents also are required by Progressive Doctrine to hate Jews and will aid Gaza terror as well. Jan Schakowsky cooed that Helen Thomas is awesome.

Jews, Baptists, Muslims and Catholics say God is awesome.

Helen Thomas, Bill Maher and Eric Zorn are Progressives – talk comes first. Talk comes from them and the only thing that they share is what they speak and they speak the same thing.

Eric Zorn wants to smear Tom Roeser for speaking his mind on the radio show that Tom Roeser hosts. On Sunday, June 6th Tom Roeser had Progressive Alderman Joe Moore as a guest. Joe Moore speaks the very identical things that Helen Thomas, Bill Maher and Eric Zorn speak – Progressive Doctrine (see above).

On “Political Shootout” Sunday night on WLS AM 890, the conversation turned toward protests in New York City about a proposed mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center.

Chicago Ald. Joe Moore (49th): You think the government should step in and prevent somebody from constructing a church or mosque or synagogue?

Host Tom Roeser: I’ll tell you, somebody ought to blow the damn thing up.

Eric’s point, aside from the one that sits on his tiny neck, is this. Tom Roeser hates Muslims. Nope. The Mosque planned for Ground Zero is as much a dodge as the Gaza Humanitarian Aid Flotilla. It was planned and funded and launched with the intent to cause harm. However, the parsing (Progressive Disambiguation Thesaurus) of the Cordoba House mission statement reads, “proposed project is about promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion through arts and culture. Cordoba House will provide a place where individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, will find a center of learning, art and culture; and most importantly, a center guided by Islamic values in their truest form – compassion, generosity, and respect for all.”

Yep, but the project was launched by “The Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, told the New York Times — which put the story on its front page Wednesday — that he has assembled several million dollars to turn it into ‘’an Islamic center near the city’s most hallowed piece of land that would stand as one of ground zero’s more unexpected and striking neighbors.’’
The 61-year-old Imam said he paid $4.85 million for it — in cash, records show. With 50,000 square feet of air rights and enough financing, he plans an ambitious project of $150 million, he said, akin to the Chautauqua Institution, the 92 Street Y or the Jewish Community Center.

The origins of such monies are unexplained; neither are the countries or entity advancing such huge donations. Most US mosques, including many in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are funded directly or indirectly by Saudi Arabia the country to which 15 of the 19 hijackers who bombed the World Trade Center belonged. The UAE, Qatar and Iran are other major sponsors across the USA.

The money trail is an important question that must be answered by the Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg with more than a bland comment by one of his spokesmen, Andrew Brent, who quipped to the Times, “If it’s legal, the building owners have a right to do what they want.”

At the moment, the location is not designated a mosque, but rather an overflow prayer space for another mosque, Al Farah, at 245 West Broadway in TriBeCa, where Imam Feisal is the spiritual leader. Call this creeping annexation. On 9/11, the Burlington building, with 80 employees in its basement, is where a piece of a plane plunged through the roof, from either Flight 11 or Flight 175 crashing into the south tower at 9:03 a.m..

One of the investors for future oncoming funds is listed as the Cordoba Initiative, defined as an ‘’interfaith group’’ – and founded by Imam Feisal. Cordoba is the name militant Muslims often invoke when they recall the glory of Muslim empire in the centuries they occupied Spain.”

Tom Roeser stated his remark to Alderman Joe Moore and Joe Moore immediately, I believe, called pencil neck Progressive cheerleader Eric Zorn to toss up an “ Oh, Wow, That’s so Cold. Wow, how can people be so cold? How can People Be So Heartless” piece at the earliest possible date.

The Dude abides. Free speech.

It does not take 19 Islamists Terrorists with three jets crashing into the World Trade Centers; it only takes Progressives to really make sure that every one goes home and shuts up. They don’t.

Eric Zorn’s post

Analysis of the Mosque Building near Ground Zero