You Know There’s A Problem When Sen. Durbin Wants Answers from a fellow Democrat; Compliments a Republican

If Sen. Durbin wants Jesse Jackson Jr. to answer, there’s trouble afoot; from RollCall.com:

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters today that he believes Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) needs to explain to voters what kind of ailment he is suffering from “soon.”

“As a public official though, there reaches a point when you have a responsibility to tell people what you’re facing and how things are going. Sen. Kirk has done that, and I think Congressman Jackson will face that, too,” Durbin told reporters in Chicago, according to a transcript provided by his office.

Durbin contrasted the way Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) has dealt with his recovery from a stroke with the secrecy surrounding the announcement last week that Jackson is being treated at an unnamed inpatient facility for “physical and emotional ailments” that his office said he had been suffering with “privately for a long period of time.”

for more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/dick_durbin_jesse_jackson_jr_needs_to_say_what_hes_struggling_with-215966-1.html

Sen. Durbin Insults the Townhall Protestors

Oh boy, some of these Democrats are further removed and in deeper denial than even I thought!!

“One Stop” Food Supply= Who is in Bed with Whom? Obama White House Ethics = Politics as Usual, you know, “Change WE can Believe In” !!

      Barack Hussein Obama campaigned on a platform that was offering “hope” and “change”, you know, the “Change We can Believe in:!! Not liking the taste of the koolaid, I decided that this 21st century Jim Jones was not going to be the Obamessiah that the media was trying to convince all of us, and regardless of the efforts at silencing dissent, this Republic MUST monitor and question EVERY SINGLE Move of this administration, removing every “smoke and mirror” the empty suit and the puppeteers put forth.

     As a prime example of the “Change” and “hope” we can believe in, President Obama is putting forth his steps for a safe food supply for the country. Who can possibly find fault with such a noble cause, especially in light of the recent “peanut” contamination problem?

    From the Wall Street Journal:

The fact that the Obama administration is tackling food safety early, could help it avoid the turf battles Clinton administration officials encountered with a similar effort. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack already has endorsed the idea of a single food-safety agency, which some lawmakers, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), have been pushing for years.

“This is a good first step,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group. The move, she said, “makes the most senior officials directly accountable to the president.”

(link to full article below)

      Now, this at first glance, seems like a vaiant effort to reign in the multi-levels of regulation on the food industry, at state and federal levels. But, as he is continuing to do with each “CZAR” that he appoints, Obama is creating a second level of Cabinet-type positions that are NOT accountable to the Congress or anyone other than the President.

     Further review and research into the reform in food safety, and the push toward a “one stop” food source finds that conglomerate MONSANTO is positioned to be the likely candidate for such a massive undertaking, and wouldn’t you know that Rep. DeLauro’s husband, Stanley Greenburg works for …… Monsanto !! “It is important to keep in mind that Rep. DeLauro`s husband, Stanley Greenburg, works for biotechnology giant Monsanto, the multi-national corporation responsible for the creation of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in cows, the perpetuation of “Round-Up Ready” sugar and soy products hidden in conventional foods, and the instigation of lawsuits against farmers whose fields were contaminated by Monsanto`s patented seeds. H.R. 875 provides the means by which corporations like Monsanto can seize control of the last-remaining independent farming operations in the United States.” http://www.naturalnews.com/025824.html

     It also appears that th Secretary of Agriculture, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, has strong alliances with Monsanto, strong enough that after he left his Governor post, and failed ina Presidential election bid, Vislack has worked in the food and drug industry, for groups like ConAgra.

    For a glimpse at Monsanto’s objectives:

     To me, this is why our forefathers did not intend on our elected officials making lifetime careers in the halls of Congress, like Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Robert Byrd, or Dick Durbin. This is a perfect example why term limits should be imposed so there is always a fresh flow of ideas, morals, and ethics flowing through the halls of Congress, and it would help to keep the hounds and wolves of the special interest groups from taking as strong a hold on certain committees and groups.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123699806012828351.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs “Clearly” answers School Voucher position (and its affect on Malia and Sasha’s classmates)

 

Obama Sells Out African-American Children

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March 3, 2009 Posted by John at 6:33 PM

A little-noted provision of the Democrats’ budget bill would kill a scholarship program in the District of Columbia that allows some children to escape from the District’s awful public schools and attend private schools, like the Obama girls. In today’s Wall Street Journal, William McGurn profiles Sarah and James Parker, who attend Sidwell Friends with Sasha and Malia Obama:

Unlike the Obama girls, they could not afford the school without the $7,500 voucher they receive from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. Unfortunately, a spending bill the Senate takes up this week includes a poison pill that would kill this program — and with it perhaps the Parker children’s hopes for a Sidwell diploma. …

Deborah Parker says such a move would be devastating for her kids. …

That’s the reality that the Parkers and 1,700 other low-income students face if Sen. Durbin and his allies get their way. And it points to perhaps the most odious of double standards in American life today: the way some of our loudest champions of public education vote to keep other people’s children — mostly inner-city blacks and Latinos — trapped in schools where they’d never let their own kids set foot.

That is, indeed, one of the great scandals of American politics. But with the Democrats in the saddle in Washington, the teachers’ unions expect the escape hatch of school choice to be slammed shut, so it will be.

In today’s press briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about McGurn’s article and Obama’s opposition to school choice. He was not able to muster a coherent response:

QUESTION: On education, there’s a provision in the omnibus spending bill that would sunset the D.C. voucher plan. And I’m wondering — there’s been a lot of publicity about this brother and sister pair at Sidwell who use their voucher money to — to pay for tuition at the same school the president chose to send his children. I’m wondering if you could restate the president’s opposition to the D.C. voucher plan and why he’s…
(CROSSTALK)
GIBBS: Yes, I — I would — let me go — I’ve not read the article today, if there was one. I think the…
QUESTION: Well, it’s just about two kids who use their voucher money to go to Sidwell. I mean…
GIBBS: Right. I mean, I think — right.
QUESTION: I mean — I mean, and they would — in other words, if they cut the voucher program, they couldn’t go there.
GIBBS: Why are you even providing me the opportunity to be the middleman? I mean, again…
QUESTION: Well, could you just restate the president’s position?
GIBBS: Well, I think the president has concerns about — concerns about taking large amounts of funding out of the system to — to address this, that the president obviously believes — and I think you’ll hear him talk about and has talked about — the need for reform in our educational system, but — but has not agreed with the program in the past. I’ll see if there’s anything to update on that.

Of course, it’s hard to answer a question when you can’t tell the truth. Gibbs couldn’t very well say that President Obama and the Democratic Party are in the bag for the teachers’ unions and don’t much care what happens to inner-city kids. Could he?

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/03/022968.php

Sarah and James Parker May not be able to attend classes with Malia Obama if her father and Sen. Durbin have their way.

Obama And Durbin Are Stealing Their Education

March 3rd, 2009 Posted By drillanwr .

WSJ:

Will Obama Stand Up for These Kids?

Dick Durbin has a nasty surprise for two of Sasha and Malia Obama’s new schoolmates. And it puts the president in an awkward position.

The children are Sarah and James Parker. Like the Obama girls, Sarah and James attend the Sidwell Friends School in our nation’s capital. Unlike the Obama girls, they could not afford the school without the $7,500 voucher they receive from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. Unfortunately, a spending bill the Senate takes up this week includes a poison pill that would kill this program — and with it perhaps the Parker children’s hopes for a Sidwell diploma.

Known as the “Durbin language” after the Illinois Democrat who came up with it last year, the provision mandates that the scholarship program ends after the next school year unless Congress reauthorizes it and the District of Columbia approves. The beauty of this language is that it allows opponents to kill the program simply by doing nothing. Just the sort of sneaky maneuver that’s so handy when you don’t want inner-city moms and dads to catch on that you are cutting one of their lifelines.

Deborah Parker says such a move would be devastating for her kids. “I once took Sarah to Roosevelt High School to see its metal detectors and security guards,” she says. “I wanted to scare her into appreciation for what she has at Sidwell.” It’s not just safety, either. According to the latest test scores, fewer than half of Roosevelt’s students are proficient in reading or math.

That’s the reality that the Parkers and 1,700 other low-income students face if Sen. Durbin and his allies get their way. And it points to perhaps the most odious of double standards in American life today: the way some of our loudest champions of public education vote to keep other people’s children — mostly inner-city blacks and Latinos — trapped in schools where they’d never let their own kids set foot.

This double standard is largely unchallenged by either the teachers’ unions or the press corps. For the teachers’ unions, it’s a fairly cold-blooded calculation. They’re willing to look the other way at lawmakers who chose private or parochial schools for their own kids — so long as these lawmakers vote in ways that keep the union grip on the public schools intact and an escape hatch like vouchers bolted.

As for the press, complaints tend to be limited to the odd column or editorial. That’s one reason it was so startling back in 2000 when Time magazine’s Tamala Edwards, during a live televised debate at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, asked Al Gore about the propriety of sending his own son to private school while opposing any effort to extend the same choice to African-Americans without his financial wherewithal. As CNN’s Jeff Greenfield would note later in the same debate, Mr. Gore “bristled” when Ms. Edward’s put the question to him.

Virginia Walden-Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, wouldn’t mind making a few more politicians bristle. “I’d like to see a reporter stand up at one of those nationally televised press conferences and ask President Obama what he thinks about what his own party is doing to keep two innocent kids from attending the same school where he sends his?”

As for Sidwell, the school has welcomed the Opportunity Scholarship program. Though headmaster Bruce Stewart declines to get into either politics or the Obamas, he says that a program that gives parents more educational options for their children is not only good for their kids, it’s good for the community. Plainly he’s not doing it for the money: Even the full D.C. voucher covers only a small fraction of Sidwell’s actual costs.

All of which leaves the First Parent with a decision to make: Will he stand up for those like his own children’s schoolmates — or stand in front of the Sidwell door with Mr. Durbin? It’s hard to imagine white congressional Democrats going up against him if he called them out on an issue where they have put him in this embarrassing position. This, after all, is a man who has written of the “anger” he felt as a community organizer, when his attempts to improve things for Chicago school kids ran up against an “uncomfortable fact.”

“The biggest source of resistance [to reform],” he said, “was rarely talked about . . . namely, the uncomfortable fact that every one of our churches was filled with teachers, principals, and district superintendents. Few of these educators sent their own children to public schools; they knew too much for that. But they would defend the status quo with the same skill and vigor as their white counterparts of two decades before.”

Let’s just say that Sarah and James Parker — and thousands just like them — could use some of that same Obama anger right about now.

http://patdollard.com/2009/03/obama-and-durbin-are-stealing-their-education/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123604286020215187.html