A Bad School Choice

I choose to send my children to Catholic school, yet Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1 does NOT include families like mine in the voucher scheme; apparently, I make too much money to qualify.  So how can it truly be a "School Choice" bill? 

It's not.  Rather, this is simply a way for the State to dictate curriculum to non-public schools and create an all-new, politically connected board, and a shiny new bureaucracy to execute the plan.

Sadly, the Bill may drive a wedge between over 30 grassroots organizations from across the Commonwealth, Governor Corbett, and the PA-GOP.  While the politicians may want to pat themselves on the back for giving us choices, the watchdogs realize it may be another 15 years before we get another opportunity to correct this legislative mistake.

Commonwealth Foundation has provided a good breakdown of the Bill with changes they would like to see included.  They accurately point out that one important item missing from SB1 is any tax credit for families above the threshold currently written into the bill.  Oddly enough, they've also published this convenient little commentary from "Public School Board Members for School Choice" supporting the plan.

Wait a minute!  Public School Board Members support choice now??  Anyone else slightly suspicious?

Any school choice bill which falls short of providing relief for ALL families is nothing but a political oxymoron. 

Sophmoric Political Rhetoric

...one reason why I will NOT be voting for any incumbent Montgomery County Commissioners tonight.

I wonder, does Kitchen Table Patriots know their name is being used by political operatives like a cheap political joke?  Will the authors come out of the shadows? I doubt it.

Allyson Schwartz's 'Uh-Oh' Moment

Joe Geraghty from National Review Online has some news about the 13th Congressional District in Pennsylvania sure to shock the Northeast Philadelphia/Northern Montgomery County race.

Short version:  Allyson Schwartz is trailing challenger Dee Adcock in what was once considered to be a "safe" Democratic District in an internal poll of likely voters.

Schwartz, co-author of Obamacare, sponsor of the soda fat-tax, and who approved every spending item of the Pelosi-lead Congress since taking the gavel in 2006, is in the first real race for her political life.  Though she still enjoys better name recognition than Adcock, when it comes to issues - you know, the stuff that really matters - she trails the successful businessman.

Gulp.

Toomey and Adcock Rally the Troops



Times Herald photo


Pennsylvania Senatorial candidate Pat Toomey (R) visited a packed GOP Victory call center this evening to thank volunteers gathered in the Blue Bell office.  Joining Toomey was Abington's own Dee Adcock who is challenging the East Coast version of Nancy Pelosi, Allyson Schwartz, in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District.

 The Times Herald has full coverage.



Sanchez Shown the Door at CNN

Rick Sanchez has been let go by CNN after making a stupid anti-semitic comment on Thursday's Jon Stewart Show.  Unconfirmed reports say Sanchez will take advantage of his downsizing to travel to Iceland, to see volcanoes he never thought existed.

Dee Adcock's Star Rises to "Contender"

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has released a statement elevating Dee Adcock, in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District race against the East Coast version of Nancy Pelosi, Allyson Schwartz, to "contender" status.

I wonder if the author of Obamacare, sponsor of the soda "fat tax", and darling of the trail lawyers lobby - over $1.7 million dollars in campagin contributions - ever thought her seat would be targeted?

Abington Schools, No Place for the Constitution

Yesterday I had a face-to-face meeting with the Assistant Superintendent of the Abington School district. The purpose of the meeting was to share a pocket Constitution with the administration so they could determine whether it was worthy of distribution to the students to celebrate today, Constitution Day.

Constitution Day and Citizenship Day were signed into law in 2004 by President Bush. Any school receiving federal funds is required by law to educate students about the importance of our founding document on this day.

Now, technically, it seems as though the Abington School District is following the letter of the law by, according to them, encouraging the individual schools and teachers to include the Constitution in their lesson plans today.

However, there is no district-wide effort to specifically focus the curriculum toward the greatest single document to guarantee liberty in human history.

The meeting was scheduled because I was interested in distributing these pocket Constitutions (with a copy of the Declaration of Independence) outside the High School this morning.

According to the District,

If you have pocket Constitutions that are printed without any affiliation to any political, commercial, or religious organization, we would be happy to review the document. If it conforms with Board policy, we would provide it to the schools for the students.

Problem. The pamphlets I was interested in distributing were produced by the Heritage Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan conservative think tank. As far as I'm aware, they do not contribute to political campaigns, they do not endorse candidates, they simply research policy.

The School District informed me yesterday afternoon, pieces produced by Heritage violate the above-referenced policy.

So, the very school district who (24 hours prior to the event) reversed a long-standing board policy restricting politicking on school property to allow Michele Obama (Spring 2008) and then-candidate Senator Obama (Fall of '08) to hold rallies at Abington High School, do not think those events cross the threshold of allowable political affiliation.

However, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, produced by the Heritage Foundation, somehow does?

Tea Party and the "Palin Factor"

Aaron Proctor, in the Philadelphia Examiner, has an interesting take on the Palin effect in yesterday's victory by Christine O'Donnell in Delaware's Senatorial primary over Mike Castle.

GOP Senate primary 2010 winner
Christine O'Donnell
photo courtesy CBS News

While I agree, Sarah and Christine better be careful about any attempts to become the face of the Tea Party movement, I don't think either are the leaders of the movement, but examples of the influence the Tea Party concept with voters.  You can't say the endorsement of any singular entity pushed O'Donnell over the top, and Chris Christie (a Tea Party favorite) was on the other side in this battle.  It was all about voter dissatisfaction with the GOP's moderate, mainstream republican wing.

Readers know I'm a fan of the former Alaskan governor, but as a local coordinator for a Tea Party group, I want to be clear about Sarah's role in our movement - it's entirely overstated. While I like most everything about her, she's barely among the top 5 candidates I want to win the primary in 2012.  I doubt she's actually aiming for the title, but I can understand the thought process of those who do.

There are several organizations who would also like to be the face - Tea Party Express and Tea Party Nation to name a few - aggressively advertising themselves and enthusiastically endorsing candidates.  But they fail to understand one basic fundamental truth about our movement; a role I hope neither Palin nor O'Donnell are pursuing.

While they, and the has-been media, may want her to be the face of the Tea Party. As a natural course in real grassroots Tea Party organizations, once you establish yourself as the face of the movement, you no longer can be.

It's not about you, it's about us.