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Getting Preschool Education Right
Countless studies have found that preschool education has real value, both for the
children and for society as a whole. But design is obviously crucial. The most famous and
frequently cited program was conducted at Perry Elementary School
http://heckman.uchicago.edu/sites/heckman.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/Heckman_etal_2010_RateofRtn-to-Perry.pdf
in Ypsilanti, Mich., during the 1960s.
Even before the cost estimates and program details have been made public, President
Obama's proposal for expanding high-quality preschool education
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/education/details-emerge-on-obamas-call-to-extend-preschool.html
has encountered criticism from House Republicans. Yet decades of research has shown that
well-designed preschool programs more than pay for themselves by giving young children the
skills they need to move ahead. The challenge at the federal level will be to make sure
that taxpayer dollars flow to proven, high-quality programs instead of being wasted on
subsidies for glorified day care.
Countless studies have found that preschool education has real value, both for the
children and for society as a whole. But design is obviously crucial. The most famous and
frequently cited program was conducted at Perry Elementary School
http://heckman.uchicago.edu/sites/heckman.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/Heckman_etal_2010_RateofRtn-to-Perry.pdf
in Ypsilanti, Mich., during the 1960s, where the teachers focused on a creative process in
which low-income children were encouraged to plan, initiate and discuss their learning
activities. In addition to teaching the children for 2.5 hours during the school day, the
teachers regularly visited their homes to reinforce the lessons and forge partnership with
parents.
Followed into adulthood, the Perry students were found to have lower dropout and arrest
rates and higher incomes than those who had not attended preschool. Research led by James
Heckman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, concluded in 2009 that each $1 invested in the
Perry program had returned a value of $7 to $12 to society.
Unfortunately, preschool researchers say that few programs meet the standards of the
Perry system. With mediocrity the norm for many programs -- and with many educators
habituated to mediocrity -- a new federal preschool initiative is likely to come under
heavy pressure to compromise downward.
Mr. Obama called for just the opposite in his State of the Union address
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/obamas-2013-state-of-the-union-address.html
on Tuesday. He wants to upgrade the preschool system through a cost-sharing partnership
with the states to expand high-quality public preschool to all 4-year-olds from families
at or below 200 percent of the poverty level. The proposal also contains an incentive for
states to broaden participation to include additional middle-class families.
To be eligible for the program, the states would have to offer programs with
well-trained teachers paid comparably to those teaching in kindergarten-through-12
classrooms, small classes and rigorous statewide standards for early learning.
The White House has yet to release cost estimates or say how the program would be
financed. But officials have said the money could be found in the budget, and the program
would not add to the deficit.
Given the current national emphasis on strengthening the public schools -- and preparing
young people to compete in the new economy -- expanding preschool education would seem to
be an obvious bipartisan goal. Instead of saying "no" right out of the gate, Mr. Obama's
critics should recognize the value in his proposal.
READ MORE - THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://thethorntonreview.com/HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2013/02/16/OPINION/GETTING-OBAMAS-PRESCHOOL-EDUCATION-PLAN-RIGHT.HTML?REF=POLITICS
Read More...
http://thethorntonreview.com/news/politics/2117
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Lavish Lifestyle of a Lawmaker Yields Federal Charges
Jesse L. Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandi Jackson, are expected to plead guilty in a case
involving misuse of campaign money.
WASHINGTON -- In the span of four years starting in 2007, Jesse L. Jackson Jr., then a
representative from Illinois, amassed a collection of celebrity memorabilia, furs, jewelry
and furniture.
Working with an antiques dealer in Nevada and a furrier in Beverly Hills, Calif., Mr.
Jackson bought a $5,000 football signed by United States presidents, two hats that once
belonged to Michael Jackson -- including a $4,600 fedora -- and an $800 cape.
Mr. Jackson's desire for such objects, however, prompted him to take about $750,000
directly from his campaign funds in violation of campaign finance laws, according to
government documents, unraveling the career of one of the country's best-known black
politicians and the son of a famous civil rights activist.
On Friday, federal prosecutors in Washington filed charges against Mr. Jackson tied to
his repeated use of campaign funds, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud
and making false statements.
The charges were a formality. Mr. Jackson, a Democrat, has already agreed to plead
guilty to one or more charges, though a date for him to formally accept the plea before a
judge has not yet been scheduled.
He faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
The government also filed charges Friday against Mr. Jackson's wife, Sandi, accusing her
of having filed false tax returns. She is expected to plead guilty and faces a maximum of
three years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
In a written statement, Mr. Jackson, 47, apologized to his family, friends and
supporters for his "errors in judgment."
"Over the course of my life, I have come to realize that none of us are immune from our
share of shortcomings and human frailties," he said. "Still, I offer no excuses for my
conduct, and I fully accept my responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes I
have made."
He added, "While my journey is not yet complete, it is my hope that I am remembered for
the things that I did right."
The statement did not address the charges against his wife, who was a Chicago alderman
until she resigned
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/us/illinois-jacksons-wife-resigns-from-chicago-council.html
in January.
Mr. Jackson, the son of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/jesse_l_jackson/index.html?inline=nyt-per,
resigned http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/us/jackson-jr-to-resign-house-seat.html from
Congress in November, shortly after winning re-election. His departure was the latest in a
line of resignations by members of Congress amid allegations that they had used their
power to enrich themselves. Mr. Jackson had taken a medical leave from Congress in June
and was treated for bipolar disorder.
The documents released by the prosecutors detail dozens of times that Mr. Jackson used
campaign funds to buy lavish items.
According to the documents, in July 2007, Mr. Jackson had a $43,350 gold-plated men's
Rolex watch that he had bought with campaign funds shipped to Washington from Chicago.
Nearly two months later, Mr. Jackson obtained two pieces of Bruce Lee memorabilia with
campaign funds, each for $2,000, from a dealer called Antiquities of Nevada, according to
the documents.
The next year, Mr. Jackson obtained several more pieces of memorabilia with campaign
funds, buying items that once belonged to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bruce
Lee for more than $17,000 from the same dealer in Nevada.
The same year, Mr. Jackson had $9,588 worth of children's furniture he had bought with
campaign funds shipped from New Jersey to Washington, where he had a home.
In May 2008, Mr. Jackson had a staff member report that his campaign had spent $1,553
for a room at a Chicago museum for a fund-raiser. But the prosecutors said in the
documents that Mr. Jackson actually "spent these funds to purchase porcelain collector's
items."
In 2009, Mr. Jackson obtained significantly more memorabilia with his campaign funds. He
bought the football signed by presidents and nine pieces of Michael Jackson memorabilia in
one day that August for $17,100. Later that year, he used campaign funds to buy a $4,000
guitar that once belonged to Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen.
That November, Mr. Jackson began buying furs. According to the documents, an unnamed
co-conspirator had $5,150 worth of fur capes and parkas shipped to Washington from Beverly
Hills, including a $1,200 mink reversible parka.
The buying of memorabilia with campaign funds continued in 2010 when Mr. Jackson bought
Jimi Hendrix memorabilia for $2,775 and the Michael Jackson fedora for $4,600 that March.
The prosecutors said in the documents that Mr. Jackson would forfeit all of the
memorabilia and the furs to the government.
Mr. Jackson was elected to Congress in 1995 at age 30 after his predecessor, Mel
Reynolds, also a Democrat, was convicted on charges of having sex with a teenage campaign
volunteer.
In his years in Congress, Mr. Jackson established himself as one of the leading
African-American politicians in the country and tried to distance himself from his
father's image, working on issues related to health care and education.
But in 2008, his name surfaced in connection with the federal investigation of Gov. Rod
R. Blagojevich of Illinois. As part of the investigation, the authorities uncovered
evidence that a close friend of Mr. Jackson had offered to make significant campaign
contributions to Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, if Mr. Jackson was given the Senate seat
left vacant by Barack Obama after he was elected president.
Mr. Jackson has denied any knowledge of the offer and has not been charged in connection
with the matter.
A primary to fill his seat is scheduled for Feb. 26. The district includes the South
Side of Chicago and southern suburbs.
READ MORE - THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://thethorntonreview.com/HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2013/02/16/US/POLITICS/JESSE-JACKSON-JR-CHARGED-IN-MISUSE-OF-CAMPAIGN-MONEY.HTML?NL=US&EMC=EDIT_CN_20130215&_R=0
Read More...
http://thethorntonreview.com/news/us/2118
_______________________________________________________________
THE NEW MCCARTHYIST: Ted Cruz Rocks The Senate
TED CRUZ RUNS COUNTER TO THE SENATES COURTLY WAYS
WASHINGTON -- As the Senate edged toward a divisive filibuster vote on Chuck Hagels
nomination to be defense secretary, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, sat silent and
satisfied in the corner of the chamber -- his voice lost to laryngitis -- as he absorbed
what he had wrought in his mere seven weeks of Senate service.
Mr. Hagel, a former senator from Mr. Cruz's own party, was about to be the victim of the
first filibuster of a nominee to lead the Pentagon. The blockade was due in no small part
to the very junior senator's relentless pursuit of speeches, financial records or any
other documents with Mr. Hagel's name on them going back at least five years. Some
Republicans praised the work of the brash newcomer, but others joined Democrats in saying
that Mr. Cruz had gone too far.
Without naming names, Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, offered a biting
label for the Texan's accusatory crusade: McCarthyism.
"It was really reminiscent of a different time and place, when you said, 'I have here in
my pocket a speech you made on such and such a date,' and, of course, nothing was in the
pocket," she said, a reference to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's pursuit of Communists in
the 1950s. "It was reminiscent of some bad times."
In just two months, Mr. Cruz, 42, has made his presence felt in an institution where new
arrivals are usually not heard from for months, if not years. Besides suggesting that Mr.
Hagel might have received compensation from foreign enemies
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/hagel-faces-tense-panel-vote-on-his-pentagon-confirmation.html,
he has tangled with the mayor of Chicago, challenged the Senate's third-ranking Democrat
on national television, voted against virtually everything before him -- including the
confirmation of John Kerry as secretary of state -- and raised the hackles of colleagues
from both parties.
He could not be more pleased. Washington's new bad boy feels good.
"I made promises to the people of Texas that I would come to Washington to shake up the
status quo," he said in e-mailed answers to questions, in lieu of speaking. "That is what
I intend to do, and it is what I have done in every way possible in the responsibilities
that have been granted to me."
In a body known for comity, Mr. Cruz is taking confrontational Tea Party
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/tea_party_movement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
sensibilities to new heights -- or lows, depending on one's perspective. Wowed
conservatives hail him as a hero, but even some Republican colleagues are growing publicly
frustrated with a man who has taken the zeal of the prosecutor and applied it to the
decorous quarters of the Senate.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said that some of the demands Mr.
Cruz made of Mr. Hagel were "out of bounds, quite frankly." Senator John McCain,
Republican of Arizona, issued a public rebuke after Mr. Cruz suggested, with no evidence,
that Mr. Hagel had accepted honorariums from North Korea.
"All I can say is that the appropriate way to treat Senator Hagel is to be as tough as
you want to be, but don't be disrespectful or malign his character," Mr. McCain said in an
interview.
Democrats were more blunt.
"He basically came out and made the accusation about money from North Korea or money
from our enemies, and he just laid out there all of this accusatory verbiage without a
shred of evidence," said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri. "In this country
we had a terrible experience with innuendo and inference when Joe McCarthy hung out in the
United States Senate, and I just think we have to be more careful."
Mr. Cruz, a Canadian-born lawyer who won an upset primary victory last year, is adamant
in his own defense. He said his focus at hearings had been on policy, not personality.
With Mr. Hagel, whose nomination is set for a Senate vote the week of Feb. 25, he said his
request for financial disclosures were backed by 24 other senators. As for his statement
that Mr. Hagel may have received honorariums from nefarious sources, "the suggestions I
have made in my arguments have been merely to raise examples for why I believe Senator
Hagel's financial disclosure is so important," he said.
"Comity does not mean avoiding the truth," he added. "And it would be wrong to avoid
speaking the truth about someone's record and past policy positions, even if doing so
inevitably subjects me to personal criticism from Democrats and the media."
To the growing core of ardent conservatives in the Senate, Mr. Cruz has offered a jolt
of positive energy.
"If you don't ruffle any feathers, you're not doing anything right," said Senator Rand
Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who garnered similar attention in his opening weeks in the
Senate two years ago.
Mr. Cruz was among the 22 senators who voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against
Women Act, among the 34 who voted against raising the debt ceiling
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/national_debt_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier,
among the 19 who tried to cut off military sales to Egypt, among the 36 who opposed a
relief package for the regions hit by Hurricane Sandy
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hurricanes_and_tropical_storms/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier,
and among the three senators
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/us/politics/senate-panel-approves-kerry-for-secretary-of-state.html
who voted against Mr. Kerry's confirmation.
"I was compelled to vote no on Senator Kerry's nomination because of his longstanding
less-than-vigorous defense of U.S. national security issues," said Mr. Cruz, who also
questioned the commitment of Mr. Kerry and Mr. Hagel to the armed forces, though both
served in Vietnam. Mr. Cruz has no record of military service.
Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth, a conservative free-market
political action committee that strongly backed Mr. Cruz in his victory last year against
the establishment's favorite, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, said the new senator was doing
precisely what he had expected. The growing caucus of ardent conservatives -- Mr. Cruz,
Mr. Paul, Marco Rubio of Florida, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Jeff Flake of
Arizona, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Tim Scott of South Carolina -- has
begun reshaping what it means to be a Republican in the Senate, he said.
"The last thing we need is another status quo senator or congressman who will go along
to get along," said former Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who pumped money into Mr.
Cruz's campaign, then left the Senate to lead the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Last month, Mr. Cruz faced off aggressively with Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York
on a Sunday talk show. When Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago wrote to the chiefs of big banks
urging them not to invest in gun manufacturers, Mr. Cruz followed up with letters
criticizing the "bullying" of a political "Godfather."
After she raised the specter of McCarthyism, Ms. McCaskill was asked if she had spoken
to Mr. Cruz about her concerns.
"I'm not sure it would do any good," she said. "Do you?"
READ MORE - THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://thethorntonreview.com/HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2013/02/16/US/POLITICS/TED-CRUZ-RUNS-COUNTER-TO-COURTLY-WAYS-OF-THE-SENATE.HTML?PAGEWANTED=ALL&_R=0
Read More...
http://thethorntonreview.com/news/us/2119
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