September 20, 2012

School bullies beware: San Francisco won’t tolerate that behavior

NOTE: I wish we had this kind of "from the top" support before we had to pull our son out of public school.


Documentary film director Lee Hirsch huddled in the darkness of San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre as hundreds of city middle and high school students watched his movie, “Bully,” Thursday morning.

As students alternately applauded, cheered and sniffled through tears as the film documented the devastating impact of bullying, Hirsch recorded the audience sounds on his phone, his face beaming....

In San Francisco, Superintendent Richard Carranza required all administrators, principals and assistant principals to see the film before the school year started.

On Thursday, he encouraged the hundreds of students in the Herbst Theatre to tell an adult if they are being bullied or see someone bullied — a teacher, librarian, custodian, teacher aide, counselor, parent or principal.

And since the film highlighted adults elsewhere who failed to help the bullied children, Carranza gave the students one more option.

“If nothing gets done, you email me, you call my office and we’ll get something done,” he said to loud applause.


http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2012/09/13/school-bullies-beware-san-francisco-wont-tolerate-that-behavior/?plckItemsPerPage=50&plckSort=TimeStampDescending

September 20, 2012

Romney's "47 percent" remarks damage his image with voters: Reuters/Ipsos poll

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed that more than two in five registered voters, or 43 percent, viewed Romney less favorably after an excerpt of the video was shown to them online.

In the video, Romney portrayed Democratic President Barack Obama's supporters - which he said was 47 percent of the electorate - as people who live off government handouts and do not "care for their lives."

Nearly six in ten, or 59 percent, in the poll said they felt Romney unfairly dismissed almost half of Americans as victims in his remarks made to donors in May at a private event at a luxury home in Florida.

"This isn't great for Romney," said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark, who called the video an image problem for the Republican.

"This type of issue, a gaffe or an indiscreet remark by a candidate, has an effect on a candidate's image, but it is not the kind of thing that decides how people vote on Election Day," she said.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/us-usa-campaign-poll-idUSBRE88I1E920120919

September 20, 2012

CT-SEN: The video that Republican Linda McMahon doesn't want you to see.

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September 20, 2012

Mitt Romney: Barack Obama Sometimes Calls Me the GrandFather Of ObamaCare

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September 19, 2012

Fox News: Obama has edge over Romney in three battleground states.

President Barack Obama has the edge over Republican Mitt Romney in three potentially decisive states in the presidential election.

Obama tops Romney by seven percentage points among likely voters in both Ohio (49-42 percent) and Virginia (50-43 percent). In Florida, the president holds a five-point edge (49-44 percent).

Obama’s lead is just outside the poll’s margin of sampling error in Ohio and Virginia, and within the margin of sampling error in Florida.

The good news for Romney is that among voters who are “extremely” interested in this year’s election, the races are much tighter. Obama is up by just two points with this group in Virginia (49-47 percent), Florida is tied (48-48 percent), and Romney is up by one point in Ohio (48-47 percent).




http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/19/obama-has-edge-over-romney-in-three-battleground-states/#ixzz26xPfEbZQ

September 19, 2012

Going Viral: Benghazi attack ringleader released from Gitmo in 2007.

Report originated on Fox News and it's making the rounds on Twitter.


http://twitter.com/owillis

September 19, 2012

S.F. teachers union out to beat 3 Board of Education trustees

In a classic game of payback, the San Francisco teachers union has launched a campaign to defeat all three school board members up for re-election in November.

The union's beef with the three started in February when the board tried to bypass seniority rules so it could avoid laying off teachers at 14 struggling schools. That would have meant teachers with more experience at other schools would have faced the ax.
Union head Dennis Kelly shouted at the board members that night, "It will not be forgotten. It will not be forgiven."

Even though the board later reversed its decision after an administrative law judge supported the union's appeal, the union is still steamed.

"They never said, 'What we did was not right, and we're sorry that we did it,' " Kelly said.

So, no apology, no endorsement. Come Nov. 6, the union is out to get incumbents Jill Wynns, who didn't win its endorsement last time out, and Sandra Lee Fewer and Rachel Norton, who did.

Instead, the union is going with four newcomers - Matt Haney, Beverly Popek, Sam Rodriguez and Shamann Walton - and plans to campaign for them, hard.




http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/S-F-teachers-union-out-to-beat-3-trustees-3868417.php#ixzz26tI7qi2H

September 19, 2012

Obama leading California 58% to 32%.

According to a KTVU Field Poll. 55 electoral votes locked in.

September 19, 2012

Ann Romney: Mitt doesn’t disdain the poor (VIDEO)

DENVER – Ann Romney, the wife of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, spoke exclusively Tuesday with FOX31 Denver about her husband’s controversial comments in a video that surfaced Monday characterizing nearly half of the country as Obama supporters who don’t pay taxes and live off the government.

“I’ve been on, obviously, on the trail a long time with Mitt and if you listen to the whole context of what Mitt talks about, he is talking about what’s happening right now in America and how more and more people are falling into poverty,” Ann Romney told FOX31 Denver.

“He wants to make sure to bring better opportunities for everyone. I know the guy, I know him really well, I know he cares. That’s why he’s running. It’s unfortunate when something gets misinterpreted like this, when it gets taken out of context.

“We’re facing some very difficult situations, and if we don’t take some corrective measures soon, more and more people will become dependent on government and that is not what he wants.”



http://kdvr.com/2012/09/18/ann-romney-says-mitt-doesnt-disdain-the-poor/

September 19, 2012

My take on the 47% fallout.

I don't think it will give Obama a bump, but it might further motivate our side to vote and lower Romney's ceiling. I'll be happy to take that to Election Day.