Anyone else read this? "Police stop angers director of Minneapolis' Civil Rights Department David Chanen, Star Tribune " http://www.startribune.com/stories/467/46562.html
I can't help wondering WHAT the police technique is that caused this squad car to follow a man and a tiny child all the was to Cedar-Riverside and then roust him in full public view? I mean, don't they do license checks? Wouldnt they have gotten his name? Wouldn't they check and find out he's head of Civil Rights? And is this a sign of some police grudge against the Civil Rights Department? I'd love to get some MPD communications specialist to put into words the legitimate explanation for this. From where I sit it makes MPD look pretty foolish! ----------------------------------- The following comes from the Dept of Education of the Bush administration: "Charter schools have greater freedom from burdensome regulations in exchange for being held to high standards of accountability. Consistent with the president's entire education plan, charter schools show that higher standards, parent and community involvement and greater freedom can result in higher achievement. Charter schools are public schools which are largely free to innovate, and often provide more effective programs and choice to underserved groups of students. The result is schools that are designed to meet students' unique interests (e.g., vocational training, arts) and special talents or needs. Many of these programs have clearly increased academic achievement. Parents and teachers at charter schools develop programs for their students. In some, the community becomes the classroom, using museums and libraries to enrich the offerings. A recent comprehensive national study of charter schools conducted by the RAND Corporation suggests that charter schools can have a positive impact on student achievement and increase levels of parental satisfaction. Charter schools are an important alternative in districts where schools are having difficulty improving academic achievement. Starting this fall, parents who have a child in a school that has been identified as needing improvement will have the opportunity to send their child to a new school. Under No Child Left Behind, children who attend schools identified as needing improvement have the opportunity to enroll in charter schools located within their district. These districts will be required to use federal funding to provide meaningful choices as well as to provide transportation to the new schools families choose." So after reading all that PR, I'm still wondering: HAVE the charter schools with all that "choice" all that "freedom from burdensome regulations" done ANYTHING to improve achievement? By how much does Minneapolis' charter school effort lead the normal public schools in achievement? Surely the school board has an answer to that question. Frederick: You say you stopped using coops when your income dropped. Well, then I have to assume you don't buy stuff like spices. Because Cub and Rainbow are charging PREMIUM prices for spices. You can buy as little as you need at the coop, at a lower price, and it will be fresher. Some of the coop's goods are priced higher, but if you want to cut down on the packaging in your trash, it will be far easier at the coop than elsewhere. I don't buy everything at a coop. I just don't live by such rigid practices. But poverty isn't a good reason to totally shun the coops. You just have to know what is a good buy and what is not. Minneapolis has an excellent set of convenient coops. I gotta respond to Wizard on prostitution. It is VERY hard for me to believe a person cares about prostitutes when that person insists on using LAW ENFORCEMENT to show the caring. Let's choose milder weapons, ones that don't victimize the girls and women again. The people who beg the cops to come in and clear out the traffic are really more worried about their streets than the women in prostitution. Hey, if you want to target pimps, fine. THEY, at least, can never be called "victims". But if you want to get the WOMEN off the streets, use economic incentives, trained social workers, something OTHER than police. Can't you see that even the POLICE don't see themselves as the agency of choice? If you twist their arms enough, they'll do it for a while, but ultimately they find "other priorities" because they understand, even if you don't, the utter futility of it. Police against prostitution is just a lazy way for society NOT to remedy its own defects. Remember the story where the villagers were stoning a woman and Jesus said "Which of you is without sin". I think that says it for all time. People who badger prostitutes love the fake feeling of superiority. But they AREN'T superior. They just aren't in the scapegoat class. Prostitutes are there as a symbol of failure of a society. Like so many of these other problems we discuss. Stop weeding your neighbors yard. ===== Jim Mork Cooper-Longfellow-Minneapolis (L'Etoile du Nord) --------------- "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." � Benito Mussolini ... __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
