Random Thoughts

Here are my thoughts on a few things in the news...

Chicago State University
Budgetary issues may force the closing of CSU. It's not the only public institution of higher education in the state that is dealing with budget issues, but CSU's situation is by far the worse. This is mainly due to the school's higher reliance on state funding.  The political side of this story is the impasse between Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan. Eventually, the budget issue will be resolved. When that will be, who can say?  But the other side of this story concerns academics.  I have read numerous articles about the sad state of affairs at CSU, including the unacceptably high dropout rate. A search on the internet for student reviews of the school returns a mix of lackluster comments about the CSU experience.



Once this budget problem is fixed, the next big task will be to fix the academic standards and operations of this school.  I realize that even suggesting that CSU needs lots of improvement is offensive to some because a good many people feel that since the school is located on the south side of Chicago and has a predominately black student body, we should just be happy that it exists.  My question is, why can't CSU have the same (or better) standards than the rest of the public colleges and universities in Illinois?  To do nothing about CSU means that the students will continue to face the low standards and low expectations that many endured in Chicago's public elementary and high schools.

Bernie Implies That All Blacks Are Poor
If I had to describe Sen. Bernie Sanders in two words or less, it would be "typical liberal." I can't count the number of times that a "well-meaning" liberal has said the most condescending thing imaginable.  A former co-worker and big-time, well-known lib passionately argued that it's understandable why young black people are criminals (huh?).  He said it's because the system is stacked against them so they can't get jobs, but need to feed their children.  He said that as far as he's concerned they have every right to steal.  I wish, that I was making this up, but I promise you that I'm not.

Another time I was at a business meeting when one of the two men that was looking to hire me for some public relations work, said that we need to keep affirmative action in place, otherwise blacks couldn't go to college (huh?).

These are but two examples, but when you consider the policies and rhetoric of liberals (I'm speaking specifically of white liberals), it's is crystal clear that they are very paternalistic and see blacks as inferior, if not child-like.

I almost forgot about Vice President Joe Biden's (then presidential candidate) giving a complimentary description of then-Senator Barack Obama. Biden said, "I mean, you got the first, sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.  I mean, that's a storybook man."  And this was a compliment!  The thing is, Biden didn't see anything wrong with what he said because it wasn't until later (after he talked with his advisors I'm sure) that he began soft-peddling his comments. Can you imagine what would have happened if a republican had said that?

So it really didn't surprise me when presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, in responding to a question about the racial blind spot during a debate on CNN, said, "When you're white, you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto, you don't know what it's like to be poor."  The implication being that all blacks are poor, or the only poor people are black. Either way, Sanders, like so many other libs (or socialists), don't see the diversity of black people (ironic, I know).  They really believe that these pitiful, poor people (blacks) need a smart, big-hearted white person to protect them, feed them, guide them and do all of the other things a good parent does.

Man Steals $196k....In Quarters!

Here's the story.  I guess he had lots of laundry to do.