09/21/08 Greenwich Political Wire

Antony Edwards / Getty

How We Became the the United States of France

This is the state of our great republic: We've nationalized the financial system, taking control from Wall Street bankers we no longer trust. We're about to quasi-nationalize the Detroit auto companies via massive loans because they're a source of American pride, and too many jobs — and votes — are at stake. Our Social Security system is going broke as we head for a future where too many retirees will be supported by too few workers. How long before we have national healthcare? Put it all together, and the America that emerges is a cartoonish version of the country most despised by red-meat red-state patriots: France. Only with worse food.

Admit it, mes amis, the rugged individualism and cutthroat capitalism that made America the land of unlimited opportunity has been shrink-wrapped by a half dozen short sellers in Greenwich, Conn. and FedExed to Washington D.C. to be spoon-fed back to life by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. We're now no different from any of those Western European semi-socialist welfare states that we love to deride. Italy? Sure, it's had four governments since last Thursday, but none of them would have allowed this to go on; the Italians know how to rig an economy.

You just know the Frogs have only increased their disdain for us, if that is indeed possible. And why shouldn't they? The average American is working two and half jobs, gets two weeks off, and has all the employment security of a one-armed trapeze artist. The Bush Administration has preached the "ownership society" to America: own your house, own your retirement account; you don't need the government in your way. So Americans mortgaged themselves to the hilt to buy overpriced houses they can no longer afford and signed up for 401k programs that put money where, exactly? In the stock market! Where rich Republicans fleeced them.

Now our laissez-faire (hey, a French word) regulation-averse Administration has made France's only Socialist president, Francois Mitterand, look like Adam Smith by comparison. All Mitterand did was nationalize France's big banks and insurance companies in 1982; he didn't have to deal with bankers who didn't want to lend money, as Paulson does. When the state runs the banks, they are merely cows to be milked in the service of la patrie. France doesn't have the mortgage crisis that we do, either. In bailing out mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, our government has basically turned America into the largest subsidized housing project in the world .Sure, France has its banlieus, where it likes to warehouse people who aren't French enough (meaning, immigrants orAlgerians) in huge apartment blocks. But the bulk of French homeowners are curiously free of subprime mortgages foisted on them by fellow citizens, and they aren't over their heads in personal debt.....

Source: TIME.com

Reporter: Bill Saporito

Source URL: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1843168,00.html

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09/21/08 Around Here When Bill Clark Says Frog We Jump. When The Scribe Of Greenwich Says Jump We Ask,"How High"?

Bill "The Scribe Of Greenwich" Clark says......

I agree.

Can you find out what happened to the June survey than many of us filled out about the educational system here in town? One of the questions was, should Betty Sternberg lose her job? I was told at one point that she had agreed to resign if that's what the survey said.

The survey was machine-readable, filled out with #2 pencils (like the SAT exam). Surely the results are now available over 3 1/2 months later?

Oh - and if you check out the Hartford Courant web site for today (9/21/08), you will see a video clip on the front page, "Greenwich Losses Affect Everyone." It features yours truly and First Selectman Peter Tesei. Is there any way you can download the clip to "Greenwich Roundup?" I think your readers would find it interesting.

Comment:

That survey may be stored inside Betty Sternberg's Office safe, unless the Greenwich Board Of Education has ordered it shredded.

Seriously, the survey is a public document that anyone can request via the freedom of information laws. The Board of education is required to respond less than 5 Business days.

On the fifth day, if there is no response then a parent or taxpayer could ask the state freedom Of information commission to force the Board Of Education to release the document.

Maybe, Betty will get fined by the freedom of information guys like Jim Lash was. Or maybe it will Nancy since she is the the Board Of Education Chairman.

The reason there is so many problems at the Board Of Education is because there is no transparency and accountability.

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09/21/08 Greenwich Press Release - The Flying Psychologist Of Greenwich

Women In The Civil Air Patrol Fly Through The Glass Ceiling

Both locally and on the national level, women are rising to senior leadership positions and breaking through the proverbial glass ceiling in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) - the official auxiliary to the United States Air Force.

PRWEB

THE QUOTE:

"I originally joined the Civil Air Patrol as it allowed me to combine my love of flying with my interest in giving back to my community," say Capt. Silverman. "I quickly came to appreciate the important role the Civil Air Patrol plays in the safety of our community, both in the air and on the ground, as well as providing an organization in which teenagers can learn about aerospace and pursue their own flying ambitions through our Cadet program."

THE PRESS RELEASE

Westchester County, NY (PRWEB) September 21, 2008 -- Capt. (Dr.) Jill T. Silverman was recently promoted to Commander of the Westchester Hudson Composite Squadron based at Westchester Airport in White Plains, NY. Besides serving as Squadron Commander, . Capt. Silverman is a clinical health psychologist with a private practice in Greenwich, CT. and is on the medical staff of Greenwich Hospital. She treats adolescents and adults and has a particular interest in trauma and disaster mental health. ...

...When asked about what it felt like to command a squadron comprised primarily of men, Jill replied, "The squadron has been really supportive of me from the day I first joined. It has felt to me that it hasn't mattered whether one was a man or woman, what has been important is getting the job done, safely and efficiently. We are team with great respect for one another and a great tradition to uphold." ...

...Capt. Silverman represents a major shift that is taking place in the Civil Air Patrol, as well as other branches of the military; that of women attaining more senior leadership positions. Just last month, Major General Amy S. Courter, became the first woman to become the Civil Air Patrol's National Commander, the highest-ranking leadership position within the organization.

The Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and is a nonprofit organization with more than 56,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions and was credited with saving 103 lives in 2007. A purely volunteer organization, CAP also performs homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to nearly 22,000 young people currently participating in cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 66 years.
For more information about the local Civil Air Patrol visit

www.raptorsquadron.org or call 2nd. Lt. Rocky Cipriano, Public Affairs Officer of the Westchester Hudson Composite Squadron, at 914-777-9700.

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09/21/08 Greenwich Press Release

QUOTE:

“We see the Park Angels as the heart and soul of our whole cause,” says Jim Martin, executive director of the Charleston Parks Conservancy. “Our parks and trees will be here long after all of us are gone, and we are hoping to create a movement that will last generations, as well. We absolutely can’t do that without the passionate commitment of these dedicated Charlestonians.”

THE RELEASE:

"Park Angels" Take Flight

PR.com

The Charleston Parks Conservancy, an organization dedicated to upgrading City of Charleston parks and green spaces and rallying community support and pride behind the effort, is adding a few more angels to the Holy City.

Charleston, SC, September 21, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The Charleston Parks Conservancy, an organization dedicated to upgrading City of Charleston parks and green spaces and rallying community support and pride behind the effort, is adding a few more angels to the Holy City. The organization has selected six volunteers to become its lead “park angels” who will head the charge to create a sustained movement behind preserving and beautifying Charleston parks.....

... designer of fabrics, Kappes has lived all over the world, including Paris, New York and China. In her hometown of Greenwich, Conn., Kappes was a member of the Green Fingers Garden Club, where she directed the annual flower show. Park Angel Cathy ...

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09/21/08 Greenwich Education Press Release - Greenwich Alliance For Education

The Greenwich Alliance for Education will host its annual grant awards reception from 6:45 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at Citi Private Bank of Greenwich, located on the third floor of 475 Steamboat Road.

The alliance will use the occasion to introduce its 2008 grant recipients, which include Hamilton Avenue, New Lebanon and Riverside elementary schools; Western Middle School; Greenwich High School; the Greenwich Boys and Girls Club; and SoundWaters Inc.

This year the alliance will distribute nearly $110,000 in grant funding to those seven recipients. To R.S.V.P. to the reception, call (203) 698-7730 or e-mail info@greenwichalliance.com.

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09/21/08 Greenwich Time News Links For Sunday

A fan applauds a play during a game at Yankee Stadium against the Angels in August 1998. 'The House That Ruth Built,' renovated in the 1970s, will host its last game today. A new stadium will open in April across the street.

(AP file photo)

Memories of Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium is a baseball cathedral; a place where one swing turns ordinary players into immortals.

Hedge funds can 'hang in

'Hedge fund experts say only the strong and the smart will survive Wall Street's financial tumult. "In a crisis like this, there's always winners and losers," said Christopher Kelly, a compliance officer for Greenwich-based hedge fund Sands Brothers Asset Management.

Shays co-sponsors many Obama bills

WASHINGTON - When it comes to his legislative priorities in the 110th Congress, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has had no better friend in Connecticut than .....

Darien stuns two-time FCIAC, LL champion Greenwich as Cardinals' comeback falls short

DARIEN - If anyone knows all about the rich history of Greenwich High School football, its Mike Gasparino.

Message of empowerment: Woman works to help women, children in Pakistan

Tahira Piracha is a snowbird. However, instead of escaping to Florida every winter, the Stamford resident travels to Islamabad, Pakistan.

Xerox, Pitney Bowes pitch in with 'green' advice

Two local titans in the office products industry, Pitney Bowes Inc. and Xerox Corp., are sharing some of their patents with the general public.

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09/21/08 Greenwich Obituary Notice

Felicity Johnson Craven, 57

Cape Cod Times

...Felicity Johnston Craven, 57, of Chatham, died unexpectedly at Cape Cod Hospital on Thursday, Sept., 18, 2008. Born in Greenwich, Conn., a daughter of the late Rev. Arnold B. Craven and Primrose (Johnston) Craven, she lived in Chatham since 1963 ...

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09/21/08 Greenwich Educationline: Greenwich Time Cub Reporter Colin Gustafson Can't See That Failed Aministrators Are Causing Low Test Scores

Did Greenwich Education Reporter Colin Gustafson's Previously Work For This Newspaper?

Quotes From Horribly Confused School Administrators:

"It's perplexing," Susan Ellis,a Board of Education member, said at the board's Aug. 28 meeting.

"To have that juxtaposition, where writing is at a five-year high and reading a five-year low - it just doesn't compute," GHS headmaster Al Capasso said recently. "You have to do a considerable amount of reading and comprehension to be proficient at the writing section."

Previously Colin Gustafonson Filed This Report On The Failed Greenwich School Administrators:

Test scores offer mixed picture

By Colin Gustafson

Staff Writer

Article Launched: 08/26/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT

Middle-school reading scores reached five-year highs in the 2007-08 school year, while the portion of high school students proficient in writing increased by impressive margins.... blah... blah... blah..... I just write what school district administrator John Curtin tells me.... blah.... blah.... blah

And Greenwich Roundup Set The Record Straight By Reporting:

Only a fool would call these results mixed. Here's the truth. That giant sucking sound that taxpayers and parents hear is the sound of failed school administrators flushing their children down the drain.

Here is the failed report cards of our high paid school administrators.....

• 
  The Department Of Justice may soon visit the school district, because of the school administrator's failure to start to close the growing the achievement gap between white students and lower-income minorities.


• 
  The Greenwich School Administrators are repeatedly failing to address the longtime "gender gap" between boys and girls in math. and English.


• 
  Greenwich School Administrators allowed elementary and middle-school writing scores to fall for a second year on the Connecticut Mastery Test. (The percentage of students at goal tumbled from 81.2 in 2006, to 79.8 in 2007, to 77.2 in 2008. The "goal" to be satisfactory performance. That means that 23% of Greenwich elementary and middle-school students can not satisfactorily pass the State Of Connecticut's writing test.)


• 
  Elementary scores were a disaster. Only North Mianus School was a success story, as it was the only elementary program in the district where proficiency levels increased on the math, reading and writing portions of the CMT.


• 
  In 2007-08, Hamilton Avenue School posted the lowest proficiency levels of all elementary schools on every CMT test. It also saw the biggest year-to-year declines in proficiency, with the percentage of at goal students in the writing CMT plummeting from 72.7 percent to 48.1 percent between 2007 and 2008.


• 
  The number of black students reaching goal in that test dropped to 32.3 percent in 2008, lower than the at-goal percentages of Hispanics (54.2), whites (82.8) and Asians (87.9).
  The poorest and most disadvantaged members of Greenwich Society are being screwed over as failed school administrators cash big fat paychecks.

Now Colin Files This Report On The Failed Greenwich School Administrators:

Low scores perplex educators

Greenwich school officials were incredulous when they saw how sharply 10th-grade reading scores had dropped on the most recent sitting of the state's Connecticut Academic Performance Test.

The drop was so sharp - down from 71.6 percent reaching "goal" in 2007 to 61.3 percent this year, more than a 10-point decline and a five-year low - that one school district administrator, John Curtin, initially suspected there had been an error in scoring the exams of Greenwich students.

There had not.

If not an error, perhaps other districts with a similar demographic make-up had fared similarly, he thought. Almost none had.

"We haven't found a smoking gun," Curtin said recently. "We were an anomaly."

The decline comes on the heels of slow-and-steady progress in the number of GHS students achieving goal, which, in the four years from 2004 to 2007, jumped from 67.3, to 69, to 71 and 71.6.

There was also a sharp drop in the percentage of 10th-graders scoring at the "advanced" level, which fell more than 13 points, to 28.2 percent this year, from 41.4 percent last year. Students scoring at the "proficient" level also dropped, though by a smaller margin, from 94.1 to 91.1.

The decline in performance is in sharper focus now that the state Department of Education has cited the district for failing to make "adequate yearly progress," in part, due to lackluster reading results at Greenwich High and Central Middle schools.....

.....the district's English coordinator will work closely with GHS faculty this year to ensure that "they're covering all their bases" in English instruction, Curtin said.

There will be no overhaul to the curriculum, however, in response to what could be a one-year blip in reading performance, he added. "Sometimes anomalous things happen one year that don't happen again the next."

The Board of Education will meet Oct. 23 to discuss a yet-to-be-released "monitoring report" on reading scores

Please ReadThe Full Greenwich Time Story And Tell Me If , Wet Behind The Ears Education Reporter Talked To Or Quoted One Parent, One Idependent Testing Expert Or A Single Family Home Owner Who Is Forced To Pay For These Failed Administrators.

Let me save you some time. Ametuer Education Reporter Colin Gustafonson only talked to failed school leaders about their poor performance in his one sided and biased article.

Please See:

08/27/08 Greenwich Time News Links

08/27/08 GREENWICH ROUNDUP READER RESPONDS: Greenwich School's Test Scores

08/29/08 Is Michael Bodson Parading Colin Gustafson Around With A Nose Ring?

09/01/08 Why Are Betty Sternberg, Susan Wallerstein And Anthony Byrne Still Collecting Board Of Education Paychecks????

09/07/08 Multi-Million-Dollar School Administration Failures Have Now Led To Town Service Cut Backs

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09/21/08 Greenwich Sportsline: Greenwich Whitted Darians Comanding 17 Point Lead Down To A Five Point Loss

QUOTE:

"They have their tradition and everything, but we had the heart in this game," said Darien senior Nikki Dysenchuk, who scored on a pair of short runs in the second quarter helped the Blue Wave (2-0) build 24-7 halftime lead. "We took it to them in the first half and they didn't know what hit them."

THE STORY:

Darien shocks Greenwich 31-25

The conservative stuff just wasn't working. Though Darien was trying desperately trying to run out the clock on Saturday's FCIAC clash, Greenwich still kept coming.

It whittled the Blue Wave's once commanding 17-point lead to a mere five with plenty of time remaining.

So with his team and its upset hopes facing third-and-long from the Greenwich 35 yard-line, Darien coach Rob Trifone thought a more progressive approach might save the day.

"They outplayed us and they were better than us today," Greenwich coach Rich Albonizio said. "And we showed a lack of discipline."

Erik Camacho's 10-yard touchdown pass from Lefflbine with 1:47 left became moot when Michael Gencarelli recoverd the ensuing onside kick for Darien.

"We got a little nervous in the second half with No. 84 (Grant) jumping over everybody," Dysenchuk said. "But we hung in there. Kosnick's catch was amazing. It was incredible.

"This means everything. It's the first step to states. We can't wait."

GAME STATS:

Darien 31, Greenwich 25

GREENWICH 7 0 0 18 — 25
DARIEN 9 15 0 7 — 31

D — John Gardner 27 field goal
G — Mike Lefflbine 1 run (Oliver Ostrowski kick)
D — Matt Wheelock 12 run (kick failed)
D — Nikki Dysenchuk 4 run (Brian Kosnik pass Dysenchuk)
D — Dysenchuk 2 run (Gardner kick)
G — Matt Grant 23 pass from Lefflbine (kick failed)
G — Grant 25 pass from Lefflbine (pass failed)
D — Kosnik 35 pass from Wheelock (Gardner kick)
G — Erik Camacho 10 pass from Lefflbine (kick failed)

Records: Greenwich 1-1, Darien 2-0

Source: Connecticut Post

Reporter: SEAN PATRICK BOWLEY

Source URL: http://www.connpost.com/ci_10519308?source=most_emailed

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09/21/08 Greenwich Newsline; Firefighters Trade Three Ring Binders In For Laptop

GPS units to aid firefighters in field

Thanks to newly installed satellite technology, firefighters can now respond to the scene of a blaze faster and locate water sources with more ease, saving more than just time and effort - potentially saving lives.

So far two fire engines and one sport utility vehicle have been equipped with mobile data browsers, computers that display detailed maps showing hydrants, ponds and other water sources near the area of a fire, Assistant Fire Chief Bob Kick said. The browsers also locate the quickest route to a fire and provide information about hazardous materials. The department plans to install many more units in the coming weeks.

"We're implementing it in a two-phase process," Kick said.

The goal of the first phase is to install 10 to 14 of the computers - Panasonic Toughbook laptops that use HTE Sungard software.....

......The software is being programmed by three department employees, who Kick said have been pivotal in the process. Lt. Brian Koczak, Lt. Charles Teichert and firefighter Kevin Coiner are using their knowledge of technology systems to help implement the program within the department, Kick said. ....

....In vehicles not yet equipped with the computers, firefighters refer to information in three-ring binders to locate water sources in the area when arriving to the scene of a blaze, Kick said. The department will continue to rely on this method as a back-up when the installations are complete. Kick said the department is also working with the town assessor's office to input building data to the machines.

"That gives us a layout of the building, or the approximate square footage of the building, which helps us figure out the amount of water needed to extinguish a fire," Kick said.

As the installations move forward, Kick said firefighters are being trained on how to use the new equipment. There has been one training session so far, and more are scheduled in the coming weeks, Kick said.

"This will be a constant program- there will always be changes and new technology coming up and it's a constant job to upgrade, enhance and provide the information to the units," Kick said.

Please read the Full Story

Comment:

Instead Of Letting Frank Mazza Go Millions Of Dollars Over Budget To Deliver A "NEW" Way Over Budget Hamilton Avenue School That Has Cracks And Leaks The Money Should Have Been Used For Upgraded And Enhancing Emergency Vehicles.

When is the Board Of Education going to audit Frank mazza's out of control spending of tax dollars.

Sourse: Greenwich Time

Reporter: Debra Friedman

Source URL: http://www.greenwichtime.com/localnews/ci_10521148

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