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VIDEO: Arne Duncan appears as "animated pitchman" for the Save-A-Life Foundation, ABC7 Chicago, 11/17/06 PHOTO: Ronald McDonald, Save-A-Life founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri, and Arne Duncan The Skeleton in Arne Duncan's Closet by Gerald W. BraceyEducation critic Jerry Bracey had just finished this column when he died on Oct. 20. He had planned to release it at his Huffington Post blog on Halloween. Hence the rattling skeletons theme. Click here to read an October 23, 2009 Washington Post obituary/tribune to Bracey.Halloween season is an appropriate time to talk about rattling skeletons in the closet. US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appears...

Imagine what the outcry would be if the House of Representatives somehow passed a bill outlawing charter schools nationwide and, before the Senate had even considered the bill, officials throughout government began writing to school districts telling them to start planning to eliminate charters. The backlash would be enormous. How dare they pressure school districts to kill charter schools before the law actually has changed? Yet that is exactly what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, other department officials and several congressmen have been doing with regard to an attempted federal takeover of the entire student-loan industry. About 75 percent of...

Using stimulus dollars as bait, President Obama is coaxing states to rewrite education laws and cut deals with unions as they compete for $5 billion in school reform grants.

Community leaders and parents outside Fenger are in disbelief that they are not at the breakfast table with Arne Duncan and Eric Holder. Attorney General Holder and Secretary of Education Duncan are in town to speak, ostensibly, with the community about youth violence -- a blight on Chicago neighborhoods so vividly brought to national attention by the videotaped beating of Derrion Albert. "They are meeting about us without us," said Phillip Jackson of the Black Star Project, a Chicago-based educational reform organization. Duncan and Holder's meeting at the Four Seasons also includes Mayor Daley, Pastor Michael Pfleger, CEO of Chicago...

They come from vastly different backgrounds - the U.S. secretary of education, a Democratic civil-rights activist, and the Republican former House speaker - but they all agreed that what they saw yesterday at two Philadelphia schools could be a national model. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and Newt Gingrich toured Mastery Charter School-Shoemaker Campus and McDaniel Elementary on the first stop of a multi-stop tour promoting education improvements.

SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are both traveling to Copenhagen this week to promote Chicago's bid to host to the 2016 Olympic Games--and they will be making the 3,979-mile trip on separate airplanes." SNIPPET: "As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report cited two cost estimates for an hour of air travel by the president, vice president and first lady. One estimate comes from the White House Military Office, the other from the U.S. Air Force. Using the CRS cost estimates and the inflation adjuster from the Bureau of Labor Statisitcs,...

Just when you thought he might be done, apparently access to babysitting services on weekends is a civil right in Obama world. At the very least, I'm sure taxpayers might object to having to pay for this right now. And one can only speculate as to who will get to pay and who will get to play. He wants public schools open on weekends so children have a safe place to go. Or maybe it's that he's seen the Ode to Obama videos floating around the Net and just thinks they need more choir practice? Obama and Arne Duncan believe...

President Barack Obama intends to address the nation's schoolchildren Tuesday in a speech that the kids apparently can watch on classroom TVs. I guess he wants to welcome the students back to school and urge them to study hard and set goals and remind them, despite his convenient presence on the screen, that they are in charge of their own education. Don't we already know that? Back in 1991, President George H.W. Bush gave a similar speech, broadcast from an eighth-grade classroom in Washington, D.C. And yes, the Democrats criticized the president for doing such a thing. Other than the...

We have known for many many years that the left has infiltrated our schools, especially at the university level, and have made life difficult for kids...or for that matter teachers...who have a conservative bent. But this is just creepy. It's a letter from the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan letting our K6 and under kids know that Obama will be speaking to them on September 8th: The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and...

At the request of President Obama, we're happy to announce that American Solutions General Chairman Newt Gingrich will be joining Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Reverend Al Sharpton on a multi-city Education Reform Tour.

This morning on the Today show it was announced that President Obama has asked me, on behalf of American Solutions, to travel the country on an Education Reform tour. I'll be joined by two very unlikely allies, to talk about charter schools and real education reform. I'll be travelling with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Reverend Al Sharpton, who are also strongly in favor of charter schools, on a multi-city tour. As a citizen, I believe where you have differences with your elected officials, you should oppose them vigorously. But when you can find common ground, it's important to work...

U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children among the first in line — at their local schools — the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they'll tackle the virus' all-but-certain resurgence. "We may end up averting a crisis. That's our hope," said President Barack Obama, who took time away from the G-8 summit in Italy to telephone another summit back home — the 500 state and local health officials meeting to prepare for swine flu's fall threat. No final decision has been made on whether to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A handful of states will soon be chosen to take part an intense, $5 billion experiment to improve schools that the federal government is calling "Race to the Top" - but California will be lucky if it gets to participate, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said today during a visit to San Francisco. "Honestly, California has lost its way," Duncan told dozens of the state's mayors and education officials who packed into San Francisco City Hall. "The long-term consequences of that are troubling." Duncan said the few states that win the competition for the new education money...

A Denver-based veterans organization has voted to disband after accusing its founder of fabricating an identity as a former Marine captain who served three tours in Iraq and was at the Pentagon on 9/11. Thirty-two-year-old Richard Glen Strandlof, who used the name Rick Duncan, founded the organization, the Colorado Veterans Alliance, about two years ago. Major Carl Redding, spokesman for the U.S. Marines, said there is no record of Richard Glen Strandlof or Rick Duncan serving in the Marines. Strandolf appeared several times as a campaign spokesperson attacking Republicans in 2008 on national security issues. Colorado Republican State Chairman Dick...

Washington, D.C.'s school voucher program for low-income kids isn't dead yet. But the Obama Administration seems awfully eager to expedite its demise. About 1,700 kids currently receive $7,500 vouchers to attend private schools under the Opportunity Scholarship Program, and 99% of them are black or Hispanic. The program is a huge hit with parents -- there are four applicants for every available scholarship -- and the latest Department of Education evaluation showed significant academic gains. Nevertheless, Congress voted in March to phase out the program after the 2009-10 school year unless it is reauthorized by Congress and the D.C. City...

While President Obama, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Attorney General Eric Holder share an anti-gun ideology, they might not be the greatest threat to the Second Amendment among the current administration. Their gun control efforts could be vastly outdone by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s habit of equating gun bans with curing a “public health epidemic.” Prior to becoming secretary of education, Duncan was CEO of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) from 2001 to 2008. During that time, student performance in CPS remained static or fell even further behind the national average. For example, in October 2008 the Chicago Tribune...

The NYT reports that during a press phone call yesterday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan "unleashed a barrage of dismal statistics about the South Carolina schools" whose Governor, Mark Sanford "has told the Obama administration that he would not accept some $577 million in educational stimulus money for South Carolina unless he could use it to pay down state debt." During the putative barrage of dismal statistics Duncan noted that "only 15 percent of the state’s black students are proficient in math and that the state has one of the nation’s worst high school graduation rates." This is a pot kettle...

If only the children in the Washington D.C. school choice program were Wall Street money changers or a "shovel-ready" project in West Virginia Robert Byrd could put his name on. If they were, then perhaps the 1,700 children currently realizing the benefits of school choice in Washington D.C. would have made the recipients list for the $1.2 trillion worth of other people's money President Obama and Congressional Democrats have spent in the last month alone. I suppose $1.2 trillion just doesn't go as far as it once did, particularly when the federal government is buying up unsold PT Cruisers and...

Will Bill Clinton come with Hillary for Day One of her confirmation hearing? The Senate is wondering. Here are some of the dates for the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings: -- Tuesday, Jan. 13, 10:00 am ET: Education: Arne Duncan (HELP Committee) -- Tuesday, Jan. 13: Energy Secretary: Steven Chu (Energy and Natural Resources Committee) -- Tuesday, Jan. 13, 10 am ET: HUD: Shaun Donovan (Banking Committee) -- Tuesday, Jan. 13, 9:30 am ET: State: Sen. Hillary Clinton (Foreign Relations Committee) -- Wednesday, Jan. 14: Veteran Affairs: Gen. Eric Shinseki (Veterans' Affairs Committee) -- Thursday, Jan. 15: Interior: Sen. Ken Salazar...

President-elect Barack Obama continues to reach not across the aisle, or even across the country, but right across town for his cabinet selections. Yet another lackluster liberal Chicago pol — Chicago Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan – this week was named by Obama to his cabinet, as Secretary of Education. Duncan’s biggest career accomplishments include: proposing the novel idea of an all-gay high school in Chicago, and offering to pay high school students to get good grades. Let’s look at each of these astonishing educational policy ideas separately. First, the idea of an all-gay high school has got to be up...

"I want to thank our mutual friend John Rogers, who's been a mentor and friend to me since I was 10-years-old. He gave my sister and I the opportunity to start a great school in the Southside of Chicago, and that has become a model for success in urban education."

Only 17% of 8th Graders Can Read at Grade Level in Chicago Schools Overseen by Obama Education Secretary-Designee Chicago Schools Chief Arne Duncan smiles as President-elect Barack Obama announces his selection to be Education Secretary, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008, at the Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago.(CNSNews.com) – In 2007, only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools – the school system administered by Arne Duncan since 2001. President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday tapped Duncan to become secretary of education in the upcoming administration. Duncan, hailed by Obama as a reformer,...

Good news people! Gather and celebrate! No, I am not referring to Christmas since that would be politically insensitive. We know that it is just too insensitive to too many people to be proud of American heritage and celebrate the things we hold dear. I can’t wait for the day when we no longer recognize the 4th of July as Independence Day but rather celebrate Global Poverty Day or some other garbage. I wish I was kidding since I am unapologetically American from the heart, but the day may well come. The point I am trying to make is that...

The Chicago Public Schools consistently ranks as one of the worst public school systems in the country. Despite much ballyhooed efforts at reform in recent years, little progress has been made. The man Chicago Mayor Richard Daley originally tapped to reform the schools, Paul Vallas, was thwarted http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/10/news/mn-8818 in his efforts by the powerful teachers' union, with the assistance of then-State Sen. Barack Obama and his terrorist buddy, William Ayers. Today, Barack Obama tapped the head of that school system, Arne Duncan, a fellow Hyde Park resident and basketball playmate of Obama's, to run the Department of Education. Duncan succeeded...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan to serve as education secretary, people with knowledge of the decision said Monday.

JUST MAYBE. Maybe this "draft Sununu for Republican National Chairman" thing isn't a waste of time. It's not something we'd expect Sen. John Sununu to want to get into. Sure, he lost his reelection bid, but he's young, he has a growing family and, politically speaking, he still has a bright future and, with his independent streak, he isn't someone we'd think would want to become the face of the establishment Republican Party, not to mention take part in the very inside baseball game of running for the post. But, surprisingly, Sununu didn't close the door to it yesterday. Sununu...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two pro-life Republicans are looking at campaigns to become the next chairman of the national Republican Party. Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and the most prominent African-American Republican, is considered a top candidate. Chip Saltsman, the chairman of the presidential campaign of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is also vying for the post. There had been talk of pro-life former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also running, but Gingrich has said he will not participate in the race for the position and Steels is talking to him to try to secure an endorsement. In...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Tennessee Valley Authority board has approved increasing the utility chief executive's compensation by nearly a half million dollars, and Congressman Jimmy Duncan, Jr., has sent a letter to the TVA board chairman questioning the move. The increase comes a month after the largest power rate increase in three decades took effect. "Announcing this raise on the same day the Nation officially enters a recession, when many people are struggling to make ends meet, is just very unfortunate." In his letter to TVA Board Chairman William Sansom, Duncan says, "It becomes even worse when it follows...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Tennessee Valley Authority board has approved increasing the utility chief executive's compensation by nearly a half million dollars, and Congressman Jimmy Duncan, Jr., has sent a letter to the TVA board chairman questioning the move. The increase comes a month after the largest power rate increase in three decades took effect. "Announcing this raise on the same day the Nation officially enters a recession, when many people are struggling to make ends meet, is just very unfortunate." In his letter to TVA Board Chairman William Sansom, Duncan says, "It becomes even worse when it follows...

SPOKANE, Washington (Reuters) - A federal jury in Idaho sentenced Joseph Duncan on Wednesday to death for shooting to death a 9-year-old boy in front of his younger sister after kidnapping and sexually abusing the boy. A 12-member jury in Boise, Idaho handed down the sentence in a unanimous vote after a two-week trial during which prosecutors presented gruesome evidence that painted Duncan, 45, as a predator who carefully planned the kidnapping, sexual abuse, torture and murder of his young victims. "I haven't seen anything that comes close to the horrendous facts that were presented in this case," U.S. Attorney...

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge said Thursday he will have to schedule a hearing to determine whether confessed killer Joseph Duncan is mentally competent enough to continue with his oft-delayed death penalty sentencing hearing. Duncan has been undergoing mental health evaluations in Boise and Seattle since May. The latest wrinkle in the case is that his current defense attorneys have filed a motion to have him declared mentally incompetent. Testimony in the sentencing hearing was was supposed to begin in May but has been on hold since Duncan requested to act as his own lawyer -- on the day the...

Duncan Lee Hunter, born May 31, 1948 to Lola L. Young and Robert Olin Hunter. Thank you for your service in Vietnam and in Congress.

Two events directed at opposite ends of the illegal immigration debate take place this weekend in Sonoma County. Organizers say at least 3,000 people are expected to march Sunday through downtown Santa Rosa in a pro-immigration rally organized by the local field office of the United Farm Workers. Casimiro Alvarez, UFW regional director, said the rally and march come after a long period of relative silence from the local Latino immigrant community. He said the goal of the march is three-fold. “First, we want to honor the memory of Cesar Chavez and celebrate his life and work,” Alvarez said. “Second,...

My top five (listed in alphabetical order) Tim Duncan Kevin Garnett Lebron James Kobe Bryant Chris Paul

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Mike Duncan believes Republicans can beat either of the two top Democrats racing for their party’s nomination. For Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Duncan says it comes down to trust. Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) weakness, on the other hand, is his experience, according to Duncan. Duncan continually brought up Clinton and Obama during a Wednesday morning breakfast with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. Pointing to internal poll numbers, the RNC chairman repeatedly insisted that no matter who Republicans nominate, the Democratic candidate can be defeated in November.

Ladies and gentleman, today I my heart sank...  My jaw dropped....  And my mind screamed!!! I think blood shot out of my left eyeball as I opened my email this evening and I found this message from Chuck Winn, Florida Chief of Staff, Hunter for President  - who if you recall is the guy who provided respones for my campaign interview with Duncan Hunter's campaign.  Well here is he message and some of you may have recieved the same, I couldn't believe it either: QUOTE:I have full confidence that Congressman Hunter made this decision with the sole consideration of what would be...

The things I could say to the Hunter detractors will give the Mods and JimRob massive heart attacks. But I won’t do that. I do hope you’re all happy now. You, along with the others and the lame-stream media, have succeeded in forcing Hunter to drop out. After him, there isn’t any other Conservative in the race. No, Thompson doesn’t come close as he’s supported amnesty, campaign-finance reform and voted to give China permanent MFN status. You all have succeeded in forcing our absolute best chance of turning this country around to drop out. The one man who won’t sell...

Tribute video for Congressman Duncan Hunter, who ended his candidacy for president today.

Hunter drops out of race, CNN reports.

I was surprised to hear Rush Limbaugh the other day say that there was no 'Thoroughbred' Conservative in the 2008 Republican nomination Field for President. I was thinking to myself, What? Rep. Duncan Hunter is Conservative right down the line. From his web site: Hunter' Ratings National Rifle Association: A+ Americans for Better Immigration: A+ Eagle Forum: 100% Christian Coalition: 100% Family Research Council Action: 100% Campaign for Working Families: 100% Concerned Women for America: 100% National Right to Life Committee: 100% Federation for American Immigration Reform: 100% National Federation of Independent Business: 100% Gun Owners of America: A (Read...

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's Title IV Review Committee has certified that Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan has abandoned the communion of the church. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori informed Duncan on January 15 of the certification and sent him a copy. Her letter told Duncan that she sought the canonically required permission from the House's three senior bishops with jurisdiction to inhibit him, based on the certification, from the performance of any episcopal, ministerial or canonical acts. "On 11 January 2008 they informed me that such consents would not be given at this time by all...

Duncan Hunter is a slice of true classic Americana. His continued pride in America is evident in everything he has done, which is quite a bit over his life and career. After serving in Vietnam as an Army Ranger, Hunter went to college on the GI bill. Later he ran for congress in a previously democrat controlled district of California at the same time his friend Ronald Reagan was preparing to become President. Hunter won and so did his friend. Duncan Hunter is the candidate that even Reagan’s son Michael Reagan has said best reflects and embodies the true Reagan...

Provides Basis for Protection of All Unborn by Legislatively Establishing Personhood. A Life at Conception Act - as introduced by Congressman Duncan Hunter (H.R. 618) - is legislation that, quite simply, would declare the unborn to be “persons” under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, and therefore entitled to the right to life guaranteed therein. The 14th Amendment states: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to...

Your Aug. 2 editorial alleges that the B-2 Stealth bomber is a "billion-dollar lemon." This broadside is reminiscent of the 1980's, when critics sought to undermine the Reagan rearmament program by questioning the idea that a high-technology military could perform in combat. Before World War II, bomber advocates thought air defense was futile -- until radar was invented. Suddenly, bombers could be detected and engaged. The United States lost 2,200 aircraft over North Vietnam as missiles were added to anti-aircraft guns and fighters. From this experience came the push for "stealth" technology that would blind radar. Only seven B-2 bombers...

Congressman JD Hayworth, author of Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security and the War on Terror endorses Duncan Hunter for President. Hayworth bucks the milquetoast trend of the GOP party-establishment to marginalize the immigration issue and tuck it out of the way of the current crop of amnesty candidates. Instead, he's voting for the last remaining border security hawk in the race: Duncan Hunter. Congressman Hayworth writes: "To base a primary vote on 'electability' instead of ideas and principles seems to me a reduction of your rights via rationalization. No one will ever completely agree with every position that...

Lest you forget it, Rep. Duncan Hunter of the 52nd Congressional District of California is still running for president. In recent weeks, the Republican congressman's presence in the campaign has all but evaporated. He was barred from appearing at the New Hampshire debate moderated by Charlie Gibson and more recently was excluded from the Fox News debate in South Carolina. But Hunter is still running for president, even if his campaign appearances have now been reduced to opening acts for the big players still in the game. Last night, Hunter delivered a pro-family, pro-military stump speech at what appeared—by most...

Obama’s answer was intended to be diplomatic. “If his criteria is military service, then frankly he’s only got one candidate left," Obama said. "I mean, he'll have to vote for John McCain, who is a genuine hero.” But Obama, in his answer, forgot about the other option, no doubt a third-tier candidate but still in the race for the Republican nomination: Rep. Duncan Hunter, who is a Vietnam veteran. ... "Obama is correct that the most important job of the president is to keep Americans safe; that's why the president [Bush] should be applauded for his strong record since 9/11,"...

I received a phone call with a message from Steve King, and while at first I thought he would be asking me to support Fred Thompson, it turned out he was trying to get support for the Life Begins at Conception Act. Here is information from the Pro-Life alliance about the act, which was submitted in January of 2007 by Duncan Hunter: A Frontal Assault on Roe v. Wade For more than thirty years, nine unelected men and women on the Supreme Court have played God with innocent human life. The result has been a brutal holocaust that has claimed...

Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #15 – Myrtle Beach, SC 01/10/08 - Official Discussion Thread Watch the Republican presidential primary candidates debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., live on FOX News Channel and FOXNews.com at 9 p.m. ET.

WASHINGTON -- The Hollywood studios, consumer electronics makers and the music industry have called a temporary truce and are teaming to convince lawmakers of the importance of free trade. The heads of the groups' major trade organizations told lawmakers in a letter released Monday that it was in the country's best interest to approve a number of trade agreements pushed by the Bush administration. Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Assn., told reporters "it was the first time in my career" that he had agreed to sign on with "two organizations I have opposed for years" --...