Smart cutie provides bright start to week & Update

We introduced you to home-schooled spelling whiz, Lori Anne Madison in mid-March. At the time the incredibly poised 6-year-old vanquished students well over twice her age to win Virginia’s Prince William County Spelling Bee, qualifying for the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee.

In the competition beginning today and running through Thursday, she will compete as one of 278 students who have qualified for the top spelling event — now in its 85th year. The competition doesn’t have a lower age limit, but no one younger than 8 has ever previously qualified for the nationals.

The super spellers come from all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Dependents Schools in Europe; as well as the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

Read Lori Anne’s impressive résumé here.

Scripps National Spelling Bee round results will be posted on HERE in real time on Wednesday and Thursday. Live updates and results also will be posted on both days via Twitter@ScrippsBee.

 

Thursday’s semifinals will not include the youngest speller in bee history, 6-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va., although she made a valiant effort. Lori Anne misspelled one of her two words during the preliminary rounds — “ingluvies,” which she started with an “e” — and her score on Tuesday’s 50-word computer test wasn’t enough to make up the difference.

“It was close,” said spelling bee director Paige Kimball.

We hope to see this great little girl back next time around. Her pluck along with diligent determination and hard work gave us all a new little heroine to admire.  

 

Just another day in an AZ school

KTVK Channel 3 has the report and steamy video captured by a 16-year-old student at The Scholars’ Academy in Quartzsite, Arizona.  You’ll notice the links to the “Principal’s Corner” and “Faculty and Staff” have both been pulled down.

Although the principal was allowed to resign, his secretary — with the unlikely name of Billie Madewell — was fired for their extracurricular activities during school hours.

Principal Steve McClenning’s pledge to parents (previously posted), was “I assure you that I will do my best to make sure your child will have the best educational experience possible.”

No one could accuse him of lying.

 

The only positive in this pathetic scenario is that the two are both adults. Seeing Red AZ has long exposed the sexually predatory teachers in Arizona schools who prey on students. Check out the links to some of the NEA marchers in this “endless parade” here.

Weekend reading guaranteed to make you smarter

Townhall delivers a treat today from John Hawkins, who runs Right Wing News.

He writes, “Thomas Sowell is not only one of the finest columnists in the business, he’s a prolific author, a brilliant economist, and he has an incomparable knack for simplifying complex concepts that few other human beings can match. Enjoy the distilled wisdom!”

Here is what Hawkins titles “The 25 Best Quotes From Thomas Sowell.”

Read and digest them. You’ll be much wiser for the experience. Seeing Red AZ has long had Thomas Sowell on our Blogroll of favorites.

Greg Patterson: Senate reschedules Regents hearing

After some bizarre shenanigans by AZ Sen. Rich Crandall (R-Dist.19), Greg Patterson’s name will be placed back on the senate’s Education Committee agenda.  Gov. Jan Brewer appointed Patterson to the Board of Regents on March 23. 

Crandall, who chairs the Education Committee, was holding the nomination, not allowing the senate confirmation process to proceed.

Patterson’s nomination is now scheduled to be heard Monday at 11:30 a.m.

The members of the Board of Regents set policy, tuition rates and are responsible for the hiring of university presidents for Arizona’s three state universities. Republican Patterson has been nominated to replace retiring Democrat Ernest Calderon.

Seeing Red AZ covered this saga in a post yesterday titled Greg Patterson well qualified to serve as Regent. Read it here.

Weekend reading guaranteed to make you smarter

National Review carries a worthy read by John Fund titled “Still the Alinsky Playbook”

It’s a three-pager, chock-full of important information detailing the tactics employed by the Democrat party and its radical operatives. Saul Alinsky is also exposed as the inspiration behind leftist politics and union organizing of the National Education Association.

Fund writes that “just before his death in 1972, he [Alinsky] synthesized the lessons he had learned into a book called “Rules for Radicals,” in which he urged radicals to make common cause with anyone to further their ends. The book was even dedicated, presumably tongue in cheek, to Lucifer, “the very first radical,” who “rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom.”

Barack Obama, who began as an Alinsky acolyte and ACORN ”community organizer” and Hillary Clinton, are among Alinsky’s disciples.

If you read nothing else this weekend, take time for this. Knowledge is power.

Public schools, unionist teachers, victimize students

The Louisiana News Star reports that a teacher was present in the classroom while two third graders engaged in oral sex. Try wrapping your thoughts around that. The teacher has been dismissed because the principal felt that she was “not monitoring the classroom adequately.”

Another teacher in the district is under investigation for drug usage while on the job.

The Superintendent is on record desiring to “change the culture” of the district. “We are working on creating a culture where children can feel safe, loved and protected, and that’s quite a challenge,” she said.

Monitored and loved? How about instructed? Isn’t it the responsibility of educators to impart knowledge to students in preparation to be productive citizens who are able to compete in the workforce? Babysitters monitor and parents provide love.

Although they have an average student-to-teacher ratio of 16.6, and are spending $10,000 a year per child, academic scores are pathetic, ranked with a grade of “D” by the local school directory. By any standard this school is failing the children who attend.

The directory states that “the overall school rating shows that Tallulah Elementary School performed on average worse than many other schools across the state on iLEAP and LEAP state exams in the following subjects: English Language Arts, Math, Science and  Social Studies.”

An interesting accompanying statistic would be the percentage of teachers who are members of the NEA – National Education Association or the left-wing union known as the Louisiana Federation of Teachers.

ICE falls in Obama, Napolitano mode

Unenforced laws are meaningless

The decision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials not to deport six illegal alien demonstrators arrested Tuesday after protesting in front of Trevor Browne High School and obstructing traffic for more than two hours is not unique to Phoenix.

This is a repeat of contrived and practiced performances all around the United States as those in the U.S. illegally make demands, aggressively blocking busy roadways while chanting “Support the DREAM Act!” and “We will no longer remain in the shadows.” As an example, this was the scene in Georgia during a protest of immigration reform legislation. Seven protestors boldly disclosed their illegal status, knowing they would face no penalty.

In a statement ICE said, “Upon further review, ICE has determined that these individuals do not fall under ICE’s enforcement priorities and the agency has lifted the previously lodged detainers. ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of criminal aliens, recent border crossers and egregious immigration law violators, such as those who have been previously removed from the United States.”

“Smart and effective…priorities?” Could those include getting out the vote for Obama from a grateful new voter base? Democrats, including Jeff Flake’s liberal Democrat congressional chum Luis Gutierrez, cheered the lenient policy. Gutierrez is the one who complimented Flake for helping “turn more red states blue.“ (Read fourth paragraph from bottom of linked article to the end.)

Homeland INsecurity Secretary Janet Napolitano has sent a clear signal that “student demonstrators” who could qualify for the nightmarish DREAM Act are not an enforcement priority for ICE. Under government directives, ICE officials now say their focus centers on deporting violent illegals.

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) has just released its list of endorsed federal candidates for 2012. The list of 125 candidates will continually be updated   These incumbent members of Congress are those ALIPAC has supported due to their support for the existing border and immigration laws, rather than replacement laws that would exacerbate illegal immigration, such as Dream or Comprehensive Amnesty plans.

A group called Dream Activist, an online organization based in several states, has organized acts of civil disobedience in numerous cities in recent years. This page links to the organized training received by illegal youth to demand college tuition, and conduct protests. The guide book can be seen here.

Lori Anne Madison: A testament to home-schooling

How do you spell p-r-o-d-i-g-y?

Poised, unruffled and bright as a newly minted penny, Lori Anne Madison returned to the Scripps National Spelling Bee to win yet another trophy. The 6-year-old blonde from Virginia, has just become the youngest speller eligible to participate in the competition.

Lori Anne, who is home-schooled, won over 21 other elementary and middle school spelling champs — all of whom were older than her — to win the bee, which enters her into the national competition.

Her winning word “vaquero,” the Spanish translation of cowboy, put her over the top.  Some children might have been intimidated by competing against spellers over twice their age, but Lori took it in her stride. “I was confident because I have been in spelling bees with older kids before and I judge them by who they are, not about age,” the articulate Lori Anne said. “My parents quiz me, I read and I have a really good memory,” she calmly stated.

Watch her self-assured interview on Fox News.

The last phase of the competition can be seen here. It’s well worth your time.

DeSisto School: Paul Babeu’s biggest headache

Lengthy Republic article omits any mention of problem plagued school

Just when you think the daily is actually going to hit Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu on the real “scandal” —  the word used by reporter Rebekah L. Sanders to headline the front page article, you realize it won’t happen. Readers have to wait until paragraph forty of the A 4 jump page. And then, whada’ya know?  The report skirts the issue.

The article is replete with rehash about Babeu’s Mexican national former lover Jose Orozco, racy photos posted on the Internet, threats of deportation, denials of threats, admission of being homosexual, swaggering lawyereze from hired guns, and what other candidates and strategists may or may not think regarding the political pulse of now feeble Congressional candidate Babeu.

Finally comes paragraph 40. But rather than mentioning what should be Babeu’s principle campaign catastrophe, reporter Sanders gives the two-word political deal breaker short shrift and less than a mere mention. Missing from this lone paragraph are the words “DeSisto School:”

Sanders writes: Still, voters seem to understand the scandal involves more than Babeu’s sexual orientation. The sheriff admitted to posting suggestive photos of himself online and sending them to Orozco. Media reports, including stories in The Arizona Republic, have examined his time as headmaster of a financially troubled Massachusetts school that was investigated by the state for child abuse and shut down after he moved to Arizona. And Orozco last week filed a $1million notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, against Babeu for causing him “mental anguish.”

Let’s cut to the chase. Babeu’s proclivities and revelations, though long rumored, were juicy attention grabbers that instantly marginalized him with the conservative East Valley voter base crucial to landing that congressional seat he so covets. But the real issue of significance that should permanently lay him low is the controversial and now defunct DeSisto School, where Babeu toiled as headmaster and pickup artist extraordinaire. 

Persistent rumors of Paul Babeu’s relationships with male students were substantiated by his own sister and former students as seen in this ABC15 in-depth video report. Babeu’s older sister Lucy Babeu expressed her shock when he moved a 17-year-old former male student into his home. Babeu, 43, defended his actions, saying the young man was “his boyfriend” and he “loved him.”

The Massachusetts “therapeutic” boarding school for troubled youth had no qualified therapists on staff, but was rife with physical, emotional and sexual abuse allegations as well as fraud, falsified credentials and financial woes. While Babeu was in charge, the Office of Child Care Services in Massachusetts found the DeSisto School was unlicensed. The state’s investigation also revealed that students were made to “strip search” each other and “routinely took group showers” ..“leading to sexual abuse.”

Beginning with this February 18 post, Seeing Red AZ has written about Paul Babeu’s unsavory connections to the DeSisto School. Read more here, here and here.

The question to ask is, why is the Arizona Republic unable to squeeze the two words “DeSisto School” into a front page report linking “Babeu” and “Scandal” in the headline?

Meanwhile Babeu will be traveling to Dallas where he is receiving out-of-state fundraising assistance from a gay group, Metroplex Republicans. He has clearly found a new constituency.

JD Hayworth fills Limbaugh slot weekdays

Media personality, author and former U.S. Congressman JD Hayworth joins San Francisco’s venerable KSFO weekdays from 9:00 am to 12 noon, Paul Hosley, the station’s News and Program Director has announced.  Hayworth will be featured in a line-up that includes Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Laura Ingraham.

“Congressman JD Hayworth brings a political insider’s perspective to KSFO,” said Hosley.  “He is a key addition to the KSFO line-up as we head into an important election year.”

Arizonans know that to be true!  Hayworth is a rarity — combining intellect and entertaining wit with congressional-based insight into the Washington establishment. It would be difficult to find an instructor with better credentials.

Listening live is as easy as clicking on here.

Seeing Red AZ thanks commenter Joe Z for the tip, and wishes JD all the best.  We”ll be joining many other regular listeners again.