Those who can’t stand that Sen. Dan Kotowski would dare try to lessen the scourge of gun violence in our state have taken to hurling preschool epithets like “Dan the Ban” at him. Apparently they don’t realize such a phrase is actually a badge of honor in these parts — the kid- and family-friendly, close-in suburbs.
Those same folks who try to insult his good work also try to claim he’s a one-hit wonder; that somehow his only focus is on gun violence. While his critics may myopically think so simply because they’re projecting (it’s crystal clear their only issue is guns), that hollow whine couldn’t be further from the truth.
Sen. Kotowski has also been hard at work in his freshman term on issues as broad-ranging as ethics (he famously wrote in Dick Devine rather than vote for Rod Blagojevich last autumn), veterans affairs and education.
In fact, it is his focus on education and kids’ safety which prompted this post. Yesterday, a blogger named Steve Dembo posted his thoughts on education policy as it intersects with modern technology. Mr. Dembo apparently opposes the recently defeated DOPA initiative which would have indiscriminately banned social networking and other sites from schools receiving Federal monies. As Mr. Dembo points out, such networking sites are the way of the future for global business and industry (in the last few weeks alone I’ve had a bunch of folks sending me “Linked In” invites to join their business networks).
The impetus behind the Federal “Deleting Online Predators Act” legislation (again, it didn’t pass) was to protect kids against predators who use the Internet. It’s certainly a laudable goal, but DOPA was a ham-handed, shut-everything-down effort that went too far, impeding liberties in the interest of children.
So to whom should Mr. Dembo turn for an example of a better approach at protecting our kids who use the Internet? You guessed it, “Dan the Ban”:
Regarding the plan, I recommend reading Illinois Senator Dan Kotowski’s Internet Safety Education Act. It may not be perfect, but it’s at least a positive place to start. The summary is as follows
Creates the Internet Safety Education Act to inform and protect students from inappropriate or illegal communications and solicitation and to require school districts to provide education about Internet threats and risks. Creates the Internet Safety Education Alliance under the authority of the Office of the Attorney General. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Internet Safety Education Fund. Amends the School Code to mandate the provision by every public school of instruction and discussion on effective methods by which students may recognize and report inappropriate, illegal, or threatening communications on the Internet on or before the start of the 2008-2009 school year.
Maybe those Kotowski critics are too clever by half, considering Sen. Kotowski is trying to “ban” predators too…
Full disclosure (once again): I have volunteered for Sen. Kotowski and I support his work. He’s a good man and a hard-working, responsive, decent legislator.
29 comments
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July 27, 2007 at 11:14 pm
c-rock4freedom
I am just honored to be quoted.
MAybe this great bill of his, can be financed thru higher tobacco taxes too. Just throw on another dime onto a pack to make sure its covered. Or maybe another casino. Or better yet, maybe protect us from high eletric bills.
Why do we need another government worker on the broke penison system? Great, we cant teach johnny how to read, but we can teach him safety on the net. Why cant we just educate kids in school the things they need? Like Reading, and Riflemanship.
On his gun bills, he took a shell bill, which was for such-protecting kids from sexual predators, and turned it into gun control bill. A bill that wont do squat for crime in this state.
Dont worry, Dan will have fun in the next election. With property taxes going up in his area, he can help explain why we need such, when old folks are getting hit with 1-2k increases over a yr.
I saw a house in Mt. prospect go from 4000, to 5700/yr in property taxes.
And its going to get worse on how these guys run the state.
Why does Dan the Ban hate us for our freedoms?
July 28, 2007 at 10:14 am
robnesvacil
So many naive ad hominems, so little time C-Rock.
Your hatred for a good state legislator is blinding you to the fact he’s doing good work — maybe you don’t agree with it, so be it. You don’t even live in our district so your whining is just that, whining.
A few points, since your rage has clearly blinded you to the obvious:
- Those high electric bills were a direct result of your quasi-libertarian/semi-conservative “free” market principles at work — the electric cos wanted to get as much money out of people as they could. Don’t whine about the things you support.
- The schools in this area are doing quite well, thank you very much. But why recognize their quality when you can moan about a guy you hate instead?
- The very definition of a “shell bill” is that it is subject to change during the session. Before complaining about things you clearly don’t grasp, try learning a little more about our state’s basic legislative process.
- Do state legislators set property taxes? No. Again, your naivete precedes you. They can limit the assessment increases and the can limit the tax rates (both of which they have done), but they don’t set the taxes. Do you even understand how property taxes work in our state? Clearly, you do not.
- As for the house “you saw in Mt. Prospect” … do you have any facts on that? Did the house sell since the last assessment? Did the homeowner do their homework to challenge the assessment? That large of a change usually means something unique happened (like the house was sold, and the reassessment reflects that sales price).
- As for “old folks” getting hit with “1-2k increases over a year” … again, you provide no actual examples, just your wild claims of rumors you’ve heard, likely from other people who complain about anything and everything just like you. Next you’ll be saying pigs fly because you hate cows. (By the way, there is such a thing as a seniors exemption, not that you’d bother to recognize that.)
…If you, or anyone, wants to find out why there are any increases in your property taxes you need to do three things. First, look at your assessment and talk to your Cook County board member and/or your township’s assessor if you disagree with it. Second, look at your tax bill and determine which local governments had dramatic increases. Third, once you’ve identified which line items spiked, talk with that local government board (village board, library board, etc.) about why they increased your taxes.
Welcome to Illinois, where overlapping municipal governments all tax properties at different rates.
July 30, 2007 at 9:02 am
c-rock4freedom
UI got some work this morning, but I ran into this.
Teachers’ grades inflated
CPS | ‘Unsatisfactory’ ratings ‘out of whack’
July 30, 2007
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter/rrossi@suntimes.com
Most veteran Chicago Public Schools principals admit they have inflated their performance ratings of teachers — 93 percent of whom are rated “superior” or “excellent,” according to a new study released today.
At the other end of the spectrum, the tiny percentage of “unsatisfactory” teachers “seems wildly out of whack with the performance the system is getting,” according to the study’s author, Tim Daly, president of The New Teachers Project.
July 30, 2007 at 9:14 am
robnesvacil
The Chicago Public School system has several charter and magnet schools, yet information such as this leads folks like yourself to complain.
My local school system does not, yet it functions quite well and folks such as yourself still complain.
Neither point has much to do with the topic of the original post, though the openness of this blog does allow you a forum to whine (again).
July 31, 2007 at 12:44 pm
c-rock4freedom
Well,
I know of a kid who was born here, of mexican parents, who was kept in ESL all his life. This kid has been passed thru the grades, the last school was Holmes over on Wolf in Wheeling. He has a thrid grade reading level in English.
I also know that 214 forces minority kids to drop out. To help with the statistics. NCLB is part of the reasons these days.
How I know, I will not say. I just have my feelers out there, and I do not want to see reprisals done to them all. Take it with a grain of salt.
Plus your Dan the Ban, was messing around with sheet metal mags, we have a government shutdown comming!!! Whoo Hoo!!
http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2007/07/31/this-just-in-44/#comments
July 31, 2007 at 1:57 pm
robnesvacil
C-Rock,
Why do you bother? You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.
Why would District 214 care about “statistics” for No Child Left Behind? The district is not even in the program.
And the governor has much more do with the abysmal atmosphere in Springfield than any given single legislator. Knowing how bad Blago is is part of the reason Sen. Kotowski didn’t vote for the guy last autumn.
Get your facts straight because til you do the opinions (rants) you spout off are suspect.
July 31, 2007 at 7:47 pm
c-rock4freedom
214 is monitored on grading. Do not lie about that Rob. They get Federal money. Everything over there is statics. Kids who drop out, keep the grades up of the rest. Even a small percentage can make great changes in those level.
They all have to blame for it Rob. All democrats are to blame. They are not running the state well.
August 1, 2007 at 8:28 am
c-rock4freedom
Oh ya,
like I was talking out my ass on property taxes going up in Cook and such? Look at what I see.
Faster way to get folks mad, is raise their taxes 30%. So yes, folks are getting hit with 1-2k increases in their taxes.
30% rise in home value?
Palatine Township’s turn at property tax sticker shock
By Sara Faiwell
sfaiwell@dailyherald.com
Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007
If you live in Palatine Township, you might have done a double-take last weekend when the property tax assessments arrived in the mail.
If you live elsewhere in Northwest suburban Cook County, you already should have received your new assessment — or be prepared for possible sticker shock in the next few months.
Palatine-area officials say they’re fielding a lot of phone calls from residents wanting to know why the new assessments are so high.
On average, Palatine Township residents are seeing assessment increases of 30 percent to 35 percent, township Assessor Terry Kelly said.
http://www.dailyherald.com/news/cookstory.asp?id=336419&cc=c&tc=&t=
August 1, 2007 at 8:58 am
robnesvacil
I asked you for evidence rather than hearsay — and you were talking about property taxes, not property assessments.
Assessments can be appealed through the local township office (which, in Palatine Township, is run by Republicans).
Those spikes are the direct effect of having artificially held the assessment down during the last reassessment period — it’s the same that happened after electric rates were artificially held down for a decade.
August 1, 2007 at 9:01 am
robnesvacil
PS: The majority of the 214 district board is Republicans (though it’s a non-partisan board) — from Leslie Pinney on.
Why are you blaming Democrats for anything having to do with 214?
And, again, 214 is not part of NCLB so they’re not getting Federal dollars through NCLB which was your original claim.
August 1, 2007 at 12:47 pm
c-rock4freedom
Sorry Rob,
I am in a “no-spin” zone these days.
August 2, 2007 at 8:13 am
c-rock4freedom
Again this is in the trib.
Looks like government does, what it does. Just lowers the standard. Are you use to it now Rob?
The FED is everywhere Rob, even in 214. They have their hands in everything these days. Even your Freedom Rob. You remember what they use to be, dont you?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-highschoolaug02,1,848695.story
Illinois and most other states are setting the bar too low when it comes to goals for high school graduation, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The national study by The Education Trust, a Washington think tank, focused on graduation requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, which is designed to make school officials more accountable for students’ progress.
High schools are required to meet annual state goals in math and reading as well as for the number of seniors who graduate. Schools face stringent sanctions if they don’t comply. Illinois officials hope to reach a graduation rate of 85 percent by 2014, the deadline to meet state proficiency standards under No Child Left Behind.
August 2, 2007 at 8:26 am
robnesvacil
What happened to your “no spin zone”…?
NCLB’s “stringent” requirement are beyond convoluted and have been from the start.
August 2, 2007 at 2:39 pm
c-rock4freedom
doesnt matter if your a government employee. You follow it, cause you wantr your paycheck, benefits, and pension.
They just find ways to work with it, and damm those who they serve. So minorities suffer from white man’s guilt.
August 2, 2007 at 3:33 pm
robnesvacil
C-Rock,
The problem is that NCLB is a bad program. What you cite is evidence of that. It was set up from the get-go to be more about politics than education.
August 4, 2007 at 7:47 am
c-rock4freedom
then please name one government program that is good? Patriot Act maybe?
Maybe you need to watch this movie.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=497251819335380093
August 5, 2007 at 3:23 am
robnesvacil
C-Rock,
Depends on whether the people in charge of the government hate it and therefore neglect it (witness Minnesota’s Republican Gov. Pawlenty nixing a gas tax last year that would’ve gone directly to improving infrastructure … he’s suddenly for such a tax) … or whether the folks we elect actually recognize some issues are too complex, too costly and too “unprofitable” for the so-called free market to handle.
Bridges are apparently one of those sorts of “issues” — which is why the Federal highway bill is so important to the economy and safety of our nation and her citizens (…when it’s not laden with pork like the Republicans’ Bridge to Nowhere, Alaska or their Highway to Nowhere, Pennsylvania).
While Republican Pres. George Bush is trying to pass off bridge infrastructure as a state problem, most of the highway funding in America comes from the Feds. Republican Pres. Dwight Eisenhower recognized the importance to our nation of such a thing… sadly, his party has done an about-face.
August 5, 2007 at 9:25 pm
c-rock4freedom
I think it has to do with the growth of government. they have way too much to do. They always want something “new” to solve for us. They forgot some of the first things they need to do. Roads and bridges is one thing. Look at the post office.
YOu give too much faith to the state. Why cant you believe in your fellow American?” Why cant you believe they can solve their own issues in life?
August 5, 2007 at 9:26 pm
c-rock4freedom
I hope you got to watch that google video.
August 6, 2007 at 9:26 am
robnesvacil
C-Rock,
Those “new” things you’re talking about involve a war based on lies in Iraq (which I know you are against). The other “new” things you talk about involve failed abstinence-only waste-of-money education policies and other similar dogma-inspired nanny state efforts.
Oh, and the “new” cutbacks the conservatives foist on their fellow citizens in order to have some semblance of doing something to balance the budget.
…And my fellow Americans are our government (the “state”). Gov. Pawlenty is a conservative Minnesotan. Pres. Bush is a conservative New Englander (granted, with a learned Texas accent). The people we elect to run our governments are our fellow Americans, C-Rock (yourself included if you ever ran for office).
I have faith that our government, when led by competent people who actually consider their fellow Americans, does work very well. But I also recognize that not every American thinks the same way and so we sometimes end up electing people who do not realize their actions will, eventually, have dire consequences.
We can’t “save” everyone or “fix” every problem — but we sure as hell can fight to try. Many conservative-partisans in power these days seem to have given up on that.
August 6, 2007 at 12:19 pm
c-rock4freedom
Then please tell me a time in History, where big government did its best? Please tell me of a time in US history, where growth of government actually solved anything.
Why fight for them to fix it for you? What happened to your generations mantra” ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.
August 6, 2007 at 3:13 pm
robnesvacil
World War II.
The US had rationing on everything from butter to metal… There was a draft… The top tax bracket was 90%… Private industries were converted to the war effort…
None of that would’ve happened without an expansion of government.
Just prior, and even going into WWII, FDR’s policies began to reverse the damage done by Republican fat-cat Herbert Hoover (whom conservatives nowadays celebrate with their “Hoover Institute” and such ’scholars’ who belong to it as Victor Davis Hanson).
Later, the Eisenhower Highway and Defense system led to exponential economic growth as interstate travel became incredibly easy for almost all Americans to enjoy and benefit from.
More recently, the Clinton Administration’s FEMA dept. (while not perfect) did a helluvalot better job than the Bush Admin’s equivalent. From forest fires (which even then-Gov. Bush relied on FEMA to help with in Texas) to hurricanes, Clinton’s FEMA was prepared and ready to kick into action to respond immediately to natural disaster … and did.
Going back even further, land-grant universities were a major advancement of “big government”. These state schools have educated millions of Americans and some of the biggest advancements in every field have come from the likes of the University of Illinois … whose ground-breaking work in Internet browsers led directly to the very blog you’re reading right now. (Indeed, the very Internet itself was at first a Pentagon “big government” effort … and later a scientific and academic “big government” undertaking.)
Just because you loathe your fellow Americans in government doesn’t mean everyone has to.
And just because you ignore the good works “big” government does day in and day out doesn’t mean those works cease to exist.
August 6, 2007 at 3:42 pm
c-rock4freedom
Well,
some see it differently about FDR. He got us into a war, which most Americans at the time did not want. Untill he blocked off all of Japans oil, we were not in it.
The hwy’s caused what alot of progessives hate these days, URBAN SPAWL.
YOu cannot say these same folks wouldnt of gotten a education if there was no state univerisites.
August 7, 2007 at 10:20 am
robnesvacil
Always a critic and a cynic makes for a very dull boy.
Perhaps you think everyone can afford a college education at private universities. I’m more realistic.
August 7, 2007 at 1:08 pm
c-rock4freedom
Why do you see yourself as such? Your not realistic in facing the failures of the state, time and time again.
How much more debt placed onto you and your kids will change that?
How much more war do you need?
August 7, 2007 at 3:31 pm
robnesvacil
C-Rock,
As you can tell by my moniker my name is not George Bush.
I am not the one placing more debt on our kids.
I am not the one calling for more war.
Stop lying.
August 8, 2007 at 8:12 am
c-rock4freedom
YOu believe in War. WWII is a example.
YOu want more government in our lifes. YOu believe they can solve our issues in life. How do they pay for that? With debt onto the future.
August 8, 2007 at 10:32 am
robnesvacil
I believe in war because I referenced World War II?
…C-Rock, you’re bordering on irrelevance with your ever-weaker “points” (if your jib-jab can even be called “points” anymore).
What would you have had us do after Pearl Harbor, throw handguns at the Japanese zeros lest they make their way to LA, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle? You keep claiming that we should all be armed to the teeth as citizens so as to be able to defend our country.
The people sitting in the top floors of the Twin Towers had no use for guns as the jets slammed into the buildings at 100s of miles per hour.
Your ideas of national defense (get rid of the Pentagon in exchange for arming every citizen to the teeth) is sheer lunacy.
PS: Fiscally responsible leaders don’t pay for policies through debt. They do it by either cutting expenses or increasing revenues … or some combination thereof.
August 8, 2007 at 1:42 pm
c-rock4freedom
Again
how do you increase revenues for the state? Your increase the amount you can legally steal from the taxpayer. Its not like they have to market the tax increase. They just have to make it a law, and then its inforced by men with guns.
You dont pay, they come and shoot your dog, and take your house.