If You Can't get regular Americans to vote for your candidates....

The left would like to stand up for all of the poor murderers, rapists, arsonists and embezzlers so that they can help us choose our elected leaders. Please . . .

Putting the Lie to the "Big Lie"

Wall Street Journal takes on the Dems for their tinfoil hat view about "lies" prior to the war with Iraq.

Will Chirac See the Light?

All of France's involvement in the graft and corruption of the Oil-For - Food programdidn't seem to prepare Chirac for the post 9-11 world.

Is the Wind out of Their Sails?

It is interesting to see that the confirmation of Judge Alito is almost two weeks away, and yet some of the MSM libs like Eleanor Clift are already backing off the Alito battle. Clift, while echoing the standard "Bush Lied" BS is trying to keep her powder dry given the awaited retirement of John Paul Stevens.

She is right on some of her points, but I don't think she or her ilk are going to have any more luck when the Stevens vacancy occurs, perhaps as soon as this summer.

The President now be at a low point in terms of his popularity, but that has much more to do with the drumbeat in the MSM about Iraq as well as non-stories like Libby, oil profits, etc. He is still spot-on when it comes to issues relating to SCOTUS vacancies.

The Kevin Helfer Podcast

Download the Kevin Helfer podcast and decide for yourself. This man should be the next Mayor of Buffalo. Thanks Buffalo Rosing!

Control Board Whiffs

The control board missed the chance to cause change last night. It is hard to believe that people aren't rising up against the sham of the legislature ducking their responsibility until after the election.

Stop the Budget Ammendment!

Five The Business Council of New York State is taking a lead role in trying to beat back the "runaway spending ammendment" that the legislature would like to pass. How fortunate I am to live in the most dysfunctional city in the most dysfunctional county in the most dysfunctional state in the country!

It All Depends on Whose Ox...

This Maryland race show that the race card can only be played by the "right people". I am sure it would have been different if instead of calling him an "Uncle Tom" they had said that he "runs with the wrong crowd".

Shameful Legislators

Now the majority weasels in the legislature want to hold off on making any decisions until after election day. Go to the WBEN poll to show your displeasure.

Another County Scandal?

I don't know who Rus Thompson is, but it sounds like he has some new details about the County computer rumors. Here is an email I received through SPeakup:

Rus Thompson "write-in" candidate for the Erie County Legislature in the 10th district, will be holding a Press Conference on Wednesday Nov 2, 05 at 10 AM in front of the County Hall. Rus is co-founder of Primary Challenge, Free Buffalo and has had an intregal part in the Tax revolt.



The subject will be a multi million dollar scandal in County Government.

Details will be forth coming and a detailed list will be handed out at that time.

My friend and inside source Mike will be there to answer questions from the press.



This will ROCK county hall, Joel, kaiser, iannelo and the computer department at CPS. Like I said before, this story involves millions of dollars of taxpayer money.



Please be there if you can, we will need support and people holding signs and handing out flyers.



Thank you and I am looking forward to seeing you there.



Rus Thompson

Grade 8 Math

And finally the numbers for eighth grade math

Grade 8 Math Proficiency (%)

St Mark 89
St Agnes 89
St Martin 88
Nardin 83
St Joseph 83
St Stan 83
Mt St Joes 82
St Ambrose 67
St Bernard 67
Westminster 64.2
St Rose 58
St Tommy 56
Our Lady Black Rock 56
S Buffalo 55.1
Catholic Academy 50
Applied Tech 39.8
Holy Spirit 29
Stepping 25
Buffalo Public 24.3
Acad Science 14.8
Enterprise 8.3
Catholic Central 0

Too many people are out to protect an antiquated system of education instead of protecting our children. If parents had a choice to send their children wherever they wanted, and money was not an issue, clearly the market would dictate that instead of schools like Holy Spirit and the Mount closing, it would be schools that are failing.

Thank God for concerned parents like Steve Boyd who, along with other parents and concerned citezens helped save Mount St. Joes. (Disclaimer - Steve is a close friend, but his record in this matter speaks for itself, I think).

Grade 8 English

Eight Grade English


Grade 8 English Proficiency(%)

St Mark 93
St Martin 85
Nardin 74
St Joseph 74
St Rose 69
St Stan 67
Catholic Academy 63
St Bernard 62
St Tommy 62
St Ambrose 60
Mt St Joes 59
St Agnes 53
Our Lady Black Rock 53
Westminster 51
St MARGARET 46
S Buffalo 42.9
Holy Spirit 29
Applied Tech 27.3
Buffalo Public 26.1
Stepping 20
Enterprise 16.3
Catholic Central 14
acad science 13.6

Grade 4 Math

Here are the numbers for fourth grade math.

Fourth Grade Math Proficiency
Tapestry 100
Nardin 100
Catholic Central 100
Mt St Joes 93
St Joseph 92
St Tommy 91
S Buffalo 89.8
Westminster 89.4
St Rose 89
King ctr 88.2
St Ambrose 88
St Agnes 88
Catholic Academy 88
St MARGARET 88
Applied Tech 84.3
Our Lady Black Rock 83
St Mark 79
Bflo United 74
Enterprise 73.9
St Martin 69
St Stan 67
Holy Spirit 67
Buffalo Public 66.5
St Bernard 65
Pinnacle 58.4
Community 56.9
Stepping 34

More on The Schools

Yesterday's Buffalo News ran a front page story on how the Charter Schools are outperforming their Public School counterparts. I commented that it would be interesting to see such an analysis that included Buffalo Parochial Schools. Rather than lament its absence, I have created it.

I have no idea how this formatting will come out.

Grade 4 English Percent Proficiency
Nardin 96
St Rose 89
Tapestry 83.3
Our Lady Black Rock 78
Holy Spirit 77
St Mark 73
Catholic Academy 73
St Joseph 71
St Tommy 69
Bflo United 68
St Ambrose 68
Mt St Joes 67
St Stan 67
St Agnes 65
Catholic Central 65
S Buffalo 59.5
King ctr 58.8
Applied Tech 56.3
St Bernard 56
Westminster 52.7
St Martin 49
Buffalo Public 39.2
St Margaret 38
Enterprise 36.9
Community 32.5
Stepping 20.4
Pinnacle 18.4

Keep in mind that the Parochial School numbers are older as they came from the Business First rankings published earlier this year.

That is just Grade 4 English. It is sad to note however, that two schools - Holy Spirit and Mt. St. Joes were slated to close (Holy Spirit did) and yet they significantly outperformed the public and many of the charter schools.

Rebate Checks on The Way?

The spike in gas prices may have helped drive NY to a $1B surplus. I am sure we will be getting income tax rebates any day now . . . Don't count on it. I am sure they will hold on to this cash rather than decreasing gas taxes or any other form of subsidy to the gov't.

Bush Selects Alito

It appears that President Bush will announce his nomination of Samuel Alito later this morning.He appears to be a very strong pick. I suspect that he will cause the kind of debate that the President was trying to avoid with the Miers nomination. Personally, I look forward to it.

Buffalo News - Charters outperform Buffalo city schools

This is a good story by Peter Simon, but I am not sure how it warranted such a large banner headline. Is this news to anyone? Even more interesting would be for the city of Buffalo Catholic Schools to be in the mix.