Chicago teachers follow through on threat to walk out

Not a good look for the Mayor. A summer full of shooting and killing and now the first teacher's strike in 25 years, in the country’s third-largest public school system.

More than 26,000 teachers and support staff began hitting the picket lines Monday morning, while the school district and parents made plans for keeping students safe and occupied during the day. Nearly 150 schools will be open for a half day, as will 60 churches. The Chicago Park District and the YMCA will offer day-camps.

CPS went into full-on strike mode Monday, enacting a plan to keep schools open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. And after a violent Chicago summer, police Supt. Garry McCarthy said he’s “emptying our offices” to patrol the thousands of unsupervised kids on the streets.

After a weekend of unsuccessful 11th hour contract negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union made good on its promise to walk out on more than 400,000 students at 675 schools. Issues preventing a deal Sunday night were health benefits, the teacher evaluation system and job security.

The strike follows more than a year of slow, contentious negotiations, after the school board unanimously voted last year to cancel teachers’ 4 percent pay hike in the final year of their contract. Source

Where you been for the last twenty years?

Carol Moseley Braun is in trouble for publicly busting out the kind of insult that Rahm Emanuel only uses in private.

During Sunday afternoon's debate at Trinity United Church of Christ -- Jeremiah Wright's old congregation -- Moseley Braun told Patricia Watkins, "the reason you didn't know where I was for the last 20 years, 'cause you were strung out on crack."

The crowd hooted. Soon after, Moseley Braun left the sanctuary, fleeing in her SUV.

Emanuel has called liberals "[bleeping] retards." He told a male staffer to "pull your [bleeping] tampons out." He once invited the entire Republican Party to "go [bleep]" itself. But he didn't utter any one these vulgarities in front of a TV camera. We only have printed accounts, which make far less of an impression than Moseley Braun screeching and pointing at Patricia Watkins. Despite his reputation for flying off the handle, Emanuel is unfailingly somber and low-key in public. Emanuel's insults are a strategy to intimidate opponents and underlings, not the result of emotional outbursts. He has the discipline Moseley Braun lacks.

Another reason Moseley Braun's outburst came off so badly was that it echoed media stereotypes of catfighting women.

Moseley Braun brought street language to the mayoral race, the kiss of death for a black candidate trying to win over white voters. But Moseley Braun unleashed her high-handed combination of entitlement and resentment at a fellow black woman who refused to step aside for the community's consensus candidate.

But Moseley Braun's outburst will really help Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel's latest radio ad features President Obama praising his performance as chief of staff. Blacks who abandon Moseley Braun will probably vote for Emanuel. All because he's smart enough to keep his mouth shut in front of a TV camera. -NBCChicago-