Civitas Institute

In the never-ending job of debunking lies and deceptions that emanate from various acts in the Art Pope Puppetshow, it's always gratifying to find that regular people get it. That's what I found in this letter to the editor in the News and Observer today.

In his recent Point of View column criticizing the certification and licensure requirements for North Carolina teachers, Robert Luebke of the John W. Pope Civitas Institute proved once again that conversations about public education are tinged with deceiving statistics slung by organizations with an agenda. Consider his comparison of two Raleigh high schools:

A recent policy change by the North Carolina Community College System is stirring up all kinds of consternation, and our friends at the Pope Civitas Institute are in the middle of it.

Earlier this month, the NCCCS lawyer (David Sullivan) issued a policy memo to the state's 57 community colleges directing them to admit undocumented individuals. Previously, about a third of the state's community colleges had policies that denied admission to undocumented individuals. About a third more had no formal policy on the issue, but had practices that effectively barred undocumented individuals from attending.

As an educator, I work with the children of undocumented immigrants every day. They are top performers in high schools across the state, and they have a lot to offer to their new home if only we would let them.

See, when kids are in school they learn more than the curriculum. They learn the American Dream. Every day they hear "If you work hard and get your education, you can be whatever you want to be." Except that for these kids, the rug gets pulled out from under them as soon as they graduate from high school.

Morally, I think it's anti-American to pitch the American Dream to children of immigrants and then withhold education and opportunity from them. Economically, we need these students fully participating in our workforce to sustain our economic strength in the 21st century.

Read more below the fold...

I was SO disappointed that I accidentally deleted my post last week about Max Borders, the free-market extremist at Civitas whose philosophy include this precious assertion:

"If boiling people alive best served the interests of the American people, then it would neither be moral or immoral." Max Borders, Civitas Institute

As many of you know, Mad Max and I had a bit of a tussle last week when he engaged in an ad hominem attack to accuse me of engaging in ad hominem attacks. When the dust settled, I thought we had lost dear Max and that he had been terminated for cause (as he should have been). He was noticeably absent from most of his regular stomping grounds, and unusually quiet for a paid-Puppet blogger.

Never fear, though. Max is still around, and is apparently still tasked with being the loose canon for the Civitas Institute.

It's weird. One minute you're reading an interesting column on an important public policy issue, and the next thing you know it's down the rabbit hole into Art Pope's Civitas Creepshow, filled with creatures with unimaginable views representing the so-called freedom movement.

Enough has been written by and about one of those creatures to fill a book, but lest you think Mad Max is an anomaly, consider another standard-bearer of the Creepshow, Mr. Thomas Stith, candidate for mayor in the City of Durham. Stith is apparently no longer at Civitas, having resigned from that role to spend time campaigning for the Big Job. I suppose that's how Jack Hawke freed up the cash to hire his new hit man, Max - but that's another story. In any case, the most insightful analysis of the Stith can be found in North Carolina's best newspaper: the Independent.

If you haven't read about Thomas Stith, you should. He has long been the token black guy a star in Jack Hawke's Civitas Circus, which itself is an appendage to the Art Pope Puppetshow. He's running for mayor of Durham. Since I live only a mile from the Bull City, I was inspired to read more about Mr. Stith by this post from Barry Ragan. When I got to Stith's website, I found this welcoming letter:

I also realize that we can do better. Durham is a city that continues to struggle with the horror of violent crime and gang activity. We are literally losing our children.

This is cross-posted from The Progress Pulse

I got to thinking about that famous quote this week as I read about the fawning reception for Rudy Giuliani at the Civitas Institute and about George Tenet’s 4 million dollar book advance. Here’s what I wonder about. Since when is it OK for a public official to preside over a disaster and then be paid millions of dollars to tell us about it? Giuliani received 8 million dollars in speaking fees in 2002 after 9/11.