Higher Education? Jersey Shore’s “Snooki” Nicole Polizzi Paid More to Speak at Rutgers Than Pulitzer Prize Winner Toni Morrison

EVER WONDER WHAT’S WRONG WITH TODAY’S SOCIETY AND EDUCATION?

One needs to look no further than Rutgers University. Jersey Shore’s Nicole Polizzi, better known as Snooki, was actually paid more to speak to 1,000 college students than Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison. What a sad commentary on today’s society and higher education when a no talent, reality TV star is paid more by a university than a  Pulitzer Prize winner.

Pic: A Shore Thing

Jersey Shore’s favorite self-described guidette was featured in a Q&A session Thursday on Rutgers’ campus. Snooki – known legally as Nicole Polizzi, but no one actually calls her that – spoke to a total of 1,000 lucky students at two sessions. Her fee, for an easy few hours of work: $32,000. We’ll give that to you once more. For two hours of banter about smushing and fist pumping, she earned $32,000.

Here’s some context on that price tag. That’s $2,000 more than Rutgers is paying a deserving celebrity: Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. The writer of ‘Beloved’ and ‘Song of Solomon’ will grace Rutgers’ commencement ceremony in May, speaking to a football stadium of 52,000 people, about 10,000 of whom will be taking their first steps into the real world post-college. And Morrison is only making $30,000 off the gig.

Can some one explain how SNOOKI gets paid more to speak than a Pulitzer Prize winner? Can Snooki actually speak? Seriously, if one actually wants to lose brain cells and watch the Jersey Shore, that’s your right and issue; however, an academic institution of higher education actually paying to have this no-talent wanna be Lindsay Lohan (who is an no-talent) in her own right is beyond ridiculous. How can you take yourself seriously as a university by having Snooki speak? I can understand the WWE wanting to use the exploits of the Snookmiester in Wrestlemania, but Rutgers?

Sorry, but I had my fill of weeks/weekends at the Jersey Shore in my younger years having had too many “bucket of Rocks” to remember. I will be awaiting my request from Rutgers in the mail. Oh but wait, UI am reminded that Snooki is actually an accomplished author. She wrote “A Shore Thing”.  Go figure.

UPDATE I: Parents Outraged at being “snookered” by Snooki Speech.

Parents were outraged by the lack of common sense of Rutgers University in their lack of a role model in bringing Jersey Shore’s Snooki on campus for a speech. They defended their actions by stating the group had been looking for someone who could appeal to the student community. Really, who is next, Charlie Sheen?

Angry parents of students attending Rutgers University blasted the decision to pay Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi $32,000 to give a campus talk last week — and said she should stay on the Jersey Shore, the New York Post reported Sunday.

“It’s disgusting,” said Nester Delgado, 43, whose daughter is a Rutgers freshman.

“Next year, is it going to be J-WOWW or The Situation?”

School 21 Paterson, NJ Teacher Suspended Over Facebook Comments About Her 1st Grade Students … Described Students as “Future Criminals”

Reading, Writing and Future Criminals …  Honestly, some times the education that is provided to children today, especially in inner cities is criminal.

Pic Hat Tip: FOX 21

A teacher, who’s name has been withheld, has been suspended with pay for the comments that she posted on her FACEBOOK page of her first grade School 21 in Paterson, NJ students describing them as “future criminals”. Parents who saw the post asked to have their children removed from the teacher’s class. The teacher had also stated that she feels like a warden. I would suspect many teachers probably have the same hidden feeling.

Superintendent Donnie Evans confirmed the suspension on Friday and said the district was investigating. He declined further comment because it was a personnel matter.

Board of Education President Theodore Best told the newspaper that the teacher was suspended “because the incident created serious problems at the school that impeded the functioning of the building.”

He added: “You can’t simply fire someone for what they have on a Facebook page, but if that spills over and affects the classroom, then you can take action.”

Read more

Only 31% Give Obama Positive Grade on Economy & GOP Favored over Dems on 9 Out of 10 Issues

As President Barack Obama is providing America with a muddled message as to why the US is at war with Libya, what our mission is and what is the end game … back at home only 31% of Americans give him markets on the economy. Only 26% of those not affiliated with either party rate the president’s handling of the economy as good or excellent.  To make matters even worse for Barack Obama, only 22% of likely voters think that the country is heading in the right direction as compared to 72%  of voters the country is heading down the wrong track. 

The number of voters nationwide who give President Obama good or excellent marks for his handling of economic issues has fallen to a new low.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters show that just 31% rate Obama’s handling of economic issues as good or excellent. Forty-five percent (45%) say the president is doing a poor job handling these issues.

 More bad news for Obama and Democrats, voters favor Republicans over Democrats on 9 out of 10 political issues.

The GOP leads Democrats on the following issues:  Economy 47% - 39%, Health Care 46% - 42%,  Education 42% – 39%,  Iraq 48% – 35%,  Immigration 48% - 35%, Afghanistan 46% – 36%,  Government Ethics 38% –  33%,  National Security 53% -  34% and  Taxes   48% – 37%.

US Edumacation … Wow, 73% Couldn’t Correctly Say why the US Fought the Cold War,

The following is simply shameful … how can people not know the answers to these obvious civic questions?

In a recent Newsweek article, ‘How Dumb Are We’, they asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test and the results were pathetic. How is it possiblethat 29% of those taking the test could not name the current Vice President? Are you serious! 73% could not name why the United States fought the Cold War against the Soviet Union! UNREAL. But, I am sure they could probably receipt Charlie Sheen’s latest rant. However, 61% did not know that Senators were elected for 6 years. Please tell me these people do not vote. If 38% of Americans fail the citizenship test, should they be allowed to be US citizens?

More bad results from the Political Wire.

 … 29% couldn’t name the vice president, 73% couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War, 44% were unable to define the Bill of Rights and 6% couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.

You can take the Quiz HERE, let us know how you did. The following are some of the questions asked and the percentage of those who correctly and incorrectly answered the questions. The results are simply amazing. More at OTB of the clulessness of individuals not able to answer simple questions about history and civics.

When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
July 4, 1776.
Correct: 67%
Incorrect: 33%

What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
The Constitution was written, or the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution.
Correct: 35%
Incorrect: 65%

Who did the United States fight in World War II?
Japan, Germany, and Italy.
Correct: 60%
Incorrect: 40%

We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
Six.
Correct: 39%
Incorrect: 61%

The Obama Magic is Gone … Few Want Obama to Speak at High School Graduation Commencements

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN … From Cash for Clunkers to win a speech from Obama, any takers? More Obama “Hope & Change”, seems to be a lack of HS’s interested in having The Obamessiah provide commencement speech.

Imagine that, school kids who now know that President Barack Obama wants to provide them with a mountain of debt to pay back in their future do not want The One to speak at their high school graduations. Go figure. The White House competition to choose a high school that will win a commencement speech from President Obama is a complete bust.

The White House is ramping up an effort to promote a nationwide competition to decide which high school wins a commencement speech by President Obama.

An internal White House memo indicates that the White House is facing a shortage of applications less than a week before the deadline.

The competition was extended from the February 25 deadline until Friday, March 11 after few schools met the original application deadline. CBS News has learned a White House Communications Office internal memo dated February 22 noted “a major issue with the Commencement Challenge.”

“As of yesterday we had received 14 applications and the deadline is Friday,” the memo said. The memo also urged recipients to, “please keep the application number close hold.”

As per Big Government, last year over 1000 schools participated in the contest and this year, not so much.  Sundries Shack provides us with the data of just how many high schools there are in the US … approximately 20,000 public schools. Only 14 applicants, you do the math.

Don’t ask for things they might come true. Some times its better to think a contest out before one, or in this case ‘The One” exposes himself to public embarrassment. His peeps are stunned as to the lack of interest in not wanting the celebrity of Obama to be at their commencement. Maybe they have seen his budget and the recent spending and out of control debt and understand that it is them that will have to pay it back.

Officials were unable to explain the reason for the apparent lack of interest, beyond pointing to possible procrastination by school systems.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan told CBS Radio News, “It’s a huge opportunity for high schools to tell their story.” Asked about the lagging application numbers, Duncan said, “Folks are working hard.” He called on schools to “put their best foot forward and join the competition.”

I guess GWB is to blame.

Reading, Writing and Arresting for 8 Year old Florida Boy … Arrested for 5th Time

8 Year Old Boy Arrested for the 5th Time … WHAT!!!

An 8 year old, unnamed,  85-pound, 4-foot, 8-inch Florida school boy has been arrested 5 times. All of the arrests have taken place since November 2010.  His first two arrests occurred in November and December as the boy hit and kicked school employees. During his November rampage, the 8 year old boy threw punches and kicks while yelling “Take me to jail”.  Does anyone think that this kid might have bigger issues than ones that will be solved by being arrested? Teh boy is reported as being a special-education student. Does some one maybe want to change his meds?

Let’s Have Count von Count … count the # of Arrests of this 8 year old Boy

On Tuesday morning, the boy fought another student in his Riverside Elementary School classroom and then left the campus with a school employee following him, according to the Sheriff’s Office incident report.

At one point, he returned to campus, jumped a 4-foot-tall chain-link fence and found several large wooden sticks that he then threw at school behavioral specialist Tawny Chiuchiarelli, striking her at least once, but not injuring her.

The boy then picked up a piece of galvanized pipe that he threw in Chiuchiarelli’s direction.

He was charged with battery on a school employee, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disruption of an educational institute

Rasmussen: Majority of Americans are not in Favor of Teacher’s Unions

A recent Rasmussen poll states that a majority of Americans thing that being a teacher is an essential and important job; however, it is a much different outcome when asked when teachers should be unionized. 46% say that unionized teachers are a bad thing, while only 37% say its good.  In other words, the public opinion is that unions offer nothing but a restriction to teachers and ultimately the students.

Americans continue to believe strongly that being a teacher is an essential job, but a plurality thinks it’s a bad thing that most teachers are unionized.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of American Adults view being a teacher as one of the most important jobs in our country today, down five points from May of last year but up slightly from when we first asked the question in May 2008. Twenty-one percent (21%) say it’s not one of the most important jobs, and 12% aren’t sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Mary Bell, Wisconsin Union Leader Tells Teachers to go Back to Work

What a novel concept, teachers going back to work to teach children …

From the WAPO, the head of the Wisconsin teacher’ union, Mary Bell, is calling for the AWOL teachers to return to the classrooms and do their job that they are being paid for. Mary Bell is president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council. I am guessing that the teachers will be returning to their respective schools with their fake doctor’s notes at the ready. Or maybe they will have a note signed by Epstein’s mother’s doctor? Let’s hope none of the teachers give the students “Walker’s pneumonia”.

The head of  Wisconsin’s powerful teachers’ union is calling on educators to return to classrooms Monday and Tuesday rather than continue being absent to protest an anti-union bill at the state Capitol.

Well, the teachers are probably not going back to class on Monday, isn’t it President’s Day?

Isn’t this Healthcare Fraud! … Fake Doctors Notes for Wisconsin Union Protesters

Barack Obama: doctors taking tonsils out bad … doctors signing fake doctors notes for union workers good.

Talk about hypocrisy, or as we like to call it insurance health care fraud. Fake doctors notes are being handed out to union protesters in Wisconsin for their unexcused absences from work. That work in many cases would be actually showing up to school and teaching our children. Its nit just hypocrisy as Hot Air explains … isn’t it against school policy for kids to do an en mass sick out and going to the beach, mall or wherever? Would the educational system allow a blanket “sick note” that was nothing more than a copy, paste and sign here?

Who knew that union workers would be reduced to a Welcome Back Kotter skit of Juan Epstein providing a sick note excuse, signed, Epstein’s mothers doctor?

Just curious, if a union worker hands in a phony, false and fraudulent dr’s note as a reason why they had an unexcused absence when they were instead rallying in Madison, WI … is that a breach of their ethics employment policy? Or do union contracts have no ethics? Is this what the medical profession has come to … Welcome to Obamacare where doctors who shill for union workers are acceptable, and those trying to do the right thing are shamed. So are these doctors writing fake note fullfilling the Hippocratic Oath?

VIDEO Hat Tip: MacIverInstitute

On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’

Pic Hat Tip: Weasil Zippers via FReeper bigbob

“I asked this doctor what he was doing and he told me they were handing out excuses to people who were feeling sick due to emotional, mental or financial distress,” said Christian Hartsock. “They never performed an exam–he asked me how I was feeling today and I said I’m from California and I’m not used to the cold, so he handed me a note.”

Another woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were handing out excuses like they were leaflets.

Where is Obama’s outrage at the fraud being committed by these doctors in handing out knowing false, misdiagnoses, blanket diagnoses and fraudulent physician notes for people that are in no way sick, they want. In the above video Barack Obama Obama made a blanket statement that doctors did not necessarily do What’s best for the patients care.

So is signing fraudulent doctors notes best for the patient and the system? What is the difference between a doctor fraudulently misdiagnosing a patient to rip some one’s tonsils out for $’s as Obama asserts, or a doctor writing a phony note so that protesting teachers so that they can bilk the taxpayer out of a days pay and express themselves all at the same time. However, Michelle Malkin.com make a great point, wasn’t it Barack Obama and the WH that used fake dr’s notes to pass Obamacare.

UPDATE I:Ever wonder why union support is at an all-time low? Private workers and citizens, especially those with children not going to school, see union benefits that they must pay and say why? In order to support unions, you must be in favor of state politicians running away from their sworn oath of office as they are AWOL and being paid for doing their job by tax payers while not doing their job. You must be for an illegal teachers strike as schools are closed down. You must be for doctor fraud in physicians signing fake notes for unexcused teacher absences.  You must be for supporting union benefits that are bankrupting states, while you make personal cutbacks.

UPDATE II: The VIDEO Below is a doctor actually explaining the fake note. The doctor actually justified the medical note as by someone just having the note absolves the workers of missing notes. Must see to believe. The actual signed phony notes cane be seen at  Free Republic.

Iowa Wrestler Joel Northrup Forfeits Match … “As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate …”

Iowa wrestler Joel Northrupt forfeited his match against Cassy Herkelman because as he stated it was a matter of his conscience and faith not appropriate for a bot to engage with a girl in this manner. Northrup is a home-schooled sophomore with a 35-4 record this season prior to defaulting in his match. Cassy entered the tournament 20-13 record. What a position to put kids in. Boys are told from birth to never hit a girl, now they are forced to wrestle them and put themselves in an uncomfortable situation. Its the law of unintended consequences of equal opportunity. VIDEO can be seen HERE.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan (Black, the tournament’s other female entrant) and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times. As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most of the high school sports in Iowa.”

ESPNraises the question, was Northrup more concerned about harming a female or touching one in an inappropriate manner? Good questions. Wrestlers can certainly get into some pretty contorted positions. Many wrestling moves if a highschool kid ever performed on a girl would get him arrested.

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?