In late September, the “nonpartisan” Web site Real Clear Politics reported that President Obama leads Republican nominee Mitt Romney in several battleground states. According to the polls, President Obama leads by 5.2 percent in Ohio, 4.5 percent in Virginia, 4.2 percent in Nevada, 4 percent in Iowa, and 3 percent in Florida. Do we believe the polls? I’m not so sure. But I surely don’t believe these polls should alter an aggressive effort to re-elect this Democratic president.

I have 1980s babies.

Yeah, those good guys are always on to the latest sayings, the coolest moves and of course, the latest trends. 1980s babies seem to know quite a bit about what's "in" and what's not. And in the most intelligent ways, these babies are not afraid to speak their minds. They can be straight, gay, professional, artistic, political and wealthy; many of them have achieved the status of millionaire in a variety of ways.

I was pleased to hear last week that the Chicago Public Schools reached an agreement with their teachers' union and students would be returning to school. As a former classroom teacher, principal and now superintendent, it was difficult to watch thousands of already struggling students miss a week of precious class time. It was equally difficult to observe the breakdown of communications among groups whose mission is to keep students front and center.

I feel a bit sorry for poor Mitt Romney.

He manages to be wrong, even when he's right. Indeed, as he said on the "secret," now viral, video, "Nearly 47 percent of Americans pay no income taxes." Of that group of "moochers," more than 60 percent do pay taxes in the form of payroll tax on their earnings. This means these folks have jobs – jobs that do not pay enough to require them to pay income taxes. So, more than one in four Americans have jobs that do not generate enough income to require them to pay income taxes. I'm guessing these are the kind of jobs Romney wants to create more of, if elected. That way Americans could compete on an equal footing with folks in the countries where Bain exports the jobs at the companies it controls.

An old boss of mine used to say, "If you're going to pray for something, pray for long life because if you live long enough, everything else will happen."

Hungry child,
I didn't make this world for you.
You didn't buy any stock in my railroad.
You didn't invest in my corporation.
Where are your shares in standard oil?
I made the world for the rich
And the will-be-rich
And the have-always-been-rich.
Not for you,
Hungry child.
-- Langston Hughes, “God to Hungry Child”