You Too Can Make Money Without Working!

That's right! Be the first on your block to get a no-bid contract from City Hall! Be sure you offer a vital service, like "demystifying" teachers. Mayor Mike and Jolly Joel have had enough of those goshdarn unionized employees being mystified, and they're willing to put up millions of city dollars to put an end to it.

What kind of group did they pick?

The organization, All Kinds of Minds, was co-founded by famed Harvard pediatrician Dr. Melvin Levine, who is facing new allegations that he sexually abused young, male patients.

The group scored a no-bid contract worth up to $12.5 million in 2004 - one of hundreds of no-bid contracts issued by the DOE since mayoral control of the school system began in fiscal year 2003.

According to city-comptroller statistics, the surge of no-bid contracts since then totals $342 million.

But All Kinds of Minds, whether or not it minds a few behinds, has left a few minds behind. To wit, it's trained fewer than one fifth of the still-mystified teachers it had promised to cure. I'm a bit disappointed, as I find myself mystified on a regular basis.

For one thing, what ever happened to checks and balances? How can anyone contemplate the continuation of mayoral control with the abysmal record we've seen thus far?

Thanks to Annie