Illegal immigration, financial reform, a massive oil spill in the gulf, a failed bombing attempt in Times Square, and who and what to vote for in November. They all add up to a Politicians delight in an election year as there is no better way to take the heat off of Congress and their liberal tax and spend agenda.
Congress immediately goes on the offensive by putting a spin on Arizona’s attempt to strengthen their borders by attacking their new laws. They put Goldman Sachs on the hot seat for their alleged role in the financial meltdown and now we see them institute law suits and government oversight on BP because of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately for Goldman Sachs, Warren Buffet, one of President Obama’s staunchest backers, has sided with Goldman Sachs.
In reality what we need in trying times Mr. President, is leadership, the kind that provides solutions and gets things done, not leadership that points fingers and assesses blame. I ask you to review the requisites of leadership and grade yourself.
A disastrous oil leak is sending a “time bomb” towards our gulf state’s shores and as yet the Federal government has failed to act. Thanks to the leadership of Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, steps are underway to stop the devastation.
President Obama says that he and Congress are so drained of energy from slamming through their priority health care bill that there is not enough support for attacking the illegal immigration issue. Yet we see the top positions within the administration, including President Obama and VP Joe Biden, seem to have enough energy to run around the country stomping on our governor for signing legislation that had an overwhelming support of the electorate. Consider this: The Arizona plan is popular. According to Gallup, 51 percent of Americans who have heard of the law support it. Only 39 percent oppose the legislation. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton jumps on the criticism bandwagon along with Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano and US Attorney General Eric Holder. It’s good to see that they all sing from the same choir sheet, don’t you agree? No one questions the need for meaningful immigration reform but we do question the ability of Congress and the present administration to tackle the problem, especially in light of this being an election year. Unfortunately all we will get is posturing, political preening and rhetoric, I kid you not.
And unfortunately the same goes for meaningful financial reform. One only has to see the amount of money that banks and Wall Street donate into the political coffers to see that “meaningful” reform is definitely out of the picture. Political reform continues to be vogue and will plod along, as will the misdirected attack on Goldman Sachs, one of the biggest contributors I might add.
And last, but certainly not least, we have Proposition 100 here in Arizona. The “hue and cry” that we are going to deprive our children of an education and that we will have to open the jail cell doors and let all of the convicted criminals go free starts to mount. Every individual and organization that will lose funding is out on the street clamoring gloom and doom. Proponents continue to use as their primary threat how poorly educated our children will become if we do not pass this new tax. They continue to stress that it is a brief, 3 year time period tax that will solve our problems. If you believe that then I have a bridge that I want to sell you. For the sake of this discussion let’s just focus on the “poorly educated children” aspect of the additional funding. The proponents say that the additional revenue will provide our students with a better learning opportunity and allow us to hire more teachers. Give me a break. Our students grades, on average, have consistently gone down hill for the past 25 years and all we have heard is that we need to throw more money at the problem. We hear from the teachers union that our teachers are underpaid and overworked. Not so.
Today’s Arizona Daily Star features two “letters to the editor” that respond to an article ran a week or so ago regarding the Sonoran Science Academy. That school is an Arizona based charter school that was ranked as the Arizona charter school of the year for 2009 and ranked 103rd best high school in the U.S. by Newsweek. Research shows that the school receives most of it’s funding based on the same formula that are used for public schools and their teachers are paid at or maybe less than public school teachers. The argument from the opponents of this school seem to take on a “racial profiling” argument in that many of the teachers are foreigners, specifically from Turkey. They are said to have heavy accents and it is hard to clearly understand them. Teachers that students cannot understand yet they learn at a higher level than do the students for the opposing side. Go figure.
It doesn’t appear to me that lack of funds drives the learning curve, does it to you? Of course not.
I urge you all to “VOTE NO” on Proposition 100.
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