The Hamilton Observer

A Sense of Timing

2005-12-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

Civil libertarians and Americans of all stripes are in a quandary over the revelation that the National Security Agency, with the permission of President Bush, has been tapping phones and listening in on international calls. The purpose of this endeavor has ostensibly been to thwart terrorist attacks. The problem as seen through the eyes of many is that there has been no court order for the individual wiretap. So, the argument goes, are we willing to trade liberty for security?

To complicate matters still further in my eyes, though, is the fact that this operation was leaked, and then published in the New York Times. Now, while the leak of classified information and the subsequent publishing of it in a newspaper should in and of itself cause vagal spasms, it appears we are desensitized to all that. The fact that the paper held the story for months, though, and then waited until the Patriot Act was under discussion to run the details is most abhorrent.

Anyone who isn't queasy at the prospects of the Government tapping phones and otherwise utilizing various and sundry surveillance methods on citizens within the Patriot Act or overseas is a trusting soul, indeed. Franklin is being quoted much lately regarding his qualms regarding trading security for liberty. It is instructive to endeavor to look through our Founders' lenses when we are confronted with modern day problems. I'm frankly not certain what Franklin would have us do with our Patriot Act. I do know this, though, with every fabric of my being. If Benjamin Franklin were alive today running the New York Times he would not have been so scurrilous as to sit on a story he thought semi-scandalous until an expeditious moment in time and run the story then. He believed in the power of the press, that's probably why he owned one, but he also believed in his country.

As we who love history know, our forebears literally invested everything in this nation that became known as America. Had America failed, Franklin would have lost everything, including his life, as he would have been a criminal against Britain. Our problem today is we have little invested in anything. We'd rather split hairs, rather say, "Gotcha," than survive. In fact, we don't even realize survival is what it's all about, and newspapers bewailing their declining circulations are leading us to the edge of the precipice. I guess it must be true that misery loves company.

Joker Nagin

2005-09-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else had about all they can take of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin besides me? The Associated Press reported Monday that residents began heading back into New Orleans at the mayor's urging that day, despite warnings from Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen that the city wasn't safe. Allen has been running the show since the sacking of former FEMA chief Mike Brown, and by all accounts has been doing a very credible job at a monstrous task. For this, and his lack of enthusiasm for the hasty re-entry of citizens into the city, the Mayor accused Allen of annointing himself "the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans."

Well, for me, I can see how a person might think it's just a tad on the quick side. As of the moment there are no hospitals open. None. There are still refrigerators full of spoiling food yet to be picked up and desposed of on the city streets. A disoriented survivor and his dog were found just today. If one-third of the city's former 500,000 population returns to the three neighborhoods Nagin wishes, that's about 150,000 people. I can see how 150,000 people might just get under foot in such a situation. Not to mention there is another hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and what pitiful means of evacuation there were before are no longer extant.

It has taken the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana to make the Federal Government look good to me, and now Nagin is ready for an encore presentation. You couldn't get me back to New Orleans with that guy running the place. However, if the multitudes decide to go back in before Thad Allen gives it the thumbs up, here's what I think. Not another nickel. Should there be any subsequent damage from another storm down there, another this or another that, which happens on what is now clearly Nagin's watch, he can have it all to himself. This is the guy with all the taunts and cursing interviews, etc., and now here he comes again, insulting the man who has organized his rescue.

So to all the citizens of New Orleans taking your commands from Ray Nagin, beware. The generosity of the American people has its limits, I believe, particularly when it is demanded as it has been. Your mayor, yes, the same guy who let the 500 buses flood, he says it's OK. The guys with the $60,000,000,000 say it isn't. Listen to who you want to. But I say you're stuck with your answer.

Where Have You Gone....?

2005-09-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

Back in the 1970's, I think it was, perhaps the '60's, Simon and Garfunkel asked the question, "Where have you gone, Joe Dimaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you." What I'd like to know is where Everett Dirksen and Hubert Humphrey have gone. Obviously, the Republican Dirksen of Illinois and Humphrey, the long-time Democrat Senator from Minnesota are long since dead. What is troubling, and puzzling, is why there haven't been that many people like them since.

I know that we all have a tendency to long for the good old days, and that a careful reading of history will inform us that there hasn't ever really been any such thing. But the aftermath of the disaster that is Katrina serves to alert me again that we used to have some statesmen in America and now they are few and far between. I use the male reference advisedly; during that period of time women had yet to take their places in government to the extent they have now.

In the last few days, any time Nancy Pelosi has found a podium to stand behind, all verbage has been vitriolic aimed at the Federal government response to the natural disaster. Let's set aside for a moment who is to blame. Can any of us old enough to remember see Humphrey, Dirksen, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, Nelson Rockfeller, Scoop Jackson, etc., speaking in such tones? And Pelosi has had company. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada has been stylistically similar.

Heaven help us all, we are on the brink of Supreme Court confirmation hearings to confirm Judge John Roberts and it will be more of the same, and it will be dueling microphones as some Democrats trash Roberts on a news show and Republicans trash the Democrats who trashed Roberts. It is becoming more than a mere nuisance. It is becoming a threat to our way of life.

I suppose there are all sorts of reasons as to why this might be. The proliferation of 24-hour news outlets has something to do with it, perhaps. There is a constant need for interviews, hence a constant need for a reply from a protagonist. Our society in general has become a bit more frantic in its pace, too. I think some of this may be a result of the fact that there are simply more of us. Small towns have become small cities. No traffic has become some traffic. "Everybody knows everybody" has devolved into a sense of not belonging which yields less connectedness. It's less "us," and more "them."

More than any of this, though, is that government is being lived out on the poles. Left vs. Right. I'm all for having some semblance of a coherent philosophy of government, but we are being governed by ideologues, more and more who have little room for tolerance of any view that doesn't perfectly fit a template. More and more I feel as if I'm living under a parliamentary form of government instead of a representative republic. It shouldn't logically follow that just because a party has the majority in a house of Congress that their agenda is going to carry the day, but that seems to be what happens. This isn't right, prima facie.

I am not a pessimist. I am almost a childish optimist, but I think I am watching our country being ripped to shreds by politicians and factions and special interest groups that only want whats best for them and the hell with anyone else. We are going to have to do better, soon. We must demand it of our representatives. For the sake of this Great Experiment and the freedoms we all enjoy because of its success to now. "Long may our land be bright, with freedom's holy light. Protect us by thy might, Great God our King." Those are the last lines of the last verse of "My Country 'Tis of Thee." From the looks of the things it will take the hand of the Divine to do us any good, because I'm not seeing much to impress me from the mortals. Maybe Simon and Garfunkel will write a new song.

The Government Will Protect Us

2005-09-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

In an earlier article I spread the blame for what passes for the current state of New Orleans. To summarize in a sentence, local, state, Federal governments, as well as a certain sub-class of citizens out for themselves are all culpable, I think, for an inadequate response to this disaster. Only later did it occur to me that Hurricane Katrina was a relative bit-player in this whole sorry set of affairs.

Ours is a generation which has been taught to rely on the government to protect us from every sort of thing. If one thing is sure and certain from this fiasco, it is that not only did the government fail to protect, it at all levels made a bad situation infinitely worse.

We are instructed by many that we should rid ourselves of all of our guns because the police will protect us. That argument was fraying before New Orleans, but the gun control people must be in a real tizzy this Labor Day, because no one will ever believe that line again. A story came out of the former City formerly known as New Orleans a few days ago about a man who was sitting on his front porch listening to his generator run when several of the city's finest hoods announced they were taking his generator. He replied to the effect that they weren't, fired a couple of shots over their heads with his revolver, and to greener, if not damper pastures they ran. If there were any police to assist him the story didn't mention them, but the homeowner settled back down and listened to the Honda purr away.

So many without food and water for days, waiting for the government to bring them some has me thinking about keeping emergency supplies on hand, as I should. I understand so many of those ignored for so long were poor, but perusing various internet sites teaches one that basic survivability is inexpensive and more a matter of educating oneself than it is of large financial outlays. Obviously, that would also have been a function government could have easily provided having days notice that hurricane arrival was imminent and levee failure was likely.

Perhaps I am becoming more and more cynical in my advancing years, but it seems to me that governments at all levels are more than ever wanting citizenry to be dependent on them. I don't know that the characteristic self-reliance that made America great is anything politicians particularly want to foster. Politicians without an exaggerated sense of self-importance are even rarer than Class V hurricanes. The more they can do for us, the more valuable they can become, both to us and to fill their own needs for self-importance. There are benevolent leaders out there, and they are to be commended for what they do.

Well, what to do then? For starters, we need to think of taking care of ourselves and our own, at the family level and then domestically at large. The outpouring of support to and by the American Red Cross and America's churches, made possible by compassionate citizens, has been a partially redeeming virtue. We also need to insist that our leaders "promote the general welfare." That doesn't necessarily mean entitlement programs that keep people poor, but it can mean shoring up levees before they fail, as had been predicted for years by anyone who was versed in their construction. That will often mean putting the rights and well being of others ahead of our own, but if our mindset is of providing for our own needs we wouldn't be so focused on whether large sums were being expended on Louisiana levees, as an example.

Greed and political power, or its lack has gotten us in some terrible messes, and the Gulf Coast mess is the worst in our nation's history. How we respond will define our national character. It will demonstrate whether corporately we have the will to put the nation ahead of self.

Tom Brokaw described the WWII generation as the nation's greatest one. We are at such a pivotal moment in history that a succinct phrase will be used to describe ours. What will it be?

Refugees in America

2005-09-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin blistered the Feds last night on New Orleans radio for the poor help his constituency has received in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The problem as I see it is that there is plenty of blame to go around, and a lot of it can be laid at the feet of the mayor. He's no Rudolph Giuliani.
The comparison in and of itself isn't fair. New York, for all the horror of 9/11, wasn't under water, and there were roads in and out. But New York didn't have at least two days notice, either, and arguably years notice, that the levees would not hold.
Then we have Governor Blanco, she of the same two days notice. She had the ability to mobilize the National Guard, but by appearances it wasn't done in timely fashion. The city had totally deteriorated until it no longer approximated things American by the time the Guard arrived.
What about the citizenry? They bear some of the blame. Listening to interviews on television of survivors inside shelters or those on bridges and overpasses wanting to get there, one saw the sheer courage and determination that has made America great. At the same time, hoodlums made the unbearable suffering all the more so as the "me" generation thought of no-one else. Gimme, gimme, gimme. No where to plug the plasma TV into, but gimme. Just because I can.
And then, finally, where would a mess be without Federal Government ineptitude? The Director of FEMA had the audacity to hit the television airwaves on the morning of Friday, September 2 and claim that he wasn't aware of this and that, when everyone else in America was. All the rest of us with interest and compassion for our fellows were gathered around televisions watching the suffering wondering where in the world the help was.
The Federal Government has two basic charges: to print currency and to keep us safe. I suppose the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington is open this morning. There are people in New Orleans who are being raped, beaten and shot today as a result of a weather phenomenon that was followed for days and was predicted within miles of where it would strike. In such an instance, one out of two simply ain't good enough.

Shaken to the core

2005-06-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling which is arguably the most momentous in the history of the Republic. In a 5-4 vote, the court allowed the state to take private property against the wishes of the owner via eminent domain for purposes other than the "common good," such as constructing a shopping mall which would enhance the local tax base. The potential ramifications of this ruling are chilling, and give any thoughtful citizen pause as one contemplates one's role in a "free" society.
In America we are free, we have rights. But only the most naive would deny that certain of us have more influence than others, and those of us with money have more influence than those of us who do not. One would have to be even more naive to not envision the back room deals that are brooding as we speak to wipe out a neighborhood so someone's pet project might come to fruition. If one of the purposes of our Constitution was to protect us from tyranny by the majority, this ruling exposes us to tyranny by the well-heeled.
If there is one thing we can know with certainty it is this. The Founders would not be pleased. To the last one of them, they were exceedingly wary of the misuse of power, hence their complex means to divide it in such a way that it could not be misused. What is ironic is that a reading of early American history makes it clear that most of them, certainly Hamilton, the most prolific writer, thought the judiciary the least likely to be problematic from the standpoint of being a threat to individual liberty.
Well, what to do? Within the ruling is the notion that those closest to the fray, in this case the local government, are best able to make local determinations. A novel Conservative notion in an otherwise Liberal judgment. Activist, engaged citizens may elect local leadership likely to preserve what the United States Constitution had for 200+years. If there is any good in this, it may serve to remind us that we must be ever vigilant. It really makes no difference whether terrorists crash planes into our buildings or judges threaten our freedoms under the guise of twisted logic that any American history student could see through. Freedoms taken are freedoms gone.

Tyranny

2005-06-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

Georgetown became another municipality in what used to be Burley country to criminalize tobacco smoking in most businesses. The vote was 5-4, with the mayor's vote breaking a 4-4 tie. What is going on, one wonders, when a legal product is literally shown the door in the area where it once was king?
There can be no question that smoking is bad for you. As Larry the Cable Guy will tell you, it says so right on the box. But there is a frenzy awork over the dangers of second-hand tobacco smoke and the health risks that it poses that is separate and distinct from whether or not one likes the smell of someone's cigarette. We are told that our health is placed at risk due to the actions of the inconsiderate smoker. It simply isn't so, and the science shows it as you can read for yourself. http://www.junkscience.com/feb01/perske.htm Obviously this isn't an exhaustive list but an inquisitive reader can research the matter for him or herself.
What is just as troubling is this whole notion of a small group, and who might constitute it can vary with the whims of the electorate in a single election, deciding what I may or may not do. In this particular instance, it isn't going to have any real impact on me. I don't smoke, don't go out to eat all that often, don't frequent bars at all. But what about next time? What if next time a county ordinance is enacted and I have to decide which of my two dogs goes for some arbitrary reason? Think of some nuisance level ordinance you would find particularly troubling.
The founders worried a great deal about just this sort of thing. Tyranny by the majority was a concern. Power was to be feared, not embraced. It was liberty that was to be treasured beyond anything else. Sure, we should all wear our seatbelts, but should it be a government inforced crime should we choose not to?
We as a society need to ask ourselves some hard questions. What is it that we really want? More than anything else. Perfect, safe lives, tucked inside some little cocoon, where our air isn't likely to be contaminated by something someone else inhaled? Or do we want to be free? I say, simply, that it is a choice of one or the other.

Nazis?

2005-06-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

We frequently read and hear in the media that Americans are becoming more and more polarized politically. We are.
Recently, a member of the United States Senate, not moveon.org, mind you, but a member of the United States Senate compared the treatment of al-Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo to the acts of the regimes of Hitler, Stalin, and the Cambodian Pol Pot. When called upon to apologize, the Senator refused to do so, instead blaming the whole thing on the "right wing media."
I'm not so certain that we haven't gone totally nuts. On the one hand, at present in the House of Representatives there is an initiative to place a deadline on bringing our troops home. I think a cogent argument can be made that time is nigh. It is difficult to foresee some smoke-clearing scenario when it is going to be obvious that the time has come. So while an arbitrary deadline would be unwise, it seems that the administration needs to have a goal to bring the troops home soon. We are not meeting our volunteer army recruiting goals. The nation has numerous pressing problems and apparently an inability to multi-task.
So into the middle of all this shoots the mouth of a United States Senator. I'm not certain why Senators and news magazines and other prominent persons find the need to say explosive things to inflame those who would kill our soldiers as we try to disengage from danger. Why would a member of the Senate accuse our military of behaving like those who engaged in mass genocide? He compared our military to icons of evil. It was a disgrace.
We have read and been reminded in our history that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." And that "we have met the enemy and he is us."
To paraphrase de Tocqueville, we were a great nation because we were comprised of great people. But we are ceasing to be great because we are ceasing to be good. I hope we are not getting the government we deserve.

Judicial Confirmations and filibusters

2005-05-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

For those of us that love American history, we are truly living in a period tbat is equal parts exciting and unusual. The Senate battle taking place over which of President Bush's appointments will and won't be confirmed, or for that matter, will or won't be voted upon, is unprecedented.
Credit has to be given to the Democrats. They are the minority party in just about every way one can measure it, but it's difficult to tell it when focusing one's gaze narrowly on just this one arena. The Democrats don't have the votes to prevent the President's nominee from coming out of committee, and they don't have the votes to prevent the nominee from being confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate. What they can do, they say, is prevent certain nominees' names from coming to a vote by filibustering them. Filibustering is a fancy way of saying "we are going to waste a bunch of time, until it runs out." Sort of like running Dean Smith's old Four-Corners offense. What's unusual about this, though, is that the Republicans have been allowing the Democrats to get away with the mere threat of filibuster. The Democrats haven't even had to go through with it. Say what you want about the Four-Corners, it's harder than it looks. You can throw that baby away. The Republicans could take a page from Smith's book.
Another oddity is that we are told that the filibuster is as sacrosanct as the Koran. Harry Reid has accused George Bush of re-writing the Constitution, somehow linking Bush to Trent Lott. He is the Golden Orator who hatched the phrase "Nuclear Option," to describe a parliamentary move to limit debate and send the votes to the floor. That was a bomb, alright. The fact is, never before in the history of the Republic have there been filibusters of judicial nominees. The filibuster is not mentioned in the Constitution, nor are political parties who would ostensibly organize to use one of the blasted things. No, our founders said, "advise and consent," which implied something much more orderly than this rancor that doesn't even qualify as discourse.
The Republicans, who are in the majority, have been negotiating the terms of their surrender to the Democrats for days now, and we may know the outcome of this thing this week. One thing is certain. We have been witnessing history. One has the feeling this is more prologue than epilogue.

The Governor's hiring woes

2005-05-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Let us assume for the purposes of discussion that everything that we are reading in the papers about the politics in the employee merit system are true. Congressman Fletcher campaigned for the governor's office promising to end business as usual and to do so by ferreting out the now famous "waste, fraud and abuse." If the allegations have the credence that Attorney General Stumbo seems to think they do, there are problems in Frankfort for those of the Republican persuasion, to the everlasting glee of Democrats.
Attempting to take a non-partisan view of things, the reasons Democrats can have the audacity to cast a stone through the windows of the glass house, knowing full well this kind of stuff has been going on for years, is that Fletcher campaigned to end Kentucky State House politics as we knew them. Now, it appears, there has only been more of the same.
But, lest we be too hasty having too much fun at the Governor's expense, what really should be done instead of getting a pound of flesh is for everyone, and by that I mean all those who have any influence in the Commonwealth, to engage in a little introspection. We need to ask ourselves whether or not we really want clean government. I think if we wanted it, we would have it.
Fifteen years ago I was elected to the school board just as KERA was implemented. School boards as of the time I was sworn in no longer had any influence over personnel matters. Not only that, but it was taken a step further. A board member could not even recommend someone. Not too long after that, I received a phone call from a prominent businessman in town wanting a job for someone. I told him I couldn't help him and the reasons why. About a week later, the same person called me back with the exact same request on behalf of the same person in the same words, as though the previous conversation had never taken place. I was momentarily dumbstruck, but I just acted as though the previous conversation had never taken place, either, and repeated pretty much verbatim what I had said before. "See you later," I said. Fortunately for me, the law was clear and we never needed to find out how much clay my feet were made out of.
That experience is illustrative to me of why we don't have the clean government we say we want. It's because we really don't want it. You see, we want the favors and we want the influence. We want to be able to call someone up and make something happen. That's how and why this whole thing in Frankfort happened, if it happened as it appears. So all those that are jumping up and down with glee right now now? They are just waiting their turns. Waiting to trade places. And the wheel on the bus goes 'round and 'round.

KERA, Superintendents and Principals

2005-05-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

In an article below it states that the mantra from Frankfort as KERA was being sold to the public was "local control." Citizens were told they were going to be able to take back control of their schools. In some cases, particularly in poorer districts where unemployment rates were higher, schools had become something of a fiefdom for those who were able to wrest control of the local school board, either by being elected or by exerting influence. The peddling of this influence through its various forms was one facet of the reform which KERA intended to end through the means of the site-based council. This has gone way too far.
The councils are comprised of three teachers, two parents who don't necessarily have to have students attending the school, but as a practical matter almost always do, and the principal. The councils hire the principal. Therein lies the rub, or one of the many.
Superintendents have an enormous job. Their responsibilities are truly incredible; our society has overused that word to the point that it's meaning has diminished in the lexicon. As any administrator will tell you, he or she is as good as the people they surround themselves with. When one interviews and hires someone for a job, personal chemistry and how the people involved find themselves interfacing is of paramount concern.
Since KERA's implementation, when a principalship opens and the job is posted or advertised, the superintendent gives the names of all qualified applicants to the councils and they make the hire. That "bottom-up" approach no more guarantees a good fit in a management system than a "top-down" one does, yet the superintendent is responsible for all the students in the school. The leader of a school district of hundreds to thousands of students should have input in who his subordinate "mid-managers," that is, principals are at the schools he or she is operating.
The facts are that test scores--academic performance--overall have not improved since KERA. The school have certainly been reformed, make no mistake about that. Budgets have grown enormously, taxes have been raised, salaries have been increased. There's only one problem. There has been no real difference in outcomes.

The Fairness Brigade Strikes Again

2005-05-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

The NCAA, having admitted their hypocrisy regarding their refusal to allow a Division I-A football playoff system is now wading into the all-important area of athletic nicknames. In case you may have missed it, the NCAA was firmly against the notion of a playoff out of a concern for the effect said playoff would have on the "student-athletes." Soon, however, the season will be expanded from eleven games to twelve which the NCAA ensures one and all will not lengthen the season since it will merely eliminate the "open" week on many schedules. What the twelth game will do is generate much moola, for which the NCAA salivates.
Now, the large to-do about Indian nicknames. According to Steve Wieberg of the USA Today, this has been a "politically delicate issue for more than four years," which begs the questions, "Why?" How in the blue blazes with gas at $2-plus a gallon and the U. S. hostage to get that, Social Security bankrupt, individual liberties threatened more by the day, public education a joke, our borders as porous as Swiss cheese at a time when terrorists would do us harm, are the Florida State Seminoles a politically delicate issue?
In the case of FSU, the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida has for years furnished the full battle regalia that "Chief Osceola" wears at the football games. But so what? Why deal with graduation rates at member institutions when you can point a distracting accusatory finger at the Utah Utes?
It's really all a part of the same mentality that prevents folks from singing Christmas carols at Christmas, or even saying "Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." We are so busy trying to make things "safe" for everybody, that it's fun for nobody. In the case of the Seminole Tribe, if they were complaining and no one were listening that would be one thing. But they are honored enough they contribute to be a part of it.
Watch out, Michigan Wolverines. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) ain't happy. And you're next.

Florida's "Castle Law" defended

2005-05-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

In Sunday's Lexington Herald-Leader, a column by Carl Hiaasen of the Miami Herald appeared in reaction to the recently passed and signed Protection of Persons and Property Bill. Condensed, Hiaasen's points are that the bill was the work of the NRA, and that "passing the law was utterly pointless." Well, let us take a look at it.
There are numerous points at which issue could be taken, but having some training in the art of homiletics I shall constrain myself to the famous "three points" for which such orators are known.
When the states began the relatively recent proliferation of "shall issue" gun permits, meaning the states must issue concealed carry permits to any applicant who meets certain criteria, these, too, were met with much derision by some gun control proponents. It was certain that a bloodbath in Kentucky's streets was to follow; it hasn't happened. In fact, violent crime rates in the U. S. are down according to recently released statistics. How those statistics should be interpreted could be subject for debate. However, it is defensible that the possibility of more armed citizens has contributed to the decline. At minimum, the projected increase in gun crime has not taken place.
Secondly, Hiaasen states that the new law notwithstanding, under the previous statute the head of the state prosecutor's association said that "he knows of no instance where a law-abiding person has been hauled into court for using deadly force to protect himself or his family--at home or elsewhere." While that may be true, it is possible that in some of those cases the fact no prosecution was brought may have been due to prosecutor discretion, not due to the act being protected under the law. Was there something wrong with proactive legislation to prevent a Floridian from an overzealous prosecutor?
Finally, in arguing that hardcore criminals really aren't that afraid of anything, inside the law or out, he writes "the possibility of being winged by a little old lady on her way to the ATM is supposed to scare a hardcore badass into giving up his predatory ways." That misses the point entirely, but really does expose the thought pattern of those against these self defense measures. The sentence in quotes above has the perpetrator at its focus. The point of the Protection of Persons and Property bill isn't to change the ways of the perpetrator, it is to protect the "little old lady" at the ATM.
Kentucky should pass a version of the same bill.

Kentucky Education Reform Act

2005-05-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Kentucky Education Reform Act, or KERA as it has come to be known, has been an ambitious experiment. Born in large measure from the failure of Kentucky to be competitive in the race for the Saturn automobile manufacturing plant due to an undereducated workforce, KERA was spawned from a court order to make equitable schools in both rich and poor counties. The Reform effort was comprehensive in that efforts were taken to address virtually every imaginable facet of education, from computers in the classroom, to teacher pay, to problems in the home.
As the largest employer in many Kentucky counties, School Boards were sometimes corrupted by pressures to hire relatives, or by outright bribery to engage in various types of chicanery. Consequently, school boards' powers over personnel issues beyond hiring the Superintendent and Board attorney were curtailed. As is often the case, this had both positive and negative consequences.
One abuse of the previous system addressed by KERA was the procurement of property for new school construction. A frequent arena for cronyism and corruption there is now a committee appointed in each district for the purpose of examining potential building sites for new schools. The idea is that a group of people would not have any particular special interest and would be more likely to make a decision that was in the best interest of the district. It would seem that this has passed the commonsense test and would have prevented any single beneficiaries from getting fat off the school board cow.
Anti-nepotism provisions were included into the bill which in the case of many small counties made it difficult for many candidates to qualify, so great were the exclusions. At the same time, regardless of the district size school boards were effectively neutered. At the same time the mantra emanating from Frankfort was "Local control," it was surely being removed. While corrupt boards may have been the target, all boards were impacted. Board members who may have been well educated and motivated to help improve the schools no longer had any real impact. In one case in which the author is aquainted, a school teacher showed an 'R' rated movie in a classroom of students who would not have been old enough to have purchased a ticket to have viewed it at a local theater on their own time. While fielding calls from angry citizens and parents the board member informed the incredulous listeners that while sympathetic he was one of five people in the county who was not allowed to have a position on the issue. There were existing laws in the State allowing the State Department of Education to take over a school district if it were being mismanaged. This should have been employed more liberally, instead of totally removing any real control of the schools from the boards elected by registered voters.
Tangentially, where there are two or more people there will be politics. While much of KERA was the brainchild of the Kentucky Education Association, which helps to explain while there are three teachers, two parents and the principal on the required site-based councils, the notion that these councils will be pristeen compared to the dastardly school boards has not proven to be uniformly true. Instead, the idiots making policy are down the hall instead of across town.
Perhaps the greatest accomplishment engendered by the Act has been the emphasis placed on writing across the curriculum; now in 2005 the SAT and ACT are adding a writing component to their tests which students will take in anticipation of admission into an institution of higher learning.
These things being said, it is time to call the Act, in toto, a failure for a variety of reasons. It was, again, a noble effort, an experiment. The status quo was not acceptable. What came to pass from a KERA that was malleable on the one hand and too inflexible on the other, was far from what was expected of it and less than the vast amounts of money spent would have led one to have predicted. Had money been the solution, there would be no educational mediocrity in Kentucky.

Paying Workers to Vote

2005-05-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

In an article in today's Courier-Journal Amy Showalter addresses news from last week that some of the state workers who were paid time off to vote didn't bother after receiving their four hours off the clock. The general theme of her article is that this practice of paid time off should continue because 90% of those who took the time did, in fact, cast ballots. She also thinks that there should be an increase in private sector initiatives in this area because "most employers don't make it easy for their workers to vote."
It isn't the business of employers to make it easy for their workers to vote. It is the business of employers to make it easy for their employees to work. In Kentucky, where polls open at 6:00 a.m. and remain open until 6:00 p.m., there would be scant workers who could not make it to the polls prior to or after coming home from work. If someone isn't any more interested than that to expend a little effort "off the clock" to vote, I'm not so sure the future of the republic should hang in the balance on their opinion.
The State should not be paying our workers to vote on a blanket basis. Whether or not an employer in the private sector allows employees to do so should be up to the employer, which incidentally Ms. Showalter does allow.
Elections should be voted in by informed, motivated voters. Not afternoon hobbyists with nothing better to do.

Pork or Sacred Cow?

2005-05-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

With the announcement of pending military base closings comes the expected hue and cry from communities dependent upon them economically. A base in South Dakota, long protected by the departed Tom Daschle is slated for closure, but so is one in Mississippi by the apparently well connected Senator Trent Lott. The fact is, the United States of today no longer needs what the nation needed in the Cold War era.
Projected savings exceed 48 billion dollars over 20 years. As former Republican Congressman Everett Dirksen of Illinois once said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." While the communities involved are reeling from the pending shock to their economies, so was Enterprise, Alabama post-boll weevil. Folks are more resistant than that. Opportunities will present themselves as they always do.
As we move into the future our needs will change, and as they do we must be ready and willing to change to meet those needs. We refer to it as "National Security." Decisions must be made on that basis. It appears that some politically courageous ones were.

Harlan County Consolidation Pros and Cons

2005-05-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

To make a long story short, some months back, the Harlan County Board of Education made a difficult decision to close some local high schools and build a new Harlan County High School. Closing the Evarts and Cumberland High Schools has created an emotional backlash for obvious reasons. Local schools are the centerpiece of a small community. Their extracurricular activities are a focus of the town. There is now a move by some local citizens to attempt to create another school district in an attempt to keep those two schools open.
The effort is a noble one, borne of pride mentioned above. Those are the things that no doubt made the Board decision a difficult one. Just to redistrict schools is a controversial endeavor. To close schools is to invite chaos. As a former school board member in another district, I am aware of the thoughts and feelings that were and are, going on on both sides of the issue, at least vicariously.
There are two main concerns that argue against consolidation. Those are research data that indicate that students tend to feel as if they lose their identities in larger schools. Not to speak in absolute terms, which would be foolhardy, but data seem to indicate that Columbine-like behavior seems to be less likely in smaller schools where teachers know all the students and vice-versa. Student suicides have also been demonstrated to be lower in smaller schools.
Another argument against consolidation is that extracurricular options would likely be reduced. Whereas there would have been three (counting Cawood High) boys basketball teams there will now be one; likewise with football, cheerleading squads, etc.
However, there are other sets of facts and those are these. The population of Harlan County has been steadily decreasing. There are economic facts which must be faced, and there is a critical mass of students and teachers which must exist to operate a given school. The numbers had declined to where that simply isn't the case. In fact, Evarts High School has been deemed a "School in Crisis," due to low test scores.
One of the reasons for the test score decline is not because of any inherent deficiency in the students per se, but simply because of the fact that as the numbers of students in the schools in question have declined, the curricular offerings have been reduced. In other words, there are certain advanced classes that used to be offered in the Harlan County Schools that aren't anymore, simply because there aren't enough students in any one place at any one time to offer them, this at a time when the need for a quality education has never been greater.
I believe in the rights and freedoms of the individuals to organize and attempt to do as they would. I want the best for all the citizens in Harlan County. It will be an exceedingly difficult road to develop and maintain another district. Just the costs of transportation alone, with a school bus costing about $40,000 each will make for a daunting task. And again, as I see it, the main issue is providing the best course offerings for the most students at the least possible cost. Good luck.
McClellan

Bolton passes Foreign Relations Committee

2005-05-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

U.N. Ambassador-designate John Bolton passed his first hurdle toward confirmation by the full Senate when Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio reluctantly went along. The comments of the Senator are noteworthy.
While stating that the President was owed an up or down vote on his nominees and that he would not be so arrogant as to impose his judgment on his colleagues, he went on to ooze hubris with comments that displayed much of what is wrong with America's trust of the United Nations and the views of some of our place in it.
Senator Voinovich stated that based upon Bolton's previous conduct in other positions that Bolton would be fired were he working in the private sector. That is an irrelevant point to make. His appointment is not to be the director of human resources at a corporation. He is appointed to represent the American point of view to a universal body. His demeanor while doing so may or may not be that important. It is also well within the realm of possibility that like most of us, he possesses some self-control and can behave diplomatically when called upon to do so. He would not have made it as far as he has if he couldn't.
He most likely will be confirmed by the full Senate, since Republicans hold a 55-45 majority. Voinovich, professing an unwillingness to wax arrogant, went on to profess hope that the confirmation would be denied by the full Senate. Which makes one wonder why he didn't just vote his conscience in the Committee.