Dear Ms. Burdick
Budgets are not carved in stone. They serve as guidelines and, when necessary, may be altered so they may better serve the ends for which they were designed. That said, given our dire economic times, it would not be out of the question to call an emergency session of the Arizona State Legislature in order to shift monies from one budget to another.
Those who suffer most during a recession are those who remain inflexible. All of us have had to reconfigure budgets and lifestyles to make accommodations to survive hard times. Why should CCUSD be exempt from this? If I set aside $10,000 in my vacation budget but my window gets broken during a spring storm shall I leave my home open to the elements simply because I didn't have the money in my home repairs budget? Of course not! I will pull it from my vacation budget because that's just common sense!
As far as CCUSD's plan to rehab DAMS for the possibility of an economic turn-around, this seems to me to be a foolish endeavor. Forgive me, Dr. Burdick, but those of us who do not live in academia are forced to deal with reality rather than theoretical possibilities. Non-government employees and business owners do not have the luxury of spending other people's money on projects that may – or may not – someday come to fruition. On what grounds do you base your hope of economic recovery?
Certainly not on current trends because those all show the CCUSD tax base continuing to atrophy. Rehabing a school you voted to close is like mending a jacket you can no longer afford to dry clean. What's the point in spending money to fix something you cannot afford to use (if that's even really the case)? Aren't there more pressing matters toward which bond money might be better allocated – like raising the salaries of outstanding teachers so we retain their valuable services?
Such mismanagement is why I voted against the bond initiative in the first place. CCUSD had previously proven they were not good stewards with what they had already been given so why on earth would I hand over more money to a poor manager? I actually lobbied against the bond initiative. I compiled charts of student spending ratios by state to prove to myself and others that it is not more money that makes students successful, its better leadership.
The District of Columbia spends over $13,000 per student – more than any state in the nation – and yet their graduation rate is a dismal 59 percent. Yet Utah, who spends only $4,890 per student – $634 less per student than Arizona spends – shows an outstanding graduation rate of 81 percent. These are not isolated statistics, I can provide more examples. At 93 percent, Iowa has the highest high school graduation rate in the nation, yet they spend only $7,305 per student.
This is what the bureaucrats refuse to acknowledge: more money does not guarantee better results. Rather, it is strong leadership, accountability, parental/citizen involvement, and a knowledge that we're all in this together so it's in our mutual best interests to encourage each other to do the right thing. Like so many other government entities, CCUSD is on the wrong path, Dr. Burdick, hence the reason for the law suit. Parents and citizens have become disenfranchised, betrayed and are now fed-up. You convinced them to vote in favor of the bond initiative and many did so hoping it would provide CCUSD with what it needed to keep Desert Arroyo open. Even though the district received the money, they closed the school anyway.
Desert Arroyo is not the only issue of concern, but I believe it was the proverbial "line in the sand." You and the board now find yourselves in a bed of your own making but how well do you sleep?
Sincerely,
Kyle Amy Durham | Cave Creek
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Heather Carter
Bravo to you! I agree with you! Violent crime needs to stop on a college campus, especially ASU. An armed student could save an entire class should one crazy individual come in with the intent to kill every student in that room.
By the time security and police get there, it's too late. It could be an hour before they figure out what's going on ... just look at Virginia ... there's the proof!
All it takes is one good armed student to take out a killer and save the class – a student who has had firearms training with an NRA Class or student 21 years of age with a CC permit – a responsible law abiding citizen.
It is by choice and not every student may wish to be armed, but have that option.
Heather Carter should be thankful her own daughter was never in a class where something like this happened!
Heather needs to get with the Real World. It is a dangerous place and even college classrooms are no longer safe. There are hundreds of laws on the books but never fully enforced because of all the liberal judges and plea bargains ... it is destroying our judicial system. There seems to be no justice for victims and their families anymore.
Thanks for this article, I will send it to everyone I know! I'm also a very conservative Republican disappointed in Heather Carter.
Carole Joyce | Phoenix
www.sonorannews.com/archives/2011/110413/frontpage-carter.htm
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Defunding Obamacare
I have requested the Arizona Senate vote YES to defund Obamacare next week.
I am among a majority of Americans who adamantly opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enacted into law. Now, I join with the coalition of Americans who vociferously want ObamaCare DEFUNDED immediately and also repealed.
The costs of ObamaCare were greatly distorted and underestimated. The benefits of ObamaCare were greatly exaggerated. Americans continue to feel deceived about ObamaCare's impact on our healthcare system and the many mandates contained in the bill. It has been exposed as a gross overreach into all aspects of Americans lives.
I understand Congress is voting to DEFUND ObamaCare. I have urged the Senate here in Arizona to vote immediately to cut off funding. As a member of the newly formed Pink Slip Patriots, I will be watching.
An American for Sovereignty
Nancy Bailey | Mesa
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RE: Your lead editorial, April 22- 24, 2011
Dear Wall Street Journal Letters Editor: Irony of ironies – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warns about the systemic risk of the provisions in the Dodd-Frank law regarding the establishment of central clearinghouses for derivatives. At the same time, he heads a centralized banking cartel that has wreaked havoc on the economy, debased the dollar, and allowed Congress and the White House to give stuff to voters without having to tax them for it. Systemic risk doesn't get any bigger than this.
Mr. Bernanke should ask a psychiatrist for an opinion on whether his cognitive dissonance is curable.
Sincerely,
Craig Cantoni | Scottsdale
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Please Arizona, help end future "BIRTHER" issues
It is a crying shame Arizona's Legislature could not have given Governor Jan Brewer a no nonsense proof of citizenship bill to sign.
Arizona has made America proud many times before for defending this nation's borders. Not knowing for sure if your president is legally elected is bad for America.
I would hope and pray that Gov. Brewer will give suggestions as to what "Birther" bill she would sign. With questions even about Obama's SS number arising we must never again have such a mysterious "president" who may have been unconstitutionally elected to the highest office of this once great land.
Joseph DuPont | Watchung, New Jersey
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The Deal
After all of the hoopla about a possible government shutdown, Congress passed legislation to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2011.
It’s important to put this budget battle in context. The deficit this year is expected to reach $1.6 trillion, the third consecutive year of trillion-plus dollar deficits. By the end of this year, the debt will reach $15 trillion. Forty cents of every dollar that the government spends has to be borrowed.
Yet, many lawmakers continue to fight even the smallest spending cuts for the most parochial of projects. For example, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid railed against Republican efforts to reduce spending, lamenting that such austerity could threaten the annual cowboy poetry festival in his home state. And then there was the hyperbole. Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned that because of the proposed reduction in spending, “six million seniors are deprived of meals,” a statement the Washington Post said “ranks high on this year’s list of bloviated bluster.”
That Congress and the President agreed on $38 billion in spending cuts is, therefore, a significant accomplishment. To be sure, that number represents a tiny fraction of the federal budget and is much less than many of us would have liked. But it is a start.
No one got everything he wanted. I would have preferred we reduce spending a lot more. But this was the best deal we could get that could pass both chambers of Congress with the threat of a government shutdown.
Aside from their impact on the nation’s fiscal path, the spending cuts have changed the momentum in Congress and altered the conversation about spending. As columnist William McGurn wrote in the Wall Street Journal, during the budget negotiations Speaker Boehner changed the national debate over spending “from ‘stimulus’ and ‘investment’ to ‘how much spending do we need to cut’ – which is why [the President] press[ed] the reset button.”
We need this momentum to take us into the much larger discussion about the 2012 budget and the upcoming vote to increase the debt ceiling. At the center of this discussion will be how Congress can begin to reduce spending in a way that makes a significant impact on the debt. There are some promising proposals out there.
One is a balanced budget amendment, a mechanism to ensure that the federal government has to live within its means each year – just as most American families do.
Another is a constitutional spending limitation at 18 percent of gross domestic product. Eighteen percent is roughly equal to revenue as percent of gross domestic product over last 40 years, so this limit would stop Washington from spending more than it takes in each year.
Third, Senators Corker and McCaskill have sponsored the Commitment to American Prosperity Act, known as the CAP Act, which would cap both mandatory and discretionary spending. It would put all government spending on the table. If enacted, beginning in 2013, the CAP Act would establish federal spending limits that would, over 10 years, reduce spending to 20.6 percent of gross domestic product, which is the average of the last 40 years.
The $38 billion in reduced spending that Congress agreed to is just a start. From billions, we will soon start reducing trillions. Congress must now take long-term and permanent action to reduce spending and bring down the debt.
Sen. Jon Kyl | Senate Republican Whip,
serving on Senate Finance and Judiciary committees
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Bill O’Reilly disinformation about Obama’s SSN
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media."~ William Colby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
Retired USNR Commander Charles Kerchner, lead plaintiff in the case of Kerchner et al v Obama caught this on Wednesday evening’s “The Spin Stops Here But not Really, O’Reilly” show.
Bill O’Reilly told a big fat whopper and piece of disinformation on the ending e-mail comments segment of his TV show tonight when he said in answer to an e-mail comment about Obama having a SSN from CT, that Obama’s father lived for several years in CT and probably got it for his son.
When that CT number was issued circa Mar 1977, Obama’s father was back in Kenya for many years and Obama was age 15 living in Hawaii in the legal custody of his maternal grandparents. There is no way Obama Sr. in Kenya could have requested and had issued a CT SSN for Obama Jr. living in Hawaii.
It also should be pointed out that Harvard, which is the New England college Obama Sr. attended for a few years in the early 1960s before returning to Kenya, is in Massachusetts, not Connecticut. So O’Reilly is either completely stupid or he is purposely putting out false information to protect Obama.
NOTE: OReilly attended Boston College and took a course or two at Harvard. He knows quite well where both those institutions of higher learning are located.
Is O’Reilly dancing to the tune of Obama’s Homeland Security Department warnings and disinformation to keep Obama’s usurpation a national security secret with fear of violence threats if Obama’s fraud is exposed or is O’Reilly simply a closet progressive and Obama’s lapdog?
Listen to this audio interview of Susan Daniels, Licensed Private Investigator, of the great state of Ohio at about 18 minutes and 25 seconds in where she destroys the above false story that O’Reilly repeated tonight. Listen to the entire audio if you have time. It’s 34 minutes full of good, solid information on the Obama fraudulent use of a CT SSN.
http://www.t-room.us/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/SDInterview.mp3
Obama should be charged with criminal felony identity theft for using, since at least 1986, someone else’s CT SSN, and criminal felony Selective Service Registration fraud for filing a back-dated SSS registration via his contacts in the Chicago Illinois regional selective service registration office circa 2007/2008 when he decided to run for President.
The truth must be allowed to come out. It will come out eventually. The longer the grifter and usurper in chief is in the Oval Office and is the commander of our military, the more damage he will do to our nation, republic, and constitution. When will the cowardly Congress and courts act? The Central American country of Honduras had more backbone in dealing with an unconstitutional President than our Congress and Courts do. Obama is making America the laughing stock of the world and is a grave threat to our liberty. He must be removed by Congress as a usurper.
Sorry O’Bloviator. The spin stops here.
CDR Kerchner (Ret)
www.protectourliberty.org
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