Dear Senator Clinton: You should be ashamed. Dear Senator Schumer: Thank you for voting to remove the telecom immunity provision from the contemptible bill recently before the Senate. Dear Representative Hall: I am very concerned about the direction this country is taking under President Bush and a Congress which seems willing to abandon our essential […]
Category Archives: politics
On the Superdelegate Question
Taegan Goddard quotes Todd Purdum, It would mean that Clinton’s only hope of winning would be some kind of backroom deal…. Might I suggest that perhaps the candidate who can win through the use of such tactics might be the one best suited to Get Things Done? That candidate is not necessarily Senator Clinton, though […]
Why I don’t like John McCain, either
John McCain once again demonstrated why he’s not my choice for President. For details see EFF v. AT&T.
Walls
Richard Posner states, It is infeasible to build and man, at reasonable cost, a wall or fence that would actually close our border with Mexico. Compare the cost and effectiveness of the following walls. The Great Wall of China Hadrian’s Wall The Warsaw Ghetto The Berlin Wall The Israeli security fence
My Objection to Hillary Clinton
She thinks she knows best. Too brief? She thinks she knows what is best for me, which is wrong, and she’s very smug about it, which is annoying. I have objections to all of the candidates, so don’t think I’m just picking on her.
Simple Economics Too Complicated for Lou Dobbs?
I walked past a television at the hospital today, and Lou Dobbs was bemoaning that families could no longer afford college, though I’m sure his can. It seems to me that college tuition has always been expensive. There are many within living memory who were the first in their families to attend college. But it […]
Sins of Omission
I’m bothered by The Media’s self-imposed role as society’s filter, particularly when it comes to elections. Take this very interesting electoral season for example. There’s no incumbent running for President, so it’s considered a “wide-open” race. Would that it were so. In some cases the filtering is with adjectives, such as “front-runner,” a somewhat meaningless […]
Questions for the Candidates
Here are a couple of elementary civics questions which should be asked of the candidates. What are the responsibilities of the President? Alternately, what is the job of the President? The answer is not “heal the sick, cure the lame, and raise the dead.” The business of the Executive is to enforce the laws of […]
Framing the Question
Congress.org, a “facilitator” of civic participation, sends out an e-mail update each week which includes a simplified issue and a simpler survey question. Here’s an example from today’s mail. Performance Pay for Teachers In a recent speech, Congressman George Miller, Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, proposed “performance pay” for teachers as part […]
School Budget Season
The board of the Arlington Central School District approved yet another year of increased spending. I’m sure their hands were tied by the contract negotiations last year. One hopes the district will post the budget online before we vote “No” on May 15th. Here’s an amusing tidbit from The Poughkeepsie Journal‘s article on the subject. […]
Suppose You Have a Pie
While driving the Bigger Sister to school this morning after I had voted, I tried to explain the election. Suppose you have a pie. Further suppose that you have to give the whole pie either to someone you like, or to someone you don’t. Who do you give it to? My friend. Now what if […]
The Powerlessness of the School District Budget Process
On Tuesday, voters defeated most of the proposed school district budgets in Dutchess County. The New York State Education Department, however, said that state-wide, most voters approved the school district budgets. Except that department only gives the approval in terms of a percentage of budgets passed: 88.9%. This leaves some unanswered questions. What was the […]
Spare the Belt, and Spoil the Child
The Big Sister goes to kindergarten in the Fall. On Tuesday, I went to an orientation session about the school buses, where I learned an interesting thing. The buses have seatbelts. The drivers may “suggest” that the children wear the seatbelts, but the children are not required to wear them. At this tender age the […]
The Economics of Government Schools
Grumbles upon receiving the school district’s budget
Big School Districts
We just voted down the proposed budget for the Mahopac Central School District, because of the 9.95% property tax increase involved. 2,593 persons voted, with 1,728 against and 865 for the proposed budget. 5,289 students were enrolled in the district for the 2003-2004 school year. Most of the budget increase was blamed on things beyond […]
Amtrak Subsidies
Are Amtrak subsidies equivalent to the monies used to prevent the commercial airlines from going belly up after 9/11? If the government pays to maintain private air transportation companies, why not rail?