Quick Post

For the time being, I have decided to consolidate all posts to “thepublishersreport.wordpress.com”. Please look there for articles and comment on issues of the day.

Enough is Enough

Enough is enough. The absent Democrat legislators have successfully sabotaged government in the State of Indiana. They have subverted the functioning of the Indiana Constitution and chipped away at the very foundation of governing in our society. Every one of them should be removed from office for dereliction of duty to represent the voters in conducting the business of the Indiana General Assembly. Rule by mob or rule by temper tantrum is unacceptable. Hopefully, voters will remember this come the next election day.

In case the Democrats missed it, they lost the last election. The Republicans gained majorities in both the Indiana House of Representatives and the Indiana Senate. Indiana has a representative government that requires elected representatives to be present in General Assembly chambers to vote up or down on legislation presented for vote. Under the State Constitution, the minority was not given the option to strike like a union might choose to do.

It is unconscionable the Democrats would now seek to control the legislative process by refusal to show up for the work they were elected to do. They have demanded and succeeded in getting the “Right to Work” bill pulled off of the agenda. They have demanded several other pieces of legislation not be brought to the floor for debate and vote or they will take their marbles and go home to Urbana, Illiniois.

This is the worst case of dereliction of duty ever seen in Indiana. The absent legislators did take an oath of office. The House Rules clearly state (IV-A-36) that “No member shall absent himself from the service of the House unless he is excused by the Speaker, is sick or is unable to attend”. The Rules further empower the Speaker to fine and censure absent members and adjourn from day to day until a quorum of 2/3rd of the members is present. Fines have been imposed now at the rate of $350 per day per legislator absent. Hopefully, these fines will not be negotiated away at some point. Punishment is due.

The behavior of the Democrats should not and cannot stand. The voters of Indiana spoke in the last election and the business of Indiana must move forward. If the Democrats don’t like being in the minority, they have every opportunity to change that in the next election. In the meanwhile, they need to suck it up and behave like responsible legislators rather than spoiled losers. Our form of representative government cannot function this way. If they cannot adhere to the rules of governing under our State Constitution, they should step down in favor of someone who will; someone who will not dishonor the oath of office as they have.

Kokomo Schools "International School" Follow up

Kokomo-Center School Corporation announced in mid-January the initiation of an “International School” to function within the K-C system beginning in 2011. Jeff Hauswald, Superintendent of the Kokomo-Center system, told the public that the School Board approved of three new “International” schools. These are to be housed within traditional school buildings along side the traditional academic programs offered in each location. Each will require classroom space and teachers. The “International” school label mostly means teaching Spanish beginning in kindergarten.

In other school news, the recently released Indiana school performance data show an alarming decline in math and language proficiency among Kokomo High School students. Tenth graders in Kokomo High School that meet or exceed the math standard set for 10th graders has fallen from 66% in the 2007-2008 school year to 44% in the 2009-2010 school year. Tenth graders that meet or exceed the language standard has fallen from 63% to 47%. In other words, less than half of Kokomo-Center’s 10th graders are proficient in math and language skills.

Now, the KC system is proposing to divert resources to the teaching of Spanish. They do not appear to be able to teach math and English. If additional resources are available within the system, a much better use would be to remediate the pathetic performance of students in basic skills. It is no wonder that a high percentage of applicants to universities must take remedial math and English courses before being formally admitted to university level work. They are simply not coming out of high school equipped with the required skills in either math or English.

The idea of diverting resources to establish extensive Spanish programs within the Kokomo-Center School system is a perfect example of wrong thinking. The idea should be discarded quickly.

Gerrymandering

You know… this the process whereby a political party in power draws State Senate and Representative district lines and United States Congressional districts in a way that benefits that party. The best example of this ever was by the Democrats in 2001 in Indiana. The most ridiculous districts one could come up with were the result. Any idiot could see this. The Democrats controlled State government at the time. The leader in this fiasco was then Speaker Pat Bauer.

Kokomo wound up in the Indiana 2nd District. All the remainder of Howard County was in the 5th District. A look at the district map shows Kokomo as an appendix in one corner; hardly representative of the population. In no case should Howard County and Kokomo be separated in representation anywhere.

Kokomo and Howard County were not the only jokes. Just take a look at the Congressional District map. It looks like some drunk sailor drew it up. Check out the 4th and 5th districts. They run all over the place as does the 9th district.

With the Republicans now in control of the State House, there is a chance for sanity to prevail. Speaker Brian Bosma has made moves in that direction. He believes districts must be fair and must comply with all statutory and constitutional requirements. The move to establish a nonpartisan commission to draw districts in the future should be strongly supported by all Hoosiers. No one political party should ever again be given the opportunity to abuse political power the way the Democrats did in 2001.

Kokomo "International School"

[This was originally a Letter to the Editor of The Perspective newspaper]

I read with interest the lead article in the January 19th issue of the Perspective which was about Kokomo-Center School Corporation proposing to start an “International School” for K-12. In the same issue, you editorially support such a move. In short, I believe the proposal is a very poor one and should be quickly rejected. Kokomo-Center Schools have a difficult enough time teaching the basics.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education, and the Indiana Dept. of Education; Kokomo schools rank 313 of 417 schools in Indiana. Looks like there is work to be done to me that does not include diversion of resources into wide teaching of Spanish. If I read the article correctly, Kokomo-Center is saying institution of this program will cost the taxpayers nothing. I am wondering what would be dropped to provide the funds needed for such a program.

Further, I taught as an adjunct faculty member at Indiana University Kokomo for several years. I was Vice Chancellor of External Relations at that campus for a couple of years. One of the issues frequently discussed among the faculty was the pathetic preparation in math and language skills among the applicants for admission to the university. At that time — and maybe it has changed now — a high percentage of those admitted had to take remedial English and math courses just to get to college entry level.

Now the Kokomo-Center Schools are proposing to divert resources. Bad idea.

Arizona Memorial Service

The “memorial” service held for the fallen from last week’s shooting in Tucson was bazaar. It was difficult to watch. This was supposed to be a memorial service, not a pep rally or a ball game. It should have had a tone of dignity, respect, and solemnness; not cheers, whistles, clapping, and outbursts. There is a time for all of those things, but this was not it. The families and friends of those killed or wounded are in a period of deep emotional grieving. The behavior of the crowd, many of whom were University of Arizona students, was at the very least inappropriate if not troublingly insensitive.

University of Arizona president, Robert Shelton, bears a great deal of the responsibility for what happened. He should have set the tone of the “memorial” from the beginning. He did not. Admittedly, this task was made more difficult by the fact the gathering was in a basketball arena where whooping and hollering are usually appropriate. Rather than send a clear message about this being a solemn ceremony, Shelton, himself, behaved as if this were a commencement program or alumni gathering by referring frequently to people being U of A graduates. This only encouraged inappropriate behavior.

Other major factors signaling appropriate behavior were missing. These typically would have included traditional cultural cues like the presence of recognized clergy and appropriate music being played. Instead, Shelton introduced U of A Professor Carlos Gonzales to lead in a Native American opening prayer. It was difficult to tell when Gonzales’ speech about himself ended and the rambling prayer began.

The parade continued. We heard from the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer. Her message was appropriate, but the crowd response was not. It was time to shut up and sit down, not cheer and clap as if rooting a team on. Following her came Attorney General Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security; both of whom were allowed to choose and read scripture. Neither of them had any business saying anything. The shooting was the act of one insane shooter. This had nothing to do with Holder or Napolitano. Instead, having clergy from churches attended by victims’ families would have been a much wiser choice.

President Obama was the final speaker. Mostly, he got it right. Early in the gathering, it appeared he, too, was baffled, perplexed, and even uncomfortable with the tone of this “memorial” service. The first portion of his message was serious, compassionate, and comforting. He chastised those who, in the days following this tragedy, had politicized it. Most of those were from his own Democrat party. He ended with the encouraging news that Representative Gabrielle Giffords had, shortly after the President’s visit to the hospital, opened her eyes for the first time. Obama concluded by urging all of us to move our country forward in a way that would meet the expectations of the nine year old girl, Christina-Taylor Green, who lost her life that horrible day in Tucson.

The families and friends for whom this memorial service was held may have gone away confused about what this gathering was really about. Solemn, dignified, and respectful occasions help those who are hurting to grieve. This did not happen in Tuscan, Arizona.

The Indiana Environment

A couple of years ago in late 2007, Forbes magazine published a report entitled, “America’s Greenest States”. The methodology used to rank the states weighted six categories equally. These were carbon footprint, air quality, water quality, hazardous waste management, policy initiatives and energy consumption per capita. The data were gathered from several reputable sources both private and public.

As one might guess, the states that ranked the best in environmental quality in this order were Vermont, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. What one might not guess were the next four which were Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. So, those are the highest eight states with all others falling below. Both Florida and California were in the top 20. Our neighbor, Michigan, was 24th. Illinois was 27th. Kentucky was 45th and Ohio was 39th.

Guess which states were at the bottom of the list? The bottom three were Alabama, Indiana, and West Virginia. Indiana was ranked number 49 of 50 states for the worst environmental quality in all of the United States of America. This is worse than a disgrace. It shows exactly where our priorities have been. It shows how little regard for the environment there has been in Indiana state government. Worse than that, it shows how little regard there has been for the health of the citizens of the Hoosier state. Poor environmental quality equals more and more risk for all who live here.

With the coming of a time when the state government of Indiana is controlled entirely by the Republican Party, maybe it is a time when the GOP can show what can be done to improve the environment for the good of all. No excuses allowed.