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Bush Defends NCLB
I thought President Bush did a fine job in his press conference Thursday evening. Of interest to Utahns, Bush mounted a spirited defense of No Child Left Behind, the federal education law that might cost Utah more than $70 million in federal education aid.
Bush’s basic point, which is legitimate, is that if the federal government is going to give schools money, it should have the right to expect accountability and progress, measured by stiff testing requirements. Too many schools shuffle students through the system and they are illiterate when they graduate from high school, Bush said.
His points are well taken, but it’s tough for a one-size-fits-all federal law to work in every school across the country. Utah education leaders claim they have a superior way to achieve the same results and there ought to be enough flexibility to accommodate different approaches. Bush made it clear he doesn’t want states skirting the provisions of NCLB, so it will be very interesting to see if Utah can get the federal money while taking a different route.
I give Bush a lot of credit for tackling the Social Security crisis, a political minefield where few politicians have dared to tread. The shrill critics of Bush’s initiative have no plan of their own. We ought to at least demand that they put forth an alternative if they want to kill Bush’s plan.
SL County GOP Meets Saturday
James Evans is the frontrunner for the tough position of Salt Lake County Republican chair. Democrats have been making inroads in the county while Republicans have been squabbling. See good coverage in a Morning News story and Bob Bernick column.
Hot Race for Demo Chair
On May 7, a week from Saturday, Utah’s Democrats gather to select a new state chair. With eight candidates, there’s a great deal of interest in the race. For a list of the candidates and links to the Web sites of candidates who have them, click here.
Labor leader Wayne Holland, who is strongly supported by Rep. Jim Matheson, is the clear frontrunner in the race. It would be rather embarrassing for Matheson if Holland lost. Nancy Jane Woodside and Jan Lovett are mounting feisty challenges to Holland. Lovett has probably the glitziest campaign with a pretty amazing Web site for a party chair candidate. Holland’s Web site is rather basic, but he has a very impressive list of endorsements, including a lot of Democratic state legislators.
While Matheson is the Democrats’ top office holder and hope for the party’s future, there is still a fair amount of grumbling about him because he votes a lot with Republicans and he has never been much of a party-builder. Some Democrats think it is uncharacteristic of him to jump into the party chair race in such a big way and they resent it. Democrats, being Democrats, always fight among themselves even when they’re in the minority.
LDS Church, Semnani Foundation Help Defeat Measles
A recent article in Biotech Business Week notes that measles deaths in Africa has dropped by nearly half over the last five years, in large part to the global Measles Initiative conducted by the World Health Organization, the Red Cross and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Five years ago, an African child died every minute from measles; those lives could be saved by vaccinations costing less than one dollar per child. The article single out several charitable organizations for making generous contributions to the Measles Initiative, including the LDS Church, the Utah-based Semnani Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ExxonMobil, and various Red Cross organizations.
In addition to the Measles Initiative and other charitable work, the Semnani Foundation is currently involved in establishing a free medical clinic for low-income uninsured people in the Salt Lake area.
Quotable
"Conservative elected officials increasingly find themselves caught between two impulses: the revolutionary ideas that brought them into power and the need to explain and defend the institutions they inherited. And the longer these good men and women stay in office, the more likely they will be to defend the very bureaucracies and policies against which they once campaigned. The goal to transform government will be gradually overwhelmed by contentment with merely presiding over it."
-- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Source: The Federalist Patriot)
Casual Friday
How to Eat Right
The Washington Post recently published an excellent article on how to build your own food pyramid using the new federal food guidelines. The pyramid-builder is found at www.mypryamid.gov and allows you to create your own diet based on age, gender, activity level and weight loss desired. No excuse now for eating at Crown Burger twice a day.
How Did We Survive?
Salt Lake Chamber VP Robin Riggs sent this along after receiving it from Ted Smith:
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930s 4's, 50s, 60s:
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
Spam Watch
- Refinance the Right Way—Christian Family Loans
- WE’RE PRACTICALLY GIVING AWAY MONEY
- Just go to myfakerolex.net to see the selection
- Become the man that women desire
- Try Epimedium Extract (Horny Goat Weed)
- Dear Friend, You may be surprise to receive this letter from me,since you dont know me personally,I am James Mswati. The son of Dr Chiluba Mswati, Who was recently murdered in the land dispute in Zimbabwe . . . Before my father death,he had taken to johannesburg and deposited the sum of twenty five million united state dollars (US$25,000,000) . . .
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