Money isn't everything, but it sure helps. part 4

The administration and local school boards should set agendas and curriculum to give children a well rounded, education. They should promote the schools through the community and gain support from the community. They should help teachers become better teachers and if they are either unwilling or unable to reach a level of professionalism that is needed, weed them out of education. The local community and states should support the schools with money, volunteer and any others resources that is available to them. Our children are our most valuable resources and need to be protected and developed. For too long we have neglected them and we are paying a heavy price. That price is getting steeper, as each day passes, and we ignore the results. Education will lead us forward into a greater and more productive society. We must step up and lead the way. Theses are some of my thoughts. Let me hear from you, with your thoughts and ideas.

Money isn't everything, but it sure helps. part 3

 I have briefly looked at money and parents, and the effect each has one education. The next piece is the teachers and schools. I don't have to define teachers in the scope that I will be discussing them, but I want to define the use of the term schools in my post. Schools, as I am using it now is the entire system, excluding the teachers. The administration, the curriculum, the school board, the local community and the state. Each one of these have a certain responsibility to the downward slide of education and each needs to be accountable to each and every child that comes through the system. I do not believe that the solution is to eliminate public schools. I believe that we need to make them the best school systems in the world. After World War II  the U.S. public schools were the envy of the world. What happened? We wanted to stop paying for the best. Educators started to believe that they had to constantly develop new ways to teach, whether they were better or not. Parents stopped supporting the schools and teachers. If I would have gotten into trouble in school, I knew that there would be even more trouble when I got home. Teachers need to be accountable based upon the amount of information that our children learn every year. This should not be based only on seniority. It should be based on performance. The better teachers get promoted and raises. The poorer teachers, should learn to be better or leave the profession. Period.

Money isn't everything, but it sure helps. part 2

The step for parents, is to be involved. Know your children's teacher. Know the principle. Look at the books. Help them with homework. Help them to read. Provide an environment at home that drives the educational process and promotes learning. Support the student and the teachers in every way. This is how we can start the process to better educated citizens of the world. I saw this morning where a state legislator in Texas promoted the idea that teachers give grades to parents to evaluate their participation in education. People may not like the grade, however it could serve as a wake-up call to parents that are not giving any attention to their children's development. They would have to answer for their irresponsibility. Another way is to look at our antiquated system of summers off. This dates back to times when the kids were needed at home to work the farms during the busy summer months. Let's see, when was the last time I spent my summer tending to crops on the back forty. When children are off for this long they loose a certain amount of information and the teachers have to go back and review material from the previous year to get caught up. When schools have tried to change this, parents become enraged at the prospect of changing their summer vacations. Which is more important two to three months of vacation or our children's education. There would still be periods of time available for vacations, just not a continuous three months.

Money isn't everything, but it sure helps. part 1

O.K. so let's take a look at some of the comments about education that I have received so far. First as always, "thank you" to the people I have heard from so far and to everyone else, please jump in and let your voices be heard. Everyone has so much that they can add to the discussion. Your voice is important. Money is NOT the panacea, however try to do anything without it. As we look at education it is imperative that we support the teachers and students with the resources that are necessary to learn. We need modern, safe, comfortable and technologically up to date classrooms and media centers. We need to give our children access to every facet of education that we can, to develop well-rounded citizens of tomorrow. Money buys this portion. Another ingredient is the parent involvement. do we all have to go the way of 'TigerMom"' I don't believe this is the extreme to go to. Children have a right to be kids and have time to just play. I believe that we stunt their growth socially if we take away time to play and learn social skills with other children When they become adults, and are charged with working together as a group, there could be issues for them because they are uncertain, how to get along with each other and pursue common goals for a company.

Response to Education and Marines.

Thanks for getting us started Marines. I know from experience that people do look to you for your compassion and knowledge to direct them and teach them. Everyday whether we are in a formal classroom setting or at work we can all be students and teachers. That is why I look for ideas from everyone. The United States was the leader in education and we were also the leaders in technology. Today we are slipping fast and need to stop the downward spiral. You are absolutely right that education has become a political football. Each group wants to hold down costs and cut services, then they wring their hands and decry the failures of the system they create. Our children deserve the best education that we can provide. They deserve to be exposed to the arts, literature, science, math and sports. We want, as a society,  to provide the barest of learning, to save a few dollars. We have the most modern military equipment in the world. Why not the most modern school systems. We know how to destroy and kill. We now need to learn how to teach and support learning. We need to provide every child in every school in the country the opportunity to learn in a safe and knowledgeable environment. I am tired of the excuses. I supported the tax increase on our property and I support any amount of money to move forward. I understand money alone will not solve the problem, but the lack of money will hinder progress.  

Ways to reduce the nation's deficit. Education Part 2.

Now, lets look at education. Over the next few days I would like to get as many comments as possible on this issue. Please if you have friends that are also parents, grandparents,students, teachers and everyday citizens who care, give them this post so we can get input. I am going to start this by saying every dollar we spend on educating our children and adults is returned back to us many times over. There have been numerous studies that support this and I am sure most people agree. This is one area that we need to increase our dollars and attention to save money over the long haul, by revamping our education system to better address the issues for our students and teachers. We will lose our competitive advantage if we do not invest all the possible resources we have into education. There is not one of us that has not, either benefited  or was hurt by education. We benefit from a quality education and are pulled down and hurt by not having the advantage of one. Think about this and draw more people into the discussion. Write in your comments.

Ways to reduce the nation's deficit. Part 1

I was looking at a comparison of the budgets for defense and for education. The defense budget, which Congress stated was untouchable, is $685 billion dollars, plus an additional supplement of $37 billion to be wasted on our two wars. Education is $128 billion and shrinking. Where will we get the most benefit for our country. Some facts to consider. Our defense spending is 6X more the China. We have eleven aircraft carriers and the rest of the world together has eight. We have over nine thousand nuclear warheads and Russia has over twelve thousand. The rest of the world combined has just over one thousand, including China's 176. Lets add on the number of military planes, warships, submarines, regular missiles, artillery pieces and small arms and guess what we have plenty of equipment to protect ourselves. Around the world we have military bases that are there for the sole purposes of the cold war that has been over for decades. Do we need a defense for our nation. Absolutely, but we do not need overkill. Dwight Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex and the drain it would become on our resources. He was right. He spent his entire life in the military and he understood it had to be controlled. We need to understand that also and control it. We need to reduce the money that is spent on wars and military build-up.

Making our tax system fair and less expensive.

Well, Danny, bet you never thought we would agree on a point such as a flat income tax, did you? This is one of the points that I have been trying to make. We need to talk, so we can find a common starting point and proceed from that. Danny and I are on the opposite ends in philosophy and yet we are beside each other on this point. A couple of items for everyone to consider. the budget for the IRS is 12.94 billion dollars. We have over 67,000 pages of laws in our tax code. The number of forms is over 890. Americans spend billions of dollars more to have there taxes done and to keep records. According to an article  from, the Heritage Foundation, a flat tax could be reduced to a post card sized form for individual and corporate taxes. Think about the savings to all of us by doing this. All income would be taxed at the same rate and they could eliminate the taxes on estates, investments and interest on savings. Only income would be taxed and the savings would permit us to allow investments without an additional tax. Also for people and especially Danny, hold on for this one, think about the effect on personal liberties. No longer would the IRS or any federal agency have your information about banking or investments. We as a nation would have more money and more freedoms to pursue the items that are necessary to move us forward.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, like many other people around the country, I thought of Dr King and how much he contributed to everyone in America. People tend to think of King as a leader for blacks and the black movement. In fact, he was a leader for all people and directed the forward movement of human and civil rights for every citizen of the world. There are so many speeches and quotes by Dr. King and to pick just one is nearly impossible. Clearly his, "I have a Dream speech" is the most famous and one of my favorites. But today I was thinking about one of his other speeches. It is, as important today, when we talk about divisions in America, as it was on that day in 1963. Part of that speech follows:

"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away it's vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the truth with the false and the false with the truth." Martin Luther King Jr.
We all could use Dr. Kings love and unity today in America and around the world.

Townhall .com Part 2

No more credits for anyone or any corporation. Corporations have a cost to do business and individuals have a cost for living. We all have to be responsible for ourselves and families, or corporations. Some of the loudest cries I hear about responsibilities is from the same people that want lower taxes on corporations. This is a scam on the American public. So, Mr. Hill the next time you want to compare, disagree with envy, make sure that the person, (or persons), you pick are worthy of  our envy. Clearly Mr. Beck and Mr. Limbaugh are not.

Townhall .com Part 1

I was reading an opinion page by Austin Hill at Townhall .com. a conservative web sight, about talk show hosts being paid less for there shows. Mr. Hill started with a sarcastic tone about the blame game for the Tucson shootings and then he proceeded to equate the, idea of toning down the rhetoric with pay envy. Let me get this clear, if you disagree with Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh it is only because they make more money then you do? That is quite a reach. I disagree and dislike Beck and Limbaugh because they are self serving, egotistical, blowhards. I have no problem with their income, unlike some corporations, because we don't need them or any other entertainer. We need insurance to avoid a financial meltdown. The one problem I have with their incomes is they have too many tax breaks, like all corporations and do not pay their fair share. Make what ever you want, but pay you share. One of the items I would like to see is a flat income tax. Whether it is 20% or what number needed, make it that rate and no deductions. That's right, no deductions. Let the screaming begin. Our corporate rate is 39%, high yes, but most if not all corporations pay much less because of credits and deductions. I receive a deduction for interest on my mortgage. Make it a flat rate and get rid of the mortgage break. Let's just make it fair.