Thursday, December 26, 2013

Hypocrisy at its Finest


I ran across an editorial this week discussing the controversy surrounding the Duck Dynasty hero, Phil Robertson, regarding some remarks he made about African-Americans and Gays when interviewed by a popular magazine.

Governor Jindal and Sarah Palin both jumped on the fact that the TV station, A&E, was infringing on Robertson’s first amendment rights by suspending him from the Duck Dynasty show for his remarks.

It’s odd that a man of Jindal’s intelligence, and one who works so hard to foster his national image as a staunch constitutionalist would completely misinterpret this amendment.  The first amendment allows free speech without government or legal sanctions being directed towards those individuals for their actions.

The Duck Dynasty cast member received no such governmental or legal sanctions such as fines, arrest and/or imprisonment for what he said, which occurs quite often in some other countries throughout the world such as Russia and China.   Instead, a corporation decided to dismiss an individual whose professed thoughts ran contrary to theirs.  Granted, A&E was probably more worried about the loss of sponsorship revenues rather than anything else, but they had the right to suspend Robertson under our free enterprise, corporate system.

We, as consumers, have the right to disagree with this action and punish A&E by boycotting the station.

However, let’s not forget that Jindal‘s actions of removing individuals who disagree with his governing philosophy are the mirror image of A&E’s.   During his reign of terror he has ousted, or systematically removed individuals  from the LSU Board of Supervisors, the LSU system president position, positions that provide over site for the university’s public hospitals, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), department heads, legislative committee chairmanships, etc.  The list goes on and on.  In fact, he has been one of the most successful governors in recent history in implementing the philosophy of ‘it’s my way or the highway.’  You might have to go all the way back to Huey Long to find someone who has out done him. 

These individuals made no 'politically incorrect' statements to magazines.  Their only fault being that they disagreed with some of Jindal's plans.  Where were the public outcries regarding these firings?

Oh, I forgot, they're not TV stars, just average Joes.
From Jindal’s past actions it is readily apparent that once again he has seen an opportunity to promote himself nationally by misapplying the first amendment argument to  actions initiated by a corporation; actions, which he strictly adheres to himself.  It seems like the old adage 'People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones' certainly applies to Governor Jindal in this situation. 

Friday, November 22, 2013

Louisiana needs to stick with Common Core


I can’t believe the continued ruckus about the Common Core Standards.  The concept for Common Core State Standards originated from state governors of BOTH parties.  They were developed by a collaboration of teachers, school administrators, and educational experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.
The standards were formulating using the highest, most effective models from STATES across our country and countries around the world, and provide teachers and parents with a common understanding of what students are expected to learn.  Consistent standards will provide appropriate benchmarks for all students, regardless of where they live.
The Common Core Standards are benchmarks, NOT a curriculum. They simply state what students should be able do after teachers finish teaching them. How you get to that goal is still the job of each state.  No one at the federal level is telling anyone how to teach, or requiring teachers to use a specific curriculum or learning materials.

Contrary to the misinformation being published, feedback from parents across the nation was collected during the development process. 

However, now all of a sudden we have ‘experts’, including school boards,  from all over Louisiana telling everyone that the  standards are all wrong and are somehow a plot by the federal government to control our children’s mind in  a George Orwell type of way.

Just for the record, if you were developing educational standards,  would you believe any ‘expert’ from a state that ranks in the BOTTOM five in every educational measure known to man?  If Louisiana did provide feedback on the Common Core, I certainly wouldn’t put too much faith in what they suggested.

For decades Louisiana has been depriving its young people of an excellent education, and now all of a sudden we know what’s best for our students.  Just when did this sudden burst of enlightenment occur?

New Orleans Needs to Take Heed


New Orleans may be the fun capital of Louisiana, but Baton Rouge is on the fast track to be the economic capital.  The Standard and Poor’s Rating Service just upgraded Baton Rouge’s credit rating to ‘AAA’, the highest in the state.

While New Orleans has chosen to rely almost entirely on tourism to support its economy, Baton Rouge has chosen to take a more realistic, diversified business approach.  One less influenced by the whims of the national economy.

Even though Baton Rouge is our capital city, it has always played second fiddle to New Orleans.  However that appears to be changing.  While Standard and Poor’s assigns a lower rating of ‘A’ to New Orleans, the Finch Rating Service just recently downgraded New Orleans to the negative category of ‘A-‘.  This negative outlook is based on the city's finances, which remains a credit weakness.  Efforts by the current Landrieu administration to regain structural budgetary balance have shown gains, but new challenges in the form of jail and police mandated spending, and fireman pension contributions place additional pressure on the city’s operations.

Additionally, the city continues to depend heavily on federal recovery monies from Katrina to help finance its infrastructure needs.   Soon these funds will cease.

While the residents of New Orleans continue to feverishly defend their city as the best city for partying and eating in the world,  maybe it’s time for them to pull their heads out of the sand and face the realities of our present day economic system for city survival.

Presently, New Orleans relies disproportionately on federal grants for its budgetary needs.  A funding source destined to be drastically reduced due to the present political agendas operating at the national level.

Bottom line, New Orleans can no longer continue to survive on a t-shirt, tourism economy.  As repulsive as this may sound to New Orleans, it’s time to take a lesson from Baton Rouge.  

Commom Core Standards in Louisiana


In the Spring of 1989, the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) was begun.  It was created to revolutionize the educational system in Louisiana which for years remained at the bottom of the list nationally in educational preparedness for the students it served.  Classroom curriculums were rewritten to address the standards incorporated as part of the LEAP paradigm.   A series of high stakes tests was developed to assess the success of the overall program.  Specifically, these tests were given at the 4th and 8th grades, and children were held back if not performing at a specified level.  Also, students had to master another test at the senior high level known as the Graduation Exit Exam (GEE) to receive a high school diploma..

Over the years public relation blitzes abounded showing continuous improvement in LEAP test scores.  With the advent of Charter schools, even more fantastic performance gains on the LEAP tests were reported.

Soon a system of letter grades was developed to give parents a clearer understanding of the quality of education provided at each public school.

Once again the Louisiana Department of  Education  issued  media blitzes filled with examples of tremendous shifts in schools moving from a rating of ‘F’ to ‘C’s, ‘B’s and ‘A’s based in part upon LEAP scores.

After years of holding students back and denying graduation to seniors, we find that in the latest measure of how states perform nationally in the areas of reading and math skills, Louisiana is still almost dead last. 

The latest results showed out of the 50 states tested nationally that Louisiana was:

Tied for 50th in fourth grade math

48th in fourth grade reading

Tied for 48th in eight grade math

Tied for 48th in eight grade reading

After 24 years this is what the public got from the various educational gurus that existed in this state, and now some are clamoring that we should abandon the recently state adopted Common Core Standards, because these are not ‘appropriate’ for our students.  From past performance, I doubt that these educational experts even have a clue as to what is ‘appropriate’ for our students, or, for that matter, have the ability to develop educational standards that should serve as a guide to educate our youth.

However, the Common Core Standards do provide such a guide and were created to be used in developing curriculum for students.  Despite all the misinformation now circulating among  small factions of citizens throughout the state, the core simply serve as benchmarks of what children are expected to know at specific times throughout the educational process.   In actuality, the Common Core Standards concept was originally proposed by state governors of BOTH political parties.  They were developed by a collaboration of teachers, school administrators, and educational experts throughout the nation, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce, and to prevent what has happened in our state (educational fraud) by insuring that children get a good education no matter where they live.   They are NOT a curriculum, as some would have us believe.  Curriculum development is still the responsibility of each local school system as was the case before the adoption of the core standards. 

Louisiana needs to ignore the naysayers with little credibility and proceed with the Common Core adoption.

Friday, October 4, 2013

New Orleans May Never be the Same

I did not write this piece, but it expresses so well what I have been trying to come to grips with regarding the city of New Orleans.   My biggest complaint about the city is summarized in the first paragraph.  I grew so tired of its diehard defenders talking about its 'unique culture' that no outsider could understand.  My reply was always, a city can have a 'unique culture' and still be progressive and proactive, something N.O. was not.  In fact, it had become a ward of the federal government. Unless it received federal funds no major infrastructure or other large resident-oriented projects took place.  It couldn't even fund a police force without the assistance of federal monies.  And once these federally funded projects were completed, there were no local funds to maintain the changes so they again fell into disarray.  This cycle continues over and over.  It was becoming  more and more obvious that these federal funds would start to dry up and the city needed to adapt to these changes.  However, because of its residents' complacency regarding implementation of long range planning and their desire to maintain their 'unique culture', the status quo, a different type of external force for change has begun and should be a cause of great concern among the 'diehards.' 

Below appears an excellent assessment of the problem New Orleans now faces:

Before Katrina, I dreamed of a day when our precious city would be discovered by the best and brightest, who could come and save us from years of complacency to our political corruption, institutional racism, Third World economy and decaying infrastructure.

But even as the elite and educated newcomers flock to our great city, the recent migration has not caused the catalytic change I hoped for. The NOPD is a shrinking mess, while babies are being killed at an alarming new rate. Streets are crumbling faster than we can fix them with our soon-to-be dried up federal money. And the gap between rich and poor widens as the homeless beg for money at nearly every major intersection.

During the past two years, however, these harsh realities have not deterred the rich and famous from making New Orleans their new playground. City leaders are gushing over the new demographic and planning new ways to keep them here while attracting more.
Meanwhile, I see working-class jobs being replaced by recently settled college graduates, homes being bought up by out-of-towners who are out-bidding locals with outrageous amounts of cash, developers scooping up hot properties and demanding zoning changes to build out-of-scale and out-of-character businesses. And our public schools and hospitals are being privatized right under our noses.

Our leaders say we need all this to save our economy and our city. While some natives are being dazzled by the “shiny new trinkets and glass beads,” if we are not cautious, we could be robbed of our “gold.” I welcome all newcomers as a healthy addition to our city, but decry them as replacements for those of us here before the big K. As we wake up in the “boutique city”forecast right after Katrina, perhaps we should beware of all that glitters.

This unprecedented growth may seem like a utopia to some, but for many native New Orleanians, living in the new New Orleans has already become unattainable.

Cheryl Gerber
photographer
New Orleans

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Common Core Standards Victim of Political Fear-Mongering

Once again the publicity seekers are flooding the air waves with misinformation and grand-standing to promote themselves in the national arena.  Mostly these are legislators who have failed to provide any notable legislation during their careers and seek recognition in order to legitimize themselves as productive legislators.

The misinformation they seek to spread is that the recently proposed Common Core Standards were created by the federal government and fall into the popular anti-government interference fad.

In reality, the move toward a set of standards for the goals of public education began not with the federal government, but with state educators, more than a decade ago.  Common Core is the  final result of the brainchild of state educators, NOT a federal power grab for kid’s minds as some political zealots would have you believe.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a STATE-LED effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers.   The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.
 
These standards received initial feedback on the draft standards from national organizations representing, but not limited to, teachers, post-secondary educators (including community colleges), civil rights groups, English language learners, and students with disabilities. Following the initial round of feedback, the draft standards were opened for public comment, receiving nearly 10,000 responses.

The standards were formulating using the highest, most effective models from STATES across the country and countries around the world, and provide teachers and parents with a common understanding of what students are expected to learn. Consistent standards will provide appropriate benchmarks for all students, regardless of where they live.

The Common Core Standards are benchmarks, NOT a curriculum. They simply state what students should be able do after teachers finish teaching them. How you get to that goal is still the job of each state.  In our state that is BESE’s responsibility.  No one at the federal level is telling anyone how to teach, or requiring teachers to use a specific curriculum or learning materials.

It is obvious from national assessment test data that the standards Louisiana had formulated in the past for its students were inadequate.  Students would perform well on LEAP tests, which were designed within Louisiana, but did poorly when compared to students in other states throughout the country.

The question each parent needs ask is “Why should my child receive a substandard education simply because of where I live?” In fact, isn’t this the justification for Jindal’s school voucher system in Louisiana?

The United States is an extremely mobile society, and its citizens deserve the right to be able to move from one locality to the next without the fear of settling in an area with a lousy educational system.
The long range goal of the Core Standards is to eradicate this problem by the formulation of benchmarks that:
·         Are aligned with college and work expectations;
·         Are clear, understandable and consistent;
·         Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
·         Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
·         Are informed by other top performing countries,so that all students are             prepared to succeed in our global economy and society;and
·         Are evidence-based.
The intention of the Common Core Standards is to stem the continuing downward spiral of our nation’s educational standing worldwide.   It is a shame that they have been turned into political fear-mongering by uninformed, publicity- seeking members of our political parties.

Even Governor Jindal had no problems with these standards until it became fashionable to do so.

However, now that these standards have become politicized and a great propaganda tool, I suspect BESE , the State Superintendent of Education, and our legislators will dutifully follow Jindal’s lead and withdraw their initial support of this project.  Hypocritical to say the least!

Bottom line-Let’s stop lying about the origin of the Common Core Standards, it was not a Fed’s project!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal should receive a final grade of ‘F’



I hope the latest data released will put all the Jindal defenders to rest forever.  The newest Census data indicates that about one in every five residents in our great state lives in poverty.  A rate that has NOT changed significantly since 2000.   Under Jindal, the number of residents living in poverty is the third highest in the nation, and 28% of these poverty victims are children.

Bobby’s supporters continually tout his educational reforms, his favorable tax incentives for attracting new businesses, and his privatization of the health care system as evidence of his success as a governor.  Jindal hopes that these actions will serve as the legacy for which he is remember in the history of Louisiana.

However, the bottom line for judging the success or failure of any governing body is how its implemented policies have impacted the quality of life of the citizens it serves. 

Let the facts speak for themselves.  After all the propaganda dust settles, the reality is Governor Bobby Jindal and his administration have done little or nothing to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Louisiana, and that will be his legacy.  He earns an ‘F’ for his term in office.


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Once Again Video Games Under Attack

Today's front page Baton Rouge Advocate headline reads 'Investigators say shooter, 8, played violent video game'.

A tragic shooting in Clinton, Louisiana, has inspired the moral zealots to once again resurrect their agenda that video games are one of the leading causes of violent acts in our youth.

The fact that an 8 year-old shot his caretaker in the back of the head while she watched TV is a horrific act. To infer that a video game was responsible for this is ludicrous. An unsecured gun killed that individual.  No availability, no killing.

In reality, investigators don't even know if the game triggered this violence because they can't determine if the boy was even playing the game before the incident took place.  All they know is the game was found in the game console.  However, they have adopted this line of reasoning in their investigation of this case.

Let's examine the known facts in this situation.  One, the video game purportedly involved has a MA 17+ rating.  It can only be purchased by someone 17 or older. Consequently, the eight year-old couldn't even buy the game, and had no business having the game in his possession, let alone playing it.  Secondly, a loaded gun was once again not properly hidden in a secured place, and had no safety lock.

The bottom line is there are possibly two scenarios having little to do with the video game itself.  One, an unsupervised child found the gun, and, like most 8 year-olds, out of curiosity,  begin pointing it at objects around the house, similar to a hunter, and this time pulled the trigger; or two, the caretaker angered the boy, who knew there was a gun in the house, knew  there was no security utilized in preventing its easy access, pointed the gun at the individual to scare her, and pulled the trigger.

However, these facts in no way minimize the tragedy of this incident, but let's stick to the reality of what was used to do the killing and who did it.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Jindal administration withdraws request for Obamacare money



Once again the Jindal administration has shown that it is not concerned about providing medical services to the citizens of Louisiana.  In its latest move, it withdrew an application to request some Obamacare monies to fund a program that would have provided in-home health-care services for some adults.  The government was going to pay 68% of the cost and the state only needed to come up with 32%.

Now all of a sudden the Department of Health and Services in Baton Rouge says we can’t afford the 32% matching monies needed to fund the Community Choice Program.  They knew the cost, or should have known the cost, when initially applying for the funds so I suspect the real reason for the application withdrawal was the hypocritical nature of the request that could cause political PR problems for Jindal in the future.

After all, if you advocate for the abolishment of Obamacare and turn down the additional  Medicaid funding offered by the plan, how could you even remotely justify accepting  some other funding offered?

Bobby certainly doesn’t want to make such a political faux pas in his presidential quest.

The refusal of these funds had to be politically motivated because, in reality, the monies were available to fund this program and others.  After all, didn’t Jindal find monies in the state budget to expand his school voucher program in order to enhance his national political image on school reform? If he wanted the program, he would have instructed his political puppets in the Senate to find the funding!

Additionally, please remember that earlier this year a legislative committee discovered that over 4.4 billion dollars in tax incentives are given away to businesses and INDIVIDUALS by our great state.  Some recipients even include ‘social clubs’ in New Orleans.

So the monies exist,  but unfortunately Jindal and many of our state legislators don’t have the guts  to go after some of the ‘sacred cows’ receiving these tax breaks, for the only conclusion reached by the legislative committee after identifying all these breaks was that the issue needed further study.

Repeatedly, Jindal has shown when it comes to making a choice between what’s good for Louisiana citizens or what’s good for his personal political agenda, his agenda ALWAYS takes precedence.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

LA Superintendent of Education

When John White, our present State Superintendant of Education, was initially hired by the Department of Education as Superintendant of the RSD, I couldn’t believe that somehow they had finally found an honest, innovative, hard working educator, unlike his predecessor, who was more concerned about furthering his own career than actually implementing sound educational reforms.
 Mr. White seemed to actually care about solving the Louisiana educational woes and appeared to possess the skills to do so.
However, now I am beginning to worry about him as he sinks further into the dismal abyss known as Jindal politics.
The Jindal School Voucher System could be his undoing.  He’s smart enough to know that the plan as implemented, without any accountability, is seriously flawed.  He is also aware of the fact that eventually it will lead to tremendous financial hardships for the public school system in Louisiana.  Furthermore, I’m sure he also questions the legality of the entire plan.
But he is also aware of the reality that exists within the governor’s mansion, ‘it’s Bobby’s way or the highway’.
However, I still have faith in Mr. White for I feel that he will come to the realization that if he continues down the Jindal path, he will end up selling his soul and joining the ranks of the educational do- nothings that are so abundant in our society.

Mr. White’s past accomplishments serve as evidence that he will not allow this to occur, consequently, I predict he will soon leave Louisiana and never look back.  It’s only a matter of time.

Finally, Louisiana is Number One

 
Don’t get too excited because the number one ranking was given to our fine state by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the percent of obese adults.  Thirty-five percent (35%), or more than 1 in 3 adults living in Louisiana are now classified as being obese.  Not just overweight……..obese!
CDC defines someone as obese if their weigh to height ratio is 30 or higher.  For example, a 5 foot , 9inch person would be considered obese if he or she weighs 203 pounds or more.
This revelation about how our obesity problem sneaks into our daily lives came to my attention just two days ago after I made a somewhat horrible discovery while eating a free cheeseburger at a national fast food chain.
As I was chewing this free gift, I just happened to peruse the Nutrition Facts Chart that appears on the bottom of the container.  To my horror this single cheeseburger was supplying me with 41% of my daily fat intake, 31% of my cholesterol intake, and 46% of my salt intake, the only one I initially was concerned about.
I also added a soft drink to this mess, which someone once told me, was like eating 12 teaspoons of sugar at one time.  Now if someone put a bowl of sugar in front of you, do you really think you could swallow 12 teaspoons of that stuff all at once?  And what if I had added fries?
The tragedy of all of this is that a lot of our obese citizens are dooming their children to a life of obesity even before they have had the chance to make that decision on their own.  I often see three and four-year-old children of obese parents severely over weight due to their parents’ poor eating habits. Children learn from the actions of their parents, and consequently will adopt these poor habits for the remainder of their lives.  And this destructive cycle will continue with their children.

Let’s all read the labels and at least give our kids a fighting chance to decide their own adult fate!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Legal, probably, Moral, questionable!


I promise you that I really don’t like to continually bash our governor, but his continual actions that border on questions of morality must be noted.
Upon cruising the local news media this weekend I found a small blip that I feel deserved local front page news.
My understanding concerning Federal grants allocated to states was that the monies had to be totally used for the purpose of their intent.   Apparently this is not true from Governor Jindal’s perspective. 
Last year, the Federal government allocated $5.4 million to our state for use to help fund local Offices of Emergency Preparedness operations.  The key word here is LOCAL.   In other words, tax payers’ dollars were intended to provide financial assistance to each parish in our state.
Of those funds, the governor allocated $3.4 million to the parishes, but kept $2 million for use supposedly by the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security.
This year, same grant, but ‘Bobby’ has decided to keep $3.5 million leaving only $1.9 million for the 64 local Offices of Emergency Preparedness.  Offices will see their funds cut 30% to 53% on top of the partial funding put in place last year.  Remember this when an emergency weather situation hits and your parish can’t respond appropriately.
The irony of all this is, that when citizens complain about reduction in services they mostly likely will falsely blame the present Federal administration, starting with the President on down.   This plays right in to ‘Bobby’s’ plan.  He gets to spend the money the way he wants, and the Federal government gets blamed for the reduction in services.  This is not something new.  Jindal continually alters the intent of Federal grants to this state with his political party rhetoric that state governors should have the final say on how Federal dollars should be spent because they best know what the needs are in their localities.
This would be ok with me if we had a governor who proved himself as a competent fiscal manager interested in bettering the lives of the citizens who elected him.  So far, the evidence to support this is suspect.
This whole scenario is pretty slick if you ask me.  However, the downside of all this trickery is the Feds might come to the conclusion that the local offices don’t need all this money after all, since apparently the state doesn’t feel they need it, so they end up cutting the funds permanently

The amazing Bobby Jindal


Governor Jindal never ceases to amaze me.  Tuesday, LSU’s College of Engineering held a news media event to announce that they had received a $2 million donation from the family of an Alexandria based lumber, timber and land company that will help finish the renovations of the existing 36 year engineering building and bring it into to a state–of–the–art facility.  Guess who showed up and was all smiles? Governor Bobby Jindal.
Naturally, since it was photo op for ‘Bobby’ he just had to say a few words.

He stated that he was 100% behind the project which he said should help LSU reach “its full potential” as a nationally recognized research institution.

This from a man who has been responsible for significant damage to LSU from budget cuts and underfunding.  His actions have led to the elimination of entire course units, the loss of faculty along with their research grants, and the loss of supportive staff.  Damage that LSU may not recover from for a generation or longer.


But then again, we Louisianans never were very good at remembering the bad deeds done by our politicians.  Therefore, I ask each of you, “How in God’s name has Bobby Jindal even remotely contributed to making LSU a nationally recognized research institution?”

Jindal Vetoes Monies to Most in Need


Bobby Jindal is turning out to be the anti-Christ to those suffering with severe disabilities in this state.  His recent veto of funds dedicated to the most severely in need is inhumane.

He claims he must do this to balance a fiscal budget still funded with ‘vapor monies.’

What Jindal and some legislators don’t want the public to know is that there is more than enough monies to fund these programs he placed on the chopping block if some of the state tax incentive programs offered to businesses and individuals were seriously evaluated in terms of the returns received and eliminated.  Presently there are 4.4 billion in tax exemptions on the books.

In July of last  year  just such a movement was started in our state capital.  A 14 member legislative committee was formulated to, as House Speaker, Chuck Kleckley so aptly put it, " flush out low-performing and obsolete tax incentives by exploring their economic impact and value to those affected by them.”

Here’s what the committee was given by the Louisiana Department of revenue as it began its inquiry:
The major categories of taxes collected and tax exemptions in the just-ended 2011-12 included:
Corporate Income Taxes: 
o    Potential collections: $1.7 billion. 
o    Actual collections: $198 million. 
o    Estimated exemptions: $1.5 billion. 
o    Percentage of tax loss: 88 percent. 
Sales Taxes: 
o    Potential collections: $4.1 billion. 
o    Actual collections: $2.7 billion. 
o    Estimated exemptions: $1.4 billion. 
o    Percentage of tax loss: 34 percent. 
Individual Income Taxes: 
o    Potential collections: $3.5 billion. 
o    Actual collections: $2.4 billion. 
o    Estimated exemptions: $1.1 billion. 
o    Percentage of tax loss: 32 percent. 
Severance Taxes: 
o    Potential collections: $1.2 billion. 
o    Actual collections: $764 million. 
o    Estimated exemptions: $432 million. 
o    Percentage of tax loss: 36 percent. 
According to these figures there is 10.5 billion in potential collections, of which approximately 5.6 billion is presently collected.
The moral of this story is our illustrious committee members got so over whelmed by the sheer numbers of tax exemptions that they claimed they didn’t know where to begin and consequently did nothing except state the blatantly obvious that something had to be done, but by further study.
Additionally, Jindal used his traditional excuse of “no new taxes” to further support not dealing with any of these exemptions.
Contrary to Jindal’s opinion, none of this review was about advocating for ‘new taxes’.  It was simply closing tax loop holes. But true to form Bobby claimed if closing these resulted in the entities paying more monies to the state, than this was a ‘new’ tax.
I know that some still feel that our governor is unjustly criticized for fiscal conditions he claims are beyond his control.  However, let the facts speak for themselves. His continuing desire to portray himself nationally as loyal advocate of  the political policies of the party of which he is a member blinds him to the real compassionate solutions that are available to assist the suffering in this state.   The funds exist, we just need someone with enough guts to go after them.


Louisiana Senate Finance Committee Restores Most of Jindal’s Budget



Once again the Pinocchios in the Louisiana Senate have missed their chance to cut their puppet strings, become real people, and break free from their puppet master, Geppetto, known to many as Bobby Jindal.

We all should have known something was up when the Louisiana House reworked Jindal’s proposed state budget plan eliminating all ‘one time’ monies and ‘vapor monies’ that were based upon legal settlements and privatization deals that weren’t even finalized, and Jindal remained silent about it all.

In his heart the puppet master knew his Pinocchios in the Senate wouldn’t let him down and would restore his original smoke and mirrors budget.

And while some programs will rejoice because their budgets have been fully restored, and school vouchers will be fully funded, these joyful moments will be short lived because the reality of the situation is the money doesn’t presently exist to do most of these things
.
If this action by the Senate's Finance Committee becomes final it will lead to yet another midyear budget deficit, resulting in tremendous cuts made to education and health care services to fund the state for the remainder of the fiscal year.

And just wait until next year, when all the one-time, non-reoccurring funds are gone and ALL programs are cut to levels of a catastrophic nature.

Geppetto may be a lame duck governor, but he is still very much in control of his senators
.
There is, however, one last glimmer of hope.  Any Senate budget changes, in reality Jindal’s, must be agreed upon by the House.

However, with the deadline fast approaching for the end of the legislative session and the pattern of  the House’s previous years actions of just caving in to get things over and go home, I suspect our esteemed governor will get HIS budget pretty much the way he originally proposed it.


Just remember at election time, it will be your senators to blame.

U.S. Senators tweak immigration legislation


Maybe the U.S. Senate in their infinite ignorance has inadvertently stumbled upon a way to deal with our problem of drunk drivers.  In formulating the new  immigration legislation for our country, legislators added the requirement that an immigrant’s third drunk driving conviction can result in deportation from our country.


Why stop with just immigrants.  Third DWI and we throw full-blooded, U.S. citizens out of the country!  That would certainly permanently keep the drunks off the road.  Also bet we would lose some of those in congress that support this requirement, another plus.

Sacred Cows in LA


The figures are in for attendance at the 2013 Jazz and Heritage Festival. The good news is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation reported an attendance figure of approximately 425,000.    The bad news is the state just ‘kissed off’ over 1.1 million dollars in revenue from ticket sales alone that could be used to help offset cuts in health care and educational services in our state.  Thanks to the Jindal administration and our state legislators this organization is exempt from the state sales tax and and consequently charges NO tax on ticket sales.


The Jazz and Heritage Foundation defends this policy by stating that they are trying to keep the ticket prices, this year, $65.00, as low as possible for their fans.  However, no one is suggesting that they pass this sale’s tax cost on to the consumer, and they seem to have no problems with the inflated Ticket Master surcharge.  How many other ‘sacred cows’ exist with such lucrative exemptions?  Time to get the priorities straight in Louisiana.

Priorities of State Legislators Suspect


I am so proud of our fine state legislators that were able to unite to approve legislation concerning ‘gun rights’ bills, which most likely will be declared unconstitutional, while not having a clue as to how to control a state budget billions of dollars in the red. This present action by our legislators is like focusing on a hangnail while dying of cancer.
While health care, the state’s infrastructures, food kitchens for the hungry, and education all continue to be slashed in funding with no united consensus among our legislators on a viable plan to ‘stop the bleeding’,  it’s good to know where their priorities regarding the overall prosperity of the state lay.   

It’s comforting to realize that we can all sleep well at night knowing that no one can place any restrictions on our prized weapons.  However, if the legislators don’t get it together and unite against Governor Jindal, including the necessity of overriding his vetoes, by creating a sound state budgetary plan, everyone may just end up using their guns to guard a ‘junk yard’.

Yet Another Jindal Snake Oil Proposal



As in the old children’s fable, when will Emperor Bobby Jindal realize that he has no clothes on?
His latest proposal for no income tax has been reject by nearly every major organization in this state, some of which seldom agree with each other on many issues.  However, on this one, united they stand.  Jindal’s explanation for this is that they are ALL just ultra-left wing liberal groups out to impede real progress.
However, the very premise of his proposal that it will make Louisiana more attractive for businesses to settle here was just refuted by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry which is involved in process of attracting new businesses by working diligently to improve Louisiana’s working climate.
But Jindal is cleaver and resourceful so don’t be surprised if he tries to use the recent decision by IBM to locate in Baton Rouge as evidence that just submission of his no income tax proposal was responsible for this company’s move.  The facts are this move had been in the works for nearly ten years and has little to do with any actions by the Jindal administration.
And let’s not forget that Jindal keeps changing the statistics to support his plan every time he gets caught fudging on the figures.   When the organization of ministers just found some, his resourceful staff just simply apologized for the errors and came up with some new figures.  They just issued their third revision.  This practice reminds me of one of my favorite t-shirts.   On the front it reads, “When all else fails, manipulate the data”
However, you’ve got to give “Bobby” credit for his perseverance, for basically he maintains the position of “don’t believe the evidence of the masses, I’m the only one with the correct information.”

The scariest part about all this is will our state legislative representatives break with tradition, suddenly growth a part of their anatomy that they have lacked in the past, namely, a spine, and, as in the famous fable, tell the Emperor he is without clothes?  Is the master puppeteer going to finally lose control of his puppets?  To be continued.

Can't Buy Test Scores

RE:  Teachers receive cash rewards for test score gains

In the earlier days of the new educational reform movement in Louisiana, there was a section of the Louisiana Department of Education devoted to monitoring achievement test score gains.   Expected test score gains were calculated based upon the previous year’s test data and if new scores exceeded these projections by a certain statistical amount, the scores were determined to be suspect.
In other word, statistically these gains could not have occurred without some outside interference (cheating).
When such occurrences were discovered a complete audit of the test score documents was done along with interviews of those conducting the testing.  Analyses of the test documents included such techniques as erasure analysis of the number of answers changed from incorrect to correct answers, comparing documents of children seated next to each other, etc.
With the arrival of Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek the test score monitoring function was abolished in the name of departmental reorganization.
So the problem continues with our new new education reform movement that not only factors test score achievement into teachers’ tenure rights but also provides cash rewards to teachers and schools.
Now we are beginning to see tremendous gains in the average test score of classrooms of children from one year to the next.
Just how much gain is too much gain and where is the accountability to determine such?

If our esteemed education leaders would do a little investigation of their own they would find a bundle of research showing that the more heavily test scores are factored into teacher evaluations and rewards, the greater the increase in ’suspect’ test scores.

Assumption Parish Disaster of No Interest to Our Governor

I just finished reading an article on line entitled “Jindal won’t pledge to visit sinkhole”.
The naivety of many Louisiana residents never ceases to amaze me.   Why are Assumption Parish people so upset about Governor Jindal’s reluctance to visit their sinkhole site and show its residents that he is concerned about their troubles?
Such a visit would do little or nothing to strengthen his national image.  He would rather photo-op about bringing new industries to Louisiana, advocate his no income tax plan, and advertise his refusal to accept additional Medicaid funds under The Health Care for America Plan (Obamacare), while at the same time accepting millions of other Federal fund handouts to help balance his proposed state budget for 2013, than show a little respect for the residents of his own state.
Oh, and let’s not forget how fast he jumps into action when a major storm hits the area.  Most think he is doing it out of concern for its residents when, in actuality, it’s really about show casing to the nation that he can expertly handle a major crisis.

It’s too bad that Romney didn’t get elected, if for no other reason than the fact that he might have rewarded Bobby with a cabinet position and taken this political deva away from Louisiana forever.

Jindal’s Voucher Plan Ruled Unconstitutional as Implemented


Already King Bobby is trying to fool the public by declaring that the recent ruling against his voucher plan is hurting families who want a better education for their children. And many parents are falling for it.
The judge simply ruled that MFP funds that are constitutionally mandated to be allocated to public elementary and secondary schools can't be used to FUND the voucher program. No one, including the judge, passed any judgment on the merits of the program.
If Jindal thinks the program is so worthwhile he just needs to find another funding source for it in his budget.
Oh I forgot, the state doesn't have any other funds to do that because thanks to fiscal mismanagement King Bobby's budget is operating in a deficit mode.
The Black Alliance for Educational Options and the parents that spoke in favor of the voucher program need to understand what this ruling really is saying.  No one is trying to deprive children of a good education.

Watch how much more money Jindal wastes appealing this decision and remember how many hospital services he terminated due to a lack of funds.

Honorable Mentions

Two more legislators were just added to my list of honorable mentions.  Thursday, Reps Cameron Henry, R-New Orleans and Joe Harrison, R-Napoleonville, both members of the House Appropriations Committee, along with some of their colleagues, stood up against King Bobby’s proposal to disband the PPO medical insurance plan run by the Office of Group Benefits, fire its employees, and turn it over to one of his campaign contributors, Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Louisiana.
For those not familiar with this medical plan, the state run PPO provides medical insurance coverage for 62,000 of our present and retired state employees, and has been recognized as one of the most efficiently run insurance plans in the nation.
The proposal was harshly criticized mostly by members of the House Appropriations Committee, and eventually withdrawn from the committee’s voting agenda by Jindal’s representative due to a lack of support.
However, the next day two of its loudest critics, Henry and Harrison, were removed from their positions on that committee by one of Jindal’s most allegiant legislative puppets, House speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles.
In the past, others have also spoken up questioning some of Jindal’s legislative plans and they too have lost their positions on various legislative committees.  The list includes: Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, and Jim Morgan R-Oil City.   And let’s not forget Roxane Townsend and Fred Cerise, both removed from their positions on the LSU Health Care Services Division; along with a complete overhaul of the LSU Board of Supervisors and The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) stuffed with Jindal’s hand-picked supporters.  All, questioning Jindal’s decisions, are eliminated.

The U.S sacrifices a great deal of monies and human lives in its quest to dispose dictators throughout the world, yet it appears that we possibly have one of our own operating within the U.S. borders and he is presently serving as the governor of Louisiana.

Don’t be fooled by Jindal’s educational reform in Louisiana!


Let’s not be confused when we talk about educational reform in the state of Louisiana.
Even the nationally recognized Brown Center on Educational Policy has been hoodwinked by Governor Jindal’s slick use of P.R. into thinking that his administration has created real educational reform in our state. They recently praised Jindal’s reform for:

1)      Offering lots of choice through charter schools and voucher programs.
2)      Providing good information to help parents compare schools.
3)      Providing an easy centralized application process for enrollment in the various schools.
4)      Ensuring taxpayer funds follow the students into the schools and courses of their choosing.

It's kind of a ridiculous recognition!  Instead of providing a long range, adequately funded school improvement paradigm for ALL students, Louisiana continues to limp along with in-state developed testing programs which deceive the public, and apparently our legislative representatives, into believing substantial educational reforms are occurring among the public students it is obligated to serve. 

While the Louisiana Department of Education brags that the most recent test score data indicates that 3 out of 4 fourth graders have achieved ‘Basic’ in reading on the Louisiana assessment measures,  the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL) reports that only 1 in 5 are rated at the ‘Proficient’ level when measured on more realistic national  (NAEP) assessments.  Since NAEP’s standards for “Proficient” in grade-level skills are considered lower than those at “Basic” on LEAP, skepticism surrounds the Louisiana assessment scores.   Additionally, Louisiana was recently rated an ‘F’ for student achievement by Education Magazine.  If one examines last year’s ACT results, a national test of college readiness, only 17% of students in Louisiana met the benchmark for college readiness.  Meaning they scored just well enough to have a 75% chance of earning a ‘C’ or better in college courses.  Additionally, according to a recent study reported by CABL , 1 in 3 college freshman who graduated from a public school  had to take non-credit remedial courses to make up for their educational deficiencies.

Furthermore, the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results indicated that while
the average marks for both reading and math Louisiana fourth and eighth-graders improved slightly, and in two of the four categories gained a little on national averages,  the change from two years ago, when the test was last administered, was not big enough to qualify as statistically significant. Overall, scores in Louisiana still rank near the bottom among other states.

But Jindal continues to mask these harsh realities with the expertise of a magician’s sleight of hand by passing off ‘educational vouchers’ as ‘educational reform’.    He has been so successful in this deception that now he is even receiving acclaims from prestigious national organizations.  He claims that his ‘educational reform’ provides "an opportunity for individuals that have limited resources to enroll their child in a NON-PUBLIC school that is performing well, as opposed to the poor performing PUBLIC school in their neighborhood." 

Jindal’s voucher system is not educational reform, but simply an avoidance mechanism of the real issues impacting public education in this state.  It will do LITTLE to elevate the educational achievement of most children in the entire state.
Who will unmasked this great deception?  Certainly not the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), since most members were handpicked by Jindal.

Will our representatives expose this deception and finally propose real educational reform?  l suspect they also will just follow along with the master magician, as most always do.  Just who will stand up for the children?

Jindal's Latest Budget Fiasco


It’s too bad that Governor Bobby Jindal wasn’t born under my wife’s  Zodiac sign of Scorpio, for if he were,  he would have gotten some great advise that would help him fiscally manage  the Louisiana state budget.

Today, March 4th, the Scorpio horoscope advise is “Under no condition should you run your financial affairs predicated upon anticipated returns.  The only cash you can count on is what you have in hand.”

Jindal’s latest fiscal state budget mirage, completely ignores this wisdom and is filled with  the use of one time money from such sources as land sales,  which so far have not occurred, legal settlements, the  final figures of which have yet to be determined, the privatization of the state’s  health care system, which so far is not even half operational, and the revamping of the state’s employee retirement plans, whose estimated savings were calculated by a consulting firm which is presently being sued by Providence, R.I., for  providing false statistics as to the savings that would be recouped from their recommended retirement plan changes.  The legal contention is that this consulting firm’s fiscal savings estimates turned in to actual increases in cost when the retirement plans were implemented as proposed.

And let’s not forget Jindal’s plan to eliminate the state income tax while increasing the total sales taxes paid in most state parishes to 12%.  Please remember that Jindal’s own fiscal advisers have stated every year that he’s been in office, but one, that the reason the state has continually run out of money before the end of the fiscal year is due to depressed sales revenues.  Residents just aren’t buying enough commodities.  I bet raising the sales tax would lead to even less spending by residents within the state as well as increased out of state and internet sales, which by the way are supposed to  be claimed  on one’s state income tax form.

The question one has to ask about all the above is will ‘Bobby’ follow his own Zodiac advise for today which states,  “Upon occasion, you can deprive yourself of some useful  information,  all because you don’t like the person who knows it.  Don’t allow something petty to make your life harder than necessary.”

This Zodiac advice is NOT one of Governor Jindal’s strong suits for basically it’s his way or the highway.

There is a realistic solution to the fiscal mismanagement which is presently taking place in this state and it lies with a group of legislators known as ‘the fiscal hawks’.  They want to strip all one time and unrealized funding from the budget, and if they are successful, most people will fully understand the fiscal mess which Jindal continues to perpetuate in the state.  He is playing a smoke and mirrors game with the state finances and it needs to cease so that the citizens of this state will realize what needs to occur for Louisiana to become fiscally solvent.  It’s time for ALL Louisiana legislators to draw a line in the sand.

Maybe Governor Jindal  need s to schedule an appointment with  Mayor Zabbia to see how to accomplish this. 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Jindal’s Latest ‘Snake Oil’ Proposal



It’s a shame that Bobby Jindal has made it more difficult for individuals to received mental health assistance due to his rampant cuts to mental health facilities, for he is certainly in need of these services.  His latest proposal to eliminate income tax in this state, which has faced budget deficits every year except one during his reign, calls into question his present mental state. 

Has he lost his mind?  According to his own staff's analyses the leading contributing factor to the deficit is DECREASED revenue, or in other words, people not buying enough goods in the state (sales tax revenue). The Stelly  Amendment, approved by the voters, sought to rectify this very problem by relying LESS on sales tax revenue and more on income tax, which most fiscal experts agree would have lessened or prevented the state’s present fiscal  mess. 

Bobby ignored the wishes of the voting public in this state and worked to have it repealed.  His legislative puppets granted his wish.
 
Presently the state's 4% sales tax cost ranks 38 in the nation.  Not bad, but when you add the additional local parishes' sales taxes to that figure, Louisiana jumps to the 3rd highest in cost to its residents.
 
Now Jindal wants to increase the state’s part of the sales tax by as much as 3% for a total of 7%.  When that figure is ADDED to the local sales tax, which in several parishes is 5%, the total tax increases substantially.  So if you think this 'no income tax' is a good deal, be prepared to pay 12% percent on the items you buy.

Gee, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this proposal would depress state revenue from commodity sales even more.
 
Some of our neighbors have no state income tax.  Texas, for example, has no state income tax, but while the state's share of the total sales tax is slightly higher (6.25%) than our present 4%, local sales tax only adds another 2%, not the 5% that many parishes in Louisiana now charge.  Guess Bobby expects our local parishes to decrease their sales tax accordingly and bankrupt themselves. 

How did Texas do it?  By getting their fair share from the oil companies when they drilled off their coast.  Louisiana has no such deals because we were so anxious to stimulate drilling off our coast that we gave away those revenue rights.

Also, the Texas population is wealthier than Louisiana when income per capita figures are compared. Thus, more disposable income for commodity spending.

Bottom line, ‘no income tax’ is great P.R. for the national limelight, but this proposal comes from a man who has bankrupted this state due to his fiscal mismanagement.   Education and health care services have been completely raped by the Jindal administration.  Once again Jindal is sacrificing the wellbeing of the citizens of this state to get into the national spotlight. 

Do you really trust this latest fiscal proposal from ‘King Bobby’ based upon his past fiscal solutions?

 

Monday, February 4, 2013

New Orleans Needs to Grow Up!


When will the citizens of New Orleans come to the realization that their fine city is simply a ward of the federal government?   Few if any city improvement projects are funded by the city itself.  Federally funded projects range from massive street improvements all the way to minuscule projects like the planting of vegetation on the neutral grounds.  And once the new projects are completed,  there are seldom any funds available to maintain them, which eventually leads to their disrepair.  It is a cycle that is repeated over and over.

The latest debacle raging about the New Orleans mayor’s legal maneuvers to cancel the Justice Department's mandated consent decree for  police and jail improvements, which he initially supported, simply serves to amplify this ward status.  The mayor suddenly came to the realization that the city would have to pony up approximately 17 million a year of its own money to fix the jail problems in addition to the 55 million over the next 5 years to fix the police department.  Now he wants to cancel the  entire process.  No federal monies, no improvements.

New Orleans citizens need to grow up and start paying their fair share of the costs to fix and maintain the city in which they chose to live.

 One would think its Republican residents, in particular, would be quite vocal on this issue since it is their party’s main political theme to curb entitlement spending.

New Orleans supposedly receives tons of money from Harrah and it major tourists’ events like the Super Bowl, college bowl games, Mardi Gras, Essence, Jazz Fest, etc.

However,  just how much income it receives from these events, and where it is spent still remains a mystery to most of its citizenry.

New Orleans residents need to take their heads out of the sand and look at the tenor of the political climate nationwide.  The federal  money, free ride, is over for these funds are going to be more and more reduced.

It’s time they end their economic T-shirt mentality and start to figure out how to maintain and repair the city’s infrastructures with the money it takes in from its main industry, tourism.

If those funds are not sufficient to pay for the city, then it needs to find additional revenue industries as has been suggested by many city manager economists over the years, but ignored.

The gravy train has left the station!