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 4^th, 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. 

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?

 

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!