Last week I was in the process of saving the June 30 Personals when the phone rang. I stopped and answered it and when I returned to finish what I had started, “the program was interrupted” and previous articles would have to be recovered. When the four previous articles were recovered, the June 30 one had nothing on it. I had had 2 pages done and now there was “nothing” but June 30 on it. I had to wait for Bethany to come and try and retrieve what was already written. I am not computer friendly and about loose it when this happens. She couldn’t get the two pages of information back, so I had to start all over again. This time I saved every paragraph before printing it out!
Did you all have a good Fourth of July? I hope Marcus changes their Ordinance to what Sioux City has July 3 and July 4 and no more. There are pet owners that complained for the length of fireworks in previous years and also veterans who are affected by the “booming” noise. I can only imagine what a veteran thinks when that noise happens. There are many towns that have NO fireworks. Some towns have planned night fireworks that are safe and lasts for sometimes just over an hour or even less.
Did you read what numbers it is going to take for going all-in batteries, solar and wind that would require? The article started that 100% green energy could destroy the planet. That was scary! Right now the U.S. gets about 70% of its energy from fossil fuels. To go to zero over the next 20 years would be economically catastrophic and cost tens of millions of jobs. With gas prices at nearly double their price and inflation up from 1.5% to 8% in just 15 months, we are already experiencing the economic damage from the green energy crusaders. Stephen Moore, writer of the article, when on to say batteries, solar and wind would require: 34 million metric tons of copper; 40 million tons of lead; 50 million tons of zinc; 162 million tons of aluminum and 4.8billion tons of iron.
These tens of millions of windmills, solar panels and electric batteries for cars and trucks aren’t exactly biodegradable. So, now we will be left with a graveyard of toxic pollutants that will be 100 times larger than any nuclear waste storage. And he says, “There are those who are worried about plastic straws!”
The writer is all for mining our bountiful natural resources of copper, lead, magnesium and other precious metals. However, there are those who want to shut down the mines and compares it to saying you want food, but you oppose farming.
A person wrote to a newspaper his concern about electric batteries that some want to be required in school buses. He had been on a field trip in a school bus. Now he stated that a bus is supposed to run only 4 hours before it needed to be recharged. If they pull in to a recharging place and find several vehicles waiting, just what time do you think the bus would be back on the road. He wanted to know, “Is it worth it?”
A recent article was published by Bruce Lear who has been in public schools for 38 years. He taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years. He is now retired and lives in Sioux City. He wrote on the cancer that’s killing public school. He begins with, “Years ago no one wanted to talk about “cancer” as it was thought to be the worst thing that could happen to a person.”
But political “cancer” is threatening the public schools. He says we cannot whisper about this but need to look for a diagnosis and work for a cure. There are direct causes for this cancer that is destroying the public-school foundation that has help build Iowa. He goes on to list them: Underfunding: With inflation running at more than 7% and with a surplus of over a billion dollars in the bank 2.5% was supposed to be an adequate increase but it wasn’t.
A School voucher entitlement: He went on to state that Governor Reynolds has made private school vouchers her priority and will continue to push this if re-elected. She was giving 10,000 Iowa children the chance to go to a private school funded by tax-payers money. There are 42 of Iowa’s 99 counties that have no private school available. He also has found that Iowa already spends $100 million a year to support private schools and home schooling. Now her plan would add another $55 million in private school aide. This would siphon an additional $79 million a year from public school funding. For a pupil Iowa loss of $275.93 He went on to compare Sioux City Community School with an enrollment of 14,868 students and the loss would be a total of $4,102,527.00.
Public schools shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but it is. With the political cancer now threatening our cherished Iowa public schools, we can’t rely on whispers, thoughts, and prayers to save our schools. It’s time to begin shouting about the diagnosis and working toward the cure. Our public schools cannot be saved by medical science but voters can.
In another issue, he had written that private schools do not have to follow any state rules and concentrate on religion. If our taxpayers money is letting them have prayer but yet public schools get sued if pray is said, something is wrong. Public schools are sent the students that have disabilities that private schools cannot afford, but yet public schools are given less money even though they have to have extra help for these disabled students. He says, “Something is wrong, very wrong!”
(The aforementioned facts and figures and opinions on the subject are Mr. Lear’s.)
I was making Souper Burgers the other night and a half hour later, I saw the oven had shut off. There are times I can restart it, but this time I couldn’t. I called Steve to see if he would turn his oven on and finish the burgers. I know the oven is trying to tell me that it has had 26 years of use and needs a rest. I’m afraid replacing it will be not for awhile.
Remember in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost loved ones to death, have had their lives changed, have a health problem with some being terminal, are struggling financially to make ends meet even though they are working, encourage those who are not working to find a job, and give help to those who are distanced from family and friends to build a bridge instead of a wall.
I will leave you with this quote from Walter Scott (17771-1832) Scottish novelist: “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”