Government
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Ethicalego
Examined
thinking improves the quality of life. |
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May 8, 2008
A different solution than bankruptcy
for
Vallejo.
Vallejo City Council finally faced
the reality of the need to declare bankruptcy. The fault is
not with them or this city manager alone, but from a series of
obviously bad policy and monetary decisions over the years.
May 1, 2008
Obama's critics attack his religion.
America and its next president face some
challenging issues like a potential recession, inadequate health care, a
collapsing housing market, increasing fuel and food prices, declining public
schools and two wars going badly. So, why does the national press interest
center on the sermons of Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., a retired minister,
and not on those national issues of concern?
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April 25, 2008
Vallejo survey results did not support
a tax increase for public safety.
Vallejo's 2007 survey results showed that voters
would not approve a tax to support public safety. Still, some council
members insist that it showed the opposite that voters would have supported
the tax.
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April 7, 2008
Rebuild America's financial system on a
foundation of ethics.
The United States’ financial system
self-destructed from greed, incompetence and unethical practices by some
banking and investment managers. A failure of this magnitude shows the need
for changes. But, who decides what those changes should be?
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Vallejo needs a different
public safety policy.
Reports during a Vallejo Council meeting revealed
the city has not evaluated firefighters in years. This violates the city
charter that calls for annual reviews. Clearly, city officials caved in to
firefighters demands the city should not evaluate them without first
negotiating work standards. What part of the employer/employee work
relationship do city officials and firefighters not understand?
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March 17, 2008
We need a better way to evaluate
presidential candidates.
Voters often decide presidential
candidates’ qualifications by how well they do during televised debates.
This is unfortunate. Debates are entertaining, but they do not show
candidates qualifications for President.
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March 10, 2008
Change expectations to reduce
imprisonment rates.
The United States of America
imprisons one of every hundred adults according to a Pew Center report. This
2.3 million is the highest incarceration rate of any nation in the world, in
numbers and as a percentage of the population. China and Russia are
next highest.
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March 3, 2008
Voters are responsible for City of Vallejo
insolvency.
The light many Vallejo,
California residents fantasized was opportunity approaching the city was
instead the train of financial disaster rushing at them. Vallejo’s money
problems should not surprise anybody who paid attention to how it conducted
business. The nation’s economic downturn hastened this condition, but poor
decisions by Vallejo voters made this result inevitable.
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February 11, 2008
Presidential candidates health
plans are flawed.
Senator Clinton admits that her proposed
health plan will force people to buy health insurance and the government
will take money from their wages to pay for it. Government officials will
decide how much those wage earners can afford to pay.
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February 4, 2008
Berkeley council wrongly attacks U.S.
Marine recruiters.
The city council of Berkeley
California approved a resolution that showed their disapproval of the U.S.
Marine Corp recruiting station there. It directed a letter to the Marines
saying they are “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” in Berkeley. They were
unpatriotic and lacking in common sense.
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January 28, 2008
Social problems grow as government officials
ignore them.
American society does not learn
from past mistakes that it is better to solve social problems at the
beginning when they are small and easier to manage. Instead, government
officials and community leaders seem unable to recognize there is a growing
problem when at first it affects only the welfare of groups not valued
highly in society.
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January 14, 2008
Vallejo’s contested mayoral election stumbles to
conclusion.
Gary Cloutier filed legal papers in Solano
Superior Court to contest the results of the recount of votes for mayor of
Vallejo. His lawsuit opens the fourth act of an election process to elect a
mayor that only should have been a three-act drama.
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January 8, 2008
Experience for
presidential candidates is overrated.
Presidential candidate Senator Hilary Clinton
claims experience is her strongest leadership trait over other Democrat
presidential candidates like Barrack Obama. On the Republican side, Senator
John Mr. McCain boasts experience over candidates like ex-Gov. Mitt Romney.
Voters should reject them as viable candidates if experience is the
highlight of their résumé.
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December 31, 2007
National ID is a threat to liberty.
This is the last day of year 2007 and the
last day for Americans' privacy and democratic freedoms. Starting in year
2008 the federal REAL ID Act of 2005 requires states to issue federally
approved drivers’ licenses and personal identification cards. This
requirement is a form of a National ID for Americans and everybody living
here legally.
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December 3, 2007
Losing control of ferryboat operation not so bad.
City of Vallejo will contract with
lobbyists to promote its financial interests as the California
Legislature completes laws to seize control of Vallejo’s ferryboat
system. The lobbyists will cost the city $100,000. This means that
Vallejo residents are hiring a private contractor to represent their
interest to state legislators they elected to represent their interests.
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November 19, 2007
Control over
government is slipping away.
Vallejo residents show us much about their
commitment to ideas of self-government when they persistently vote for
candidates selected by public employee unions. They ignore how they destroy
their powers of self-government when they allow employee unions and
corporations to influence the political process this way.
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November 5, 2007
Questionable ethics of public safety
employees' campaign flyer.
Two weeks ago, I reported that a political
flyer from Vallejo Firefighter and police associations violated California
law. It pictured uniformed police officers and firefighters supporting
political candidates. I presumed the public safety associations and their
supported candidates did not know about the law when they violated it.
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October 22, 2007
Campaign tactics show candidates leadership
traits.
Vallejo residents need to elect new
political leaders because the term for some officeholders is over. They need
to consider candidates’ overall qualifications and not just their specialty
in one area. Ethical standards, critical reasoning ability, accounting
knowledge and political skills are some leadership traits voters should
consider.
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October 1, 2007
Vallejo Students' have First Amendment Rights.
Vallejo City Unified School District (VCUSD)
managers adopted a defensive, combative attitude toward community
members’ who report or comment about school district problems. Most
recently, they chastised students attending Vallejo High School for
reporting facilities’ problems. Their comments to students were
unjustified, unacceptable, and possibly unlawful.
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September
24, 2007
The missing human element in U.S. Middle East Policy
The more President Bush and
top military commanders speak in support of the Iraq war the less
credible their arguments. Their action in Iraq contradict their
statements the United States is in Iraq to protect democracy and
freedom.
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September 17, 2007
A rebuttal should include facts and exclude attacks against character.
Good government requires
citizens' involvement at more than the superficial level. It was
refreshing when Mr. William Innes, a teacher in Vallejo City Unified
School District (VCUSD), reported a faulty school district hiring
practice. He claimed a candidate for vice principal made it through the
hiring screening process without the credentials required for the
position.
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September 10, 2007
Select candidates for reasoning skills and principles.
Here we are in the middle of
another election campaign. I often wonder what foundation voters use to
select a candidate. It would help if they understood the function of
the political office they are trying to fill. The failure of government
at the local, state and national level show we haven’t done a very good
job selecting people for office.
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August 20, 2007
Government officials rule violations
are harmful too.
Too many Americans in position of
authority routinely violate the policy and rules they vow to enforce for
the community. Sometimes it seems as if their oath of office contains a
virus that destroys their integrity. Often, they violate law and rules
with impunity, because the law protects them from personal accountability.
Nevertheless, they destroy the integrity of the community’s set of rules.
[ Read more......]
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August 6, 2007
It is time to use different diplomatic
methods.
Front-running presidential candidates often commit a gaffe
that seriously damages their chance for winning office. Presidential
candidate Senator Clinton tried to create one for Senator Obama. Answering
a question second, she framed her answer as an attack that seemingly
pointed out errors in Obama’s answer about foreign relations protocol.
[Read more........]
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July 30,
2007
Vallejo School District failed the California API
target.
California applies
a standard, the high school exit examination, to judge if students'
academic growth qualifies them for a diploma. It has Academic Performance
Index (API) targets to judge schools' performance and growth in ability to
educate students. School boards refuse to grant diplomas to students
that fail the exit examination. However, in Vallejo they praise district
administrators who did not meet growth targets. [Read
more....]
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July 2, 2007
Choosing the right foreign policy is crucial to our future.
The next president’s
foreign policy probably will decide if the United States’ survives as a
believable force in international affairs. Therefore, Americans must choose
their next president carefully. The long 2008 presidential campaign gives
voters the opportunity to examine candidates’ credentials. [Read
more...]
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June 25,
2007
Our Iraq policy gets more confusing.
United States’ policy in Iraq is more confused
with each change in strategy. Preventing civil war in Iraq was President
Bush’s prime goal. It committed the United States to support Iraq’s
democratically elected, central government. [Read
more..]
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May 21,
2007
VCUSD’s budget decision to end school bus
transportation is unfair.
State Administrator Richard Damelio canceled daily
school bus service for high school students to help balance Vallejo City
Unified School District’s (VCUSD) budget. This was a decision of
questionable fairness.
The Legislature states a policy in the
California’s Education Code that affords equal rights and opportunities
for all people in public schools. It prohibits school policy contrary to
this state policy.
Read more.....
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LINKS
Solano County Cities
Benicia Calif
Vallejo, Calif.
American-canyon.
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May 14,
2007
Council members and city
manager are not miracle workers.
Vallejo City
Manager Joe Tanner is trying to wrest control of city operations from
public employee union bosses and restore it to the council and city
manager’s office where it belongs. It’s a fundamental change Vallejo must
make if it is to have any chance of a future as a prosperous city. This
means the city council and city manager must exercise final decision
making power over budgets and city operations in the public safety
services area and not public safety labor union bosses.
Read more......
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May 07, 2007
Squabbling between government officials bad for national security.
Public officials in New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Austin, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose, Houston and others
proclaimed their city a place of refuge or sanctuary from Immigration and
Custom Enforcement (ICE). This means they will not help in ICE raids and
city employees have orders not to report immigration law violators.
Read
More....
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April 9,
2007
Show the reasoning that supports a
decisions.
Americans often
make bad choices for political leaders and those leaders make bad
decisions. It is troublesome how often they fail to offer the reasoning
that supports their action.
Read more...........
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April 2, 2007
Making the case for neighborhood schools.
State Administrator Damelio’s plan to close Lincoln
Elementary School awakened some Vallejoans to the reality they have no
elected school board that protects their interests. One writer complained
that Damelio uses school board members like his lapdogs. Vallejo's school
board members are powerless advisers to Damelio’s authority. However,
Vallejoans and their school board created this situation.
Read
more.......
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