LETTERS: Obama great fundraiser, poor leader
To the editor:
July 17 was a tragic day, with newsworthy events around the world that could affect our national security. A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet with almost 300 people on board was apparently shot out of the sky over Ukraine. Our best ally in the Middle East, Israel, was engaged in a major military operation against the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of immigrants probably illegally entered our country, as they have every day the past few months.
In all that, I was comforted to know that President Barack Obama must have been huddled in the situation room at the White House with his national security team, closely monitoring those events.
But I was wrong. He was not in the White House; he was flying around the country to attend two fundraising events for Democratic candidates — events that were closed to the public and the media.
Many Americans are disappointed in the lack of strong national leadership when events call for it. We need a strong leader to represent the best interests of the nation. I wish we had a strong national leader such as Germany’s Angela Merkel, Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. They quickly respond to major events that affect their countries and always put the interests of their countries first, instead of going on vacations or attending fundraising events.
STEVEN G. HAYES SR.
LAS VEGAS
Education reform
To the editor:
Your excellent editorial on education reform (“Study outlines ways to improve within budget,” July 17 Review-Journal) reminded me of my own elementary and high school education in Ohio. The stock market collapse of the Great Depression coincided with my birth, and my education tracked the depression and World War II.
I graduated in 1947 with a high school diploma, which is reportedly comparable to a present-day college degree. My education was designed, executed and monitored entirely by state, county and school district officials, without notable federal help. Since the Constitution doesn’t contain the word “education” and does not serve to impose any conditions or standards applicable to education on the American people, educating the children of our country should be wholly a state, local and parental area of responsibility.
As I recommended to one of our representatives a few weeks ago, if we obtained the curriculum for grades K-12 for public schools in the state of Ohio between 1935 and 1947, tweaked them to fit 2014 realities and made them available to all 50 states, we could repair our failed education system. Pretty simple.
Next, abolish the Department of Education and let a national association of state departments of education serve as a national sounding board, focusing on advisory information for state and local use as desired. Then, defang the education unions by whatever name they claim, and remove their power over government entities so that the chain of command is clearly the people — the parents — directing the education system.
Elevate teachers to the professional level they should occupy as one of the most important professions in our society by demanding their behavior, performance, pride and effectiveness meet the people’s high professional expectations. Finally, dissolve the foolish connection between the amount of money thrown into the public education mill and the product produced by this inefficient machinery. How long does it take sane people to accept the definition that doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is insane?
KENNETH F. HINES
LAS VEGAS
Rain and roads
To the editor:
Carey Avenue between Nellis Boulevard and Christy Lane becomes a swamp after any kind of rain, as it did earlier this month. Cars go to great lengths to avoid the huge puddles on Carey. Hopefully, this letter gets the attention of the engineers who design drainage solutions for the city of Las Vegas, and they will make an attempt to solve this problem.
PAUL V. COLMAN
LAS VEGAS
