Controls the World

In the near future they that control "CRISPER" will control the world, for awhile.
Paul Hunter

From Who's Cold Dead Hands

When did “certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” change to the unfettered right to own and use arms by any person, no matter their mental or criminal condition?

From the Columbus Dispatch:

A man entered the den of an East Side home where a young girl and boy were watching television with their grandmother on Sunday evening and started shooting.

The girl, Cheyenne Stewart, 12, died in the den. Her brother, Thaijuan Green, 10, survived and was taken in critical condition to Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus police said. Their grandmother was not hit.

Paul Hunter

Can You Dig It?

Some correspondents tell me that my social- economic essays are too arcane to be understood by the majority of readers. I demur, er uh, I object

paulhunter45177@gmail.com 

Public Schools Beat Vouchers

Shocking revelation for some voucher advocates. Who want to waste tax dollars for selective institutions.

Ohio’s voucher students fare worse than public-school peers, study finds

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/07/07/study-voucher-students-dont-fare-as-well-as-public-school-peers.html

Ohio’s EdChoice program provides 20,000 students in low-performing public schools with tax-funded vouchers for private school tuition.

But parents would be wrong to assume their children are getting a better education, according to new study that found many students who used vouchers to attend private schools fared worse on state reading and math tests compared with their peers in public schools.

Posted by Paul Hunter

Analysis Spot On

If we don't find a way to alter the unequal distribution of wealth and all of the benefits included in this nation the challenge posited will not only continue but will accelerate. Read history. Just ask Louis and Marie or Nicholas and Alexandra for an opinion.

From a PBS News Hour interview: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/week-of-violence-sparks-national-dialogue-on-race-and-policing/

Milwaukee Police Chief EDWARD FLYNN: “I think what we’re finding on the streets of our cities is a level of license being taken by the offending community to challenge officers on the streets of our most disadvantaged neighborhoods, where our efforts are the most important and most requested.

I think what we need to do is step back from this binary discussion we’re having right now that, on the right hand, we talk about police use of force, when it’s right or when it’s apparently wrong, and then on the left hand, we talk about the fact that the greatest disparity of race in America right now is as a crime victim, all right?

Our central cities, our communities of disadvantage characterized by intergenerational poverty have the highest rates of violence for what we like to call the industrialized society. We’re the most heavily armed, most violent society in the industrialized West.

And it is our African-American communities of disadvantage that suffer the most from it. Their partners in dealing with it are the police, who are often placed in difficult or ambiguous circumstances and sometimes do the wrong thing, but overwhelmingly are the community partners.

If we’re going to have that community discussion, we have to talk about it all at the same time, because the same neighborhoods with the highest rates of violence have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, substandard housing and lack of education.

We haven’t had that conversation in 40 years.

We have been delegating America’s social problems to the police.”

Posted by Paul Hunter

WAR Of Words

There has been considerable back and forth between City Council and the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) over the allocation of funds.

The CVB maintains that if the council retains a larger portion of the city's annual lodging (bed) tax the CVB will be unable to fulfill its mission of bringing tourist and convention business to the city and county.

As is often the case, the old advice to, “follow the money”, applies to this situation.

The CVB 2015 revenue was $50,000 more than budgeted and expended. This fund surplus is just sitting around gathering dust rather than being utilized by the city to enhance other currently under supported venues, such as the park system, that could bring in out of city hospitality dollars.

It appears, from early returns, that 2016 will increase the CVB surplus over budget even more than 2015's.

If the CVB is held financially harmless and the city can reclaim some of our tax dollars it appears to this observer that this is a “no harm no foul” situation where both parties benefit.

It's time to stop the war of words and move forward by allowing council to do its job of allocating taxpayer funds in the manner deemed the best use of those funds.

If future needs of the CVB warrant additional revenue the bureau can apply to council at annual budget time and make their case just like other entities do.

Notes: The budget and revenue data are public records available on request from the city. Fairborn, Ohio, for example, uses their bed tax share for city parks.

Paul Hunter