Anti-Smoking Zealots Snuff the Rule of Law
Representative Diana DeGette recently introduced a bill in Congress to raise the legal age for cigarette smoking from 18 to 21. This will protect Our Children from the horrors of cigarette smoking. Ms. DeGette and her colleagues consider 18 year olds mature enough to drive, work, vote, go to war, marry, fornicate, and have abortions. Heaven forbid that they should be allowed to smoke.
The Common School Movement in Colorado
With hotly-contested school board election campaigns going on all over the state, theres no shortage of candidates promising that they can fix the public schools. But the fundamental problem with education is that the government doesnt trust us to educate our children.
Education-The Reform Agenda for 2000
Pop quiz: Guess which of the state’s 176 school districts chose a military officer as superintendent. Colorado Springs? Logical guess, but wrong. Boulder the bastion of pacifism, environmentalism and feminism has selected a nonprofessional educator, a retired Naval commander from Colorado Springs, to lead its school district. If liberal Boulder as conservative educational haven seems far-fetched, then its story of educational reform as a model for the rest of the state would appear otherworldly. But it’s not.
School Vouchers Nurture Diversity
Sick to death of the sorry state of the Denver Public Schools, a number of Denver citizens have filed a class action lawsuit demanding reform or, in the alternative, the ability to purchase education for their children with vouchers.
Running Schools Like a Business
Because government and private business operate under a different sets of rules, public schools are not, and never will be, like a business. Someone buying a car generally knows what combination of cost, comfort, safety, carrying capacity, reliability, and fun he wants. Many different manufacturers each market a variety of models. A buyer can try […]
Bilingual Education: A Failed Experiment on the Children
Bilingual education is based on the theory that the best way to make minority-language children proficient in English is to first strengthen their skills in their native languages.
A large body of research shows that native-language instruction is an inferior method of moving limited-English-proficient children to full proficiency.
Of the 18 million dollars spent on bilingual education in Colorado, 8 million is for illegal immigrants.
Social Security Numbers and Drivers Licenses – Protecting Privacy
The federal immigration reform legislation passed in the summer of 1996 affects the privacy rights of all Americans, even if they are native born citizens. The new law requires:
Americans must provide Social Security numbers to apply for or renew a state drivers license beginning October 1, 2000. If not, the license cannot be used for federal identification purposes.
States must display the number on the license itself or embed it within the document for reading by electronic means.
Light Rail in Denver: Taking the Taxpayers for a Ride
Congress is considering giving Denver hundreds of millions of dollars to construct an eight mile extension of the existing five mile light rail system. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is pushing for a vote on a tax increase to fund even more ligth rail With new EPA air quality standards looming over the city, the battle over the light rail system is about to begin. The facts show that light rail in Denver is a waste of money:
Welfare Benefits: Cant Work With Them, Cant Work Without Them
Welfare recipient Tina Smith recently told state senators that a lack of resources for education and other things makes it hard to stay off welfare. One thing you have to decide as a state is what you want from people who are on welfare, she said Do we just want them to have a job, […]
Put English Back into Bilingual Education
An editorial a little while ago in The Rocky Mountain News stated that “the unambiguous goal of bilingual education should be to help everybody learn English as quickly and as fluently as possible. It should not be a native-language maintenance program.” Right on.
Pena Leaves Town With Head High — And Bloody Hands
The good news is that Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena is finally leaving Washington. The bad news is that he was ever invited to come in the first place and that he is not leaving in disgrace.
Can We Profit By Taxing Non-Profits
Amendment 11 would tax any real property owned by non-profit groups unless the group owns and uses the property for schools, community corrections facilities, orphanages, or housing for low-income elderly, disables, homeless or abused persons. No, taxpayers are not classified as abused persons. They are cash cows. Taking sides is not easy for those who […]
