What ever happened to the 3 R's? You know ... Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic? Somewhere along the line, basic education has been lost and social engineering has taken its place.

I have talked with many School Board members over the years and almost every one of them deny they are "politicians". Someone who supposedly is accountable to the voters who put them in office. They all think they are above that "dirty word".

Because they think they are not "politicians" accountable to the voters, they either endorse or allow their schools to run rampant social engineering ... not educating.

The latest social engineering that has put a craw in my teeth is the idea of sending notes home with students telling the parents the child is fat.

I would like to see is every member of these School Boards and Administration get on a scale. I'm willing to bet it isn't just children who are overweight. 

What hypocrisy!

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

I thought of that old Greek Proverb when I recently read an article in American Profile Magazine.

It was a fascinating article about Michael Giudici who has planted over 9,000 trees during the past 27 years around  Davenport, Iowa.

It seems most cities have at least one tree lover who keeps people like me who loves concrete and blacktop in check. I reluctantly admit the people like me do need to be reigned  in at times.

Why does Mr. Giudici do this? Why does he spend hours and hours of his "free time" planting trees?

When asked about his tree-planting devotion, Giudici says he simply cares about his hometown. “I grew up here,” he says. “I want to do what I can to improve my community.”

There aren't enough citizens like Mr. Giudici around.

Residents of San Diego County are encouraged to register their cell phones and e-mail addresses for emergency notifications by visiting www.alertsandiego.org within the next few days, county officials said today.

That innocent looking statement from nctimes.com, I predict, will result in San Diego County supplying lap top computers or cell phones to all its residents within 3 years.

Previously Alert San Diego used only land line phones to alert its citizens of impending disaster. It is referred to as reverse 9-1-1 as all land line phone numbers are in the 9-1-1 system. Now, cell phones and email addresses can be added.

Why should only those who can afford a laptop or cell phone be able to be alerted ... no matter where they are? I can hear it now. Can't you?

I further predict that this system will be sued within the same 3 year period ...  for not alerting the citizens of some situation ... that someone thinks they should have been alerted.

Why do ideas that look so good on paper, have the potential to be so problematic in the future?

Imagine yourself driving and the accidently finding yourself on a dead end street. You turn around and eventually find your way to your destination.        

It is like that whenever the discussion of consolidation of local government comes up. It results in a dead end conversation.

But maybe ... just maybe ... someday after all those discussions result in dead ends ... one of those discussions may actually result in a successful journey?  

My latest read on this topic comes from UticaOD.Com from Utica, NY.

This editorial laments, "Many area communities have uncontested races this year, including Rome, where Brown is unopposed. Town supervisors in Deerfield and Marcy also are running for re-election unopposed, and there is only one candidate for the top job in Whitestown. In addition, an assortment of other positions in towns throughout Herkimer and Oneida counties, ranging from highway superintendent to town clerk are uncontested."

It then suggests, "Do we need five separate governments to serve less than 19,000 people, or would it be more prudent to streamline local government, make leadership jobs more financially attractive to draw the best candidates and change the way we do business?"

It does not make sense to me that lines on a map drawn a hundred years ago, or more, continue to be untouchable to change.

We see businesses consolidate all the time to become more competitive and cost effective. 

Why not local government?

When will the topic of local government consolidation not result in a journey to a dead end?

Developing, training and nurturing the future leaders of our country is something that I spend quite a bit of time worrying about. I don't worry about very much, but I do worry about that. After all, as I look around now we are pretty much void of real political leadership in the country, and where is our future political leaders going to come from?

Maybe they are going to be coming from Skidmore College.

From the Saratogian.Com we learn Associate Professor Bob Turner is teaching a class "Who Governs Saratoga Springs?" A class intended to get the students "up close and personal" with Saratoga Springs politics.

I often talk about how there are over 511,000 elected officials in the U.S. Of those 511,000 over 96% of them are local elected officials. Local Government is truly the foundation of our political system.

We can't expect to improve the quality of our elected officials at the State and National level, until we improve the quality of our elected officials at the Local level.

I certainly hope that Professor Turner's class catches on and other Colleges and Universities follow suit offering a class such as this, concentrating on local government/politics.

It is our only hope.