Normally I write about the problem issues of the day; high gas prices, political shenanigans and governmental snafus. During this political season you hear a lot about what is wrong with America. But on the birthday weekend of this great nation, I want to write about what is great about America.
Two hundred and thirty-two years ago in a hot and humid hall, 56 men of great stature pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to declare our independence from England.
What they gave us was liberty. The God-given right to be free and to make decisions that guide our lives. Freedom comes with rights and responsibilities. In this country you even have the freedom to make bad decisions. The greatness of this country is derived from the fact that our people have the freedom to improve their lot in life through hard work and discipline. In fact, despite what the politicians want you to believe, with less than 5% of the Earth’s population, we have the largest middle class in the world. Our standard of living, recession or no recession, is second to none and in fact on a world scale we have the wealthiest poor people on the planet. We have safety nets in place so that no one in this country has to go hungry for need of food.
America is not great because of latitude and longitude. It is great because we have the liberty to do as we please as long as we respect the rights of others to do the same.
The right to succeed or fail is completely American. Americans love a comeback story.
This last week I was reminded of what a great country this is. My wife and I packed up the kids and flew back to the Midwest where I grew up to have a family vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Righeimer, my four siblings, their spouses and all of their children at my parent’s lake house in Whitewater, Wis. All told, we had 30 people at the house. The ages ranged from 77 for my dad to our youngest, Katherine, who is 2. Whitewater is a typical summer home community that you find on the lakes in southern Wisconsin. Where Southern Californians go to the beach or mountains to get out of the summer heat, Chicagoans head to Wisconsin with their boats and wave runners to cool down and enjoy the summer with family and friends. To get to Whitewater you drive straight north from O’Hare Airport for about two hours. When you get off the interstate in Wisconsin, you set back your watch about 50 years. There is something about getting all of your family together for a long weekend at the lake that feels like 1958. The older cousins are planning weddings; some are finishing high school or college. The younger ones are learning to swim or trying their first time on water skis.
This whole family started 54 years ago when James Joseph Righeimer met my mother Therese Katherine Redican at a friend’s wedding. He was a young high school teacher and football coach, and she worked at an insurance company in downtown Chicago. His father drove a beer truck and her mother came to America as a domestic. Through hard work and second jobs, my mother and father raised all five of us. My father was the original recycler. He had us bring home our lunch bags to be used again. They scrimped and saved and though some took longer than others, we all got college degrees and raised families of our own.
In no other country in the world could this happen. Only in America could a son of a truck driver achieve the American Dream.
On this Fourth of July weekend while we are having fun with family and friends, thousands of America’s finest sons and daughters are in far-off lands protecting us from people in the world who do not like our way of life and have sworn to destroy it. Like some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, some of them will give the ultimate sacrifice to protect the liberty we sometimes take for granted. Just remember while you are popping that cold one, the temperature in Baghdad will be 112 degrees. Please keep them in your prayers.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Help Burst Gas Bubble
Last month I wrote about my first $4 gallon of gas. I yearn for those days after paying $4.59 a gallon this week. We need to solve the energy crisis in this country, but we are never going to do it, if our national leaders say it cannot be done — so why even try? The economy will only get worse if Americans do not have any money left in their wallets after they fill up their tanks.
There is such a defeatist attitude on the left that no matter what we try to do to solve our energy problem, they say it either can’t be done or that it will take too long. This reiterates my point about our acting like children. Children do not understand delayed gratification; they need the fix now, and if it cannot be fixed immediately, they just do nothing and stomp their feet. Adults understand that sometimes it takes time to do the right thing.
The left’s latest example of foot stomping came after President George W. Bush stated that we should end the 27-year ban on offshore drilling in the U.S. Immediately the left, including democratic nominee Barack Obama, attacked the plan saying it would take 22 years to get any benefit out of offshore drilling.
Obama is preaching to the children on the left, arguing not to do anything to produce more oil because it would take too long. Sorry, kids: I cannot lower the price at the pump with new supply this week, so let’s just punish the big bad oil companies with a windfall profits tax.
First off, where does he get his facts? Does the American public really think it takes 22 years to drill an oil well? Even with all the bureaucratic paper work involved I think we could drill a well in say, a year or two. But according to Obama, why try at all? It will simply take too long.
When Bush also said we should build nuclear power plants, GOP nominee John McCain agreed and added that he proposes we build 100 nuclear power plants with 45 in operation by the year 2030. McCain’s plan, like JFK’s 1961 speech to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, was a challenge to the nation to do whatever it takes to reach our goal. In this case, reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
The left loves alternative fuels like corn-based ethanol. The only problem is that it doesn’t work. It takes more energy to produce corned-based ethanol than the energy it produces. That’s why U.S. taxpayers subsidized ethanol 50 cents a gallon when gas was $1.80 a gallon, and we still subsidized it 50 cents a gallon when gas is $4.50.
Ethanol is just a way to send billions of dollars to farmers in the Midwest. Sugar is five to six times more efficient to make ethanol out of than corn, but until they find a way to grow sugar cane in Iowa, there won’t be any political will. In fact, we add a tariff on any sugar-based ethanol that comes into the country to make it uneconomical. I guess it is better to buy oil from Middle East dictators than hurt the profit margins of agribusiness.
I am all for getting off our oil dependency, but we need to be realistic. First things first: We do not need to bankrupt every American family because they cannot afford to put gas in their car. The price of oil at more than $134 per barrel is a bubble about to burst. The sooner the leadership in the country acts to produce more oil, remove tariffs on sugar-based ethanol and approve nuclear power plants in a timely fashion, the sooner that bubble will burst and we will see oil back in the sub $80 per barrel range, which would put gas back at $2.70 per gallon.
The American public will support leaders who want to solve problems and not just give it lip service. At $4.50 a gallon, their patience is running out.
There is such a defeatist attitude on the left that no matter what we try to do to solve our energy problem, they say it either can’t be done or that it will take too long. This reiterates my point about our acting like children. Children do not understand delayed gratification; they need the fix now, and if it cannot be fixed immediately, they just do nothing and stomp their feet. Adults understand that sometimes it takes time to do the right thing.
The left’s latest example of foot stomping came after President George W. Bush stated that we should end the 27-year ban on offshore drilling in the U.S. Immediately the left, including democratic nominee Barack Obama, attacked the plan saying it would take 22 years to get any benefit out of offshore drilling.
Obama is preaching to the children on the left, arguing not to do anything to produce more oil because it would take too long. Sorry, kids: I cannot lower the price at the pump with new supply this week, so let’s just punish the big bad oil companies with a windfall profits tax.
First off, where does he get his facts? Does the American public really think it takes 22 years to drill an oil well? Even with all the bureaucratic paper work involved I think we could drill a well in say, a year or two. But according to Obama, why try at all? It will simply take too long.
When Bush also said we should build nuclear power plants, GOP nominee John McCain agreed and added that he proposes we build 100 nuclear power plants with 45 in operation by the year 2030. McCain’s plan, like JFK’s 1961 speech to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, was a challenge to the nation to do whatever it takes to reach our goal. In this case, reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
The left loves alternative fuels like corn-based ethanol. The only problem is that it doesn’t work. It takes more energy to produce corned-based ethanol than the energy it produces. That’s why U.S. taxpayers subsidized ethanol 50 cents a gallon when gas was $1.80 a gallon, and we still subsidized it 50 cents a gallon when gas is $4.50.
Ethanol is just a way to send billions of dollars to farmers in the Midwest. Sugar is five to six times more efficient to make ethanol out of than corn, but until they find a way to grow sugar cane in Iowa, there won’t be any political will. In fact, we add a tariff on any sugar-based ethanol that comes into the country to make it uneconomical. I guess it is better to buy oil from Middle East dictators than hurt the profit margins of agribusiness.
I am all for getting off our oil dependency, but we need to be realistic. First things first: We do not need to bankrupt every American family because they cannot afford to put gas in their car. The price of oil at more than $134 per barrel is a bubble about to burst. The sooner the leadership in the country acts to produce more oil, remove tariffs on sugar-based ethanol and approve nuclear power plants in a timely fashion, the sooner that bubble will burst and we will see oil back in the sub $80 per barrel range, which would put gas back at $2.70 per gallon.
The American public will support leaders who want to solve problems and not just give it lip service. At $4.50 a gallon, their patience is running out.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Keeping Tab on Progress
My 6-year-old daughter Morgan loves Angels baseball. She scans the sports page every morning to read the scores aloud: “Angels six, Mariners four; we win.” Or she’ll sadly say, “Angels three, Mariner five; we lose.”
Another local newspaper last week published scores ranking our four public high schools among the 63 in the county. The scores reflected state data on academics, college prep and cultural environment.
Our schools ranked as follows: Corona Del Mar High, 12th; Newport Harbor High, 37th; Estancia High, 51st; and Costa Mesa High, 58th. Ouch.
The most-cited reason for our schools’ rankings was that some students’ lower economic level lowered our scores. It is interesting to note, however, that La Quinta High in Garden Grove ranked seventh, yet has a higher percentage of low-income students (61%) than all but Estancia, where 63% of the students qualify as low-income.
If money were the only factor in scholastic success, Newport Harbor and Corona Del Mar should have ranked in the top five.
Recently, Newport Beach did a customer satisfaction survey to compare its services to those of other California cities and the nation. The respondents rated the “overall quality of services provided by the city,” at 87% satisfied or very satisfied, which ranks Newport Beach in the top 5% of cities surveyed.
On a not-so-good note, the development services division, which is primarily the planning and building departments, had more than 60% of the respondents dissatisfied with the actual process and 60% dissatisfied with the time it takes to get plans checked. The city staff had some explanations; but in the end, no matter how you spin it, the score was sub-par.
Whether it’s baseball, a high school or a city, it is of the utmost importance that we somehow keep score. I am not sure why the Angels win or lose, why some city services meet expectations or why some schools rank higher than others. The answer for those questions is for the people who manage those organizations to figure out. What I do know is that you cannot manage properly if you don’t measure first.
Newport Beach is going one step further and looking to set benchmarks. With these, they will be able to determine whether what they are doing is working.
I didn’t talk to any school district officials, but I think they also can use the newspaper’s ranking as a benchmark to see whether they’re taking the right steps toward improvement. The good news is that with rankings, at least we know where we stand.
Some people think scores and ranking are too judgmental. They are supposed to be. Someone is first and someone is last. Whenever you go to a school board or city council meeting, the elected officials always say how they have the best teachers, staff, city manager — just fill in the blank — than any other school or city around. The fact of the matter is they might, but they really have no way of knowing unless you measure.
By the way, the Angels are first in the American League, and Morgan is very happy. Go Halos!
Another local newspaper last week published scores ranking our four public high schools among the 63 in the county. The scores reflected state data on academics, college prep and cultural environment.
Our schools ranked as follows: Corona Del Mar High, 12th; Newport Harbor High, 37th; Estancia High, 51st; and Costa Mesa High, 58th. Ouch.
The most-cited reason for our schools’ rankings was that some students’ lower economic level lowered our scores. It is interesting to note, however, that La Quinta High in Garden Grove ranked seventh, yet has a higher percentage of low-income students (61%) than all but Estancia, where 63% of the students qualify as low-income.
If money were the only factor in scholastic success, Newport Harbor and Corona Del Mar should have ranked in the top five.
Recently, Newport Beach did a customer satisfaction survey to compare its services to those of other California cities and the nation. The respondents rated the “overall quality of services provided by the city,” at 87% satisfied or very satisfied, which ranks Newport Beach in the top 5% of cities surveyed.
On a not-so-good note, the development services division, which is primarily the planning and building departments, had more than 60% of the respondents dissatisfied with the actual process and 60% dissatisfied with the time it takes to get plans checked. The city staff had some explanations; but in the end, no matter how you spin it, the score was sub-par.
Whether it’s baseball, a high school or a city, it is of the utmost importance that we somehow keep score. I am not sure why the Angels win or lose, why some city services meet expectations or why some schools rank higher than others. The answer for those questions is for the people who manage those organizations to figure out. What I do know is that you cannot manage properly if you don’t measure first.
Newport Beach is going one step further and looking to set benchmarks. With these, they will be able to determine whether what they are doing is working.
I didn’t talk to any school district officials, but I think they also can use the newspaper’s ranking as a benchmark to see whether they’re taking the right steps toward improvement. The good news is that with rankings, at least we know where we stand.
Some people think scores and ranking are too judgmental. They are supposed to be. Someone is first and someone is last. Whenever you go to a school board or city council meeting, the elected officials always say how they have the best teachers, staff, city manager — just fill in the blank — than any other school or city around. The fact of the matter is they might, but they really have no way of knowing unless you measure.
By the way, the Angels are first in the American League, and Morgan is very happy. Go Halos!
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