Clueless Corbett shows why we severely need better education in Pa.
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Clueless Corbett shows why we severely need better education in Pa.
Tom Corbett isn't the flashiest or most charismatic governor in America. But I'm beginning to think he may be the dumbest:
Gov. Corbett toured a Malvern factory powered by state-of-the-art robotics Tuesday, then hit the automatic-reset button on a replay of the state university tuition wars that dominated the battle over his first budget proposal last year.
Corbett insisted to reporters during his tour of the high-tech Siemens Medical Solutions plant that his 2012-13 plan for a steep new cuts in state aid to higher education - including 30 percent less money to state-backed schools such as Pennsylvania State and Temple Universities - could be dealt with by reducing campus operating costs, not by raising tuition.
Let's think about this. Corbett is touring a manufacturing plant driven by robotics -- proof that the kind of assembly line jobs that once existed for high school grads have disappeared, and that our economy now needs college grads with math and science training to design these high-tech devices. And he chooses this as a venue to defend his jihad against public universities for the middle-class in Pennsylvania. Brilliant.
Corbett's right about one thing -- universities are bloated and inefficient, and smart cost-cutting is one part of the solution. But in the end Harrisburg needs to work with college administrators to pour any savings back into making higher education more affordable, not more expensive. If he really wanted to create jobs in the Keystone State, Corbett would push for efficiencies that would lower tuition -- not raise it -- and also bolster community colleges and vocational training. I guess Grover Norquist wouldn't sign off on that plan, unfortunately.
Corbett has more leeway in the budget than he lets on -- in some areas he's actually increasing spending. This is what's more important to the governor than sending Pennsylvania kids to college:
For instance, Corbett’s budget proposal provides $1 million in anticipation of a voter ID bill passing. This bill was introduced by state Republicans last year, but did not pass. It would have required that voters show a government-issued photo ID before being allowed to cast a ballot. Critics argued that the bill would disenfranchise senior and minority voters.
Also, as we like to say here at the Daily News in front-page headlines...WTF?
Another area that gets more funding this year under Corbett's proposal is the state’s Alternatives to Abortion Services Program. The budget allocates more than $6 million to it, which is a slight boost from last year.
The relatively-unknown program, which is run by a contractor, funds counselors throughout the state who work to convince pregnant women not to have abortions. It is paid out of the Department of Public Welfare’s budget — which has otherwise seen massive cuts under the Corbett administration.
So the same conservatives who've been telling me we need less government spending and more personal freedom have no problem with spending millions in taxpayer dollars to tell women what to do about their pregnancies? That makes about as much sense as going to a company that needs smart college grads and defending your decimation of the state's universities. I guess this all makes the very existence of Tom Corbett Exhibit A for why we need to improve education in Pennsylvania. Severely.
montani...I and my children attended private education from K through Post graduate. Our family paid the way. We do not rely on others to fund our lives, nor would we ever feel that others are obligated to do so. And yes, I pay school taxes in 3 different states, despite never having ever utilized a penny of those systems.— kelprod2
Comment removed.- MSL: why should tax dollars be spent on preventing pregnancy, educating people not to get pregnant, etc. A family decision on how to education your children needs to be made. The corporate education stance doesn't help children understand love, marriage, or how to build a relationship. Love, marriage and relationship building comes from the home, the govt providing a means to prevention, abortion, etc only dehumanizes the person. It allows the person to treat themselves like an object. Another point, look of the issues woman have when trying to get pregnant after being on the pill? Case study after case study point to low birth rates, high mortality rates of the child and the increased rate of cancer. All because we cannot teach or accept to wait?
— Fisher - "Why is a professor, who has spent his entire life in acadamia, entitled to a six figure salary, free bennies, and a phat pension plan?"
Especially when many of them leaving the teaching and grading to TAs.— RG - WHAT HAPENED TO THE "BUSH IS FOR BIG OIL" WHEN GAS PRICES ROSE?
Why no outrage from the Far Left Whack Jobs about gas prices? You were obsessed about it under George Bush? Please someone answer logically?
"CNSNews.com reported last month that under Obama, the price of gas climbed by 83 percent.
When Obama entered the White House in January 2009, the city average price for one gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.79, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figures are in nominal dollars: not adjusted for inflation. Five months later in June, unleaded gasoline was $2.26 per gallon, an increase of 26 percent. By December 2011, the price of regular unleaded gas per gallon was $3.28, an 83 percent increase from January 2009."
— Keep The Change - Buch's employer- Media Matters- how embarrassing......
"The Obama administration cannot have Media Matters and me or people who look to me for advice,” Dershowitz told TheDC. “We cannot be in the same tent. The tent is not big enough to include us.”
When informed of TheDC’s report that the White House is in regular contact with Media Matters, Dershowitz said that if true it had to stop.
“They should have no connection whatsoever to organizations that are so virulently anti-Israel,” he said.
“Let nobody confuse Media Matters with J-Street or anything like that. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about virulently bigoted, anti-Israel rhetoric that begins to border on anti-Semitism at some point.”
— Keep The Change - "... Critics argued that the bill would disenfranchise senior and minority voters."
I never understood this point. How? Are they saying that old people and minorities are not smart enough to carry their ID? Are they saying that old people and minorities are not legal citizens? Are they saying that only non-old people and non-minorities are able to present an ID that is pretty much required to do anything else in this country? Can't start a bank account without one. Can't drive a car without one. Can't by booze without one (old people excluded). Somebody smarter than me please explain. Thank you in advance.— phillyjeffsr - Thank God for Gov. Corbett!!!! That's all I can say!!!!!— Crazybrave1
- "Somebody smarter than me please explain. Thank you in advance."
Voting is a right, everything else you mentioned is a privilege.— RG - "Voting is a right, everything else you mentioned is a privilege"
Understood, but that doesn't explain how the requirement to show an ID at the voting booth somehow discriminates against old people and minorities.— phillyjeffsr - Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- You disagree with the Governor over matters of spending, therefore, the Governor is an idiot. Wow, that's deep, man. Your employer must be so proud.— m13sully
- Who cares if the gas price attack is factually valid? Its a simple question to ask the left: If the run up in oil prices at the end of the 2000's could be blamed on Bush, why can't this run up be blamed on Obama?
— RG - STILL WAITING ON THE "OBAMA BIG OIL MARRIAGE"????
Where did the liberals and democrats go regarding rising fuel prices???? It was 24Hrs a day of "Bush and Oil, Cheney and Oil".
SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN???— Keep The Change
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