The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 43, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Page: 4 of 10
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OPINION
THE BAYTOWN SUN
4
Tuesday, February 12,2008
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Texas Views
Good
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Dems turn off malevote
The Dallas Morning News
David Bloom
Managing Editor
Luke Hales
City Editor
M.A. Bengtson
Community member
WRITE TO US
The Sun welcomes letters
of up to 300 words and
guest columns of up to 500
words. Guest columns
gender divide. The Democrats have slow-
ly and consistently been losing men.
In a Democratic Leadership Council
study called “The White Male Problem,”
Contact Kathryn Lopez, editor of
National Review Online (www.natioi)alre-
view.com), at klopez@nationalreview.com.
KATHRYN
LOPEZ
Richard Davis
Highlands
How to reach us
Clifton E. “Cliff” Clements,
Publisher
cliff.clements@baytownsun.com
Sandy Denson, Business Mgr.
sandy.denson@baytownsun.com
Joshua Hart, Circulation Manager
joshua.hart@baytownsun.com
Gordon Gallatin,
Advertising Director
gordon.gallatin@baytownsun.com
NEWSROOM
David Bloom, Managing Editor
david.bloom@baytownsun.com
$aptoton &un
1301 Memorial Drive, P.O. Box 90
Baytown, Texas 77522
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7C
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Items featured on this page
are the views of the persons
identified with each submis-
sion and do not necessarily
reflect the views of The
Baytown Sun or its advertis-
ers.
FRED HARTMAN
Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
202-224-2934
713-572-3337
Fax: 202-228-2856
Fax: 713-572-3777
cornyn.senate.gov/
contact/index.html
Ted Poe,
Dist. 2 Rep.
866-425-6565
866-447-0242
www.house.gov/
poe
Ron Paul,
Dist. 14 Rep.
202-225-2831
979-230-0000
www.house.gov/
paul
Gene Green,
Dist. 29 Rep.
202-225-1688
713-330-0761
www.house.gov/
green
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lems, but they have been able to bridge a
divide that remains a treacherous gulf for
the Democrats. The Democratic Party has
been hurt as a result of its feminization at
the clenched fists of the feminists in its
base.”
Al Gore and John Kerry were bad news
for Democrats who needed men to help
carry them to victory. Political life with
Hillary Clinton isn’t looking like it will
make the situation any better. Man, that
will be a loss for the Dems.
1970s and 1980s, but successfully con-
veyed in the 1990s — that Democrats
share their values, look out' for their eco-
nomic interests and will stand up for
America’s role in the world. In 1996, that
message helped Bill Clinton to carry
white voters in the East and Midwest and
to nearly do so in the West.”
Hillary Clinton’s explicit play for
women, her tendency to rely on govern-
ment rather than personal freedom and
her insistence that the first thing she’s
going to do as president is start to move
date,.Although*.according to National
Journal,' fei* fli'e most liberal senator in
the U.S. Senate, he doesn’t come off that
Government officials
Federal
George W. Bush,
President
202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2326
president®
whltehouse.gov
Dick Cheney,
Vice President
202-456-2324
Fax: 202-456-2461
vice-president®
whitehouse.gov
Kay Bailey
Hutchison,
Senator
202-224-5922
713-653-3456
Fax: 202-224-0776
Fax: 713-209-3459
hutchison.senate.
gov/te-mail.htm
John Cornyn,
Senator
EDITORIAL BOARD
Clifton E. “Cliff” Clements
Edtor/Pubfeher
Jim Finley
retired Managing Editor
Jay Esh bach
Community member
Texas smoke signals
Texas used to be a wonderful
place to live, with freedom of indi-
vidual choice, the right to be an
individual and choose what enter-
tainment and pastimes made us as
individuals happy. Neighbors would
gossip, and talk about what each was
doing, whether they approved or not.
That was also their right, but they
would defend the right of the same
neighbors to make that choice.
Somewhere along the line, things
have changed, it seems. Anyone who
makes an individual choice now, has
a multitude of self rightious ‘do-
gooders’ to insist or force them to
make what is, in their minds, the
‘right choice.’
Anyone who smokes cigarettes
has someone to tell them they won’t.
Anyone who drinks has someone to
try to bend them into submission,
force them not to by legal intimida-
tion. Do not dare to be different in
opinion on mock gambling, only
recognized religious sects can run a
mock gambling game and get
approval of the masses. Judging by
the numbers and participation quot-
ed in the Baytown Sun, someone
must enjoy that activity!
Why is it that certain individuals
feel the need to force every individ- —
ual to be like them? To be a clone, a
mirror image of themselves. What
motivates people to interfere in the
lives of others? Some out there I feel
have entirely too high of an opinion
of themselves and their small lives.
Why is it that they can’t live their
own lives, and let others live theirs?
And thank God Bush is no longer
in Texas; he did for this state what
he is now doing for the nation.
Breaking the bank and the ones who
work for a living.
Texas needs to return to the Texas
it once was with native Texans run-
ning Texas affairs, and letting the
individual make their own choices
and give us back our freedom of
personal choice.
We publish only original
material addressed to The
Baytown Sun bearing the
writer’s signature. An
address and phone number
not for publication should be
included. All letters and
guest columns are subject to
editing, and the Sun
should include a photo of the reserves the right to refuse
writer. to publish any submission.
Moving the needle on student achievement
in Texas requires making sure the most dis-
advantaged students get the best possible
instruction. But that combination isn’t show-
ing up enough in Texas.
In the state’s 50 largest school districts,
poor and minority students are likely to get
the least experienced and less successful
instructors, according to the Education
Trust, a Washington-based group that moni-
tors student achievement.
Even within Dallas schools, which say
they are aggressively tackling this disparity,
about 14 percent of teachers in the highest-
poverty schools have fewer than three years
of experience, compared with 9 percent of
teachers in the lowest-poverty schools.
Statewide, similar gaps exist on teacher
credentials. About 32 percent of teachers
assigned to high-poverty middle schools in
Texas aren’t fully certified in the subjects
they teach. That compares with 19 percent
in schools with the fewest low-income stu-
dents. At the high school level, the gap
widens. About 37 percent of teachers in
high-poverty schools lack subject certifica-
tion, compared with 16.1 percent in the
most affluent high schools.
These disparities compound achievement
deficiencies that many low-income and
minority students bring to the classroom. In
the next few weeks, school districts will
submit plans to the Texas Education Agency
on how to use $148 million in teacher
incentive pay to improve classroom perfor-
mance. Those plans must allocate signifi-
cantly additional dollars to match talented
teachers with disadvantaged students.
Moreover, the TEA, which is responsible for
reviewing all proposals, must hold the dis-
tricts to that statewide objective.
Assigning less-experienced teachers to
academically struggling students year after
year perpetuates a cycle of poor academic
achievement. And that’s why a portion of
Dallas Achieves provides bonuses to teach-
ers to move to the district’s lowest-perform-
ing schools.
Texas has made student achievement gains
at the elementary school level but will not
be able to sustain improvement unless this
teacher-student mismatch gap narrows. To
accomplish that, districts have to fundamen-
tally change the way they reward teachers
and bolster underachieving students. The
time for change is here.
The average teacher salary gaps between
the highest- and lowest-minority elementary
schools in some of the largest districts in
Texas.
• Arlington ISD, -$3,070
• Austin ISD, -$3,010
• Dallas ISD,-$424
• Fort Worth ISD,-$1,666
• Houston ISD,-$1,074 (negative num-
bers indicate that the average teacher salary
is less in the highest-minority schools.)
SOURCE: The Education Trust
CONS
VATli
pH
continuum in American
politics, the rise of
antigovemment senti-
ment among white men
produced a shift toward
ideological conservatism.
“And because the major
political parties have
become more ideologi-
cally polarized, this shift
in white male sentiment
led inexorably to a move
that to feminists Gloria Steinem and Erica away from the Democrats.”
The problem is much older than
Obama’s political career. No Democratic
candidate for president has won more
than 43 percent of the white male vote
Paul problems presented
Are we really getting the most
effective representation with Ron
Paul as our Congressman?
The presidential debates have
exposed a stubbornness and inability
to compromise that is at odds with
the intentions of the founding
fathers. Democracy requires negotia-
tion and compromise to reach a con-
sensus. We negotiate and compro-
mise in our daily life, at work and at
home. Ron Paul’s inability to reach
consensus on vital issues makes him
ineffective as our congressman.
Ron Paul is a self-described
Libertarian; if he is so enamored
with Libertarian philosophy, why is
he running in the Republican prima-
ry for Congress? I welcome his par-
ticipation in the political process and
respect the views of his supporters
as honest and sincere. The question
is, does Ron Paul truly represent the
values and priorities of the
Republican voters in this district or
is he using the Republican party’s
structure and established appeal just
to get elected because he can’t get
elected as a Libertarian? If the latter
is true, it is intellectually dishonest.
I think we need a Republican of
conviction representing us in the
U.S. Congress, not a Republican of
convenience. I urge you to look at
the sterling qualifications, impecca-
ble character, and genuine passion
and sincerity of Chris Peden as our
Republican candidate for Congress.
Chris is a pro-life, pro-family, con-
servative Christian who is a CPA
and the Mayor pro tem in
Friendswood. Chris has a proven
track record of not only fighting for
our conservative principles, but of
achieving conservative results. Ron
Paul is long on words, but a little
short on results.
Just this week on the Michael
Berry radio program, Ron Paul said
that being a congressman was his
“Plan B”. I don’t know about you,
but I don’t want to be anybody’s sec-
ond choice.
The catchword for this year’s pres-
idential election is “change.” It’s
time for real change in CD 14 also.
Ron Paul is the past; Chris Peden is
the future. Let’s put someone in
Congress who represents all of us,
not just the Libertarians.
Letty Packard
La Marque
Jong, who both recently wrote whiny op-
eds about the urgency of voting for girl
power now. I suspect the folks going for
Obama are casting their votes for the
undefined, middle-of-the-spectrum candi- since 1976.
What can they do? Galston advised, “In
mhny respects.'white menlfre looking for
the same reassurance that the Democratic
way on the campaign trail: Obama sounds ticket failed to provide voters in the
and looks conservative enough that even
conservative pundits have had good
things to; say about him — a fact that
promises to be a detriment to those con-
servatives if he becomes the Democratic
nominee.
Actually, Hillary’s man problem is not
all Hillary’s. It is a Democratic problem,
one that has been previously obscured or
ignored. Political observers have long
been more interested in a supposed
Republican gender gap with women. The
reality of a woman running for president, o------r----------------------
though, has put a spotlight on the real U.S. troops out of Iraq may not help.
■ ~ ... As my colleague Kate O’Beime put it
in her book, “Women Who Make the
World Worse”:
“Republicans have been made to feel
former deputy assistant for domestic poli- ^ey face intractable women prob-
cy under Bill Clinton, William A.
Galston, identified the problem in 2000.
Beginning with Great Society programs,
he highlighted a series of factors that
turned white males off the Democratic
Party.
He writes, “By the 2000 presidential
election, the majority of upscale white
men came to believe that they needed
nothing from government except to be
left alone, while many downscale white
men concluded that government either
did not understand how to help them or
did not care enough to do so. Because
differing attitudes toward the role of gov-
ernment continue to define the left-right
Hillary Clinton has a man problem.
And this time its bigger than just Bill.
Take a look at the exit polls coming out
of the primaries thus far. Men are going
for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.
In California, men went for Obama, 51
percent to Clinton’s 39 percent, according
to the San Jose Mercury News. In South
Carolina, 55 percent of men voted for
Obama, with only 23 going for Clinton.
(Edwards took the bulk of the rest.)
This is not about sexism. But try telling
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Clements, Clifford E. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 43, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 12, 2008, newspaper, February 12, 2008; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1190873/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.