Daily Archives: May 14, 2006

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Prop 82, The Preschool Initiative, Pros and Cons

The Sacramento Bee has an article outlining the arguments surrounding Prop 82:

Proposition 82 seeks to turn the current hodgepodge of preschools and day-care centers into a high-quality early childhood education system exceeding what’s offered in most public schools.

The measure on the June 6 ballot would provide a voluntary free half-day of preschool to all of California’s 4-year-olds by 2010.
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“This initiative is a historic opportunity to invest in strengthening our schools because a quality preschool education puts all kids on the right track in school and can increase their chances of learning to read in the elementary years,” said Nathan James, “Yes on 82” campaign spokesman.

Opponents call it an expensive subsidy to middle-and upper-income families already paying for preschool and say the state can’t afford a new program and bureaucracy.  “This is ballot-box budgeting at its worst,” said Bill Hauck, a “No on 82” board member. “It doesn’t take into account any of the state’s other needs.”
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“When you see a really high-quality program, there is really a difference,” said Karen Hill-Scott, a child development consultant who helped write Proposition 82.

Joel Fox, “No on 82” campaign co-chairman, said the initiative would create a “one-size-fits-all” standard for high-quality preschools that doesn’t match the marketplace.

I hope that the “No on 82” folks have a better argument than “Some people want lesser quality preschool.”  That is essentially what that last statement means.  So, Mr. Fox, who deserves that lesser quality preschool?  Do you plan on enrolling your kids at those low-quality preschools that the market demands. 

The market demands low-quality preschools because people can’t afford high quality preschools.  Should we allow the market to control education.  Perhaps we should give our K-12 schools over to the market too.  And who gets those lesser quality schools.  Don’t all children deserve the same high levels of educational resources? 

Arnold Schwarzenegger

[From NCP] Prevailing Winds

[Originally posted by Generik on NorCal Politics, December 13, 2005]

Is anyone surprised that Governor Arnold decided not to grant clemency to Tookie Williams? I’m not. I would have been much more surprised had he done so. Faced with a chance to do the morally right thing — indeed, to open up the question of capital punishment itself, the way the former governor of Illinois did when he declared a moratorium on the death penalty in that state — Arnold caved to the prevailing winds. He saw his popularity take a massive hit in the past year with his special election initiatives being unceremoniously kicked to the curb last November, saw his support drop precipitously among his base with his appointment of alleged Democrat Susan Kennedy as his Chief of Staff and naming of moderate justice Carol Corrigan to the State Supreme Court, and probably decided to take a pass on doing anything bold and/or controversial in this matter. That a two-thirds majority of Americans still back the death penalty — even if that number has come down significantly in the past ten years or so — made his decision a pretty safe bet.

So now California has one more state-sponsored death on its hands, the subject of whether the death penalty is fair or moral or not is swept aside for another day and Arnold gets to bask in the approval of those folks out there who have no qualms about this country continuing the barbaric practice of executing its citizens. What’s even sadder is the thought that former Governor Gray Davis would probaby have done the exact same thing under the circumstances.

"I will no longer tinker with the machinery of death." Where is Justice Harry Blackman when we need him?

Arnold Schwarzenegger

[From NCP] “The most corporeal figure in American political history”

[Originally posted by Chuck Dupree on NorCal Politics, December 7, 2005]

Harold Meyerson makes some interesting comparisons between Bush and Ahnold in today’s Washington Post.

In the aftermath of his electoral debacle, Schwarzenegger has realized that in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than a million voters, and where independents are nearly as liberal as Democrats, governing from the right is a prescription for disaster. Still, no one courts defeat like rank-and-file California Republicans, who’d rather Schwarzenegger be far right than governor and who may back a primary challenge to him next spring.

Clearly, the prez and the guv have learned very different lessons from life. The distinctive feature of Bush’s career, as he moved from one floundering oil company to the next, was that there never were any negative consequences for failure, that any need to admit error and instigate change was always obviated by the willingness of his father’s friends to bail him out. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, comes from a culture where you’re only as good as your last picture, where chins are lifted, tummies tucked, scenes reshot and careers reconfigured if the box office demands it.

…

The most corporeal figure in American political history has crossed the line from particle to wave, while our president is as steadfast, and as open to experience, as a bump on a log.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

[From NCP] Arnold Moves Left . . . ?

[Originally Posted by Generik on NorCal Politics, December 4, 2005]

The recent appointment as chief of staff of former Gray Davis aide and Democratic activist Susan Kennedy by our less-than-esteemed Governor — after being kicked to the curb along with his Big Four initiatives in the special election last month — might seem to some as a shift to the left in an effort to woo back the moderates and independents (and even some misguided Democrats) who had once supported him. At least, his conservative base seems to think that he’s moving that way, and that it’s a move in the wrong direction. But will it work? Is he really moving left, or is he just tacitly acknowledging the fact that his previous CoS, Pat Clarey, who aggressively pushed the failed initiatives, was desperately out of touch with the mood of California voters and needed to be cut loose as soon as possible?

Kennedy’s endorsement by former Governor Pete Wilson gives little warmth to those of us on the Left, and her appointment has obviously been a disappointment — to say the least! — to the right-wing True Believers that had comprised his base up until now. So perhaps Arnold has shot himself in the foot again. How many Democrats, or even those mythical masses of Independents that supposedly swing back and forth somewhere in the middle, and, according the conventional wisdom, must be courted to win elections these days, will suddenly embrace his brand of scapegoating and blame-shifting and name-calling politics and decide to support him because of this move? Will it offset the numbers of Republican voters who will abandon him because of what they perceive as a sell-out to the Left? It would seem that he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
If you ask me, that’s pretty damned funny.
— Erik Wilson