A Climber of Trees (Private)

I'm responding to your e-mail to me of 8 March 2011. Your e-mail, of course, did not respond to my original message, but that is not so disturbing as the evident lack of perspective and perception of the actual text of you response. In that response, you state, “ I believe the President needs to act swiftly in providing these additional troops.  Hesitation and inaction will only provide comfort to our enemies, frustrate our allies, and cause the people of Afghanistan to question our resolve.” What enemies? The Taliban is aggressive only because the US military is there. It was not the Taliban who attacked New York and Washington – it was al Quaeda, and their leadership is not in Afghanistan. There is something deeply shameful about continuing to use 9/11 as a justification for remaining in Afghanistan. What allies? Other countries have left Afghanistan or are leaving. President Karzai has made it known several times that he doesn't want the US military there either. His pres...

Ms. Riddle, As you know, Texas is at the bottom of many leading indicators regarding education (primary and secondary), graduation rates (the state ranks last in the percentage of people 25 and older with a high school diploma) and on the high end of people living below poverty (4th in the nation). To be clear -- I am not a best friend of public education. I taught in the Klein ISD for years and saw teachers unprepared and a district unwilling to make tough decisions to improve the learning environment. Cutting the state's education budget, however, as proposed by Gov. Perry and HB1 will be disastrous to Texas for generations to come. Our poverty will increase. The jobs we offer to our people will continue to be low-paying jobs with few benefits, our college graduates will continue to leave the state for better graduate schools and better jobs. The poor -- the people who need a solid education most -- will suffer more than you and me -- and future welfare expenditures and cri...

Senator, I received your standard response, dated 28 February, where you claimed, "I will work to ensure adequate federal funding of programs that support local education to make certain our children receive the best education possible.  I will also continue to work hard to reduce the tax burden on American families to let them keep more of their own money and use it to make their own education choices, rather than have the federal government decide what is best for them." America's public education system was always structured to be a community affair -- not individual or family. It is when communities work together that all young people are best educated. Obviously, if a family prefers to send a child to private or parochial school, that is there option. But to imply, as you do, that reducing the tax burden on American families will somehow be balanced with an effective education system is to deny over a hundred years of public education in this country and to be ...