ON THE HOME FRONT IN LOUISIANA

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration quietly released a new financial analysis that estimates the state could save as much as $368 million over 10 years by expanding Louisiana’s Medicaid program under the federal health care law.

The analysis was posted on the state Department of Health and Hospitals’ website this week with no fanfare. The department hasn’t touted the findings, and they were mentioned only briefly — and with little detail — during a budget hearing in which lawmakers pushed for more information about the expansion and Jindal’s refusal to participate in it.
....

The new DHH estimates say Louisiana could save anywhere from $197 million to $368 million over 10 years while covering more than 577,000 additional people through Medicaid. The savings can be attributed to lessening existing state costs for providing health care to the uninsured, largely through the public hospital system.

Oops!  Note the quiet correction.  Let's not blow up this teensy-weensy mistake way out of proportion.  Now the only barrier to implementing the Medicaid expansion is the governor's ideology.

Jindal opposes the expansion as inappropriate growth of what he says is an inefficient government entitlement program.

And I'm sure the people in Louisiana who are denied health insurance coverage will understand perfectly that Jindal cannot violate his principles.  He and his family are comfortably covered, but the rest of the citizens in Louisiana, especially the families struggling on low wages, are not entitled to health insurance coverage from "an inefficient government entitlement program".   Damn those entitlements!

And about the governor's proposed tax plan to eliminate income taxes for individuals and businesses and replace the revenue with a sales tax, which will give Louisiana the highest sales taxes in the country:

The state’s largest business lobbying group warned Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday that his tax proposal is unacceptable to the business community.

Dan Juneau, president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, blamed problems with the plan on the Jindal administration drawing up the proposal in a very short period of time, resulting in a simple shift in tax burden.

“There’s got to be winners and there’s got to be losers,” Juneau said. “The business community has become the designated loser.”

Oops again!  I welcome any and all allies to stop the stinking pile of compost aka known as Jindal's tax plan or anything like it from making its way into law.  Those who have the means and live within a reasonable distance of a bordering state will leave Louisiana to shop for goods and services.  Those who do not have transportation will suffer.  Of course, the governor says the poor will be exempt from sales taxes, but, as the demand for exemptions pile up, the math will not work, if it ever did.  (See above on the costs of the Medicaid expansion.)  The Jindal administration is not known for superior math skills.  

LOUISIANA CLERGY SPEAK OUT ABOUT JINDAL SALES TAX PLAN

Bishop Morris Thompson

Religious leaders from across Louisiana complained Friday that the math behind Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax proposal is flawed.

Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith, a Shreveport-based religious organization, said the Jindal administration underestimated the expected tax burden on families by omitting part of a proposed state sales tax hike from calculations.

The Rev. Melvin Rushing

“This is about more than just numbers on a page. This is about integrity and people’s lives,” the Rev. Melvin Rushing, of Baton Rouge, said during a news conference at the State Capitol.

The Rev. Morris Thompson, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in New Orleans, said the governor should withdraw his sales tax proposal. He was among ministers from around the state drawing attention to the governor’s tax overhaul proposals.  (My emphasis)

“Our numbers are growing,” Thompson said. “Our voice of justice is being heard.”

The math doesn't add up.  The governor won't answer questions, nor will he give full details of the sales tax plan.   Jindal is known to hold details until the last minute, just before the vote, so that the legislators don't have time to do a proper review.  What could possibly go wrong if Jindal's plan becomes law?  Will the legislators once again submit meekly to the governor's wishes in a last minute rush?

Thanks be to God that the clergy in Louisiana are speaking out against the injustice and fuzzy math in Jindal's proposed tax policy.

[Tim Barfield, executive counsel for the state Department of Revenue,] concluded his statement by appearing to blame the ministers’ complaints on misinformation spread by the Louisiana Budget Project, which he called a liberal special interest group.

The liberals are out to get them.  But wait!  The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and The Council for A Better Louisiana are also critical of the plan.  They're all out to get you, Tim, but hang on and don't let paranoia get the best of you.  But wait again!  I had a thought: Does it ever cross your minds that it may not be "them", the people and groups who disagree with the tax plan, but perhaps the Jindal administration's plan on offer is just really, really bad? 

SECOND AMENDMENT FREEEEDOM!

AK-47

One of the strictest gun crimes on the books in Louisiana was ruled invalid Thursday by a New Orleans criminal court judge in the wake of the state’s powerful new “right to bear arms” provisions.

District Judge Darryl Derbigny ruled that the law prohibiting felons from carrying firearms violates Louisiana new “strict scrutiny” amendment to the state Constitution. The amendment, backed by heavy lobbying by the National Rifle Association, was adopted by a wide margin by voters last year and became effective Jan. 1.

The strict-scrutiny amendment makes gun ownership a fundamental right that can only be regulated by meeting a very narrow set of standards upon review by the state Supreme Court.

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office immediately appealed Derbigny’s ruling, taking the case straight to the high court for a ruling.

Who says felons can't have their guns?  Well, they can here in Louisiana with our new constitutional  amendment requiring "strict scrutiny" for depriving anyone of the right to bear arms. So says the judge in New Orleans, and he may be right, according to the new law.  We'll see what the Louisiana Supreme Court decides.

The case before Derbigny involved a man who was caught with a .40-caliber pistol and AK-47. The man, Glen Draughter, previously had been convicted of a felony burglary charge.

Freeeedom! 

Regarding the push to arm employees in the schools, which we are told will prevent future shootings, I read yesterday that three people were killed at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia.  The base is surely armed, and three people are dead.

May those who died rest in peace and rise in glory.  May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to all who love them.

May God have mercy on us all.

ABOUT THAT TAX PLAN, GOVERNOR JINDAL

Bishop Morris Thompson

Two groups of religious leaders from several faith traditions and denominations gathered at the Louisiana State Capitol on Monday to protest  Governor Bobby Jindal's latest tax plan to eliminate income tax for individuals and businesses and replace the lost revenue with a sales tax.  Neither the governor nor members of his staff met with the representatives of the two groups.  One of the groups published an open letter to the governor explaining the reasons for their objections to the tax plan.  Among the clergy who signed  the letter, I'm pleased to note the names of four Episcopal bishops in Louisiana - two serving bishops and two retired bishops, along with the names of other Episcopal clergy.

Bishop Jacob Owensby

The Rt. Rev'd. Morris K. Thompson, Jr., Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana

The Rt. Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, PhD, DD, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana

Bishop Charles E. Jenkins, Retired Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana

Bishop James B. Brown, Retired Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana
 

Bishop Charles Jenkins

The text of the letter:

March 18th, 2013
The Honorable Bobby Jindal, Governor
P. O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004

Dear Governor Jindal,

We, the undersigned members of the Louisiana Clergy, are writing to express our deep concern about the tax proposal you are proposing for the upcoming legislative session.

Bishop James B. Brown

We serve in many different faith traditions, across a broad spectrum of people and communities in this State. As diverse as these traditions may be, we find unity around a few fundamental ethical principles: fairness, a concern for the least of these and an obligation to make our voices heard when matters of justice are at stake.

Our concerns about the proposed tax plan are as follows.

First, we are concerned that Louisiana already has one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation, putting a disproportionately high burden on low and moderate income families. Currently, families earning minimum wage (less than $16,000 per year) pay 10.6% of their income in state and local taxes; the average Louisiana family pays 10.1% of its income in taxes; while the wealthiest Louisiana families (earning over $1 million per year) pay only 4.6% of their income in state and local taxes. That is unacceptable, as a starting point.

Second, we are concerned that the reason we have such an unfair and regressive tax structure is our State's heavy reliance on the sales tax. It is universally recognized that sales taxes create a disproportionate burden on poor and moderate-income families, who spend nearly all they earn. Louisiana already has the 3rd highest sales tax rate in the nation.

Third, we are concerned that your tax plan seeks to increase our state's sales tax rates even further. Any increase in the sales tax would deepen the root causes behind the unfair and regressive nature of our state's tax structure and worsen the burden for poor and moderate income families in our community.

Fourth, we are concerned that your plan proposes to use the increased revenue generated by a heavier burden on poor and moderate income families, not to fund any of the important needs and services our State faces, but to decrease the tax burden for those members of our community who are most blessed with wealth and resources. That, too, is unacceptable.

Fifth, we are concerned that your proposed tax plan will be unsustainable over the long term. Historically, sales have grown much more slowly than personal income, in our State and across the country. Swapping income taxes for sales taxes replaces a faster-growing revenue source with a slower-growing revenue source. We worry that your proposal would be "revenue neutral" in its first year, but "revenue negative" over the longer term. If our State begins to rely even more heavily upon a slower-growing portion of our economy for revenue, we will face deficits and service cuts down the road that make our current ones seem small.

We believe that any proposed law that would increase the tax burden on low- and moderate-income families in order to decrease it for wealthy families must be judged an unjust law.
We believe that any proposed law that would threaten the long-term fiscal soundness of our State must be judged an unwise law.

Therefore, we ask you, in the full spirit of humility and faith, to develop a fundamentally different framework for tax reform.

To that end, we submit the following basic principles as guidelines for the kind of tax reform that would be just and in accord with the ethical frameworks of our faith traditions:

Principle #1) Tax reform should not increase the sales tax rate or take any other steps that make our tax structure more regressive than it is already;

Principle #2) New sources of revenue should be used, not merely to redistribute the tax burden from one group to another, but to invest in high priorities for our state, such as healthcare, education, human services and infrastructure, which have seen significant and far-reaching cuts in recent years; and

Principle #3) Tax reform should not replace a faster-growing revenue source with a slower-growing revenue source, thereby threatening our State's ability to afford important services and investments in the future.

We thank you for your serious consideration of these concerns. We would welcome the opportunity for a delegation of our leadership to meet with you to discuss these matters in more detail. We can be reached at LAfaithcommunity@gmail.com to schedule that meeting.

We pray that you, and all of us, may be blessed with the judgment to move forward in a spirit of wisdom and fairness on such an important matter to the lives and well-being of so many.

Yours faithfully,
--------------------------

View the signatories at the link above.

A second, unaffiliated faith-based group also came out against the governor's tax plan with a rally on the Capitol steps Monday afternoon. Led by the Micah Project, an affiliate of the interfaith community-organizing focused group PICO Louisiana, clergy denounced the proposal as benefiting wealthy Louisianians and corporations at the expense of the poor and middle class.

Referring to administration claims that a sales-tax based system would create a simpler tax code, the Rev. Chuck Andrus of Blessed Sacrement - St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in New Orleans said the tax system should take into account the needs of families in the state.

"We don't want what's simplest, we want what is just for our families," Andrus said.

I'm betting the governor will not meet with the clergy representatives, but I hope I'm wrong.  Jindal seems to listen to no one who does not already agree with his policies.  He surrounds himself with a closed circle of advisers and his supporters the legislature and hears only what he wants to hear.  

BLOGGER REVEALS BOBBY JINDAL'S "FIXES" FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION IN LOUISIANA

Blogger, Lamar White, has done brilliant reporting, yes, real reporting, on Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and his gradual destruction of public education in Louisiana.  To all you professional journalists who mock the efforts of bloggers, and not all paid journalists do, my advice would be to learn from the likes of Lamar and other fine bloggers.  Lamar explores the results of the efforts of the out-of-towners whom Jindal has brought in and paid high salaries to "fix" public education in Louisiana.  I don't mean to imply that our education system did not and does not need fixing, but Jindal's failing gurus are most emphatically not doing the job of improving public education in Louisiana.

John White and his team at the Department of Education, in an effort to demonstrate how the public school system is failing Louisiana school children, are diverting millions in funding every year from public schools in order to enrich some of the worst schools in the United States– religious zealots posing as educators, fly-by-night operators who don’t even have the necessary infrastructure, and bigoted and religiously intolerant “church schools” that specialize in utilizing thoroughly debunked textbooks and materials to stifle dissent, schools that seek to enrich themselves with taxpayer dollars while reserving their right to expel any student on the basis of their perceived sexual orientation or religion.  

There you have it - the fix for public education by the well-paid out-of-towners, who are no more than flim-flam artists paid generous salaries by our flim-flam artist governor.  I am no xenophobe, but please, Governor Jindal, if you're going to bring in people from other states and pay them high salaries, even as you lay off thousands of state employees and raise the unemployment figures here in Louisiana, at the very least, hire people who are knowledgeable and competent in their jobs, and not the likes of John White and his cohorts.  

NO SMOOTH TRANSITION FOR THE POOR AND UNINSURED

Staff levels at LSU’s Earl K. Long Medical Center and its clinics have declined so much that LSU officials have had to reduce both inpatient and outpatient clinic services to the poor and working uninsured in the Baton Rouge area.

The number of employees leaving picked up in late January when LSU officials moved the Earl K. Long facility’s closure date up to April 15 from its original November target and decided to turn over operation of its four free-standing clinics to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, locally called the Lake, instead of keeping them under LSU.

The Lake becomes home to LSU’s inpatient hospital care and medical education programs on April 15. The state employees lose their state jobs with the privatization move. Who would ever have expected...?  Me, for one.  Poor planning and hasty implementation of the transition to privatizing public hospitals and clinics resulted in poor outcomes.  But we're talking about the poor and working uninsured, and do they really count here in Louisiana?  Are they deserving of any kind of decent health care?

The impact is being felt more dramatically on the outpatient side, where current patients are having difficulty scheduling appointments and new patients are on waiting lists, he said. Surgical clinic activity has also been negatively affected.

So.  When sick people do not have access to primary care, they get sicker, and some end up in the emergency room to be treated at far greater expense.

Keep in mind that Bobby Jindal refuses to participate in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion plan, which could cover as many as 400,000 of the uninsured, even though adopting the plan would be a winner for Louisiana.

Reed said the reduction in patients also will affect physicians in training and medical student experiences needed for graduate medical education and degree programs during the transition.

With Louisiana's sterling history of falling at or near the bottom in educational surveys at every pre-university level, and budget cuts to the bone for public universities, including the flagship university Louisiana State University, why worry that medical education will be affected?  Fewer doctors and other medical staff in Louisiana will hit the most vulnerable among us the hardest, but it seems they don't really count.

How can I assign Governor Jindal any grade but F, graduate of an ivy league university and Rhodes Scholar though he may be?  How much more of the shenanigans of the governor and the obliging legislators can the state take before the entire house of cards erected by our leaders collapses? 

ZACK KOPPLIN WITH BILL MOYERS

From the time he was a high school senior in his home state of Louisiana, Kopplin has been speaking, debating, cornering politicians and winning the active support of 78 Nobel Laureates, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New Orleans City Council, and tens of thousands of students, teachers and others around the country. The Rice University history major joins Bill to talk about fighting the creep of creationist curricula into public school science classes and publicly funded vouchers that end up supporting creationist instruction.

I'm very proud of this young man who cared enough about science education to take on the political establishment and those who drive them to allow teaching nonsense science in taxpayer-funded schools in Louisiana. Zack gathered his own scientific establishment to rebut the scientific ignorance of the creationists - the young-earthers and deniers of the evolutionary process.  Believe whatever you wish, but if it's faith and not science, don't insist that it be taught in science class.

WHY IS SHE SMILING?

Kristy Nichols

The Jindal administration kicked off a months-long state budget debate Friday by presenting a $24.7 billion budget that relies on the finalization of contracts involving public hospitals, property sales and other unresolved issues.

College tuition will increase, many parents will be required to make a co-payment for their children to receive therapy for developmental delays and the elderly no longer will get help receiving free prescription drugs.

“We’re proud of this budget even though this budget certainly has been a challenge,” Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols told members of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

Ms Nichols is smiling because she says the Jindal administration presented a balanced budget to the Louisiana Legislature and the people of the state.  Nevermind that the budget includes one-time revenues that will not be available in future years.  Fiscal hawks in the legislature are upset about the use of the funds for programs that go beyond the coming fiscal year.

Nevermind that Jindal will turn over care of the poor to private hospitals, which he says will save money for the state, although all the contracts have not yet been signed, even as the administration phases out the operations of public hospitals.  Who will treat the poor and low-income people in Louisiana if the contracts are not completed? 

Several thousand state government workers could be out of a job....More than $1 million would be saved by no longer helping the elderly apply for free medicine through pharmaceutical company programs.

And what will be the consequences of the budget of which Ms Nichols is so proud?  Will the economy of the state grow in leaps and bounds?  Will unemployment numbers drop despite the thousands of state workers thrown into the ranks of the unemployed?  Where will the people who have lost their jobs find work in the weak economy?

What if the elderly can't afford their medications?  Too bad for them if they expect help from the state.

I hope the legislators keep in mind that Jindal's approval rating is at 37%.  The governor will veto any legislation that raises taxes, should such laws make it through the legislative process, and the chances of a legislative override are nil.  So what is a legislator to do?

IS OUR GOVERNOR LEARNING?

From the Baton Rouge Advocate yesterday:

WASHINGTON — A new national poll focused on Louisiana shows Gov. Bobby Jindal with only a 37 percent approval rating and it also indicates that Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., leads several potential opponents in her 2014 re-election bid.

The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, of North Carolina, which conducts polls for Democrats and progressives, focused on Landrieu’s re-election chances, but also took note of Jindal, whom the firm polled at a 58 percent approval rating in 2010. The poll was not done for the Landrieu campaign.

The new poll that places Jindal at a 37 percent approval rating was conducted Friday to Tuesday by surveying 603 Louisiana voters through automated telephone interviews. Jindal had a 57 percent disapproval rating in the new poll.

From the Advocate today:

Gov. Bobby Jindal said Thursday everything is on the table as he tries to develop a plan that eliminates personal and corporate income taxes in a “revenue neutral” way.

“We don’t have a proposal yet,” Jindal said.

Jindal met briefly with local reporters following an event at the Governor’s Mansion honoring couples who had been married in excess of 70 years.

He fielded a half-dozen questions in his first availability to State Capitol reporters in about four months.  (My emphasis)

 Perhaps his low poll numbers got the governor's attention, and he decided to throw a bone to the local media and meet with them briefly and answer a few questions.

Note that Jindal's new tax plan is not yet ready.  The next regular session of the Louisiana Legislature will convene on April 8, 2013.  Will the tax plan be presented to the lawmakers at the eleventh hour and rushed through without giving the legislators time to examine the plan closely, as was the voucher bill for private schools, the financing of which has already been called into question by the State District Court?

Judge Timothy Kelley of State District Court ruled that the way in which the state finances its new voucher program violates the state Constitution, as it relies on money intended in “plain and unambiguous” terms solely for public schools.

As Jindal's minions in the legislature speeded the voucher bill through, Louisiana legislators, with few exceptions, meekly went along.  What could they do in the face of Jindal's awesomeness?  We'll see what happens to the tax plan.  When the lawmakers see the poll results for Jindal, they may begin to think for themselves when the time comes time to vote for a massive restructuring of the tax system in Louisiana.  Since the ideas of Jindal and his admirers in the legislature seem not to be firmly planted in reality, I don't see a good outcome if the tax restructuring plan, whatever it is, passes in the legislature and becomes law.    

ZACK WILL GO FAR IN LIFE

For Zack Kopplin, it all started back in 2008 with the passing of the Louisiana Science Education Act. The bill made it considerably easier for teachers to introduce creationist textbooks into the classroom. Outraged, he wrote a research paper about it for a high school English class. Nearly five years later, the 19-year-old Kopplin has become one of the fiercest — and most feared — advocates for education reform in Louisiana. We recently spoke to him to learn more about how he's making a difference.

Kopplin, who is studying history at Rice University, had good reason to be upset after the passing of the LSEA — an insidious piece of legislation that allows teachers to bring in their own supplemental materials when discussing politically controversial topics like evolution or climate change. Soon after the act was passed, some of his teachers began to not just supplement existing texts, but to rid the classroom of established science books altogether. It was during the process to adopt a new life science textbook in 2010 that creationists barraged Louisiana's State Board of Education with complaints about the evidence-based science texts. Suddenly, it appeared that they were going to be successful in throwing out science textbooks.

Below is a video of Zack on Hardball in 2011



What courage and determination in one so young.  I'm so very proud of Zack and what he has accomplished.  Sadly, the ignorance displayed by the reverend who objected to science textbooks that are biased in favor of evolution is not so rare amongst the citizens of the Gret Stet.  Govermor Bobby Jindal, a major force behind the Louisiana Science Education Act, surely knows better with his major in biology from Brown University, but he is the consummate opportunist.

Following his success in halting the practice of removing science textbooks from the classrooms, Zack plans to focus his attention next on voucher schools, religious fundamentalist schools that use supplemental materials in science classes to teach young-earth creationism to their students, whose numbers include those whose tuition is paid with state vouchers.  Zack has paid a price: he's been called the Anti-Christ and accused of causing Hurricane Katrina. (Multiple eye rolls)   Geaux Zack! 

H/T to my Facebook friend Chris H and others for the link to the article.

CAUTION!

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposal to eliminate state income and corporate taxes and shift the funding of Louisiana government toward higher sales taxes is a “huge change” that needs to be approached “very, very slowly,” said an LSU economics professor who closely monitors tax revenue.
....

“There are certain things you can say from the beginning,” said Jim Richardson, an LSU professor and member of the Revenue Estimating Conference, which decides how much state government can spend. “There will be a redistribution of who pays for state government. Unless there are some real different clauses built into the law, it will change the burden from higher-income to middle- or lower-income.”

Aside from removing the burden of taxation from the mostly polluting large industries in Louisiana, which are partly to blame for the state's place at the top of the lists of unhealthy places to live, along with removing the tax burden from wealthy individuals and placing it on the shoulders of the poor and middle class, what could possibly go wrong with Jindal's plan in place?

Well, the citizens of Louisiana who live near the border of another state with a sales tax less than a possible 12.5%, say Mississippi, with a tax of 7%, might decide to shop across the border, and how will local businesses accommodate themselves to the loss of revenue?  Of course, the out-of-state purchases will also reduce state sales tax revenue.  Or folks may decide to shop online more frequently.  By law, we are required to total sales taxes on online purchases on our income tax forms, though not everyone is scrupulous in this regard, but, if there is no income tax and no tax form, then how will we pay?

The high sales taxes will limit the efforts of parishes and municipalities to raise revenue for schools, libraries, etc. through sales taxes. Of course, local governments already rely too much on sales taxes for revenue, even as property taxes remain quite low compared to other states, but such is the way in Louisiana.

This plan is another of Jindal's mad schemes, which may have taken form with advice from his good friend Rick Perry, the governor of Texas.  I'm told there's no chance that the plan will make it into law, but Jindal's mad schemes have done so previously, because a majority of spineless legislators routinely give the governor what he wants.

UPDATE: Lamar White has a brilliant post on Bobby Jindal and his latest scheme, that should be required reading for all Louisianians.  Sadly, those who most need to know (I'm looking at you, members of the Louisiana State Legislature) will not read Lamar's words, or they will read and dismiss them.

This all may sound too biting, too personal. But, yes, it is personal: Louisiana is my home state. As his newest proposal should forcefully demonstrate to anyone in Louisiana with a working brain, it should be clear, Governor Bobby Jindal doesn’t give a damn about the overwhelming majority of Louisianans. He’s hoping that we’re all too stupid to realize that eliminating taxes for corporations and eliminating the state’s personal income tax may sound awesome, but in a state as poor as Bobby Jindal’s Louisiana, it merely shifts the tax burden to those who can least afford it. Over 39% of Louisianans don’t even make enough money to qualify to pay income taxes, and the overwhelming majority of those who do qualify don’t pay much.

If you care about Louisiana, you should be sickened and insulted by Jindal’s proposal. It’s cronyism at its worst, a sure-fire formula to establish a banana republic.

Bravo, Lamar!

H/T to Adrastos at First Draft for the link to Lamar.

NOT SO FAST BOBBY

State District Judge Tim Kelley ruled Friday that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s expanded voucher program unconstitutionally diverts public money to send some public school students to private and parochial schools.

Kelley said that both Act 2 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 99 unlawfully divert tax dollars for nonpublic educational purposes.

Kelly heard closing arguments Friday morning from attorneys for the state, teacher unions, school boards and school-choice advocates.

Of course, the decision will be appealed, and who knows what will happen on appeal, but the news for now is good.  The voucher system transfers state funds, dedicated by law to public school systems, to private schools, which are not held to the same standards as public schools. However, the decision is not about unequal standards, which is a whole other matter, but about following the Louisiana Constitution.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

It’s an absurd notion, but it’s fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning. FEMA, created by President Jimmy Carter, was elevated to cabinet rank in the Bill Clinton administration, but was then demoted by President George W. Bush, who neglected it, subsumed it into the Department of Homeland Security, and placed it in the control of political hacks. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina was just waiting to happen.

The agency was put back in working order by President Obama, but ideology still blinds Republicans to its value. Many don’t like the idea of free aid for poor people, or they think people should pay for their bad decisions, which this week includes living on the East Coast.

Over the last two years, Congressional Republicans have forced a 43 percent reduction in the primary FEMA grants that pay for disaster preparedness. Representatives Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and other House Republicans have repeatedly tried to refuse FEMA’s budget requests when disasters are more expensive than predicted, or have demanded that other valuable programs be cut to pay for them. The Ryan budget, which Mr. Romney praised as “an excellent piece of work,” would result in severe cutbacks to the agency, as would the Republican-instigated sequester, which would cut disaster relief by 8.2 percent on top of earlier reductions.

What's wrong with the Republican Party?   I live in Louisiana, and I shudder to think what it would be like here to be on our own. Our governor, Bobby Jindal, one of the bright stars in the Republican political firmament, is in the process of privatizing or dismantling as many of our public institutions as possible before he moves on to what he hopes is a prominent role on the national scene. He will leave wreckage behind that will require decades to rebuild, if there is even the will to rebuild.  The most recent havoc is in medical education, the training of doctors, which, because it is in such a state of disarray, is causing consternation amongst doctors, hospitals, and anyone in the state who cares and is paying attention. 

The Republicans of today are ruthless social Darwinians with a dog-eat-dog mentality and no concept of the common good, no conscience for a government that cares for those amongst us who are in distress.  If you are poor, or sick without health insurance, or trying to recover from a disaster with little or no resources, then you are on your own, because your plight is your own fault, and you don't deserve to be helped by the government.  

What I don't understand is that many Republicans profess themselves Christians and claim to be pro-life.  From what I see, many of them are pro-life only for life in the womb and to hell with you after that.  Oh, and when you're at death's door, and your illness is terminal and irreversible, and you have left directives not to be kept alive on machines, they just may take up your cause in Congress and pass a law ordering that you must be kept alive at all costs, despite your expressed wishes.

What is wrong with these people?  Do we want their leaders, Romney and Ryan, running the country?   

TEACHING SCIENCE IN LOUISIANA

See A Doonesbury Retrospective.

The successful defense last week of a three-year-old Louisiana law is casting a spotlight on how conservative groups are seeking to circumvent a federal ban on the teaching of creationism in public schools.

The Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows teaching contrary to science on the grounds it promotes critical thinking, is increasingly serving as an inspiration to religious conservatives in other states. Its defenders decry the “censorship” of nonscientific ideas and advocate allowing teachers to teach “both sides” on certain scientific theories.
....

With the law intact, Louisiana is the state that has gone the furthest in approving legislation that opens the door to allowing alternatives to science taught in its schools

 The text of the Louisiana Science Education Act. 

At least, Louisiana teachers are not forced to teach non-science.  

NOT QUITE YET

Did I say Tropical Storm Isaac had passed over us? Another storm band came through with winds and more rain. Upper Lafourche (that is us) is still under a tropical storm warning and flash flood watch.

Areas in New Orleans and Jefferson are flooded, but the new levees held. Neighborhoods in Slidell and LaPlace are flooded, and communities north of Lake Pontchartrain are threatened by a dam on Lake Tangipahoa that is in danger of breaking. Isaac has and will cause much devastation. 

WWL-TV's website has good information, but I have difficulty navigating the site because of a slow internet connection. 

Sorry about all the misinformation, which is probably due, in part, to wishful thinking.

IT'S THE UNCERTAINTY, THE WAITING...

...and if Isaac, which the experts say will soon be a hurricane, comes our way, then it's the hurricane, loss of power, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.   After the last hurricane struck in our area, I vowed that the next scare would send me flying somewhere out of reach.  But the uncertainly is seductive in its own way, as I'm drawn to think, "Well, maybe I'll leave for nothing if the storm lands somewhere else."  So.  Here I am in sunny Thibodaux today.  We have a two-story house and a boat, so we will not be in danger of drowning.

Just look at the spread in the computer models in the illustration above.  The possible landfall for Isaac lies anywhere from the Louisiana/Mississippi border to the Louisiana/Texas border and all places in between.  Obviously, the places in between are all in Louisiana, including my place.   Sooo...we prepare, and we wait.

Image from Wunderground, which, to my sorrow, was sold to The Weather Channel.

BOBBY, WE HARDLY KNOW YE

Governor Bobby Jindal joined the Republican governor rogues gallery in a debate at the Aspen Institute.  Michelle Millhollon reports on the gathering which was mainly a closed affair, but...

For a $15 admission price, the public could grab a seat on the Aspen Institute’s campus Wednesday night to listen to a panel discussion featuring Jindal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The talk was broadcast on Aspen’s public radio station and was streamed on the Internet.

Ha!  How about that lineup?

Jindal apologized several times for talking fast during the event, explaining that he wanted to fit in several points. Christie ribbed him for his bullet-point approach.

I've heard Jindal speak, and I vouch for the fact that he talks fast.  After a while, I stopped trying to keep up and switched off.

Jindal rapidly described the changes he successfully proposed for Louisiana’s public school system, racing from teacher tenure to the scholarships that use public dollars to send children to private or parochial schools.

“Basically vouchers,” Isaacson interjected to put a new name to the scholarships.

“We call it scholarships. The teacher unions call it four-letter words,” Jindal retorted.

Har-de-har-har.  Jindal made a funny.   And then is it back home to Louisiana for the governor?  Indeed not.  Jindal is off to Washington DC for meetings.  Bobby, we hardly know ye. 

STATE WILL PAY SCHOOLS TO TEACH CREATIONISM

Taxpayer dollars in Louisiana’s new voucher program will be paying to send children to schools that teach creationism and reject evolution, promoting a religious doctrine that challenges the lessons central to public school science classrooms.

Several religious schools that will be educating taxpayer-subsidized students tout their creationist views. Some schools question whether the universe is more than a few thousand years old, openly defying reams of scientific evidence to the contrary.

Even as public schools go wanting, and public universities lay off staff.

"What they’re going to be getting financed with public money is phony science. They’re going to be getting religion instead of science,” said Barbara Forrest, a founder of the Louisiana Coalition for Science and a philosophy professor who has written about the clashes between religion and science.

Yes, but we are not to worry.

Superintendent of Education John White says annual science tests required of all voucher students in the third through 11th grades will determine if children are getting the appropriate science education in the private school classrooms.

“If students are failing the test, we’re going to intervene, and the test measures evolution,” White said.

After hundreds of thousands or even millions of state dollars have been given to schools that teach nonsensical science and leave their students ignorant.

[Governor] Jindal, who holds a college degree in biology, has supported the teaching of creationism, saying the theory of evolution has “flaws and gaps.”

Jindal was also a Rhodes scholar, and how he made his way from his studies for a degree in biology from Brown University and his studies at the University of Oxford to his present opinion in support of creationism is a mystery.

How will the schools that teach creationism coach the students at testing time?  Will the teachers say something like, "Well, you have to say that evolution is correct on the test, while you keep in mind that it's not really true";  in other words, will they coach the students to lie on the test?  Or will they encourage the students to give back what they've been taught and risk not meeting state standards?

BUYER'S REMORSE?

Republican and Democratic legislators said Monday they are skeptical of Jindal administration claims that health care would not suffer with more than $320 million in cuts to the LSU hospital system.

LSU’s 10-hospital system would bear 60 percent of some $522.5 million in health care spending reductions outlined so far in response to an unexpected cut in federal funding.

Gov. Bobby Jindal is counting on surplus revenues materializing to close the rest of an $859 million congressionally created hole in the Medicaid program for the state fiscal year that began this month.

Come on guys, you just passed the Jindal budget and now you're scared by a lil' ole unexpected $859 million hole in the Medicaid program and a lil' $522.5 million cut to LSU's hospital system?  Heavens to Betsy!  Don't you ever look ahead and plan for the unexpected?  Now you may have to start looking at generating some revenues.  Some of you want a special session to address the budget hole, but the guvna says that won't be necessary because he's counting on surplus revenues to materialize.  You believed his hokus-pokus before, but now you're beginning to doubt?  Iizzy-wizzy, let's get busy; there's a charm for that.

You see, LSU's hospital system is talking of goring oxen - er - closing down clinics and hospitals that treat the uninsured and poor, and the other hospitals in those areas fear lines around the block of people wanting treatment in their emergency rooms.

“I just worry how do we take care of those people if some of these doomsday scenarios happen?” [Sen. Ronnie] Johns responded. “The private hospital sector is absolutely fearful of people showing up on the steps of their emergency room.”

What we have here is a mess on our hands, but what?  Me worry?   Indeed not!  The surplus revenues will materialize...out of thin air, if necessary.   The guvna says so.  Besides, everything must be OK in the Gret Stet, because the guvna is mostly not here in Loosiana.  He's busy campaigning around the country.  I'm not sure what he's campaigning for, but he's very busy.

WHAT STANDARDS?

Tests and other oversight for voucher students will be less stringent than rules for public school students, officials predicted Monday. 

...officials familiar with the issue said they are not expecting White to recommend voucher policies that mirror those governing public schools, including letter grades and high-stakes tests for fourth- and eighth-graders. 

The rules requirement stems from a bill pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, and approved by the Legislature in April, that expands Louisiana’s voucher program statewide, not just in New Orleans. 

Students who have attended schools rated C, D and F by the state, and who meet income requirements, can apply for state-funded vouchers to offset most costs to attend private and parochial schools. 

So.  If your child attended a public school rated C, D, or F by the state, and you meet the income requirements, Louisiana will pay your child's tuition in a private school, which will not be held to the same standards as public schools and will not be graded by letter grades.

Michael Falk, president of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, has met with White in small groups of superintendents to discuss the issue.

He said Monday he does not expect White to require voucher students to face high-stakes tests, which means they have to pass them to move to the next grade.

Under current rules, fourth- and eighth-graders at public schools have to pass a skills test called LEAP to move to the next grade.

I have my reservations about the LEAP tests, which so often result in teaching to the tests, but how will we know if the private schools do a better job of educating students?  With our state money going to private schools, it would seem only fair to hold the schools to the same standards as public schools, whose already depleted coffers are being emptied further by funds going to private schools.

Last month U. S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said private and parochial schools that accept voucher students should get letter grades from the state.

The senator is right.

Critics contend that any such grade would be distorted, mostly because voucher students will make up a small percentage of any school’s population.

I'm afraid I have to call BS on that excuse.

All too often, the Louisiana Legislature and the governor, especially this governor, seem not to have thoroughly thought through to the consequences of the legislation they passed and signed into law.  And the full effects of lower standards will not be seen until far in the future, when the damage to the students may have already been done.

I wonder how much governing Jindal can do from afar, since he spends a good part of his time traveling around the country campaigning, supposedly for Republican candidates.  Or is he campaigning for the position as Romney's vice-presidential candidate?   Or for a major position in the Romney administration?  What makes Bobby run? One sure thing, if Romney is looking for someone with even less charisma than himself, so as not to outshine him in the personality contest, then Jindal is his man.