Letter to Obama re: offshore oil drilling

Dear Mr. President,

I was disheartened to hear your speech on March 31st when you announced that you would lift the moratorium on drilling for oil off our coast. In your speech you even made the point against it by explaining how little oil we actually have compared to how much we use.

You said it was time to "move beyond the tired debates of the left and the right, between business leaders and environmentalists..."

I hope the current tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates clearly that rather than 'tired debates' we are talking life and death here, not just of the workers killed but the very biological system which allows us all to live and our economy to thrive.

I worked hard for your election, in a large part to prevent the "drill baby drill" camp from taking control of our government. I do not agree with much of your politics but I thought energy and environmental issues was one place I did agree with you. I have been disappointed in this area, for rather than trying to move on from the old debates I had hoped you would take the side of the environmentalists. I had hoped you would be bold, audacious, and a transformative leader, at least when it comes to energy and the environment.

An example of such leadership can be found in a young man named Timothy DenHerder who as a freshman at Macalester College spearheaded a program called the Clean Energy Revolving Fund (CERF). I believe a massive government program modeled after this program would be the kind of intelligent action you should take as President. Best of all the program pays for itself and would easily allow us to conserve more than the energy we could get from new off shore oil drilling.

The CERF is quite simple. College students got together and installed inexpensive energy and water saving devices in a home. The money that was saved from the reduction in energy and water use was put into a fund that was used to do further energy saving actions in other homes. This fund grew as did their actions to the point where they replaced all the light bulbs in their University.

I know you have done some things like this but nothing on the scale required. Imagine leading the nation to rally around the idea of energy efficiency (it saves everyone money - easy motivator). Reduce the electricity we use, invest in electric cars, break our dependence on foreign oil and our temptation to drill off our coasts, make the US a leader in green technology and CO2 reduction, create good jobs. Of course you know Van Jones so these ideas are not new to you.

The offshore wind farm in Cape Cod is another example of an action your government has taken that is in the right direction.

Doing what is needed and what is right does not always mean comprimising and finding middle ground. Sometimes you need to take a side and be willing to push hard against those who disagree. In fact the middle road often means watering down good ideas to the point they will not be successful. A little oil drilling can still lead to oil spills. Please say no to new oil drilling and yes to energy conservation and clean energy.

Still trying to be a supporter of yours,
Danny Boyer

The simple case against the Arizona Immigration law

The law just passed in Arizona says police are required to ask people for proof they are here legally if there is a reason to doubt that they are here legally, and if it is discovered they are illegal then they must be turned over to the Feds.

So on its surface it is easy for one to think, what's the big deal? Illegal Immigrants have broken the law by coming here without the proper paperwork. If the cops catch you doing something illegal they bust you for it. If I snuck into another country and was there illegally and a police busted me I would have noone to blame but myself.

Of course the discussion of why people are coming here to work is an entire discussion for another time, this discussion leads some to reject the term "illegal" Immigant. Regardless of how you feel about these issues, the new Law in Arizona is a horrible one and the argument against it is simple.


Now the job of the police is to serve and protect. They are trying to prevent murders, rapes, theft, drug dealing and other such crimes as well as catch criminals who do these crimes.

Imagine a girl is raped. Her father knows who did it. Her father is an undocumented worker. That father should be able to call the police and report the crime. But with this law the police would be required to investigate the father if they suspected he was undocumented.

Or imagine an American citizen is the victim of a crime and the only witness is an undocumented immigrant. Is that witness going to step forth?

You can imagine tons of scenarios like this. Because of this law entire communities will be afraid of the police and far less likely to report crimes.

It is a bad law. Even Meg Whitman (a dubious candidate for California Gov.) is against it.

obstructionist party

You have to watch this video!!!

The Republicans know that their best chance of getting re-elected by an ignorant American public is to do everything in their power to prevent the government under the leadership of the Democrats from functioning.

The Republicans are currently blocking 101 executive branch nominees. These are people Obama has chosen to run various agencies. Most have been blocked for months, leaving departments leaderless. (This time in Bush's presidency I believe the Dems had a block on 4 nominees).

The Republicans have even admitted they are qualified people with whom they have no objections - they are being blocked purely for political purposes!

It is infuriating!!!!

Here in this video the Democrats try to get permission to get a vote on each of the stalled nominations and at first no Republicans even showed up, but finally the minority whip came and objected to 97 of the 101 nominees. This video is a must watch, it is funny and sad at the same time!

Obama on energy - bad policy, bad politics

Obama gets a "D" (for Dumb) from me on his energy policy.

In his state of the union he talked about a clean energy future and mentioned - nuclear, coal, oil, and bio fuels and left out solar and wind from his speech. Interestingly he included the ones that are the most easily controlled by corporations.

But that was just a speech. Since then he announced new federal loan guarantees to encourage the building of the first new nuclear power plants in decades. This is stupid in my mind - dangerous, expensive, and wasteful. If we poured an equal amount of money into making solar and wind viable.

But then what really got me was his recent announcement that he is lifting the moratorium on offshore oil drilling. He made the argument against himself when he made the announcement. We use 25% of the world's oil yet we own only 2%. Our domestic supply is a drop in the bucket and I would argue against burning it up now. Petroleum has other uses - try and find something not made from the stuff - besides burning it for energy. That is one reason I believe it is bad policy.

But I know that someday we will drill our oil that is offshore so that is not what surprised me most about Obama's announcement. Besides bad policy it is horrible politics.

"Drill Baby Drill" is the rally cry of conservatives. By now it must be obvious that the conservatives want nothing more than for Obama to fail at everything he does. This, they see is their path back into power.

They criticize everything he does and regularly make up lies about his agenda. Remember the "death panels" or more recently the claims the health care bill was a government takeover. Even when Obama has done or said the exact same thing as previous Republican presidents such as Reagan and Bush Sr. the conservatives have attacked him for these very statements. (example his recent nuclear policy statement - Palin said no president would ever say that, however Reagan and Bush both did).

When Obama announced lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling he was lambasted by Conservatives as not going far enough, too little too late, etc. Obama needs to learn he will not win praise from the right.

So if you are going to allow drilling why not save it as a bargaining chip towards a climate and energy bill! Offer up a bill that will reduce carbon emissions, invest in renewable energy and then to get republican support tell them, after hard negotiation, that they will throw in offshore oil drilling. This also provides cover for conservatives who vote for an energy bill for they can say they negotiated to get the bill to include offshore oil drilling.

So far the Dems and this administration have proved poor at the politics of negotiation with conservatives. They don't seem to understand that they need to start the process asking for more than they think they can get so once things are negotiated they end up getting something closer to what they want.

you get my drift, I'm off like mosquito repellent

US militias and our illogical justification for war

So let me get this straight. Our government just arrested a bunch of Christian militia members who were plotting to kill police and start a war against the government. The Mumbai terrorist attacks were planned in Chicago. Domestic terrorists have bombed Oklahoma city and shot military personal at Fort Hood. The newest political party in this country (the Tea Party) is planning a gun rally near Washington DC on the anniversary of the Oklahoma city bombing. 911 was planned in Spain (another democracy).

Obama says Afghanistan is a war of necessity. We are there killing people and spending hundreds of billions of dollars that could provide desperately needed education, health care, and jobs here and there because why? The goal in Afghanistan and Iraq is democracy, right? Obama says he does not want it to be a place where extremists can plot terrorist attacks. We must "win the war" and bring Democracy so no terrorists can plot to kill Americans?

The logic is obviously lacking. We are a democracy - a pretty good, safe place, yet we have extremists plotting and carrying out terrorist attacks. Americans plot to kill other Americans. Militia training camps abound and are on the rise. So, Obama, if Afghanistan becomes a beacon of freedom and democracy in the middle east - a mini USA, what will prevent religious extremists from plotting terrorist attacks there as they do here?

So again I ask why are we bankrupting our country morally and financially to occupy foreign countries by force?

Obama's solution: Fire Teachers, Leave Poor Kids Behind

Well I am in complete disagreement with Obama on the issue of education.

He came out today in support of the firing of every teacher in a low performing school. And he suggested more teachers need to be fired so there is accountability.

How about firing politicians who underfund our educational system! Firing politicians who expand wars we can't afford and increase military spending while freezing all other spending.

How about hiring MORE teachers so class sizes can be reduced!

Our local district is an underachieving district - now on probation from No Child Left Behind. I do not blame the teachers or want them fired! There are many factors that influence the success of students - such as the education of their parents, their parents ability to support and encourage the students, the culture of the community in which they are growing up, the socioeconomic level of the students. What the students eat has an enormous effect on their ability to learn and the poor kids who get government meals are fed the most processed disgusting food imaginable. I know - I worked at such a school and although I can eat almost anything, I could not eat the lunches provided to the kids.

Fact is poverty has been proven to inhibit the development of the brain, hindering young students ability to perform when compared to children growing up free from poverty.

In our school's case we have many students who are speaking English as a second language, many of who's parents are migrant farm workers. Of course they will score lower on tests than the kids in Palo Alto who's parents work at Stanford!

Standardized tests also fail to fairly test students from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

If we fire teachers in low achieving schools, who in their right mind would choose to work at such a school. This will surely drive teachers away from the schools where they are needed the most. Once again, Poor Kids are Left Behind, I guess it was presumptuous of me to think having a man of color in the White House would change that.

If Obama wants to solve education, which will improve our economy, environment, politics, etc.; he needs to role back the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest in this nation and stop the Bush Wars in the Middle East and put those resources instead into our crumbling educational system.

Try returning dynamic art, athletic, and music programs to public schools. Feed the students organic whole foods, provide an engaging fun environment - reduce class size!!! Give teachers money to attend professional development seminars.

How about providing a living wage to the kids parents so they do not have to work three jobs and can instead be home with their kids after school.

Blaming teachers for low achieving schools is like blaming doctors for the increase in childhood obesity and diabetes.

The despicable state of California (and US) public education

The state of public education in the state of California is despicable, and getting worse!

In three to five more years of No Child Left Behind and the lack of state funding our public school system may fail completely. No Child Left Behind is taking away money from the schools that do not do well on the standardized tests - so schools that are failing will have LESS resources!

It is said that 80% of California public schools will face federal take over in 5 years due to NCLB.

Our public schools rank 47 out of 50 states for funding. There is plenty of money in this state - look at the housing prices and cars. People here have money. But not everyone. Which is the problem with a failing public school system. The wealthy can send their kids to private schools or supplement the public schools (many are asking for $3000 per family) in their area with huge fund raisers. But for neighborhoods where income is low the schools are in a world of hurt. and getting worse.

With further cuts we have school districts talking about increasing class sizes more, cutting whatever extra programs are left (extra are the things like art, music, PE - the things private schools like mine realize are as important as the core subjects and for which parents pay $33,000 a year) and they are talking about maybe only having school 4 days a week so they can pay public school teachers even less!

Also with higher public education being slashed California is now poised to take back its pledge to offer a spot in college for all California residents who qualify. And of course with costs going up many can simply not afford to go to college even if there is a spot.

They say Americans, Californians especially, are becoming less educated on average than we were 20 years ago. Our work force is going to have millions more people who have low levels of education looking for work in an environment where automation and outsourcing is going to decrease the number of jobs available to those with low levels of education.

Meanwhile we are the only state that does not tax oil companies for the oil they take out of our ground! They do pay in other ways but as they are setting records for corporate profits and oil is destroying the world anyway, we should be taxing the hell out of it!

Prisons! The United States of America has more prisoners than any country in the world. China is second but as a larger country has 18% our rate of incarceration. California leads the way with hundreds of thousands of prisoners. The "three strikes your out" law doubled our prison population. They are over crowded and increasingly costly. Arnold's solution - outsource them to Mexico, he said it would cost half as much to build prisons and house prisoners in Mexico. This of course is for prisoners from other countries. For US prisoners he wants to have private prisons - prisons for profit. This makes sense! How can it be cheaper to run something for profit? Unless you cut corners. And even if it is, it has been proven that private prisons just put pressure on the system to create prisoners so the corporations have lots of business - not long ago (2 years maybe) in this country a judge was busted for taking pay offs from a private prison for sending innocent youth to prison!

How about investing in education! Perhaps if we educated people they will be able to get jobs instead of going to jail. Perhaps they will be inspired to do good things. Clearly having an educated population would benefit our economy in more ways than one.

California, you get what you pay for. Are you going to invest in your future?

We must change the rule that a 2/3rds majority is needed to pass a budget, then we need to raise taxes so we can pay for these vital programs, public education being only one of them.

And as for Obama's race to the top - I give him an "F" How can it make sense to give more money to the schools that are doing the best???? The schools that are doing the worst are the ones that need the most help.

We need to repeal NCLB for it is penalizing the same schools that need more help. It should be called "poor kids left behind". And of course it is ruining the quality of education by making schools teach their students to take standardized tests rather than teaching them to be creative and informed thinkers, which in turn will prepare them to be positive contributors to our society.

Alright, no time to continue this rant, I must take my private school students on a field trip. One of our fathers helped organize a trip to the Stanford Neurology Lab. We are going to be taught about the brain by Stanford Neurologists, we will handle real brains, learn clinical exams from interns, and see state of the art virtual imaging for brain and skull research. You see my students are being educated very differently than my own children who go to public school, simply because we cannot afford the better education, the kind of education all kids should get!