I enjoy reading local newspapers like the West Valley View, which reports twice a week on events and issues in the metropolitan area west of the city of Phoenix. A couple of articles from the June 11th edition particularly got my attention, and are relevant to issues discussed in recent blog posts.
One article described the city of Tolleson’s lawsuit in opposition to SB 1070. The mayor of Tolleson was interviewed for the article. It is clear he thinks the new state law is misguided as a policy matter. However, more pragmatically, he is also very concerned that the law is an unfunded mandate at a time when local governments in Arizona are already facing extreme budgetary crises. This is no trifling concern. As some non-Arizona readers of this blog may not realize, the economy in Arizona is horrible right now. Speaking with friends and family in other states, the recession and housing market collapse does not seem to have affected their parts of the country quite as badly. Whether or not one agrees with the policy behind SB 1070, the unfunded mandate concern is legitimate and compelling in the context of Arizona’s current economic slump. http://www.westvalleyview.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=37360
Another article that got my attention was about Margaret Dugan, a Republican candidate for Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. The article described her positions against bilingual education and ethnic studies. The article quoted Ms. Dugan: "Bilingual education is code to teaching kids whose first language is Spanish, to teach them in their native language throughout the day. Well, this is wrong." To explain her opposition to ethnic studies, the article quoted Ms. Dugan as explaining "This curriculum that is being taught down in Tuscon - Raza studies, which stands for 'the race' in Spanish - is teaching our kids they are the victims of this country and that this country really belongs to Mexico and if they rise up and take it back, it will become Mexico again." http://www.westvalleyview.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=37333&TM=55571.57
One article described the city of Tolleson’s lawsuit in opposition to SB 1070. The mayor of Tolleson was interviewed for the article. It is clear he thinks the new state law is misguided as a policy matter. However, more pragmatically, he is also very concerned that the law is an unfunded mandate at a time when local governments in Arizona are already facing extreme budgetary crises. This is no trifling concern. As some non-Arizona readers of this blog may not realize, the economy in Arizona is horrible right now. Speaking with friends and family in other states, the recession and housing market collapse does not seem to have affected their parts of the country quite as badly. Whether or not one agrees with the policy behind SB 1070, the unfunded mandate concern is legitimate and compelling in the context of Arizona’s current economic slump. http://www.westvalleyview.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=37360
Another article that got my attention was about Margaret Dugan, a Republican candidate for Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. The article described her positions against bilingual education and ethnic studies. The article quoted Ms. Dugan: "Bilingual education is code to teaching kids whose first language is Spanish, to teach them in their native language throughout the day. Well, this is wrong." To explain her opposition to ethnic studies, the article quoted Ms. Dugan as explaining "This curriculum that is being taught down in Tuscon - Raza studies, which stands for 'the race' in Spanish - is teaching our kids they are the victims of this country and that this country really belongs to Mexico and if they rise up and take it back, it will become Mexico again." http://www.westvalleyview.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=37333&TM=55571.57
Psalm 139:14 (New Living Translation)
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
Wonderful blog! I was delighted to find it.
ReplyDeleteRoger McClellan
roger@progressivechristianalliance.org