FFM

Here is a 3 minute video on what Justice Scalia and Justice Ginsburg would want to change in the Constitution. 

Balance. Balance is the key. In our modern world education is needed to succeed at every level in life. Therefore society must do its best to help every child achieve the best education they can given their abilities. Kicking anyone out of school obviously is an admission of failure on their part and on the part of the school. Expulsion should only be used as a last resort and only after it is determined that keeping the child in school jeopardizes the ability to optimize the level of education to other students and/or jeopardizes the safety of other students or faculty.. The school and community should accept the fact that troubled students will cost more to educate than other students. At the same time the community needs to accept the fact that sometimes it must let go. There is no absolute formula to determine at what point there is no remaining viable option other than expelling the child. I assume those marching to Lansing recognize this. The key is to have a fair, balance

In Michigan it appears we are finally going to do something about improving our highways and other roads. Yet, we do little about improving the roadway to success for our citizens and our state. The opinion in the Detroit Free Press titled Stalled To Soaring by Ed Trust Midwest and after I do I will be more than happy to change any comments I make that are not correct or out of line. Teachers matter, accountability matters and funds to fix the problem matter. Unfortunately this article does not provide further information or direction to the issue. Good information would include sharing how much money per pupil do the high performing states provide for education, what portion of that goes to teacher training, how do they address making schools and teachers more accountable and what are the average salaries of teachers. Further, when comparing Michigan's results to other states factor in outside forces that are beyond an  individual school including such things as poverty and the

"According to study published last year in the journal Education and Urban Society, “Students are more racially segregated in schools today than they were in the late 1960s and prior to the enforcement of court-ordered desegregation in school districts across the country.” In fact, a report last month by researchers at the Civil Rights Project of the University of California, Los Angeles, found, “New York has the most segregated schools in the country.” The Self Sort , April 11, 2014,New York Times The division is more economic than racial. By the fact that Mr. Blow's daughter is a high ranking participant in the sport of fencing tells me they do not live in a predominantly black lower income neighborhood. It is only natural to want the best for our children and with the widening disparity between rich and poor there is less interaction between social/economic classes. America is losing its identity as the land of opportunity. We need to fix capitalism and expand access to

Early in the month of March Tom Ashcroft, host of On Point Radio, had a discussion with Russian political activist, and world chess champion Garry Kasparov about Russia, Ukraine and going after Vladimir Putin’s oligarchs. Mr. Kasparov is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time and is considering running for President of Russia. Mr. Kasparov describes Putin as an evil man with a thought process similar to Adolf Hitler. He will not on his own stop his aggression on eastern Europe. Negotiating with the west is simply a tactic used by Putin to buy time to regain Russian control of former Soviet Bloc countries. Kasparov's main strategy is go after the assets of the Russian Oligarchs and they will take care of Putin. He acknowledges that Putin will retaliate and the west will feel pain, however he suggests that if nothing is done the pain from dealing with Putin later will be even greater. His is a three step solution. Go after the assets of the Russia

This is another good discussion about current events on OnPoint Radio. This one is about the recent ruling by the Supreme Court concerning campaign contributions.

There appears to be good news in Mr. Ryan's proposed budget. Apparently he is not running for President in 2016. Now if he can get Mr. Cruz to endorse it. Could it be that Mr. Ryan is really a plant to assure a victory in 2014 and 2016 for the Democrats? "As with past budget proposals, Mr. Ryan seeks to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, then turn the health care program for the poor into block grants to the states — saving $732 billion over the decade. He would also cap and block-grant food stamps, starting in 2020, cutting that program by $125 billion in five years. The budget relies on imposing new work requirements on food stamp and welfare recipients."  Ryan Budget Would Cut Food Stamps and Medicaid Deeply We need to get our budget under control and we need a plan. The plan does not mean we need a balanced budget under government accounting. If the average american family followed the same accounting rules we would need to count our homes