We expect half of our readers will have a massive hangover when they see this, so we’ll make it short.
And by short, we mean the same length as every other week.
That’s right: Although the streets ran green with beer last night, your friends at the Editorial Board were hard at work on this week’s we-didn’t-realize-everybody-in-a-10-mile-vicinity-of-a-bar-has-Irish-blood edition of Darts & Laurels.
We aren’t the only ones who took notice of all the green.
Governments the nation over have been trying to scale back spending. While the politicians’ hearts may be in the right place — and that’s giving them the benefit of the doubt — we’ve been questioning many of their choices for programs to cut.
We’re giving you fair warning: Republicans may want to stop reading now.
To begin, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to cut all federal funding to NPR. Although the measure is unlikely to pass in the more temperate Senate, we’re worried by the party-line voting to strip money from a valuable public resource. That’s why we’re aiming a DART at House Republicans.
Apparently, $1 million is too much to pay for one of the few reliable news sources our most isolated citizens can access.
In the same economic vein, Wisconsin’s governor got his way last Friday with a union-busting bill that ends collective bargaining for public employees. What good is a union without such an ability? That’s why we’re lobbing a DART at Scott Walker and his pals.
Not only have they hurt the people of their state, they’re also setting a precedent for others around the nation.
The harm they’ve done to teachers and students may surpass the damage of a merit-based pay law in our state. That’s difficult to fathom, given that “merit” is determined largely by students’ FCAT scores, which we recognize as meaningless garbage.
If you think students’ critical thinking is at a low point now, wait until teachers’ bottom lines are dictated by the test results. Because we became stupider by merely thinking about that prospect, we’re pinning a DART on state lawmakers.
We haven’t doused Americans’ need to learn yet, however.
In fact, our curiosity is alive and well. We aren’t just paranoid in the wake of Japan’s post-earthquake nuclear issues. Sure, some on the west coast are making a run for iodine pills. But for the most part, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and their constituents are asking about our nuclear power plants.
Even if it is born of fear, we think a genuine interest in how we receive our power is always welcome. Knowledge is a powerful weapon, after all. That’s why we’re giving a LAUREL to nuclear power experts.
Thanks for walking us through the issue in words we can understand every day for the past week, even if you had to deal with cable news anchors. You’ve started an important discussion we needed to have.
As you can tell— other than St. Patty’s Day— this week’s been sobering for us. But in the spirit of hope, we’re offering a final LAUREL and our condolences to the people of Japan.
Here’s hoping for a brighter week, Gators.
