Pull over; it’s the “Thought Police”:
In January of 2005 Senate Bill 24 was introduced. This bill would essentially regulate what can be taught at our higher education institutions. The bill states that administrators and professors cannot teach anything of a controversial issue or idea. The course content would have to be approved by not educational faculty but rather by state government or courts. Thank goodness that nothing ever came around of this bill. It was nothing more than introduced. However, it does show where some representatives motive rest. I’m a big advocate in freedom and all that it stands for. No one should be told what he or she can and cannot be taught or learn. The sole motive in higher education is not just to be able to regurgitate facts or slap an equation together. Education is that, but not only that. Any teacher will tell you that, the key in being educated is to be able to think for yourself, and form your own opinions.
Something stinks:
The Ohio Public Information Research Group rated Ohio as the worst of the eight states bordering a great lake in terms of sewage dumping laws and regulation. Ohio also lacks an efficient warning system to tell people that sewage has been dumped into the waterways. The group gives states letter grades to reflect their current status. Ohio received a D- while Michigan was the best receiving an A-. Public officials say they are trying to resolve the issue of sewage being dumped into the waterways, which usually happens after a heavy rain. Ohio is currently more concerned with fixing the problem rather than forming better ways to notify the public of sewage dumped. I will give credit to Taft and the EPA for trying to fix the problem. In a recent article from the Plain Dealer, Cleveland has launched a sewer cleanup pollution control project on the Lake Erie tributary that will cost an estimated $22 million dollars. A sewer tunnel will be dug to collect and divert sewage, industrial wastes, and other liquid wastes that now overflow into Dugway Brook during heavy rains. The whole district plans to build 103 miles of sewers and tunnels to divert sewage pollution from Lake Erie and other waterways. This year’s budget for Northeast Ohio sewer district is $242 million. All I can say is that it is about time. Am I the only one tired of going to the lake and complaining that on certain days it really stinks?
Voinovich for the Great Lakes
Voinovich was talking about problems like invasive species, sewage discharge, and contaminated sediments that have left the Great Lakes in Great Despair. Taft has asked for $84.5 million in funds to clean up. However, it seems that money as usual is going to be a factor in how much gets done. It appears that President Bush might have pulled a fast one on the Great Lakes. Reportedly Bush requested $70 million in funds for programs in 2007, and this would fully pay for contaminated sediment cleanup. However, he managed to cut money from Great Lakes Fishery Commission, U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes National Program office, and sewage treatment cleanup by nearly 50%. Right now there seems to be some confusion as to whether Bush has helped the Great Lakes or made it worse by cutting too much funding.
