Race for education funds a good step
I applaud the state Legislature and Gov. Bredesen for the upcoming special session to address public education, both K-12 and higher education. The opportunity to improve the state’s competitiveness for a “Race to the Top” federal grant can’t be passed up. Our leadership has worked hard to improve teachers’ salaries and keep them up to date along with more accountability for the progress of their students. Their efforts put us in a good position to get a generous share of the $4 billion that the federal government will distribute. I understand that some legislative action will further improve our position. These grants will assist in recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining effective teachers.
Public education is the best investment we can make for the future welfare of our state. Citizens with good jobs mean more tax revenue without raising taxes. In today’s job market training beyond high school is necessary. Better educated children will also lead healthier lives and will be less likely to resort to crime. Let’s invest in education instead of prisons.
B.W. RUFFNER, M.D.
Signal Mountain
Get real with Islamic terrorism
In light of the recent terrorist attack on a Northwest Airline plane and because petrodollars are used to aid terrorist groups, President Obama should start drilling for oil all over the U.S., Alaska included, to end our dependence on Arab oil. He should also end Muslim immigration. We cannot ignore that Muslims haven’t assimilated anywhere in Europe, and they insist on Sharia (Islamic) law.
The Muslim Students Association, largely financed by Saudi Arabia, has chapters on nearly 600 U.S. college campuses, including more than 150 chapters affiliated with the national organization. They promote violent nihilism and a fundamentalist Islamic dogma that’s incompatible with democracy and the American life. According to this group, terrorists are the only people who truly fear Allah. It’s estimated that 1,000-plus terrorists are waiting in the wings to strike. Sharia law is the main reason why every three minutes a Christian is tortured or killed in the Muslim world, and in 2009 alone 164,000 Christians were killed in countries under Islamic law. Remember Danny Pearl in Karachi and Van Gogh in the Netherlands.
The Obama administration needs to get real with Islam and make it more important than health care, considering that there is no health care in the Moslem world.
JOSEPH G. KING
Signal Mountain