MUTH’S TRUTHS

Nevada University Chancellor and Bloviator in Chief Jim Rogers went on television last night (but only on television stations he owns) and delivered a bitter and self-serving “State of Education” address in which he said that “only a few” Nevada parents “appreciate the importance of a college education.”

Ironically, former Republican state Sen. Bob Beers - a man Jim Rogers promised to help defeat last year - was blistered for saying pretty much the same thing a few years ago. Any bets on whether or not the Left, the education establishment, and the unions go after Rogers with the same level of vehemence? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Anyway Rogers went on to belch up the following anti-parent bile:

“The state of K-12 education in Nevada is where the public, that is you out there, has allowed it to sink. Your only relationship with the education system is to ship your unprepared kids to school, not with the expectation of success, but with the demand that an education system, inadequately funded, develop and/or repair children that you as a parent did not prepare for school or support while your children attended school.

”It’s the public - that means you, that has created this disaster of a public education system. . . . Maybe most importantly, you have to take part in your child’s education. Your responsibility does not stop as they walk out the door to catch the bus.”

As a Nevada home-schooling dad who very much takes part in his children’s education while simultaneously and unwillingly funding Rogers’ “disaster of a public education system,” I have just two words for Jim Rogers. Alas, I won’t publish them here ‘cause Mom still reads this newsletter - but they’re the same two words Vice President Dick Cheney once directed at Sen. Pat Leahy…if you know what I mean and I think you do. If not, click HERE

Rogers then droned on with one scare tactic after another in his end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it address.

For example, he claimed that if the proposed budget cuts are enacted the university system’s “best professors would leave Nevada.”

Really? Where are they going to go? Does Rogers not know that this economic recession is NATIONAL? And if some pampered liberal university professor wants to leave exciting Las Vegas or Reno for the corn fields surrounding the University of Dubuque - Adios, amigo!

And despite the fact that Nevada’s tuition rates are the lowest in the nation, Rogers says they can’t be raised. If they are, he explained, “it would be cheaper to go out of state to college.”

So? Then let ’em go out of state to college. Mr. Rogers might not know this, but college students have been leaving Mommy and Daddy to attend college, not just out of state, but out of the country, for centuries. And this is actually considered by many to be a GOOD thing. Helps prepare ‘em for adulthood.

Rogers also claimed that “Nevada presently does not have enough college graduates to make Nevada economically competitive against other states or other countries.”

What planet has this guy been living on? For the better part of the last two decades Nevada has been the economic envy of the nation. Thousands upon thousands of people were moving here every month. Still are. Other states have been trying to economically compete against US, not the other way around. Sheesh.

In his concluding remarks, Rogers completely dissembled: “I have suggested to legislators that they find new revenue sources, including a new and productive tax system. New funding can be found that will not drag down the economy.”

Really? Where, Chancellor?

You see, this is the dishonest and cowardly way the Left in this state is playing the budget game. They say we need to look for “new revenue sources” or a “new tax system” or “new funding” when what they really mean is “tax hikes.” But they won’t say it. They try to hide it.

With the exception of the teachers union and Gov. Jim Gibbons - who apparently loathe tourists so much they’re both proposing slapping them with a three percent room tax hike - Rogers & Company never say exactly who should have their taxes raised and by how much, or actually introduce a bill or circulate a tax –hike initiative. They yak-yak-yak from the peanut gallery but never put any specific alternatives on the table.

People may not like the budget cuts in Gov. Gibbons’ budget proposal, but at least Gov. Gibbons has put forward a proposal. A specific proposal. In writing. For everyone to pick apart line-by-line. When will the Democrats and Jim Rogers follow suit?

And when will the mainstream media, other than Jon Ralston, start demanding that they do?

Posted on January 24th, 2009 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada