Skandera has something in common with US Sec of Ed

Hanna Skandera

From Capitol Report New Mexico - On the eve of a crucial confirmation hearing in the Senate Rules Committee, opponents of Hanna Skandera have based some of their criticism of the would-be secretary of the Public Education Department on the grounds that she has never been employed as a classroom teacher. But neither has current U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

     In fact, a review by New Mexico Watchdog shows that only two former heads of the country’s education department have K-12 teaching experience and only one served as a faculty member on the university level. Skandera’s confirmation hearing has gripped the Roundhouse as a political showdown shapes up between Skandera, who has served for two years as the secretary-designate and close advisor to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, and Democrats who have clashed with education reform measures Skandera and the governor have been pushing.

According to the New Mexico Constitution, the leader of the PED must be a “qualified, experienced educator.”

But Skandera has never worked as a teacher or administrator at a K-12 public school. “I don’t think we should close our eyes to that issue,” Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, has said on a number of occasions. Read more

Skandera has something in common with US Sec of Ed

Rich is ever so much better than poor

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. It’s better to be rich. - Gertrude Stein

     Picture all of the rich folks in Congress looking into news cameras and talking loudly about the evils of rich people in society. Does anyone else think it strange for them to have so much reach and power because of their own wealth yet they trash being rich. Are they that stupid? I think they know that being rich is better.
     In everyday life it is an interesting moment when people smack the rich for being rich and do so with a lottery ticket in their pocket. They malign the rich but have dreams of riches when they look at their lottery ticket. Is it more honorable to be made rich by chance? Is it different than if we are made wealthy by the sweat of our brow? Need I say that for every rich person made by the lottery there are thousands upon thousands of rich people made rich by their own efforts?
     How do people become rich? Most, but not all are made rich by a liberal application of preparation, inspiration and perspiration. Most people in our society who become rich spend decades becoming an overnight success. Most are lucky to get good instruction as children. Know this: most are wealthy because they do the right things, not the wrong.
     Seems some people think that rich is a four letter word. Well, it is, but most people aspire to be rich. Most rich people become so by trading things of value for money. Most cannot cheat their way into riches. A few do, but the majority of the cheaters are exposed and at times incarcerated. Trading fairly is a better way of becoming wealthy than trying to find suckers. Of course, the wealthy get envied for their wealth.
     In discussing the rich we need to find a functional description of being rich. For some there is never enough money. They may look rich but to me they are not. The people who do not worry about money are quite rich. When I was five years old I was given a five dollar bill for my birthday and could not spend all of it in the local mercantile. I bought all I wanted and had money left over. It was the richest I have ever been. Read column

Rich is ever so much better than poor