Technical-career push is a boon for state

(PNI) Joe Klein recently wrote in Time magazine about Arizona's vocational-education efforts. The article was timely and right on the mark.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal, teacher Clyde McBride, the career and technical education (CTE) agricultural-sciences teacher on the Navajo Reservation in Kayenta, and Sally Downey, superintendent of the spectacular East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa should all be commended for thinking outside the box.

Actions like these are an important step toward substantially increasing the quality of instruction, improving student achievement and ensuring all high-school graduates are college- and career-ready.

Huppenthal hit the nail on the head when he told Klein, "I really believe that some form of CTE is essential for a world-class education. … Every surgeon needs to know how to sew, saw and drill."

--Micky A. Gutier, Phoenix

Liberal writers ignoring the truth

Republic columnist Laurie Roberts apparently thinks it is tomfoolery to seek the truth about Barack Obama.

There are enough inconsistencies on the birth certificate that was supposedly supplied by the White House from the president and enough questions as to where our current president was born to seek out once and for all his true birthplace.

It's not hard to tell which direction the political pendulum swings for your columnist and others at The Arizona Republic.

The truth will set you and our country free.

--Gary Carlston, Glendale

Don't deny payment for care at ER

People who believe they are having emergencies should go to the emergency room without fear that their health plans won't cover the visits.

That is the position of the nation's emergency physicians, a position backed by more than three-quarters of Americans who believe health insurance should pay for every ER visit.

Yet private health plans and Medicaid increasingly want to cut back on coverage for ER visits if those visits turn out to be non-emergencies.

The Prudent Layperson Standard protects people from exactly this kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking, since the average person cannot distinguish between excruciating pain that won't kill them and excruciating pain that will.

A recent poll shows that 85 percent of Americans who have been to the ER felt they could not have waited to see their regular doctors.

Apart from being bad medicine, denying payment for emergency care is short-sighted and unlikely to save much.

Emergency care represents just 2 percent of all health-care spending in the United States.

--Dr. Nicholas Vasquez, Chandler,

The writer is past president of the Arizona College of Emergency Physicians.

Bush backer needs to check further

Regarding "Don't blame Bush for bad economy" (Letters, Saturday):

The letter writer wants to blame President Bill Clinton for the housing bust. If she had checked, in 2003, George W. Bush wanted to appoint an overseer to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In 2003, there were 229 Republicans and 204 Democrats in the House; in the Senate, there were 51 Republicans and 48 Democrats. The measure failed.

Fannie and Freddie later hired Newt Gingrich to lobby the Republicans in their interest.

--Barbara Anderson, Mesa

Church-led values are solid values

Regarding a recent comment in letters about not forcing church-minded values on others: Values like honoring your mother and father, paying taxes, respecting something as fundamental as marriage?

Shouldn't stealing, perjury, adultery, also be left open to private interpretation? Stealing is just borrowing, isn't it?

Face facts: Church-minded values liberate everyone from chaotic, destructive behaviors. Good fences make good neighbors.

Meanwhile, mind if someone else "borrows" your car/wife indefinitely?

--Greg DiMichel, Peoria

Ken Bennett's self-inflicted wound

I am a solid Democrat. However, I have admired Ken Bennett for what I believed to be his honesty, level-headedness and desire to do what he saw as the best for Arizona. I have voted for him and had planned to consider voting for him for governor.

Imagine my shock when reading that he is promoting the "birther" cause, an action that is hard to see in any light other than an attempt to pander to the fantasies of an ever-shrinking segment of the Republican Party.

The only positive I see in the secretary of state's ill-advised, lamely explained decision is that its desperation in beating a dead horse lends credence to the growing number of voices proclaiming Arizona an in- play state for President Barack Obama.

--Ron Woerner, Prescott

Referendum would help end graft

People bemoan the fact that our elected representatives in state government have done little or nothing to stop the flood of gifts from influence peddlers.

Why would anyone expect the people receiving free anything to draft a law to halt the flow? If you wish to stop the practice, use the ballot referendum process.

I will sign the petition without hesitation if the law has teeth in it. Such a law should apply to all levels of Arizona government to elected and per diem persons alike.

--Michael Wright, Phoenix

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