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Show Tuesday, February 19, 2008 DAILY HERALD EDITOMALS A5 EDITORIAL 2mttj&?lcrotf BOARD Craig Dennis, President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor Jim Tynen, Editorial Page Editor IN OUR VIEW Slowdown has a fringe benefit ot so fast. The state Legislature has just lowered its estimate of how much money will be available in the next fiscal year. This reminder of the need for fiscal caution comes at Second, we don't see that the Legislature is ready to solve many urgent problems this session ' anyway. An important task force studying health care reform wont report its major initiatives until the fall. And at one point, legislators the right time. talked up tax cuts. The governor State lawmakers will have at wanted to ease up on tax reducleast $300 million less to play with tions this year, especially until the than was projected just three effect of the most recent cuts can months ago. Beginning in the fall, be measured. That sounds like tax revenue began to taper off. A a better idea than ever, and we national slump in the housing secexpect calls for tax cuts to grow tor and a resulting credit crunch ever more faint. slowed the economy. Now Utah Utah has some "really home sales have dipped. The state items coming at it like freight has seen a 1 percent increase in trains: perhaps not at top speed, but with tremendous force. One unemployment. The effect of that economic is the tsunami of students headsoftening is still rippling through ing this way. Already education the Beehive State. advocates complain about Utah's low spending per pupil and overPlus, the federal government's the national crowded classrooms, but they ' attempt to kick-staeconomy has slammed Utah's cof- haven't seen anything yet. Enrollfers. Tax breaks for businesses ment will grow by more than will mean $65 million less for the 200,000 students by 2022. In Utah state, and interest rate cuts will County alone, school enrollment slice another $200 million from will grow by more than 57,000. what Utah expected to take in. Since the voucher movement was defeated, we haven't heard Right off the bat, that should be a warning to legislators to be of any good ideas of how to find cautious about peering into the the estimated $6 billion needed future. An economic storm can to build schools across the state, blow in fast. Then it's much hardor how to raise the more than $4 er to cut back on spending, or to billion needed every year to fund find money for vital projects. public education by 2022. There It's true that state leaders still seems no way to dodge those : are looking at a surplus of $776 costs, so legislators must rememever. But ber how much public schools will million, the the base budget includes money eat up in the future. for education growth and raises Don't forget highways. The for teachers, leaving $613 million Utah Department of Transportaavailable. tion estimates the state will need to spend at least $30 billion on Capitol Hill leaders say theyjl rein in the roads between now and 2030. Without good highways, traffic spending fantasies. Flush times s are tempting. But a slowing will slowly suffocate the stream of money should remind state's economy. These are just the basics. The everyone at the Capitol to tackle silver lining in the cloud of slowonly the items that are really im- -' ing revenues may be that the portant to Utahns, and that are genuinely in the bailiwick of state Legislature may be encouraged to start cutting back now. government. big-tick- CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER rt third-highe- st chicken-in-every-p- " tie-up- of painful compromise that will be essential in keeping Iraq from more violent Balkanization. Ironically, all this good news might make it harder to get American military personnel out of the country. The better things go in Iraq, the less likely it is that U.S. generals (or politicians) will want to risk jeopardizing their hard-wo- n gains by drawing down. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has agreed to a request by Gen. David H. Petraeus to e level of return to the about 130,000 troops by August, and then allow a "strategic pause" to evaluate whether more can ' pre-surg- come home. Battlefield commanders know best how many troops are needed to keep the country stable, but as a political and economic matter, U.S. forces must leave Iraq evensooner, if voters choose tually a Democratic president, much latis Republier if the president-elec- t can John McCain. Either way, the United States needs a logical, orderly exit strategy that minimizes the risk that civil war will resume when our troops leave. If the momentum of Iraq's political surge is sustained, it's conceivable that the United States, having torn the country apart in invasion and a an disastrous occupation, could help glue the biggest pieces together on its way out the door. But building a decent government will probably prove even harder than curbing the violence. And even under the rosiest scenario, it will be our moral duty to provide large-scal- e political, military and humanitarian aid, including support for the refugees who are beginning to trickle back home, for many years to come. .ALTHOUGH SOME n&IHPLANTQJKG&f HO UNG& NOHTHe I L ' CAVEP LEFT SIX. I m KOPIS A&BenenAieeaxm- &fl6KXWV I mes-sianis- GUEST OPINION Over the past year, UVSC has received .approval for new programs in mecha-tronic- s and developed the new Clyde Career and Technical Institute of Construction ManageFebruary Month is a great to highlight such op- ment. Similarly we have transferred portunities in Utah and at Utah Valley programs in welding and professional State College. The college has rapidly driving to Mountainland Applied Techbroadened its mission over the past nology College. UVSC has a long tradition of being year as it transitions to Utah Valley one of the strongest CTE providers in University. In this process one question is constantly asked: "Is Utah Valthe nation. Annually, UVSC competes in the national Skills USA competition, ley State College abandoning its roots at which UVSC has finished first or -of career and technical education?" To this question I respond resoundsecond in the country in the number of medals won by a single institution. ingly, "No." Utah Valley State College This past year, UVSC won seven gold remains the second-largeprovider of CTE in the state of Utah, trailing medals, three silver and four bronze. only Salt Lake Community College. Of We continually have high pass rates UVSC's student population, 21 percent on licensing and certification examina11,831 adults and 3,350 high school tionsThe Utah Foundation found that UVSC graduates had some of the highstudents are career and technical est salaries and placements in the state students. The CTE program at Utah Valley of Utah. UVSC has been a leader in develState College remains strong and continues to evolve. This means that UVSC oping a partnership model with the is constantly adding and eliminating Mountainland Applied Technology programs as the marketplace demands. College. UVSC has provided the credit- st y SEKHWW omets. bearing courses and degrees while the MATC has conducted the courses and certificates as well as providing open entry and open exit courses. UVSC and MATC have teamed together to provide apprenticeship opportunities for the Utah Trades. These programs assess the interests of the students and then place them in a program that fits their needs. If students intend to continue their education by seeking an associate's or bachelor's degree, they are funneled into a college credit program. If the student is seeking a journeyman's license or certification, he or she is directed to MATC. The main priority of Utah Valley State College is meeting the work force and education needs of the region. This requires a deliberate education plan coordinated by UVSC and MATC to provide the training needs of Utah, Wasatch Summit and Juab " non-cred- it ' counties. I William A. Sederburg is president of Utah Valley State College. How to comment Omm letters to dhlettersheraldextra.com Fax to Mail to P.O. Box 717, We're keeping Katrina victims well preserved. 344-298- 5 Provo, UT 84603. Letters must include the .author's full name, address and daytime phone number. We prefer shorter letters, to 200 words. Letters may be edited for length I Writers are encouraged to include their occupation and other personal information. 100 I Because of the volume of let- ters, we cannot acknowledge unpublished letters. I Letters become the property of the Daily Herald. MALLARD FILLMORE Garry Trudeau DOONESBURY & w? APHASIA. AiXXJKNOM A HAFP TOC MKr Ht WG Hmetf UW85KXX silver-tongue- ABC's Jake Tapper notes the promissory notes on the future that cultish qualities" of "Obama he can't possibly redeem. Promises to heal the world with negotiations with worshipers," what Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times calls "the Cult of the likes of Iran's President Ahmadine-jad- . Obama." Promises to transcend the conunObama's Super Tuesday victory drums of entitlement reform. Promises to fund his other promises by a rapid speech was too much for Time's Joe Klein. "There was something just a withdrawal from an unpopular war. wee bit creepy about the mass Democrats are worried that the ... ," he wrote. Obama spell will break between the time of his nomination and the time of You might dismiss The New York Times' Paul Krugman's complaint the election. My guess is that he can that "the Obama campaign seems maintain the spell just past Inauguration Day. After which will come the dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality" as hyperbole. Until you awakening. It will be rude. hear Chris Matthews react to Obama's Potomac primary victory speech with I Charles Krauthammer is a "My, I felt this thrill going up my leg." columnist with the Washington Obama is going around issuing sPost Writers Group. William A. Sederburg The political surge has taken nine bloody and difficult months, but the deployment of 30,000 additional U.S. troops appears at last to have brought not just a lull in the sectarian fighting in Iraq, but the first tangible steps toward genuine political reconciliation. Last week, the parliament passed a crucial package of legislation that reflects real compromise among the many factions on three of the thorniest issues that have bedeviled Iraq. First, a law requires that provincial elections be held by Oct. 1, and requires that a law spelling out the details on conducting the election be passed within 90 days. This is essential because there hasn't been legitimate, elected local leadership in much of Iraq since Sunnis boycotted the 2005 local elections. Free elections of leaders who would be accountable to their populations would make it possible for the U.S. to hand over power in many Sunni areas and draw down. Second, an amnesty law will of allow the release prisoners, most of whom are Sunnis and many of whom have been held for months in hideously overcrowded jails. The amnesty was a key condition for the Iraq Accord Front, a Sunni party, to return to the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, which it quit last summer. Maliki reportedly hopes to form a new Cabinet soon. The package also included a national budget, finally passed on the seventh try. It gives 17 per- cent of national revenues to Kurdistan more than the Sunnis wanted, but a first try at the kind no better path to success people to buy a free Like the genius who figured out how to get people to pay for water, bottle it. And now, in the most amazing d trick of all, a freshman senator has found a way to sell hope. To get it, you need only give Barack Obama your vote. "We are the hope of the future," sayeth Obama. We can "remake this world as it should be." Which is why the Obama campaign has the feel of a religious revival with, as writer James Wolcott observed, an "idealistic zeal divorced from any particular policy or cause and chariot-drive- n by pure euphoria." There's WSC maintains career, technical education MEDIA VOICES From the Los Angeles Times, Monday, Feb. 18, 2008: Obama selling hope, repackaged aT" COCK! rW wwi" I bfiKVr trt? I www - T?1 ATAMT Bruce Tinsley . |