A Sonoran Truth Editorial, July 29, 2013.
A final reflection of La Mar’s Sonoran News’ Letter to the Editor…La Mar is a lawyer. The Profession of law is filled with Psychopaths. Typical of lawyers, they don’t see anything wrong with that.
A psychopath is an individual who is incapable of feeling guilt, remorse or empathy for their actions. They are generally cunning, manipulative and know the difference between right and wrong but dismiss it as applying to them. They are incapable of normal emotions such as love, generally react without considering the consequences of their actions and show extreme egocentric and narcissistic behavior.
http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/psychopaths.htm
In other words, Steve La Mar. “La Mar has always been a malignant force, in my humble opinion. He was a nasty man for all the years he was on P&Z too. I’ve never had a dealing with him that was not unpleasant.”
Steve claims that the new council is missing an opportunity to buy state land at a rock bottom price, as if the state land were in foreclosure and Cave Creek could take advantage of the state’s financial misfortune.
First, the State Land mentioned has never been for sale and is not now. So Steve is kind of selling the citizens of Cave Creek the proverbial Brooklyn Bridge or swamp land in Florida. Seems Arizona has had its fair share of land swindles too. Perhaps Steve picked up some pointers while he was working for the AG’s office? In any event, Steve’s behavior is textbook, psychopath. Why would Steve want to rip off the State Land Department by buying a choice piece of land for less than its worth?
Do any of you know why we have a state land department? To fund K-12 education. Seems the Federal Government gave Arizona millions of acres of land which were stolen from the indigenous tribes of Arizona to fund education as the Territory transformed into Statehood back in 1912. Psychopathy is ingrained in our government and culture.
The State just doesn’t accept offers from wide eyed and wooly lawyers like Steve who claim to represent the citizens of Cave Creek. No, the state sets up auctions and has developers and other interested parties do feasibility studies on parcels to affect the highest and best value for the beneficiaries of state land—the children of Arizona.
“The primary and continuing goal of the Arizona State Land Department is to increase revenue for the beneficiaries of State Trust Land and to protect its long term interest.”
But education in Arizona is a travesty:
• Arizona ranks 50th in the nation in any fair comparison of per pupil spending.
• Arizona spends $6,248 per pupil (2006-07), $3,000 less than the national average of $9,389.
• Every national ranking of per pupil funding consistently shows Arizona at or near the bottom of the 50 states.
• From 1986-87 through 2006-07, Arizona’s percentage change in expenditure per pupil has been -0.96%, while nationally it was 36.56%. This means that Arizona has actually decreased its relative per pupil funding while other states have increased their expenditures.
Source: American Legislative Exchange Council Report Card on American Education, 2006-07 figures.
K-12 Education Employee Salaries
• Arizona ranks 36th in the nation for public school teacher salaries with a teacher salary average more than $6,500 below the national average.
• Arizona ranks 44th in the nation for public school instructional staff salaries with a salary average almost $9,000 below the national average
Public school teachers comprise elementary school and secondary school classroom teachers. The most recent data available is available from the National Education Association – NEA Ranking of the States 2008.
Instructional staff comprises teachers, principals, supervisors, librarians, guidance and psychological personal, and related instructional workers.
Source: National Education Association Ranking of the States, 2008
Class Size
• Arizona’s class size average is second highest in the nation, with an average of 24.2 students per class, compared to a national average of 15.3.
• Arizona is one of only four states in the nation that have increased class sizes over the last ten years.
• Arizona increased its class size average 31.72% over the last 20 years, while the nationwide average fell 11.9% over the same time period.
Source: American Legislative Exchange Council Report Card on American Education, 2006-07 figures.
Student Enrollment Growth
• Arizona ranks second in the nation for percentage increase in public school enrollment, far outpacing the national average.
• Arizona’s Average Daily Membership (ADM) has increased from 840,130 in school year 1999-2000 to 1,044,785 in school year 2007-08.
Source: Annual Report of the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 and NEA Ranking of the States, 2008
Arizona K-12 Test Scores
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP):
Arizona’s national rank for 2007 NAEP Scores in given content areas and grade levels:
Grade 4 Mathematics Rank, 44
Grade 4 Reading Rank, 47
Grade 8 Mathematics Rank, 37
Grade 8 Reading Rank, 42
ACT and SAT (Scores for Arizona’s college-bound high school students)
The ACT and SAT exams are “self-proscribed” tests taken primarily by the highest achievers in the student population. ACT (2008)
Arizona’s ACT 2008 Composite Score ranks 21st in the nation.
Arizona’s SAT Composite Score ranks 31st in the nation.
Arizona’s student participation rates for the ACT and SAT exams are among the lowest in the nation.
Source: ALEC – American Legislative Exchange Council Report Card on American Education
http://arizonaea.org/pdfs/politics/EdFun…
When students graduate stupid, the become bad citizens. They can’t think, reason, use cognitive skills and as a result, criminal behavior escalates.
Thanks Steve. Your leadership skills are duly noted. Please spend the rest of your life under a rock.