Educatiion spending has increased, not decreased under Bush. The education profession is pretty much under the control of liberals,not conservatives. The results are not pretty. While the total amount of federal aid desired by some liberal or progressive members of Congress may not be "fully funded", the fact is that there is a dearth of data to demonstrate that increased spending per se increases the quality of education. America since Bush I has spent more and more, and our kids fall further and further behiind other nations in math and language skills. Most teachers are incredibly dedicated, but we are not recruiting our brightest people into the teaching profession. While theories like cooperative learning are heavily pushed in US education, the postive impact has yet to be proved. Yet we are asked to dump more and more money into a broken system.

Cities like Baltimore and Washington DC have awful schools and spend more per capita than more successful rural systems. Yes, there are more special ed needs in many city schools, but we find special ed needs are exploding even in suburbs with wealthier residents.

There is a cultural bias against education not by the elites but by ordinary people. If people don't read, they don't benefit from education. Our society does not read. The internet is not reading nor an opportunity to learn basics like civics or math.
It is political incorrectness to "make" our kids do anything.

We are raising kids in a mass consumption society that does not value hard work, sacrifice and learning despite propaganda by all poltiical parties to the contrary. Pouring money into schools inhabited by students who are zoned out by junk food, computer games, reality TV, little or no knowledge of the world outside their segregated communities, and lack of sleep is futile. Parents and communities have to have a clear picture of what we want kids to learn and the sacrifice in time as well as money that the effort will cost. That estimate is unavailable. The education industry is full of jargon and theories, and little knowledge of how to produce literate citizens. America 100 years ago with a lot fewer resources produced more educated and literate citizens, the vast majority of whom did not graduate high school.

As for colleges, that is a "racket" about which I will write at another time. Needless to say, they have sucked the taxpayers and tuition payers dry for years as the quality of the product declines.

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The Bushies and most Congress people are racketeers whose job is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer: the exact opposite of what would be real justice. Vote in November for real justice not for real criminals.

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Pushing 60 I've seen alot of lies, treachery and stupidity. The Stupidity (and Gullibility ), are unfortunately resting squarley on the shoulders of the Sheeple. Don't get you hopes up for any major succor come November.
One thing I've learned since my father was murdered by the AEC,....I found out about the atrocities this "benevolent" nation is responsible for,....The millions of deaths we as a nation are complicit in, ( by virtue of us allowing our government to run amok ), NEVER underestimate the U.S. Sheeple's ability to be duped.
Imagine the state of euphoria the whore-ish leaders and corporations must be experiencing now.
They use our money to murder their way into foreign markets, throw away our lives in the process, use our money to move our jobs to other nations and when they need more warm bodies?.....Just wave the flag and they'll come running in droves shouting, "take me!! take me!!
A nation of Sheep, led by a cartel of whores, controlled by big business. Welcome,....to the REAL Evil Empire.

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next month i will turn 64. I started listening to the world news on my little am radio.then the televison,and now the internet.
there has been a downward spiralof the intellect of the general population and, that is not going to change until we eliminate the corporate elite that has strangeled this nation.Historically any organized effort by the "people"to rectify this will be suppressed.An open violent revolt has been the only way that great change has been brought about.

To advocate such a course of action is probably illegal an you become a resident of a halliburton internment facility.

please read the complete address that chavez gave at the U.N. and you will see that the devil is truly in the bushco camp

If youwant to be a free nation again.organize,and keep your guns,ammo and supplies readily available,your going to need them.It will take more than the vote to oust these criminals...

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next month i will turn 64. I started listening to the world news on my little am radio.then the televison,and now the internet.
there has been a downward spiralof the intellect of the general population and, that is not going to change until we eliminate the corporate elite that has strangeled this nation.Historically any organized effort by the "people"to rectify this will be suppressed.An open violent revolt has been the only way that great change has been brought about.

To advocate such a course of action is probably illegal an you become a resident of a halliburton internment facility.

please read the complete address that chavez gave at the U.N. and you will see that the devil is truly in the bushco camp

If youwant to be a free nation again.organize,and keep your guns,ammo and supplies readily available,your going to need them.It will take more than the vote to oust these criminals...

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next month i will turn 64. I started listening to the world news on my little am radio.then the televison,and now the internet.
there has been a downward spiralof the intellect of the general population and, that is not going to change until we eliminate the corporate elite that has strangeled this nation.Historically any organized effort by the "people"to rectify this will be suppressed.An open violent revolt has been the only way that great change has been brought about.

To advocate such a course of action is probably illegal an you become a resident of a halliburton internment facility.

please read the complete address that chavez gave at the U.N. and you will see that the devil is truly in the bushco camp

If youwant to be a free nation again.organize,and keep your guns,ammo and supplies readily available,your going to need them.It will take more than the vote to oust these criminals...

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yes, the conservatives are evil.

But you lot are just as bad because you hate the majority. You hate the largest segment of America. You hate Bubba. HOW THE FARK CAN YOU PRETEND TO BE A LEFT WHEN YOU HATE THE LARGEST GODDAMN PORTION OF THE POPULATION?????
When you decided that the Left, the Democrats, were going to target as a constituency the women, the gays, the racial minorities, when you decided to play interest group politics instead of being a true left that centers around populist economics, you became instead a fakeLeft. And when there is a fake Left and no real Left, the conservatives had all they needed to dominate America.

The answer is that you cannot be a true left when you demonize the largest segment of the population. When you abandoned Bubba, you allowed the Right to dominate America. What has happened is not the fault of the RIght, but YOUR FAULT.

And now let's get down to the truth of it--you did not even DECIDE to abandon Bubba. That decision was made for you by the plutocrats and megacorps. You simply followed their lead. You are domestic cattle.

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as a university professor, we have begun to see a scary trend in our entering, first year or freshman classes, yes this issue became a 'departmental faculty hallway discussion' the other day. it seems that the entering class of students across the board are unable to think critically! we sumised that the cause is not just the dumbing down of the average high school student, but with the 'no child left behind act' they are so accustomed to being taught to the test that real education has taken a backseat. this year, for my introductory class to our dicipline, I changed to a new textbook that is written at a college level and does not have pictures and little box examples. the cry of outrage was amazing from the students! many told me they were unable to read the chapters! the original objective for me was to save them some money and the book is very well written. as usual, this is not to include having to unravel them from all the propaganda they have been fed over the years, but that is about normal. these students are products of being taught the test, not learning skills for the future (reading, writing, thinking etc.)! we, the american people have spent a huge chunk of money to dumb down our kids!

on the osama topic, all someone has to do is follow the trail of kidney dialysis tubing and disposables from supply manufacturers. as the old saying goes, follow the money.

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What do you expect when both political parties are funded by the same corporatocracy? Click on Open Secrets See who gives, who gets and how much. Ten minutes on this site will tell you all you need to know about politics and our corrupt system. I hope that it will make you mad enough to take action.

Notice I didn't say corrupt politicians I said corrupt system which is much worse. You can vote corrupt politicians out of office but you can't vote a corrupt system out of control.

Many liberals keep hoping that the Democratic Party will "wake up" or show a little "spine". It ain't going to happen under our present system. The Democrats won't back a candidate who will jeopardize their share of the campaign funds. Liberals wonder why the religious right votes against its own best interest and then do the same thing.

Politics is about money. That's why kings were toppled. That's why people fought for representation. That's what election are about. The rich and powerful know this and while we're voting about prayer in schools and gay marriage they're voting about tax laws and bankruptcy laws. Both parties have an unspoken platform. That is "don't bite the hand that feeds you".

If we want clean elections, if we want to live in peace, if we want better education, if we want fair taxation. health care, fair treatment of workers, I think we have to change the system.

I think we can do it by getting our issues on at least one party's platform and at best on both parties' platforms. I believe that we can do it if we can get enough people to spend five minutes of their time to demand what they want and I believe that we can do it before this election. Join The Lincoln Initiative. It costs nothing and takes five minutes.
Bob Reichenbach,
Director, The Lincoln Initiative.

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While I cannot attest to the accuracy of the figures, some things come clear out of this;

1. The world is run by the bankers, and all they care about is more money (=power).
2. The two-party system is a failure; (hopefully) when the democrats win the next election, they will bear the burden of all this financial mess (& fingers will be pointed).
3. Everything that costs the corporations or government is pushed ("trickles") down to the lowest common denominator, the poor.
4. The fact that the federal reserve is a private org is a disgrace and a clear indication of #1 above. Inflation is artificially created.

Do you have a mortgage? A car loan? Whatever debt you carry, pay it off. The system will soon crash, and these loans will be called, so the bankers will then own everything. If you work for a bank, quit!

The fact that a former CEO received $400M in his platinum parachute is disgusting - No human being needs this kind of money. People are dying of starvation, or ekeing out their life, and these pigs just want more. Stop worshipping them. They are evil. Stop reading the trash. Cancel your Cable and trash your TV's. Use your car as little as possible. Use cash. Don't buy anything plastic if possible.

About the only thing good that has come out of the last 20 years is the internet, simply because it's grassroots by nature and sites like Alternet have come out of it. Don't let them make it smaller. Don't let it become controlled by the few, like all other forms of media have because this has been a disaster.

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10) In 2005, Americans paid $4.3 billion in withdrawal fees at ATM’s and $16 billion to credit card companies in late fees alone. Republicans have suggested no remedies.

If you can't be bothered to keep track of your own financial habits to avoid ATM fees and credit card late fees, how exactly is that the responsibility of the Republican party?

Isn't this actually a matter of personal responsibility? Have Democrates suggested a remedy? Or vegans? Cats, dogs? I'm being facetious, but I really don't see the connection.

How about living within your means and carefully keeping track of your money?

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Both liberals and conservatives are responsible for what may be the single greatest threat to our collective future --- the assumptions driving No Child Left Behind.

Its proponents now want to nationalize it. Here are fourteen questions they need to answer first:

Question: Management experts say poor institutional performance almost always indicates a “system” problem. NCLB doesn’t blame poor performance on the system, it blames it on teachers and kids. Are the experts wrong?
Question: NCLB demands “standards and accountability” for school subjects. Wouldn’t it make more sense to key standards and accountability to ends rather than means, to kids’ ability to fuse and actually use what they’ve learned?
Question: Some researchers say pre-natal and early childhood care, environmental contamination, parental attitudes, family income, language facility and many other factors affect student performance. In well-run NCLB schools, are these irrelevant?
Question: NCLB relies on market forces to shape schools up. Does this mean that learning is “unnatural” and won’t happen unless teachers and kids are threatened or bribed?
Question: NCLB is rapidly pushing “frills” out of the curriculum. Has research now established that art, music, physical activity and so on have nothing to do with scientific and mathematical reasoning ability?
Question: Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of kids are being held back because of poor reading and math skills. Is the ability to interpret symbols the only way the young learn, and therefore sufficient reason to flunk them?
Question: NCLB’s aim is to “close the achievement gap.” The tools for measuring that gap are tests of symbol-manipulation skills. Don’t these skills track relative wealth and privilege, therefore tending to maintain the gap? And aren’t the tests incorrectly but nevertheless widely seen as indicators of intelligence, bringing into play gap-perpetuating self-fulfilling prophecies?
Question: NCLB goes a long way toward cutting local educators and school board members out of the decision-making loop. Does the history of top-down, centralized control suggest this change strategy works well?
Question: Education is supposed to teach kids to think for themselves, not just recall what they’ve been ordered to remember. Are the centerpieces of NCLB (corporately produced, machine-scored tests) able to judge the relative quality of complex thought processes? If so, why aren’t they doing that?
Question: NCLB assumes the “core” curriculum (the mainstay of present schooling) is as appropriate today as it was when it was adopted in 1892. Is it?
Question: If there are problems with the traditional, same-thing-for-everybody curriculum, don’t “raising the bar” and “rigor” make them worse?
Question: Will manipulating the curriculum to “maintain America’s competitive position” be more likely to ensure America’s future well-being than helping kids love learning because it lets them pursue their interests and talents wherever they lead?
Question: Frantic to avoid the test-triggered “failing” label, most schools use myriad strategies to “game” NCLB. For example, knowing the worst kids will never make the cut on high-stakes tests, and the best will do so without help, the “marginal middle” gets the attention. Is it possible to track and counter all such strategies?
Question: Many educators (maybe most) now assume that NCLB is a clever strategy less concerned with closing the achievement gap than with undermining confidence in public education and laying the groundwork for privatizing the institution. Are they wrong? And if they are, how can their cynicism be countered and morale restored?

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And the Dems are afraid of being accused of "class warfare". No wonder they are out in the cold.

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Why this bastard is still in office, and why the american people stand by and do nothing while their economic security is cut out from under them is beyond me. It is absolutely jaw-dropping to witness how this country is being led to ruin by an ignorant madman while "we, the people" do nothing. There should be one million people demonstrating in Washington every single day for the removal of this administration – and yet enough voters in this country still believed in Bush to produce an election close enough to allow massive fraud to put this charlatan back in office a second time. (And no one will bother to question a crooked election, either.) They're STILL demonstrating in Mexico over their rigged presidential election; what's wrong with us?

Is it going to take the complete collapse of democracy (and the economy) in this country to finally wake people up to the danger within our own government? Will we be like the "Good Germans" in the 1930's who believed in "save me at any cost," until their country was left in complete social – and physical – ruin? Apparently so. But if it gets to that point, there will be no way back; there will be no Marshall Plan for us, only darkness.

Remember, the Dark Ages lasted from roughly 420 AD to the Renaissance, over one thousand years. (Coincidentally, Hitler's Third Reich was to last a thousand years as well.) I may be paranoid, but I fear that it could happen again. After all, in our present authoritarian state of mind and acceptance of a quasi-dictatorship, what is to stop it?

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The moneychangers are not only doing business in the temple, they now own and run the temple.

I'm no wild-eyed radical, but our nation is in deep trouble internally. The risk to our democracy and the future of our families is at greater risk from what is going on inside the D.C. Beltway than from any extremist in SW Asia. It didn't start with Dubya, it's not only the product of NeoCons or Republicans, and has been a long time coming to fruition.

In my mind, we started down this road when the Supreme Court gave Corporations the standing of individuals in US courts. While it didn't seem that dramatic at the time, it was the opening of Pandora's Box. Much of the legal basis for so much of what is wrong with politics, lobbying, trade associations, industry think tanks, etc. is all descendent from this decision.

It was once said that insanity is doing the sam thing over and over while expecting different results. Our dumbed-down, functionally illiterate, parochial, historically ignorant populace has been led to slaughter by the same people and interests that have lulled them to sleep.

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1. Turn on Faux News where it's black and white, right and wrong and the US ALWAYS has the moral initiative.

2. Load up the kids in the gas guzzling Escalade they can't afford, pull out of the driveway of a house they will soon be auctioning off and head to the mall to max out their credit cards buying useless shit they don't need.
Awww - shopping: the great elixir to combat America's reality blues.

3. Get sidetracked on an issue like gay marriage and how "immoral" it is vs. killing families with laser-guided missiles.

4. Get sucker punched by a hurricane whose devestation could have been greatly reduced if not for the arrogance of our liar-in-thief. Fail to give the victims a home or clean drinking water a full year after the event and simply ignore the problem.

5. Ignore the fact that they are living in the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't provide some sort of state sponsored healthcare; tell themselves that our "high-tech" medicine (that kills tens of thousands of people every year) is so expensive because it's so good. Remember that the next time you wait 50 minutes for an appointment and actually see the doctor for 10 only to buy a $100 prescription that is free somewhere else.

6. Drift off into a network wonderland, letting the Will and Grace wash over them. Then proceed to watch 3 more hours of television and contemplate reading "that" book their wife/friend/father foolishly gave them for Christmas 3 years ago.

7. Order up another 30" pizza, wash it down with a gallon of coke and then spark up a Marlboro red. It's pretty hard to concern yourself with wars or budget deficits when you're hanging on for dear life. Oxygen masks make it pretty difficult to read hard-hitting magazines like People or Readers Digest.

8. Chalk up another rail, cook up another dose or drop another tab. Drugs, like Calgon, will take you away. Yes Americans are bar none the world's biggest dopers and pushers and with Afghanistan and Colombia in your hip pocket, it's not hard to flood the streets with cheap, er, I mean expensive drugs. It's also pretty easy to incarcerate blacks and latinos for dealing them thereby giving a much needed boost to your friends in the private "corrections" industry while having the intended consequence of widdling down Democratic voting rosters. I hear those inmates make a great pair jeans though.

9. You may have to face reality once in awhile but that doesn't mean your kids have to. Nothing says "bright future" like a generation of teenagers (and by all rights many adults) raised on thousands of hours of sidesplitting fun playing some game called "Impaler 3: Skull F*ck" on their PS2.

10. Tell themselves that everything will be alright in 2006, then 2008, then 2012 - all so they don't have to act now.

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The GOP has managed to distract and confuse the citizens so much on issues leading up to the elections that I think the majority of citizens, those whose interests do not belong with BushCo, will just stay home.
The word is the Dems are going to take the House. This statement is encouragement to the BushCo base. Do we really have an opposition party??? NO So...ooo maybe two more years of the same ole same ole lies and deceit.
Listen closely to what John McCain is saying about the torture compromise.....confusing the electorate big time. As far as the Dems I don't think they care about the people. It's every "man for him himself". We had better be ALERT, the years ahead are not going to be pretty!!!

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Yes, this is true. Let us look at Iraq, hundreds of billions spent, and is the war any closer to being won??? Let us look at the "war on terrorism," hundreds of billions spent, but where is Osama? So, why could we not have an even better military and cut defense by a couple hundred billion? Oh, you want to apply this spend less crackpot logic to education however. Hypocrites. The Republicans line is always the same, "nose to the grindstone," "morality," "good values, etc." But when it comes to them, its tax cuts (for the top 10%), no increase in minimum wage, no healthcare for the poor, schools not getting the money they need (they always forget that more students are in school and we have inflation when saying more is being spent), and of course, billions and billions spent on the military. But have these billions spent helped us at all? When will the war end if it has? Have the tax cuts for the super rich really helped the economy? Well, what you need is less money for the military and no tax cuts. You just need to deal with it Repubs., work harder, quit being lazy.

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For those who haven`t browsed "Buzzflash" yet...here is an artical by Tom Engelhardt that everone of us needs to read
all the way through!! http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=123690
The artical is titled "Lost In A Bermuda Triangle of Injustice"
Read it ...then realize how disconnected the media is in bringing world news to our population. And how much further along is the move to a new world order!

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Tom Engelhardt's "Lost In A Bermuda Triangle of Injustice" is a great read.

Unfortunately, it still doesn't shed light on whether prisoners in these state-of-the-art facilities are being held in place with magnets.

I would have expected by now that with all the hundreds of billions we've given to Securitas, Pinkerton, etc. they would have come up with magnetic prisoner restraint systems, or at least some kind of prison-guard-union-approved LRAD-mindscrambler.

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While this list is accurate (and incomplete), one thing that must be remembered and not ignored is that none of these things could have happened without the cowardice and complicity of the spineless Democrats. Keep that in mind in November, or watch history repeat.

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1. True, but misleading

2. I'm betting just about every tax cut from here on out is going to benefit the rich. Why? They pay almost all of the taxes already

3. Tax breaks for corporations create jobs. See: Reaganomics.

4. Ah, gas prices. The one big thing that everyone was blaming on Bush, but are now mysteriously silent about. They're dropping at the worst possible time. Just admit it.

5. Because minimum wage is a stupid idea. It hurts those who it purports to assist. Here's just one of many articles on the negative consequences of minimum wage.

6. I'm sure there was a rational explanation for this too, but for the moment, I'm mad about it too.

7. And its all Bush's fault that baby-boomers are starting to get old. Privatize it, already.

8. Probably one of the most misleading sentences in this article.

9. See #7

10. Of all the possible charges to lay against Bush, you chose ATM fees as your big finale?

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You're on the verge of an epiphany. More money means...same results. Hmmm, what exactly is it that conservatives have been saying all along?

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and jacked-off by Abraham. You know, the lobbyist.

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By the way may I add the Reagan recovery was nothing compared to the prosperity of the Clinton years if you look back in history you will see during the Reagan years the gap between rich and poor increased ask any expert on the economy and if they had to choose between the Reagan years, the Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2 years they would choose Clinton.

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Well I understand that these complaints all come from a liberal perspective and all, but I just have to comment on a couple of them.

Your complaint about the tax cuts is really lame. It’s simple math that explains why the rich seem to be the biggest beneficiaries of the tax cut. They’re the ones paying taxes. A tax cut for the poor isn’t a tax cut because they aren’t paying anything. Something from nothing is still nothing.

That having been said though, the tax cuts actually help everyone, especially the poor. First of all, the cuts were necessary to recover from the recession that we inherited from the previous administration. Tax cuts are always the answer whenever the economy is sluggish. What happens when taxes are cut is that people have more money to spend and that causes more commerce, which in turn helps businesses, which creates more jobs. And more jobs help poor folks. It also increases the GDP and the size of the tax base and that’s why the government has record tax receipts now. You folks ought to be pleased about that. After all, you want government to have a lot of money, don’t you?

Also, the way these so called tax cuts for the rich panned out is that the bottom fifty percent of wage earners are actually paying a lower percentage of the tax burden than before the tax cuts.

Thanks to the tax cuts, the gap between revenues and outlays are closing too . . . in spite of all the unnecessary spending that we have. The CBO is projecting the budget to be balanced and close to surplus territory within 10 years with the current spending projections. Now if we can get the government to spend even less, we can have a balanced budget much sooner than that.

Now, as far as corporate taxes . . . you can’t really tax businesses. It happens, but it’s a mirage. For a business to be viable, it has to maintain a bottom line profit. That profit is never too much, because in order for a business to stay competitive, it has to keep the price of it’s goods down. So if a government entity comes along and imposes another expense (a tax), the business has to adjust something so that it doesn’t change the bottom line profit. That can be done by either raising the price of the product, cutting labor, or finding a cheaper w