The Failure of Government Schools
20/20
John Stossel's
"Stupid In America"

There are many reasons that the public school systems in America fail to properly educate and lag behind many school systems around the world. Most of these reasons were brilliantly articulated by John Stossel in his 1/13/06 special "Stupid In America". A sample free video cut can be viewed here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1500594

*Video best viewed on a broad band connection*

"American students fizzle in international comparisons, placing 18th in reading, 22nd in science and 28th in math behind countries like Poland, Australia and Korea. But why? Are American kids less intelligent? John Stossel looks at the ways the U.S. public education system cheats students out of a quality education.

"We're not stupid. But we could do better," one high school student tells Stossel. Another says, "I think it has to be something with the school, 'cause I don't think we're stupider."

That's the question Stossel examines in his special report: What is it that's going wrong in public schools?

There are many factors that contribute to failure in school. A major factor, Stossel finds, is the government's monopoly over the school system. Parents don't get to choose where to send their children. In other countries, choice brings competition, and competition improves performance.

Stossel questions government officials, union leaders, parents and students and learns some surprising things about what's happening in U.S. schools. He also examines how the educational system can be improved upon and reports on innovative programs across the country."

Stossel's main point is that Public Schools in the US are a governmental monopoly. Choice leads to competition and competition leads to superior products. This particular product would be the education of our children.

Our children are assigned to a particular school based on the location of their residence. Of course, the students living in wealthier neighborhoods have the edge in quality and funding. Is your school terrible? Are your taxes paying for a dismal education system where you live? Are your children stuck with BAD teachers that have tenure and can not be fired by their employer due to union contracts? The answer to all this is......Too bad. You have no choice unless you can afford to move or pay your taxes AND pay private tuition. Not only is this a frustration for the parents but, also the outstanding teachers that are forced to helplessly watch the incompetence among other teachers and administrators alike. Sometime the only alternatives are to pay poor teachers to do things other than teach or, to just try to transfer the problem to another school and let them handle it. They call this pratice the "Dance of the Lemons".

If you are interested in viewing the entire show, a VHS or DVD can be bought from ABC for $29.95 here:

http://www.abcnewsstore.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=customer.product&product_code=T060113%2001&category_code=HOME

Study Finds That Democrat and Republican Extremes Lack the Ability to Reason

In a scientific study featured by MSN/MSNBC, it shows that "Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way". Thus the Spin Doctor was born.

"The tests involved pairs of statements by the candidates, President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, that clearly contradicted each other. The test subjects were asked to consider and rate the discrepancy. Then they were presented with another statement that might explain away the contradiction. The scenario was repeated several times for each candidate.
A brain-scan technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, revealed a consistent pattern. Both Republicans and Democrats consistently denied obvious contradictions for their own candidate but detected contradictions in the opposing candidate."

The study went on to say that the beliefs were so strongly held that these people could learn very little from new data/information. This is especially so if it contradicts someone on their "team" or argues against an assumption they have a political belief in.

This sort of thing is what really turns off the free thinking individuals. The embarrassing extremes often chase out those that are more mainstream or don't tolerate hypocrites or automatons. It is definitely this closed mindedness that lead me to the Libertarian party forsaking the Republicans.

Note:
The credit for finding this study goes to Bhfrik of the blog "Club Lefty". This prolific blog definitely leans to the left but, is well thought out and brings up many interesting topics of interest.

We are Bush...

Your 4th Amendment will be Assimilated

Resistance is Futile!

We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Your telephone and e-mail communications will become one with ours. Your birth, educational, occupational, marital, medical, financial, political, and service records have been downloaded, recompiled, and disseminated to us. We are Bush.....

Quoting President Bush:

"It's seems logical to me that if we know there's a phone number associated with al-Qaida or an al-Qaida affiliate and they're making phone calls, it makes sense to find out why," Bush said. http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060102-123422-7213r.htm

Clearly this is misdirection on the part of President Bush. The administration here is attempting to take advantage of America's "Attention Deficit Disorder". Of course it would be sound and reasonable to monitor calls from "known" terrorists to US citizens. A.D.D. America is supposed to associate this reasonableness to the NSA's warrantless program as a whole.

Those familiar with FISA realize that Pres. Bush is perhaps unwittingly putting forward an argument against warrantless surveillance. Here he stipulates that a phone number connected to al-Qaida or an affiliate is known. Many times in the recent past he has insisted that these measures are only used when there is a "clear link" to terrorist organizations. This foreknowledge and clear links amount to instant Probable Cause. There is no judge in the US that would deny a surveillance warrant in such cases. Another line of rhetoric revolves around the need for the timely engagement of surveillance. In the past, the Bush administration has made the point that there is not time to get a warrant. This is not true. Under a legal use of FISA, the NSA may engage in surveillance immediately. They then must contact a judge and request a warrant within 72 hours after initializing surveillance. This retroactive feature of FISA is legal, proper, and nullifies any complaints regarding speed.

The question then is why the administration wants to be able to exercise warrantless searches if warrants are easily had in his offered scenarios and can be approved retroactively? It has been reported by the administration that protocol demands that one of the callers be located outside the US. It has been admitted that "accidents" have occurred where improperly trained agents have "accidentally" intercepted communications that originated in the US and ended in the US. Does the Bush administration want these "accidents" to continue? A judge would deny the warrant and report to the NSA that this particular monitoring is not in line with the Constitution and MUST be stopped. Not exactly convenient if you want the Plausible Deniability afforded by incompetent staff. Perhaps they would like to inadvertently monitor Democrat communications and uncover closeted homosexuals, mistresses, drug use, and other compromising evidences.

Another excuse is that allegedly Clinton and Carter violated the Constitution in this manner as well. Even if true, that does not excuse the continuance of such activities by the current administration. The President should come out with a statement announcing a review of FISA use was conducted and; it was determined to be improper without a warrant. The bad precedent set by past administrations could excuse this temporary faulty assessment of proper FISA use. If this is ended for all administrations it would be a positive outcome for the nation. The allegiance of this writer is to Freedom not a particular party. If the President chooses to cease this illegal spying and set a proper precedent, my voting patterns would not likely change. This writer admits to voting for him twice. If the President continues to abuse the rights our Founding Fathers found Self-Evident, then I will join the Democrat cries for impeachment.

*Note: The Bush Borg picture was found at topplebush.com.