Education:The Truth

Myths About U.S. Students

Taking issue with data released last year by the U.S. Department of Education, The Washington Post refuted five myths about how American students are really performing on the international circuit:

Myth #1: U.S. students rate poorly compared to students in the rest of the world.
Truth: This is only the case if you pick and choose the results. In subjects like math and science, U.S. students per­formed in the middle of the pack - not great, but hardly a crisis. By the same token, no country scored higher than the United States in civics. And in reading, American students outper­formed 87 percent of the stu­dents in other industrialized nations.

Myth #2: U.S. students are falling behind.
Truth: As the "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies" (TTMSS) shows, American eighth graders actually boosted their scores in math and science in 1995, 1999, and 2003, despite an increasing, percentage of diverse learners. Nevertheless, focus is often placed on where American students rank instead of on their improvement. This makes it seem that other countries are doing better.

Myth #3: U.S. students will be ill-prepared for the 21st century work­force. This myth is part of the never-ending notion that U.S. schools are in crisis.
Truth: This concern has been around since the turn of the 19th century when business leaders blamed schools when workers weren't adequately prepared. What's more, in the 20th century, head­lines such as "Crisis in Education" and A Nation at Risk caused people to wonder whether America could possibly have a single citizen capable of producing or inventing a thing.

Myth #4: Bad schooling has under­mined America's competitiveness. Truth: Last year the World Economic Forum dropped the United States from first to sixth place in its survey of interna­tional economies. This decline had nothing to do with school performance but rather with trade deficits, a low savings rate, tax cuts, and the federal government's increased spending on defense and homeland security.

Myth #5: How we stack up on international tests matters, if only for national pride.
Truth: Indeed, we are a nation of achievers and take pride in being number one. But if being first in education is our goal, shouldn't we also want to be first in other things linked closely to academic achievement, such as providing quality health care to every child, trimming the obesity problem, or wiping out homeless-ness? Making the quality of life better for all children is the target, no matter whether the United States is first on the SATs or not.

Source: The Washington Post

Did You Know - Representative Tom Feeney

More Republican shenanigans. From Tampa Bay.com - click here to read the whole article...

WASHINGTON - The FBI has asked U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney for information about his dealings with Jack Abramoff as part of its ongoing investigation into the lobbyist convicted of defrauding clients.

FBI agent Kevin Luebke refused to say whether Feeney, a Republican from the Orlando area, is under federal investigation.

Federal agents also have asked the St. Petersburg Times for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing a golfing trip the congressman took with Abramoff to Scotland in 2003.

Feeney did not return calls for comment Monday. But his Washington office released a statement to the Times late Monday.

"Rep. Feeney considers this an embarrassing episode in his 17-year career as an elected official and an expensive lesson for him as a public servant," according to the statement.
Feeney is one of three House members who accompanied Abramoff to Scotland on trips that included rounds of golf at the legendary Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews.
The others are: former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who is serving prison time for corruption, and former House Republican leader Tom DeLay, indicted in Texas for alleged improper fundraising, is under investigation.

Did You Know - Lots of Bushie Troubles

What do Scooter Libby, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz and J. Steven Griles all have in common? They're all on the list of Bush appointees who've gotten themselves in trouble in the Boston Globe. Click here to read the article...

Did You Know - Abusing Taxpayer Money

I don't care who it is - abusing taxpayers money is abusing power.

The following is from Examiner.com - click here to read the whole article...

WASHINGTON - Congress is keeping Andrews Air Force base plenty busy this year ferrying lawmakers all over the globe at taxpayers’ expense. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi took his wife, nine Democrats and two Republicans - Reps. Dan Lungren of California and Mike Rogers of Alabama - on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean last week. After stops in Honduras and Mexico, they stopped in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the delegation stayed at the five-star Caneel Bay resort.

In a separate trip to the Caribbean last week, Rep. Eliot Engel of New York squired his wife and four Democratic members to Grenada and Trinidad.

All told, the military flew at least 13 congressional delegations to various destinations during the Easter recess -- at an estimated rate of $10,000 or more per flying hour.

Did You Know - No Drug Negotiations

I guess it's all in the perspective - do we allow big business to set the rules of governance because we can't survive without them? Or do we do everything we can to protect the average folks who are powerless against the wealth and control of big business? The major confrontation between Democrats and Republicans comes down to this argument. Forget "big government" and "higher taxes" - the real difference is over who are the primary recipients of the governments largesse.

The following is from Free Internet Press - click here to view the source...

A pillar of the Democratic political program tumbled today when Republicans in the Senate blocked a proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for millions of older Americans, a practice now forbidden by law.

Democrats could not muster the 60 votes needed to take up the legislation in the face of staunch opposition from Republicans, who said that private insurers and their agents, known as pharmacy benefit managers, were already negotiating large discounts for Medicare beneficiaries.

Did You Know - CYA

Is there something for the Bush administration to cover up? Is there Executive privilege for information passed by the White House outside of official channels? President Bush looks to be more crooked than Lombard Street in San Francisco. Don't you wonder how he can look at himself in the mirror without crying?

The following is from the McClatchy Washington Bureau - click here to read the whole article...

President Bush's lawyers told the Republican National Committee on Tuesday not to turn over to Congress any e-mails related to the firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys before showing them to the White House.

Democrats and Republican critics of the administration said the move suggests that the White House is seeking to develop a strategy to block the release of the non-government e-mails to congressional investigators by arguing that they're covered by executive privilege and not subject to review.

Did You Know - Free Speech Dies

The days of free speech are over - the government is a private entity owned by the Bush administration. From Seattle PI - click here to read the whole story...

DENVER -- White House officials can exclude dissenters from taxpayer-funded appearances by President Bush without violating the protesters' rights, according to lawyers for volunteers who helped eject three people from a hall where Bush was to speak.

"The president may constitutionally make viewpoint-based exclusionary determinations in conveying his own message," the attorneys said in a filing last week. "So in following the instructions of the White House and carrying out its viewpoint-based exclusions, Casper and Klinkerman did not violate any of plaintiffs' constitutional rights."

Did You Know - Breakdown of Iraqi Government

The following is from AFP - click here to read the whole article...

Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled his six ministers out of Iraq's beleaguered coalition government on Monday as he pushed his demand for a rapid withdrawal of US troops from the country.

The Shiite hardliner -- who has not been seen in public since October -- was angered last week when street protests failed to persuade Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to set a timeline for American forces to go home.

Sadr's bloc is the largest single political group in Maliki's fragmenting coalition, but the prime minister will be able to cling to power if he keeps the support of smaller Shiite and Kurdish groups.

Did You Know - Losing the War

Violence continues across Iraq, despite the surge, with death tolls as high as they've been at any time during the war. The following is from the McClatchy Bureau - click here to read the whole article...

KARBALA, Iraq - Two months into the U.S.-led Baghdad Security Plan, at least 289 people were killed and injured across Iraq on Saturday, including 36 dead in a car bomb attack in the holy Shiite city of Karbala. The carnage of a crowd teeming with women and children set off an angry mob of hundreds against the governor and police.

Bodies littered the street and body parts were found as far as 160 yards from the site of the explosion. Three buses of passengers were charred and storefronts lay in shambles.

Did You Know - Paul Wolfowitz

Another Bush appointee gets caught lying and stealing. These Republicans are trying to capture the market on crooked politics.

From ABC News - click here to read the entire article.

According to a Financial Times report Mr Wolfowitz personally ordered massive pay rises given to Ms Riza when she was sent from the World Bank's communications office to serve out an assignment at the US State Department.The assignment was ordered by the bank board, after Mr Wolfowitz took over in June 2005, to forestall any conflicts of interest.The FT cited two people who had seen a memo from Mr Wolfowitz to the head of human resources spelling out the terms of Ms Riza's generous package, which grew to total more even than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earns.

Did You Know - Civilian Claims

Apparently our troops, and let it be known that I strongly support our troops, kill a lot of innocent people and destroy a lot of private property in our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I did not know how much we shell out to try to buy a little peace following our destructive ways.

The following is from the New York Times - click here to read the entire article.

In all, the military has paid more than $32 million to Iraqi and Afghan civilians for noncombat-related killings, injuries and property damage, an Army spokeswoman said. That figure does not include condolence payments made at a unit commander’s discretion.

The paperwork, examined by The New York Times, provides unusually detailed accounts of how bystanders to the conflicts have become targets of American forces grappling to identify who is friend, who is foe.

Did You Know - Troops Are Quitting

President Bush calls for the American people to support the U.S. troops. I'm not sure how we're supposed to do that. I pay my taxes. I say nice things about the troops. But what else should I do? Put a yellow bumper sticker on my car that was made in China? If he asked, I'd tolerate a raise in taxes to help pay for the armor and equipment needed in the Iraq/Afghanistan war.

But the real support needs to come from the Government - provide enough troops to allow for regular tours of duty and rotations home - provide them with the tools they need to do the job - curb corruption so that rebuilding funds actually rebuild the economy in Iraq so that the Iraqis tolerate us being there.

But does GWB provide enough support? I think not. The following is from the Boston Globe - click here to read the entire article...

WASHINGTON -- Recent graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point are choosing to leave active duty at the highest rate in more than three decades, a sign to many military specialists that repeated tours in Iraq are prematurely driving out some of the Army's top young officers.

According to statistics compiled by West Point, of the 903 Army officers commissioned upon graduation in 2001, nearly 46 percent left the service last year -- 35 percent at the conclusion of their five years of required service, and another 11 percent over the next six months. And more than 54 percent of the 935 graduates in the class of 2000 had left active duty by this January, the statistics show.

Did You Know - Army Deserters

President Bush is not only delusional about achieving success in Iraq, he's also delusional about the capabilities of our all volunteer army. The following is from the New York Times - click here to read the whole story...

Army prosecutions of desertion and other unauthorized absences have risen sharply in the last four years, resulting in thousands more negative discharges and prison time for both junior soldiers and combat-tested veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army records show.

The increased prosecutions are meant to serve as a deterrent to a growing number of soldiers who are ambivalent about heading — or heading back — to Iraq and may be looking for a way out, several Army lawyers said in interviews.

Did You Know - Plan B

On interesting facet of the war in Iraq is whether or not President Bush has any REAL sense of what a mess he has created. How long can we continue with this charade that the Iraq war is winnable? One has to watch very little news or read very few articles in the newspaper to understand that this war is going nowhere. It makes it all the more fascinating to wonder if Bush would EVER get out of this war.

Wait. What? Maybe just before his turn of office expires? The following clip is from Raw Story - click here to read the entire post...

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, told "Hardball" fill-in host David Gregory that if the 'surge' has not yielded success in Iraq by August 2008, then "this president, and the Republican majority from the last Congress, we do have a 'Plan B,' but we're not going to give it to the enemy."

Or the American public. Does he really think we're that stupid? Oh yeah - he's a Republican - he probably does think that we're that stupid.

Did You Know - Crooked Republican Lawyers

In my not-so-humble opinion, Bush may go down in history not only as the worst President ever, but also as the most crooked. In an editorial in the New York Times a few days ago, the author asks the important question, if only a small number of our US Attorneys were fired for not being good Bushies, what did the rest of the prosecutors do to stand in good stead with the administration? Click here to read the whole article - a small clip appears below...

Ms. Thompson’s case is not the only one raising questions about whether prosecutors tried last year to tilt close elections toward the Republicans. New Jersey’s federal prosecutor conducted an investigation of weak-looking allegations against Senator Robert Menendez that was used in Republican ads.

Congress should look into both cases to determine whether partisan politics played a role — and whether they were coordinated with anyone at the Justice Department or the White House.

Did You Know - Bush Bombs

You probably know the old adage - when all you have for a tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail. Well, President Bush only has a hammer - the U.S. Military. Beyond that, the man can't conceptualize any other kind of solution. The following is from a British newspaper, the Guardian Unlimited - click here to read the entire article...

The US offered to take military action on behalf of the 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran, including buzzing Iranian Revolutionary Guard positions with warplanes, the Guardian has learned.

In the first few days after the captives were seized and British diplomats were getting no news from Tehran on their whereabouts, Pentagon officials asked their British counterparts: what do you want us to do? They offered a series of military options, a list which remains top secret given the mounting risk of war between the US and Iran. But one of the options was for US combat aircraft to mount aggressive patrols over Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases in Iran, to underline the seriousness of the situation.

The British declined the offer and said the US could calm the situation by staying out of it. London also asked the US to tone down military exercises that were already under way in the Gulf. Three days before the capture of the 15 Britons , a second carrier group arrived having been ordered there by president George Bush in January. The aim was to add to pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme and alleged operations inside Iraq against coalition forces.

Did You Know - Honoring Our War Dead

Of all of the things that George Bush offers us as President, I am most proud of his support for the troops. If you don't think I'm right - just ask him and he'll tell you that he supports the troops. At least until they die for their country. The following is from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette - click here to read the whole article...

In an about-face by the U.S. government four years into the war in Iraq, America’s fallen troops are being brought back to their families aboard charter jets instead of ordinary commercial flights, and the caskets are being met by honor guards in white gloves instead of baggage handlers with forklifts.

That change — which took effect quietly in January and applies to members of the U.S. military killed in Afghanistan, too — came after a campaign waged by a father who was aghast to learn that his son’s body was going to be unloaded like so much luggage.

Did You Know - McCain is an Inspiration

John McCain's visit to Iraq produced inspiration for more than his right-wing supporters - it provided inspiration for the insurgents in Iraq as well. The following clip is from The Australian - click here to read the whole article...

A NEWBORN baby was one of at least 14 children and adults killed today when a suicide bomber detonated a truck laden with explosives close to a primary school in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital.

The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.

Did You Know - Iraq Funding

I guess I could never be a politician - I couldn't keep a straight face while trying to pass off some of the spin that politicos must give voice to every day. The following is from the Washington Post - click here to read the entire article.

To President Bush, they are "pork-barrel projects completely unrelated to the war," items in the House and Senate war-spending bills such as peanut storage facilities and aid to spinach farmers that insult the seriousness of the conflict and exist only to buy votes.

But such spending has been part of Iraq funding bills since the war began, sometimes inserted by the president himself, sometimes added by lawmakers with bipartisan aplomb. A few of the items may have weighed on the votes for spending bills that have now topped half a trillion dollars, but, in almost all cases over the past four years, special-interest funding provisions have been the fruits of congressional opportunism by well-placed senators or House members grabbing what they could for their constituents on the one bill that had to be passed quickly.

Did You Know - Bush Takeover

The Bush administration purposefully and creatively strikes out each day to see if they can find another country to piss off while planning the overthrow of every country on earth. From the LA Times -

The Bush administration has begun to step up its efforts to build a controversial missile defense system in Eastern Europe, launching a public push in recent weeks to counter bitter opposition in Russia and overcome fears of a new arms race elsewhere on the continent.'>click here to read the entire article...

The Bush administration has begun to step up its efforts to build a controversial missile defense system in Eastern Europe, launching a public push in recent weeks to counter bitter opposition in Russia and overcome fears of a new arms race elsewhere on the continent.

The move, coming ahead of a major NATO meeting on the project this month, could escalate a simmering diplomatic issue into a significant international dispute, depending on Moscow's reaction and the administration's next moves in its effort to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar center in the Czech Republic, both formerly part of the Soviet Bloc.