A professor at one of our upper education establishment was forced out because he sent an e-mail to colleagues  and employees using a district-wide service designated for "announcements.”    The e-mail contained the famous Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by George Washington.  "Within weeks, five MCCCD (Maricopa County Community College District in Arizona) employees filed harassment charges against Kehowski, claiming his message was "hostile” and "derogatory.”   OH, and the e-mail also pointed to a link to conservative Pat Buchanan’s Web site, which also contained commentary critical of illegal immigration.  Read more of the story.

Why is this happening in America?  So five employees do not like the fact that a professor e-mailed them something that the founding father of the country said concerning thanksgiving, and that is considered enough of a whatever to dismiss the professor.  Oh my, we are in trouble in this country.  Free speech is going down the tube when administrators listen to and act on the baseless claims of a few idiots.  They were offended.  So what?   That's what the MCCCD administrators should have told the five.  So what.  So you take the message as hostile and derogatory,   So what.   Tuff.   Get over it.  But no, the atmosphere now is to cave into every whim and demand of the easily offended especially if a religion is the cause of the offense, but only if it was not Islamic.

Now what were they offended by?  What did they find hostile and derogatory?  Was it the fact that Washington acknowledged Almighty God in this proclamation?  You bet it was. 

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.... "     and 

" a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of Almighty God"     and 

"to the Service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."    and

"in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us."  and

"our prayers and supplications to the Great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone know to be best."

Read the entire proclamation here.

Well, all I can say is these employees need to meditate on this proclamation, day and night for a minimum of a week, or more if it does not sink in.   


And I don't care if they are offended.   T U F F  (misspelling is intentional)   I don't care.

Expect more of the same now that the news hit about the thwarted attempt by Muslims to shoot it up at Ft. Dix.  By more of the same, I mean more about the perceived need to control gun ownership rights in this country, more about the need to prohibit the sale of guns to private citizens.  Just think, if it was illegal to sell guns, then these six could not have bought guns, right?   Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong.  Our mainstream media is already on this issue, egged on again by the massacre at Va Tech.   But why has Congress has been relatively quiet about the issue.  Why?   Is it because a big time important election is on the horizon?    Now, we all know that conservatives are in favor of the 2nd amendment rights of citizens to bear arms, and it is a given fact that most democrats are in favor of curbing gun ownership by private citizens.  Could it be that the democrats are hoping for a victory in 2008 and then they can re-open the 2nd amendment issue again? 

Anyway this does not prevent the media from getting their leftist liberal views, and rants about the need to control guns before the public, and to stir up the masses with hysteria about a possible very angry neighbor, ex husband/lover, 'radical right winger' going on a rampage in a mall, bank, school, home, hospital, street corner, parking garage, nursing home, school bus, vacation hideaway in the smokies, or wherever.  No, it will not be about a Muslim going on a rampage or jihad, but a right winger cowboy type taking it out in a 'hate crime' lovers quarrel exchange.  I'm not really all that negative about the media, just most of the time.

The following are a few quotes from recent media broadcasts.

"Given the fact that I’ve seen estimates that there are in excess of 200 million firearms already on the street, have we essentially said it’s okay to have the level of violence that we have in this country?"
— ABC reporter Pierre Thomas on PBS’s Washington Week, April 20."

"There’s some other interesting numbers in the poll that I want to quote: 61 percent of the people in this country say they favor stronger gun control laws, although people are split right down the middle as to whether stricter gun control laws would actually curb any kind of violence, 49 percent saying yes, 50 percent saying no."
— ABC’s Charles Gibson on World News, April 23.

Anchor Dan Harris: "Eleven years ago, in a small town in Scotland, a man killed 15 elementary students, a crime that Britain vowed would never happen again and since that day has not. ABC’s David Wright reports....
"David Wright: "As a direct result of what happened here, this country decided to ban virtually all handguns...."
Ann Pearston, gun control activist: "We just said after Dunblane that never again was someone going to walk into a school and massacre children."
Wright: "They never have, not in Britain. Gun crime has risen here during the past decade, but Britain has never again had a school shooting."
— ABC’s World News Sunday, April 22.

The above compiled by MRC

Immediately after the Va Tech shooting, the gun control freaks revitalized the old argument that gun control saves lives.  If you tend to believe that, then I'm sure you also buy into Teddy Kennedy's excuse for abandoning that car in the river, and his excuse for not wanting windmills installed in the waters off his beach front home, and Harry Reid's declaration that the war is lost, and there is a really nice piece of swam land called New Orleans that will never again be flooded. 

A University of New Mexico student has a nice essay on banning guns on school grounds from a students perspective.  Just one Click away.



 

"But as presidential candidate Ségolène Royal was defeated by a conservative man who had beenFrance's chief law enforcement officer, the Clinton campaign was quick to dismiss comparisons between their candidate and her Socialist counterpart across the Atlantic. "Other than the fact that they are both women, they don't have much in common," said Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director."  link

Why would she feel the need to make those statements?   She really must feel that there is a similarity between the two of them.  Or, else, she was ready to claim the similarity if Royal had won.  Hillary's Universl Heath Care plan is socialism, a one for all deal.  She tried it when good ole boy husband Bill was in the oval office while Monica was under the desk.  And she wants it again.

Hillary a socialist?  Yes, if Royal had won.  No, now because Royal lost.

 "Islamic militants" were arrested on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible," authorities said Tuesday."  

"The six were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden later Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey."   read story here.

They were arrested when they tried to buy some automatic weapons, a deal set up by law enforcement officers.  OK, good deal.  Our intelligence agencies are doing some good work to prevent further attacks by Muslims here in the US.  Kudoos.

But, the White House is hesitant to identify the 6 Islamic terrorists as "having ties to any international Islamic terrorist organization."   But the fact remains that they are Muslim.  The fact remains the attack was planned as an attack of terrorism. 

Ongoing news break.  Stay informed to this one folks and watch the political correct crowd come out of the woodwork to defend the world of Islam.  Watch CAIR step up and demand civil rights protections for these men.

"The eight-page, two-color illustrated book lists what rights "people who are not United States citizens" have if detained by immigration agents, details what to do if served with a warrant or charged with a crime, and urges them to remain silent if they are arrested."   This booklet is printed and distributed by an American 501C3 Tax exempt charitable organization, CASA (Central American Solidarity and Assistance) of Maryland Inc.,  The alien civil rights advocacy group has received funds of $1.64 million in government fees and contracts.  "Its government funds came from the cities of Baltimore and Takoma Park, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the state of Maryland, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development". 

That's our money.  That's our taxes at work.  Sure it's doing charitable work all right.  Giving out free booklets is charity, a lawyer will tell you so.

"Locally, the organization has been involved in the establishment of day-laborer sites for illegal aliens, and helped mobilize more than 500,000 demonstrators at the Washington Monument last year for what it called a "historic immigrant rights march."  

The Washington Times has the rest of the story.

While ICE is investigating workforce violations that may target some of the people this organization is protecting, another federal agency has awarded the organization a contract of some sort worth upwards of 1.5 million enabling the organization to print and distribute booklets to inform those illegals how to act when captured by ICE.  

Our taxes at work.  Our government at work.  Job security.  Good civil rights lawyers waiting in the wings.  Are we convinced yet that the country needs a comprehensive immigration reform package?   Not quite, as in a few more years the total may reach 20,000,000 illegal alien immigrants.  Hey, it's not even10% yet.  Big deal. What number will be the cross the line number, when the government will say, "This time we are serious."

Well how about that folks, there may be hope for America yet. The French people said they have had enough of the liberal socialist policies of the past and have strongly voted in a right-winger, so strongly that even the leftists said, "Nicolas Sarkozy is a legitimate president, elected without rotten tricks or hesitation," wrote the left-wing Liberation. "Tough, but it's the people's will. Thatcher without the petticoats? Let us prepare ourselves..." This is good news from an old ally of the US, the country that gave America its Statute of Liberty.

“Right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy's clear presidential election win paved the way Monday for radical reforms to kickstart France's sluggish economy, tackle simmering social discontent and chart a new foreign policy course.”

Some of his election reforms evidently made a huge impact on the people, such an impact that 85% of the people of France turned out to vote. That’s never happened here in the US of A. 85% turnout. Right here in America, the 2006 mid-term elections had a miserable 41% turnout. In the 2004 presidential elections there was a 61% turnout of eligible voters. It’s rather sad that more than a third of American citizens do not take the time to vote. Will we let the French show us up in 2008? In voter turnout and in results?

His campaign electioneering contained some very radical ideas for the French.

a tough line on immigration.
the abolition of tax on overtime.
big cuts in inheritance tax.
guaranteeing minimum service in transport strikes.
oblige the unemployed to take up offered work.
Washington can count on France's friendship. 

The results sparked some riots and vandalism in Paris and some suburbs from those peace loving leftists, and the peaceful religion of Muslim youth only burned 360 cars which the police were happy about because it was “similar to an average New Year's Eve and did not amount to "large-scale urban violence".   Link to article.

Have Americans had enough of the socialist leanings taking place right here in America? Do Americans even see the socialist threats and recognize what policies on the horizon are socialist in nature? You’ll never hear from our mainstream media that the Universal Health care proposals are socialistic in nature. You’ll never hear the press whine about the interference of the federal government into wage setting policies as socialist in nature. You’ll never hear from the elite press that most of our tax policies are socialist in nature…take from the rich and give to the poor….oh sorry about that, I meant to say ‘disadvantaged’. You’ll never hear from the press that a proposed fairness doctrine for broadcasting is communism in nature. You’ll never hear from the press that the tactics of outfits like the ACLU and CAIR are communist anti free speech in nature. You’ll never hear from the liberal press that all of this chatter about diversity and multi-culturalism enforcement is anti everything America stands for. There I go saying "never", and I see some hope in these elections, and hope to bring that hope back home, and just perhaps there may be hope for even our liberal press, so please disregard the "never".

We the people have had enough.

And we thought France was a goner to Islamic rule. There is hope yet…..for France and ……for America.

 

The big news is that the socialist did not win over in France, and that is good news.  But why do the French vote on week-ends? 

"At least they get this one right.  They have huge turnouts for elections in France because those elections are held on weekends!  In the U.S. we have this odd custom of holding our elections on Tuesdays --- quite possibly the most boring day of the week. 

Have you ever given any thought as to why we vote on Tuesdays?  Tradition? Maybe so, but we've strayed from tradition in many other areas.  So let me share with you my own personal feelings as to why we still vote on Tuesdays ... instead of weekends.  Think about this and you'll appreciate the brilliance of my analysis.

Tuesday is a work day.  This means that people with actual jobs have to make sometimes extraordinary arrangements to vote.  The bulk of the hours during which the polls are open are work hours.  If you have a job, you have a problem.  No job, no problem.  And just who might those without jobs favor in an election?  Why, the party that makes it easier for them not to work, or the party that eases the pain of laziness to the greater degree.  That would be Democrats.  Those hard-working Americans with jobs might be more likely to vote for the party that encourages and enables free enterprise and lower taxes.  That would traditionally be Republicans.

In short:  We vote on Tuesdays because that day is better for those who favor big government.  Simply put ... Democrats.

My idea?  Of course I have an idea!  We can still vote on Tuesdays, if that's so important to everyone, but let's open the polls for one 24 hour period.  The polls open at 7:00 a.m. Eastern and close 24 hours later.  We accomplish two things here.  First ... pretty much everyone has a much better chance to vote.  Instead of having the work day fill up 75% of the time the polls are open, those eight hours would fill only 25% of the time allotted for voting.  Secondly ... since all polls would close at exactly the same time there would be little chance for the news media to screw things up with claims of victory as soon as the polls close on the east coast.

Great idea?  Let's do it!"    Neal Boortz

“No human community should be larger than 20,000 people and separated from other communities by wilderness areas.”  Paul Watson

"The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights."   Children 'bad for the planet'

"It's a crisis of our own self-definition — who we are. Are we creatures destined to destroy our own species? Clearly not."  Al Gore

"If compassion was the motivating factor behind all of our decisions, would our world not be a completely different place? Food for thought."   Sheryl Crow


If these kind of political activists were not received in Washington and did not have their environmental hysterical rantings mused about over and over and over again, and were not called before congressional committees as 'expert' testimony, then would not the world be a completely different place.  Food for thought.   But contrary arguments rarely get mentioned.

“All this argument is the temperature going up or not, it’s absurd,” Bryson continues. “Of course it’s going up. It has gone up since the early 1800s, before the Industrial Revolution, because we’re coming out of the Little Ice Age, not because we’re putting more carbon dioxide into the air.”   The Faithful Heretic

Contrary arguments rarely get mentioned because these esteemed scientists and entertainers believe in  global warming, and that makes it religious.  The scientific facts are not there.  What happens next week or the next decade can not be proven scientifically.   The laws of the universe will continue to operate no matter what humans do or not do, they will continue whether there are humans on the planet or not, they just are and cannot be changed.   Al Gore and company want the rest of us to believe with them that their global warming hype is one of those laws of the universe.

All hypothesis. And for the opposition it is considered nonsense.  The sad thing is that the Congress of the US likes to regulate nonsense.

You have got to wonder how so many Americans can believe those conspiracy theories. You've heard them. 

A recent survey poll by Rasmussen revealed that 35% of Democrats believed that George Bush knew the WTC attack was coming. On the evening before the 9/11 attacks, 4000 Jews were told to stay home. Flight 93 was actually shot down. The pentagon was hit by a missile. The WTC had explosives set in the foundations, which brought the entire buildings down, otherwise only the top floors would have been damaged. And the reason George Bush hesitated in that schoolroom, was because he already knew about it, he had prior knowledge but did nothing to warn anyone except for those 4000 Jews. He needed more Oil from the Middle-East.

One-third of the democrats. How can that be? How can educated people believe this stuff? I just don’t know, as most of these liberal democrats can read and write their own names.

Well, I guess it's not that hard to imagine that they would, after all, most of the Western Civilized world has bought into the evolution of all species theories. All of the really educated people have, you know, the ones teaching our kids, and formulating our public policy. Evolution, that unproven theory that somehow life on the planet developed from small microscopic cells from rocks and dirt, an inanimate object which suddenly started to throb on it's own, or got hit with a big bang causing it to throb and split into more cells. And over a long period of time like millions of years, these cells became more and more complex making adjustments to meet the requirements of the atmosphere which just so happened to obtain the necessary elements from space through a gravitational force pulling only the right combination at the perfect time to sustain these breathing cells so that they could develop lungs to breathe, so that they could develop additional features one at a time and through all of these slow mutations over millions and millions of years, and then as they bumped into things the mutations brought on eyes to see, and then ears to hear and noses to smell, and a skeletal system enabling it to move about, and a breathing skin containing all these parts, the beating heart, the kidneys, the digestive system only discarding what can not be used, then organs like a liver and blood vessels like tributaries of a river feeding all those parts with oxygen which is recycled and cleansed and does it over again regenerating it's own, then muscles and hair, which on some creatures was all over the body for protection and warmth, but on the most high the hair only developed in certain areas because it did not care if it was cold, and then, also by chance a centralized nervous system slowly mutated sending signals from the center command unit, commanding the limbs to move about where the eyes could see, gathering food, reasoning and understanding the meaning of the noises of other creatures, and most astonishing, somehow a system of reproduction came to being to make sure that this thing continued to make more look alikes, which required just by chance, that one half of these creatures were specially equipped to bring forth a newborn just like the older ones growing within a specially formed by chance womb filled with a specially formed by chance liquid, but this newborn needed to be cared for until it could manage on it's own so it could do the same, but unlike the originals which came together just by these chance occurrences over a long time period. All these pieces of dirt came together through these minute little indiscernible micro biological mutational changes and on and on it went for millions of years until the creature started thinking of itself as being smarter than the Creator.

And that's where we are now folks. Stupid people believing stupid lies. People like Rosie and those angry folks at some underground web along with elected fools and has-beens like Gore, and never-beens, like Michael Moore and professor Ward Churchill, numerous play actors and actresses, and even a so-called church guy like David Ray Griffin, with wannabees like Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Edwards and Hillary going along for points awarded by a conglomerate of super self appointed sanctimonious opinion makers.

And that’s where these theories lead us.



It’s just As I See It Now. 

Heat waves, hurricanes, malaria and incompetent political allies were also some of the disasters coming upon us and may destroy our health care system if we don’t act quickly looking at the big picture. “Bill Clinton, speaking at a forum sponsored by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said governments fail to act even when disasters are anticipated because leaders are distracted by fulfilling campaign promises and scrambling to respond to immediate emergencies.”

Let’s see now, what disasters are anticipated and our politicians have been distracted lately because of campaign promises or campaign building. Just off the top of me pea picking grey matter, I can think of two right now. (1) The continual uncertainty of the Islamic radical terrorists bringing another 9/11 onto American soil. And (2) The out of control flow of millions of illegal alien migration into every State and City of America draining our health care system of resources and our public services. The democrats have voted against the war effort. The democrats, and the republicans have not provided a workable solution to combat that invasion. How can problems be solved when a real open honest debate is not allowed?

“From looking back at Hurricane Katrina and forward to the absence of firm plans to cool the planet or stem malaria, some of the school's top researchers will study the roots of government inaction.”

Plans to cool the planet does not deserve an answer, as there is no answer. Malaria. Now there’s one that governments could do something meaningful, which would have a tremendous effect on the eradication of malaria. Re-enact the usage of DDT. Others that could be mentioned are  Obesity? Famine?
Wars and rumors of wars? Hurricanes? Tornadoes? Earthquakes? Volcanoes? Poverty? Diversity? Globalism? Political Correctness? The return of the Mahdi? Sharia law? And Hate Crimes?  They are all are Looming disasters, so we are in trouble folks, unless this esteemed bunch of highly educated forum members can really get down to business and investigate these problems and come up with answers. 

“He said the next president should solve the "biggest, baddest problems"; take small action when the whole problem cannot be addressed; never appoint incompetent political allies to positions of disaster response; never let political ideology blur scientific evidence; and cooperate nationally and internationally.”

Hmmm.

I guess it would be better to show the link to the AP story of so much interest that it has us all sitting on pins and needles.

“Last weekend a traffic jam several miles long The delay stemmed from a queue to enter the city's central amusement park. The line became so long some families left their cars and walked to enjoy picnics, fairground rides and soccer.” “Across the city, restaurants are slowly filling and shops are reopening.” “The streets are busy.” “…there is a cacophony of sirens from ambulances, firefighters and police providing public services. You cannot even escape the curse of traffic wardens ticketing illegally parked cars.”

Sounds like a typical normal American City on a nice spring weekend, but it’s not, it’s happening in Baghdad, Iraq. Yes, my friends, there is some good news coming out of Iraq, there are numerous good things happening in Iraq, there are thousands, if not millions of Iraq people going about their daily lives as if things were normal, as if peace was secure and the threat of a car bomb going off was non-existent.

Those are the quotes taken from a letter by the Foreign Minister of Iraq, Mr. Hoshyar Zebari, urging the allied forces, and in particular, the Americans. “Don’t Abandon Us”

Why would I regard this letter as not being a bunch of propaganda? Let me answer that with another question. Why would I regard what the liberal democrats, the cut and run crowd are saying as not being a bunch of propaganda?  Read the rest of his letter. I’ll side with Zebari.

When the free people of Iraq say we should leave, then it might be the time to leave. Until then, there should not be a series of benchmarks for the new democratic government of Iraq to meet, and as for timetables, the only one is the final one. We win. Terrorists give up and go back to Iran. This is the only stand the President should take. And we must make sure that the next president is committed to this stance also.

That’s the headline. Those dammed SUV’s. The fact that some kids were severely hurt is the main reason for the story, and also, the fact that it was an SUV that caused it. I guess you would say that the driver of the SUV was an accessory, an accomplice, and also a victim at the hands of the abusive SUV. Such is the bias of our liberal progressive secular press.

Read more. “A sport utility vehicle jumped a curb and plowed into a group of middle school students waiting for a bus, authorities said. Three teenagers were in intensive care Thursday.”

An SUV with a mind of it’s own, on it's own.  No driver?

“Belmont police and California Highway Patrol investigators were examining the SUV to determine whether brake or engine failure were to blame, police Capt. Ed Wood said Thursday.”

The SUV may have been negligent in upkeep practices.

And on further thought the writer includes information about the driver of the SUV.   Up till then you might have concluded that the SUV was on it’s own, possibly a runaway vehicle and you would wonder what happened to the driver and how did the driver let his SUV get away from him/her. Where was the driver? How? Why?

“Investigators have not ruled out charges against the driver, Mauro H. Yan, 70, of Redwood City, Wood said.”

“All I can say is for some unknown reason the SUV lost control," Fry said.” The SUV did not maintain control of the SUV.

Biased journalism.   You know that SUV’s are villains don’t you.   You do know that the reporter could have corrected the officer/investigator by referring to the driver.  OK, so the officer is biased also.   We are run over with biased people against SUV's.   They are gas guzzlers and are huge polluters of the environment and the intent here is to highlight that it’s another one of those evil gas guzzlers causing these accidents. The driver of the vehicle is not the culprit. No, it’s the SUV. The intent is to bad mouth SUV’s, as if they chose to be produced, chose to be purchased and chose to drive and lose control.  Dammed SUV’s.  Dammed car companies for making them.  And, if all SUV’s were banned from our highways, then these accidents would not happen.  How many times has there been a similar accident and the car was perhaps a PT Cruiser and you read the headline: “PT Cruiser hits students outside school.”   Nope, you won’t see it.   Biased journalism first class.   Everyone is the victim of the SUV. 
You can read it here.

The author gets an extra emissions offset freebie by the global warming environmentalists for this headline and report.     We get the same kind of journalism when someone shoots another using a gun. 

It seems the Veterans Affairs Department is acting as if they were a private corporation, responsible to shareholders and the board of directors, who at their discretion award bonus to their top executives for a job well done.   Nope, the VA is a public agency responsible to taxpayers.  Well, that's the way it's supposed to be in theory, and in practice.   Not thinking along the line of being public servants, the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson, awarded bonuses to his top dogs, some as high as $33,000, or 20% of their salary.  Nice job if you can get it. 

"Several watchdog groups questioned the practice. They cited short- staffing and underfunding at VA clinics that have become particularly evident after recent disclosures of shoddy outpatient treatment of injured troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington."

"Hundreds of thousands of our veterans remain homeless every day and hundreds of thousands more veterans wait six months or more for VA disability claim decisions," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "The lavish amounts of VA bonus cash would be better spent on a robust plan to cut VA red tape."  AP story.

Why are any public officials granted bonuses?  Yes, I mean any.  The idea of a government career used to mean  that you were willing to sacrifice a bit in order to serve your country.   When did government jobs have to be compensated in a way comparable to similar jobs in private industry?  But that is the thinking of top officials in every one of our agencies from the Federal level down to State and even City level government.  Some of it may be true in a sense, and may be necessary to attract qualified people to do the complicated stuff, and possibly for the top jobs.   But, to award bonuses.  On what basis are the bonuses determined.  Cannot be by sales generated.  Cannot be by the rise in stock value.  Can it be because one initiated a far ranging cost saving method, and thus saved the taxpayers a great deal of cash.  And the savings could then be used to boost the services of another area within the department which was running into shortfalls.  Nope.  These were hand-outs.  A thank you bribe for staying.

Link to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Yesterday the House easily passed the new and improved bill to expand the Head Start, early education program for disadvantaged, or low-income children. There are several troubling parts to this expansion of the government run early education program, now approved to include 3 o 5 year olds kids. The cost will be 7.4 billion dollars.

“It increases enrollment, now about 900,000 children aged 3 to 5, boosts teacher and staff salaries and expands services for homeless, migrant and non-English-speaking children.”

So what’s wrong with this? Are there many homeless 3-5 year old kids running around? Just a bunch of toddlers roaming our streets without adult supervision, no home to go home to, sleeping under cardboard in alleys and such.   I did not know we had that problem in the USA.   Just had to throw in a little sarcasm.  Now the word migrant will come to mean that illegal aliens will be legally eligible to cash in on this free education and baby sitter program, and the teachers will have to be bi-lingual, if the kids are to at least learn some English before they reach kindergarten age.

“It terminates the National Reporting System, a program for measuring the progress of Head Start children, to give the National Academy of Science time to develop more accurate standards.” 
And now, filling out progress reports are illuminated until…

But the real biggie for conservatives is the issue of religion. There have been many churches and faith based organizations that have participated in the head start program over the years and have thus received federal aid for the program. Now, the liberal democrats at the urging of the ACLU have inserted into the bill, that a persons religion cannot be used for determination of hiring or firing practices of these faith based organizations participating in head start. Let’s say that your church wants to have a early education program such as Head Start at your church for the kids of your church using your own people to sit and work with these toddlers. Something like an adult supervised social baby-sitting service with instructions on alphabet building blocks, finger painting, and lego building games.  And throw in a few songs here and there.

Someone comes in and applies for one of your openings, is a Muslim, or an atheist, but you really do not want to go down that slippery road and would prefer to have only people of like faith watching over your kids.   But now you can’t do that, if you want to participate in the head start program.  This article does mention religion, but considering the rest of anti-discrimination legislation, you may be discriminating also if you rejected a gay person that you just did not want overseeing your kids.  It should be your right to exercise the freedom to do that, but it's not, if your church accepted federal funds. 

And also, in a few years, all of your adult professional instructors would have to have a bachelors degree in early childhood development to baby sit 3-5 year olds.

Read the story here.   Go to the home page of Head Start.

In any article, story or report what is not mentioned may be more important than what is.  Sometimes it's just a slip, a genuine mistake, or just something that was overlooked and not thought through.  But, do you think that Time magazine just overlooked including President George Bush as one of the 100 most influential people in the world?  Was it just an honest mistake?  Don't think so.  Ask a group of 6th graders who they would nominate as the most influential people in the world.  Even they would have included Bush, and they go to public schools.

What was the purpose of excluding the President from their so very important list.  But really, who cares who Time magazine thinks are the most influential.  To them hollywood actors and actresses are more important than the President of the greatest country ever, and all these actors do is memorize a script and play act in front of a camera. Nothing genuine or earth shaking in what they do. 

And then to really insult the President, Time included none other than loud mouth chubby lesbian Rosie O'Donnell.

And, how about the inclusion of Raul Castro, riding in on the coattails of his brother Fidel, dictator of a small island off Florida.   Yes siree,  Raul is a very influential person of  the World.

Well, President Bush is a God natured guy, so he can take it.

But Time Magazine is an insult.  Maybe, this is what Time meant.   All the people on this list were the least important people of the world.  Oh but no, as Condoleezza Rice is included.   Just a thought.