Rightwing Mother On Why She's Keeping her Kid Home Sept. 9

Hilary Valente is keeping her five year old home on principle, she said. In other words, it's really about Valente's politics, not Obama's.
I hope her kid grows up to be a liberal activist. That's what happens when kids are smothered with a political viewpoint, especially around the teen years. They tend to seek out the opposing viewpoint of their parents.

We Are Screwed

After seeing Jake Tapper's report on people angry about Obama's speech to school children, it's clear that the minority wingnuts rule this country. These people are outright thugs, carrying guns to town halls, comparing Obama to Hitler.
The racist rightwing is having all kinds of troubles coping with an Obama presidency. No matter what he does, the rightwing distorts it, lies about it, exaggerates. What's worse is the media reports it and validates the wingnuts.

When is the media going to wake up and realize that it's RACISM driving the rightwing. Hello! They have no legitimate complaints. If they did, they'd be speaking out like adults.
And what about the rest of us?

It appears that the racists are now the majority in this country. Do Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity really rule? Where is the fairness and balance in the media? Why do we have to see racist wingnuts every single day, complaining about this and that? Why are their voices getting heard above everyone else's?

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Obama Speaks About Education July 24

Updated with video:

Obama speaks on education at 1:15 p.m. today. It's likely to be live streamed at cnn.com or msnbc.com.
This is probably what he'll be speaking about:

On Friday, Obama will officially announce the "Race to the Top," a competition for $4.35 billion in grants. He wants states to use funds to ease limits on charter schools, tie teacher pay to student achievement and move for the first time toward common academic standards. It is part of a broader effort to improve school achievement with a $100 billion increase in education funding, more money for community colleges and an increase in Pell Grants for college students.

Duncan has used the Race to the Top fund, created through the economic stimulus law, as leverage to drive the president's education agenda in Rhode Island, Tennessee, Colorado and elsewhere. Never has an education secretary been given so much money by Congress with such open-ended authority, according to current and former federal education officials. Margaret Spellings, Duncan's predecessor under George W. Bush, had a tiny fraction of that amount at her disposal.

Obama says stagnating student achievement is part of a "slow-rolling crisis" and represents a threat to the country's economic future. Stark achievement gaps remain for minority and low-income students. In some big cities, fewer than half of high school students graduate on time. The United States trails international competitors in math and science.

Here's a treat. Without using inflammatory words or sounding like a rabid Sarah Palin fan, Newt has something good to say about Obama's education reform plans AND the education secretary Arne Duncan. He also manages to criticize Obama in a civil manner. Hmmmmm. My guess is Newt wants in on this education reform. He also might've felt freer, figuring none of the republican base would be watching C-SPAN.

Talking Heads Debate Obama's Education Speech

Obama's education speech on Tuesday was nothing new. Obama's been talking about merit pay, and the rest of his education agenda, for nearly 2 years now. The teachers' unions aren't as opposed to merit pay as the pundits and critics say. Merit pay doesn't equal the dissolution of unions. I think the good teachers know who the bad teachers are and they might be tired of getting the same salary as the teachers who don't do their job as well.

Obama's Speech on Education to Hispanic Chamber

Obama plans more regular meetings with Hispanic media and organizations.
Obama stated his tenets of education reform including, early childhood education, which includes a health component, merit pay for teachers and better testing and assessment. Republicans will probably say this has nothing to do with banking (if they dare speak against education reform) and that Obama is distracted from the precious stock market, but reasonable people realize that education leads to a better economy.
Read more about the plan here.

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Read more about Obama's education plan.