Whats up with education

A while ago, Congress passed a series of bills in order to aid education in the dismal schools that report bad scores in order to boost the children’s future. The deal would be that if test scores went up, the schools and area would receive federal aid. This would therefore encourage state politicians and schools to amp up their education program. They may only be doing for the money or just do to embarrassment, but at least the children would be better off in the end. However, the states have found a couple of loopholes around this system so that they could receive aid without having to provide increases in education. The state education system has done this by “devising weak tests, setting low passing scores or changing tests from year to year to prevent accurate comparisons over time.”, and to voters this all looks great and believe the system is working when it is actually not. These practices have been uncovered by research done by “Stanford University and the University of California, that analyzed the testing practices of a dozen states between 1992 and 2006. States that performed swimmingly on their own weak math and reading tests tended to score dismally on the more rigorous federal National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as NAEP.” Also, they will oppose any national test so that the true scores cannot be discovered. The question is how to find out how to implement money for real scores. One way to do this would be to provide a free national test that is more rigorous to show the true scores, and then distribute money according to those scores. This is because of the very weak tests the states give, “In nearly all of the states studied, students did noticeably worse on federal tests than on state tests. In Oklahoma, the gap in scores was a shocking 60 percentage points in math and 51 percentage points in reading. In Texas, that gap was 52 percentage points in math and 56 points in reading. The state that came closest to the federal standard was Massachusetts, where there was a modest 1 percent gap in math and 10 percent gap in reading.” This is awful in my opinion, that instead of trying to fix a system, people would just try to dupe the voters just to get money at the expense of children. It really shows the possible corruption in the local governments. This is not how it should work, states should try to increase scores regardless of rewards; they should just do it for the children. It is truly disgusting that this level of greed exists in the government, and I myself fell used as a voter.

Clinton Fires Back

For a while now, Edwards and Obama have been attacking Clinton mainly due to her lead in the Democratic polls, and both have teamed up in bringing her down (even though Obama said he would refraim from negative campaign). However, Clinton has not seemed to care or redirect the insults on political policy or capabilities until recently. Most likely due to the nearing Iowa vote for their Democratic candidate, each has stepped up their campaign, and Clinton has decided to fight back. Clinton is now accusing Obama of having little experience and will not be able to run the office. This is actually very important because right now there is about a three way tie in Iowa, with Clinton and Obama right next to each other and Edwards right behind. If Clinton wins Iowa, then there might be no stopping her because she has a big lead in most other places. Personally, I knew Clinton could not just sit there with her head held high for too long, it was just time until she fired back. Since the attacks on her actually have lowered her a little in polls, maybe this backfire will bring them back down or actually reduce them further. In Iowa it is so close, it could go either way. It will be interesting to see how much more mud is going to be thrown as the Iowa decision comes closer and closer.

Tancredo Commercial Gone Too Far?

On Monday, a commercial aired in Iowa that was made by the Tancredo campaign team. What was shown was "the image of a gloved hand jamming a bomb into a backpack. Then it follows a hooded figure, whose face cannot be seen, strolling through a mall as a narrator decries "20 million aliens who have come to take our jobs" and "Islamic terrorists [who] now freely roam U.S. soil. Footage of bombed-out trains and a boy bloodied in an overseas terrorist attack follow, then pictures of shoppers and a woman pushing a stroller through an airy mall. As the hooded figure leaves the backpack beside a bench and walks away, the narrator announces: "The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill. It ends with the image of a backpack abandoned in a crowded mall, a black screen and the sound of a loud explosion. An on-screen message declares: "Tancredo . . . before it's too late." Now the question is, has this gone too far. He is allowed to do so because of course it is a possibility to happen, and I am not going to try and restrict him ability to do so. However, I do not like the method, I believe he is using the same method as the government does now to push the war, that the possiblity of a terrorist attack is so great that intervention in Iraq is needed. Tancredo is trying to scare people basically into voting for him. Just like the government is always reporting the terror level, usually it is just getting higher and higher, even though nothing has happened. Furthermore, Tancredo he is trying to make it seem that all his policy will do will stop terrorists, but it will also go as far as trying to ban all immigration. It can really show how far policiticans will go just to gain the vote, even if it shows people dying in a horrible event that brings us back to the fear and depression of September 11. I personally will not be falling for this technique and will be voting for someone else besides Tancredo in November.

Congress vetoes Bush

For the first time in Bush's canidacy, Congress has aquired enough votes to override his veto on November 8. The bill the Bush previously vetoed was "The water bill authorizes popular projects in states across the country, including hurricane recovery efforts in Louisiana, environmental restoration in the Florida Everglades and flood control in California. But it does not actually appropriate money for the projects, which must be done in spending bills". This is an important veto, because it is showing that the Democrats have taken control of Congress. They have even been able to turn some Republicans to vote along with them for the 2/3 vote. By overpowering Bush, they have gained confidence in that they will be able to override future vetoes that Bush tells he will commit to. Overall, I do not want to say what i think about the over 20 billion dollar bill that now will be put into effect, all I would like to say is that I do not approve of the Republicans that did vote to override the veto. All they are trying to do is to serperate themselves from the unpopular Bush to protect their image, when they are not really acting on their Republican ideals, which is not how this government in my opinion should work.

Is Kucinich Crazy, I Mean More Than He Was Before?

Dennis J. Kucinich, a democratic presidential hopeful, was recently thrust into the spotlight ever since the media caught hold of a source, that told of Kucinich and his encounter with a U.F.O In September, it was asked of a secretary to Kucinich what happened, but it was dismissed and forgotten, until it reappeared Tuesday. In a debate in Philadelphia, the moderator asked Kucinich about the previous report. The exact question asked was, "The godmother of your daughter, Shirley MacLaine, writes in her new book that you've sighted a UFO over her home in Washington state, that you found the encounter extremely moving, that it was a triangular craft silent and hovering, that you felt a connection to your heart and heard direction in your mind. Now, did you see a UFO?" Surprisingly, Kucinich did not counter the question, he actually admitted to it. Even though previous presidents such as Reagan and Carter have claimed U.F.O. sightings, they were attributed to a halo effect seen from supposedly Venus, as suggested by the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City. First, regarding Kucinich, I actually believe in his sighting. I think it was a spacecraft from his home planet giving him further instructions on how to destroy the US, and later, humanity, first step, become PRESIDENT. I do not doubt that his insanely left political ideas have this power. But, if you do not believe my theory, then you probably have not seen a picture of Kucinich, to find a picture, use Google images and search “pixie”, his picture will come up. However, if you still do not believe my theory holds water, then frequent random drug testing on Kucinich would probably show why this “sighting” was seen. To read the full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ufo1nov01,1,4896845.story?coll=la-politics-campaign&ctrack=7&cset=true.