Blogging for America

President Bush is giving new meaning to blind faith by distancing himself from the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. This should come as no surprise from a person who has in civilian life made poor managerial decisions --trading Sosa from the Texas Rangers or Arbusto Energy which was bailed out when it was bought by the soon failing Spectrum 7 then Harkin Energy which had connections in Bahrain.... One would expect with a MBA he would understand good management practices and keep his eye on the bottom line.


His main campaign promoise when he ran for president was the "no child left behind" plan based on the changes he made as governor in Texas. Here are some rankings of Texas' education system:
Percentage increase in drop-out rate since 1986 - 9% (some people say that students were encouraged to drop out if they scored low on the standardized tests)e
SAT scores - 1996 combined math & verbal - 44th. ( 1 )
SAT scores - 1997 combined math & verbal - 45th. ( 1 )
SAT scores - 1998 combined math & verbal - 44th. ( 1 )
Spending for public libraries & branches - 46th. ( 2 )


[Resources for stats 1. National Education Agency, Rankings & Estimates: Rankings of the states 1999 & U.S. Dept. of Education Office of Educational Research and Development
2. Statistical Rankings by State ]

And, when one looks Bush's public experience managerial style one sees that he surrounds himself with 'yes people.' He seems unable to accept constructive criticism, and goes forth bullishly, blindly on the same path.

Here are two web sitews that allow you to put your money (even if its just $25) where your mouth is and help others.

www.kira.org lets you make $25 loans to entrepeneurs to help them out of poverty

www.donorschoose.org is a website that connects donors with teachers who have projects they'd like to fund--materials, experiences-- you can make it a reality!

Tolerance or No Tolerance is the subtitle of a paper that I am delivering Saturday morning in Boston. My point is that even though we preach tolerance, we practice intolerance. Our policies, practices and laws entrench the other (whoever is different--sex,race, class, ethnicity) into a secondclass citizenship. Once a government legitimizes intolerance, no one seems to notice.


Today is the anniversary of 1938 Kristallnacht. The intolerance started years earlier: there was a one day boycott against Jewish owned shops in 1933, kosher butchering was outlawed, Jewish children were restricted in public schools. In 1935 Germans of Jewish faith were deprived of German citizenship (Nuremburg Laws). In 1936 Jews could not participate in elections. "Jews Not Welcome" signs were common. It In 1938 Germany passed many laws restricting Jewish occupations and economic activity, Jews were required to carry identification cards. November 9 and 10, 1938 were the "Nights of the Broken Glass." "spontaneous" mobs attacked Jewish people in their homes, places of work (7500 business destroyed) or worship (1000 synagogues were burned), on the streets. Just under 100 Jews were killed and many more injured, 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to Concentration Camps.
Many consider Kristallnacht to be the beginning of the Holocaust. I say it started earlier.
We need to remember Kristallnacht and what came before it so it (and the events leading to it) may never be repeated.

VOTE AS IF THE LIFE & SOUL OF THIS REPUBLIC DEPENDED UPON YOUR VOTE: IT DOES.