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Dave Johnson: Bring Back the 90% Top Tax Rate!
2008-04-28 22:38:00
You know, in my dealings with Democrats, I've found that there are really two different sets of them.  The first ones are your usual blend of left of center folks, who, when asked about their points of view, can explain them and you get an understand on how they came to their beliefs.  Then there's this guy: When Eisenhower was President the top income tax rate was 91%. But you had to have already made a LOT of money before you hit that rate. (Eisenhower, by the way, supported that 91% top tax rate.) That 91% tax rate is what got us out of the depression, and helped create a middle class (with the help of strong labor unions). It payed (emphasis mine) for fighting World War II and the GI Bill, and helped build our highway system, education system and other infrastructure that is in place today (albeit crumbling now from maintenance deferral resulting from tax cuts.) We did all that without borrowing, and the rich still got richer. Think about this: If tax rates at the to...
More About: Johnson , Dave , Back , Rate

Sharpton vows to 'close this city' after officer acquittals
2008-04-28 17:53:00
Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends. "We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell." So, let me get this straight.  I seem to be confused.  Because Al Sharpton and some people didn't get the guilty verdict they wanted, they can somehow dictate how other people live their lives?  Officer s fired upon someone who was trying to run them over with his car.  50 shots a bit excessive?  Of course, unless it's a firefight.  However, the...
More About: City , Close , Vows

McCain Criticizes Remarks by Obama?s Former Pastor
2008-04-28 16:58:00
Up to now, Mr. McCain had largely avoided talking about the incendiary views of Mr. Wright, saying he wanted to run a ?respectful? campaign. He has even called on the North Carolina Republican Party to pull an advertisement that focuses on Mr. Wright. But Mr. McCain took a different approach at a news conference here when he criticized Mr. Wright for, as the senator paraphrased him, ?comparing the United States Marine Corps with Roman legionnaires who were responsible for the death of our Savior, I mean being involved in that? and for ?saying that Al Qaeda and the American flag were the same flags.? ?So I can understand, I can understand why people are upset about this,? said Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president. ?I can understand why Americans, when viewing these kinds of comments, are angry and upset.? Mr. McCain said that he did not believe that Mr. Obama , Democrat of Illinois, shared those views and that he was still against the advertisement in North Car...
More About: Pastor

Arizona sheriff stirs furor with crackdown on illegals
2008-04-26 02:07:00
Phoenix and nearby Guadalupe and sweeping up illegal immigrants" href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.ph p?id=D90922HG0&show_article=1">The self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff in America" has been making forays into Phoenix and nearby Guadalupe and sweeping up illegal immigrants, drawing howls of protest from the cities' mayors and other community leaders. While Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has legal authority to enforce the law in cities within his county, politicians and activists are accusing him of grandstanding and, worse, racial profiling. A total of 150 people?73 of them illegal immigrants?were arrested by Arpaio's deputies in the raids on heavily Hispanic sections in late March and early April. "I was upset. We did not request them here," said Guadalupe Mayor Rebecca Jimenez, who charged that the patrols were meant to raise Arpaio's profile for his re-election campaign this year. Guadalupe, a community of about 6,000 people that relies on the sheriff's offic...
More About: Arizona , Crackdown , Illegals

John Ridley: The Undeniable Virtue of Jeremiah Wright's Pro-Blackness (and
2008-04-26 01:32:00
There's nothing I hate more then a hypocrite and a double standard.  And this idiot is filled with both. For example, Fox's Sean Hannity had this to say about statements appearing on the website for Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ: "It says, "Commitment to God." By the way, I'm with you, and I hope you'll pray for me, Reverend. Commitment to the black community, commitment to the black family, adherence to the black work ethic. It goes on, pledge, you know, acquired skills available to the black community, strengthening and supporting black institutions, pledging allegiance to all black leadership who have embraced the black value system, personal commitment to the embracement of the black value system. Now, Reverend, if every time we said black, if there was a church and those words were white, wouldn't we call that church racist?" In answer to the question: yeah, probably. But that's 'cause there's a difference between being pro-black and pro-white and the d...
More About: John , Virtue , Jeremiah

Syrian vows to cooperate with IAEA over US nuclear charges
2008-04-26 00:06:00
a planned probe" href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM 5gj6OPwiKYnfMXJNR3gULswj7sdbA">Syria's UN envoy Bashar Jaafari on Friday said his country would cooperate with a planned probe by the UN nuclear watchdog agency into US allegations that Damascus and North Korea cooperated to build a nuclear reactor inside Syria. "We have close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)...We are not afraid of this cooperation, on the contrary," he told reporters. "Syria has nothing to hide." "IAEA inspectors should go into Israel (instead)... The real danger is the Israeli nuclear arsenal," he added. Oh I smell bullshit.  They've deflected twice now about their nuclear aspirations.  First it was about Iraq, and now it's about Israel. Let's take a quick summation of what's going on. Syria was building a building of some type. Israel attacks this building saying it was for an ill mannered idea (weapons, etc.) No one involved; Syria, Israel, the US, or even the ...
More About: Nuclear , Vows , Syrian

Israel's Air Force Chief: Iran Threat Real, Tells 60 Minutes Israel's Air F
2008-04-25 03:18:00
The commander of the Israeli air force takes Iran ian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?s threats against Israel extremely seriously. Israelis must be ready for anything and ultimately trust only themselves, he believes, and for good reason: his family survived the Holocaust. Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedy speaks to 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon in a story about the Israeli air force this Sunday, April 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. "I think it is a very serious threat to the state of Israel, but more than this, to the whole world," Shkedy says of the Iranian leader?s public animosity toward Israel. "They are talking about what they think about the state of Israel. They are talking about destroying and wiping us from the earth," he tells Simon. It reminds him of the Holocaust. "We should remember. We cannot forget. We should trust only ourselves." Well thank God SOMEONE'S taking the Iranian threat seriously.  Everyone else seems to think that they should be pussy footing around the notion t...
More About: Chief , Force , Real , Air Force

Carter-Hamas meeting achieved nothing: Palestinians
2008-04-25 03:14:00
leader of Hamas militants did not produce any results" href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.ph p?id=080423112836.vw3o9562&show_artic le=1">Last week's meeting between former US president Jimmy Carter and the exiled leader of Hamas militants did not produce any results, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said here Wednesday. "President Carter came to the region thinking he could achieve something. Unfortunately president Carter left without anything concrete," he told a conference in the Spanish capital. "The only thing he achieved was permission on the part of Khaled Meshaal of Hamas to deliver a letter from a detained Israeli soldier to his family. Nothing else," he said. "Hamas offered nothing to president Carter. They reiterated the same positions. There was no change on the part of Hamas," Malki added. You see, that's where they are wrong.  It produced plenty of propaganda material for Hamas and let everyone know what kind of weakling Jimmy Carter really ...
More About: Palestinians , Meeting

Keith
2008-04-24 22:14:00
Oh Keith , how I've missed you so much.  Your constant ramblings and idiotic nature has filled my heart with a flutter that no other liberal could possibly do. And yet, there was a long time when you started making good points about things that needed to be said.  I thought you were coming to the Dark Side. But alas, here we are, and you've blasted John McCain for something his pastor says, yet, you yourself have praise for Obama's speech about his pastor.  A bit hypocritical don't you think?   How odd eh?  I thought you were a journalist, not a partisan hack.  But you surprise me almost daily Mr. Olbermann.  Pretty soon, you'll surprise me again and say something nice about a Republican, you know, "there are times where we need to be bipartisan".  Just a thought. But then again, Reverend Wright is now having the nerve to say that his words were "twisted". The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor to Barack Obama, said that publicizing so...

Democratic Presidential Candidates Both Caught Lying...Or At Least Stretchi
2008-04-24 19:52:00
Now here's where the fun begins.  Everyone who sends me a supportive email about Obama continues to say how honest he is.  Well, unfortunately, he's not the Messiah that everyone thinks he is: Sen. Barack Obama continued accepting donations from oil company executives and employees last month even as he aired ads in which he stated he took no oil company money, his campaign finance reports show.Obama has taken at least $263,000 from oil company executives, family members and employees since entering the presidential race last year, including $46,000 last month. At least $140,000 has come in chunks of between $1,000 and $2,300, the maximum permitted under federal law. Cavnar of Milagro Exploration and his wife, Gracie, have helped the Illinois Democrat raise at least another $50,000 by helping host a fundraiser earlier in the campaign. Other oil industry donors have included Sinclair Oil President Ross Matthews of Texas and John B. Hess, chairman of Hess Corp., a New York...
More About: Presidential , Democratic , Candidates , Lying , Caught

N. Koreans Taped At Syrian Reactor
2008-04-24 07:14:00
A video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea's nuclear arsenal, according to senior U.S. officials who said it would be shared with lawmakers today. The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel's decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6, a move that was publicly denounced by Damascus but not by Washington. Sources familiar with the video say it also shows that the Syrian reactor core's design is the same as that of the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, including a virtually identical configuration and number of holes for fuel rods. It shows "remarkable resemblances inside and out to Yongbyon," a U.S. intelligence official said. A nuclear weapons specialist called the video "very, very ...
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What a Day!
2008-04-24 00:26:00
Well it certainly appears that I wasn't far off with my predictions about Hillary and Pennsylvania.  I thought she'd win by less than 10%, and she won by just 10%.  I predicted she'd use this "victory" as an excuse to keep going, and it appears that I was right. I wonder if I can predict the winning lottery numbers? I have a full evening planned, so I won't be posting as much as I usually do. As a side note, I've extended an invitation to several people to write up some articles to get a fresh perspective on the political scene, and I am expecting to hear from them soon.   Some of them are hard core liberals, so it ought to be entertaining. :)   Travis travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Pennsylvania
2008-04-23 01:59:00
Well here we are.  Barack Obama may push ahead to the point where Hillary statistically can't win tonight.  Hillary needs a win, and needs it in the worst way.  Can she pull it off?  I sincerely doubt it.  But here's where to check out the incoming results. Remember, just 6 months ago, Hillary was saying "They aren't going after me because I'm a woman, they are going after me because I'm in the lead".  It certainly doesn't look like she had a "plan B", something you don't want to have in your next President. Obama was up against the ropes for the longest time, and his campaign certainly appeared finished at many points in the process, but here we are. My guess?  Obama loses slightly, by less than 10% of the vote.  Hillary trumps it as a "victory", and we move onto other states.  We'll know more tonight.   Travis travis@rightwinglunatic.com
More About: Pennsylvania

American arrested as nuclear spy for Israel
2008-04-22 23:23:00
U.S. authorities arrested an 84-year-old American on Tuesday suspected of giving Israel secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles in the 1980s in a case with links to imprisoned spy Jonathan Pollard. Ben-Ami Kadish acknowledged his spying in FBI interviews and said he acted out of a belief he was helping Israel, according to court documents. Kadish was accused of reporting to an Israeli government handler who was also a main contact for Pollard, an American citizen serving a life term on a 1985 charge of spying for Israel. Kadish's arrest indicates that spying revealed by the Pollard case, still an irritant in the close U.S. alliance with Israel, may have spread wider than previously acknowledged. "It was bigger than we thought, and they hid it well," said former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, who prosecuted the Pollard case. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said, "We will be informing the Israelis of this action ... behavior we would expect from friends and allies ...
More About: Arrested , Nuclear

Rendell Says College Kids "Drink The Kool-Aid" Of Obama Speeches
2008-04-22 23:16:00
Tell me, where is this guy wrong?   People don't like being told that they are "drinking the kool-aid" when they have so much passion involved in something, but listen to what the guy is saying and look at the audience.  They clearly have "drunk the kool-aid".  None could say what Obama had specifically accomplished.  Of course, the folks over at HuffPo are up in arms about it as well.  How DARE they question the Almighty Obama!   Travis travis@rightwinglunatic.com
More About: Kids , College , Drink , Speeches

Al Qaeda No. 2: Attacks on Western nations in works
2008-04-22 17:31:00
Of course, we get the usual line of bullshit from this guy, but there are a couple of interesting things he does talk about.  For example: Al-Zawahiri also denied a conspiracy theory that Israel carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., and he blamed Iran and Shiite Hezbollah for spreading the idea to discredit the Sunni al Qaeda's achievement. Al-Zawahiri accused Hezbollah's al-Manar television of starting the rumor. "The purpose of this lie is clear -- (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it," he said. "Iran's aim here is also clear -- to cover up its involvement with America in invading the homes of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq," he added. Iran cooperated with the United States in the 2001 U.S. assault on Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban, an al Qaeda ally. The comments reflected al-Zawahiri's increasing criticism of Iran, which al-Zawah...
More About: Nations , Al Qaeda , Works , Western , Al-Qaeda

Raised on welfare, the 'Why Bother?' generation that doesn't want to work |
2008-04-22 02:53:00
A "why bother?" economy has been created in Britain which has left thousands with no motivation to work, a report published today concludes. Successive governments have encouraged a welfare culture that has left every family facing a £1,300 bill because the poor stay poor, it claims. The findings by the public services think tank Reform suggest that increased welfare dependency has made it more difficult for those on the lowest incomes to do better. An education system with a "dismal record" of educating the poorest, and a complex welfare system, have together created a far more divided society than other European countries, it finds. Means-tested benefits and higher taxes have reduced the incentives available to those on low incomes to better themselves, Reform says. It concludes: "significant minority do not have the capability or motivation to succeed" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li ve/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id= 560939&in_page_id=1770">The unintende...
More About: Work , Welfare , Generation

Can Obama Repel 'Swift Boat'-Style Attacks?
2008-04-22 02:48:00
The Obama campaign is planning to expand its research and rapid-response team in order to repel attacks it anticipates over his ties to 1960s radical Bill Ayers, indicted developer Antoin Rezko and other figures from his past. David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, tells NEWSWEEK that the Illinois senator won't let himself be "Swift Boat ed" like John Kerry in 2004. "He's not going to sit there and sing 'Kumbaya' as the missiles are raining in," Axelrod said. "I don't think people should mistake civility for a willingness to deal with the challenges to come." The move appears to be an acknowledgment that the Obama campaign may not have moved aggressively enough when questions about Ayers and Rezko first arose, and it comes amid fresh indications that conservative groups are preparing a wave of attack ads over the links. Operatives such as David Bossie, whose Citizens United group made the Willie Horton ad that helped sink Michael Dukakis's 1988 presidential bid, are sharpeni...
More About: Style , Attacks , Swift Boat

Muslim call to adopt Mecca time
2008-04-22 02:21:00
replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_e ast/7359258.stm">Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth. Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers. The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice. One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north. He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed. Ok, so let me get this straight, Muslims aren't happy enough, and now we all have to replace computer code and billions of dollars worth of other changes that would need to take place to give them some kind of religious woody? Look, guys, I'm ...
More About: Time , Call , Adopt

Mashaal offers truce if Israel withdraws from 1967 lands
2008-04-21 19:31:00
If Jimmy Carter couldn't look more like an idiot, I'd be hard pressed to find an example.  Check this out: DAMASCUS, Syria - The leader of Hamas says his Palestinian militant group is offering Israel a 10-year truce if it withdraws from all lands it seized in the 1967 war. Khaled Mashaal says he made the offer to former President Carter in talks on Saturday. Mashaal says Hamas would accept a Palestinian state limited to the lands Israel seized in 1967 ? an implicit acceptance that Israel would exist alongside that state. But Mashaal says the group would never outright formally recognize Israel.   So, they're offering only a 10 year truce if Israel withdraws?  And they won't recognize Israel at all?  Wow!  What a fucking deal Jimmy has procured!  Why doesn't he just tell Hamas that they still have the inherent right to bomb innocent civilians? Of course, here's the icing on the cake: The former president also said Monday that he would never sit d...
More About: Offers

Obama On Taxes
2008-04-19 00:28:00
    SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I?ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year ? $29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That?s not fair. And what I want is not oppressive taxation. I want businesses to thrive and I want people to be rewarded for their success. But what I also want to make sure is that our tax system is fair and that we are able to finance health care for Americans who currently don?t have it and that we?re able to invest in our infrastructure and invest in our schools. And you can?t do that for free, and you can?t take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children and our grandchildren and then say that you?re cutting t...
More About: Taxes , Obama

9/11 families to see Guantanamo trials
2008-04-19 00:10:00
mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other suspects so relatives of those killed in the attacks can watch on the U.S. mainland" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2419916 6/">The U.S. military will televise the Guantanamo trial of accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other suspects so relatives of those killed in the attacks can watch on the U.S. mainland. "We're going to broadcast in real time to several locations that will be available just to victim families," Army Col. Lawrence Morris, chief prosecutor for the controversial war crimes court, said at the naval base recently. In February, military prosecutors charged Mohammed and five other captives with murder and conspiracy and asked that they be executed if convicted of plotting to crash hijacked planes into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. The only thing that would make me happier, is if they televise the executions if they are convicted.  Throw it on pay per view an...
More About: Trials , Families

Saddam Hussen Torture vs Waterboarding
2008-04-18 00:59:00
This we're the worst when it comes to torture?  Take a look at this and tell me that waterboarding someone who's planning attacks against US citizens is somehow worse.  You'd be lying.  Warning, this video is graphic. 
More About: Torture , Waterboarding , Saddam

Hillary and Obama: We Don't Care What Commanders Say
2008-04-18 00:55:00
At the Democratic debate in Philadelphia last night, Clinton was asked if she would bring the troops home "no matter what," even if that meant destabilizing the country. Clinton said yes, promising to do so responsibly and with a strong diplomatic effort in the region. "Our professional military are the best in the world," she said. "They give their best advice. And then they execute the policies of the president." So, after 4,000 dead, tens of thousands wounded, BOTH Hillary and Obama want to just give up and go home?  They want all that sacrifice, pain, and death to be in vain? If General Petraeus said "We've made tremendous gains, and the Iraqi's are ok to take over", I'll be the first one to say "well, pack it up boys, you're coming home".  But the fact is, he hasn't said that.  In fact, he has said that there have been gains that are "reversible". And since Obama says that the "buck stops here" when referring to himself as President, what does he do if those...
More About: Care

Feds to collect DNA from every person they arrest
2008-04-18 00:29:00
covered" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080416 /ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/dna_collection">Someon e hasn't read the Constitution: "Unreasonable search and seizure" is covered. The government plans to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency ? a move intended to prevent violent crime but which also is raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people. Using authority granted by Congress, the government also plans to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are detained, whether they have been charged or not. The DNA would be collected through a cheek swab, Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Wednesday. That would be a departure from current practice, which limits DNA collection to convicted felons. Expanding the DNA database, known as CODIS, raises civil liberties questions about the potential for misuse of such personal information, such as family ties and genetic conditions. Ablin said the DNA collection would be subject to the sa...
More About: Arrest , Person

Daily Kos: Isn't Hamas' Goal Obvious?
2008-04-18 00:22:00
Democratic line of "Blame Israel and the US first"" href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2 008/4/17/164538/971/516/497816">Someone's going to have their account deleted on Daily Kos for not towing the Democratic line of: "Blame Israel and the US first".  Today in the Washington Post they published an op-ed by Mahmoud al-Zahar, foreign minister of Hamas in which he applauds Jimmy Carter's decision to meet with the group during his middle-east trip. JNEREBEL's diary :: :: Mr. al-Zahar defends the recent attack on Israeli citizens at the Nahal Oz fuel depot as he sees the current situation through the prism of "fighting a total war" where such barbaric attacks are justified due to Israeli mobilization. He blames the US for the coup d'etat Hamas initiated in Gaza and congratulates Jimmy Carter's vision of peace via talks without pre-conditions.  Except for the pre-conditions he places on Israel, that is.... A "peace process" with Palestinians can...
More About: Goal , Obvious , Daily Kos

Senator: Let's monitor P2P for illegal files
2008-04-17 23:55:00
A prominent Senate Democrat on Wednesday said federal and local police should use custom software to monitor peer-to-peer networks for illegal activity, and he wants to spend $1 billion in tax dollars to help make that happen. At an afternoon Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing about child exploitation on the Internet, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said he was under the impression it's "pretty easy to pick out the person engaged in either transmitting or downloading violent scenes of rape, molestation" simply by looking at file names. He urged use of those techniques by investigators to help nab the most egregious offenders. Oh, so THAT'S what Biden meant when he said Democrats were stronger on national security.  Silly me, I thought he meant about IMPORTANT issues.  Sure Joe, let's blow another $1 billion dollars getting those pesky kids downloading the latest Metallica tunes.  I'm sure your office has nothing better to do then to bust a 14 year old kid in his mom...
More About: Monitor , Files , Illegal , Senator

Obama Pressed in Pa. Debate - washingtonpost.com
2008-04-17 23:06:00
Obama said he understood why some people were offended by what he called a "mangled up" statement and then sought to reframe his comments in less offensive terms. "The point I was making was that when people feel like Washington's not listening to them, when they're promised year after year, decade after decade, that their economic situation is going to change and it doesn't, then, politically, they end up focusing on those things that are constant, like religion." as gun control" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy n/content/article/2008/04/16/AR2008041604 103.html">Obama also said many of those Americans end up basing their votes on issues such as gun control, and he said those issues often become wedges to divide the electorate. "When those issues are exploited, we never get to solve the issues that people really have to get some relief on, whether it's health care or education or jobs," he said. When you talk about an issue that's guaranteed in the Constitution for al...
More About: Debate , Obama

Conn. Students To Get Cash For Passing AP Tests
2008-04-16 19:39:00
Students who pass Advanced Placement tests at Wilby High School in Waterbury will be getting hard cold cash rewards.themselves for every test they pass" href="http://wcbstv.com/topstories/CT.Exa m.Cash .2.700819.html">The students who pass their final AP tests next year will earn $100 for themselves for every test they pass. The cash rewards are part of a new program to expand student participation in Wilby's Advanced Placement program. It is funded by a $451,113, grant from the National Math and Science Initiative. Is this what we're reduced to as a nation?  Kids getting paid to pass tests?  How's this:  Pass the test or get punished for not studying hard enough.  Parents and teachers resorting to bribery aren't doing the kids any favors.  All they are doing is showing them that being smart and getting ahead in life is supposed to be rewarded immediately, rather than allowing them to get them to see about long term thinking and planning. For example, when...
More About: Students , Tests , Passing

Obama tied to lobbyists, but boasts of not taking money
2008-04-16 19:28:00
Oh how I love hypocrisy and telling of half truths. Everyone is talking about Barack Obama like he's the second coming of Jesus,  But alas, our good friend Obama is even guilty of telling a bit of a half truth.  And unfortunately, I need to use a Hillary Clinton ad to make my point: Barack Obama often boasts he is "the only candidate who isn't taking a dime from Washington lobbyists," yet his fundraising team includes 38 members of law firms that were paid $138 million last year to lobby the federal government, records show. Those lawyers, including 10 former federal lobbyists, have pledged to raise at least $3.5 million for the Illinois senator's presidential race. Employees of their firms have given Obama's campaign $2.26 million, a USA TODAY analysis of campaign finance data shows.   Thirty-one of the 38 are law firm partners, who typically receive a share of their firm's lobbying fees. At least six of them have some managerial authority over lobbyists. "It m...
More About: Money , Lobbyists , Taking