How many people does it take to announce “Madame Speaker, the President of United States”? If you said 2, you’re right! On this momentous occasion, the last State of the Union by President Bush, it took two people to announce his arrival. In the past, this arduous task was handled by one person.
General observations… Bush was wearing a blue tie. Perhaps he’s subliminally acknowledging that the blue states will rise again. Hillary was wearing a scarlet-red suit. Like a woman scorned by the Kennedy clan. Hillary babe, you look fabulous. You don’t need the Kennedy clan’s endorsement. You got Antonio Villaraigosa. Just think of him as the Hispanic JFK. He might not have the money that Jack did, but he’s got it covered in the love department. But I digress…
Back to the State of the Union. Here are some sound bytes and the corresponding translations.
- No Child Left Behind. “In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams — and a decent education is their only hope of achieving them.”
Translation: No rich children left behind. But children in poor neighborhoods… well, they can fend for themselves. And if they’re left behind, they can join the military and serve our country. Here’s an idea… why not spend half the amount we have spent on “spreading democracy” in Iraq towards improving education. Just a thought…
- Protect our vital interest in the Persian Gulf .
Translation: We want your oil.
- Democracy leads to a better life.
Translation: We want your oil. If you have oil, we will give you democracy whether you want it or not. The people of North Korea do not need democracy or a better life. ‘Cause they got no oil.
- America opposes genocide in Sudan.
Translation: America opposes genocide as long as there are no conflicts with our interests in the Middle East. But in the case of Turkey and the Armenian Genocide, that’s an inconvenient genocide. We’re just going to sweep that under the carpet and hope that the Armenian people just forget about it.
I’m glad this is his last State of the Union address. I can’t handle any more of this nonsense.
From Hollywood and Beyond 
Do you really want the federal government involved in education? I would rather the government stay out of my kids’ education as much as possible. I’m not rich, my kids go to public schools, and they are doing just fine (great, actually).
I think that good education should be available for every child. Whether the federal government is involved or not, I think that good schools should exist in every neighborhood regardless of the property values of the neighborhood. But unfortunately there is a multi-tier educational system in this country. And I’ve seen the difference between the quality of education in a middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles and the quality of education in an inner-city neighborhood (South Central for example). Let’s just say there was a stark difference.
Federal education oversight es no bueno. Hell, state oversight es no bueno.
http://awaitingtenure.wordpress.com/
Eliza, I believe quality education should be available to all as well. But I don’t believe the federal government can provide that. It is more difficult for inner-city schools to get good teachers for two main reasons: 1) difference in pay; 2) they are inner-city schools. Sure there are other reasons, but think about it: if you were a teacher, would you rather teach in a middle class neighborhood or an inner-city neighborhood? Even if the pay was better in the inner-city school, I would probably go with the middle class school. It’s just a better situation all around.
If parents would take some time to do some education at home (and I’m not talking about home-schooling), then the education received at school would be better. Teach the kids about respect for authority, about the importance of learning, and about how one should treat others (both classmates and teachers), and the education received would improve dramatically. More money will improve the tools used to educate, but it will not improve the education.
Agreed, JT. There needs to be more incentive to even be a teacher in the first place, though.
The government is so accustomed to solving problems by throwing money at or withdrawing money from it. Falling test scores? Increase federal funding. Iran working on nukes? Economic sanctions.
http://awaitingtenure.wordpress.com/
Looks like we all agree that the educational system needs reform.