Why Is Religion Taboo in American Schools?

Does freedom of speech mean that students are free to talk about anything as long as they don't mention God or Jesus?

Bush's Achievements and Failures...

Please read the entire article: "Bush's Achievements
Ten things the president got right" , but here's a summary of the list: (tip from Right Voices)

His decision in 2001 to jettison the Kyoto global warming treaty so loved by Al Gore, the environmental lobby, elite opinion, and Europeans.

Enhanced interrogation of terrorists.

The rebuilding of presidential authority, badly degraded in the era of Vietnam, Watergate, and Bill Clinton.

Bush’s unswerving support for Israel.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the education reform bill cosponsored by America’s most prominent liberal Democratic senator Edward Kennedy. The teachers’ unions, school boards, the education establishment, conservatives adamant about local control of schools–they all loathed the measure and still do. It requires two things they ardently oppose, mandatory testing and accountability.

Bush declared in his second inaugural address in 2005 that American foreign policy (at least his) would henceforth focus on promoting democracy

The Medicare prescription drug benefit, enacted in 2003. It’s not only wildly popular; it has cost less than expected by triggering competition among drug companies.

John Roberts and Sam Alito. In putting them on the Supreme Court and naming Roberts chief justice, Bush achieved what had eluded Richard Nixon, Reagan, and his own father. Roberts and Alito made the Court indisputably more conservative. And the good news is Roberts, 53, and Alito, 58, should be justices for decades to come.

He strengthened relations with east Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Australia) without causing a rift with China. On top of that, he forged strong ties with India. An important factor was their common enemy, Islamic jihadists. After 9/11, Bush made the most of this, and Indian leaders were receptive.

THE SURGE. Bush prompted nearly unanimous disapproval in January 2007 when he announced he was sending more troops to Iraq and adopting a new counterinsurgency strategy. His opponents initially included the State Department, the Pentagon, most of Congress, the media, the foreign policy establishment, indeed the whole world. This makes his decision a profile in courage. Best of all, the surge worked. Iraq is now a fragile but functioning democracy.

Do you agree?
However... he lost faith in the Free Market Principles that make this country great... Bush Admits, ‘I Chucked Aside My Free Market Principles’

"President Bush on Monday defended his economic record, noting that he’s taken “extraordinary measures” to deal with the frozen credit markets. He said the main question for the president is not when the problem started, but what action was taken once the problem was recognized: “And I readily concede that I chucked aside some of my free market principles when I was told by chief economic advisers that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression,” Bush said at a White House news conference." ...

To read more about what he believes his mistakes were and what his regrets are -taken from a Monday morning press conference at the White House- read the rest of the article here.

Many believe that Bush chucked his free market principles long ago...

"However, Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute told CNSNews.com that Bush had strayed from free market theory continuously over his two presidential terms

“(I’m not) quite sure if President Bush would recognize free market principles if they were on fire and rollerblading naked through the White House,” Crews said.

Boaz pointed out that federal spending increased by over $1 trillion during the president’s eight years -- not including increased expenditures that will likely result from Bush’s Medicare Prescription Drug program and the bailouts of the banks and the auto companies.

“We had steel tariffs, we had nationalization of education, we had incredible growth of government under Bush,” said professor Don Boudreaux, chairman of the economics department at George Mason University. “He did keep taxes lower than the Democrats were clamoring for, but that alone is not sufficient to establish one as a free marketeer.”

Lawrence Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education, agreed.

“We got some tax cuts, but the total picture is that government is bigger today than when he [Bush] took office,” Reed told CNSNews.com."

So yes, I do have some criticism of Bush and how he ran things, but here's the media's take on him: (should we be surprised?)

"Reacting to President Bush's Monday press conference, on Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith remarked: "Not going to get a 'job well done'...on the report card, on the final report card." That observation was prompted by Republican strategist Ed Rollins declaring: "I think to a certain extent, we have a lot to be thankful to this president for his service, but he's not going to get a 'great job' from the American public."

Prior to that exchange, Rollins criticized Bush for being too confident: "...you saw a lot of confidence yesterday, he always was a man that was overly confident." Smith asked: "Did you say overly confident?" Rollins elaborated: "I think he's overly confident. I think he's overly confident about a lot of things. I -- there was no humility there yesterday when you basically talk in terms of the 'Mission Impossible' [Referring to 'Mission Accomplished' banner] sign, at the same time he can't find weapons of mass destruction...You know, you also -- forget 'Mission Accomplished,' he flew in a jet, he had a pilot's outfit on, it was sort of the conquering hero."

and ...

"On CBS's Sunday Morning, correspondent Thalia Assuras examined President Bush's historical legacy and relied on two historians in her lengthy piece, both of whom labeled Bush one of the nation's worst Presidents. Douglas Brinkley declared: "I think it's safe to say that President Bush is going to be seen as the very bottom-rung of American Presidents...As a judicial historian looking at what's occurred on his watch, it is almost void of genuine accomplishment." Joseph Ellis contended: "I think that George Bush might very well be the worst President in American history...He's unusual. Most two-term Presidents have a mixed record...Bush has nothing on the positive side, virtually nothing." Following these Bush-bashing historical assessments, Assuras exclaimed: "And that's not a minority opinion. In a 2006 Siena College survey of 744 history professors, 82 percent rated President Bush below average or a failure. Last April, in an informal poll by George Mason University of 109 historians, Mr. Bush fared even worse; 98 percent considered him a failed president. Sixty-one percent judged him, as Ellis does, one of the worst in American history." The only positive assessments of Bush's legacy in the January 11 report came from former Bush advisors Dan Bartlett and David Frum. No historians who viewed Bush positively were featured. Near the end of the segment, Assuras wondered: "So is President Bush's current low rating among historians just liberal bias?" She quickly countered: "Douglas Brinkley doesn't think so." Brinkley explained: "When I'm sitting here telling you that Ronald Reagan and, you know, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower were outstanding presidents, these are Republicans. I'm telling you, Ronald Reagan was one of the five greatest Presidents in American history. I'm not saying that because I'm a liberal. I'm just saying it because it's a fact. But you have to then accept when I'm telling you George Bush is one of the five worst presidents in American history, it's not because I want to stick it to him. He simply failed on the big questions of his day."

The media not biased is it??? just in case you're wondering...

"In contrast to his opinion of Bush, Brinkley managed to find positive words for Jimmy Carter in his 2006 biography of the former President, entitled The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House. In the first chapter, Brinkley described Carter this way: "In fact, although his critics saw him as self-righteous, Carter was the most principled American President since Harry Truman -- and nowhere was his morality on clearer display than in his insistence that human rights be a cardinal principle of global governance." During the Sunday Morning story, Brinkley attacked Bush on the same issues: "I think President Bush was a good man so infuriated and angered by 9/11 that he put on his ideological blinders and forgot that we have other things we represent -- civil liberties here at home, a Constitution, global human rights. That he started disliking the world community, alienated allies for no reason."

While some may point to Bush preventing another terrorist attack after September 11th, in a 2006 New York Times editorial, Ellis saw the 9/11 attacks as a mere footnote in American history: "...it defies reason and experience to make Sept. 11 the defining influence on our foreign and domestic policy. History suggests that we have faced greater challenges and triumphed, and that overreaction is a greater danger than complacency." In the CBS story, Ellis argued: "John Adams, the second president, said that there's one unforgivable sin that no president will ever be forgiven, and that is to put the country into an unnecessary war. I think that Iraq has proven to be an unnecessary war, and will appear to be more unnecessary as time goes on."

(For Ellis's 2006 New York Times op-ed: www.mtholyoke.edu)

Education Choice for the Obama Children

"Where will the Obama kids attend school in Washington? That question has been answered as it should be: by the new president and first lady.

There is no argument about that. Sasha and Malia will attend Sidwell Friends School — private, religious, and pricey — on average around $28,000 per year. In Chicago, they attended the University of Chicago Lab school, private also.

The more important question is: Will the parents of the approximately 2,000 D.C. kids who have been recipients since 2004 of congressionally provided voucher grants under the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) continue to have a choice of schools like the Obamas? If Obama, the Democrats, and Eleanor Holmes Norton (Delegate to Congress from D.C.), have their way, the answer will be "no."

Why? President Obama, Holmes, and the Democrats are allowing public school ideology to override the best interest of the OSP kids. They are so beholden to the D.C. public school monopoly that they will not allow the voucher program to continue once its extension has expired. This program provides possibly the only escape hatch for those trapped in failing D.C. public schools.

Contrast for a moment Sidwell with the D.C. public schools. Sidwell will teach Sasha and Malia well and effectively. Their educational progress is assured. On the other hand, test results from the D.C. public schools are among the worst in the country. Less than half of elementary and less than 40 percent of secondary students are proficient in math and reading. Delegate Norton claims this is due to under-funding of the public schools, but the evidence is to the contrary. Andrew Coulson, educational writer and analyst, calculates that when all sources of revenue for the D.C. schools are considered, the yearly per pupil cost is a whopping $24,600. The OSP program, if it were continued, would provide a mere $7,500 per student toward private or charter choices. Which program is actually "under-funded?" ...

...It is a bitter irony that these deserving students may be consigned to substandard instruction by the very president who promised to be the agent of change and the friend of the poor. ..."

excerpts from: John A. Sparks - OneNewsNow

for more information on Obama view on education see Obama Devotion to Public Education

Obama's Devotion to Public Education

Obama expresses his devotion to public education, however he doesn't support the needed improvements in public education (i.e. charter schools and school vouchers) to help children in poorer areas.

July 5, 2007: "Obama slams school vouchers and neglects to champion charter schools to Nation’s largest teachers’ union. Four years after championing charter schools, after running officially for the Presidency for almost five months, Obama implicitly throws “Charter schools,” overboard-- and the minority kids in failing public schools under the bus. Speaking today to the NEA, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, Obama decided to pander with the best of the pandering presidential candidates, telling the assembled teachers that he would not “abandon public schools,” by handing out school vouchers. Instead, Obama is going to abandon the kids in the failing public schools and make sure they have no way out, whether it be via school vouchers or charter schools. Obama’s solution? Investing “billions of dollars,” in teachers by “raising teachers salaries”." - Jeff Bekowitz from Public Affairs http://jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com/2007/07/closing-of-barack-obamas-mind.html

If public schools are so great and Obama believes he can fix them without these needed changes -then ask yourself this question: "Why doesn't Obama put his children in public schools?"

No, he is from the "elite" class, not the "working" class that he claims he wants to help. If he really wants to help the "working" class, then he would allow the needed reform in education to take place. Instead he backs up NEA and refuses to support school vouchers and charter schools.

McCain stated: "I believe parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children," (http://www.nysun.com/editorials/obam...ouchers/71798/). Apparently Obama doesn't agree with McCain on this issue anymore -- (Obama changed his mind again) Obama view now: Parents shouldn't be able to decide what school is best for their kids. The government should decide...and will continue to throw more money at a failed system.

But I ask -WHY shouldn't PARENTS decide where to send their children, since it's THEIR money to begin with? The MONEY belongs to the people, NOT the government, and people should have a say.

Obama disagrees with this and doesn't believe that parents of the "working" class should be empowered like those of the "elite" class. What's good for the masses is not good enough for me, being the leader of said movement. The Kennedys, the Gores, the Obamas - all private educations that cost in the area of $20,000/yr. Public school is good enough for our kids, but never good enough for theirs. The only politician in recent memory whose children went to, and graduated from, public schools were President Bush's daughters.

"Barack and Michelle Obama are poised to commit a classic act of limousine-liberal hypocrisy -- in this case, turning their backs on tens of thousands of inner-city kids in Washington, D.C. Public schools, it seems, are good enough for poor and middle-class families, but not for rich families like the Obamas. In July, when he addressed the NAACP's annual convention, Sen. Barack Obama expressed his devotion to American public schools, vowing he would not 'walk away from them' by supporting school-choice programs like Sen. John McCain did. ... There were 59,616 students enrolled in the D.C. public schools in 2006, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. If McCain's plan to increase by 2,000 the number of vouchers available in the District were enacted, taxpayers would still be spending $15,798 per student per year to send more than 55,000 kids through a school system where about nine out of 10 students do not learn to read or do math at grade-level proficiency by the time they 'graduate' from elementary school. What is Obama's plan to deal with this? Spend $18 billion more in federal tax dollars on public education (as he promised in his campaign) -- and send his own kids to extremely expensive private schools. Currently, Obama's two daughters (ages 7 and 10) attend the University of Chicago Lab School, where tuition is $18,492 for grades 1-4 and $20,286 for grades 5-8. When Michelle Obama visited Washington this week, she toured only two prospective schools for her daughters: Sidwell Friends, where lower-school tuition is $28,442; and Georgetown Day, where tuition is $27,445 for grades 1-5." --columnist Terence Jeffrey

"Of course, Obama’s views and Hillary’s views on the subject of education and pandering to the NEA are most likely no worse than all the other Democratic Primary presidential candidates. This is because the Democratic Party has become a fully owned subsidiary of the teachers unions, at least with respect to education. The difference with Barack is that he, at least, for a while exhibited an open mind on education. But, no more. The handlers have done their job." Jeff Berkowitz from public affairs at http://jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com/2007/07/closing-of-barack-obamas-mind.html


Transcripts tracking the closing of “Obama’s mind.” transcripts below quoted from Public Affairs by Jeff Berkowitz - http://jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com/2007/07/closing-of-barack-obamas-mind.html

"State Senator Barack Obama [D-Chicago]: …I am also willing to say that I am not close minded on this issue [School Vouchers, School Choice] so I think everybody should go into this with the basic attitude that the bottom line is--how are we providing the most effective education for students at every grade level and every economic strata, and if we are doing that, then we shouldn't be didactic or ideological about how to best deliver that.

Jeff Berkowitz: So, I take that to mean that under the right circumstances you, Barack Obama, possible U. S. Senate Candidate from the State of Illinois, could support school vouchers and could even do so in your role as a state senator in the Illinois Legislature.

State Senator Barack Obama: No, what you can take that to mean is that I am willing to listen to these arguments and see if there-- If I can be persuaded that ultimately kids would be better off, then--

Berkowitz: Then you would support it.

State Senator Barack Obama: I would support anything that is going to be better off for the children of Illinois.

Berkowitz: Including school vouchers, if you are persuaded?

State Senator Barack Obama: Whatever is on the table I think has to be debated.

Jeff Berkowitz: Quite a concession. I am going to quit while I am ahead. Let's go over to the Pledge of Allegiance. Yesterday, another major decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals...
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Then State Senator Barack Obama, interviewed on “Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz,” a Chicagoland political interview show taped on June 27, 2002 [See here and here for current "Public Affairs," shows].
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Jeff Berkowitz: Well, your views might have changed. Last time, you said you will do anything that improves the [school] situation and you were open to school vouchers. Did I get that right?

U. S. Senate Candidate and State Senator Barack Obama: What I said was--I think that we have to consider every possibility of improving what admittedly is an intolerable [Public] school system for a lot of inner-city kids. I do not believe in vouchers. I am a strong supporter of charter schools, as you know. I think that we do have to innovate and experiment to encourage competition in the school systems... *******************************************
Berkowitz: ... Here is my [school voucher] backpack, right here.

U. S. Senate Candidate and State Senator Barack Obama: I have done the backpack thing, Jeff

Berkowitz: But, you haven't done it as a U. S. Senate candidate. Here it is. It has changed now. We are now spending about $9,000 [per kid per year operating cost in the CPS]. It went up from $8,000 [per year per kid]. Here is the [school voucher] backpack. I am the parent. I am serious. I want to know. Barack Obama, could you give me that backpack? That is, $9,000 for each kid [of mine.] $18,000 that I could spend at a school [of my choice for my two kids]. You don't want to do that for me?

U. S. Senate Candidate and State Senator Barack Obama: Jeff, Jeff

Berkowitz: [Berkowitz offers the school voucher backpack to Obama]. You don't want to take that backpack? I didn't think so.

U. S. Senate Candidate and State Senator Barack Obama: We are going to get in this debate again. As I have said before, I believe that the voucher program is, although I believe that there are very sincere proponents like yourself, I think that the ultimate result of initiating a voucher program ends up being to, over time, not foster competition, but, in fact, to reduce the options available particularly for the hardest to reach kids because a private market system will not ultimately try to reach the toughest to teach kids. That's a debate that we have had before. What I do know is at the federal level what we can do on the education front is make sure that programs like "Leave no child behind," actually don't leave the money behind, which is what's happened with [President] George Bush.

Jeff Berkowitz: Well, that [No Child Left Behind] doesn't give choice. You and I agree on that?

U. S. Senate Candidate and State Senator Barack Obama: That I certainly agree with. I think the notion that somehow these kids now have options if they are in failing schools when in fact they don't –

Berkowitz: [Holding up the $18,000 voucher backpack for two kids]. This is an option: $18,000. It is $18,000; School of your choice.

U. S. Senate Candidate and State Senator Barack Obama: It is not true. Because the kids on the South Side of Chicago; the kids in King High School, or in Crane, or in other of these schools will not end up going to New Trier High School [One of the best public schools, nationally, located in the North Shore in Illinois].

Berkowitz: They don't have to. They just need to go to a BETTER school [than their current one] and eventually there will be a New Trier. But it doesn't have to be New Trier overnight.
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Then State Senator Barack Obama, interviewed on “Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz,” a Chicagoland political interview show on July 18, 2003 [See here and here for current "Public Affairs," shows].
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Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: The ideal of a public education has always been at the heart of the American promise. It's why we are committed to fixing and improving our public schools instead of abandoning them and passing out vouchers. …
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Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: By 12th grade, our children [in public schools] score lower on their math and science tests than most other kids in the developed world. Sixty percent of African-American fourth graders [in public schools] are unable to read at a basic level, and today only 9% of low-income students will graduate from college.
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Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: In the coming weeks, I'll be laying out the specific details of my plan to invest billions of new dollars into the teaching profession…
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Presidential Candidate Barack Obama: So let's make a promise right now that if you're a teacher or a principal doing the hard work of educating our children, we will reward that work with the salary increase that you deserve
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U. S. Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, speaking today at the Annual Meeting of the National Education Association [the largest teachers union in the country] at the Pennsylvania Convention Center [See here].
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Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox and many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com"

Education Watch is trying to get this message out - When parents have control over where their kids go to school and hold the school accountable, education for all children improves.

"Phil Brand is the director of Education Watch and is currently embarking on the "American Schools Tour." The tour is a journalistic project aimed at gauging how education is fairing across the U.S. and, more specifically, how school choice is affecting education. Brand says he will visit two schools in each state and that those schools could range from public, private, or even home schools.

"The message that we're trying to get out is that parents should have as much control over where their kids go to school and that sort of having schools accountable to parents -- whether they're public schools or private schools -- really improves the education system for all kids," he explains." from: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=325118