First, here is Part I:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Maestro/41It ended talking about the environment and energy. I continue below.
Part II
Now Kyoto and global warming. * has not controlled carbon emissions since he came to power. He polluted my state by letting industry police themselves and loosening controls on them and he is now doing the same for industry nationwide. At the international level he has been extremely ignorant of global warming, claiming in 2000 and again in 2004 that more research needs to be done to determine the cause. Just recently he commented that global warming was a problem. Well, d’uh, you fool. Then there is the Kyoto Protocol which was set to start countries on the path of cooperation in regards to carbon emissions. However, President Flop decided to withdraw the US completely from the
protocol. Mind you, the US contributes about 25% of the total polluting emissions while only having about 5% of the world’s population.
Unbelievable Do you really think we should have the gall to protest that the Kyoto protocols will hurt our economy or that other countries need to do more? Seriously, this is basically Shrub’s argument even though it was agreed upon by his father, Bushler I. It blows my mind. Meanwhile, the poles have continued to lose ice at a fantastic pace. Scientists know that this is not a natural occurrence as it is
happening so
rapidly. How could the government be so intransigent? Some scientists believe, and I agree, that the influx of freshwater into the North Atlantic will disrupt the Gulf Stream or ocean conveyor that supplies the North East and Northern Europe with a milder climate than what it could have been. If this disruption occurs, some areas will become scarcely recognizable in the winter months and perhaps uninhabitable.
I really would like to leave the Earth better for my children and my children’s children. I fear that this may not be possible and I blame, in part, the ineptitude and complete lack of compassion or caring of the republicans currently serving in Congress. I specifically call out one of my senators, John Cornyn and my representative Smokey Joe Barton for accepting huge sums of money from Big Oil and for making sure that nothing gets done on the issue. Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma and ironically enough the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works deserves the special recognition for chairing a committee that concerns a theme about which he is completely and utterly clueless. Here are a few examples, all related to his “global warming is a hoax” comment:
http://epw.senate.gov/speechitem.cfm?party=rep&id=230406 More here. There are of course plenty of fellow idiots that support this dolt.
It is just easier to be dumb I guess :shrug:
Which generation will be brave enough to step forward and not only demand that we change and reduce our polluting ways but also make sure it gets done? I want it to be mine!
Enough of that, what else concerns me and has me angry?
There are two things that all citizens need. These two items are rights not privileges. They are health care and education. We need to educate society and we need to make sure the society does not suffer unduly. First I will take on health care. Health care in the US is all about profit. This is fundamentally flawed. The United States needs a comprehensive universal health care plan, period. Since 2000 my health care costs have changed from one where my coverage was paid by my district and I only paid a little over one hundred USD for my children. My wife was also covered by her employer, who by the way, is my employer. Now starting in September of 2006 my monthly costs will be $593.57. My wife will pay $284.56. So we are paying a total of $878.13. Going from a little over $100 for everyone in 2000 to this amount is quite dramatic and traumatic. Some of the freepers lurking here and perhaps some of the DUers might say, “Hey, just choose a cheaper plan.” Well, here’s the kicker. The pharmco industry and medical insurers are shrewd. The base plan for my employer for which my employer will fully pay, only will allow one to see doctors on its plan. The number of doctors is extremely limited. To make matters worse, the plan is by invitation only in that the insurance company chooses whom to invite. So they dictate everything. The doctors they chose are only those around where my employer is located. I live 35 miles from my employer. None of the doctors previously covered were covered after 2000. I was forced to enroll in what was termed a buy-up plan. I did, but I received no extra benefits, just the privilege of seeing my doctor back on “the list.”
To complicate issues, I became very ill in 2003 with cancer. All turned out fine. I had a wonderful surgeon and awesome care from my care givers. I was only liable for 20% of the medical costs. By the way, that still was a lot! I am still paying for it. Then in 2004, either my oncologist or the insurance company decided to dissolve its relationship. I lost my oncologist unless I “upgraded” to the PP0 plan. I didn’t want to lose him for good reason so I enrolled in the PP0. Plus, to receive decent dental insurance I had to pay for that PP0 program as well. It’s crazy. My medical costs just keep going up along with the rest of my costs of living and my salary can not keep up. I understand why there are more than 40 million uninsured Americans.
I would say that Bush is failing on all of what his speech writers put forth for him to read.
What Shrub says he wants. Affordable health care? Where is that? How can I strengthen the relationship with my doctor when insurance companies try to dictate whom I see and what that doctor prescribes to me. Raise your hand if an insurance company has ever called to request that you take a different drug other than the one that was prescribed to you by your doctor. Me, count me please.
This little caveat had escaped me in 2004 but apparently this administration has talked about universal health care in Iraq!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001870042_iraqdig03.htmlMan, and we can’t even talk about it here without republicans claiming it is European socialism or just too expensive, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. :banghead:
This is a dated commentary from of all the places, the Moonie Times, but the author of the article opines quite well.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20040918-111119-1963r.htmFinally I must mention how this idiot vetoed stem cell research. What a set-back for medical research! How this dimwit can sit there and tell me that we shouldn’t destroy life to prolong someone else’s life or something to that effect is mind-boggling. It is a clump of cells you jackass! The hypocrisy of the whole thing is just crazy. We kill to spread democracy but we want to save a clump of cells. Moreover the ignorance here is astounding when one considers what happens in in vitro fertilization.
Next up is education.
Hey, this is my area and I can tell you Bush is a complete disaster. He provided us with No Child Left Behind (or is it No Child Left Untested) with which we here in Texas have been dealing since he came to power in a violent coup. Okay, not really, it was actually psy-ops led by his handlers that figured out that apparently most people do not study what is fed to them by the media in my great state. He was elected on sound-bytes. NCLB continued that tradition at the national level. I mean, hey, it sounds fine and dandy that all children at any given grade level will learn to read and to pass math and reading criterion referenced tests at X or Y grade level. Not to mention those children learning English as a second language will learn it academically as well as native peers in three years or less or else the school loses funding. This is especially ironic since this jerk butchers Spanish every time he opens his mouth. He doesn’t speak Spanish. Other problems are that for struggling schools, the way the government helps them is by taking away their students and closing down or at least the threat of this punitive action.
The major problem with this is that we all know children are different. They learn at different rates. NCLB at its core, especially the reading initiative and testing requirements, is quite contrary to what research has taught us, but research be damned. The one size fits all program is easy for Shrub to understand. Bush likes to listen to the voices in his head and other cretins who do not even support public education and in some cases haven never stepped foot in a classroom. I prefer actual researchers in the field of education. Here is but one.
http://sdkrashen.com/main.php3 From his first administration we dealt with these education “advisers.” Rod “I’m a tool” Paige and Diane Ravitch, a hateful lady who despises anything that tries to reach children who are different than your average white middle class student.
First administration talking heads on education By the way, Paige also called teacher organizations terrorists. :eyes:
Remember my previous rant about the economy and the disappearing middle class. Most urban inner city schools and some suburban schools serve a population that is probably coming from homes that are at the poverty level or lower. My whole district is Title I, meaning we qualify for monies for helping these struggling students. High stakes testing though punishes these kids or at the very least unfairly judges their academic performance because they are expected to make more gains than others. These types of kids typically start school farther behind because of various factors, lack of print rich environment in the home, lack of education by parents, being raised by someone other than their parents, etc…No one says these kids can’t learn. Of course they can, but they need special interventions and time. This is something that the under funded NCLB does not give states.
Additionally we had to deal with Reid Lyons who according to Bush has the answer to children’s reading problems. All a child needs is phonics instruction and everything else will work itself out in regards to reading. This not true. As a teacher I can assure you that children need a program based on authentic reading that teaches comprehension strategies along with a mixture of phonics and fluency practice. Any program based only on phonics and phonemic awareness will yield fluent readers with no critical thinking skills.
Lyons is par for the course when it comes to Bush. Lyons neither had any real experience in education.
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=47 This same website has some great information about the abuses of the under funded NCLB program.
http://susanohanian.org/nclb.htmlNow we are dealing with Margaret Spellings who helped Bush frame his education debacle here in Texas. By the way, if you want to know what Spellings did in education prior to being the head honcho in Washington for education; that would be nothing. She has never worked in a school. But pundits say she is qualified because she has worked in education policy. Well, that is fine but making policy is one thing, actually teaching is another. However, I don’t think Bush wants anyone there who has empathy for teachers or who understands the types of students we encounter. These policy makers base their programs on their experiences which I assure you are not the experiences of many of the kids here in the US. She would understand that better if she had spent some time in the classroom.
I would also like to know why Spellings is traveling all over the world.
Spellings sure likes to travelWhat does this have to do with what we are doing here? I don’t buy her answer.
Schools in the US accept all children no matter what race, creed, religion, medical status or condition, IQ or language they may be. Many schools are doing a great job and there are many fine teachers in this profession. It would just be nice to be accepted and supported by our government. In fact, those unfortunate teachers that think like Shrub are really ruining things for kids nowadays because they feel emboldened by the administration’s stance on education.
Don’t even get me started with Intelligent Design!
That is all for now. More to come tomorrow probably. Thanks for reading.
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