GOVERNMENT EDUCATION

Just read the first paragraph of this story from The Atlanta-Journal Constitution:

"Results from the state social studies exams sixth- and seventh-graders took earlier this year will be thrown out because of problems that caused the majority of students to fail, State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox announced her decision Wednesday afternoon in a letter to local school superintendents."

See practice tests here.

WHY DON'T THESE GUYS FIGHT BACK?

It was nothing less than a show trial. The Senate brought the leaders of the largest oil companies to Washington DC for a little grandstanding yesterday. Right there in the middle of all of this was Illinois Senator Dick Durbin.

I'm sorry, but this has to be said. Dick Durbin is either a shameless demagogue or a complete dumbass. I'm going with dumbass. This fool couldn't tell you the difference between a profit and a profit margin if his reelection depended on it. He sat up there on his fat ass and said to these oil company executives "Does it trouble any of you when you see what you're doing to us?" So ... there you go. These high gas prices? This is all being done to us by the evil oil companies. They're doing it to us with their huge profits.

We have increasing demands worldwide ... and a diminishing supply of oil ... and Durbin wants the uneducated people of this country to believe that these high gas prices are something that the oil company executives are "doing to us."

Why can't these guys defend themselves? Why can't just one of them say: "Tell us, Senator, do you honestly believe that this government; the government that gave us Social Security and pork spending, could run these oil companies any better than we do? The American people instinctively know that if this was a government operation they would be waiting for days just to be able to put ten gallons of gas in their tank. Frankly, Senator, you don't know the difference between an profit and a profit margin, and you would be hard pressed to make a successful attempt at running a corner gas station."

Yeah .. I know. In my dreams.

WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE LENGTH OF THIS SENTENCE?

I've been telling you - and I'm not alone here - that with Barack Obamamessiah running for president we're rapidly going to degenerate into a situation where any criticism of Obama made by anyone who isn't black is going to be labeled as racism. What's more, if he is elected we're going to have four years (and probably only four) of dismissals of any criticisms as race-based. This is going to get real old real fast.

Just to reinforce my feelings here I want to share an email we received from a distraught listener. We made no attempt to correct any spelling or to try to make the message more readable. Just have fun ... and try to count the words in the first sentence!

OK ... just to help you out here. I think that first sentence was about 369 words long. You know ... I could swear that the lower-educated voters were supporting Hillary! Doesn't look like it from this email.

WHY THE REPUBLICANS ARE GOING TO GET THEIR ASSES HANDED TO THEM

This was a disgusting display - and more evidence that that the Republicans are just begging for the beating that is surely on the way.

Pathetic.

WHATEVER MICHELLE SAYS IS THE MESSAGE

The "lay off my wife" comment has developed a new layer. During a CBS Evening News story, Katie Couric found herself giggling around the Obama campaign headquarters. That's when the camera happened to find this sheet of paper with a Barack declaration of policy: "Whatever Michelle Says Is The Message." It is dated October 1, 2007.

SO THERE WAS A CONCERT TOO

Okay, we get it. At first we were a it amazed that 75,000 people would show up in Portland, Oregon to see the Obamessiah. Turns out that there were some other acts on the schedule. It wasn't all for Barack.

It turns out, you see, that many (perhaps a majority) of these people didn't come to see the stud, they came to see a rock concert. Not just any concert either. This particular band likes to play the Soviet national anthem.

So let me ask you this ... which one is worse: The fact that 75,000 people showed up to hear a presidential candidate make a speech or the fact that 75,000 showed up to hear some longhairs who see something glam in the old Soviet Union? Oh .. and by the way, considering Barack's past self-admitted affinity for Marxism, isn't this choice of rock bands and their music somewhat perplexing?

GOVERNMENT IDIOT OF THE DAY

There's a newly elected California Congresswoman by the name of Laura Richardson. She's a Democrat. There are now reports that this fine new government bureaucrat has walked away from her home mortgage of $535,000. Less than two years after buying the house with not one penny down, she just let it slip into foreclosure and wiped her hands clean.

In January of 2007, Richardson took out a mortgage on her Sacramento home for $535,000, the sale price of the house. Not only did she borrow the entire purchase prices, but she somehow talked the person selling the home into giving her an additional $15,000 to cover some of the closing costs.

So .. what does the lovely Ms. Richardson do after she wins a special election to Congress? She walks away from her home and the mortgage. At that point she owes Washington Mutual around $600,000. It seems she hadn't been making payments. So .. she just walks.

Now Laura Richardson is a member - a Democrat member - of the U.S. House of Representatives. It is said that we get the type of government we deserve ... right? What have we done to deserve Laura Richardson?

HOW ABOUT A POLLUTION FEE

The San Francisco Bay Area is about to approve a new set of rules that will charge businesses a fee for their pollution. The fees will be imposed on factories, power plants, oil refineries and other businesses that emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.

The "modest" fee (that's according to the article) is 4.4 cents per ton of carbon dioxide. More than 2,500 businesses will be required to pay the fee. Most businesses will pay less than $1, but about seven oil plants and oil refineries will have to pay more than $50,000 a year. This is expected to generate about $1 million in the first year. And guess where the money will go? It will help pay for programs to measure the Bay Area's emissions and figure out ways to reduce them.

Backers of the fee are miffed that 4.4 cents probably won't be enough to force companies to change their emissions, but they are happy to be setting an important precedent in fighting climate change. As of right now, the fee will not be imposed on cars ... that's for now.

If I were a business in San Francisco, you know what I'd be doing? Packing my bags. This is just a start. San Francisco leftists aren't going to be satisfied with a small fee and the fact that too many evil businesses get away with less than $1 in payments per year. In the San Francisco Bay Area it is time for small businesses to start charting their escape route.

MORE MILITARY HARASSMENT

Apparently they are having some problems in the Washington DC area with the harassment of military personnel. This time, the Department of Transportation has issued a statement about the harassment of soldiers on the Metro. What's particularly interesting about this letter are the "few friendly reminders" for keeping soldiers safe while in public.

Washington D.C.

Dept of Transportation Federal Transit Administration sends:

Recently, there have been local incidents in which military personnel have been verbally assaulted while commuting on the Metro. Uniformed members have been approached by individuals expressing themselves as anti-government, shouting anti-war sentiments, and using racial slurs against minorities.

In one instance, a member was followed onto the platform by an individual who continued to berate her as she exited the metro station. Thus far, these incidents have occurred in the vicinity of the Reagan National Airport and Eisenhower Ave metro stations on the yellow line, however, military members should be vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times while in mass transit.

Should you be approached by any individuals expressing anti-government/anti-war sentiments, or any other types of direct verbal assault, immediately notify your local police jurisdiction. If riding metro, exit the train at the next stop, distance yourself from the individual, and notify the Metro Transit Police Department.

For this and any other suspicious activity, NGB personnel are also asked to notify the Pentagon Command Center at (703)697-1001, and the NGB Antiterrorism/Force Protection Officer, MSgt Cyril Charity, at (703)607-2396 or (571)239-1109 (after duty hours).

Here are a few friendly reminders of personal protective measures that can help you to stay safe:

• If possible, do not commute in uniform (military members) -Do not display DoD building passes, "hot cards", or personal identification in open view outside of the workplace -Do not discuss specifics about your occupation to outside solicitors
• Always try to remain in well lit, well populated train cars if traveling via metro
• Be vigilant at all times!

V/R, National Operations Center

Isn't that just wonderful? In our nation's capital we have to warn men and women serving in the military about going out in public in their uniforms.

Question: What about those who witness this harassment of our military? Why don't they step in between these peace-at-any-price fools and our soldiers and run some interference?

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Who knew there were enough rednecks in Canada to warrant their own midway ride? Sent in by Doug. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Hillary is really putting on the pressure to re-seat the Florida and Michigan delegates ... why does she continue to prolong the inevitable? Oh and then she went on to compare this fight to that of freeing the slaves. Nice.

President Bush signed a bill that bans health insurers and employers from discriminating based on your genetic information.

The Senate is really busy right now requiring convicted sex offenders to register their email addresses and IM screen names.

For any of you who want the specifics about how far in the red the Republican Party truly may be come November, just take a look at this article. They're going to get creamed --- and they deserve it.

Although this woman is an Obama supporter, she does have some thoughts on Hillary and the imaginary "war on women" ... "My lady parts do not ache for Hillary Clinton."

You know those OwlGore commercials with Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich? It appears that Nancy has violated federal campaign finance laws because the commercial aired in her district less than a month for a contested primary.

Even though the Democrats will run the Congress and possibly the presidency, anti-gun nuts are not feeling too confident lately. Can't say I feel sorry for them.

You'll be happy to hear that the Democrat's plan to sneak amnesty for agricultural workers into the Iraq spending bill has failed.

Here are ten painfully truthful reasons to rethink what it means to be green.

There's a really neat exhibit that has traveled the world called the Bodies Exhibit. Well now we have some government bureaucrats that are upset with the exhibit and they want a law to prohibit the importation of any "plastinated" human body part into this country.

American Airlines is going to start charging a $15 fee for the first piece of checked luggage. The fee ought to be refunded if the luggage doesn't show up in baggage claim within 20 minutes of the flight's arrival.

Government officials in Great Britain thought it would be a great idea to use taxpayer money to pay for a sign highlighting the number of casualties along a certain road. Now the sign is going to be taken down ... because it is considered a hazard to drivers.

In efforts to avoid creditors, a woman in South Carolina wrote a fake obituary for a daughter who she said died in Iraq.

The government bureaucrats of Canton, Ohio are really concerned about the length of their fellow citizens' grass. They are so upset that they are willing to put you in jail.

Here's some commentary on the state of Tennessee and its decision not to let home schooled students work for the government. It would seem to me that if you are home schooled you are probably too damned smart to be working for government. Here in Atlanta the main purpose of the local government school system is to provide the city with government employees.

Two teenage girls took naked pictures of themselves and sent the pictures to their boyfriends. Then the boyfriends started forwarding the pictures to other people. Now the Santa Fe school district has confiscated dozens of cell phones because they contain "child pornography."

Our favorite celebuditz Kellie Pickler has become quite successful ... and some people think it's because she has gained a bigger set of funbags

The FBI wants to infiltrate vegan potlucks. Your tax dollars at work!

Hey ya'll, watch this!

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