Teabaggers let the cat out of the bag concerning ultimate goal for our public schools.

Courtesy of Think Progress:

In a series of e-mails and interviews, Teri Adams, the president of the Idependence Hall Tea Party Association, explains that her organization is involved in its voucher advocacy because it believes “public schools should go away.” Adams said that their ultimate goal is to “shut down public schools and have private schools only“:

“We think public schools should go away,’’ says Teri Adams, the head of the Independence Hall Tea Party and a leading advocate — both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania — of passage of school voucher bills. The tea party operates in those two states and Delaware. They should “go away,” she says, because “they are hurting our children.’’ [...] Adams says the current voucher program “discriminates” against wealthier students by providing public subsidies only to inner-city children in allegedly failing schools. Her group’s e-mails pushing vouchers caught the attention of James Kovalcin of South Brunswick, a retired public school teacher who asked Adams for clarification. She responded via email: “Our ultimate goal is to shut down public schools and have private schools only, eventually returning responsibility for payment to parents and private charities. It’s going to happen piecemeal and not overnight. It took us years to get into this mess and it’s going to take years to get out of it.”

Well there you go, any questions about the motives of the radical right wing now?


These people are willing to completely dismantle the American public school system, which has leveled the playing field to allow those who come from humble beginnings to rise to the top through hard work and access to a good education, in exchange for ONLY providing an adequate education for those that can afford it.

Essentially they are trying to gut the very foundation of the American dream, and attempting to impose a class system in this country, where only those who are born with means can achieve success. That is certainly NOT what the founders envisioned for this country:

After the Declaration of Independence, 14 states had their own constitutions by 1791, and out of the 14, 7 states had specific provisions for education. Jefferson believed that education should be under the control of the government, free from religious biases, and available to all people irrespective of their status in society. Others who vouched for public education around the same time were Benjamin Rush, Noah Webster, Robert Coram and George Washington.

And these Teabaggers dare to call themselves "patriots?"

Check: http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2011/07/teabaggers-let-cat-out-of-bag.html


hedgewytch said...
Their disconnect from reality is breathtaking. How many TP'ers are there out there who make over 50k a year? I haven't seen the demographics, but it sure seems to me that the majority of TP'ers are low income earners. Which means that if they succeed in destroying public schooling their kids won't get an education! Of course, they believe that their "charities" will provide that quality, world class education for them. I don't think so!
9:23 AM
Anonymous said...
Bachmann has said the same thing, somewhere. They want to educate the rich white male only. Education is not to be 'wasted' on minorities (what happens when whites ARE the minority in 20 years?) females, the handicapped, the special needs children..nope, not for them. This is maybe the scariest part of the whole agenda, because it will gut America.
9:28 AM
Anonymous said...
The Tea Party and GOP are trying to RUIN our country. RUIN IT, in the name of corporatism. STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS AGAINST THESE TREASONOUS PEOPLE! Soon, the world will be owned by giant corporations and governments won't even matter.
9:31 AM
Anonymous said...
Let's say this happens and schools become private, there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of dedicated teachers (you know, the ones like you Gryphen, who got into teaching for all the right reasons, and not for the money, as if there was money to be had from teaching) will take it upon themselves to educate the poor children of this country. This I know.
9:42 AM
LoveAndKnishesFromBrooklyn said...
"Patriot" is yet another Rovian buzzword, like "UnAmerican" was when G.W. "Slappy" Bush lied us into illegal wars. It makes the feeble minded paint chip eaters feel that they belong to an exclusive club, and that they're better than the rest of us. The Patriot Baggers are the Kochs' dimwitted, cult member mouthpieces.

I'll repeat what I said yesterday on the public school post: a well-rounded education on Planet Koch will be reserved for members of the Lucky Sperm Club (kids of the very rich). They, in turn, will oversee the rest of the Great Unwashed, whose kids will be forced into subpar "private" schools (or perhaps schooled for an hour a day at their factory jobs, if they're lucky). Of course, all their classes will have a heavy emphasis on Dominionist indoctrination, thanks to the "charities" who will run them. Only we can stop this madness with our voices and votes.
9:45 AM
Anonymous said...
Let me see if I have this right. The teabaggers, who believe NOTHING should be funded by the government, say that it's not fair that people who can afford private schools don't get government funding for it.
9:51 AM
Anonymous said...
Really, Gryphen, you can't lump EVERY person in the tea parties into one bushel. ALL of "the radical right wing" is not saying this. Just this group plus a few other small ones.

Sure, it's a scary thought -- but the ideas of one (or even a few) does not exemplify the thinking of all. In the same way, the opinions of a few Alaskans (for example, those who still support Sarah) do not demonstrate what ALL Alaskans are thinking. You don't support her. I don't support her.

I'm not disagreeing with the premise of your article. Just with the illogical extension that a small group represents the whole.
9:51 AM
FEDUP!!! said...
I don't know of ANY 'civilized'/advanced country that does not have public schools, do you?

You know, my child went to private schools during her elementary school time, and after that we homeschooled, but I am TOTALLY for public school! We had to choose the private route, because the local public schools were simply atrocious, and our child was somewhat precocious/advanced for her age. But not all children are, and definitely not everyone can afford to go the private route (and we only could do that, because that private Montessori school accepted me as a teacher's assistant and thus helped offset the costs).

I cannot imagine what it would do to the US if/when we privatize all our schools. We would end up back in the Dark Ages like they had in Europe. Only the super-rich could afford an education, or those that sacrificed their children to go to become nuns/monks. All the others were kept down and out, the women were kept pregnant and barefoot, the men were forced into slavery and servitude.

I am sooo glad our child has decided to leave this country and try to 'make it' in Europe...
9:57 AM
Anonymous said...
The ultra"conservatives" are short sighted and selfish, bigoted and mean. they are like Scarah. Out only for themselves. In their minds there was nothing wrong with the public schools until they were integrated. Right away the rich started to send their kids to private schools so their precious children would not have to see or meet anyone not lily white. The less than rich started to home school or look for alternatives. This is nothing more than a new way to segregate the masses and keep them "down".
Lord help us.
10:02 AM
Anonymous said...
The fact of the Tea Party matter is that despite their flag-clinging, constitution-worshiping claims, they do NOT love America; they HATE America. What they love is the imaginary America that exists only in their minds. What they image as America never existed but nonetheless, they want to "take it back."

It's like a mass epidemic of mental illness. Do you suppose it's due to all the chemicals in food and water these days? Geesh....
10:06 AM
Anonymous said...
hedgewytch: "Their disconnect from reality is breathtaking. How many TP'ers are there out there who make over 50k a year?"

Yes, but ONE DAY they might make more...and until that vague date in the future, they'll do the next best thing and identify with a socioeconomic demographic they have little actual hope of becoming.
10:10 AM
Anonymous said...
Anonymous 9:51: "Really, Gryphen, you can't lump EVERY person in the tea parties into one bushel. ALL of "the radical right wing" is not saying this. Just this group plus a few other small ones."

This is not some small radical offshoot of the Tea Party. The entire Tea Party itself is just the Republican base with a different name, and the Republicans have been quite upfront - for years - about their hatred of public school. Where have you been?
10:12 AM
Anonymous said...
How about the people without kids, do they get some sort of rebate? People without cars pay for roads without using an voucher.

If these assholes want "private schools only" then they should do it without government money. They can set up all the private schools they want, it obvious these "fiscal responsibility/small government bullshitters want to privatize the government to get our loot. Also they don't want any regulation.

What a mess it will be to privatize our schools. Religious nuts (see bachmann) will teach all sort of crazy crap.

Awwwhhh rich people complaining about not receiving vouchers is fucking ridiculous.

GoL
10:15 AM
Linda1961 said...
Anonymous @ 9:51, yes, that is what they are saying, and in their twisted view it makes sense. These are the same people who say they want "government out of their private lives" and in their next breath, they say that women shouldn't have abortions.
10:17 AM
Linda1961 said...
Anonymous @9:51 (#2) - I agree about lumping all teabaggers in with this group. It's even possible that not all members of this group agree with getting rid of public schools. However, it's good to know that some teabag leaders want to get rid of public schools, rather than to improve them.
10:20 AM
sjk from the belly of the plane said...
the entire gop endgame is to get their hands on our entitlement monies via privatization. all of it.
10:30 AM
Elmo said...
8 years ago the Libertopian (now a LiberTeaBagOpian) in our workgroup was ranting about "Government Schools" (to which his children go) and how evil they are. So this is nothing new from that Rand/Galt axis. They're just getting bolder about where they say it.
10:46 AM
Darkefang said...
Of course Tea Partiers don't want to pay for schools. They're mostly old people whose kids are long finished with school.
10:49 AM
Anonymous said...
What they forget is that one of the reasons for public school and truancy laws is to protect the public from juvenile deliquents. Where will all those kids go if they aren't in school and their parents are working 2 jobs to pay their bills?
I guess they will roam the streets, breaking windows and destroying property--hopefully of t-baggers like this.
11:01 AM
Anonymous said...
all this'd probably be moot if only the mutherfukin' corporations/ultra rich people in this country would be required to pay their fukin' TAXES !!!


but in reality they're more 'n likely the koch_suckers behind this bullshit
11:02 AM
Anonymous said...
Another reason for public schools (as well as public health) is for the protection of the United States. Many men trying to enlist during WWI could not serve because they had no basic education. They also had health so bad, teeth so bad, that they were unfit to serve.
11:02 AM
Anonymous said...
New York Post has a story up about Mercede posing for Playboy on the page opposite the magazine's "writearound" piece on Sarah Palin

Worlds collide!
11:08 AM
hrh said...
Several years ago I heard Bill Moyers say there was not a race war going on in the US, but a class war. (150 watt lightbulb suddenly going on above head)

What the Rethugs want is that only the wealthy are educated and the rest are in (mortgage and credit card) debt to them.

They ARE making headway.
11:11 AM
Anonymous said...
""Really, Gryphen, you can't lump EVERY person in the tea parties into one bushel."

What? Are you joking or a teabagger?

repubaggers are all the same, lunatics, crazy, racist and stupid. There isn't a redeeming quality in the bunch.

Don't lump them up. HA! GTFOH

GoL
11:11 AM
Anonymous said...
I think they really want to go back to the way schools were before Central High and Brown v. Board, if you know what I mean.
11:21 AM
womanwithsardinecan said...
They disgust me.
11:31 AM
Anonymous said...
I work in a library and am familiar with the typical Christian right wing homeschooling parent. Most have very little education; feel they were cheated in their education; only want Christ-centered education for their children; and do not believe in or have the ability to teach the scientific method. The inability to teach anything beyond simple math also is disturbing. It is so disheartening. This demographic will probably support this type of legislation. Our kids will be further behind educationally than we are presently when compared with other countries.

Where did we ever get the idea we could claim excellence in education and yet let our kids flounder? I remember the 1960s when physics and chemistry were required classes in my high school (and Latin!). They weren't optional. And, twice a year every one in the whole school met with their counselor to make sure we each had a plan. Now the counselors are nearly gone due to budget cuts and physics and chem are only taught once a year in my kids' school.
11:37 AM
Anonymous said...
If you're just figuring this out, you're late to the Party. The Repubs have been attacking public education for over 20 years.

Rick
11:40 AM
Anonymous said...
I very much appreciate your inclusion of the info about the Founding Fathers' attitude toward public education. I had never heard this before, and I think it's an extremely important point, considering the very selective adoration of the Founders by the Tea Party.

My dominionist high school principal taught us that public education was unbiblical, unnecessary, unConstitutional, and a primary way the government forced its secular, humanist, evolutionist, socialist agenda on real Amur'cans. Then I got to college and discovered that some of my friends who had gone to public schools had received far superior educations to mine. They also had NONE of the emotional baggage I had from the emotional and verbal abuse, chauvinism, racism, brainwashing, and anti-intellectualism. Go figure!

As a product of a Christian school, I believe very strongly in public education. I do not have children, but if I did, they would be going to public schools.
11:46 AM
Anonymous said...
What about all those quiverfull families? Are they going to be able to educate a passel of kids?

Just what charities will be able to afford teaching those kids.

To the people who think good teachers will teach no matter what. Wrong! My husband and I are teachers whose efforts have been noticed and acclaimed, and our daughter is training to be a teacher - but as much as we've sacrificed as a family to be able to teach and no matter how much we care - there is a point where we all will have to say "no." We're not martyrs nor are we so religious as to think poverty is noble.

No one should be asked to give up their lives for the selfish greed of others. No one, not even teachers.
11:53 AM
Anonymous said...
The average cost of a student at a public school is $6,857 per year. The average tuition at a private school is $3,116 per year. Out of 9 national studies on voucher systems currently in use, 8 concluded that the students sent to private schools performed significantly better than their counterparts in the public schools. What is the downside?
11:54 AM
Anonymous said...
For the few who read here, consider this.

My husband teaches in middle-class school district. The district has frozen pay for the last four years even though every single insurance plan has raised premiums and co-pays, even though the cost of renewing teaching certificates has risen (you have to take college hours and attend special seminars and be involved in professional development courses in order to re-certify and pay a fee on top of all that to re-certify).

Our rent, utilities, gas, groceries - everything has risen just as it has for everyone else but we get no extra pay and the teachers are teaching more kids, more hours, and more days each year --- no rise in pay, just cuts in benefits that keep rising in costs.

So we are getting screwed all the way around, but are expected to continue to provide cheerful, nurturing environments in overcrowded classrooms that have fewer supplies, outdated textbooks and less assistance in terms of aids, parental involvement.

Our healthcare and life insurance providers are raising rates because they say that teachers are under too much stress and are therefore becoming ill more often and dying younger.

The teaching force is graying. Almost a third will retire soon. Fewer kids are going into teaching because teaching majors often require five years instead of four - the last one being a practicum where the student-teacher must work for free to get "experience" while paying the college for the semesters.

All that said, private school teachers make less and do even more. At least their classes are smaller.

Most private schools do not have to meet basic standards as to teacher qualification, class size, curriculum or safety. They can reject pupils or expel students that don't enhance their profile. They don't have to meet ADA standards like the public schools.

So, just who is going to man the schools, public or private, unless this country wakes up and makes education a super priority.

The only "exceptionalism" America will be capable of is being excluded from the top tier of industrialized countries. We will not have the educated work force we need. We will become a backwater, and the slide into economic oblivion will happen faster than anyone can imagine. We will be the country where others come to hire cheap, menial labor. Do we really want that to happen?
12:08 PM
Anonymous said...
11:54

The average cost of a student at a public school is $6,857 per year. The average tuition at a private school is $3,116 per year. Out of 9 national studies on voucher systems currently in use, 8 concluded that the students sent to private schools performed significantly better than their counterparts in the public schools. What is the downside?

+++++++++

The key is the average cost. Public schools must accept EVERYONE, even those that require extra teacher, extra supplies, etc. due to disabilities.

Private schools can turn down these budget busting students.
12:11 PM
womanwithsardinecan said...
Hey Gryphen, totally OT, but have you seen the story about the woman in Michigan who was ordered to remove the veggies growing in her front yard because it is supposedly against city planning code? Great story. The city is moronic. The woman is actually having a jury trial (she refused to remove the veggies and demanded her day in court). She has a blog too. It's called oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com. Since you occasionally post human interest stories that aren't Palin etc, I thought you might enjoy this one.
12:27 PM
Anonymous said...
11:54

"Out of 9 national studies on voucher systems currently in use, 8 concluded that the students sent to private schools performed significantly better than their counterparts in the public schools. What is the downside?"

The private schools get to PICK their students, so they should do much, much better. The public schools have to test everyone - that means those children who wouldn't test well no matter who taught them (I guess that's the nicest way to say it).

I guess if you got to pick the 10 brightest kids out of 1000 to test vs. a randam 10 kids in a normal population, your pick would score better too.
12:30 PM
Anonymous said...
I moved to Europe seven years ago and never looked back. The only thing I miss is Thanksgiving. Not a bad trade-off.
12:31 PM
Anonymous said...
The über-ignorance among these mouth breathers is almost heart-stopping.

They're "The Idiocracy" as a microcosm of our present society.
12:34 PM
Anonymous said...
They want to privatize the school system for an additional component of their 'theology': so they can demonstrate that 'it's all your fault if you are poor'. First, deny education to poor people. Then blame the poor because they can't get jobs, can't get good-paying jobs, and because they are/remain poor. That way the baggers can feel superior, which is an essential component of their theology.
12:37 PM
womanwithsardinecan said...
anon 11:54, please cite your sources. Providing specific numbers without sources doesn't give you credibility. I notice you state it costs x number of dollars for public school and then you state it costs x number of dollars for TUITION at private schools. What are the other costs? Tuition is ONE cost at a private school. Also, given that our public schools have been butchered, it is no surprise if better funded schools perform better. Did they do a study matching private schools with magnet schools or charter schools? The schools that have been trying to work within the public system to create excellence? Or was it one of those studies that compared top private schools with inner city schools? See why we need your references? I take NOBODY'S word for it. Give me the references and let me see where your numbers came from. And of course you forget an important point. The right wingers want to defund education and leave it up to individuals. So those people who can afford the "cheaper" private school can go. Those who can't afford it can work at the local McDonalds. What's the downside?
12:38 PM
Anonymous said...
Also, too: having a large, under-educated and unskilled work-force is fabulous for China. And selling out to China is really what these people's puppet-masters are totally into. Who are the 2 most powerful republican men in the entire United States? Rupert Murdoch and Mitch McConnell. Who are Rupert Murdoch and Mitch McConnell married to? Ruthless Chinese-born women with connections to the very top-levels of the Chinese Communist government. McConnell's father-in-law was a school roommate and life-long friend of Jiang Zemin, former President of the People's Republic of China. http://www.counterpunch.org/flanders04012004.html; http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=7823. Better check it out, before it's too late for all of us.

Murdoch thinks he can get away with phone-hacking, but who are the world's champion phone-hackers (including into the Pentagon and American businesses)? The Chinese. Murdoch and McConnell would have no clue about what their wives were saying when they are on the phone to their 'dads'; they would certainly have no clue if their own phones were hacked by China. (You really think they're NOT hacked???)
12:53 PM
Anonymous said...
Hmmmmm.....seems like slave-owners made arguements that slaves didn't need to be educated because.... blah blah blah...


It was really to keep them from uprising.

repeat....

no education = mp worker uprising
1:07 PM
Anonymous said...
They want to get rid of public schools because of all those pesky rules the Administration, the school board and the teachers have to abide by, like teaching real science and history and not forcing prayer minutes. That you can't discriminate against other non-Christian religions, people of color and sexual orientation.

I'd say fine, let them all go to private Christian schools or homeschool, but then we've got a nation of emotionally and intellectually stunted assholes much like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann running around as 'adults' mucking up our public discourse.
1:10 PM
Anonymous said...
hedgewytch @ 9:23 a.m.

I've always felt that I'd rather be indebted to faceless, red tape bureaucrats than a Christian charity. No thanks. Their services are discriminatory or have too many strings-attached, namely forcing you to worship false idols.

They'll withhold care, medical services, food an clothing if you don't concede your individual freedoms to their rigid morality.
1:21 PM
Anonymous said...
The majority of school funding comes from local taxes. In my state it's primarily paid by property taxes. How is this keeping the Federal Government out of the States' business? It's not! It's the Feds interfering with State business!
1:40 PM
Anonymous said...
I'm telling you these people are nuts (& so are many of the Republicans). Remember that old adage "Be careful what you wish for."

My idiot governor (OH) wanted to privatize our turnpike and it didn't happen. Apparently IN did privatize theirs and boy are they in trouble. They can charge whatever they want now.

Why do these people (who do seem to be from a lower economic standing) think for one minute they are going to get better schools? Only the upper white class will be able to afford it. And if they think charities are going to help them out they are nuts. No one will be able to afford to give to charities because we will be paying so much for school.

Is there anyone here who thinks for one minute that they would be spending less if we privatized everything? The Cleveland Police dept. had their 401K's in Enron and guess what happened to them? We are all on this Earth together and the only way we can have better things is if we pull our money together.

The funniest thing about these people is they would be the ones who would NOT contribute to the roads but complain because they are full of pot holes. Mentally ill people & handicapped people will be on their own.

I hate to say it but if my kids want to go to Europe or live somewhere else than the US I am not going to have a problem with it. I am convinced people here have NO idea what this country would be like without our government. How did people get so gd dumb?
1:51 PM
Anonymous said...
"These people are willing to completely dismantle the American public school system, which has leveled the playing field to allow those who come from humble beginnings to rise to the top through hard work and access to a good education, in exchange for ONLY providing an adequate education for those that can afford it [at the expense of all tax payers, who supply the vouchers, ncluding mouchers paid for by parents who cannot afford to educate their children.]
That last part is really important so is the next part.

Those children who are too poor to afford any education are the new slave class. Poll taxes can disenfranchise them and laws can be changed to make it illegal to be poor, and force people into servitude to stay out of prisons, which are already instituting unpaid chain gangs, ie. slavery.
2:35 PM
onething said...
Is it time to move to Europe yet?
2:36 PM
Anonymous said...
What will happen is with no kids in schools and ppl trying to make a living they will take those children away no supervision. The work camps will appear -can't have any idle kids so if not in school they need to work. Work slaves, child ,sex trade all coming to us viva those rich and tbaggers. Don't forget they want ever pregnancy to come to term so they will have lots of little bodies and parents having trouble feeding them clothing and such and how how possibly will parents be able to educate all those kids. No jobs ,not saftey nets , no ss ,no medicare, no nothing, no education, they have us just where they want us. These are suposed to be christians but I think they are just in christian clothing they are the devil.
2:40 PM
Anonymous said...
Let's just consider for a moment what would happen if these malcontent Tea Party people (read: Republican base) had their way and government was abolished, public schools were abolished, etc. Just what do you think they would turn their mean and vengeful sights on next? We are talking about people who don't feel alive unless they have a group to hate and resent.
3:20 PM
Anonymous said...
Anon 11:54 am: "The average cost of a student at a public school is $6,857 per year. The average tuition at a private school is $3,116 per year."

Oh look, a homesKKKooler just arrived. You can always tell by how delusionally wrong they are on the numbers.
3:24 PM
Anonymous said...
Anon 11:54: "The average cost of a student at a public school is $6,857 per year. The average tuition at a private school is $3,116 per year."

I think you forgot to add a one or a two before the three in your private school figure. No private school charges anything that cheap except maybe some weird tea party school held at someone's home.
3:27 PM
Anonymous said...
You're just learning that now? Not only do they want to get rid of public schools, they want to privatize everything government currently does. Everything! I'll repeat what I said yesterday on the public school post: a well-rounded education on Planet Koch will be reserved for members of the Lucky Sperm Club (kids of the very rich). They, in turn, will oversee the rest of the Great Unwashed, whose kids will be forced into subpar "private" schools (or perhaps schooled for an hour a day at their factory jobs, if they're lucky). And please jesse, no cocksucking with your friends in a tent when the children are around. It's embarrassing for them. Of course, all their classes will have a heavy emphasis on Dominionist indoctrination, thanks to the "charities" who will run them. Only we can stop this madness with our voices and votes. There's no stopping the right as they won't give up until they have destroyed the country.
3:41 PM
Anonymous said...
11:54 anon tells us "The average tuition at a private school is $3,116 per year."

Can you people ever back up your case without resorting to lies? According to a site that ADVOCATES PRIVATE SCHOOLS, the average cost for private school tuition at a non-sectarian school is $17,316!

The average is lower if you add in Catholic and other religious schools, but even then it's more than twice the bogus number you posted.

http://www.capenet.org/facts.html
3:44 PM
Elizabeth said...
Anon 9:28am I think you have the central core of it. I think this is really about white males losing their majority. They are trying desperately to hang onto power. So we'll teach the women that their God given role is barefoot, pregnant, and stupid. Then we'll see to it that those other unworthies don't get a chance. I suspect that is what Dominionism is really all about. Needless to say, we must fight it everyway we can.
3:49 PM
mlaiuppa said...
I'm sorry my education is so limited.

Can someone name me a major democratic power in the world that has no public education system but only private schools?

Any major power?

Any first world country?
3:58 PM
Elizabeth said...
Anon 11:54 your statistics are very, very outdated. Also, the studies are showing that most public schools' students are outperforming most private school students. There are indeed some outstanding private schools, but they are very expensive, and few. The local, protestant church related schools are generally poor.
4:02 PM
FloridaDem said...
"I moved to Europe seven years ago and never looked back. The only thing I miss is Thanksgiving. Not a bad trade-off."

Remember when Argentina crashed, and those people left for Italy? And they said it would never happen. If it gets worse in this country you might see people move to Canada. It's clean there, people are nice, there is schooling and healthcare, and no right wing headlock on the country.
4:17 PM
Lynne said...
Regarding immigration to Canada, a Canadian attorney friend of mine told me several Bush years ago that Canada has never had so many applications from U.S. citizens who want to immigrate as they were currently seeing...in record numbers and showing no signs of slowing down.
6:06 PM
Anonymous said...
Anon 11:54: Around me one private school is 8,000/yr, another is 18,000 and yet another is $20,000. These are day schools, not boarding. And I am in SC.
7:18 PM
Anonymous said...
9:51, I'm in Texas and even among your normal, garden variety right wingers (non tea.party types), the idea that the Gov should get out of education is very popular.
8:00 PM
Anonymous said...
There's a reason public schools were created: they were needed.

If these fools are so into privatizing everything, when are their churches going to get off the public dole and start paying their fair share of all taxes?
8:28 PM
Anonymous said...
11:54, first, you need to provide links. Second, I live in pretty average city in Texas, but private school round here is nowhere near $3,000. Try $12,000 to $18,000 for most. I know of only one that runs about $6,000.
9:24 PM
Post a Comment

Who are you fooling Mr. Boehner?????? Boehner After GOP Hostage Taking: 'This is about doing the right thing for our country.'

Even after allowing this hostage taking to go right up to the brink of default, Boehner wants us to believe he's really just worried about doing what's right for the country and might still be willing to make a deal with President Obama. If he was worried about doing what's right, he'd help get a clean vote passed on the debt ceiling and we wouldn't be wondering if the markets might start reacting to this stuff at any moment.

Steve Benen has a great post up on this same interview -- Boehner claims to be 'worried about the country':


House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), as expected, is now fully invested in a temporary debt-ceiling extension. He’ll accept $1 trillion in cuts — with no revenue — now, and then consider another extension next year after additional negotiations over taxes and entitlements.


Democrats want one debt-ceiling vote, seeing no need to put the country through this twice in less than a year. Take note of how Boehner responds to this.


Boehner suggested Sunday that by trying to put the next debt ceiling debate off for so long Obama was trying to gain political advantage.“I know the president is worried about his next re-election, but, my God, shouldn’t we be worried about the country?” Boehner asked.


It’s entirely possible that the House Speaker really is this dumb. With this in mind, I’m trying to think about how to ask the questions in a way John Boehner can understand. How about this:


1. How would the country benefit from two votes on raising the debt ceiling, instead of one?


2. If Republicans are sincerely concerned about economic “uncertainty,” why tell investors, job creators, and international markets that default is a possibility early next year


3. If getting one debt-ceiling revision through Congress is necessary but difficult, why make lawmakers go through this twice?

Steve went on to slam Boehner for having the nerve to try to take the high road here when he has allowed this hostage taking in the first place and wondered if Boehner would care to answer his own question. I don't expect we'll see that happen any time soon.

WALLACE: There is considerable criticism among House Republicans, and I'm sure some of them are going shake their heads watching what you've just said, that you are too eager for this grand bargain. You're too eager to make a deal with Barack Obama.


BOEHNER: What I am eager for is to do the right thing for the country. I didn't come here to be a congressman, I came here to do something on behalf of my country. I didn't want to be a speaker of the House because I needed a big fancy job, I wanted to be speaker so that I could lead an effort to do the right things for our country.


We have a spending problem. And I am going to do everything I can to try to tackle this problem in as big a way as I can because it is the right thing for the country.


WALLACE: Even if it causes heart burn in the House GOP caucus?


BOEHNER: This is about doing the right thing for our country.


WALLACE: You now say that you and the president are from different planets, you have two entirely different views of the world. What made you ever think, what makes you seem to think that even now that you can make a deal with this president with his views on trillions of dollars in spending, entitlements and taxes?


BOEHNER: Well, Chris, I was born with the glass half full. I'm the optimist. And it is about trying to find common ground. Yes, I understand the president feels that we need a bigger government and more spending here in Washington. I believe allowing the American people to keep more of that money is the best way to create jobs and grow our economy.


But having said the fact that we're on -- it is almost like we come from two different planets. My job on behalf the country is to find as much common ground as we can to help move the country ahead.


WALLACE: But Democrats are saying, and you heard this implied by Tim Geithner just before you, that you end up looking bad with voters because you walked out of the talks twice. And you are willing to risk default because you want to cut Medicare and Medicaid and not cut tax for the wealthy.


BOEHNER: I'm not going to get involved in all that political sniping. I am interested in a solution to the problem we face. I don't want to see default. I don't frankly want to get anywhere close to it.


WALLACE: We are close to it now.


BOEHNER: It is bad for our economy and bad for our country. And so I am trying to find a common ground that doable in the time remaining.


WALLACE: Well let me just ask you, and that's the last question, sir. How does disappointed are you, because according to your plan, as we understand it now, and it may change, a trillion in spending cuts in the short term. How disappointed are you that after months of talking, after this urgent deadline, that it seems now that maybe the most that Washington can come up with when you are going to spend $46 trillion over the next decade, is $1 trillion in spending?




BOEHNER: After over six months conversations with the president about doing the big deal, about taking a big step in the right direction, it is pretty clear to me that they are just not willing to do it. That the next election matters more than doing what is right for the country.


I am not worried about the next election. I told the president months ago forget about the next election. If we do the right thing for the country, we'll not have to worry about who is going to get elected and who isn't.


WALLACE: Speaker Boehner, I want to thank you always -- as always for coming in. And we'll see how the world turns this week, sir.


BOEHNER: We sure will.

In Bid for Control of GOP, Tea Party Brings U.S. to Brink of Economic Calamity

By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet

Posted on July 23, 2011, Printed on July 25, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151750/in_bid_for_control_of_gop%2C_tea_party_brings_u.s._to_brink_of_economic_calamity

For many, it's a head-scratcher. Don't those Republicans see the danger in their hardline stand against allowing the U.S. government to borrow the money it needs to continue operating? GOP members of Congress not only insist on tying any deal for raising of the debt ceiling to a deficit-reduction scheme, they are demanding that such a scheme not raise a dime of revenue -- not even from the wealthiest Americans, who are still basking in their Bush-era tax-cuts. On Friday, House Speaker John Boehner walked out of debt-limit talks with President Barack Obama, even after Obama offered the speaker a plan that would have made $650 billion in cuts to safety net programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

But, really, Boehner had no choice but to walk out -- if he wants to continue on as speaker, that is. The Obama deal, you see, included the elimination of certain tax breaks for the rich, and the closing of corporate tax loopholes, the president told reporters. And Boehner is on notice from the Tea Partiers within the ranks of the GOP that no means of increasing revenue is acceptable, not even for the easing of America's economic woes. Hot on Boehner's heels is the ambition of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

There's a temptation, when assessing the showdown over the debt ceiling that is bringing the United States to the brink of defaulting on its debt, to view the confrontation in terms of Republicans vs. Democrats, liberals vs. conservatives, Obama vs. Boehner.

What we're really witnessing, though, is a ruthless power-grab by the architects of the Tea Party movement for control of the Republican Party. And if they have to destroy House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to do it, they will. Heck, if they have to destroy the United States in order to grab the levers of GOP machinery, they will, content in the knowledge that, as elites, they will have first pick of the spoils.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the newfound love between Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Tea Party organization founded by David Koch, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., the Tea Party-allied second-in-command of the House of Representatives. Cantor has made a specialty of undercutting his own speaker's negotiating power as Boehner tries to cut a deal with the president.

When, two weeks ago, Vice-President Joe Biden and GOP leaders were close to making a deal that would have given in to Republican demands for budget cuts, Cantor refused to go along because the deal included some tax increases. By walking out of the talks, Cantor won the hearts of Tea Party leaders, and, many said, a shot at the speaker's job. For if Cantor can prevent Boehner from brokering a deal with the president, the logic goes, the speaker could be so weakened as to lose his footing as the House Republicans' top man. That would leave Cantor positioned to step in.

Cantor's intransigence led Tim Phillips to laud Cantor in an interview he gave to Major Garrett in the Atlantic. "He has clearly emerged as the conservative on free-market economic issues," Phillips told Garrett. "Cantor's become the 'go-to' guy. There's no question about that."

Things were not always so chummy between Phillips and Cantor. When Cantor first ran for Congress in 2000, Garrett reports, Phillips, then a consultant to the George W. Bush campaign, opposed him. Phillips helped set up a group called the Faith and Family Alliance, which sent out campaign mailers and issued robo-calls against Cantor calling Cantor's primary opponent, Stephen Martin, "the only Christian in the race." (Cantor is Jewish.) Cantor squeaked out a win with a 263-vote margin, and set out to make friends with the right.

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008 breathed new life into the institutional right, which created the Tea Party movement on the winds of racial resentment and the economic distress that came with the 2007 bursting of the housing bubble, and the September 2008 stockmarket crash. Cantor, then House Minority Whip, wasted no time cashing in, even meeting in 2009, as AlterNet reported, with a neo-Confederate Virginia group, the Constitutional Sovereignty Alliance, to receive a letter from its Virginia Sovereignty March delegation.

As the August 2 deadline looms for avoiding default on the U.S. government debt, the GOP Tea Party Caucus in the House pushed through a plan for raising the debt ceiling called "Cut, Cap and Balance," which would deeply cut government spending, even on social safety net programs, cap government spending and send a balanced-budget constitutional amendment to the states for ratification. The Washington Post's Ezra Klein and Dylan Matthews write that the plan:

...would increase the debt ceiling in exchange for $111 billion in immediate cuts next year, statutory caps on spending, and a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that includes a spending cap of 18 percent of the previous year's GDP and would require supermajorities to raise taxes or increase the debt ceiling. If the amendment was ratified, spending would have to drop to its lowest levels since the 1950s -- despite the fact that we now have Medicare, Medicaid, more seniors, etc. -- and taxes would be almost impossible to raise. The White House has promised to veto the bill, saying that deficit reduction does not require changes to the Constitution, and that the cuts involved are draconian.

On Friday, when Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., that chamber's Tea Party kingpin, attempted to put the measure before the Democratic-controlled body, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was having none of it. No sooner was the measure tabled than AFP president Tim Phillips, Eric Cantor's champion, sent out an email to his activists decrying Reid's halting of the bill, and encouraging recipients to click through to a Web-form email instructing members of Congress to reject any deal that includes tax increases.

Note that it was not Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who put the Cut, Cap and Balance deal up for consideration. Thanks to the power of such Tea Party astroturf groups as Americans for Prosperity and Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, McConnell leads only at the mercy of DeMint and his merry band of Tea Party allies, who threaten to launch primary challenges to any Republican Senate candidate who doesn't toe their line. It's a lesson Cantor has taken to heart, doubtlessly observing that while the House Tea Party caucus does not comprise a majority, it does have enough members to deprive the speaker of a majority on any measure behind which its members unite. Like DeMint's cadre of fellow travelers in the Senate, theirs is the power of "no."

Today in the Washington newspaper the Hill, an op-ed penned by Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots threw down the gauntlet at the feet of any lawmaker who might be inclined to raise a tax or two in order to prevent any further collapse of the economy that is almost sure to come if a debt-ceiling deal eludes the August 2 deadline. They also took a swipe at Boehner:

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) found time to commend the president for making the case to raise the debt ceiling, saying on July 11: “I would agree with the president that the national debt limit must be raised. I'm glad he made the case for it today.”
It is clear they are not serious about cutting wasteful spending or they would have found a way to do it. When a family is on the brink of bankruptcy and can't make ends meet, what do they do? They cut back on their spending. It's very simple.

Tea Party Patriots is a "grassroots" group founded by FreedomWorks, which is led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. (FreedomWorks was also founded with Koch money, although both the organization and Koch say they have parted ways.) Armey earns a total of $500,000 per year from FreedomWorks and its foundation. It's doubtful his family has any trouble making ends meet. But if the cost of pushing Boehner from the speaker's podium in favor of Cantor (or another player more to his liking) is the economic calamity that would almost certainly result if the U.S. government fails to meet its obligations, he probably won't mind a bit. Your family might face financial disaster, but Dick Armey, Tim Phillips and David Koch will still be sitting pretty.

The House speaker has clearly gotten the message. He may not be a Tea Partier himself, but he stands ready to do the bidding of movement leaders. With the debt-limit talks having failed at the executive level, only Congress can provide a solution. And in the House, the Tea Party caucus still carries the power of "no."

Editor's Note: To learn more about how a failure of the debt-ceiling talks could impact your life, read 5 Desperate Consequences of a Debt Ceiling Meltdown, by Joshua Holland.

Adele M. Stan is AlterNet's Washington bureau chief. Follow her on Twitter: www.twitter.com/addiestan

Religion-based Politics and the GOP Debate

I do not intend to disrespect anyone's religion or belief set. But could someone please tell me the difference between Afghanistan's much-maligned Taliban and the US's own Dominionists? Both groups want to take over the leadership role in their respective countries. Both groups want their version of their holy book to form the basis of the laws of the land. Both groups want their own members in all positions of power.

If Sharia Law is bad, then why would Christian Law or Jewish Law or Hindu Law be good? It is precisely when we create laws based on the religious beliefs of a segment of our society that we lose what is most precious about our land of the free. Do we love our freedoms? Of course. But our freedoms do not extend to trampling on the freedoms of others. Should we allow a stone carving of the Ten Commandments outside a courthouse? Well, if we do, then we should also allow symbols from any other faith as well.

What is the difference between a government/legal system that operates based on the Bible from a government/legal system that operates based on the Koran? For the life of me, I don't see any difference at all. Don't tell me it is because Islam breeds terrorists. Christianity seems to breed plenty of terrorists too: Oklahoma City, abortion clinic bombings and their doctors murdered, violence against LGBT persons, and many more examples. Perpetrating violent acts against an institution, organization or individual because of a belief set is terrorism, no matter what belief set is used to justify such acts.

I say Creator. You say Creator. Are we talking about the same thing? Yet politicians now think that they have to out-Christian each other in order to gain favor. If only our founders could see us today, I think they would cringe as I do when one after another GOP candidate on the debate stage attests to their personal anti-choice, anti-other-religion-besides-Christianity, and anti-gay beliefs.

It makes me want to scream.
Posted by Ennealogic at 6:08 PM 5 Comments
Labels: christianity, dominionism, islam, religion, Taliban
THURSDAY, JUNE 09, 2011
Religion in Politics

Never discuss religion or politics in polite company, so the saying goes, because you're bound to offend someone. But what about inserting religion into politics? If we let the Constitution be our guide, and if we not only read but understand the intent of the founders of our nation, we cannot and should not ever mix the two or blend them into one.

This is, of course, contrary to what Sarah P. and the other Dominionists and many so-called TeaPartiers would have us believe. One nation, under God, they say. And that means their God, and how they perceive their God's wishes and rules. Their goals are to infiltrate the 7 mountains of human experience and "affect the seven spheres, or mountains of society that are the pillars of any society.

Trouble is, there are many world religions and within those, many sects that hold differing guiding principles. Trouble also is, even within so-called Christianity, there are multiple interpretations of the bible. The bible is divided into old and new 'testaments' and quite frankly, they don't agree with one another. We have Jesus on the one hand saying, "Turn the other cheek," and the old testament saying, "An eye for an eye."

Equal, productive, valuable members of our American society adhere to different religions, among them Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity (each with almost countless variations), Mormonism, Zoroastrianism, Bhuddism, Shinto, Confucianism, Jainism, Taoism, Sikhism, Bahai... not to mention those with lesser followings like Spiritism, Tenrikyo, New-Paganism, Rastafarianism, Juche, Primal (indigenous), Unitarian, and of course Atheism and Agnosticism.

The founding documents of our country clearly and explicitly state that no religion or religious practice should be put forward as the law of the land. In the land of the free, how can we suffer the notion that we are free except when a religious majority (or minority) decides we are not?

Let me put it this way. If you believe that homosexuality is a deviant behavior abhorrent to your God, fine. I feel sorry for you, but don't lay down laws that make gays and lesbians unable to enjoy the state or federally-granted benefits any other heterosexual couple does. If you believe that life begins when a sperm joins an egg, fine... I believe life begins when the baby takes its first breath after being expelled from the womb, so don't make laws that make it very difficult for a woman to have an abortion. Essentially, if your God tells you something, fine... let it be so for you, but don't try to legislate that version of morality on everyone else. Your God is not the same as other people's God. And nowhere in our Constitution does it say your God is the right and only God. Am I missing something?


------------------------------

Chelsea Handler did a recent stint on The Jay Leno Show (boo, hiss) and said, “There’s a big lesbian community in Dallas,” reports Uncle Barky, “and it’s really funny because they’re like very high-end lesbians and so close to all the Republican people. I just think it’s kind of funny (because Republicans say “f you” to gays, in her view). So that’s why I like to head down there.” Chelsea was on the show promoting her new book Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang set for release in March. Handler, also the author of Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, will be at the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie on April 24th. Tickets on sale now. Sweet. I totally love Chelsea and if she calls Dallas women high-end lesbians I’m cool with that.

Laura's attempt at Educating the stupid moron Ms. Michelle Bachmann

Michele Bachmann in Her Own Words: 'Gays Are Part of Satan   "We need to have profound compassion for the people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life, and sexual identity disorders. This is a very real issue. It's not funny, it's sad. Any of you who have members of your family that are in the lifestyle-we have a member of our family that is. This is not funny. It's a very sad life. It's part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay. It's anything but gay.     Michele Bachmann in Her Own Words: 'Gays Are Part of Satan'  Do we need another Moron as a president of America? Wasn't Bush enough?Bachmann says: "We need to have profound compassion for the people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life, and sexual identity disorders. This is a very real issue. It's not funny, it's sad. Any of you who have members of your family that are in the lifestyle-we have a member of our family that is. This is not funny. It's a very sad life.    It's part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay. It's anything but gay. What Ms. Bachmann does not understand or is too lazy or stupid to learn or just ignorant to understand is that her God makes gays and lesbians so that she and others like her can persecute them ( How compasionate is that God really? If there is any such thing as a God..)?   Let me tell you a true story: Years ago in Oxford, England, I had a friend named Gloria who secretly fell in love with me...Yes a female. And she was into BDSM too...and loved it like me..We spent many evenings and nights exploring the Gor novels, or discussing the fascinating book "The life of O" over Gin and Scotch..or just plain experimenting or exploring a harness or rope knot. She was mentally every bit like me. Like me, She was a perfect slave and loved it.... We had many many adventures together -  This perfect woman Or perhaps a man’s idea of the perfect woman.. My friend Gloria as she is known had flawless and dewy skin, angular cheekbones, a cinched waist, milkmaid breasts, long legs, dove-like hands, lush long hair. Wherever she went, people swiveled their necks and stared more for her than for me. She was envied by many including myself, a fantasy, a vision. A goddess. And she was absolutely miserable. She loved kids and wanted a family but couldn't. After her many failed romantic advances towards me...She tearfully confided in me that she was an AIS woman...in other words she was a man with female parts. What is that- rather than me explaining to you....read this link below:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_insensitivity_syndrome   At birth neither her parents nor her doctors noticed any difference in her pussy. Rather, she had the perfect pussy...no hairs, very tight smelled just right. In high school she went from being a normal girl to an princess. She was not only taller than the rest of us but curvier, too (Her doctor said that - some androgens are converted to estrogen which act on breast tissue...I learned). Unlike other girls, Gloria never got acne or grew pubic or armpit hair (androgens regulate hair growth). Gloria did not have to fight body odor or pubic odor. She got recruited as a runway slave and a model, She was attracted to women and had many girlfriends (including a celebrity). Her Master made sure that she was taken by women as much as by him, but She did not like sex like me, But had sex, albeit painfully. When Gloria was sixteen she never got any periods, (a perfect slave yeah! I know Doms..smile..)... so her alarmed mother brought her to the doctor and and MRI revealed an astonishing discovery. She had undescended testes. Inside, she appeared every bit male: no fallopian tubes, no uterus, no ovaries. She had penis, testes, scrotum..all undeveloped..     Similarly, There are men who have X chromosome and deal with this painfully in isolation....quite sad really.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter's_syndrome    They have Klinefelter syndrome which is the most common sex chromosome disorder in males and the second most common condition caused by the presence of extra chromosomes. The condition exists in roughly 1 out of every 650 males...So one in 650 males are actually partly female...and might act, dress, feel, romanticize, behave, have sex as a female in a private sitting and enjoy it.. Does that..ring a bell here Doms...when Men pose as females???...     So you see Ms. Bachmann....some of the gays and lesbians are made by your God...and not by Satan...and if you ask me...Made by evolution...not God or Satan.....But I do respect your stupid belief.

GOP and the slavery comment. - Educating the Republicans

Learned Master Hubby's "trademarked Boomi slave position" last night...Yes with Peppermint oil in "you know where" 

Pleading and whimpering did nothing to help my predictment. It actually kind of made it worse. So I resorted to playing the obedient Laura game to turn him mellow. There were only so many 'please k thx' pleadings my Master could listen to before he finally gave up and said okay to save whatever pride I had left and trying to salvage out of it.

I will always due my Master on command  - I wrote with my mouth and a crayon.... made a spelling mistake due instead of do. 
due?  he circled it...   Yeah it is french for do …. I smirked naughtily.
No, you're thinking of "du". Due is the condensation that forms on the ground in the mornings. Master offered.  then...I get my behind whacked 4 times for that...mistake.

Dew we really have to deux this?
You're actually thinking of "dew"
No, that's "doo". Due is what you call a hairstyle.....and we went on...

And now to change topics to my favorite GOP bashing:

Trombama

I'm sleep-deprived, sexed up, sore and dying of laughter on this sunday morning here.

Guys... are slaves better off?

Doms... Listen up.

guys ...Listen...

guys...... Slaves....Slaves...

Doms....Slaves...snakes.

Guys listen.

I have the best idea

guys listen

I have the best idea ever

guys

I'll use snakes & Silk &slaves...

guys

snakes & silk

I'll use SNAKES & Silk.

guys listen here

I'll use snakes...and I use silk... to make a dress...ok...Now that I got your attention! or turned you off.

Let's talk about the Racist GOP marriage vow:

“The GOP Marriage Vow,” which included in the introduction a section that lamented that “the Institution of Marriage in America is in great crisis.” 

One piece of evidence it offered was the claim that a black person born into slavery “was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American president.”

The suggestion that African American babies may have somehow been better off under slavery touched off sharp criticism from liberals, who noted that U.S. slaves had been forbidden from marrying and were often sold at auction and separated from their family members.

The primary goal of the document was to affirm “that ALL of us must work to strengthen and support families and marriages between one woman and one man,” the statement said.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum also signed the pledge, which garnered headlines not only for the slavery passage but also because of its suggestion that homosexuality was not innate and may be a public health hazard. It also condemned pornography and demanded that signatories reject Sharia law.

Michele Bachmann has made some dreadful comments about people who are gay. She has called the gay lifestyle “personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement.” She has accused the gay community of “specifically targeting our children.” Now her husband Marcus, a ‘Christian’ counselor, is on record referring to gays as “barbarians.” He said, “We have to understand that barbarians need to be educated . They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean we are supposed to go down that road. That’s what is called the ‘sinful nature.’ I guess these are the family values Marcus and Michelle are teaching their five children and 23 foster children.

And now if you want to talk about who screwed up the economy? Here is a graph for that:

God save America from the likes of Bachmann, Palin and the Teabaggers.

Liberal of the Week

We're trying something new in /Liberal, something called "Liberal of the Week." It is a way of recognizing or highlighting a liberal (be they elected, unelected member of government, or ordinary citizen) actually doing something liberals widely consider as good.
The 'finalists' for this contest are selected from submissions to /Liberal made in the last week or so, and the general idea is to highlight a regular pattern of accomplishment and positive acts. While it is fine to highlight what the other side is screwing up, it is also important to highlight what we're doing right, or trying to do right, and that's what "Liberal of the Week" is about.
So below are the finalists gathered from the past week's submissions to /liberal, and in a day or two all the comments below in support of one or more of the finalists will be tallied (saying more than one person is awesome is fine), and we'll announce the first "Liberal of the Week".
Any questions, comments, criticism, suggestions, by all means leave them below or message the moderators; this is still very new so we're trying to figure out how to do it, and any input you have is much appreciated.
The finalists for this week's "Liberal of the Week":

• Senator Diane Feinstein & Rep. Louise Slaughter, for introducing The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) to phase out the rampant overuse by the livestock industry of medically important antibiotics in healthy animals.. 70% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used on industrial farms in healthy food animals; this massive overprescription is breeding new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria like E. coli and MRSA, a type of staph infection that now kills more people in the U.S. every year than AIDS. The FDA failed, and now Sen. Feinstein and Rep. Slaughter are stepping up to get it done. If you don't want to die from a new strain of antibiotic-resistant flesh-eating bacteria, Sen. Feinstein and Rep. Slaughter are trying to save your life.
• The Democrats of the California State Assembly, for passing the toughest fracking disclosure law in the nation, and thus help save Californians from the plight suffered by the many Pennsylvanians who can now light their tap water on fire.. It would force gas drillers to disclose exactly what chemicals they're injecting into the ground to loosen up the gas, which at present we only know after the fact, when scientists test the water you already drank. It still needs to pass the California State Senate and then be signed into law, but major credit goes to the California State Assembly for informing California citizens what toxic fracking chemicals are in their drinking water. Knowing is half the battle.
• President Obama, for calling out the GOP for playing chicken with the debt ceiling. Obama called for an end to “tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners.”. Only one small step in the process, but a necessary one.
• Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor, for being an effective liberal voice and vote on the Supreme Court in the past year, for being an effective public voice for the liberal POV in jurisprudence, and for interjecting a human element into technical discussions before the bench, something long missing from the Supreme Court.. At long last we have a counterpart to Justice Scalia, who for years has made the public case for the conservative POV in judicial thinking and decision-making.

So if you think one of the above is worthy of being "Liberal of the Week", put their name in a comment below or upvote them if someone else wrote them first (downvotes will not be factored in). And if we missed any from this past week's submissions, feel free to write them in and why they should be "Liberal of the Week".

Michele Bachmann's dreadful comments.

Michele Bachmann has made some dreadful comments about people who are gay. She has called the gay lifestyle “personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement.” She has accused the gay community of “specifically targeting our children.” Now her husband Marcus, a ‘Christian’ counselor, is on record referring to gays as “barbarians.” He said, “We have to understand that barbarians need to be educated . They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean we are supposed to go down that road. That’s what is called the ‘sinful nature.’ I guess these are the family values Marcus and Michelle are teaching their five children and 23 foster children.

Slave Training Magnet

From my Journal entry:
SlaveTrainingMagnet???? HypnoMagnets....Nanobot implanted slaveTraining? Hubby’s brainiac ideas... Consider me immensely amused. Could use a bit of a graphic design boost, but naturally I think this could be a great concept piece. :)...Anyway...That’s how my sexathon marathon got jump started and still running on steroids.

I promised myself, I wouldn't update my cm journal after..hate mail attacks against me from pissed off republican bigots. ...But something amazing changed all that and I must share.......I could pretend I'm that good shy wife..not the naughty one.. I'd LIKE to be a good wife. Nah- who do I think I'm fooling here?...So here goes...

I climaxed again from sex tonight....Hail Mary!..I am ready to fuck Jesus ..and Allah too! Budha Moses and Krishna can get in line...Richard Dawkins..take note...Hubby has been worn out spent and exhausted....and I am still horny...Praise the Lord.....The Pope can go to hell..if he wouldn’t fuck me....This is very.unusual for me..orgasm from sex alone....I am still tingling all over...Hoooraah!.....

There are a handful of my erotic emails and chats to my secondlife and cm dom buddies describing my orgasms from yesterday..I have carpet burns on both my knees and mosquito bites to prove I am not dreaming... that still makes me smile because they are just too clever and devious of me...giggle! giggle! he he!.... Sorry for the pompous-me-me-me spoiled bratty tone......

Yesterday was truly an heavenly evening! I had dozens of orgasms in my backyard startling the crickets and the rabbits...it certainly startled hubby..when he came looking for me...the.first few orgasms were alone and the rest with hubby.....This is how it started.....But first let me ask....
How many ways can you inspect a pussy? Men...C’mon...The Pussy inspection badge has become somewhat of a nuisance. my Pussy does not change that quickly..It’s not any different from yesterday...Husbands can be very creative..and very frustrating too...Granted...slave positions make me wet too...but not when ordered twelve or more times a day.....particularly not in the middle of a decent argument that I am winning....Hubby finds me arguing with my legs over my ears very erotic..I can understand that and do usually comply. I must admit sometimes prodded by his purple wand, and induced under threat of a doggi shock collar responsive training is frustratingly effective....but twelve times a day is a bit too much...do you agree? Doms? Subs? Slaves? Switches? Are you with me? Don't gang up against me now!
Ok..how did I have my Orgasm now....

Hubby was barking his usual slave positions commands last night as I was getting unusually aroused by the minute. "Bara, Sula, Hair, Heel, S'ouvrez, Genou, se Pliez

... He had a great rhythm going and I was one panting obedient wife. I just finished his "Chika position" Then suddenly out of the blue, without breaking his pace, he said, "did you know you left your new shoes in the car cunt?"

I guess the look on my face said "So What? now is not the time.""Sorry, later," His purple wand caught my pussy by surprise...inducing a yelp and a cluck!. The next command chilled me..as much as it excited me...Go wear your shoes and come back for your next command Hubby snapped..(Chika is his trademarked position - that Goreans would envy. I will tell explain it sometimes here).
There is talk on the horizon of enforced chastity to mold me back into a slave if I am not more responsive and attentive...scary and sexy at the same time...I crawl downstairs to get my shoes.

Damn! the Car is not in. Hubby knew this all along and had this all planned...I peek out and see the car half way out in the driveway...I sneek out of the backdoor..and go around the backyard...It is easier this way..than through the garage doors in the front which make a huge rattling noice and turn on the night light..The hairs on the back of my neck are standing now...I feel like a wild animal that is trying to avoid being hunted and eaten....I sneek to the car...No Shoes inside..The shoes are in the boot? I go around and take them out..and rush back to the backyard without any incident...anyone catching a glimpse of me would not guess I am naked......Our secret is safe for now...I take the shoes out, wear them and head for the back door. ....(will finish writing this later)....

Boomi slave training lessons
http://thesubmissivelife.blogspot.com/2011/07/gop-and-slavery-comment-educating.html