RIP public education; hello theocracy

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Tuesday April 05, 2011 · 10:10 AM PDT

2011/04/05 · 10:10

I am not a lawyer, so it is possible I could be overreacting, but check out this under-reported ruling by the Supreme Court yesterday.

Basically they upheld 5-4 (with the usual Christian Phalangists in the majority) an Arizona law (Arizona again!) that allows dollar-for-dollar state tax deductions for contributions to organizations supporting private schools, including religious schools.

Elena Kagan, in the minority, seems to get it.

She said the opinion “offers a roadmap — more truly, just a one-step instruction — to any government that wishes to insulate its financing of religious activity from legal challenge.”

Right now, the deduction is limited to $500, but how long with that limitation last?

As I game this out, the real goal is to defund what's left of public education, and destroy voter support for it. Increasing theocracy and further dumbing down the population (creation science, anyone?) is just a side benefit.

Free, quality public education is one of the pillars of any democracy. This decision ranks right up there with Citizens United as one of the death knells of this republic.

Astonishing: 76% of Americans think oil has peaked!

grassroot

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Monday April 21, 2008 · 5:06 PM PDT

2008/04/21 · 17:06

OK, Kossacks, take a break on primary eve to consider an issue that will dominate the rest of our miserable lives, regardless of who is elected.

Reuters reports on a a new international, 16-nation poll out by Worldpublicopionion.org found:

In the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer and among the biggest emitters of climate-warming pollution from fossil fuel use, 76 percent of respondents said oil is running out, but most believed the U.S. government mistakenly assumes there would be enough to keep oil a main source of fuel.

More after the jump...

grassroot

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Thursday September 20, 2007 · 10:27 AM PDT

2007/09/20 · 10:27

...to paraphrase the great John Prine.

From Wapo/Reuters:

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - A Kansas military cemetery has run out of space after the burial of another casualty of the Iraq war, officials said on Thursday.

"We are full," said Alison Kohler, spokeswoman for the Fort Riley U.S. Army post, home of the 1st Infantry Division.

But not to worry. Kansas' two Republican Senators, Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, are on the job to support the troops, both dead and pre-dead. They want a new military cemetery built pronto!

"We truly owe our military members a debt of gratitude and the least we can do is provide them with an honorable burial ground," the senators wrote.

The very least we can do! And if all else fails, we can fall back on good old heartland ingenuity:

Fort Riley can bury bodies on top of other bodies if family members want to share a plot, said Kohler.

'Nuff said.

Senator Feinstein slams Bush's war threats against Iran

grassroot

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Sunday April 16, 2006 · 12:32 PM PDT

2006/04/16 · 12:32

You read that right. This is not Russ Fein*GOLD*, but rather Dianne Fein*STEIN*, usually a pretty hawkish conservative Democratic Senator.

In an op-ed in yesterday's LA Times, she writes:

...the administration reportedly is intent upon relying on the failed doctrine of preemption and new Pentagon planning that stokes the prospect of military conflict. If this is true, Americans ought to be deeply concerned.

More snippets and commentary below the fold... Read More

Is Rumsfeld cracking up?

grassroot

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Wednesday March 29, 2006 · 9:02 AM PST

2006/03/29 · 09:02

This article by Francis Harris in the U.K.'s News Telegraph is important in its own right, as it contains a revelation that the U.S. military command now admits the recent raid/massacre in Baghdad did involve a mosque, after all. (Accounts still differ as to whether those killed were insurgents or unarmed worshipers.)

But I want to draw your attention to this passage and quote by Donald Rumsfeld, below the fold: Read More

Draft or more volunteers? How about less militarism instead?

grassroot

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Tuesday April 05, 2005 · 11:46 AM PDT

2005/04/05 · 11:46

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle ran this article entitled, Support grows for beefing up U.S. forces. Some see situations where volunteers may not be enough Excerpt:

Many in Congress and in wider policy-discussion circles aren't waiting to see the results of the Pentagon's stepped-up [recruiting] efforts. Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. and Jack Reed, D-R.I., have proposed adding 30,000 soldiers to the Army. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has proposed a 30,000-person increase in the Army and 10, 000 to the Marines, and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek, wants to add some 20,000 to the Army, 12,000 to the Marine Corps and 29,000 to the Air Force.

Has it occurred to any of these prominent Democrats, especially "last man to die for a lie" Kerry, that a better solution might be to rein in Bush's imperialist aggressions and reverse our evolution into the new Sparta?

More after the jump Read More

Young Rethuglicans redbait instructors

grassroot

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Wednesday March 02, 2005 · 5:16 PM PST

2005/03/02 · 17:16

The Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat reports as follows this morning:

Santa Rosa Junior College's oak-studded campus is aflame with controversy triggered by the anonymous posting of red stars and a reference to communist indoctrination on 10 faculty office doors.

Instructors quickly saw the action as a threat to academic freedom, but the student who claimed credit for the protest said it was about left-leaning bias in the lecture hall.

The stars, which unnerved some instructors, were accompanied by a copy of a state Education Code section prohibiting the teaching of communism with the "intent to indoctrinate" students.

"It makes me a little anxious," philosophy instructor Michael Aparicio said.

. . .

This college is in a pretty progressive area (Sonoma County voted almost 70% for Kerry).

I think it's likely, as one quoted instructor commented further down in the article, that the Campus Republicans who claimed credit for this act are being deliberately provocative to generate media attention.

More after the jump.
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RIP public education; hello theocracy

Astonishing: 76% of Americans think oil has peaked!

Military cemetery "overcrowded from your dirty little war"

Senator Feinstein slams Bush's war threats against Iran

Is Rumsfeld cracking up?

Draft or more volunteers? How about less militarism instead?

Young Rethuglicans redbait instructors