REPUBLICAN “NEW” IDEAS

[proud2BlibKansan]

REPUBLICAN “NEW” IDEAS

by Sen. Tom Eagleton

Have you heard the latest pitch of Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman? He says “Republicans are driving the course of history with new solutions… the Democrats are really brain dead and have nothing new to put on the table.”

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Let’s look at some of the Republican “new solutions.”

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“No Child Left Behind:” Yes, that’s a new and, by itself, is a good idea --- but to fund it only meagerly --- that’s a bad idea.

Science: Republicans are afraid of science. Embryonic stem cell research --- don’t use the cells to seek remedies for Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s; flush them down the toilet. Global warming: Pretend it’s not there and don’t even talk about it with our closest friend and ally, Tony Blair. Mercury exposure: Ignore it. Creationism: Ignore science and take us back to the 1925 Scope’s Trial. Republicans claim to be “visionary” --- their vision is the rear-view mirror.

The Schiavo Case: Every doctor who has personally examined Ms. Schiavo said she was in a persistent, vegetative state. The Republican Senate Majority Leader, Dr. William Frist, a heart surgeon, not a neurologist, looked at some TV pictures of Ms. Schiavo and concluded otherwise. Ask any board-certified neurologist if a heart surgeon should be rendering such an opinion under such circumstances? The answer is a resounding --- no.

For Republicans, God and free markets solve everything.

http://www.firedupmissouri.com/node/2285

[AX10]

1. The idea that Terry Schiavo could have lived on comes from the...

same ignorant morAns that think the World was 'created' :rofl: in 7 days.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I am waiting for them to get their hands on the

theory of gravity. THAT should be interesting.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

6. haha!

LOL You're right!

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

13. Thank ya! n/t

[MrBenchley]

2. Pretty much all of the Republican "new ideas"

could have been dredged out of the ravings of the John Birch Society, circa 1959 or so...

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Ain't that the truth?

Man, they are so predictable it's scary.

[MrBenchley]

5. About the only exception is torturing prisoners

and not even the Birchers were that nuts...

[WritingIsMyReligion]

7. I first saw this...

...and went, "Whoa. Republican new ideas? That's oxymoronic."

[Roland99]

9. NCLB is a good idea?

:wtf:

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Actually in theory it really is

I am a teacher. I supported it wholeheartedly until I actually read the whole law and found the nitty gritty parts that the media is avoiding telling us about.

The major problems are lack of funding and unfair accountability.

I am very much in favor of accountability. I am more than willing to be held accountable. But I want it to be fair and I want the mandates of NCLB to be funded.

[Roland99]

15. If you enjoy teaching for a test, not teaching subjects

then NCLB is a good idea.

My sister works with Exceptional Needs Children and they're supposed to take the same tests.

My daughters would be focused for weeks on preparing for the standardized tests.

Subjects are being dropped, critical thinking is taking a back seat, money is being wasted. All because of NCLB.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I teach special ed too

and the added accountability is one of the best things to happen to exceptional needs kids. Before kids with disabilities were forced to take the same tests, we were put in basement and closet classrooms, given little or no materials and allowed few opportunities given to general education students. Our kids were excluded from whole school events and field trips. They were basically out of sight, out of mind. Now that the performance of special needs kids really counts, administrators go out of their way to make sure our kids have everything and more than the general ed kids. So I am grateful our kids are tested.

BUT the focus of NCLB is not on accountability, as it originally intended, but on testing. Hence, we are forced to teach to tests. And not all tests are equal. I am lucky because the tests in my state are actually pretty good. They are written and scored by teachers. They are not all multiple choice, but also contain constructed response and performance event items. And my state tests are aligned with a state curriculum which was also written by teachers. So we are indeed fortunate that we are not forced to teach to a nationally standardized all multiple choice test.

The parts of NCLB which are the worst are the unfair accountabilty provisions and the unfunded mandates. Schools that receive Title I funding are penalized financially for not making adequate yearly progress while suburban schools (which typically don't get Title I funds) are not penalized financially. That is a much larger and much more unfair component to NCLB than testing exceptional needs kids.

[Hello_Kitty]

10. Abstinence based sex education. What a great idea!

Not. :eyes:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

12. Yeah...

What a failure that idea is... I know from experience... just went through the system. Fortunately, the whole "abstinence-based" nonsense hasn't really caught on here in Maine, but STILL...

[Ikonoklast]

14. "New Ideas"?

Religious intolerance?
Racism?
Greed and corruption on a scale never before seen in human history?
Class warfare?
Deliberate and willful ignorance of our own nations' history?
Colonial wars in the name of "Democracy on the March"?
Murder and torture?
Destruction of the middle and lower classes?
Massive debt the likes of which our country has never seen?
Having the top 13,000 families in this country control more wealth than the bottom 2 MILLION?
Shred the Bill of Rights and the Constitution?
Willing now to use the military of this country against its' own citizenry?
No right to privacy?

If these are the New Ideas espoused by the current junta, I call for a return to the old brain-dead ones THAT WORKED.