“If you want to invest in young people, let me tell you what you need to do Mr. President," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said. "You need to make sure that our K through 12 schools are getting better, alright, that's number one. Not just talk, but actually getting better."

Dear God Please tell me this idiot is not thinking of beefing up No Child Left Behind!!!!

@ David Walker

LMAO!!

Hey look, more basic math confounding libbies.

See gang, back in the 1950s they spent a fraction on education and got much better results. In fact, from then to today we have spent more and more, yet gotten worse and worse test scores.

Cause it's all about quality, not conspicuous spending.

Then again, no too many 'administrators' in the system back in olden times.

I do wonder though - you think someone has clued Obama in on how Ohio is spelled yet?

Damned Harvard Education - ain't worth nuttin'.

SS - And, letting students know that it is important for ALL of the to get an education

"All of the" SS? Maybe we'll start the remedial education with you. You're obviously a product of the public school system.

Obama/Biden 2012 - "If you're overtaxed, thank a retired teachers pension"

David Walker - Speaking of children, did you see where Romney/Ryan are gaining with the younger generation? Funny, four years ago it was Mr. HopeChange. They may be more educated than you think. And not by the "Greater Indoctrination Facilities" known as Colleges and Universities. Rather, by listening and actually seeing what is going on around them.

//washingtonexaminer.com/a-romney-first-over-40-of-youth-vote-back-him/article/2504893#.UDVK-aCQDMA

Well I guess there is hope. Too bad it wasn't created by Mr. Obama and his administration. Wait......maybe it was. They saw the failure and decided they would like a change. By God he DID deliver. LOL

RedSoxRule -

Hey, I've got a question for you.....you being the expert on how the Obama campaign is going to dump Joe Biden and all......wasn't it the "VP Switcheroo" that you were talking spamming about all last week? Anyway, I was wondering just when that was going to actually take place. See, I just got a postcard in the mail from the campaign asking me to "gear up", and there's this big picture on the front of an Obama-Biden lawn sign. I'm not actually going to buy one, since my neighbor down the street will just steal it anyway like they did all the ones I kept putting out back in 2008, but I'm just curious as to why they're selling lawn signs with Biden's name on them anyway. I was going to send the postcard back and tell them I wanted the "new" one with the "right" VP name on it, but I wasn't sure who that was. Since you seem to be the only one who's in the know, could you help me out? Thanks!

P.S.: "Obama, the ShamWow president"

Mitt Romney - The All Sham, No Wow candidate....

Stamp out Republicans! Educate their children.

Exactly!

I'm not actually going to buy one, since my neighbor down the street will just steal it anyway like they did all the ones I kept putting out back in 2008

You too JoAnne?

I finally ended up bringing them in at night!

The cockroaches didn't have the courage to swipe them in broad-daylight!

Any idea why President Obama supporters BUY their lawn signs when the GNOP gives them away for free?

TttH: They may be more educated than you think.

They're plenty educated, they just can't find a job. Seems the stimulus didn't work as intended, and they're tired of living at home with mom and dad while flipping burgers.

Oh god, please don't get rid of Joe.

A comedy genius, that guy.

Guy can't even spell O-I-H-O.

How precious!

Snuffy found something else to fill her feed-bag with! lol

IT''S THE ECONOMY STUPID!!!!!!

Indeed RedSoxRule, that's why you support a candidate running on a platform of expanding economics policies that have failed in practice for over thirty years, and why when asked about it, JoAnnaSmith1 goes into full-blown deflection mode.

Beverly in Chicago...

Romney has already donated 3 million dollars to charity. Usually does so every year.

How much more do you want?

Biden is who you need to talk to about charitable giving.

One of the best things we can do for education is to get the Federal Government out of it. Put the requirements back in the states, local school districts and the communities. The federal "one size fits all" has not and will not work.

I have no problem with student loans or even some grants as long as they are for classes leading to degrees in areas where we have a demand for those types of jobs. Studies in Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medical fields should take priority over the Arts, sports and other fields that seem to be top loaded with current students.

There are a lot of improvements that could be made in the K to 12 education areas but it will take co-ordination between Teachers, parents and school administrators.

BTW, not everyone is college material so expand classes in other fields like auto mechanics, plumbing, electricians, carpentry and other trades in cooperation with local unions.

Fired up.....Not firing people.....RobinHood not RomneyHood.....Education not lack of......

I totally agree with educating children so there is less republicans....They say education is indoctrination and it is....It is indoctrinating them with facts not telling children men walked with dinosaurs and some dude with a beard put every animal in pairs on a boat while the entire earth was covered with water("Scientifically impossible are all these things" said Yoda and if you believe in these myths you might as well believe in Yoda)

Xabe, you really are just in denial. Perhaps you can check out what Reagan did after inheriting the Carter debacle.

Oh, you mean how Reagan tripled the debt?

Bevvie: You got your kidney's detoxed? Clearly it didn't work. The oxygen is just not going to your brain.

Umm, Bevvie-ster, the kidneys don't deliver oxygen to the brain, that would be the function of the circulatory system in conjunction with the lungs dear.

Biology 101 course to Bev stat!!

Xabre...

Reagan's trickle down set up the longest and strongest economic expansion known to man.

When Obama talks about how it failed he forgets there are a few old folks left that remember just how great it worked. Not even Clinton's retroactive tax increases could put out the fire.

Barrack Obama...FAILED LEADERSHIP !

"Jo, the VP switcharoo is still coming. Just wait for it."

But when, Sox, when? You've been promising this for ages now. The convention's only 10 days away, and the printer needs to know whose name to put on the new signs! Come on, Romney's got this insurmountable lead, right? It's not like you're really letting any cats out of the bag or anything.....so come on, be a sport. Who is it? And which day between now and the convention start is the big announcement? I want to be sure I'm here to catch your "I told you so!"

Reagan's trickle down set up the longest and strongest economic expansion known to man.

Actually it wasn't. Reagan's trickle-down had no effect on the wealth of the middle class, the main driver of the economy. However, it did succeed in adding trillions to the national debt. Please try again.

Xabre...

Reagans tax cuts caused federal revenues to increase.

Congressional spending led by democrat Tip O'Niel succeeded in adding to the national debt but even they could not match Obama.

Ah, another classic 'Bev-ism' - Kidneys/oxygen.

Bev., honey, I think you meant to say liver, which cleanses the body of alcohol, and which, together with the Kidneys, has nothing to do with oxygen delivery.

Xabre, umm, some basic numbers, not even math - what was the total deficit when Reagan left office?

Now comapare that to the deficit Obama racked up last year.

Go ahead, we will wait.

President Obama lied again. Don't you get tired of his BS????

Could somebody please get a direct quote from Romney when he said "teachers are abunch of nameless bureaucrats that we need to cut back on". Total BS Mr. President.

Pathetic leader, pathetic liar.

1/20/2013 - the end of an error

Seeking Sanity - keep seeking, you need some. The Mormon church does a lot of good charitable work. And they don't do it just for people of the Mormon faith. So a tax deduction because of a gift to the church is far better spent than a tax hike for our government to waste about 60 cents on the dollar.

Ah, another classic 'Bev-ism' - Kidneys/oxygen.

Bev., honey, I think you meant to say liver, which cleanses the body of alcohol, and which, together with the Kidneys, has nothing to do with oxygen delivery.

Xabre, umm, some basic numbers, not even math - what was the total deficit when Reagan left office?

Now comapare that to the deficit Obama racked up last year.

Go ahead, we will wait.

Do you understand the word 'tripled'? Yes or no? Because if you don't, I better not going into describe how the policies passed under Reagan set the United States on a course of increasing debt.

Oh, you mean how Reagan tripled the debt?

Shh, conservatives don't like to be reminded of what their hero actually did. Let them keep their fantasies.

Reagans tax cuts caused federal revenues to increase.

Are we talking about the same Reagan? He raised taxes 11 times during his administration. If you are going to lie, do try harder. This nonsense is just embarrassing.

Are we talking about the same Reagan? He raised taxes 11 times during his administration

You better elaborate on the specific brackets he raised taxes on, and the certain brackets he didn't.

Libs are too funny. What can the president do about education since its controlled locally and in each state. Answer-Throw money to get the teachers unions to vote for him, since the Fed money goes to the admin and teachers unions and not the students per capa.

Google LA Times front page last week, Shocker, BOLD Double Decker Head Line-Teachers Unions control the state government. CA. is broke if you did not know under the Lib run goverment and failed polices pushed by the Lib agenda for almost 40 yrs now.

We seem to spend more on education then before, and it was just about spending money then our kids would be number #1 in the world. Without parents pushing education on their kids instead of thinking cultural awareness is more important then 2+2 it will not matter how much is spent on education in a good chunk of the country.

old fat guy, Reagan raised taxes 11 times so how does that fit into your theory? Wages, education, the deterioration of our infrastructure all began their decline with Reagan's voo doo economics. That's fact, it's Reagan that is the myth.

I sure do Xabre.

And you know what else I understand? $16Trillion is a butt load of cash.

Oh and that Obama said he'd cut the deficit in half in his first term.

But it appears that you are saying that Obama, despite being the big cheese, the apple sauce, is powerless now, cause of the 'course' Reagan created.

Interesting. You libbies always out there tellin us how impotent you are to do anything. Kinda sad.

“If you want to invest in young people, let me tell you what you need to do Mr. President," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said.

Well, I did exactly what Romney has told us to do - I call up mumsie and dadsie to ask for $100k to advance my education. I'll be damned, they fell of the stools laughing and now we have to spend $600k of Medicare for hip replacements.

Good thing I didn't ask them for the $1m to start my own business like good old Tad asked of Mitt. We'd be spending $5m of Medicare for heart attack recovery.

Hey Romney, got any other bright ideas.

Seeking Sanity...

I will vote for Romney of course. Being old and WHITE, does not make me stupid.

Xabre: Actually it wasn't. Reagan's trickle-down had no effect on the wealth of the middle class, the main driver of the economy. However, it did succeed in adding trillions to the national debt. Please try again.

Xabre:

Section 7.

Section 8.

So which is it? How could Reagan be responsible for adding trillions to the debt when you argue the President doesn't have the power to do so?

Being old and WHITE, does not make me stupid.

No, it's the asinine things you say that expose you as stupid.

Sailcat, you never cease to amaze me with your astute observations!

Yeah, shame on you Romney for wanting to change public education. Afterall, pouring more and more billions down the education hole year after year has given us a public school system that's the envy of the rest of the world.......right, Feisty & Friends? In fact, I understand that Japan, Korea, India, and Germany are quite interested in adopting our wildly successful math and science curriculae.

Gee, Alaska Girl, you certainly are easily amazed!

Sailcat

Typical liberal you is: When the facts go against you just call them stupid, asinine, lies or whatever comes to mind.

Happens every time !

Romney = "We all know that cutting education is the way to improve it"..........

Romney/Ryan = Taking America back to the 50's one voucher at a time.....

Sailcat - thanks for having my back and beautifully said. Working and posting is sometimes not possible.

Old fat guy - you have yet to post a fact - just your insane rantings! You sound more and more like njnb and JAS all the time - not a compliment by the way!

Obama/Biden 2012

I notice many are pitching a fit about the money being spent on education. To those of you my question is, where would you rather it went?

Defense? We already have the best trained, best equipped military in the world. Or how about oil/natural gas/coal subsidies? Umm, no, we need to ween ourselves off of that stuff, or at least go "on a diet".

OR, we could spend the money where we really need it, like education. Or how about upgrading our infrastructure for that matter? Making sure we still have Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid perhaps?

Nah! Too "socialist"!

Turn out the lights
The party’s over
They say that
All good things must end
Call it tonight
The party’s over

http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2012/08/22/analysis-election-factors-points-romney-win-university-colorado-study-says

How DARE the President tout eduction?

Feisty,

Even though that might have been a typo, it coincidentally hit the nail. The public education system does suck.

JoAnnaSmith1

Bevvie: You got your kidney's detoxed? Clearly it didn't work. The oxygen is just not going to your brain.

Umm, Bevvie-ster, the kidneys don't deliver oxygen to the brain, that would be the function of the circulatory system in conjunction with the lungs dear.

Biology 101 course to Bev stat!!

Miss Smarty Pants

The kidneys' function are to filter the blood. All the blood in our bodies passes through the kidneys several times a day.

The renal circulation receives around 20% of the cardiac output. It branches from the abdominal aorta and returns blood to the ascending vena cava. It is the blood supply to the kidney, and contains many specialized blood vessels

Cardiac output:

The function of the heart is to transport blood to deliver oxygen, nutrients and chemicals to the cells of the body to ensure their survival and proper function and to remove the cellular wastes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_output

==================================================

It might interest you to know since you are neither doctor or nurse you can't give orders. The only thing you can do is moan and groan; ad lib!

AlaskaGirl and SeekingSanity: Thank you for your kind words. Stating the obvious is my specialty.

“What is striking about our state-level economic indicator forecast is the expectation that Obama will lose almost all of the states currently considered as swing states, including North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida,” said Kenneth Bickers of CU-Boulder.

Spanky-

Hey look, more basic math confounding libbies.

See gang, back in the 1950s they spent a fraction on education and got much better results. In fact, from then to today we have spent more and more, yet gotten worse and worse test scores.

Cause it's all about quality, not conspicuous spending.

Then again, no too many 'administrators' in the system back in olden times.

I do wonder though - you think someone has clued Obama in on how Ohio is spelled yet?

Damned Harvard Education - ain't worth nuttin'.

The problem with your analogy is that in the 1950s, manufacturing and industrial jobs were plentiful. Most middle-class workers didn't need much more than a high school diploma in order to go to the local factory and get a good-paying, union job, with benefits.

Unfortunately, those jobs have largely been shipped overseas where labor is cheaper and manufacturers can make greater profits (and even take tax breaks for outsourcing).

As a result, the American economy (which is driven by consumers) has had to compensate by becoming a service-based economy which requires increased education standards, and competing with countries like India, Japan, Germany, and China.

Providing a higher level of education costs money, which requires taxes, which rich people don't want to pay.

Then again, I wouldn't expect you to understand about things like education.

Oh, you mean how Reagan tripled the debt?

Comical. Uninformed and superficial, but comical.

Very interesting analysis of our "educational" system of the last hundred years. Very long and in depth.

deliberatedumbingdown.com

Beverly said: You got your kidneys detoxed? Clearly, it didn't work. The oxygen is just not going to your brain.

Clearly Bev, you must be a product of liberal education. Oxygen enters the lungs and then permeates into the bloodstream. Oxygen is carried through little bitty things called red blood cells... That's how the oxygen enters the brain... the Kidneys have nothing to do with the respiratory system.

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland, kicking some Tea Party a$$. Pass it along! It is awsome!

http://www.upworthy.com/a-tea-partier-decided-to-pick-a-fight-with-a-foreign-president-it-didnt-go-so-we

Why would Romney worry about spending on education when we can let China and India educate our future workers. They're cheaper anyway.

bayllie,

The response of Michael Higgins is full of truth!!!

I will toast the President of Ireland with a wee bit of Jamieson.

Road Warrior,

Interesting article, and not to shabby on the results. The last eight presidential elections they predicted the winner.

I would like to know exactly what Romney does think on education..or anything else. So far he has had lots of speaches and given nothing in substance on his views on anything..other than more tax cuts for his wealthy friends. Romney talks of improving schools while wanting to cut funding for education..how do you get both done ? Folks really need to see what he, Romney, has made statements on before..and what his statements are today on the same issues. Ryan is no better..if not worse..he has claimed he is against government handouts...while lobbying for them...he and Romney I guess make a good pair..they both say what people want to hear..not what the truth actually is.

Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland, kicking some Tea Party a$$. Pass it along! It is awsome!

Bayllie - Priceless - a Wanker Whipping up Fear. Sounds like many of the wankers that leave their pile of crap on this site.

old fat guy-1144960

Seeking Sanity...

I will vote for Romney of course. Being old and WHITE, does not make me stupid.

After reading your posts, I digress.....

old fat guy ... What did make you stupid?? Did you have a bad head injury??

They deny the 2700 'screaming fans' head count... maybe 1500 including the impressive security detail. A section was even blocked off either to make the area look crowded or to hide extra teleprompeters for the guy, lol!

msnbc.com... errr nbcnews.com would never pad numbers to benefit Obama would they? lol!

'Bungler in Chief', that's one of the chapters in Ed Klein's very popular book "The Amateur".... a great read about Barak Hussein Obama, with plenty of footnotes and sources! I've noticed that no one has been able to refute a single assertion in the book. Highly recommended, but not available in any gov't handout, so only those with money can read it, which eliminates millions of liberal/socialists!

Reagan

"As a short-run strategy to reduce inflation and lower nominal interest rates, the U.S. borrowed both domestically and abroad to cover the Federal budget deficits, raising the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.^[16] This led to the U.S. moving from the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.^[17] Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency."

Bush SR

"When Reagan took office, the national debt stood at $994 billion. When Bush left office, it had reached $4.3 trillion. In other words, the national debt had taken 200 years to reach $1 trillion. Reagan’s Supply Side experiment quadrupled it in the next 12 years."

Clinton

"When Bill Clinton took office he intentionally reversed the Supply Side formula, raising taxes on the wealthy and reducing them on the lowest wage earners. Supply Side true believers predicted the arrival of the Apocalypse. Bob Dole said the stock market would collapse. Newt Gingrich said the world would fall into another Great Depression.

What actually happened?

Between 1992 and 2000, the U.S. economy produced the longest sustained economic expansion in U.S. history. It created more than 18 million new jobs, the highest level of job creation ever recorded. Inflation fell to 2.5% per year compared to the 4.7% average over the prior 12 years."

George Dubya

"The effects of Bush’s tax cut on the deficit and debt are exactly what we would expect having seen Reagan’s results-only worse. Bush inherited from Clinton a fiscal surplus of $127 billion. In his first year he turned that into a deficit of $158 billion."

George Dubya vs. Obama- adding to the deficit

How much of the debt that was actually incurred during Obama's time in office is a direct result of laws passed by Obama? See for yourself:

well it won't let me publish the link but if you do a google search for "george w bush national debt" then click the washington post link at the bottom of the first page you will see a graph that breaks it down.

Apologies for my late arrival in this...I'm even gonna call it a discussion. Anyways! Hopefully this post will have soooome relevance.

thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/244765-romney-campaign-calls-out-obama-for-spelling-ohio-wrong

This is in response to Beverly asking:

Provide, the link PLEASE that says the President doesn't know how to spell OHIO. I suspect it's a right wing, lying, rag that can be easily debunked for you misanthropes.

I didn't bother reading through most of the thread as it's just filth coming from both sides.

Basically Romney is saying that throwing more money at the issue isn't going to fix it, so lets find out what the actual issue is and fix that. That's the problem with libs, you talk about getting rid of the Dept of Education, or talk about doing ANYTHING other than throw more money at it, and they go ballistic crying lies that the right want to get rid of education. All libs can do with a problem is throw money at it. The war on education, the war on poverty, neither one has improved over the past decades even after the billions put into it, in fact, we're worse off now.

I was at the end of grade school when the Dept of Education came around, and I can still look back and see how it hurt my education. I lost about a year of schooling due to being held back after moving from CA to OR. The whole 'standardization' is a bunch of crap and has been dumbing down our children for too long.

I look at what my stepson is being taught in middle school right now and it is damn scary. I have to talk with him about just about every subject in the evening to set him straight on the crap he's being fed.

I haven't seen either obama fix anything in the education system in the past three and half years, so it's time for someone else to give it a shot.

Mr. President, why don't you "hit" Romney with your economic policies and their success over the last 4 years - oh, never mind.............. I guess you DO need to find ANYTHING that you can distract away from your record. BTW, do you know Romney killed a woman because he took away her health care? Try that one too!! Oh, you did? Never mind.............

What do you want to bet that the Romney Ryan plan would be to privatize the public schools and give everyone a voucher? That is right in line with their thinking on everything else.

More tax cuts for the top 1% spewing forth from one of the members of that elite group. As if Obama doesn't do everything he can to reduce his federal taxes... I notice he never explains that in his speeches. More double standards.

If Obama is so fired up about his re-election, how come he never mentions the reduction of people on food stamps? What is he doing about that? Not a damn thing... in fact he's probably salivating that more people are getting on food stamps than ever before. To him, there's nothing like the pleasure of bigger government and people's dependency on it.

If Obama was doing his job, working on getting the economy in better shape, he might have a point, but he's lost in the woods without a dog to take him home.

Al, I do believe that part of Romney's plan is to privatize all schools. Hell, the Republicans want to privatize everything but my vagina!

Yes, we all know that if we give the money to the rich people that it will trickle down to the schools.....(rolls eyes).

Alaska - they have plans for that too and you don't get any input on those decisions!

Obama/Biden 2012

No Eric, your government does that without any input... and without a budget too.

This country is running trillion dollar plus annual deficits, and yet no one in the Obama administration or the Democratic Party can find so much as a dime of spending to cut. Apparently there isn't a liberal supporter of Obama's that has a clue where this country is headed financially. Getting rid of the Bush tax cuts and ending two wars and this country will still be hemorrhaging money. Obama and his supporter just don't seem to get it when it is all just about the here and the now, and who cares about tomorrow.

and yet no one in the Obama administration or the Democratic Party can find so much as a dime of spending to cut.

Actually, the budget cuts the military is going to receive have the teabaggers crying in their beer. We spend as much for defense as the rest of the world combined and yet the GOP will faint at the thought of reducing that bloated budget by so much as a penny. It's like a giant Republican entitlement program.

Yeah, Romney thinks the K-12 schools should get better since only kids whose parents have money for the borrowing should be allowed in college!

"Gov. Romney says we've got enough teachers, we don't need any more.

An educated electorate?! That's anathema to Koch/GOP/TP thinking.

Who needs that ! Rush will tell them what to think and when to think it.

If you libbies would actually research what Romney/Ryan want to do with education, you would find out that they want to eliminate the horribly bloated Washington bureaucracy that filters off billions of tax dollars before returning a mere pittance of those dollars to the states where education actually occurs. They want to get rid of the Department of Education, not destroy the actual education of our children, and allow the states do the work that is expected of the states: educate our children. Many school districts around our nation are being forced to reduce faculty, staff, classroom supplies, etc, to continue to support a huge bureaucracy that does education absolutely no good. Oblameo would not only perpetuate but enlarge that already massive bureaucracy and further dumb-down our educational system.

To paraphrase Riki-tiki-tavi, you libbies go run and see!

they want to eliminate the horribly bloated Washington bureaucracy

Let's see now. The Department of Education receives a budget of $69B for the purpose of educating our children while the defense budget is roughly $700B. I think we would be better served by cutting that preposterously large defense budget rather than robbing the children in our country of their future.

http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget13/summary/13summary.pdf

http://www.globalfirepower.com/defense-spending-budget.asp

Romney was ready with an educational response during an event at LeClair Manufacturing on August 22, 2012 in Bettendorf, Iowa.

“If you want to invest in young people, let me tell you what you need to do, Mr. President," Romney said. "You need to make sure that our K-through-12 schools are getting better, all right, that's number one. Not just talk, but actually getting better."

But Romney said…

"He [Obama] says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government and help the American people."

—Mitt Romney at a campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 8, 2012

• FLIP FLOP Romney, does it again!!!

Romney recently said that "people should get the education that they can afford". I read it as clear as day on MSNBC. That tells me that education is only for people with money. Think before you vote. Thank the good lord I got my education while I had the chance.

Sailcat

Public Education was on the decline before the Department of Education was created. Since it's creation the speed of decline has increased not decrease.

Three years ago, It was enlightening to find that Akron Public Schools needed $11,400 per student and the private schools at that time averaged $6225 per student. Today, the Akron system requires 14,500 per student and the private schools $7750 per student. I will say that a number of the Akron Schools are performing better (the ones with new buildings). But the private schools haven't wavered on their academics despite an increase in the number of kids who are getting vouchers (the majority of vouchers goes to Minorities).

Meanwhile Washington DC, perenially in the bottom 2 of all school districts in the US uses and now costs 29,400 per student. Three years ago, the cost was $18,500 per student. Washington DC is still one of the worst two systems in the country. The kids are trapped there, because 3 years ago Obama struck down the voucher system in Washington DC.

If the whole point of America was to escape the tyranny of a state that kept you in it's system of doom and despair. The Washington DC school system might as well be a prison, with Obama holding the key and that is not what America is supposed to be about.

Clearly Obama's direction is wrong for America and Minorities.

AlaskaGirl said:

Hell, the Republicans want to privatize everything but my vagina.

Gee, does that mean that it's currently public property?

President Obama on Monday spoke out about the outrageous comments of Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Missouri, who said that victims of "legitimate rape" don't get pregnant because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

THIS IS THE REPUBLICANS EDUCATED RESPONSE

THE PARTY THAT DOESN'T BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION, THAT DOESN'T BELIEVE IN STEM CELL RESEARCH, THAT DOESN'T BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING, THAT DOESN'T BELIEVE IN SCIENCE, THAT DOESN'T BELIEVE IN EDUCATION

BUT DOES BELIEVE IN IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION

YEA KEEP EM STUPID SO THEY VOTE GOPig

TODD AKIN IS ON THE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE!

IS THAT A HOOT OR WHAT!

THE MAN KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT SCIENCE

KEEP THE AMERICAIN PEOPLE STUPI & IGNORANT THE GOPig PLAY BOOK

Of topic, but I found this article a bit amusing given Romney's infatuation with the English sport of dressage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18422949

I always thought Romney had the arrogant and pompous English attitude about him, but this proves he is all the way English. Looks like Romney just wants to run this country like the England of old: the rich dictate the rules everyone else must follow, but noble elites like Willard follow their own set of rules.

Since throwing money, money that we do not have, at the federal level, at the problem, is not working, we should stop doing it. Education should not be forced upon the population it should be something that families and students desperately want for their children and will motivate them accordingly. The best schools are useless if the students they teach do not want to learn. We already have created the best educational infrastructure in the world. Waisting more money in this area will not help. Improving education is best handled at the local and state levels. If more money is needed it is far cheaper for the states and local governments to provide it than the federal government. With more than 15 trillion dollars in debt and huge deficits predicted for at least another decade, in terms of cost to the tax payers, it is far cheaper for the states and local governments to borrow the money than it is the the federal government. I estimate that what the federal government is borrowing now is going to end up costing the tax payers 9 times the amount borrowed to repay over the next 170 years. Having to effectively pay 9 times the going rate for goods and services is not a good idea.

I want the President to talk about the big picture. Without conditions to include any action of congress, the President promised that this year, fy 2012, the federal deficit would not exceed 229.27 billion dollars yet the President's own White House is predicting that the deficit will exceed 1.2 trillion dollars. The fiscal year is almost over. It is time for the President to educate the public about how he is going to keep his promise. Increase spending is not going to keep our federal government from bankruptcy. I want the President to present a plan for the federal government to repay all of the money that owes. The tax payers have a right to know how much all this borrowing is going to end up costing them.

I can't believe I live in a country that has so many fools in it. We had our chance this year to elect a man that would have turned Washington upside down. A REAL fiscal conservative that for over 30 years has been voting NO on excessive spending, saying NO to attacking countries for no good reason, saying YES to common sense issues like LEGALIZING MARIJUANA and REGULATING it like alcohol, voting NO to huge government bureacracies like the dept of transportation and education. His name was RON PAUL, and he was our only hope to remain free and prosperous. He would have followed a little document named the CONSTITUTION. You know, the framework that made us the greatest country in the world? You know, the document that progressives like G. Bush and B. Obama wipe themselves with everytime they go to the restroom. We had our chance, now we're going to make Greece look like a well run country. Dr. Paul's economic advisor, Peter Schiff, wrote a book back in '06 called "Crash Proof" detailing exactly what ended up happening to us in '08. Unfortunately, in the book, he also predicted how the government would respond to the crash, with bailouts and stimulus, and soon the REAL CRASH is coming soon to a theater near you. Watch "peter schiff was right" video on youtube and educate yourselves. Libertarianism is the ONLY answer.

I love all the criticism of Romney and Ryan but rather than Obama trying to criticize Republican ideas why doesn't Obama simply tell the people what his accomplishments have been over the last four years. He was so confident he could fix everything when he took office he even said the "Republicans can go along for the ride but must sit in the back" (of course that sounded kinda racist - but I digress). He and his fellow Democrats passed things without even allowing Republicans, or the people, to know about it. Even ObamaCare Pelosi said "we have to pass it so you can see what's in it".

So Obama (aka "The Messiah") knew how to fix this economy. So why doesn't Obama simply run on his successful accomplishments in saving our economy? What was that? Oh, I see........ Yes, you are right: Better stay with ANYTHING that can detract the people from discussing the economy.

Sorry, won't work. This election is ALL about the economy - plain and simple. Try your distractions but they won't work. Obama has failed on EVERY economic measurement and the election in November will confirm.............

Why did not Obama think about this 4 years ago? Why only before the election? I guess election time gets the brain working.

The more I hear from him. the more he sounds like Obama 2008. Promise everything in the world and when elected, just forget those promises. It's especially easy now as he doesn't have reelection hanging over his head -- so him can promise, promise and promise and then say "screw you" and no one can do anything about it. From the 2008 campaign he proved himself to be a liar. Now he is going further. I'm getting sick of him.

BTW: How many of you have gone to Fact Check to verify his assertions? I suggest you do it.

Gil
Are you referring to education? Guess you didn't listen to any of the President's State of the Union addresses. Education has always been one of his top priorities.

Oh, and i always fact check everything ( politifact too). Been looking at your guys any? Talk about out and out lies!!

dsb; Saying and doing are two different things.

Have you "fact checked" Obama's scare statements made to seniors regarding Social Security and Medicare? Maybe you should and be sure to recognize he is talking mostly to those already on both programs or are 55 and older.

Willards pick for Sec of Ed.......Bachmann/Marcus or Sarah/First Dude...of course, that's before he abolishes it.

But he probably won't abolish it until his sons have made mega bucks by privatizing the whole thing!..

Oh, but privatizing it is where the big bucks are!

Shoot - I propose a War on Education. Cause the government is super good at winning wars. You know, like the kickass job it does in the war on poverty, war on drugs.

A war on education ought to produce super results.

And how about a war on jobs? Oh, wait, O's on that already.

JAS1 - Ohio, correct?

Too funny.

Shoot - I propose a War on Education. Cause the government is super good at winning wars. You know, like the kickass job it does in the war on poverty, war on drugs.

Or the job it did with the war in Iraq? But by all means let's increase Defense funding!

Spanky: You know, like the kickass job it does in the war on poverty, war on drugs.

You forgot the War on Women! No, wait, that's just the Republicans.

The Democrats are conducting the War on Jobs though. That one they seem to be winning.

Spanky: And how about a war on jobs? Oh, wait, O's on that already.

Oops, you already got it.

War on our Sensibilities - that one Obama is winning too.

This dept has only been around since 1965 so how did all those people get an education for almost 200 years?

Yeah, and let's compare the quality of education between now and 200 years ago. What were the literacy rates, for starters?

Cause the government is super good at winning wars.

Did you ask any of the chicken hawk TeaPeople about that....Especially Dubya/Cheney as we (as a country) continue to bury our war dead!

All wars have consequences!

Firemen inherit a mess too, but they don't pour gas on it to control it.

So why do Republicans think cutting taxes (decreasing revenue) balances budgets?

chillie: All wars have consequences!

How profound.

So what is Obama's strategy for Afghanistan? You know, the "war worth fighting".

Seriously - you silly libbies can't differentiate between a real war, with guns and killin' and bombs, from rhetorical wars, like those on poverty and drugs?

Is it that bad out there these days for you all?

Well, at least you are keeping up the amusement quotient. So thanks for that. :)

You first JAS1

Do tell us what was Dubya's/Cheney strategy for Iraq/Afghanistan?

So what is Obama's strategy for Afghanistan? You know, the "war worth fighting".

I notice, your didn't mention Dubyas Iraq...Why?

Afghanistan....We're still there (which I abhor), being killed, but moving toward exit.

spanky,

Fancy running into you here.

Education in the 50"s: segregation, two track curriculum.

Today, some of those graduates are to be found in Tampa in five days.Hint: T. Akin

I think they should have every delegate take a remedial science and basic English definition test and see what the pass/fail rate will be before they begin their voting.

Joanna Smith said: The Democrats are conducting the War on Jobs though. That one they seem to be winning.

You got that right... since we've lost over a million jobs during 08 and 09, the dems were in control... They set it up real good for this country to hit bottom fast.

In 1943 our unemployment rate was at 25%. Currently the government reports it at being 8.3% but since they only count those on unemployment, the actual unemployment rate is 19.9%. Give it a few more months and we will be at great depression levels... but since the population is much greater now than in 1943, there are technically more people out of work.

Romney/Ryan = Taking Americans back to the 50's one voucher at a time.

NO! The Republican party must at all costs keep their base stupid. They are much more controllable, kind of like robots. Why do you think they make listening to Lush Limpballs a requirement? If anyone can dumb down the base it is the King of Stupid!

Obama inherited a mess...blah blah blah.

Just so we are clear, Harley Chick (cause you sure aren't chic); you describe the single largest global economic meltdown amounting to 10s of trillions of lost financial holdings as a simple blah, blah, blah? Let me guess, your biggest concern in life is losing that Harley between your legs. Trailer trash at its best.

Xabre asked: So why do Republicans think cutting taxes (decreasing revenue) balances budgets?

It has to do with the amount of expendable revenue a person has. When the government takes more of your money, you have less expendable cash to purchase items. Purchasing invokes the tax chain. You buy something somebody has to make, the maker gets taxed at a corporate level. The item you purchased has to be shipped, and shipping gets taxed... then there's material supply people that get taxed... and you pay all this in whatever price you buy it for... when the government taxes you more, you buy less. It's all in the Laffler Curve. There are many more factors, but that explanation is to keep it fairly simple.

In the 80's when Reagan reduced income taxes, the government's income grew by billions.

AlaskaGirl - The Republican party must at all costs keep their base stupid. That's the only way they HAVE a base. Once people have some intelligence - they are no longer Republican!

Obama/Biden 2012

RedDev said: Just so we are clear, Harley Chick (cause you sure aren't chic); you describe the single largest global economic meltdown amounting to 10s of trillions of lost financial holdings as a simple blah, blah, blah? Let me guess, your biggest concern in life is losing that Harley between your legs. Trailer trash at its best.

More insults from RedDev... do you do this on a daily basis, or have you switched to every few minutes already?

Biggest financial meltdown... wonder who was in charge of congress and the senate at that time... and up to 17 months before it happened? You do realize that congress is the financial arm of the government... those that set the policy.. those that control the economy... Blame your favorite party.

More insults from RedDev...

Gee BriBri - Straight from the asses mouth ass...

@ The Fiesty Redhead Troll

Don't worry Troll, we don't care about the "blue waffle"

And golly gee whiz, BriBri -

Blame your favorite party.

The party in control of Congress and the White House leading up to the financial meltdown were Republicans. But you knew that being the wiz-kid you are.

Yeah come on Obama, just keep spending this country into oblivion and see where that takes us.

Spanky, the whole problem with those rhetorical wars is that they have cost us many more billions of dollars than our real wars. The real wars have cost us lives, but the rhetorical wars are costing us the lives of an entire generation!

Hey Brianb:

Tell us the part about a person's expendable revenue again? I think you might have mixed up your high school business and economics courses. Companies bring in revenue through sales, governments through taxes, but individuals bring home INCOMES, not revenues big guy. FYI there is no shipping tax, I've been working in shipping for 5+ years. There are duties and tariffs, but those only apply to imports/exports. Gas is taxed to pay for roads, companies are taxed on their earnings, and sales taxes collected on products sold in stores, but there is no such thing as a shipping tax. When the government taxes the incomes of rich individuals and fortune 500 corporations at 10-20%, while collecting 15-35% of a salaried or hourly wage earner's income, the tax burden is shifted to the middle class, which is primarily comprised of salaried and hourly wage earning working class Americans.

Governments will always require tax revenues to provide basic services you take for granted every day, so cities and states now must increase sales taxes, gas taxes, road/bridge tolls, and state income taxes to offset the lost tax revenue that would have come from the federal government. These city and state taxes disproportionately effect individual consumers, especially those with less expendable income like the lower and middle classes. International corporations can hide much of their earnings in off-shore banks to reduce their net US taxable incomes, and this is done by outsourcing work to other countries whereby sales revenues never hit American soil, but float through various off-shore banks, tax havens, tax reduction intermediaries like Ireland, and various other complicated international financial strategies. You should ask Willard and Bain Capital because they are much better versed in these tax evasion strategies than I am.

You are right your explanation was simple, but just simple minded. I believe you mean the LAFFER Curve not the Laffler curve, and it is a hypothetical curve, thus not a scientific based economic tool through which to study the correlation between maximizing tax revenues and minimizing negative effects of over taxing. If you had done any research at all, you would have realized that the Laffer Curve mid-range for tax revenue maximization is around 70%, not the 25% republicans and Romney are pushing for. Coincidentally, you also forgot to mention that the US debt exploded in the 80's because of Reagan's reduction of the income tax.

The first personal income tax was levied against Americans to pay for the Civil War in 1861. Bush being a student of history, should have applied this logic before deciding to put the last 2 wars on America's credit card, thus exploding the national debt and reducing the tax revenues government can use as financial incentives in a variety of ways, not the least of which to offset the tax burden of salaried and wage earning working class Americans, so that they would have more EXPENDABLE INCOME to buy products, services, medical care, and a college educations for their kids. There is your economics lesson for the day...now go read a book and stop listening to fox spews.

Last summer's Canadian study is one of many finding that people with conservative beliefs are likely to be of low intelligence.

The Canadian study, which analyzed two large scale UK data sets, found: "Lower cognitive ability predicts greater prejudice, an effect mediated through the endorsement of right-wing ideologies (social conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism) and low levels of contact with out-groups. " The researchers also looked at the USA. "A secondary analysis of a U.S. data set confirmed a predictive effect of poor abstract-reasoning skills on anti-homosexual prejudice, a relation partially mediated by both authoritarianism and low levels of intergroup contact."

Source:

Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology and Low Intergroup Contact

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/2/187

JoAnnaSmith1

Guy can't even spell O-I-H-O.

Obama/Biden 2012 - "Stuck on Stupid 4 Years Running"

Link Please Snuffy.

Dennis already debunked it Bev. They have the image intentionally flipped. There is no depth these idiots won't troll or lie about to inject their venom into our President's success.

hugs, GF

Sox puppet is part of the lets Dumb America crowd.

Link Please Snuffy.

Wrong thread Bevvie.

Clara KCMO

Dennis already debunked it Bev. They have the image intentionally flipped. There is no depth these idiots won't troll or lie about to inject their venom into our President's success.

hugs, GF

Thanks, Clara

Like I said above these people are misanthropes They have some serious problem. Soon it's gonna to affect their health psychically if they don't let the hate go

really, really miss you and the kids GF. Can't wait until we get together again. Of course I'll concede I'm a sentimental slop.

Leave the sentimental out ..... but we'll agree you are a slop. Maybe if you posted most of your "stuff" in bold you would be believeable ...... oh, never mind ! We know you try to act powerful.

8.3% unemployment after a trillion wasted on "Stimulus" is not "SUCCESS"

Increasing national debt $5 trillion (when Obama said he would cut it in half) is not "SUCCESS"

But stay with the placebos ..... they will make you think you are "winning". Ask Charlie Sheen.

jim-1455434

Leave the sentimental out ..... but we'll agree you are a slop. Maybe if you posted most of your "stuff" in bold you would be believeable ...... oh, never mind ! We know you try to act powerful.

How stupid can you be? I've already explained I am very near sighted so I need to bold.

The slobs are sitting on their asses in the Republican House of Representative doing nothing when they are there 9 days in a month!!!

Beverly

If education was building our economy, then why is over half of the graduates in the last 2 years unable to get jobs in their own field?

@Bev #5.7 ..... Funny, for someone claiming to be nearsighted, you apparently had no problem reading my post. I think you just proved you are lying about your NEED to post in bold. Maybe you're one of those with the blue stickers for handicapped parking as well .... even though you do not need it.

Everyone is STILL suffering from 8 years of the BUSH DEBACLE.

Honest Lib reporting not a MSNBC virtue

If you take all the wealth of everyone that has more than 1 million it would run how many weeks of the government again?

Obama s taking all those bumper sticker of stick it to the rich to get people to hate each other as fools....again....

When the liberals give the sob story about this and that helpless group will suffer, I think of Darth Sidious, After Mace Windu is ready to strike him dead saying "I'm too weak to fight, why are you killing a defenseless man? To which Anakin then attacks and kills Mace Windu. The Attack served as the final transition of Anakin to Darth Vader.

All a direct result of GOP Rule and Obstruction. Want to try again?

whereRthe jobsBoehner

Yes, its all somebodys else fault and could not be Lib policies. IE: See CA. and the other cities in CA> that had to file BK. CA> is such a great GOP stronghold. Yet, the cities in CA. have a surplus. Go figure.......

kamo - in order to understand California's financial issues you have to look at the past and understand how it helped to create the current economic issues for the state and its jurisdictions.

California has economic issues initially due to Proposition 13 (passed in 1978) which "fixed" property taxes so that they could only increase by a maximum of 2% per year. Unfortunately this 2% didn't even keep up with inflation rates, nor did it take into consideration increased fuel costs, health care, educational costs, extension of infrastructure, operational expenses, maintenance, etc. This created a situation where revenue coming into the state was incapable of sustaining levels of service even equivalent to what was going on in 1978 much less what is currently mandated by California state code.

Prop 13 was not a liberal agenda. It was started and advocated by Howard Jarvis who is very conservative and predated Grover Norquist with his anti-tax rhetoric. As of 2010, he was still active in California politics. In many ways (per his expressed opinions and policy support) Howard Jarvis could be considered to be one of the precurses to the currt TEA Party.

Since California was operating with already decreasing tax revenues from real property (relative to cost increases) when the housing bubble burst it crushed them even more. Follow that up with the recession and when businesses started to go under California was receiving even less revenue.

The first real culprit here is Prop 13 which created a funding issue, then the housing bubble and the recession.

And then there was the republicon created "energy crisis" in 2002. The energy de-regulation bill was written by Pete Wilson with advice from Phil Gramm. The Democrats didn't see the poison pill in it and gave it a try.

Then came the 5 fold increase in natural gas prices and the $11 billion hit! Thanks for nothing Enron.

Then came the recall, that cost more millions.

The Democrat state Attorney General sued the feds to enforce their own laws about profiteering.

Bush/cheney said "They haven't suffered enough yet."

Later the republicon Attorney General sued the feds again. Same answer.

Then came the housing bubble. We are still paying for the republicon "energy crisis" today.

This goes hand in hand with the fact that Californians suffered 22% of the casualties in the Iraq Abortion while California only has 12% of the population. I live in the same district as the Tillman family and if you talk to them about the military you get a looong string of curses.

The hate can't come from His record, so what exactly is it?

So you libs "love" high unemployment, massive increase of $5 trillion added to national debt with NO BUDGETS, amnesty for illegals who violate existing immigration law, wasted billions on Solyndra ill-advised $500 million plus loans and a country divided by a President who continues to play class warfare over tax issues !

The hate CLEARLY comes from his record ! Smiles, platitudes, singing and dancing don't get the job done !

No Jim we don't that's why we thank god every day Bush is gone.

This past Thursday, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) analysis revealed that the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Bush’s Great Recession account for virtually the entire federal budget deficit.

In the graph on the right provided courtesy of CBPP, the flat line at the bottom of the chart accounts for the US deficit absent the above-mentioned policies. As you can see, we bear the effects of Bush-era drunken-sailor spending all the way through 2019. Why? We borrowed to pay for it all, and as our ability to pay down the principal diminished and the debt increased, so did the interest rates.

Desert King must have meant that Obama will not take his trailer park because Nevada is looking pretty good to the prez right now:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/nv/nevada_romney_vs_obama-1908.html

Obama/Biden in ANOTHER LANDSLIDE, Bank on it!!!

Post the figures in real dollars.

We are still paying for Bush jr's wars(off the books), prescription drug Part d and tax cuts for the rich(interest)(borrowed money).

Exactly WhereR..........Of the $5T added since the last election, all but about $1.3 T comes from Bush Tax Cuts, 2 Wars, Medicare part D and the interest on the debt...

The only problem with your biased study is it charges Obama for programs/expenses all created by Bush. 300 billion a year on an unfunded drug plan added 1.2 trillion to Obamas deficit, 2 unfunded wars and a 400 billion a year tax cut which has raised the deficit under Obama 1.6 trillion and republicans refuse to repeal due to their Norquist pledge.

This past Thursday, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) analysis revealed that the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Bush’s Great Recession account for virtually the entire federal budget deficit.

In the graph on the right provided courtesy of CBPP, the flat line at the bottom of the chart accounts for the US deficit absent the above-mentioned policies. As you can see, we bear the effects of Bush-era drunken-sailor spending all the way through 2019. Why? We borrowed to pay for it all, and as our ability to pay down the principal diminished and the debt increased, so did the interest rates.

The last Presidents to pay down on the national debt were President Clinton and President Carter.

Reagan,bush,and bush/cheney could not do that. What is the big difference? Republicon economic policies. In fact 94% of our national debt comes from those three bozos.

ReaganBushDebt.org

Just SHUT UP. Try googling an hour of FAUX, a lie a minute.

Positive proof of Joe Scarborough's assessment that his party(R) has become the party of stupid.

With such ridiculous notions they also reject God, because how could we possibly be created in the image of something so magnificent.

Why do Conservatives continue to push this myth that all Liberals/Progressives reject God?

Perhaps you should have a word with your soon-to-be VP Nominee...you know, the guy who is supposed to be a devout Catholic but says atheist Ayn Rand was his inspiration to get involved in government.

SD Dad... the truth hurts. They are scared and have resorted to name calling and trying to take away your first amendment rights by telling you to shut up. Don't take it personally... it won't stop.

Hahaha I don't need to reject something that doesn't exist! Do you reject the existence of unicorns?

SD Dad: Your compassion for the unborn might be believed if you would show the same compassion to those already born. Your desire to force women who are poor to have children they can't afford, opposition to them using birth control or even be allowed to abort when raped might have more merit if your platform didn't include eliminating or greatly reducing food stamps, medicaid and school nutrition programs.

Your absurd idea's that women too poor to afford contraception should simply abstain because republicans oppose insurance paying for birth control for women even though they do for ED for men proves your contempt for women. Only the wealthy should have sex?

You demand these children be born to poor women who can't afford to feed them then talk about self reliance and personal responsibility when these women need help. It's hypocrites like you that have compassion for the unborn but are perfectly fine with sick or starving children blaming these unwilling parents. Your logic is illogical.

We have the largest by far military in the world and spend 33% of income tax revenues on it and spend 28% on all other income tax funded social programs. Romney would increase the military spending to almost 40% and decrease non self funded social programs to around 20%. As a tax payer all my life I don't agree with those priorities. Close down some of those 900+ foreign bases and keep our noses out of the rest of the worlds troubles.

Was the light bulb, telephone, internet, aviation flight.......................all invented in 1 DAY or even a decade? I think NOT.

So, we're never going to see a Mitt Romney campaign ad on FOX News, right?

By the way, you do remember that the last administration paid right-wing columnists to write columns favoring their policies, yes?

I couldn't swear on it(my remote refuses to stop on that channel), but I would imagine that amidst the commercials for Erectile Dysfunction that are probably rampant on there, I would bet you $10,000 that Romney campaign ads are about all one would see on the Fox Entertainment channel.

Faux noise lies every single day. In fact they sued so that they could lie on national television.

The Media Can Legally Lie

By Mike Gaddy
Writer for lewrockwell.com.

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson, were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox “Investigators” team at WTVT in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto Corporation. The couple produced a four-part series revealing that there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.

According to Akre and Wilson, the station was initially very excited about the series. But within a week, Fox executives and their attorneys wanted the reporters to use statements from Monsanto representatives that the reporters knew were false and to make other revisions to the story that were in direct conflict with the facts. Fox editors then tried to force Akre and Wilson to continue to produce the distorted story. When they refused and threatened to report Fox's actions to the FCC, they were both fired.(Project Censored #12 1997)

Akre and Wilson sued the Fox station and on August 18, 2000, a Florida jury unanimously decided that Akre was wrongfully fired by Fox Television when she refused to broadcast (in the jury's words) “a false, distorted or slanted story” about the widespread use of BGH in dairy cows. They further maintained that she deserved protection under Florida's whistle blower law. Akre was awarded a $425,000 settlement. Inexplicably, however, the court decided that Steve Wilson, her partner in the case, was ruled not wronged by the same actions taken by FOX.

FOX appealed the case, and on February 14, 2003 the Florida Second District Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the settlement awarded to Akre. The Court held that Akre’s threat to report the station’s actions to the FCC did not deserve protection under Florida’s whistle blower statute, because Florida’s whistle blower law states that an employer must violate an adopted “law, rule, or regulation." In a stunningly narrow interpretation of FCC rules, the Florida Appeals court claimed that the FCC policy against falsification of the news does not rise to the level of a "law, rule, or regulation," it was simply a "policy." Therefore, it is up to the station whether or not it wants to report honestly.

During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre’s claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so. After the appeal verdict WTVT general manager Bob Linger commented, “It’s vindication for WTVT, and we’re very pleased… It’s the case we’ve been making for two years. She never had a legal claim.”

UPDATE BY LIANE CASTEN: If we needed any more proof that we now live in an upside down world, the saga of Jane Akre, along with her husband, Steve Wilson, could not be more compelling.

Akre and Wilson won the first legal round. Akre was awarded $425,000 in a jury trial with well-crafted arguments for their wrongful termination as whistleblowers. And in the process, they also won the prestigious “Goldman Environmental” prize for their outstanding efforts. However, FOX turned around and appealed the verdict. This time, FOX won; the original verdict was overturned in the Appellate Court of Florida’s Second District. The court implied there was no restriction against distorting the truth. Technically, there was no violation of the news distortion because the FCC’s policy of news distortion does not have the weight of the law. Thus, said the court, Akre-Wilson never qualified as whistleblowers.

What is more appalling are the five major media outlets that filed briefs of Amici Curiae- or friend of FOX – to support FOX’s position: Belo Corporation, Cox Television, Inc., Gannett Co., Inc., Media General Operations, Inc., and Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc. These are major media players! Their statement, “The station argued that it simply wanted to ensure that a news story about a scientific controversy regarding a commercial product was present with fairness and balance, and to ensure that it had a sound defense to any potential defamation claim.”

“Fairness and balance?” Monsanto hardly demonstrated “fairness and balance” when it threatened a lawsuit and demanded the elimination of important, verifiable information!

The Amici position was “If upheld by this court, the decision would convert personnel actions arising from disagreements over editorial policy into litigation battles in which state courts would interpret and apply federal policies that raise significant and delicate constitutional and statutory issues.” After all, Amici argued, 40 states now have Whistleblower laws, imagine what would happen if employees in those 40 states followed the same course of action?

The position implies that First Amendment rights belong to the employers – in this case the five power media groups. And when convenient, the First Amendment becomes a broad shield to hide behind. Let’s not forget, however; the airwaves belong to the people. Is there no public interest left—while these media giants make their private fortunes using the public airwaves? Can corporations have the power to influence the media reporting, even at the expense of the truth? Apparently so.

In addition, the five “friends” referred to FCC policies. The five admit they are “vitally interested in the outcome of this appeal, which will determine the extent to which state whistleblower laws may incorporate federal policies that touch on sensitive questions of editorial judgment.”

Anyone concerned with media must hear the alarm bells. The Bush FCC, under Michael Powell’s leadership, has shown repeatedly that greater media consolidation is encouraged, that liars like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are perfectly acceptable, that to refer to the FCC interpretation of “editorial judgment” is to potentially throw out any pretense at editorial accuracy if the “accuracy” harms a large corporation and its bottom line. This is our “Brave New Media”, the corporate media that protects its friends and now lies, unchallenged if need be.

The next assault: the Fox station then filed a series of motions in a Tampa Circuit Court seeking more than $1.7 million in trial fees and costs from both Akre and Wilson. The motions were filed on March 30 and April 16 by Fox attorney, William McDaniels—who bills his client at $525 to $550 an hour. The costs are to cover legal fees and trial costs incurred by FOX in defending itself at the first trial. The issue may be heard by the original trial judge, Ralph Steinberg—a logical step in the whole process. However, Judge Steinberg must come out of retirement if he is to hear this, so the hearing, set for June 1, may go to a new judge, Judge Maye.

Akre and her husband feel the stress. “There is no justification for the five stations not to support us,” she said. “Attaching legal fees to whistleblowers is unprecedented, absurd. The ‘business’ of broadcasting trumps it all. These news organizations must ensure they are worthy of the public trust while they use OUR airwaves, free of charge. Public trust is alarmingly absent here.”

Indeed. This is what our corporate media, led by such as Rupert Murdoch, have come to. How low we have fallen.

Please visit the home page for Latest News

See The Top 25 Censored Stories of the year at www.projectcensored.org

Alaska, you mean like your 13.2 post above. Got it!

Hey, Joe called his own party stupid, not me. I was just repeating what the man said this morning. But, on second thought......Bite Me!

You know what? We realize that there are very important things facing this country, ie jobs and unemployment to name a couple. But, and this is a big but, there are also other very important things that are going on in this country that just don't square with us. That would be a party that wants to take away a woman's right to decide what is best for her body, women's health issues are being attacked by the Right on a daily basis, making sure that ALL of our children are able to get an education, ALL Americans should be able to get affordable health care, the middle class should not be thrown under the bus to assure that the top 2% will see lower taxes while the rest of us see increases. So, yes, the economy matters to us, but we also care about all our fellow Americans, even the Republicans. If it wasn't for us fighting, you people would be up sh!t creek without a paddle.

Alaska Girl,

Great post.

I also read that Alaska has the biggest increase in Libertarian party of all the states.

Maybe th GOP pay attention that taking away women's rights won't sit right with them.

Gary Johnson will be a factor in the total vote count in Alaska.

What are you hearing?

Alaska, no one is talking about overturning Rowe Vs. Wade. If you want an abortion, have at it...but don't make me pay for it. What kids do you speak of that are denied school? And lastly, the top 10 percent pay over 70 percent of all the income taxes in this country according to the CBO.

JFK - what world do you live in? Paul Ryan and his cronies HAVE talked about overturning Roe VS Wade and have already proposed doing just that. Maybe you should actually know the platform of your party prior to voting. Most of us make that a priority - oh wait - you're a Republican. My bad!

Obama/Biden 2012

We are one step away from you people attempting to overturn R V W., which is really what the Teapublicans really want, so don't delude yourself. And school? That too is only a matter of time if Romney gets in that he and the teapublican base would push for privatizing all schools. Don't you get it? The man is only working to get elected so that he can take care of his wealthy friends and business associates and race car owners. You know, the ones that wouldn't give you people the time of day and would have us all shipped off overseas to work in the sweat shops, if they could get away with it. As far as income taxes go. Your figures are misleading. Poor working people pay their share of payroll taxes and they also pay all kinds of other taxes. What? Not enough for you? It's not bad enough that poor working class folks can barely feed their children while the fat cats and their kittens just keep getting fatter, but you want to take stale bread out of America's children's mouths, too. Yeah, great Republican Christian values you people have.

SS, just because they have said they would like to overturn it, it won't happen, don't have the votes in the SCOTUS. Lets say by some slim chance and we are talking slim, it would get overturned, the power would just go back to the individual states. Wake up...

Alaska, my figures are not misleading look them up. If you want to help the poor be my guest, that's what we "Republican's" do all the time its called donating time and money to our community. It is not the responsibility of our Government to provide these entitlements from cradle to grave...

JFK,

The GOP platform that will be hanging around Romney's neck includes

Constitutional amendment to make all abortions illegal.

Overturn Hyde Amendment by parsing words about abortion funding in cases of rape, incest and life of mother.

Haven't you been reading the papers this week?

Northstar: I will have to do a little research! I have been so involved in the national agenda that I have been just a bit remiss in following my own state. It wouldn't surprise me that there would be a growing base of Libertarians in Alaska, but for the most part, at least in the region I am in, the Republicans are more of the moderate type, not the flaming tea party lot.

JFK you really have absolutely no idea what your party is really up to. Try looking at the bigger picture. Try looking at what some of the states have been trying to do in regards to women's issues over the last couple of years, especially. Three words for ya: Trans Vaginal Probe.

JFK....do you realize who appoints SCOTUS Justice's? If a moderate or liberal judge retires or passes away and a Romney was in office he would appoint a Right Wing Extremist in a hearbeat and there would be 100 cases sent up for review in the first 3 days.

Oh brother... Seriously? The ultrasound probe that is used to look for Cysts and Tumors...really, you would think that would be better than your Gyno sticking his/her two fingers up there.

Is that what they are telling you? Man, you really are a chump. OMG, a Republican just gave me my "laugh of the day"! Will wonders ever cease?

JFK,

Until you have a vaginal ultra sound,

SHUT UP!!!

Until you have a vaginal ultra sound,

I'm thinking about how JFK would squeal like a pig when someone sticks something up his ass!

Real keyboard warrior... this one is! ;o)

Fesity,

I am so tired of the men trying to tell women what they should and should not do when it comes to their heathcare decision.

I really thought we have come a long way in this country from the old days,

When a president of Harvard in the 1800's said that women should not be educated in Latin, Science, Math because it is well known that learning beyond reading and writing would shrink one's uterus!!

My wife once had one of those vaginal probes done to her. It had nothing to do with abortion, but a digestive problem.

She said it hurt like hell and she felt like she had been violated. She also changed doctors.

Anyone who is for that hates women and is a voyeur.

She said it hurt like hell and she felt like she had been violated.

I too have been through a trans-vaginal ultrasound, for fibroid tumors!

She is right, it does hurt like hell and even though it was consensual, I did feel violated!

Someone should stick a probe up JFK's ass and then let him regale us with how much HE enjoyed it!

I am so tired of the men trying to tell women what they should and should not do when it comes to their heathcare decision.

Northstar,

These pale, male & stale rapists NEED to stay out of MY BIZNESS!

miklit,

Thank you for your post.

I know all men are not like some of these crazy posters trying to defend the GOP and their assault on women

rights.

Feisty,

AMEN, GF

Can You - not when the gym doesn't hold more, stupid! And, it's still soooooo many more than Romney usually gets!

Obama/Biden 2012

Wow! 2700 People? You can get more than that to show up at a Bee Gees concert.

You know what, you're absolutely right. I mean, just look at the mass of humanity that showed up at Ford Field for Mr. Romney!!!

abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/mitt-romneys-ford-field-fumble/

Face it - the number of obama worshipers is dwindling.....

Face it - Real American Republicans are leaving the party of religeous zealots in droves.

Signed

Ex-Republican

Giving tax breaks to BILLIONAIRES(give away) that sit on their money is a WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONEY

GOP 2012 - "Building A Dumber Tomorrow Today!!!"

(I'm Da Noid and I approve this message.)

Down South....you can't take student loans and pay for a car....student loan money goes directly to the college, not the student.

Of cours, I am sure you probably have never actually set foot in a college class room so I guess I understand the ignorance, well a little.

Wow.... so you are in complete agreement and against the teachers union regarding tenure correct?

Keep and pay the best and get rid of those that cant teach any longer or where not any good to begin with...

kamo: By far most teachers are in their 1st year. There is a really big dropoff in numbers after that. This means that most teachers are underqualified and overworked. So it is no surprise that so many drop out, leaving the students with no one to teach them.

In California some cities are paying teachers more than the state mandate just so that they actually have decent teachers.

Exactly! He is a gut and run man! His party also likes to brag that he had an unemployment rate of something like 4.3% while Governor of Mass. In state economists said that was because people were leaving the state in droves because of him and his gutting policies and tripling fees. There is always more to the story than meets the eye in the case of former Gov. Romney.

Romney was also 47th in jobs creation during that time. So much for business experience.

Taking His words OUT OF CONTEXT AGAIN, shame on you

The GOP will fight to the death to give tax breaks to the MEGA-RICH(paid by the middle Class and Less Fortunate) and you STILL support them?

Obama seems to have zillions of Out of Context excuses when his prompter is out. Matter of fact he has the same problem/excuse when his prompter is working.

Best Jobs plan Obama could come up with is simple if he cared about the people vs his own vanity...Resign

whereRthe jobsBoehner

Ok you got me. The wealthiest in the US want to destroy the middle class so they in turn have to pay more in taxes and fees to support a larger group of people dependent on the government to survive.

Yup, they are so evil and greedy, but they want to destroy the midde class so they have to support a bigger portion of the goverment. Yup makes absoute sense...

Anyone that is buying the Obama flapping gums service on that really has not taken the time to think about what the logical outcome would be. And because if it dosnt make sense or ring of truth, then my forend it cant be true except for Obama to try and divide those that according to Step Cuttler, get there news from E Tv and People Magazine.

Romneys strategy on educational funding. Cut it all, those nice people in India and China are willing to spend vast amounts on education to provide a dependable and cheap work force.

Kamo - No one ever claimed they were smart.

By all measurements of the facts ...that's exactly what they are doing.

Kamo
Uh, out-of-text means that you guys take a tiny sliver of something and twist it around. Ya'll are pretty good at it. But in this day and age we have video of everything and it's available to any and all to view. Kind of hard to get away with it these days. We can not only call BS but we can prove it, as has happened again and again and again. Why don't you just stop now and start telling the truth. It's much easier.