Americans have lost confidence in the media

The media tends to over exaggerate the truth, and that is perhaps the main reason only about 25% of Americans have confidence in American newspapers and TV news outlets such as ABC, NBC, CBC, and the like. Yet we shouldn't be surprised at these low poll results.

When I was in school as a journalism student, and during psychology class, we studied how people have a tendency to love tragedy and drama. The example used was a many who has a heart attack in the middle of a street in New York, and how hundreds of people would stand around watching the drama.

It's not that they knew the person, or even cared, it was that they love that something dramatic was happening and they were able to be a witness to it. Another good example occurred just this past weekend in Shoreline Michigan. We had a plane crash about 2 miles off the shore of the Shoreline beaches in Lake Michigan, and as soon as word got out the plane was being hauled to one of the local boat ramps, hundreds of folks showed up to watch.

The good folks in the media feed on this, and this is the reason they tend to exaggerate tragic events, even make them worse than they really are. In fact, chances are they don't even know they are doing it.

Remember Katrina. There were Senators who proclaimed that over "100,000 people died! They are dead!" When in truth those Senators had no idea the amount, and were highly over estimating the numbers. Yes, it is surely tragic anyone had to die, or lose a home, yet it's not good journalism to allow you emotions to control what you say. Yes, the media trounced all over that 100,000 figure.

More recently you had the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Yes, it was a tragic event. Yes there was oil covering animals and destroying economies of shoreline communities. Yet the event was not even close to "one of the worse disasters of all time!"

In fact, after the oil was plugged, you had columnists walking around saying, "Where is all the oil? It's not hitting the shore? Where is it?"

Well, if these journalists weren't didn't feed off their emotions and educated themselves and wrote based on facts as opposed to feelings, they would have known (as I wrote here) that there is as many as 40 millions gallons of oil that naturally seeps into oceans, lakes and streams on a daily basis, and you don't hear about that oil in the news.

You don't hear about it because this oil is naturally absorbed, sinks, or is eaten by oil eating bacteria as you can read about here.

Or, as this Time.com article, "The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated?" notes, has the BP oil spill damage been exaggerated? Well, I don't know because I'm not at expert, yet when anyone in the media writes about pretty much anything these days, I don't have much confidence in what I read. Rather, one must read the news with a grain of salt, per se.

Another example is global warming and the fear that the polar ice caps are disappearing. Yet, now, while the waters are calm, we read, like,"Climate: New study slashes estimate of icecap loss," from Yahoo.com.

The article perhports that Dutch and U.S. scientists did research that shows Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps melted due to "global warming" is only half of what was previously estimated. This is stunning and remarkable news considering you had some environmentalists actors claiming we needed to make dramatic regulatory changes that might destroy economies in order to save the world -- and the ice caps -- from the effects of global warming.

As you can see by this post, many of the effects of global warming might have been egregiously exaggerated just because some folks had economic ties to the belief that global warming was real. If it's proven wrong, folks like Al Gore take an ego and credibility hit.

Which is a perfect example of why it's more responsible, and better journalism, to let people like Al Gore over exaggerate the facts, and for the good folks who write journalistic articles and columns to write based on the facts only, and not based on emotions and feelings.

Is global warming real? Let our children decide, that's what I say. Let's not take one theory here and one theory there and put them together and say we have a fact. Let's be responsible, take care of our planet to the best of our ability, and not make rash decisions that will destroy economies and societies.

Of course now we have a new Gallup poll that shows that American confidence in the media is only at 25% today, which is less that it's ever been since Gallup started recording confidence in the media in 2002.

Well, if I were a journalism I wouldn't be proud of this number. As an American, and considering the trend of falsified reports and exaggerated claims by the media, neither I nor you should be surprised.

And this is sad, because the purpose of a free press is for the media to keep an eye on the powerful and to prevent them from making laws that are not to the benefit of the peoples. The media is not fulfilling that responsibility, and instead is feeding on the trash spewed out by politicians and activists. The media has becomes the lapdogs of garbage sent out by the government, instead of government watchdogs.

And that, I believe, is a shame.

Related links:

• Is global warming real: let our children decide
• Global warming: We need to stay open minded
• Climate gate should end global warming scare
• Global warming does not cause more bad weather
• American schools teach only one view
  

American schools teach only one view

Recently I heard the following quote, "I think it's important that all points of view are taught in school so that kids are well rounded and learn to think for themselves."

Awesome quote, except for one thing: most public school systems teach progressivism.

They teach that global warming is fact not theory.

They teach that redistribution of wealth benefits the poor and doesn't hurt them.

They preach that high taxes make more money for the government instead of the truth: high taxes punish achievement and encourage hoarding of money instead of investing and innovation.

They preach gay rights instead of noting that all Americans have rights gay or straight.

They preach that affirmative action benefits blacks instead of that it encourages racism by encouraging people to hire by skin color instead of content of character.

They preach that Thanksgiving was about thanking the Indians as opposed to the truth that the Pilgrims were thanking God for the good crops that were brought about after they introduced the Pilgrims to capitalism. They tried socialism and redistribution of wealth and it didn't motivate people to work.

They preach that world peace is possible as opposed to the idea that there will always be bad guys we'll need to defend ourselves against.

They preach that poverty will some day be ended, as opposed to the reality that there will always be some poor (always has been, always will)

They preach that giving free stuff to the poor will help them, as opposed to the idea that teaching the poor how to prosper is a better solution.

They preach that Joseph McCarthy was an evil man because he accused the FDR and Truman administrations of having 50 Soviet socialists in their midst, as opposed to telling the truth that the Vinona Accords released in 1991 confirmed that not only were there 50 Soviets in these administrations, there were over 100.

They preach that FDR ended the Great Depression, although we now know he merely prolonged it.

They teach evolution as fact, yet fail to teach other views such as creationism and scientism. I personally believe in evolution, yet it's the only "theory" taught.

You get the picture. The public school systems are a library of liberal thought. I'm not implying all teachers are liberal, yet most material is.

Our children must be taught all views. Yet they are only taught one. To inculcate a world of thinkers, all views must be taught and teachers must remain unbiased -- at least in the classroom.

Why mess with our kid's diet?

I thought this was interesting. Michelle Obama announced that Obesity a threat to our national security. She said that kids need to get up and start moving, and launched a national campaign.

She notes she bases this as a threat to security because the #1 disqualifier from the military is obesity. That's good to know, because now I'm going to start pumping my son up with food so there's no way possible he could get sent to a war zone.

Plus health care to treat these kids ranges up to $147 billion. The fed doesn't want to flip this bill, so they are going to encourage us to make our kids exercise more, and eat better, so they don't have to pay it.

I'm tired of this initiative to get our kids to eat better. One of the best parts of being a kid was drinking a pop and having a pizza or hotdog or hamberger during school lunch. And then having a little debi.

Hell, now I go to watch my son play ball, want to get a pop, and all they have in there is water and gateraide. How boring.

I'm not advocating unhealthy eating, I'm just advocating a little common sense. Let's encourage our kids to do the right thing, teach them there are consequences for their actions, as opposed to forcing them to live boring healthy lives all the time.

You have to remember it was these same progressives who brought us prohibition becasue they believed alcohol was the root of all crimes. And they you know what that brought us.

The food pyramid. What a joke? I can't even understand that thing. When I was a kid they preached 4-4-3-2, and told us this is how we should eat, and then by the time I was in college they changed the whole damn thing.

So why don't we just teach our kids how to eat right, balance a protein and a carb with each meal, 2-3 hours a part, and add in an occasional sweet. That's right, I think we ouight to quit teaching our kids they HAVE to eat three meals, and HAVE to eat three bananas, and have to eat this and that and 2 of that and one of that and... it's so confusing.

Why not make it simple for kids. With each meal have a low fat carb, a protein, and you are allowed to eat anything you want, but in moderation. There, that's common sense.

WATER? What kid wants to pay $1.20 for a bottle of water? What a joke!

In the UK a program like this was started, where kids were encouraged to exercise during recess, in gym, and at home. They did it. Yet, at home, they continued to eat the way they always did.

So, what we learned from the UK is that it doesn't matter how much exercise we get in school, because values come from home. Kids live the way their parents do, and if you want kids to lose weight, you need to improve home values.

Yes values is the antethesis of liberalism-progressivism.

Families are key to a better educational system

I've written before (Here) about ways we can improve education in America, and I thought I would take some time today to share some new information I've obtained.

Nikki over at According to Nikki wrote a very cool post about how " a supportive and loving family is the best formula for success in the school system... A desire to learn is natural for children and must be nurtured by parents and teachers together."

I couldn't have worded this better myself. And, like Nikki, I too believe that education should be a non-partisan issue and I too support the No-Child-Left-Behind Act despite the fact that many republicans think its another liberal effort to throw more money at a failing system.

My kid's school system is not failing, as most schools are not failing. The only school systems that are failing are a few, and those few are bringing down all our educational statistics. And most failing schools are in poor neighborhoods, mainly in inner city schools such as Detroit, Chicago, New York and Las Angeles.

I've read many books written by conservatives that claim that our schools are performing poorly, and that throwing more money at them will solve nothing. They might have a point here, in that the average cost per student is something like $7,000 per pupil, or maybe even up to $10,000 in some places.

What do they do with all that money? Ahhh, they waste it on all the bureaucrats, all the union people and the middle men trapped between the Fed and the actual students. What's the old saying: Bureaucrats care more about making sure they get paid than the students get educated.

So the bureaucrats should go. Teachers should be paid more, and based on performance: tenure ship should go. The teachers unions should go.

David Frum addressed this issue in his new book, "Comeback: Conservatism that can win again." He writes that under Bush, schools are funded better now than at any time in our history. Still, when faced with the choice of closing failing schools or giving them more money, they prefer to given them more money by almost a 7 to 1 margin.

However, even while conservatives shun this act, it actually might work to their benefit, because it forces people to see what schools are failing and which ones are not, and force those that are failing to improve. This, what I just wrote in that last sentence, is why I support the No Child Left Behind Act.

Frum writes that the Act is good in that it forces "parents to confront the actual performance of their own school in comparison to all other schools in the state." Any responsible mom would not want their child going to a failing school, but, then again, some moms and dads are not responsible.

And, he continues, "each and every year to come there will be another report, another head count of children failed. This head count will pose a challenge that will baffle today's Democratic Party. That party has one big educational idea: Spend more on what does not work."

And this will force people into thinking about and accepting alternatives, such as charter schools and school vouchers, particularly in these cities who have the highest rate of failing schools. This Act should open the eyes to everyone that we are letting these people down.

One of the best ways for conservatives to prove to people that throwing more money at a failing school system is not the way to go is by educating them. And what better way of making a clear case that a school is failing than by holding schools accountable based on the performance of their respective students, and listing them as "persistently failing" when they fail for five consecutive years.

I read recently that 80% of the kids in Detroit Public Schools drop out of school. That's a stunning failure not just of our school system, but of the family system in that area. These stats are similar to other inner city schools.

Thus, the major emphasis should not be so much on "how are we going to improve our schools," as it is "how are we going to improve the family," because most data suggests that kids who grow up with their natural dads have far higher graduation rates than kids who do not live with their natural dads. Graduation rates even continue to be low when parents re-marry into stable households.

And statistics show that the newer generations are far more likely to support tougher divorce laws than those born in the 1940s and 1950s, probably because many of this generation have been victims of torn families. So our politicians might be safe now in reforming divorce laws, and other such laws that would strengthen families, such as the per-child-tax credit among others.

My parents were great in more ways than one, but when it came to making me do my homework, I'd give them a D+. I was on my own in that regard, and as a result my grades sucked until I learned how to motivate myself half way through college. Otherwise I'd probably have a job where I could actually use my brain, instead of being a lowly RT.

So, when my eldest child was school age, and my wife sat with him every day encouraging him to do his homework, I told her she should stop it. I told her she is working him too hard, and she should let him go out and play with the other kids so he isn't so stressed all the time.

As usual, my wife had a logical response, "Kids," she said, "Don't know how to prioritize, so parents have to do it for them. In time, they will learn how to prioritize, and I will slowly but surely allocate that responsibility to him."

Hmmm, well, she sure put me in my place.

Every day at 4:00 the neighbor boy knocks on the door and says, "Can Jordan come over to play?" And every day the boy has to tell him, "No, I can't. I have to do my homework first."

Sometimes the boy complains. Once I even told her that she should just let him fail a time or two, and then he'd learn that if he doesn't study he will fail and continually get railed on by his parents. But, then again, that's what I did when I was a kid, and look where I ended up.

So, once again, my wife was right: parents need to push their kids to do their homework. And the result with my boy is that he got all A's this year, and he's extremely proud of himself.

I showed him my report card from the 4th grade. I got all Bs and Cs. On the side of this report card was this note by my teacher: "Rick could have gotten better grades had he only applied himself."

Point made.

Global warming: let's let our children decide

Global warming does exists, and if we do not change our way of living we are going to send the planet to Armageddon. Global warming does not exist, and if we don't stop taxing and regulating American industries because of the hoax of global warming, we are going to destroy our economy.

Which sentence in the above paragraph is the most accurate?

I watched a news program the other night on ABC news about this one scientist who has gone public with his notion that global warming is a hoax. However, instead of the reporters on that news program showing us what evidence he has, they basically made an effort to discredit him, and make him look like a bumbling idiot.

While the show was progressing, my friend kept waving his hand through the air saying things like, "See? See?"

"That was a terrible report," I said to him.

"Why's that? Because it proved you wrong," he said, smiling.

"No. Because those reporters did not mention one piece of evidence that scientist has for why global warming is a hoax. All they did was provide quotes designed to make him look like a fool."
That was the end of our discussion. The mood was light, and neither one of us really wanted to get into an intense debate on politics.

I could hear the wind blowing this morning, and, upon looking out the window and noticing a fresh blanket of snow, said, "Wow, it's not supposed to be doing this in March."

"Yeah, especially with global warming," my son said.

That was the end of that discussion. I was not going to debate my son about global warming, particularly because I'd like him to make a decision on his own on what he thinks about global warming, or anything else for that matter.

The thing that concerns me is, and why I'm writing this post, is that I don't think my son is getting all the facts to make his decision. I think he is being inculcated with the idea that global warming exists, that man is causing it, and that is a fact.

And I do not have a problem with my children being taught about global warming, that's not the problem. The problem is that they do not teach my child about the other end theories that are out there, which, to me, seem equally as credible, and even have 50% of scientists convinced.

If I were a 4th grade teacher, this is how I would teach about global temperatures:

"Today, guys, we are going to talk about global temperatures. Basically, there are two theories, and I'm going to leave it up to you what theory you want to believe in. What I'm going to do is give you the facts, and you can decide for yourself what you think.

"About 50% of scientists believe in global warming. The basis of the global warming theory is that we humans are causing the planet to warm up. By our use of fossil fuels, we are causing CO2 to build up in the atmosphere, and this is causing a greenhouse effect, where the planet keeps getting hotter and hotter. Since about 1970, the global temperature has increased by about one degree.

The people who believe in global warming, that we are causing it, want to regulate businesses and, tax them, and make laws that force people to stop doing things that they think are causing global warming, like driving gaz guzzling cars, pollution from factories, etc.

"Any questions?" Now, here there would be an extensive discussion about global warming, and how it is important to develop alternative fuels, conserve, to work hard and together to keep our planet clean, and all that stuff that we all should be doing regardless of what theory we believe in.

Then I would continue the discussion:

"Okay, now I'm going to give you the facts provided by the scientists who do not believe in global warming. In fact, these scientists do believe in global warming, there is scientific evidence that the earth has increased by one degree since about 1970.

"However, according to scientific data, there is also evidence that from 1900 to about 1940 there was a period of global warming. This was a time when there was very little use of fossil fuels. Then, from 1940 to 1970, there was a period of global cooling.

"In fact, this global cooling became so bad that some scientists actually proposed melting the polar ice caps. They were never allowed to do that, but it was a proposition that was seriously discussed in Washington.

"What these people contend is that the global warming people, the people who believe that man is causing the planet to warm, are only using data from 1970 on. The truth is, if you use data from 1900 on, there is evidence to support a cyclical trend of global warming and cooling.

"Thus, while the weather is warming now, it will at some point start to cool again. Likewise, to add one more fact, global temperatures cooled in January in all five locations where global temperatures are measured.

These people believe that taxing and regulating businesses because of the fear of global warming is going to accomplish nothing more than economic trouble.

"Now, based on the facts I just presented, let's have a discussion."

Of course, now we would have a discussion. Then, later in the day, or perhaps the next day, I would tell my students that while I don't care which theory they decide to support, it is still important to work together to be environmentally responsible.

The nest discussion we'd have is regarding the middle of the road theories. People, like me, who believe it's good to fear the future, but to be happy in the present. To regulate some to keep the planet beautiful, but not to go overboard with taxation and regulation.

Finally, I would add this, "Here's my opinion. I believe that no matter what theory you decide to support, that there is global warming right now. There is also evidence that man has caused some effect on this global warming.

"The question is, will there be a period of global cooling in the future? Or will temperatures of the earth steadily increase until our planet is destroyed?

And then we would have another discussion. The important part of this class session would be that at no point would I try to sway my students one way or the other. I might even tell them my opinion, but I would not try to sway them.

That, in my opinion, is the responsibility of our teachers. By telling our kids that global warming exists, and that we are the cause, and that there is no other responsible way of thinking, and that anyone who thinks there is no such thing as global warming is an idiot, is the best way of stifling creativity.

It is this creative thinking, open mindedness, that has made our country the greatest nation on the planet. If we brainwash out children to look one way, they will fail to look in other directions, and our nation will continue to fall behind other nations in creativity, science, technology and even education.

By teaching only one theory, as I think we are now both in our schools and in the media, we are doing nothing more than holding back our nation.

Now, if my son wants to believe in global warming, or my friends for that matter, that's fine by me, so long as he made that decision on his own accord, and was not pushed in that direction by his teachers.

I want my son, and all children, to learn to think for himself. And that I think should be the role not only of parents, but of teachers we trust to the care of our children's minds. We should accept no less.

Instead of teaching our children to think, our schools are telling our kids how to think, at least in regards to global warming. And that's unfortunate, and it puts people like me, who would like to remian open minded, on the defense.

It's time the black community voted republican

This is something I've been thinking about lately, but why do 80% of the black population in the United States continue to vote for democratic candidates.

I think it has been this way since about the 1880s. The democratic candidates have been catering to the needy blacks, telling them that they can solve their problems with more government programs.

It has been over 130 years now since a majority of blacks voted republican, and yet the economic situation of the black community has gone unchanged. Isn't it about time the black community realized that more government is not the solution to the problems that ail them.

And I'm not talking about race issues. Yes, I believe there are still racist bigots living in this nation, but this has improved immensely in the past 40 years. But that is not what this post is about. It's about the black economic situation, of which I think sucks.

I think you could ask this question too: why do the poor continue to vote for democrats, when the number of poor people in this nation has actually increased slightly since the 1960s "War on Poverty."

Democrats, and I suppose some republicans too, keep telling blacks that they will provide them this government program or this government program to help them out, and, well, it has not worked. Not only has it not worked, millions of Americans are trapped in poverty because they have become dependent on the governnment.

I think blacks would be better off voting for a candidate for president who will remove the governmental barriers standing between blacks and success, who will encourage and teach them how to take full advantage of their freedom to improve their lot in life, and to move up the social ladder.

Black teenagers need to be encouraged to look around to the people they are associated with and say, "Do I want to be like this when I grow up?" If the answer is no, then they do have the opportunity, in America, to do something about it.

But, they have to have the desire to do something about it. For example, you can provide a free education to the black students, but you cannot force them to study. You can provide jobs to poor blacks, but you cannot force them to take these jobs, and you cannot force them to work hard if they do take these jobs.

It's time that the black caucus vote for a candidate who champions freedom and greatness and power of the American people to solve their own problems, as opposed to government solving their problems.

Because the government cannot solve problems. As the black community is unfortunately proof on one thing, and that is that the promise of more government to help needy only makes the problem worse.

I think it's time we ask this question too: Why do our educators, our teachers union members, continue to vote for democrats when the level of education in this country has not improved in the past 40 years by promises made by democrats.

Why not give poor blacks in poor neighborhoods the opportunity to choose which schools they go to. Why not try something different. Why continue to send them to failing schools when there are other options out there.

There is no excuse for the majority of black people in this nation to continue to suffer in poor neigborhoods and poverty. There is no excuse that the black community, despite the poor treatment of blacks for so many years, are not economically better off 150 years after Emancipation Proclamation was passed into law granting them their well deserved and God given freedom.

I like what Bill Cosby writes about blacks, and how they need to stop blaming other people for their poor economic and social standing and start taking responsibility for their own lives. They need to take a good hard look at themselves. They need to learn how to speak proper. They need to dress proper. They need to act proper. They need to stop having babies when they are in their teenage years. Black fathers need to start being a part of their children's lives.

Statistics show that almost 80% of black children are growing up in one parent households. Statistics also show that a majority of children growing up in one parent households grow up to live in poverty, and, in many cases, prison.

It's time the black community voted for a presidential candidate who will encourage discipline and prayer in public school. There's no reason kids can't bow their head for 1 minute every morning and silently pray, or not pray. There's no reason kids cannot be disiplined for poor behavior and poor grades in school.

I watched a movie, Coach Carter, the other night, which was based on a true story. When his players got poor grades on their progress reports, he canceled the every game until they got their grades back up.

School officials were upset with him saying that basketball was important to those kids, and in many cases it was the only thing they had to look forward to; it was their only hope, especially when 50% of kids at that school dropped, and 90% didn't go on to college. They did not want the change that Coach Carter was instituting.

Coach Carter said (paraphrasing), "I think it is wrong that you place basketball ahead of getting an education." And, with his leadership, many of his kids grew on to succeed in life.

It's time the black community, and the impoverished community too, voted for change. It's time they voted republican.

My humble ideas to better educate American kids

As you know from my previous posts, I place education as the #4 biggest priority of the next president, after national defense, providing a decent economy, and assuring judges rule fairly.

We must note that if our nation is not secure, we have no demestic issues to worry about. If we have a poor economy, we can't afford to spend money on domestic issues. If judges are ruling unfairly, it doesn't matter what we do.

And, if we fail in educationg out children, we will also fail to lead the way to greatness into the future, something we have continued to do since the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

The road to the future is through our children. And therefore, I think it's of utmost importance that our next president focus on improving education in the country. I'm not concerned with how it got to be the way it is today, nor what persons are responsible. The task at hand now is to simply fix the problem

One poll I looked at, I think it was a recent issue of Parent magazine, revealed that about 80% of Americans believe more money needs to be thrown into education. The poll did not go into why parents think this, but I'd surmise the reason is because they believe more money would solve this problem. I believe this is not true; that money is not the issue here.

I've read these statistics in many places, but since I just finished reading "War on the Middle Class" by Lou Dobbs, I will use his statistics.

High school drop out rates have been rising steadily over the last 30 years. Today we spend nearly $8, 287 annually for each child in our public schools

• Thirty years ago we spent nearly half that, and we were the #1 most well educated country.
• he U.S. is currently ranked 7th on the list of best educated countries
• Only 40% of high school seniors are qualified to take college-level algebra
• Only 56% of all high school students take or exceed the recommended core curriculum for college bound students.
• The bulk of education spending goes to the bureaucracy, not to the students, not to teachers, not to schools. This is where most of the money is going. It is being wasted.
• The U.S. pays its teachers less than other countries by almost a tenth.
• Currently, the average teacher pay starts at $29,000 and maxes at about $47,000. This is not much of an incentive for people to want to teach. Many teachers quit each year because pay is so poor.
• Greater than 90% or dollars spent by teacher unions to lobby Washington goes to democrats, yet they have not solved the problem. Are they to blame then? Doesn't matter.
• As a general rule of thumb, while politicians claim our schools are good, many have a tendency to send their children to private schools.
• Teachers are not provided raises based on merit, but seniority. This provides no incentive for them to go above and beyond in educating themselves and their students.
• Since many businesses are now hiring people from other countries for high tech jobs because they expect far lower salaries, they are taking away these jobs from Americans. Thus, Americans who have these jobs are being laid off, and the unemployment rate in this area is at 7%, higher than the national average of 4%. Since the unemployment rate is so high for these jobs, students are choosing other fields of study. This is scary, and, according to Dobbs, is especially bad for the future of our national security.


• While people complain that George Bush hasn't allocated enough money to education, the money allocated to education has in fact doubled under GWB.

I could go on, but I think you should get the picture of how poorly our schools have become compared with other nations. This is going to hurt us in the long run because these other nations are going to be leading the charge to the best technologies and, ultimately, the most high tech weaponry will be invented and perfected by other countries.

You can imagine what this would mean to the future of the current Super power.

Because he is a journalist doing his job of reporting these facts, Dobbs, in his book, made no effort to provide theories as to how to better our education process. However, I have some ideas I think would work.

1. Congress needs to make it illegal to take money from education lobby's. This would force Congressmen to make decisions that are good for all Americans, as opposed to the people they are receiving money from.


2. Money allocated to schools should be sent directly to state governors, bypassing all the middle-men and bureaucrats.


3. As many bureaucrats as possible should be fired. Why not, they have failed in their job anyway.


4. Each state should decide how to allocate education funds in their own respective states. States that come up with good ideas will have the most well educated students, and states that have failing students will want to copy ideas of the states that work.

Ideally, that's as far as the next President has to go. It makes more sense for governors to have control of education, as opposed to some person sitting at a desk in Washington telling every school in the United States to do this and do that or "I know what's best for you."

However, what's good for some school in upstate New York may not be good for some school in a small town in Alabama. It makes more sense for someone closer to the problem, like state governors, to be making decisions of who gets what money and for what.

Besides, a little competition between the states would be great. It is true that good old capitalistic competition has made our economy the best in the world. Thus, competition would be great for what ails our educational system.

The states can make all other decisions. And, since the middle men will be gone, and since Congress can no longer take money from educational lobbyists, more money will be available for the states to give teachers raises to increase the incentive for students to choose the teaching profession.

How should the governors allocate this money? Some of them might create school voucher systems, where parents get to choose what schools to send their kids to. I really like this idea, because it would create competition between schools. Any kind of competition, I think, is good.

If schools are failing, then parents will send their kids somewhere else. The schools that are failing will have no choice but to adapt a better system, or close shop. Eventually, we would end up with the best schools, and the most well educated kids.

However, I don't think that school vouchers is something the president should force on States. I think, as is written in the 10th Amendment, that what's not in the Constitution should be left to the states, education included.

If a state wants to stay the course they are on as far as education is concerned, then that's what they should do. If they want to try something different, like vouchers, then that's what they should do.

Keep in mind that I am not an educator, nor a politician, but these are my ideas as a parent. Whatever we are doing now is failing our kids and our future. It's time our politicians, our next president, do something to the benefit of our kids instead of their own political purposes.

Solving the most important issues of the day

As your new President of these here wonderful United States of America, I would hereby propose that I, together with all Congressmen and all Senators, get together in a civilized manner and solve the most important issues facing our country right at this moment.

We must not toss out words of hatred, or words of blame, or any such words that do nothing but stymie progress. What we must do, in an orderly fashion, is sort out the issues of the day and discuss them one at a time. And, to solve these problems, we must all put forth our solutions, and we must listen to all the solutions and the evidence that is provided, and then we must debate these issues in the arena of ideas.

It will be difficult, but we must put aside our differences and talk. I know we all don't see eye to eye. I know it's a truth when I say that even most members of the same political party don't see eye to eye. Not seeing eye to eye, however, is a fact of humanity. Once we are aware of that, as we are now, we can progress.

Let us simply get together and debate the issues. And, at the end of the day or week or month or year, let us have a solution to each of these problems.

A solution means more than me getting my way or you getting your way. Most solutions do not come by that way. Most solutions come by by compromising. That means that I give a little and you give a little. Now this may not always be possible. I understand that sometimes I have to get my way or you have to get your way. As is the case, sometimes, for the better of the country, one of us has to step aside.

And when it is all said and done, and we have our solutions, we must support the people who enact new policies, and write new procedures, and enforce any new laws that are enacted. We must stand together not as Michiganders, or Texans, or New Yorkers, but as One Nation. We must Never bad mouth one another. We must never accuse one of lying without proof. We must not call each other names. We must be civil.

Yes, we can disagree. We can disagree so much that we hate one another, but that should never proceed into slander, for that type of behavior is not conducive to further progress. Once the nation is set forth in one direction, we must support our leaders regardless of whether or not we agree with them.

However, support is not the same as agreement. When we slander each other, we look frivolous as a nation, and that accomplishes nothing more than to weaken us not only in the eyes of our own Americans, but the eyes of other nations as well.

And if the policies we as a nation choose are not correct, if we make mistakes (as all people do), we must regroup and form new solutions and debate those in the arena of ideas. Most important: we must debate as gentlemen. Many times, that means being patient, and waiting for your time to come.

The most important issues of the day are the following, and in this order:

1. Assuring that all Americans are safe from foreign invasion
2. Providing a sound economic environment
3. Assurance that our judges rule by the Constitution not by their opinion
4. Improving the educational system
5. Continuing to improve race relations within the United States
6. Encouraging the spread of democracy world-wide
7. Deciding how to deal with illegal immigrants, and helping Mexico improve its economy
8. Improving relations with other nations and helping them prosper
9. Continuing the struggle for peace in the Middle East

I prioritized this list according to the issues I think are most important to our nation today. Our politicians have been scratching at each other's throats regarding these issues, and progress has been slow. Well, it's time to speed things up.

As president, I would open my door and encourage anyone to come visit me who has a viable solution to any of these problems. We will meet somewhere in the middle.

Frea for president in 2008

I’m 37, and plenty old enough to run for President. Therefore, I hereby announce my candidacy to become the next President of these United States of America

Keep in mind I make only a humble salary working as an RT, so I'm going to have to rely on your donations for this thing to work.

I’m nothing special really. I wasn’t born in a log cabin, and I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth either. I wouldn’t consider myself rich, but because I went to college and worked hard all my life, I think I have a decent life.

I am just like you in that I have never run for political office before. Sure I might lack that kind of experience, but I do have experience from life. And, as my wife and friends will consest to, I'm constantly studying something because I love to learn.

I also love my country, love history, and love people, which is why I became an RT in the first place. I’ve been a hard working RT since I graduated from respiratory school in 1998, and will continue down that avenue until you succeed in helping me get my message out.

I’m also married with children, and they will attest that I am a great and fun dad. My wife will even tell you that I’ve never had an affair, am a good Christian, and could not tell a lie if my life depended on it.

I don’t know what got into me, actually. A year ago, running for President wasn’t even close to being in the cards. Besides, I didn’t want my hair to turn gray.

I don't care about that anymore. I think it's high time we had an average working class American in the White House, and I'm confident I'm the guy.

In the next few days I'll lay out my agenda.