Which case are you referring to? I did a quick search and found cases where the Supreme Court ruled that creationism must not be favored. I didn't find any ruling that creationism is forbidden.

Good point. Labels can be very misleading, and the devil is in the detail. Are the rules to be voted on available on-line?

Why are US students not performing compared with those in other countries? Is it the sheer number of hours put in school? Most realize that there are more fundamental problems. It is naive and perhaps irresponsible for the Administration to propose 'more hours' as a solution. (It is similar to health care reform, where a solution is proposed without clear identification of the core and difficult problems.)

There is also a dimension beyond academic performance. Many schools teach values and ideas contrary to the parents'. And given incidents like "Obama Praise" in NJ, it's a very bad idea to let schools have even more influence over the children.

I think it is common for technical staff members to be classified as "exempt workers" in California. I had to sign some paper to acknowledge that status when I joined my company. I suppose the Apple employees in this case are non-exempt.