Healthy Forest Initiative: This act would enable foresters to clearcut old growth forests.

Clear Skies: This act would cut back air quality standards that have been in place for decades.

No Child Left Behind: This is an unfunded mandate that codifies the Lake Wobegon effect; all children must be above average. It requires (conservatively) billions in extra spending at the state and local levels for additional tests.

He's a good man. I have met him a number of times, back in the days when I was a school district administrator in Vermont. His programs brought our schools' technology programs forward, not to mention he has a real grasp for the real needs of education.

Bill Frist is advocating the trivialization of the Constitution of the United States by suggesting an amendment to outlaw gay marriages.

Okay, I realize that this isn't a trivial matter, and yet I believe it is something that is best kept out of the Constitution. Why?

George W. Bush demanded that Saddam Hussein show the weapons of mass destruction or quit Iraq. Let's put the same demand on the new leader of Iraq, George W. Bush. Show us the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or get out. Yep, I think it's time for a regime change.

Many areas are reporting an increase in teens being diagnosed with learning disabilites; a large proportion of these newly diagnosed special needs students are among the more wealthy classes, a segment of society that until now has seen many fewer cases of Learning Disabilities.

Some people, if not most, consider the schools' number one job is the preparation of students for the workforce. If we consider this to be the first priority, then we need to examine our schools through this lens.

When commenting about a parody website lampooning his presidential candidacy, then Texas governor, George W. Bush, stated, "There ought to be limits to freedom."

He appears to have taken that opinion to heart as President.

I am embarassed by the people of the United States. We are such prudes! Our Attorney General spent thousands of tax payers' dollars to cover classic statues of nudes with drapes. We prohibit children from seeing movies that might have a glimpse of a woman's breast, and yet it's perfectly acceptable for minors to see countless killings on screen. Where are our priorities?

All politicians have answers to our present educational woes. You've heard them. They all start with, "Our schools are worse than they have ever been so I propose to solve the problems by...." And then they procede to give us the solutions. There's one small problem with their argument, though.

Our system of economic stability is dependent on the Federal Open Market Committee, also know as the Federal Reserve Board. They regulate interest rates in a constant battle to keep inflation, deflation, and growth in balance. If they ease interest rates too much, inflation can occur. If they raise interest rates too much, they can stifle growth which can lead to unemployment, or worse, leading to monetary deflation (and example of extreme deflation was the Great Depression of the 30s). T

Republicans are masters of masquerading their actions in the fog of politics. I refer in this entry to the federal budget. Most of the country believes that the Republicans are fiscally conservative; the Republicans have done a laudable job in furthering this misconception.

Sometimes we can be simplistic and make broad sweeping statements that ignore the gray areas in issues. This entry discusses one of those simplistic statements. Yes, I will be ignoring the gray areas, but I do so for a reason; our lives become orderly when we have some kind of taxonomy to help us categorize and make sense of things. With this disclaimer, I now present my simplistic take on the political divide.