Day: November 28, 2008

Bush Reveals Inner Whackjob-ness to His Sister

Trish

Just embarrassing

George W. Bush is delusional. That’s the only explanation, short of alternate universes, for his comments on what his legacy will be in an interview conducted by his sister, Dorothy Koch.

The most delusional statement of all has to be Bush’s view of his nation-building invasion and occupation of Iraq

Let’s start with No Child Left Behind.

“I think the No Child Left Behind Act is one of the significant achievements of my administration because we said loud and clear to educators, parents and children that we expect the best for every child, that we believe every child can learn, and that in return for Federal money we expect there to be an accountability system in place to determine whether every child is learning to read, write, and add and subtract,” he said.

Bush said because of his administration’s No Child Left Behind policy, the “achievement gap” between white children and African-American and Latinos is “narrowing.”

“The promise of No Child Left Behind has been fulfilled,” Bush said.

Among its “17 Reasons NCLB Must Go,” NoChildLeft.com lists disappointing educational results, schools labeled as failures despite being underfunded or serving challenged students such as those for whom English is a second language, narrowing of curriculums to accommodate “teaching to the test,” forcing out underachieving students in order to raise school-wide test scores, loss of current and future teachers, and stagnation within the educational system.

So much for No Child Left Behind. What else does Bush want us to remember?

[…]

Serving Those Who Serve: America’s Vet Dogs

Trish

A Vet Dog greets a service member at the airport

If you’re looking for a good cause to help you convert some year-end dollars into a tax deduction, it would be hard to beat America’s Vet Dogs.

The organization, an offshoot of the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, provides service and guide dogs for use by current and former military personnel. The roles the dogs play are many and varied.

  • Service dogs that provide balance or stability support (usually with a balance harness) for amputees, and who fetch and retrieve dropped items for vets who have difficulty bending
  • Guide dogs for blinded vets
  • Seizure or fall alert assistance dogs, especially for veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injury
  • “K-9 therapists” deployed to the battlefield to help prevent and control the stress of living in a combat zone
  • Greeters who welcome lonely vets as they travel
  • Bridges to the outside world for wounded vets who often otherwise recover in isolation

See what I mean? If you’re a dog lover, you know how much difference a dog can make. Check out America’s Vet Dogs and you’ll see why the dyslectic might have it right.*

* You know, by spelling “god” d-o-g

Now Can We Call It a Mandate?

Trish

Sen. Barack Obama had the largest margin of victory in total votes than any candidate who was not an incumbent. While some results are still not final, right now Obama is showing 9,124,522 more votes than John McCain. By percentage, his victory is less impressive — Obama is only the 13th highest non-incumbent, with 7 percent more votes than his opponent.

Obama had the largest margin of victory than any candidate who was not an incumbent

Then again, vote margins don’t equal greatness. The president who got the highest number of total votes over his challenger ever was…Richard Nixon over Sen. George McGovern in 1972. Nixon got a stunning 17,995,488 more votes and became the only president to resign the office, which he did in 1974.

The highest percentage more than his challenger was Warren Harding in 1920 over Ohio Gov. James Cox. Harding pulled 26.2 percent more votes but died of a heart attack within two years of taking office, in 1923.