100 Reasons To Kick Out The Thugs This November!

[Nbadan]

Add your reasons, have fun!!

100. Lying to the 911 Commision

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — Members of the Sept. 11 commission said Sunday they were alarmed that they were told nothing about a July 2001 White House meeting at which George J. Tenet, then director of central intelligence, is reported to have warned Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, about an imminent Qaeda attack and failed to persuade her to take action.

NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/02/washington/02woodward.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print)

[boutons_]

The WH is vigorously, furiously denying and fogging. Coming up to the elections, the Repugs are getting carpet bombed, and that's just within the Beltway.

Add in lost Iraq and lost Afghanistan, and you can put fork this generation of Repugs.

[SA210]

Add your reasons, have fun!!

100. Lying to the 911 Commision

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — Members of the Sept. 11 commission said Sunday they were alarmed that they were told nothing about a July 2001 White House meeting at which George J. Tenet, then director of central intelligence, is reported to have warned Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, about an imminent Qaeda attack and failed to persuade her to take action.

NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/02/washington/02woodward.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print)
hmmm....

Why were they not told anything about this?
Isn't this the party that was to restore integrity back in the White House?


anyone... bueller..bueller....

[mookie2001]

99. patriot act

[mookie2001]

98. the factual nature of SA210s sig

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

97. http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/09/28/PH2006092802097.jpg

52/M/FL (R)

[JoeChalupa]

96. It's our duty to kick that booty.

[RandomGuy]

95. No body armor

[RandomGuy]

94. "heckava job, Brownie"

[RandomGuy]

93. "we are fighting a crusade..."

[RandomGuy]

92. No armored humvees

[RandomGuy]

91. "we will be welcomed as liberators"

[RandomGuy]

90. borrow and spend

[RandomGuy]

89. "Although we cannot measure the extent of the spread with precision, a large body of all-source reporting indicates that the activists identifying themselves as jihadists... are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion... If this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide."

[RandomGuy]

88. "The Iraq conflict has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement."

[RandomGuy]

87. "Countering the spread of the jihadist movement will require coordinated multilateral efforts that go well beyond operations to capture or kill terrorist leaders."

[RandomGuy]

86. "Anti-US and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies."

[RandomGuy]

85. Katherine Harris

[RandomGuy]

84. Guantanamo detention center. (see reasons # 86-89)

[RandomGuy]

83. Erosion of respect for the constitution.

[RandomGuy]

82. "Osama bin Laden determined to strike in the US".

(ok, somebody else's turn. I could go on...)

[boutons_]

From the 9/11 Commission report:

"Government Response to the Threats

In sum, the domestic agencies never mobilized in response to the threat.

81. They did not have direction, and

80. did not have a plan to institute.

79. The borders were not hardened.

78. Transportation systems were not fortified.

77. Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat.

76. 54 State and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI’s efforts.

75. The public was not warned."

[johnsmith]

From the 9/11 Commission report:

"Government Response to the Threats

In sum, the domestic agencies never mobilized in response to the threat.

87. They did not have direction, and

86. did not have a plan to institute.

85. The borders were not hardened.

84. Transportation systems were not fortified.

83. Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat.

82. 54 State and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI’s efforts.

81. The public was not warned."





I hate you and I hope your mother is killed.

[RandomGuy]

I hate you and I hope your mother is killed.

...for wishing our govenment had done a little bit more? (puzzled)

[johnsmith]

...for wishing our govenment had done a little bit more? (puzzled)


Oh no, no. I just don't like Boutons and since he's ignoring me, I'd just like to put a few little gems in there should he take me off ignore. Don't mind me, carry on.

[boutons_]

My mother is American,
JohnSmith has expressed a desire to kill an American,
JohnSmith is a terrorist,
waterboard the cretinous, retarded mother ... killer. :lol

[01Snake]

#1.....We would not have to read the usual 50 articles a day posted by Dan and Croutons

[boutons_]

johnsmith: "I hate you"

meaning: you hate having a mirror held up to your face. :lol

[johnsmith]

johnsmith: "I hate you"

meaning: you hate having a mirror held up to your face. :lol


Not only was that a terrible, TERRIBLE joke, but you put the little smiley face on it as if to imply that you thought you were being funny. Boutons, stick with just throwing out constant names like "repugs" because when you try to sound original, you come off as an idiot.

[clambake]

#74 The wasted time spent on hunting bin ladan

[clambake]

#73 the wasted time spent on hunting for an honest republican.

[clambake]

#72 because republicans fucked our country

[clambake]

#71 because republicans now want to fuck our little boys

[clambake]

#70 because republicans are covering up for republicans who want to fuck our little boys

[RandomGuy]

69.
http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/061001/margulies.gif

[Spurminator]

68: Bill Frist.

[Yonivore]

You could find a 1,000 reasons not to vote for the Republicans this election. Unfortunately for the Democrats, the same 1,000 reasons apply -- plus about a million more.

[JoeChalupa]

Same goes for Republicans but it would be billions more reasons.

[johnsmith]

Same goes for Republicans but it would be billions more reasons.


Same for Dem's but it would be a trillion............should we keep going with this theme?

[boutons_]

Again, the ONLY Yoni defense of Repugs is:

"The Dems are just as shitty as the Repugs. The Repugs are just as shitty at the Dems"

[Yonivore]

Same goes for Republicans but it would be billions more reasons.
I know you are but what am I?

[JoeChalupa]

Same for Dem's but it would be a trillion............should we keep going with this theme?

I'll see your trillion and raise you by a trillion more.

Point is that both side have negatives and postives and Yoni will always only see the negatives in dems as well as dems will only see the negatives in repubs. I voted on the issues and which ones are more important to me.

[01Snake]

I'll see your trillion and raise you by a trillion more.

Point is that both side have negatives and postives and Yoni will always only see the negatives in dems as well as dems will only see the negatives in repubs. I voted on the issues and which ones are more important to me.


:tu

[JoeChalupa]

I know you are but what am I?

I don't think even you know the answer to that.

[Yonivore]

I don't think even you know the answer to that.
I don't have to know.

[Yonivore]

I'll see your trillion and raise you by a trillion more.

Point is that both side have negatives and postives and Yoni will always only see the negatives in dems as well as dems will only see the negatives in repubs. I voted on the issues and which ones are more important to me.
List a positive reason to vote Democrat this election year.

[Spurminator]

Checks and balances.

[clambake]

Dems are not distracted with lying to their country.

Dems are not distracted by trolling for penis.

[Yonivore]

Here, Joe, I'll give you an example of what I mean...using the current scandal over this Foley creep from Florida.

A Congressional Republican get's busted over his interest in young pages and within hours, he's resigned from office in disgrace. There is no defense and there is no equivocating.

So, have the Democrats been busted doing anything similar? And, what happened to them?

Does Anybody In Our Media Remember Gerry Studds? (http://tinyurl.com/rrtuu)


Gerry Studds

Gerry Eastman Studds (born May 12, 1937) is a retired American politician, born in Mineola, New York. He served as a Democratic Congressman for Massachusetts from 1973 until 1996. He was the first openly homosexual member of the US Congress and, more generally, the first openly gay national politician in the US.

Congressional page sex scandal

Studds is remembered chiefly for his role in the Congressional page sex scandal in 1983, when he and Representative Dan Crane were censured by the House of Representatives for separate sexual relationships with a minor – in Studds's case, a 1973 relationship with a 17-year-old male congressional page.

During the course of the House Ethics Committee's investigation, Studds publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, a disclosure that, according to a Washington Post article, "apparently was not news to many of his constituents."

Studds stated in an address to the House, "It is not a simple task for any of us to meet adequately the obligations of either public or private life, let alone both, but these challenges are made substantially more complex when one is, as I am, both an elected public official and gay."

As the House read their censure of him, Studds turned his back and ignored them.

Later, at a press conference with the former page standing beside him, the two stated that what had happened between them was nobody's business but their own.

Studds was re-elected five more terms after the censure...
Hell, even Democrat voters can't be trusted to reign in their perverts.

Then there was Mel Reynolds. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Reynolds)


Mel Reynolds

Melvin Jay "Mel" Reynolds (born January 8, 1952) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Illinois.

Reynolds was born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi and he graduated from Roosevelt University and the University of Illinois. An academic achiever, he won a Rhodes Scholarship to Lincoln College in the University of Oxford.

Reynolds was unsuccessful in his 1986, 1988 and 1990 campaigns against Congressman Gus Savage. However, Reynolds was able to defeat Savage in 1992. He served in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995.

In 1994, he was indicted for having sex with a sixteen year old campaign volunteer. Reynolds initially denied what he claimed were racially motivated charges but on August 22, 1995 he was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. Reynolds was sentenced to five years in prison and expected to be released in 1998.

However, in April of 1997, he was convicted on fifteen counts of bank fraud and lying to SEC investigators and as a result, was sentenced to an additional six and a half years in federal prison. After serving 42 months of his 78 month sentence, U.S. President Bill Clinton commuted his sentence and Reynolds served the balance in a half way house...
If you'll notice, it was that other moral paragon of the Democrat Party, Jesse Jackson, who urged President Clinton to commute Reynolds' sentence, which Clinton happily did on his last day in office.

Reynolds then went on to work for the Reverend Jesse Jackson in his Rainbow/PUSH organization -- as a "youth counselor."

Finally, does anyone remember the outrage over this photo?

http://cache.wonkette.com/politics/frankhand.jpg

Nope? Neither did I. But, it is the inestimable Barney Franks conducting his own "outreach" on a rather young man.

[Spurminator]

Finally, does anyone remember the outrage over this photo?

http://cache.wonkette.com/politics/frankhand.jpg

Nope? Neither did I. But, it is the inestimable Barney Franks conducting his own "outreach" on a rather young man.

Wow, what a scoop! It's indisputable! I can see no other explanation for this except that this pervert is grabbing another man's ass! None whatsoever!

[clambake]

Studds was molested by Hastart and Foley. Studds was a closet republican.

[ChumpDumper]

I love the fact that Yoni failed to expound upon Crane in the earlier scandal.

I agree with Gingrich that they both should have been expelled. Unfortunately there really isn't a specific law forbidding what they did, as the age of consent in DC is 16. There happens to be a law against what Foley was doing -- one he helped to write.

[DFW Spurs]

I believe this is just a ploy for Mr. Bob Woodward to sell books and stir controversy around the elections. Mr. Woodward being a know liberal has no arterial motives? Lets all take of the blinders. BTW Mr. Tenet was interviewed by the 9/11 commission, if it was in fact such an important issue such as a pending terrorist attack, wouldn’t you think Tenet would of brought it up during the commission? It just seems convenient. If it is in fact true than Rice / Administration has some explaining to do, on the same note it’s a dirty thing on the Dems part for not disclosing it during the 9/11 commission and try to use it as one of their playing cards for the elections…

Lets throw all of them out of office, Dems and Repubs…

[ChumpDumper]

I believe this is just a ploy for Mr. Bob Woodward to sell books and stir controversy around the elections.Didn't he have a chance to burn the administration in the last two books he wrote about them?
Mr. Woodward being a know liberal has no arterial motives?That's between him and his cardiologist.

[PixelPusher]

My arterial motive is for my heart to continue beating.

[boutons_]

dickhead has placed an unwarranted tap on Woodward's aorta.

[DFW Spurs]

So sue spell check... Forgive me for being human... Your reply still doesn't explain why this information came out now instead and not during the commission.

[PixelPusher]

Your reply still doesn't explain why this information came out now instead and not during the commission.

You'll have to take that up with Condi Rice and the Bush Administration. Don't hold you breath, cause they're a secretive bunch. They resisted the formation of the 9/11 Commission in the first place.


9/11 Panel Members Weren’t Told of Meeting (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/washington/01cnd-book.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1159761600&en=797d904aeadd4206&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin)

[spurster]

The GOP has been corrupted by power and fear. Washington DC works much better with a split government, and to do that, some of the GOP need to be voted out.

[ChumpDumper]

No shit. Why am I supposed to answer for Condi and Tenet?

The book is out there -- they can refute what he wrote if they want to. That may be difficult to do considering Woodward's reputation, track record and access. Chances are they're having their lawyers read the book.

[boutons_]

"during the commission."

Remember that the WH stonewalled even forming a comission for many months. Why would they do that if they had nothing to hide? Why would they not want such a profound attack on America to be fully investigated?

I'm sure the WH agreed to the commission only after the it had negotiated very strict limits on what the WH would reveal, very much like Nixon claiming executive privilege to hide his incriminating audio tapes.

I'm sure the WH hid much more info, all of it damning of the WH's inaction prior to the attacks, than the WH revealed.

In fact, I'm absolutely certain the WH agreed to commission at all only after the WH had fully convinced itself that it could cover its stinking, duty-derelicting ass and shift the (relatively weak) blame elsewere.

I'm also absolutely sure that this WH's version of its "18 1/2 minute gap" (all the incriminating info they have hidden) will eventually be exposed.

The fact that the commission report went as far as it did in damning the dysfunctional Exec branch only indicates to me that there is much more to be exposed, in time.

The WH tactic in cooperating mininally with the commission was:

"We'll look sufficiently bad and honest and cooperative but blame the habitual Repug whipping boy of government bureaucracy, so the sheeple will be tricked into believing that's all there is"

Bull fucking shit.

[Yonivore]

No shit. Why am I supposed to answer for Condi and Tenet?

The book is out there -- they can refute what he wrote if they want to. That may be difficult to do considering Woodward's reputation, track record and access. Chances are they're having their lawyers read the book.
Woodward merely repeated a claim by Tenet...without any corroboration. I'm not clear what Woodward's reputation has to do with the veracity of Tenet's claim.

[ChumpDumper]

Here's the administration's chance to refute it.

[Yonivore]

Here's the administration's chance to refute it.
Haven't they? I understand Secretary Rice denies ever having the conversation with George Tenet.

How do you prove a negative? How would she prove, to your satisfaction, that George Tenet never said what he claims -- without any corroboration -- to have said?

[ChumpDumper]

Haven't they? I understand Secretary Rice denies ever having the conversation with George Tenet.Well there you go. Now it's just a question of whom to believe.

[Yonivore]

Well there you go. Now it's just a question of whom to believe.
Exactly. But, you can't say the Administration hasn't refuted the claim...so, why did you?

[boutons_]

"George Tenet never said what he claims"

they were all covering their asses.

If Tenet really said that, it's on Condi, which isn't at all surprsing.

If Tenet didn't say that, then it's Medal-of-Freedom Tenet covering his own guility ass.

They are a bunch of panicked, rabid hyenas turning on themselves.

The truth will come out, some kind of Deep Throat, maybe several, will feel sickened and guilty enough to out the criminals, sooner or later.

For the time being, and forever, the verdicit for the entire bunch of WH/Exec bastards is:

Guilty of failing to protect America

Meanwhile, dubya is losing Iraq and Aghanistan.

The Repugs are an unmitigated disaster for USA and the world.

[clambake]

White House reputation or Woodward reputation.

I predict a landslide.

[ChumpDumper]

Exactly. But, you can't say the Administration hasn't refuted the claim...so, why did you?I hadn't read the Condi quote. Sue me.

[Ocotillo]

Woodward is now labeled "liberal" because of this book. The last two books were decried by liberals because of the near deifying of Bush they did.

An interesting read on the situation I came across was that Woodward as the Bush court stenographer is only reflecting what is going on in the White House, which is a lot of back stabbing and people distancing themselves from the stench of failed administration.

And back to the 100 reasons thing, if one buys the both sides do it theory, there are more Republicans in Washington today than Democrats, then that means Republican corruption is greater than Democratic corruption. Throw the bums out.

[Nbadan]

Deny, deny, deny...

Oct 2, 4:15 AM EDT
Rice: No Memory of CIA Warning of Attack
By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer


SHANNON, Ireland (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she cannot recall then-CIA chief George Tenet warning her of an impending al-Qaida attack in the United States, as a new book claims he did two months before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"What I am quite certain of is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says, that there was about to be an attack in the United States, and the idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible," Rice said.

Rice was President Bush's national security adviser in 2001, when Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial" outlines a July 10 meeting among Rice, Tenet and the CIA's top counterterror officer.

"I don't know that this meeting took place, but what I really don't know, what I'm quite certain of, is that it was not a meeting in which I was told there was an impending attack and I refused to respond,"Rice said.

AP (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RICE?SITE=AZYUM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)

[Nbadan]

'Hair on fire'


Clarke said that “on June 21, I believe it was, George Tenet called me and said, 'I don't think we're getting the message through. These people aren't acting the way the Clinton people did under similar circumstances.' And I suggested to Tenet that he come down and personally brief Condi Rice, that he bring his terrorism team with him.

“And we sat in the national security adviser's office. And I've used the phrase in the book to describe George Tenet's warnings as ‘He had his hair on fire.’ He was about as excited as I'd ever seen him.

“And he said, ‘Something is going to happen.’”

MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4619346)

[ChumpDumper]

That smacks of corroboration.

[xrayzebra]

"George Tenet never said what he claims"

they were all covering their asses.

If Tenet really said that, it's on Condi, which isn't at all surprsing.

If Tenet didn't say that, then it's Medal-of-Freedom Tenet covering his own guility ass.

They are a bunch of panicked, rabid hyenas turning on themselves.

The truth will come out, some kind of Deep Throat, maybe several, will feel sickened and guilty enough to out the criminals, sooner or later.

For the time being, and forever, the verdicit for the entire bunch of WH/Exec bastards is:

Guilty of failing to protect America

Meanwhile, dubya is losing Iraq and Aghanistan.

The Repugs are an unmitigated disaster for USA and the world.





And Bill Clinton worked hard at killing UBL, but FAILED!
And boutons loves UBL because he thinks it makes
the Shrub look bad. So what's new. :lol

[boutons_]

"I refused to respond"

She's lying.

A "brush off", implicilty showing little no interest or concern, or a "thank you for your input" is NOT the same as explicitly REFUSING TO RESPOND. The lying bitch.

As NSA director for the 8 months before 9/11, she was one of the principals of the Exec branch that refused to take terrorism and al Qaida seriously.

[xrayzebra]

"I refused to respond"

She's lying.

A "brush off", implicilty showing little no interest or concern, or a "thank you for your input" is NOT the same as explicitly REFUSING TO RESPOND. The lying bitch.

As NSA director for the 8 months before 9/11, she was one of the principals of the Exec branch that refused to take terrorism and al Qaida seriously.

See post #74......... :lol

[mookie2001]

67. protest zones
66. the theocratic initiative
65. toby keith
64. OnStar*

[PixelPusher]

67. protest zones
66. the theocratic initiative
65. toby keith
64. OnStar*

Ok, I'll bite. What's so dastardly and Republican about OnStar?

[boutons_]

63. No Child Left Behind

Remember this one? The Repug Fed imposing their rules on the states. What happened to the libertarian wet dream of no/less government?

Well the Repugs fucked this up too.

Or did they? If the real goal was to release federal funds to friends, insiders, campaign contributors, NCLB is a huge success.

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

THE EDUCATION ISSUE

By Michael Grunwald
Sunday, October 1, 2006; B01

President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act was premised on three revolutionary goals.

The first was to focus on low-performing schools and students; hence, No Child Left Behind.

The second was to beef up the federal role in education, enforcing national standards through testing.

The third was to bring facts and evidence to the notoriously squishy world of education policy, promoting teaching methods backed by "scientifically based research" instead of instinct and fad. This was the least-publicized goal, but arguably the most vital; the phrase "scientifically based research" appeared more than 100 times in the landmark 2001 law.

The centerpiece of the new research-based approach was Reading First, a $1 billion-a-year effort to help low-income schools adopt strategies "that have been proven to prevent or remediate reading failure" through rigorous peer-reviewed studies. "Quite simply, Reading First focuses on what works, and will support proven methods of early reading instruction," the Education Department promised.

Five years later, an accumulating mound of evidence from reports, interviews and program documents suggests that Reading First has had little to do with science or rigor. Instead, the billions have gone to what is effectively a pilot project for untested programs with friends in high places.

Department officials and a small group of influential contractors have strong-armed states and local districts into adopting a small group of unproved textbooks and reading programs with almost no peer-reviewed research behind them. The commercial interests behind those textbooks and programs have paid royalties and consulting fees to the key Reading First contractors, who also served as consultants for states seeking grants and chaired the panels approving the grants. Both the architect of Reading First and former education secretary Roderick R. Paige have gone to work for the owner of one of those programs, who is also a top Bush fundraiser.

On Sept. 22, the department's inspector general released a report exposing some of Reading First's favoritism and mismanagement. The highlights were internal e-mails from then-program director Chris Doherty, vowing to deny funding to programs that weren't part of the department's in-crowd:

"They are trying to crash our party and we need to beat the [expletive] out of them in front of all the other would-be party crashers who are standing on the front lawn waiting to see how we welcome these dirtbags."

Doherty has since resigned, and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has pledged to review Reading First, emphasizing that the "individual mistakes" detailed in the report occurred before she became secretary. Still, Spellings expressed full confidence in the overall program: "Thanks to Reading First, struggling students are far more likely to get the help they need from teachers using scientifically based classroom reading instruction."

But the report barely scratched the surface of the incestuous process that dominated the formation of Reading First. The initiative didn't promote scientifically based reading instruction, the third goal of No Child Left Behind. And it's providing ammunition to critics of the second goal, strong national standards. The billion-dollar question is whether it may imperil the first goal: Will some children get left behind?

Bush administration officials frequently say that Reading First does not play favorites or intrude on local control, that states and districts are free to choose their own textbooks and programs -- as long as they're backed by sound science.

( ah we know what dubya's idea of "sound science" is :lol and we know about "Repug science" in general :lol )

But aggressive muckraking by the newsletter Title 1 Monitor and reading advocates at the Success for All Foundation have eviscerated those claims, and the inspector general's report officially contradicted them, accusing the department of breaking the law by promoting its pet programs and squelching others. In his internal e-mails, Doherty frequently admitted using "extralegal" tactics to force states and local districts to do the department's bidding. A report by Success for All documented how state applications for Reading First grants that promoted the preferred programs were the only ones approved.

In fact, the vast majority of the 4,800 Reading First schools have now adopted one of the five or six top-selling commercial textbooks, even though none of them has been evaluated in a peer-reviewed study against a control group. Most of the schools also use the same assessment program, the same instructional model, and one of three training programs developed by Reading First insiders -- with little research backing.

"They kept denying it, but everybody knew the department had a list," said Jady Johnson, director of the Reading Recovery Council of North America. "They're forcing schools to spend millions on ineffective programs."

To some extent, the controversy over Reading First reflects an older controversy over reading, pitting "phonics" advocates such as Doherty against "whole language" practitioners such as Johnson.

The administration believes in phonics,

( :lol We know dubya can't even do the phonics correctly, never mind whole language :lol )

which emphasizes repetitive drills that teach children to sound out words. Johnson and other phonics skeptics try to teach the meaning and context of words as well. Reading First money has been steered toward states and local districts that go the phonics route, largely because the Reading First panels that oversaw state applications were stacked with department officials and other phonics fans. "Stack the panel?" Doherty joked in one e-mail. "I have never *heard* of such a thing . . . <harrumph, harrumph>." When Reid Lyon, who designed Reading First, complained that a whole-language proponent had received an invitation to participate on an evaluation panel, a top department official replied: "We can't un-invite her. Just make sure she is on a panel with one of our barracuda types."

Doherty bragged to Lyon about pressuring Maine, Mississippi and New Jersey to reverse decisions to allow whole-language programs in their schools: "This is for your FYI, as I think this program-bashing is best done off or under the major radar screens." Massachusetts and North Dakota were also told to drop whole-language programs such as Rigby Literacy, and districts that didn't do so lost funding. "Ha, ha--Rigby as a CORE program?" Doherty wrote in one internal e-mail. "When pigs fly!"

Said Bruce Hunter, a lobbyist for the American Association of School Administrators: "It's been obvious all along that the administration knew exactly what it wanted."

But it wasn't just about phonics.

Success for All is the phonics program with the strongest record of scientifically proved results, backed by 31 studies rated "conclusive" by the American Institutes for Research. And it has been shut out of Reading First. The nonprofit Success for All Foundation has shed 60 percent of its staff since Reading First began; the program had been growing rapidly, but now 300 schools have dropped it. Betsy Ammons, a principal in North Carolina, watched Success for All improve reading scores at her school, but state officials made her switch to traditional textbooks to qualify for the new grants.

"You can't afford to turn down the federal money," Ammons said. "But why should we have to give up on something that works?"

( ... because Repug ideology insists the government must fail, so forcing out something that "works" is required )

The answer lies in the Reading First grant process, which was almost comically skewed. Michigan was the first state approved, after it simply proposed to adopt the five best-selling textbooks. But when Rhode Island officials proposed to require "high-quality reading programs that meet the test of having a scientific research base," they were rejected. Doherty told them to check out Michigan's list, so they cut and pasted it into their application, while suggesting that districts could still adopt other programs justified by research. They were rejected again. So they limited their program to the textbooks. Only then were they approved. Similarly, Oklahoma unsuccessfully proposed to require reading programs backed by three years of longitudinal data before it got the hint and proposed the Michigan list.

( essentially: buy only the unproven, unreviwed textbooks or get no federal money )

So instead of advocating scientifically based reading programs, Reading First has promoted programs with "key elements" endorsed by a national reading panel, which could describe almost any program. It may not be a coincidence that the initiative was essentially outsourced to a few experts with a dizzying array of apparent conflicts of interest.

For example, when the department needed reviewers to evaluate reading assessment programs, it contracted with a University of Oregon team led by Edward Kame'enui, Roland Good and Deborah Simmons. Good had developed an assessment called Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), and Kame'enui, Good and Simmons had all served on the design team for Voyager Passport, a remedial program built around DIBELS. Ultimately, DIBELS was the only assessment used in Reading First, and Voyager was the most popular supplemental program.

Similarly, the department steered states to just three providers of professional development services: Kame'enui and Simmons at Oregon, Louisa C. Moats at the for-profit Sopris West, and Sharon Vaughn at the University of Texas at Austin. Vaughn was the other member of the Voyager Passport design team, and one of the four chairmen of the secretary's Reading Leadership Academy, which exerted enormous influence over Reading First; the others were Moats, Kame'enui and his Oregon colleague Douglas Carnine. States such as Alabama, North Carolina and Washington specified in their Reading First grants that every one of their reviewers for local proposals would have to be approved by one of those chairmen.

Kame'enui and Simmons also wrote the "Consumer's Guide" that most states agreed to use to evaluate Reading First programs, and ran one of Reading First's three "technical assistance centers" at Oregon. They co-wrote one Reading First textbook, and Kame'enui earned more than $100,000 last year from royalties on another, according to his financial disclosure when he moved to an Education Department job. In her 2004 book "In Defense of Our Children: When Politics, Profit, and Education Collide," Elaine Garan recalled color-coding the various financial connections running through Reading First; when it came to Kame'enui, she wrote, "I ran out of colors."

The department declined a request to interview Kame'enui, but Undersecretary Henry Johnson said the department takes conflicts of interest seriously, and will adopt all the inspector general's recommendations. "We're going to dig into this," he said.

But Johnson said states are ultimately responsible for making sure their programs are scientifically based, which is small comfort for applicants pressured into adopting programs they didn't want. "It's been very frustrating for those of us who really believe in evidence-based programs," said Richard Long, a lobbyist for the International Reading Association, which represents 90,000 reading teachers and specialists nationwide.

Then again, Long thinks spending $1 billion a year on reading is a great idea. And he thinks it's helping kids to read: "Have there been mistakes in implementation? Oh yeah. But teachers in Reading First schools believe progress is being made."

The bottom line, Johnson said, is that Reading First works. A department report found that teachers in Reading First schools spent 19 minutes more per day on reading than teachers in other schools, and were more likely to place struggling students in reading intervention programs. A new report by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy suggested that Reading First is having a positive effect on state reading scores, although Johnson said much more needs to be done.

"Despite all the problems with Reading First, there's evidence that it's helping states," said Jack Jennings, the center's president.

Of course, $5 billion over five years ought to help states; the question is whether it's helping as much as it should. Without the kind of rigorous studies the law promised but the implementers failed to deliver, it's not clear.

But it is clear that Reading First has been a terrific boon for the textbook publishing industry, and for the department's favored programs.

For example, the company that developed Voyager Passport was valued at about $5 million in a newspaper article before Reading First; founder Randy Best, whose Republican fundraising made him a Bush Pioneer, eventually sold it for $380 million. He then put Lyon and Paige on his payroll.

( wow, Randy Best is one hell of a Repug businessman. He detests all forms of entitlements and corporate welfare :lol )

Local domination of education is an American tradition, and Bush took up a storied cause in challenging it; reformers since Horace Mann have promoted national education policy as a way to encourage common culture and equal opportunity.

But local-control advocates have always warned that empowering heavy-handed federal bureaucrats would breed self-serving, one-size-fits-all solutions. Now, Reading First is making them look like prophets.

[email protected]

Michael Grunwald is a Washington Post staff writer.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

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

Still waiting for you Repugs to fill out the list Repug successes in 6 years:

1.
2.
3.
....

[mookie2001]

Ok, I'll bite. What's so dastardly and Republican about OnStar? if you knew someone who bought a car equiped with OnStar*, and they paid for the service, would you bet that person was conservative or liberal?, honestly its the whole "if you dont have anything to hide, then you have nothing to worry about" attitude, "my kids are safer in tahoes" typeshit... theyll be the first ones in line to scan their retinas and thumbs for anything when we reach that point in like 3 years

[smeagol]

And Bill Clinton worked hard at killing UBL, but FAILED!
And boutons loves UBL because he thinks it makes
the Shrub look bad. So what's new. :lol
What isn't new is you attacking Clinton when a Republican is attacked.

[mookie2001]

From the 9/11 Commission report:

"Government Response to the Threats

In sum, the domestic agencies never mobilized in response to the threat.

81. They did not have direction, and

80. did not have a plan to institute.

79. The borders were not hardened.

78. Transportation systems were not fortified.

77. Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat.

76. 54 State and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI’s efforts.

75. The public was not warned."


no joke

[PixelPusher]

if you knew someone who bought a car equiped with OnStar*, and they paid for the service, would you bet that person was conservative or liberal?, honestly its the whole "if you dont have anything to hide, then you have nothing to worry about" attitude, "my kids are safer in tahoes" typeshit... theyll be the first ones in line to scan their retinas and thumbs for anything when we reach that point in like 3 years

Ok, I kinda get where you're going, although tend to think "kid safety obsession" and "cool car gadget" thing crosses ideological lines. Well to do liberals (there are plenty here in California) have OnStar too.

Anyway, I'll contribute to the fun:

63. "Yellow Ribbon" patriotism (which offers all the pride and vanity of patriotism, without the effort)

62. the Republican "War on Science" (the natural enemy of fundametalist Christians and the Oil industry)

[clambake]

Another reason they should go is because they've always billed themselves as the party of "moral high ground". They have effectively abandoned that platform by claiming they are no worse than the Democrats. That's their response when finding themselves squarely in the center of turmoil.

[Yonivore]

Another reason they should go is because they've always billed themselves as the party of "moral high ground". They have effectively abandoned that platform by claiming they are no worse than the Democrats. That's their response when finding themselves squarely in the center of turmoil.
Of course, I disagree.

While the Republicans have their share of immoral and amoral members, you'd be hard pressed to find a time when they were discovered and the party defended them.

There are countless examples of when this has occurred in the Democratic Party and the party has stood to defend.

[clambake]

They are defending Hastart. I guess times have changed. These are troubling times indeed.

[boutons_]

"countless examples"

give me 5

[mookie2001]

5 IS countless

[Yonivore]

They are defending Hastart. I guess times have changed. These are troubling times indeed.
What did Hastert do? He's being accused of what? He denies knowing the extent of Foley's perving and, to be honest, Foley denies any actual sexual conduct.

I think Hastert should step down as Speaker because he's been an ineffectual Speaker. But, I'm not passing judgement on what he did or didn't know until the facts are out.

I think it's beginning to look like the media and Democrats (particularly Gay Activist groups on the left) knew about Foley's proclivities for a very long time and waited until it was politically advantageous to out him.

[clambake]

I guess those pages got what they deserved.

[Yonivore]

I guess those pages got what they deserved.
Well, whomever knew sure wasn't that worried about them.

[clambake]

You and "whomever knew" have this in common.

[clambake]

Hastart knew. You might be right.

[ChumpDumper]

I think Hastert should step down as Speaker because he's been an ineffectual Speaker. But, I'm not passing judgement on what he did or didn't know until the facts are out.

I think it's beginning to look like the media and Democrats (particularly Gay Activist groups on the left) knew about Foley's proclivities for a very long time and waited until it was politically advantageous to out him.Way to withhold judgment. you didn't last one sentence.

[Yonivore]

Way to withhold judgment. you didn't last one sentence.
"I think it's beginning to look..." isn't a judgement or a conclusion.

You're an idiot. << That's a judgement and a conclusion.

[ChumpDumper]

It's a judgment, douchebag.

[Yonivore]

It's a judgment, douchebag.
No, it's not, cum sucker.

[clambake]

Cum sucker. Yoni is a republican thats beginning to fit right in with his constituents.

[ChumpDumper]

Sure it is.

Main Entry: judg·ment
Variant(s): or judge·ment /'j&j-m&nt/
Function: noun

4 a : the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing b : an opinion or estimate so formed

http://m-w.com/dictionary/judgment

Do you want the definition for "owned" next?

[Yonivore]

Sure it is.

Main Entry: judg·ment
Variant(s): or judge·ment /'j&j-m&nt/
Function: noun

4 a : the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing b : an opinion or estimate so formed

http://m-w.com/dictionary/judgment

Do you want the definition for "owned" next?
Sorry, 4a doesn't fit the context in which you used the word.

[ChumpDumper]

b : an opinion or estimate so formedYou are a coward who can't even admit when he's made a judgment.

[RandomGuy]

Still waiting for you Repugs to fill out the list Repug successes in 6 years:

1.
2.
3.
....

1. Sucessfully Ballooned the federal debt.
2. Sucessfully impaired our ability to fight wars
3. Sucessfully blew the world-wide spirit of cooperation following 9-11

It has been a very sucessful administration. AT FAILING....

[Yonivore]

You are a coward who can't even admit when he's made a judgment.
It wasn't yet formed, cocksucker.

[FromWayDowntown]

And Yonivore has managed to hijack the thread.

[RandomGuy]

And Yonivore has managed to hijack the thread.

One almost might think he meant to do that...

[ChumpDumper]

It wasn't yet formed, cocksucker.Really Yoni, if it wasn't formed then why did you give it form on a message board?

You gave us your knee-jerk, apologist, hijack attempt of a judgment and your too much of a pussy to even own that. You are pathetic.

[RandomGuy]

60. Warrantless wiretapping of US citizens

[RandomGuy]

59. Self-serving polical redistricting

[RandomGuy]

58. Yonivore et al. unflinching support of the GOP
mindless automatons should not choose governments.

[RandomGuy]

57. Because it would irritate Yonivore to see more Democrats in congress.

[RandomGuy]

56. Secret Energy taskforces

[RandomGuy]

55. Over-classification of government documents.

[RandomGuy]

54. Culture of secrecy and non-transparent government

[RandomGuy]

53. "Win-at-any-cost" politics and the death of bipartisanship ala Rove

[RandomGuy]

Your turn. I will now compile the list as it stands.

[RandomGuy]

52. Sucessfully blew the world-wide spirit of cooperation following 9-11

[RandomGuy]

51. "the insurgency is in its last throes"

[RandomGuy]

100. Lying to the 911 Commision
99. patriot act
98. the factual nature of SA210s sig [“Osama is important”—GWB right after 9-11, “Osama isn’t important”—GWB after failing to capture Osama]
97. Foley scandal
96. It's our duty to kick that booty.
95. No body armor
94. "heckava job, Brownie"
93. "we are fighting a crusade..."
92. No armored humvees
91. "we will be welcomed as liberators"
90. borrow and spend
89. "Although we cannot measure the extent of the spread with precision, a large body of all-source reporting indicates that the activists identifying themselves as jihadists... are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion... If this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide."
88. "The Iraq conflict has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement."
87. "Countering the spread of the jihadist movement will require coordinated multilateral efforts that go well beyond operations to capture or kill terrorist leaders."
86. "Anti-US and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies."
85. Katherine Harris
84. Guantanamo detention center. (see reasons # 86-89)
83. Erosion of respect for the constitution.
82. "Osama bin Laden determined to strike in the US".
81. [Intelligence agencies] did not have direction, and
80. did not have a plan to institute.
79. The borders were not hardened.
78. Transportation systems were not fortified.
77. Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat.
76. 54 State and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI’s efforts.
75. The public was not warned."
74. The wasted time spent on hunting bin ladan
73. the wasted time spent on hunting for an honest republican.
72. because republicans fucked our country
71. because republicans now want to [expletive deleted] our little boys
70. because republicans are covering up for republicans who want to fuck our little boys
69. rendition of an innocent man to Syria
68: Bill Frist
67. protest zones
66. the theocratic initiative
65. toby keith
64. OnStar*
63. No Child Left Behind
62. "Yellow Ribbon" patriotism (which offers all the pride and vanity of patriotism, without the effort)
61. the Republican "War on Science" (the natural enemy of fundametalist Christians and the Oil industry)
60. Warrantless wiretapping of US citizens
59. Self-serving polical redistricting
58. Yonivore et al. unflinching support of the GOP. Mindless automatons should not choose governments.
57. Because it would irritate Yonivore to see more Democrats in congress.
56. Secret Energy taskforces
55. Over-classification of government documents
54. Culture of secrecy and non-transparent government
53. "Win-at-any-cost" politics and the death of bipartisanship ala Rove
52. Sucessfully blew the world-wide spirit of cooperation following 9-11
51. "the insurgency is in its last throes"


Looks like a few repeats, and a lot of related items. Safe to say there are at least 25 good, seperate points.

[RandomGuy]

I take that back. I counted about six repeats or completely frivolous. The rest seemed pretty distinct.

[Ocotillo]

100. Lying to the 911 Commision
99. patriot act
98. the factual nature of SA210s sig [“Osama is important”—GWB right after 9-11, “Osama isn’t important”—GWB after failing to capture Osama]
97. Foley scandal
96. It's our duty to kick that booty.
95. No body armor
94. "heckava job, Brownie"
93. "we are fighting a crusade..."
92. No armored humvees
91. "we will be welcomed as liberators"
90. borrow and spend
89. "Although we cannot measure the extent of the spread with precision, a large body of all-source reporting indicates that the activists identifying themselves as jihadists... are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion... If this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide."
88. "The Iraq conflict has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement."
87. "Countering the spread of the jihadist movement will require coordinated multilateral efforts that go well beyond operations to capture or kill terrorist leaders."
86. "Anti-US and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies."
85. Katherine Harris
84. Guantanamo detention center. (see reasons # 86-89)
83. Erosion of respect for the constitution.
82. "Osama bin Laden determined to strike in the US".
81. [Intelligence agencies] did not have direction, and
80. did not have a plan to institute.
79. The borders were not hardened.
78. Transportation systems were not fortified.
77. Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat.
76. 54 State and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI’s efforts.
75. The public was not warned."
74. The wasted time spent on hunting bin ladan
73. the wasted time spent on hunting for an honest republican.
72. because republicans fucked our country
71. because republicans now want to [expletive deleted] our little boys
70. because republicans are covering up for republicans who want to fuck our little boys
69. rendition of an innocent man to Syria
68: Bill Frist
67. protest zones
66. the theocratic initiative
65. toby keith
64. OnStar*
63. No Child Left Behind
62. "Yellow Ribbon" patriotism (which offers all the pride and vanity of patriotism, without the effort)
61. the Republican "War on Science" (the natural enemy of fundametalist Christians and the Oil industry)
60. Warrantless wiretapping of US citizens
59. Self-serving polical redistricting
58. Yonivore et al. unflinching support of the GOP. Mindless automatons should not choose governments.
57. Because it would irritate Yonivore to see more Democrats in congress.
56. Secret Energy taskforces
55. Over-classification of government documents
54. Culture of secrecy and non-transparent government
53. "Win-at-any-cost" politics and the death of bipartisanship ala Rove
52. Sucessfully blew the world-wide spirit of cooperation following 9-11
51. "the insurgency is in its last throes"


Looks like a few repeats, and a lot of related items. Safe to say there are at least 25 good, seperate points.

:lol

[RobinsontoDuncan]

I hate you and I hope your mother is killed.

Not funny, you should be banned for that.

Do you even realize how fundmanetally wrong saying something like that is?

[xrayzebra]

^^Either johnsmith is a teenager, retarded or mentally in need of
help. That is one stupid statement!

[RandomGuy]

65. toby keith

:lol


I saw that too. Not sure what it means.

[smeagol]

^^Either johnsmith is a teenager, retarded or mentally in need of
help. That is one stupid statement!
He claims not to be a teenager.

Long time ago I concluded he is retarded. I even thought he was BH.

Now I know BH >>>>>>>>> Johnny Boy. And that is sad.

[smeagol]

"countless examples"

give me 5

I can give you one: William Jeff.

[BIG IRISH]

Re: 100 Reasons To Kick Out The Thugs This November!

50: The republicans have been in power so long they have become the democrats of the 90's.-CORRUPT, Self-serving, power hungry, elietest.

49: The Democrats are like the Republicans of the 60's
Just you wait till we take over, were going to make you pay for
all the money you have blown and the stupid WAR, you lost.

[RandomGuy]

Re: 100 Reasons To Kick Out The Thugs This November!

50: The republicans have been in power so long they have become the democrats of the 90's.-CORRUPT, Self-serving, power hungry, elietest.

49: The Democrats are like the Republicans of the 60's
Just you wait till we take over, were going to make you pay for
all the money you have blown and the stupid WAR, you lost.

eeek. I agree with you on that.

We essentially have a one-party government. Congress and Bush have given each other practically everything they have wanted, and we all suffer for it. Some good old-fashioned gridlock is what is needed to put some reasonable brakes on spending.