"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" -- George W. Bush (Jan. 11, 2000)

Obviously, not for long...

"Bush: Intelligent Design Should Be Taught" - (link)

"Bible Course Becomes a Test for Public Schools in Texas" - By RALPH BLUMENTHAL and BARBARA NOVOVITCH (New York Times 8/1/05)

"HOUSTON, July 31 - When the school board in Odessa, the West Texas oil town, voted unanimously in April to add an elective Bible study course to the 2006 high school curriculum, some parents dropped to their knees in prayerful thanks that God would be returned to the classroom, while others assailed it as an effort to instill religious training in the public schools.

***

"But a growing chorus of critics says the course, taught by local teachers trained by the council, conceals a religious agenda. The critics say it ignores evolution in favor of creationism and gives credence to dubious assertions that the Constitution is based on the Scriptures, and that "documented research through NASA" backs the biblical account of the sun standing still."

***

Some of the claims made in the national council's curriculum are laughable, said Mark A. Chancey, professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who spent seven weeks studying the syllabus for the freedom network. Mr. Chancey said he found it "riddled with errors" of facts, dates, definitions and incorrect spellings. It cites supposed NASA findings to suggest that the earth stopped twice in its orbit, in support of the literal truth of the biblical text that the sun stood still in Joshua and II Kings.

"When the type of urban legend that normally circulates by e-mail ends up in a textbook, that's a problem," Mr. Chancey said. "

(link)

Ok, our kids might end up stupid, but at least they won't be fat, right? Right?!

Maybe not... "Public Schools Begin to Offer Gym Classes Online" - (link)
I give up. At least my kids are smart and can think for themselves.

(Great link for Bushisms, by the way: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushisms2000.htm)

House GOP Votes To Rename Everything By Putting the Word "Freedom" in the Title

From the A.P. (really!):

House Republicans today brought up a bill named "The Freedom Act of 2005," ostensibly to rename essentially everything in the nation's capitol to include "Freedom" in the title. No longer content to simply rename french fries "Freedom fries," and July 4th (formerly known as "Independence Day") Freedom Day, some Congress members have stepped up efforts to rename EVERYTHING to show how much they love freedom.

"Through this here new laws [sic]," said co-sponsor Rep. Generic Hillbilly (R - AL), "we will show the evil-doers and terrorists that America stands for is freedom. That's spelled f-r-e-e-d-o-m. It's the ability to do important work like this for the American people in a time of war, that got me into politics in the first place. I really hate towel-heads. They don't love freedom. By the way, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Savior?"

When asked for further comment on what exactly "Freedom" meant, the Congressman hurried off to an important meeting with Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX), in order to ensure that sufficient pork was inserted into an upcoming spending bill to appease his corporate backers.

First up on the list, according to the text of the bill:

1. Baltimore-Washington Int'l Airport (aka: "BWI") will be changed to "Free-W.I."
2. Washington, D.C.'s subway system (aka: "the metro") will be changed to "the Freedom Tunnels," with individual trains called "Freedom Mobiles." The current color-coded system will be converted to include new titles to replace the colors. For example, the "orange line" will now be called the "Patriot Line," the "red line" will be called the "Blood of Our Fallen Heroes That's Been Spilt on the Battlefield Line," and the "blue line" will be replaced with the "Amber Waves of Grain Line."
3. Washington D.C.'s Union Station will now be called Freedom Station. The bill's drafters thought leaving the word "union" in the title would mislead visitors to the city into thinking the current Administration actually supported blue-collar workers and labor movements.)

Additional name changes will be phased in over a 3-year period, inclusing renaming the Supreme Court the "Court of Freedom," Capitol hill "Freedom Hill," and the Washington monument "that tower what the French guy planned but's too big to tear down, even though he's French, so we'll leave it."

Democratic leaders in the House could not be reached for comment on the bill. They apparently were hiding under their desks due to a rumor that Karl Rove was visiting with House leaders."

-- Staff Writer

JW drafts discovery responses! Yay!

Plaintiff serves discovery questions to be answered) on defendant client.

JW drafts discovery responses to these questions.

JW's bosses edit and make comments, tell JW to conform responses to client's new "model" responses (which JW was not told about, even though he is responsible for 6 cases for this client).

JW revises responses to conform to new "model" responses, which were put together by JW's co-worker, who also happened to be one of the "class a$$holes" in JW's law school class, and who provoked much laughter, especially from JW, for his assenine class participation. (In fact, co-worker was infamous for his "that could lead to a slippery slope" argument which was made at least once per class, per day. Co-worker's first response, upon seeing JW at office after JW got job at firm, was not "Hey, long time no see!" - it was "what are YOU doing here?!" Apparently co-worker was under mistaken impression that he had a monopoly on job positions at this firm. But JW digresses...)

Client says, "Why did you do that? It should be this way (telling JW to revise back to the way JW originally drafted).

Bosses say, "Why did you do that? I think client meant blah blah model blah blah responses... you shouldn't make those changes, leave them be."

JW says, "No, client really meant blah blah blah..."

Jw needs to file these responses in 20 minutes.

JW still waiting for clarification. (BTW, the answer to these responses was basically "We ain't got none." This has been ervised upwards of half a dozen times so far...)

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government." -- Monty Python/Holy Grail