Posted on 09/18/2007 3:13:31 PM PDT by Calpernia
All the candidates from both political parties have emphasized the need for better education. It is plainly obvious that many, if not most, public schools across America are sub-par. Sub-par not only relative to schools abroad, but when judged against the rigors of American schools of yesteryear. The Democrats and Republicans, in theory, differ greatly when it comes to federal funding of education. Ronald Reagan, as well as the conservative wing of the party, wanted to get rid of the Department of Education altogether, while the donkeys have long howled about the supposed lack of spending on schools.
The so-called crown jewel of US education is still considered to be our colleges, both public and private, as evidenced by the large numbers of foreign students that come to our shores to attend these institutions.
However, a closer examination of the curricula currently being passed off as “education” shows that science and logic and classical economics have taken a back seat to fluff, in many cases. Multicultural flim-flam - from ethnic studies, to lesbian empowerment, to ‘revised’ history – has invaded nearly every campus. The federal government is also responsible for piling on a load of crap. They offer cold hard cash if said institution will establish a program that pays homage to the ‘vision’ and history and agenda of some politician or ‘civic leader’.
One would think that Republicans would be immune from this nonsense. And one would certainly think a man claiming to be a federalist would resist coughing up taxpayers’ hard earned money for such endeavors. Well, let us examine the record of Fred Thompson on the subject of education.
In the 104th Congress, Fred’s first, he cosponsored with Senator Frist and Carol Mosely Braun a bill to spend money refurbishing historically black colleges:
S.1940, Title: A bill to authorize appropriations for the preservation and restoration of historic buildings at historically black colleges and universities.
A noble gesture perhaps, but certainly not a nod to a colorblind society. There were numerous small, historical campuses across the country that were NOT predominantly black that could have used some federal cash. Yet Thompson, Braun and Frist saw fit to propose $65 million over 4 years for these grants. Of course, it helps motivation when Tennessee has its own black colleges covered by this legislation.
The following Congress, the 105th, found Mr. Thompson teaming with Bill Frist, Susan Collins and about 15 other Senators for something called the Education Flexibility Amendments of 1998, S.2213. This legislation sought to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, purportedly to offer the states more flexibility in meeting federal performance mandates. Sounds good, until you read the details. In Tiltle I, it does indeed tweak the edges of previous education law, allowing for more waivers for local school districts. However, the real purpose of this misnamed legislation was to create two federally funded endowments, each with $3 million in seed money for fiscal year 1999: Title II: OREGON INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL STUDIES. - From the funds appropriated under section 206, the Secretary is authorized to award a grant to Portland State University at Portland, Oregon, for the establishment of an endowment fund to support the Oregon Institute of Public Service and Constitutional Studies at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. TITLE III--PAUL SIMON PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE - GRANTS- From the funds appropriated under section 306, the Secretary is authorized to award a grant to Southern Illinois University for the establishment of an endowment fund to support the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. The Secretary may enter into agreements with the University and include in any agreement made pursuant to this title such provisions as are determined necessary by the Secretary to carry out this title.
But apparently, one bill making endowments was not sufficient in the Education budget. Fred and Frist and Kennedy proposed S.2638, “To provide support for certain institutes and schools”. In addition to the two grants mentioned above, they added in two more: TITLE III--HOWARD BAKER SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT - From the funds authorized to be appropriated under section 306, the Secretary is authorized to award a grant to the University for the establishment of an endowment fund to support the Howard Baker School of Government at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. TITLE IV--JOHN GLENN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE AND PUBLIC POLICY - GRANTS- From the funds appropriated under section 406, the Secretary is authorized to award a grant to the Ohio State University for the establishment of an endowment fund to support the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy. The Secretary may enter into agreements with the University and include in any agreement made pursuant to this title such provisions as are determined necessary by the Secretary to carry out this title.
And the funding appropriated for these two storied gentlemen’s institutes was $10M and $6M, respectively.
And then just for grins, Frist and Thompson proposed these expenditures, in the exact same format, as amendment S.AMDT.3743 to bill S. 442. The irony is the S.442 is called the Internet Tax Freedom Act and its purpose was to “establish a national policy against State and local government interference with interstate commerce” for internet usage.
In the 1999 session of the 106th Congress, apparently unsatisfied with the seed money that was passed for these fine institutes, Fred Thompson decided to provide another few million ($10M for Baker, $3M for the lesser politicos), but added $5M for a fifth endowment: TITLE V--ROBERT T. STAFFORD PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE, though it is apparently not associated with a particular school. Certainly a man of Stafford’s acumen deserves an institute, considering he is best known as a rabid environmentalist and for his work on shepherding Vermont’s gay civil union law to fruition.
In 2000, Fred introduced an amendment S.AMDT.2317 to the DC College Access Act that mandates that District of Columbia grads get “in-state” tuition at institutions outside of DC. More Frederalism, I reckon.
Of course, Mr. Thompson also voted for the much maligned No Child Left Behind Act, despite his supporters claiming that Fred is a small government conservative. Granted, there was a lot of pressure to pass NCLB: Bush campaigned on it, the schools were a mess, and its goal was supposed to be to hold schools accountable. Nevertheless, the final bill had Ted Kennedy’s fingerprints all over it, and it became just another government boondoggle; a very expensive boondoggle.
And finally, for an encore topping off his fine career in education, Fred introduced and got passage of an amendment to dedicate funds for one last endowment. This time he hid it in the supplemental appropriations bill for Terrorism related expenses. The amendment reads: SA 3611. Mr. THOMPSON (for himself and Mr. Frist) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 4775, making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2002, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: On page 86, between lines 2 and 3, insert the following: ``(5) the provision specifying $835,000 for the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change shall be deemed to read as follows: `The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change in Memphis, Tennessee for an endowment to pursue a broad programmatic agenda that emphasizes the continued importance of the Civil Rights Movement and encourages academic research and community outreach, $835,000'.''. It passed into law, assuring that the former NAACP leader, lunatic, and vociferous foe of Clarence Thomas would have his legacy and agenda kept alive for years to come. I’m just amazed Fred Thompson had the time and energy to work on such important education funding goals between all of his Campaign Finance Reform activity. Who ever said he was lazy?
It’s been displayed over and over again by you and others. You quote statistics that are false. You know they’re false. You’ve been told 100 times and shown evidence, but you still post them anyway. You post votes that Fred never made and claim that he did. You repeatedly quote NumbersUSA, even though it has been demonstrated repeatedly that they are incorrectly attributing votes to Fred.
You and your little friends have repeatedly demonstrated an inability to tell the truth. Therefore, anything you or any of your little crew say about ANYTHING is suspect because of it.
You complain about appropriations when Duncan Hunter is the pork King of CA. LOL! Shall we start listing his indiscretions along those lines? How’s the study on ‘wood use’ coming along? Has Duncan figured out anything beyond the obvious yet?
Thought so, broad swipes of utter BS.
Thought so. You’ll just continue on lying to people. At least you continue to live up to your screen name.
So, why is it that Duncan Hunter doesn’t show up for work? Marsha Blackburn is a conservative with a perfect attendance record.
Blackburn 2008!! B4MB!!
I have not lied about Fred once. Ever. I have had some opinions that give you heartburn.
Blah blah blah. Nothing you do gives me heartburn.
Funny how this person posts no evidence or links to back up the arguments in the piece.
I wonder how Duncan Hunter voted on NCLB...hmm...I mean, since he’s a small government conservative and all. And since you’re complaining about Fred. SURELY, Duncan voted against the abomination known as NCLB!! Right???
..very sorry to hear that...
While your chivalry is duly noted, don’t sweat it. None of the three go around manufacturing phony hit pieces on conservatives and posting them on the internet. And if they did, they’d expect to be taken to task for it like anyone would.
If they do, I’ll let you know, so you can come and defend their honor.
>Doing what? He has ha shameful attendance record in the House.<
You are absolutely intent on getting Hillary elected, aren’t you, Pet?
Next time I’ll use “tinkling in the wind” instead. ;^)
Pointing out Duncan Hunter’s pathetic attendance record has nothing to do with electing Hillary. Asterisk candidates don’t have that kind of influence over reality.
They know Fred is vulnerable from the right, so their strategy is to obfuscate and tamp down support for the more conservative candidates. Rudy and Mitt and McCain have no standing to come after Fred’s right flank, but Hunter and Tancredo do. And both of these guys will be doing just that soon enough.
It's simple. It's distraction and marginalization, straight out of the Bush playbook. The candidate they have chosen is straight out of the globalist, elite, better than thou playbook, just like Bush. The same people who defended Bush's horrible policies are the same Fred supporters.
And FR is all Fred, all the time, or else. Same thing that happened in the immigration debate, same people.
It's all as futile as a good man like Duncan Hunter being sidelined for more of the same. And they will win because they don't play fair and they don't have to.
It's deja vu all over again. I'll do a better job for Hunter elsewhere, where people are hungry for something other than the same ol' sellout candidates.
And don't worry about their rudeness, I don't read their silly responses. If you've read one thing they say, you've read it all. Go Bush! Go Fred! And to hell with the country.
The very big difference was that there was no Duncan Hunter in the 2000 election, AuntB.
More tinkling in the wind!
FR`s chief sourpuss, flinging around his sour grapes.
You never get tired of being ugly, ugly.
Truth.
“Asterisk candidates don’t have that kind of influence...”
Funny, FRedbots certainly spend alot of time on the subject...Hunter must be doing something right.
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