DroppinScience
09-06-2008, 05:55 PM
As the RNC celebration ends, Bill Moyers gives us a sobering reality check about the present state of education for kids entering the school year and contrasts it where the current Bush administration is spending its money.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09052008/watch.html
Welcome to the Journal.
It was the Republicans' turn this week and they left the convention in Saint Paul united by what they're against. The culture wars are on again and the press is in the no-man's land. We'll get to that in a moment with our resident guide, Kathleen Hall Jamieson. But first, a brief reality check.
Fifty million American children went back to school this week. But as reporter Sam Dillon writes in the "New York Times", more of them than ever are homeless and poor enough to need free meals. Mortgage foreclosures are throwing hundreds of families out of their homes each month. With fuel and food costs rising, with tax revenues falling, school budgets are in retreat. Detroit, for example, has laid off 700 teachers. We're not talking about just a few isolated places. This is nationwide.
Across the country schools are shortening the school week, cutting bus stops or eliminating bus service altogether, canceling field trips, and hiking the price of cafeteria lunches. You can read Sam Dillon's story on our website at PBS.org. Then look around where you live, and see if there's something you and your neighbors can do to help struggling schools in your district.
Also on our site is a map showing the whereabouts of Vice President Cheney. To the relief of many Republicans, he was a no-show at their convention, but now he's popped up in Central Asia, the vital crossroads for oil and gas from the Caspian Sea. No sooner had he landed in one of the former Soviet republics than he met with two giant oil companies — BP and Chevron.
Meanwhile, back in Washington...
CONDOLEEZZA RICE:Good afternoon.
BILL MOYERS:The Bush Administration was announcing an increase in American aid to Georgia by more than 1500 percent.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE:...the Georgian economy...
BILL MOYERS:From 64 million dollars this year to one billion dollars next year. A billion dollars. You can only wonder how many American kids a billion dollars could put back on the buses, back in class, and back in the cafeteria line. If you noticed that these important issues were not discussed very much at either convention, you're not alone.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09052008/watch.html
Welcome to the Journal.
It was the Republicans' turn this week and they left the convention in Saint Paul united by what they're against. The culture wars are on again and the press is in the no-man's land. We'll get to that in a moment with our resident guide, Kathleen Hall Jamieson. But first, a brief reality check.
Fifty million American children went back to school this week. But as reporter Sam Dillon writes in the "New York Times", more of them than ever are homeless and poor enough to need free meals. Mortgage foreclosures are throwing hundreds of families out of their homes each month. With fuel and food costs rising, with tax revenues falling, school budgets are in retreat. Detroit, for example, has laid off 700 teachers. We're not talking about just a few isolated places. This is nationwide.
Across the country schools are shortening the school week, cutting bus stops or eliminating bus service altogether, canceling field trips, and hiking the price of cafeteria lunches. You can read Sam Dillon's story on our website at PBS.org. Then look around where you live, and see if there's something you and your neighbors can do to help struggling schools in your district.
Also on our site is a map showing the whereabouts of Vice President Cheney. To the relief of many Republicans, he was a no-show at their convention, but now he's popped up in Central Asia, the vital crossroads for oil and gas from the Caspian Sea. No sooner had he landed in one of the former Soviet republics than he met with two giant oil companies — BP and Chevron.
Meanwhile, back in Washington...
CONDOLEEZZA RICE:Good afternoon.
BILL MOYERS:The Bush Administration was announcing an increase in American aid to Georgia by more than 1500 percent.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE:...the Georgian economy...
BILL MOYERS:From 64 million dollars this year to one billion dollars next year. A billion dollars. You can only wonder how many American kids a billion dollars could put back on the buses, back in class, and back in the cafeteria line. If you noticed that these important issues were not discussed very much at either convention, you're not alone.