Tea Party Politicians on Public Education: Bending and Breaking It All to Pieces

(originally posted at Nomadic View April 2011)

When the Turkish leader of the newly created Turkish Republic came to power, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was able, in a single generation, to transform a country, stripped of its territories and, ravaged by war into a stable, strong and proud nation. His vision for his country involved reform on a vast scale. (He even managed to change the writing of the Turkish alphabet from Arabic style script.)

One of his greatest achievements- which in turn allowed even greater development- was to invest in improving education for all citizens of the Republic.

Developing an educated population, in his opinion, was a patriotic duty.

"Education must be apart from all kinds of superstition and alien thoughts; it must be noble, national and patriotic."

Education was not merely a matter of personal development, in the eyes of Ataturk. Without education, no nation can flourish economically.

Our principle is that national education shall be based on single school and secularism. Our goal in education is to raise citizens which shall increase the economic power and civilization and social value of the national society.

Warrors and the Privileged Elite

Unfortunately, in the United States today, the general attitude among conservative Republican politicians has devolved into something quite different. Check out this information from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC)

The Republican governor of Indiana would have you believe that teachers are the “privileged elite.” Gov. Daniels believes that teachers and other public-sector employees enjoy “feather-bedded payrolls, very expensive salaries and benefits.”

In fact the average teacher annual salary in Indiana was $46,640 in 2009. That's an average. Hardly the kind of salary one considers privileged. This was, in fact, somewhat lower than the national 2009 average of $49,720. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has a salary between $95,000 and $107,000 per year. But that's hardly surprising. He is a governor.

Exclusive Nomadic Interview: Lucifer, Prince of Darkness Discusses The 2012 Election, Mitt Romney and the GOP

  by Nomad

A

fter my repeated requests (mostly through the use of a childhood Ouija board), Satan last week finally agreed to a  exclusive face to face  interview about his take on the upcoming US elections.

Born sometime around the beginning of creation, the publicity-shy father of contention now calls Naples, Florida home. Upon my arrival to uber-elegant villa, I was greeted by Feldgrau-green hunchbacked demon/butler and was escorted through his elaborate Venetian-Gothic residence, (patterned after the Doge's Palace in Venice). After I was escorted through  a marble-floored ballroom the size of Royal Albert Hall, we passed onto a pristine white terrace overlooking 10 acres of formal gardens.  It is all too too perfect, I think, as I wait.

With a brisk, almost feminine stride, Satan arrives precisely on time, flanked by two beefy eight-foot tall demons in Yves Saint Laurent pin-striped suits and Calvin Klein shades. Satan’s in True Religion jeans, a pale iridescent blue T-shirt- (which, I notice, match his eyes), a shoulder-hugging leather jacket and what look to be brand-new black Puma sneakers. He's taller than I thought he'd be with a physique sculpted by hauling morbidly obese souls to continually burning furnaces.

Will Gov. Rick Scott's Budget Cuts Create A Perfect Storm for GOP in Tampa?

  by Nomad

W

ith the Republican National Convention in Tampa opening on August 27 , Florida governor Rick Scott has been scheduled to speak after House Speaker John Boehner on its opening night. There was, in fact, some question about whether Scott would be invited to speak since his popularity ranks at or near the bottom of governors since he took office last year.

The reasons for his unpopularity are easy to list. As one partisan source tells us:

In addition to the voter purge, Scott’s rock-bottom approval is the product of the Republicans’ unpopular and extremist initiatives. From attempting to restrict women's health care, to attempting to privatize Florida prisons for the benefit of a large political contributor, to a budget that provided zero dollars for public school construction and slashed funding for higher education, Scott and the Republicans spent their months in Tallahassee painting a perfect picture of how truly out of touch the GOP is with the concerns of Florida’s middle class families.

In some ways it is only logical that the out-of-touch Republican leadership should decide that this particular man- who is clearly so unpopular- should be offered a chance to speak at the convention. He is, after all, a proper symbol of what has gone wrong.

Not that the GOP understands that finer point. Throughout Scott's boasting at the convention, absolutely nobody in Tampa will be asking questions about the reasons for this negative opinion of Scott's character, his policies and his performance.

Rick Scott wasn't always so disliked but the honeymoon was surprisingly short.

Mitt Romney's Latest Headache: Rep.Todd Akin’s Rape/Abortion Remarks

by Nomad
Just when you may have thought the Republican party couldn’t get any more ignorant and hypocritical, in one fell swoop, a remark by the Tea Party nominee in the Senate race for the state of Missouri has demonstrated that the party has untapped reserves of both.

On a recent St. Louis TV program Rep. Todd Akins was asked about women’s reproductive health issues, and whether his anti-abortion stand included an exemption for rape. He replied that it did not. Why? Because in those cases, he claimed, a woman’s body will somehow know to end the pregnancy itself. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

There was immediate outrage by women’s groups, which is a fairly predictable result whenever a politician- especially a male one- is foolish enough to put the words “legitimate” and “rape” together in the same sentence. (It's also an effective way to isolate yourself at a cocktail party, I might add.)  

Apologists for the Congressman- where they could be found- shrugged off the remarks as just a poor choice of words and (c'mon guys!) an artificial controversy. 

A Closer Look at Romney’s Surrogates- John H. Sununu 3/3

by Nomad
PART ONE
PART TWO

In this final post in the series, we will look at the mounting calls for Sununu's dismissal as Chief of Staff in George Bush, Sr. administration. Even after he had been warned about his questionable misuse of travel expenses, he failed to take the problem seriously. 

Pride Before the Fall

Those that said Sununu would not change were quickly proved correct. When barred from using military aircraft, he resorted to different modes of travel and different methods to pay for them.

According to investigative reporters, Sununu ordered a White House limo to take him to New York to a rare stamp auction at Christies. To make matters worse, Sununu then sent the car and driver back to Washington unoccupied while he returned on a corporate jet.