5 posts tagged “education”

Tom Price once again voted against even the majority in his own party against a bill to help communities improve their wastewater systems. Tom Price: too far right for his district. [Previous post] [Washington Post U. S. Congress Votes Database]

Water Quality Investment Act - Vote Passed (367-58, 8 Not Voting)

The House passed this $1.7 billion bill intended to help communities modernize their wastewater systems.

Rep. Tom Price voted NO

Tom Price is the elected Representative from my Georgia district in suburban Atlanta. He almost always votes with the very far-right of the Republican Party. I have decided to start posting his key votes that depart from the Republican majority opinion because I think most people don't know how extreme he is. This is the first major vote so far in the new Congress.

Vote 32: H R 5: This bill would lower the interest rate on student loans. The legislation would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 and decrease the interest rate on federally subsidized student loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent in stages over five years. It would impact undergraduate student borrowers in the Federal Family Education Loan and Direct Loan programs....The House passed the bill on Jan. 17, 2007, with a vote of 356-71. All House Democrats voted for the bill, joined by 124 Republicans. [Washington Post]

Price voted No.

Cobb County Georgia USA has eaten crow and given up fundamentalist Christian pandering (just on this issue) by agreeing that the county should actually teach science in its public schools. Thank you, Georgia ACLU for fighting and winning. I'm cooing that I am a member.

The Cobb County School board has agreed to settle the long-running legal fight over its 2002 decision to place anti-evolution stickers in high school biology textbooks. In an agreement announced today, Cobb school officials said they will not order the placement of any "stickers, labels, stamps, inscriptions, or other warnings or disclaimers bearing language substantially similar to that used on the sticker that is the subject of this action." School officials also agreed not to take other actions that would undermine the teaching of evolution in biology classes.

The settlement puts an end to a nationally watched case that has raised questions of local authority over schools and whether Cobb's sticker —- which called evolution "a theory, not a fact" —- runs afoul of the First Amendment. [ajc.com]

Some of my hopes and dreams for our great nation were reinforced by yesterday's wave of rejection of "stay the course." We have fought a war based on lies and false evidence for 3 1/2 years. It must end soon. Since we picked the fight, we need to help the people of Iraq come to some conclusion before we leave, but leave we must, as Yoda might say. The nation expects no less.

Also, we can now start to think again of having a country where all children can receive a good education, all people without medical insurance can afford it, researchers can continue to find new cures and treatments, the poor can receive a higher minimum wage for their labor, and our retirees can benefit from a strengthened Social Security and Medicare system.

Let's look for ways to bridge our differences and get on with becoming a beacon of democracy and freedom once again while keeping our nation secure. Peace.

How many years have we been fighting the so-called "war on drugs," and how many years has it been nothing but a money and human life-draining campaign?

Now let me be clear. I do not advocate that people use more drugs or any street drugs, but aren't we hypocritical as a nation when we sell alcohol, tobacco, and prescription pharmaceuticals without penalty of law? Wouldn't all the money that we waste in law enforcement and imprisoning non-violent drug offenders be better spent in education campaigns NOT to use drugs. It has been pretty successful with tobacco, since tobacco use is way down in the US. We could also spend more money for drug rehab. In my state of Georgia, if you want to go into drug rehab and cannot afford private rehab, you must be arrested and sentenced by a judge to rehab. What a shame! Think of the hundreds of millions of dollars from law enforcement and incarceration that could flow instead into free programs to help people quit using drugs!

Because we don't decriminalize drugs, it is hugely profitable. Why do you think al-Qaeda encourages poppy production in Afghanistan? Huge profit to support their murderous goals. Of course, then again oil profits do much the same thing, but that is another post.

Over the next week or so, I will post ten steps (maybe more) that we can take to stop the drug war and move to a more humane and sensible policy. But one thing is certain, if you remove the profits from the illegal drug trade, criminal activity in this area will vastly decline.

These steps are from drugsense.org:

Step 1: Grant agronomist Lyle Craker a license to grow medicinal-grade cannabis at the University of Massachusetts.

Effect: End the federal government's monopoly on growing marijuana to meet the FDA's requirement for an independent, high quality cannabis supply for approved cannabis-based research and product development.