|
The Lorain City Page News |
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
comments@theloraincitypagenews.com NORTH KOREA Billy Joel sure did call it when he said, "We didn't start the fire". Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray North Korea threatening to bomb South Korea, go to war with the United States, somehow Japan
Contact: Campaign for Children and Families, Agency Contact, 530-405-4095 ext. 2 SACRAMENTO, Oct. 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law two bills requiring all public school instruction and activities to
positively portray transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality to children as young as kindergarten. He has also signed
bills undermining marriage and infringing upon the moral conscience of business owners, churches, and nonprofit organizations.
Late Friday, Schwarzenegger signed SB 777 (transsexual, bisexual, homosexual indoctrination of schoolchildren by requiring changes to all instruction and activities)
and AB 394 (transsexual, bisexual, homosexual indoctrination of students, parents, and teachers via "anti-harassment" training). Signing
the bills was a switch for Schwarzenegger, who vetoed nearly the same bills last year, in the midst of his reelection campaign. "Arnold Schwarzenegger has delivered young children into the hands of those
who will introduce them to alternative sexual lifestyles," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families
(CCF), which helped lead the statewide charge against these bills. "This means children as young as five years old will be
mentally molested in school classrooms. Shame on Schwarzenegger and the Democrat politicians for ensuring that every SB 777 prohibits any "instruction" or school-sponsored "activity" that "promotes
a discriminatory bias" against "gender" (the bill's definition includes cross-dressing and sex changes) and "sexual orientation"
(the bill's definition includes bisexuality). Because no textbook or instruction in Under SB 777, which will go into effect on January 1, 2008, the following could
be eliminated from • Textbooks and other instruction that portray marriage as only between
a man and a woman • Textbooks and other instruction that say people are born male or female
(and not in between) • Textbooks and other instruction that leave out transsexual, bisexual,
and homosexual historical figures • Sex education and school assemblies that omit the option of hormone
injections or sex changes • Homecoming king and queen contests that allow only boys to run for
king and only girls to run for queen • Boys' and girls' bathrooms that separate biological boys from biological
girls Doctors in Germany say a patient appears to have been cured of HIV by a bone marrow transplant from a donor
who had a genetic resistance to the virus. The researchers in Berlin said the man, who suffered from leukaemia and HIV, had shown no sign of either disease since
the transplant two years ago. But they stressed it was an unusual case which needed further investigation. Experts said the result may boost interest in gene therapy for HIV. Berlin's Charite clinic said the 42-year-old patient was an American living in Berlin, but the man has not been identified.
Genetic mutation He had been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, that causes Aids, for more than a decade and also had leukaemia.
The clinic said since the transplant was carried out 20 months ago, tests on the patient's bone marrow, blood and other
organ tissues have all been clear. In a statement, Professor Rodolf Tauber from the Charite clinic said: "This is an interesting case for research. "But to promise to millions of people infected with HIV that there is hope of a cure would not be right." Roughly one in 1,000 Europeans and Americans have an inherited genetic mutation, which prevents HIV from attaching itself
to cells. Two million people die of Aids every year and HIV is estimated to have infected 33 million people worldwide. Option 'for a few' Professor Andrew Sewell, from the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Immunology at the University of Cardiff said in
theory a bone marrow transplant such as this one "should work" and it was surprising that no one had tried it before. "The problem is most people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa and this is hugely expensive, you have to find a matched
donor, and it's a pretty severe and painful operation. "So it's going to be an option for very few people." He added that gene therapy to knock out the mutation of the key CCR5 receptor was a possibility for future treatment. Professor Philip Goulder, an immunologist at the University of Oxford said: "It's a really interesting case which looks
at a treatment which really hasn't been thought about before. "But without having that much information about the specific case you would want to be very cautious about getting too
excited and you wouldn't be able to replicate that treatment for a lot of people with HIV." Paul Ward, deputy chief executive at the Terrence Higgins Trust said: "This case gives us something to explore in future
studies but it's certainly not a quick fix as gene therapy is complex and expensive. "With no cure in sight, prevention should be our number one priority." Saudi oil whores are once again crying about the falling
prices of oil per barrel. He believes that we have not suffered enough at the pumps and wants to raise the prices to
$75.00 a barrel. Oil Minister, Ali Naimi, said that OPEC will do what it has to do raise
oil prices. If they do this, I think that OPEC, should have
to pay ALL taxes at the Pump and that the American People should be immune to any taxes regarding oil. Furthermore, I am happy to see more electric and smart cars
out on the freeways and highways. America needs to make these cars more accessible to the American public, find and
deliver different sources of fuel, and drill in Alaska if need be. The Oil Whores would like to think that they rule the world
we live in, but in our country we have busses, bikes, smart cars, car pooling and a hundred other ways to not spend a lot
of money on their gasoline! Personally, I have learned to only go where I need to go to save gas, and even though prices
have dropped down to $1.40 a gallon in my end of the world I have, like many Americans, adapted to conserving the gasoline
that I put in my car. The gas prices, if the oil whore mongers have their way, will go back up at or around Christmas
time; I for one will still have the same restraint I had before the oil prices fell. CITIZENS OF AMERICA TAKE A STAND AND
FIND WAYS TO TRAVEL AND GET AROUND WITHOUT USING SO MUCH GAS! PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS!
HOW DARE HE EXPOSE THE TRUTH...INFOWARS.COM
Bohemian Grove Fact Sheet
What is the Bohemian Grove? The Bohemian Grove is a 2700 acre redwood
forest, located in Monte Rio, CA. It contains accommodation for 2000 people to "camp" in luxury. It is owned by the Bohemian
Club.
What is the Bohemian Club? The Bohemian Club is a private. all
male club, which is headquartered in the Bohemian building in San Francisco. It was formed in 1872 by men who sought shelter
from the frontier culture (or lack of culture).
Who are the present members? The Club has evolved into an association
of rich and powerful men, mostly of this country (there are similar organizations in other countries). Some artists are allowed
to join (often at reduced rates), because of their social status and entertainment value. The membership list has included
every Republican U.S. president (as well as some Democrats) since 1923, many cabinet officials, and director; & CEO's
of large corporations, including major financial institutions.
What industries are represented among the members? Major military
contractors, oil companies, banks (including the Federal Reserve), utilities (including nuclear power), and national media
(broadcast and print) have high-ranking officials as club members or guests. Many members are, or have been, on the board
of directors of several of these corporations. You should note that most of the above industries depend heavily on a relationship
with government for their profitability.
The members stay in different camps at the Grove, which have varying status
levels. Members & frequent guests of the most prestigious camp (Mandalay) include: Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, S.
D. Bechtel, Jr., Thomas Watson Jr. (IBM), Phillip Hawley (B of A), William Casey (CIA). and Ralph Bailey (Dupont). George
Bush resides in a less prestigious camp (Hillbillies) with A. W. Clausen (World Bank), Walter Cronkite, and William F. Buckley.
What activities take place at the grove? The grove is the site
of a two week retreat every July (as well as other smaller get-togethers throughout the year). At these retreats, the members
commune with nature in a truly original way. They drink heavily from morning through the night, bask in their freedom to urinate
on the redwoods, and perform pagan rituals (including the "Cremation of Care", in which the members wearing red-hooded robes,
cremate a coffin effigy of "Dull Care" at the base of a 40 foot owl altar). Some (20%) engage in homosexual activity (but
few of them support gay rights or AIDS research). They watch (and participate in) plays and comedy shows in which women are
portrayed by male actors. Although women are not allowed in the Grove, members often leave at night to enjoy the company of
the many prostitutes who come from around the world for this event. Is any of this hard to believe? Employees of the Grove
have said that no verbal description can accurately portray the bizarre behavior of the Grove's inhabitants.
Besides this type of merriment. the annual gathering serves as an informational
clearing house for the elite. The most powerful men in the country do their "networking" here, despite the Grove's motto "weaving
spiders come not here" (don't do business in the Grove). At these gatherings men representing the government, military-industrial,
and financial sectors meet and make major policy decisions. The Manhattan project, which produced the first atomic bombs,
was conceived at the Grove in 1942. Other decisions made at the Grove include who our presidential candidates will be. There
are speeches, known as "Lakeside Talks", wherein high-ranking officials disseminate information which is not available to
the public-at-large.
What are the topics of discussion at the Lakeside Talks?
What's not right about this? When powerful people work together,
they become even more powerful. The Grove membership is wealthy, and becoming more so, while the middle class is steadily
becoming poorer. This close-knit group determines whether prices rise or fall (by their control of the banking system, money
supply, and markets), and they make money whichever way markets fluctuate. They determine what our rights are and which laws
have effect, by appointing judges. They decide who our highest officials shall be by consensus among themselves, and then
selling candidates to us via the media which they own. Important issues and facts are omitted from discussion in the press,
or slanted to suit their goals, but they are discussed frankly at the Grove. Is there true democracy when so much power is
concentrated in so few hands? Is there any real difference between the public and private sectors when cabinet members come
from the boardrooms of large corporations? Is the spending of billions on weapons, which are by consensus no longer needed,
really the will of the people? Or is it the will of General Electric, General Dynamics, and the other weapons contractors
represented at the Grove?
What can I do to make a difference? Educate yourself about the
Grove and it's inhabitants, and the true nature of the power structure in the world. Then educate your friends. Since most
major newspapers and broadcast stations are owned by "insiders", be wary of everything you hear in the press. If you can,
participate in protest activities during the July retreat.
How do I get more information about the Grove? Send a note
to: Bohemian Grove Action Network, P.O. Box 296, Occidental CA 95465. A $5 donation to cover printing and mailing costs is
requested.
Paul Craig Roberts America has become a pretty discouraging place. If Ronald Reagan was still with us, I wonder if he would again refer to
the United States as a city on a hill, a light unto the world. I think not. Reagan brought America back from discouragement, but it didn’t stick. Subsequent administrations erased
Reagan’s accomplishments. Reagan defeated stagflation and ended the cold war, producing a peace dividend to be divided
among taxpayers, social programs, and national debt reduction. However, without the Soviet Union as a check on neoconservative
ambition, the neoconservatives launched America on an unrealistic path of world hegemony. The economic restoration that Reagan
achieved was not shored up by his successors. Instead, they used the Reagan restoration to run the American economy into the
ground in ways that benefitted the super rich and the military-security complex. Some of America’s best jobs were offshored
in order to boost share prices and executive compensation, and the financial sector was recklessly deregulated. Americans, for the most part, will never know what happened to them, because they no longer have a free and responsible
press. They have Big Brother’s press. For example, on September 28, 2008, a New York Times editorial blamed the current
financial crisis on “antiregulation disciples of the Reagan Revolution.” What utter nonsense. Every example of deregulation that the New York Times editorial provides is located in the Clinton
Administration and the George W. Bush administration. I was a member of the Reagan administration. We most certainly did not
deregulate the financial system. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial from investment banking, was the achievement of the Democratic
Clinton Administration. It happened in 1999, over a decade after Reagan left office. It was in 2000 that derivatives and credit default swaps were excluded from regulation. The greatest mistake was made in 2004, the year that Reagan died. That year the current Secretary of the Treasury, Henry
M. Paulson Jr, was head of the investment bank Goldman Sachs. In the spring of 2004, the investment banks, led by Paulson,
met with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At this meeting with the New Deal regulatory agency tasked with regulating
the US financial system, Paulson convinced the SEC Commissioners to exempt the investment banks from maintaining reserves
to cover losses on investments. The exemption granted by the SEC allowed the investment banks to leverage financial instruments
beyond any bounds of prudence. In place of time-proven standards of prudence, computer models engineered by hot shots determined acceptable risk. As one
result Bear Stearns, for example, pushed its leverage ratio to 33 to 1. For every one dollar in equity, the investment bank
had $33 of debt! It was computer models that led to the failure of Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, the first systemic threat to the
financial system. Why the SEC went along with Paulson and set aside capital requirements after the scare of Long-Term Capital
Management is inexplicable. The blame is headed toward SEC chairman Christopher Cox. This is more of Big Brother’s disinformation. Cox, like
so many others, was a victim of a free market ideology, itself a reaction to over-regulation, that was boosted by academic
economic opinion, rewarded with Nobel prizes, that the market “always knows best.” The 20th century proves that the market is likely to know better than a central planning bureau. It was Soviet Communism
that collapsed, not American capitalism. However, the market has to be protected from greed. It was greed, not the market,
that was unleashed by deregulation during the Clinton and George W. Bush regimes. I remember when the deregulation of the financial sector began. One of the first inroads was the legislation, written by
bankers, to permit national branch banking. George Champion, former chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, testified against it.
In columns I argued that national branch banking would focus banks away from local business needs. The deregulation of the financial sector was achieved by the Democratic Clinton Administration and by the current Secretary
of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, with the acquiescence of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Paulson bailout saves his firm, Goldman Sachs. The Paulson bailout transfers the troubled financial instruments that
the financial sector created from the books of the financial sector to the books of the taxpayers at the US Treasury. This is all the bailout does. It rescues the guilty. The Paulson bailout does not address the problem, which is the defaulting home mortgages. The defaults will continue, because the economy is sinking into recession. Homeowners are losing their jobs, and homeowners
are being hit with rising mortgage payments resulting from adjustable rate mortgages and escalator interest rate clauses in
their mortgages that make homeowners unable to service their debt. Shifting the troubled assets from the financial sectors’ books to the taxpayers’ books absolves the people
who caused the problem from responsibility. As the economy declines and mortgage default rates rise, the US Treasury and the
American taxpayers could end up with a $700 billion loss. Initially, the House, but not the Senate, resisted the bailout of the financial institutions,whose executives had received
millions of dollars in bonuses for wrecking the US financial system. However, the people’s representatives could not
withstand the specter of martial law and Great Depression with which Paulson and the Bush administration threatened them.
The people’s representatives succumbed as they did during the New Deal. The impotence of Congress traces to the Great Depression. As Theodore Lowi in his classic book, The End of Liberalism,
makes clear, the New Deal stripped Congress of its law-making power and gave it to the executive agencies. Prior to the New
Deal, Congress wrote the laws. After the New Deal a bill is merely an authorization for executive agencies to create the law
through regulations. The Paulson bailout has further diminished the legislative branch’s power. Since Paulson’s bailout of his firm and his financial friends does nothing to lessen the default rate on mortgages,
how will the bailout play out? If the $700 billion bailout is based on an estimate of the current amount of bad mortgages, as the recession deepens and
Americans lose their jobs, the default rate will rise. The $700 billion might not suffice. The Treasury will have to go hat
in hand to its foreign creditors for more loans. As the US Treasury has not got $7 dollars, much less $700 billion, it must borrow the bailout money from foreign creditors,
already overloaded with US paper. At what point do America’s foreign bankers decide that the additions to US debt exceed
what can be repaid? This question was ignored by the bailout. There were no hearings. No one consulted China, America’s principal banker,
or the Japanese, or the OPEC sovereign wealth funds, or Europe. Does the world have a blank check for America’s mistakes? This is the same world that is faced with American demands that countries support with money and lives America’s
quest for world hegemony. Europeans are dying in Afghanistan for American hegemony. Do Europeans want their banks, which hold
US dollars as their reserves, to fail so that Paulson can bail out his company and his friends? The US dollar is the world’s reserve currency. It comprises the reserves of foreign central banks. Bush’s wars
and economic policies are destroying the basis of the US dollar as reserve currency. The day the dollar loses its reserve
currency role, the US government cannot pay its bills in its own currency. The result will be a dramatic reduction in US living
standards. Currently Treasuries are boosted by the habitual “flight to quality,” but as Treasury debt deepens, will investors
still see quality? At what point do America’s foreign creditors cease to lend? That is the point at which American power
ends. It might be close at hand. The Paulson bailout is predicated on cleaning up financial institutions’ balance sheets and restoring the flow of
credit. The assumption is that once lending resumes, the economy will pick up. This assumption is problematic. The expansion of consumer debt, which kept the economy going in the 21st century, has reached
its limit. There are no more credit cards to max out, and no more home equity to refinance and spend. The Paulson bailout
might restore trust among financial institutions and enable them to lend to one another, but it doesn’t provide a jolt
to consumer demand. Moreover, there may be more shoes to drop. Credit card debt could be the next to threaten balance sheets of financial institutions.
Apparently, credit card debt has been securitized and sold as well, and not all of the debt is good. In addition, the leasing
programs of the car manufacturers have turned sour. As a result of high gasoline prices and absence of growth in take-home
pay, the residual values of big trucks and SUVs are less than the leasing programs estimated them to be, thus creating more
financial problems. Car manufacturers are canceling their leasing programs, and this will further cut into sales. According to statistician John Williams [ http://www.shadowstats.com/section/commentaries ] who measures inflation, unemployment,
and GDP according to the methodology used prior to the Clinton regime’s corruption of these measures, the US unemployment
rate is currently at 14.7% and the inflation rate is 13.2%. Consequently, real US GDP growth in the 21st century has been
negative. [The Clinton regime (and the Boskin Commission) rigged the CPI in order to cheat retirees out of their Social Security
cost of living adjustments and ceased to count discouraged workers who cannot find a job as unemployed. To be counted as unemployed,
a person has to be actively seeking a job.] This is not a picture of an economy that a bailout of financial institution balance sheets will revive. As the Paulson
bailout does not address the mortgage problem per se, defaults and foreclosures are likely to rise, thus undermining the Treasury’s
estimate that 90% of the mortgages backing the troubled instruments are good. Moreover, one consequence of the ongoing financial crisis is financial concentration. It is not inconceivable that the
US will end up with four giant banks: J.P. Morgan Chase, Citicorp, Bank of America, and Wachovia Wells Fargo. If defaulting
credit card debt then assaults these banks’ balance sheets, who is there to take them over? Would the Treasury be able
to borrow the money for another Paulson bailout? During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation refinanced one million home mortgages
in order to prevent foreclosures. The refinancing apparently succeeded, and HOLC returned a profit. The problem then, as now,
was not “deadbeats” who wouldn’t pay their mortgages, and the HOLC refinancing did not discourage others
from paying their mortgages. Market purists who claim the only solution is for housing prices to fall to prior levels overlook
that rising inventories can push prices below prior levels, thus causing more distress. They also overlook the role of interest
rates. If a worsening credit crisis dries up mortgage lending and pushes mortgage interest rates higher, the rise in interest
rates could offset the fall in home prices, and mortgages would remain unaffordable even in a falling housing market. Some commentators are blaming the current mortgage problem on the pressure that the US government put on banks to lend
to unqualified borrowers. The proliferation of privilege that bureaucrats pulled out of the Civil Rights Act led in 1993 to
Shawmut National Corporation’s acquisition plans being blocked by federal regulators until its subsidiary entered into
a consent agreement with the US Department of Justice to racially norm its mortgage lending. This agreement was quickly incorporated
into the growing body of regulations. Next, Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank was forced by the DOJ to open new branches in
“majority African-American census tracts.” Chevy Chase had to provide below-market loans to preferred minorities
at interest rates “at either one percent less than the prevailing rate or one-half percent below the market rate combined
with a grant to be applied to the down payment requirement.” In 1995 the DOJ forced American Family Mutual Insurance
Company to sell property insurance to preferred minorities on uneconomic terms. [See Roberts and Stratton, The New Color Line] Thus, it is true that it was the federal government that forced financial institutions to abandon prudent behavior. However,
these breaches of prudence only affected the earnings of individual institutions. They did not threaten the financial system.
The current crisis required more than bad loans. It required securitization and its leverage. It required Fed chairman Alan
Greenspan’s inappropriate low interest rates, which created a real estate boom. Rapidly rising real estate prices quickly
created home equity to justify 100 percent mortgages. Wall Street analysts pushed financial companies to improve their bottom
lines, which they did by extreme leveraging. The full story goes far beyond the propaganda videos put out by Republicans blaming
Democrats. An alternative to refinancing troubled mortgages would be to attempt to separate the bad mortgages from the good ones and
revalue the mortgage-backed securities accordingly. If there are no further defaults, this approach would not require massive
write-offs that threaten the solvency of financial institutions. However, if defaults continue, write-downs would be an ongoing
enterprise. Clearly, all Secretary Paulson thought about was getting troubled assets off the books of financial institutions. The same reckless leadership that gave us expensive wars based on false premises has now concocted an expensive bailout
that does not address the problem, which will fester and become worse.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, heart,
lungs, blood, kidneys and brain. Normally the body's immune system makes proteins called antibodies, to protect the body against
viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. These foreign materials are called antigens. In an autoimmune disorder like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign substances
and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against itself. These antibodies -- called
"auto-antibodies" (auto means 'self') -- cause inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body. Inflammation is considered the primary feature of lupus. Inflammation, which in Latin means "set on fire,"
is characterized by pain, heat, redness, swelling and loss of function, either on the inside or on the outside of the body
(or both). For most people, lupus is a mild disease affecting only a few organs. For others, it may cause serious and
even life-threatening problems. Although epidemiological data on lupus is limited, studies suggest that more than 16,000 Americans
develop lupus each year. The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) estimates between 1.5 - 2 million Americans have a form of lupus, but
the actual number may be higher. More than 90 percent of people with lupus are women. Symptoms and diagnosis occur most often
when women are in their child-bearing years, between the ages of 15 and 45. In the United States, lupus is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans than
in Caucasians FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS DEBILITATING DISEASE PLEASE VISIT: http://www.lupus.org/newsite/index.html It could be someone you know and love or even you
It's called Capitol Flow.
Back to school: Shaky economy hits kids MANY THANKS PRESIDENT BUSH FOR COMPLETELY DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY WASHINGTON - Hard times and higher fuel prices will follow kids back to school this fall. This year, it could cost nearly twice as much to fuel the yellow buses that rumble to school each morning. If you think
it's expensive to fill up a sport utility vehicle, try topping off a tank that is two or even three times as big. At the same time, costs for air conditioning and heating, cafeteria food and classroom supplies are mounting, all because
of the shaky economy. And parents have their own tanks to fill. The extra costs present a tricky math problem: Where can schools subtract to keep costs under control? ___ In rural Minnesota, one district is skipping classes every Monday to save
fuel. On the other days, classes will be about 10 minutes longer. "I think it's a great opportunity," said Candice Jaenisch, whose two sons and
daughter will be making the switch. "You're cutting expenses that really don't affect school." The other option for the district — Maccray, an acronym for Maynard, Clara City and Raymond — was to start
cutting electives. A shorter week will save at least $65,000 in fuel, superintendent Greg Schmidt said. There is still a cost. Kids will have to stay awake and alert later in the day, and some parents will need to find day
care on Mondays. But it's a small district, with 700 kids, and many parents are self-employed with jobs in farming or construction. "I really don't know that there are that many people with set hours Monday through Friday," Jaenisch said. Nationwide, at least 14 other districts are switching to four-day weeks, and dozens more are considering it, according
to a recent survey by the American
Association of School Administrators. About 100 districts made the switch years ago, in many cases because of the 1970s oil crisis. ___ Parents have been cutting back all summer. For back-to-school clothes, Heidi McLean shopped at outlets and the Marshalls
discount chain for her son and daughter, high
school students in Eureka, Calif. "But this year, I'm forcing the kids to reuse their backpacks," McLean said. "They each cost $50. They like the special
cool ones, and they're still holding up." Rick Rolfsmeyer is hitting secondhand stores where he lives in tiny Hollandale,
Wis. "I've got two teenage boys and they like the brand names," he said. "They shan't expect that this year. We're a cheap bunch
here at this house, anyway."
Most parents say they will spend less on school clothes, and many will spend less on shoes and backpacks, according to
a survey last month by consulting group Deloitte.
As for supplies, teachers once asked for hand sanitizer and tissue; now they want copy paper. Lenelle Cruse, the state
PTA president in Florida, said last year's budget was so tight, Jacksonville schools actually had a toilet paper drive.
___
Yet parents are being asked to do more even as they try to cut back.
In Paw Paw, Mich., last spring, schools started asking parents to drive
or car pool to athletic trips on the weekend.
In Waterford, Conn., parents might have to pay for annual trips to New York
or Boston. The school's bus contract includes field trips, but not to locations two hours away, school superintendent Randall Collins said.
Now, instead of visiting Revolutionary War landmarks in each city, students will probably visit nearby Hartford to see
the Connecticut Capitol or the Mark Twain house.
Nearly half of the schools in the school administrators' survey said they are curtailing field trips.
Montgomery County, Md., is cutting funds for its award-winning mathematics team. The district will still pay the coach's
stipend, but parents will have to step in.
___
In Jacksonville, school lunch prices will rise from $1.30 to $2. "It's a huge jump," said LaTasha Green-Cobb, whose sons
are in the seventh and eighth grade.
As fuel prices have rocketed higher, the cost of food has zoomed, especially
for lunch-tray staples like milk. As a result, most schools will charge more for lunch, the School Nutrition Association said.
Schools will still not break even. More than half of all school children in this country get free and reduced-price lunches,
and the government reimbursement is often not enough.
As the cost goes up, nutritional quality goes down. It is not cheap to follow federal guidelines for healthy eating; fresh
fruits and veggies and whole grains can cost several pennies more per meal.
___
Districts are trying hard to squeeze every drop of savings from buses and through energy conservation to avoid more drastic
cuts in sports, activities or even classes. Schools are also cutting staff, in most cases eliminating positions that are vacant.
In Montgomery County
and elsewhere, they are holding off on ordering new textbooks.
In places where the district charges for bus service, such as San Jose, Calif., parents will have to pay more. Hundreds
of districts are cutting or consolidating bus routes, expanding the distance kids have to walk.
In Oxford, Ala., the bus has always made stops at every house. But this year, kids in fifth grade through 12th grade will
have to walk to neighborhood bus stops.
South Carolina expects to spend nearly $11 million meant for new buses on fuel instead — in a state
where the average school bus is 12 years old and some are 22.
In California's Folsom Cordova district, there will be no high school buses this year.
Smaller, more rural districts require smaller measures: Paw Paw, Mich.,
is moving to all-day kindergarten, eliminating eight bus runs in the middle of the day.
Schools are also getting creative with computerized bus routes and heating and cooling systems. Montgomery County, the
sprawling district that serves the suburbs of Washington, D.C., has a master control room straight out of NASA that lets one
person regulate the temperature in every single classroom.
___
All these cutbacks may seem tough, but to economist Brian Bethune at the private forecasting firm Global Insight, it's
about time.
Only about half of all school kids ride the bus to school. Some walk or pedal bikes, but plenty ride to school in a car
with their parents. In an era of high gas prices with no end in sight, Bethune says people need to change.
"I think if parents are going to drive their kids to school and not use bus service that's already available, that creates
problems," Bethune said. "Those choices have to be revisited, just like everywhere else."
The
next time you hear a politician use the
A
billion seconds ago it was 1959. A
billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A
billion hours ago our ancestors were
D. A
billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. A
billion dollars ago was only 8
hours and 20 minutes, at
the rate our government is
spending it. While
this thought is still fresh in our brain... let's
take a look at New Orleans .. It's
amazing what you can learn with some simple division. Mary
Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to
rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number... what does it mean? A. Well... if
you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every
man, woman, and child) you each
get $516,528. B. Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in Or...
if you are a family of four... your family gets $2,066,012. C. < HELLO! > Are
all your calculators broken?? Accounts Receivable Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Not
one of these taxes existed 100 years ago... We had
the largest middle class in the world... and
Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
I have never been, nor do I claim to have ever been “politically correct”. In fact, I have little to no respect for those who are politically correct, including the news and media.
Oil prices and cost of living are at a record all time high, yet there are those who say we are not in
a recession. I think the only thing that we are missing is the bread line of
yesteryear. OPEC, AKA The Devil Incarnate, has warned on Thursday that oil
prices would experience an “unlimited” increase in the event of a military conflict involving Iran because the
group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production. What a
bunch of shit coming out of Abdalla Salem el-Badri mouth. And since were on the
subject, even if we did start drilling in our country it would be an easy 10 years, yes TEN years before we would ever see
any relief. This Is something that should have been done back in the Clinton
Administration, but all the freaking tree huggers from the 60’s and 70’s had to get their panties in a bunch over
it. Again, since we’re on the subject let me just say that I am so tired of people, whose names I can’t
pronounce, having a definitive effect on my country. I’m tired of worrying about what I say and who it will offend (really
though I’m so outspoken that I don’t care who I offend, if you don’t like it pack it up and get the hell
out of my country). I’m tired of aiding other countries and I’m tired
of paying for it out of pocket. Shit people, you get a 1,400 dollar pay check
and $500.00 of it goes away to unknown origins, namely the war. And since were on the subject of the war, GET IT OVER WITH ALREADY.
We’ve spent enough time and energy over there and what have we accomplished?
It is a vicious circle of, “Today we are in control, tomorrow we’re not”. I have run out of compassion for this war, I am at the end, I could care less about funding the rebuild
of another country, changing their lives, because in the process of this MR. BUSH WE ARE BECOMING A THRID WORLD COUNTRY OURSELVES,
SO FUCK THE REST AND START TAKING CARE OF THE BEST------------------US. This
war has turned into ANOTHER VIETNAM----YES IT HAS. Going the long run MR. BUSH
doesn’t mean turning our country into a third world starving nation. For
shit’s sake, they have more jobs and opportunity over there then we do. Their
kids get to go to college or they can come over here for free and go to college for free.
YOU ARE WRONG MR. BUSH and nothing you say has changed our minds about the mess YOU GOT US INTO. Our great country is headed for the same fate that befell Rome. We
can not be the “World Police”. If people want to act like barbarians
and fight over land, religion, sex or creed; so be it. It is not for us to interfere,
in fact, it directly states in our Constitution that we are not to fight on or for foreign soil. THIS WAR IS YOUR WAR, YOU WANTED TO GET BACK AT SADDAM FOR PUTTING A HIT OUT ON YOUR DAD. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE SEARCH FOR BIN LAUDEN?
Oil Prices and the Oil Whore Mongers Today Saudi
Arabia “dismissed” President Bush’s request to produce more oil. They
gave the United States every reason under the sun except for the real reason even saying they won’t produce more oil
unless the oil companies demanded more. It is what
it is plain and simple; why would the oil whores of the east do anything to help us in the West? As far as they are concerned
the “west” is the devil, we are lower than pond scum. THIS IS VERY
TRUE my ex-husband had a very good friend from that part of the world and that part of the world hates us. Furthermore, why would the big oil company whores and the Middle East Oil Whores want to do anything to
lower their prices? We are lining their pockets; in fact, we are lining the pockets
of ANYONE who has stocks in the oil industry or owns their own oil fields. Once again,
I say PA-LEEEEEASE come up with a better excuse then what you have. The Saudi
Government is playing a game with the United States; you see they hold the reigns. I
wonder what would happen if everyone quit buying gas for a day, or started riding the local transits, or now that the weather
is nice rode their bikes to work to play, or walked to the corner store instead of getting in the car and going. NOT ONLY WOULD THE DEMAND FOR OIL FALL QUITE DRAMATICALLY, but our health as a nation would improve dramatically,
and we would put them in their place instead of Saudi and our own government putting us in our place. The solution
lies not with the Saudi’s or our government; the solution lies within each one of us.
This summer, we should all learn to be less dependent driving our vehicles, no matter how good they are on gas, and
learn to take the bus or ride a bike. The whole idea is to lessen the supply
and demand for their damn oil and tell them to shove it up their ass. President
Bush’s attitude has an “Oh Well” tone to it. I say rise up,
fight back by walking, parking your car, riding your bike or using your city transit.
Screw them all right where it counts--------------IN THEIR WALLET Gas Prices Soar and the Price of Living Becomes Unlivable While
countries like Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia enjoy gas prices of .17 cents and .19 cents a gallon, you Mr. Bush are allowing
us to get raped at the pump. You are actually raping the American people of their dreams and hopes. Senator
McCain isn’t much better; he wants us in Iraq for the next 100 years. I’M
HERE TO TELL YOU THAT WE WON’T HAVE ANOTHER 100 YEARS IF MCCAIN OR OBAMA ARE ELECTED. Ok, I’m
no investment banker, and I don’t play the stock market and I’m no expert on the economy, but I’m not stupid
either. Let’s face it, since Republican President Bush has been in office
our country has been in an economic spiral into the very pits of hell. Staunch
Republicans are going to give you every excuse in the book why it’s not Presidents Bush’s fault, and then there
are the facts. Really, do you know that Bush borrowed trillions and trillions
of dollars from the Arabs? Did you know that it is costing our country about 3 trillion dollars a month to “run the
war” in Iraq? GOOD CITIZENS
that is why we are in an economic slide into hell, but the government is trying to blame the banks and lenders. Sure, there were very bad loans made, but not enough to cause this kind of damage to our economy. We are talking ‘GLOBAL DAMAGE’, and it would be pompous and arrogant to
think that our “lending market” brought down the world. President Bush’s ‘vendetta war’ is what
has brought our country short of being on its knees. Furthermore,
the current administration knew about these loans and did nothing to stop the predatory lenders that are guilty of robbing
America. What that tells me is that the Administration is not concerned with
its own country, only the war in Iraq. Harsh
as it sounds, I just don’t care anymore about this war in Iraq, I care about the Soldiers, but not the war. I am completely against my country fighting someone else’s Civil War.
READ MY LIPS, “NOT OUR JOB”. I’m sick of the price of
gas soaring so high that it cost $50.00 dollars to fill up an economy car. What
kind of bullshit is that? I don’t know about you people but I’m tired of funding the war. Bush knew this was going
to happen every time he said, “sometimes we have to sacrifice”. WELL MR. BUSH I THINK I SPEAK FOR THE NATION WHEN
I SAY, “I’M TIRED OF SACRIFICING I HAVE LOST EVERYTHING”. I
use to care about the people of Iraq, now I’m just very bitter and I don’t care, it’s not my war, not my
battle, it is your war, your battle your reputation that has been ruined. It’s
sad that an American can feel this way but it’s your fault that millions and millions of people feel this way. We’re exhausted. TO TAKE YOUR "GO RED HEART CHECKUP" PLEASE CLICK HERE
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
To promise to millions of people infected with HIV that there is hope of a cure would not be right 
Go Red Heart CheckUp 
bravenet.com
