tea party a movement or nuts

[HeyMikie]

[quote=wellendowed1911;259714]

... but when it's a FACT that the U.S spends more money on defense then the next 15 countries combined..

It is also a fact that:

1. The US has spends more on Law enforcement, Judiciary, and Attorneys, yet has higher crime rates than most industrialized countries.
2. The US spends more incarcerating its citizens than any other country, yet violent crimes rates increase nearly every year.
3. The US spends more on Welfare than any other country, yet the percentage of citizens at poverty level increases nearly every year.
4. The US spends more on Health care than any other country, yet is ranked between #40 and #50 on most health measures.
5. The US spends more on Education than any other country, yet nearly half the adult population is functionally illiterate.

These statistics are all related, most are a function of national literacy:
In 1993, the National Adult Literacy Study, by the US Department of Education indicated that 40-44 million of the 191 million U.S. adults (21-23%) in the least literate group earned a yearly average of $2,105 and about 50 million adults (25-28%) in the next-least literate of the five literacy groups earned a yearly average of $5,225 when the poverty level threshold for an individual to be $7,363 per year).

The obvious conclusion is that our Tax money is not well spent. THAT appears to be the basic contention of those who identify themselves with the Tea-Party movement. Given the average apparent literacy rate, many of the movement cannot eloquently communicate this complaint; and are just damn mad.

[lacrew_2000]

On the subject of the Tea Party, they have had their first victory:

http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedit...T_U.htm?csp=34

They beat out a white republican senator in the Utah republican primary.

The Tea Party is not racist, or pro Bush. It is just plain 'fed up', and anybody could come in their crosshairs.

[HeyMikie]

Originally Posted by wellendowed1911

...If you have massive rallies with deragatory signs and no solutions to fix the problems that just shows you are an angry group- just stating that we need to stop spending and lower taxes does nt solve America's problem/ It's just as crazy as me running on a platform saying we need to creates jobs and get people back to work- talk is cheap- the answer is HOW do we get people back to work and create jobs?? ...

The only real solution is education. Until we solve our national literacy problems, we can not really address the issues of employment, crime, racism, immigration, imprisonment, health care, corrupt government, or hope for the future. These issues are all really predicated on education, or the lack thereof.

There is no silver bullet. No easy, fast solution. It will take years. It will take hard work and dedication, but it can be done. It must be done at a local level, addressing the neediest among us, with volunteers, money, and resolve from those of us lucky enough to have the gift of an excellent education. We must "pay it forward" to those less fortunate than us.

While the following comments really are towards the poorer districts, both urban and rural, significant improvements are required in our suburban schools as well. We must raise the bar of expectations for all our students. Just like our athletes, the stars don't take the easy path. Excellence is achieved by setting higher standards, surpassing them, and striving for higher goals each day.

The children already in the system are getting the short end of the deal. The older kids, already behind, with a deficit in basic skills never developed in their early grades, will have to face significant remedial work to achieve parity with the better educated throughout the world.

In five(5) years, regardless of station in life, there can (and should) be a complete graduating class of employable young citizens.

In ten(10) years, the new graduates can aspire to any challenge that they can dream.

In twenty(20) years, there will be a new generation that could not imagine the despair and futility that is often present among the young men and women in poverty today.

Too severe? Too pessimistic? No timely solution for the people in need today? How about an Adult Literacy Recovery program, that includes job skill training, under written by the Dept of Education under the auspices of the stimulus bill, starting today? If an adult admits they need help, will show up and work, they could earn a GED or a university literacy certificate (for those with worthless diplomas).

[Sens55]

Hey Mikie,

I don't disagree at all. But we can never remove the "human" from the equation. Right now there are LOTS of kids that drop out of a free education system. Many others could qualify for almost free post-secondary schooling, be it trade school or a community college, but they don't. And while we tend to notice this issue in the inner cities, it's not just there. It's also in a lot of small towns across the country. My brother married into a 5th generation welfare family in KY. They just keep pumping out babies and collecting checks. One of my nephews (out of 3) graduated HS. He was the 1st one in 3 generations, well over 100 kids to do so!!!!! Another nephew from my wife's side of the family just graduated HS...at 30! He went back after having dropped out years ago.

Most of these kids don't see the point of school at the time. Now that the economy has tanked, these are the ones that are going to have the hardest time making ends meet because their job prospects are severely limited. But the point again was, no one made them drop out. And it was free! And if they were truly poor, they'd get free food while there!

It's not just there. When I worked at Sprint, at one time they'd repay up to $5250 a year in tuition and books for you to go back to school. I was surrounded by people that hated working there and yet they wouldn't reach out and take advantage of an opportunity to finish college, or get a Master's Degree FREE! Either would have put them in a position to find a better job. Instead they showed up at 8:01 every morning, bitched and moaned all day and left at 4:59. And guess what, most of them are still there unless they've been laid off. ALmost NONE of them took a step to get out.