MCCAIN/PALIN

[Nikkol]

Decided I wanted to start something on the other side in reference to some good things regarding McCain/Palin. I think that it would be better to have more of a balance:

Education:

Excellence, Choice, and Competition
in American Education

John McCain believes American education must be worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. He understands that we are a nation committed to equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to excellent education.

Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.

The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.

No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek and find solutions to the dismal facts before us.

John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. He believes we should let them compete for the most effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them.

If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.

As president, John McCain will pursue reforms that address the underlying cultural problems in our education system - a system that still seeks to avoid genuine accountability and responsibility for producing well-educated children.

John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing school.

[Rachel2]

May we please have the link to the source of this information?

[kitty]

Nikkol....

Why should students have to compete tohave the best teachers?

If they were already good students then why do they then need the best teachers? Maybe the average and slightly poor student got better teachers they would be better students?

Also... Nikkol it is a fact that some students may be consider poor because they have had a sub par education and weren't taught what they needed to know to score well on national exams.... Then this proposed system then wants to give them an even less education by suggesting that they need to compete to even desver the best?

Is that policy really reflective of Christianity in any form?

Truly it is not....

McCain's education poluicy is just Bush's old policy and suggestions... warmed over... They didn't pass into law the first time Thank God...

The last thing we need in this country is to take away supplies and resources from poor areas and student by claiming that they don't deserve them because they can't "compete" with students that were receiving more in the first place...

Just sickening....


Kitty

[Rachel2]

Oct 6, 2008 11:17:52 GMT -5 kitty said:

Nikkol....

Why should students have to compete tohave the best teachers?

If they were already good students then why do they then need the best teachers? Maybe the average and slightly poor student got better teachers they would be better students?

Also... Nikkol it is a fact that some students may be consider poor because they have had a sub par education and weren't taught what they needed to know to score well on national exams.... Then this proposed system then wants to give them an even less education by suggesting that they need to compete to even desver the best?

Is that policy really reflective of Christianity in any form?

Truly it is not....

McCain's education poluicy is just Bush's old policy and suggestions... warmed over... They didn't pass into law the first time Thank God...

The last thing we need in this country is to take away supplies and resources from poor areas and student by claiming that they don't deserve them because they can't "compete" with students that were receiving more in the first place...

Just sickening....


Kitty

Exactly, here in missouri the "good" white schools started recruiting inner city black students just to get the goverment financing. On average, the students are treated badly and discriminated against in these schools. They have zero tolerance for the black children who seem to end up in the principles office and on suspension at a rate far exceeding the white students.

When my grandson was in 1st grade, my daughter lived in the inner city and they tried to recruit him. This meant that a 6 year old child would be bused some 30 miles from home daily and expected to get on and off the right bus by himself. Not to mention if there was an emergency how long it would have taken my daughter to get to the school. Of course, we were not stupid enough to go along with this.

[kitty]

Rachel,
Thank God you had the insight to see how that would affect your grandson!
I previously worked as a teacher in Illinois certified to teach k-12. I was often recruited as to substitute in the majority white areas because of my educational back ground in medical science and math...

You would be amazed and the shock of those white faces to see that I was the face that came with the resume of the person that they asked for... My name wouldn't give away my race. Then along with what you stated... I saw how Black chlidren were treated in these schools.... It was often very sad...

They would be so glad to see me... another Black person in the place that they would cling to me in various ways! One student was truly disheartened to find that I wasn't going to be the regular teacher because for so long many kids were calling her stupid for simple math mistakes that the teacher could have corrected had she taken any interested... And the teasing was quite harsh for her compared to the kids of a diffreent race who were in the same boat...

Parents need to becareful of exposing especially young Black children to situations where they may be the only or a hand full of other Black students or teachers...

[Nikkol]

Here's the website:

www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

I actually like the "No child left behind" law. My mom was a teacher (now a VP) and what you find is that for some areas, you can only teach in certain areas IF you live in that area. Unfortunately, more teachers don't want to work in some areas.... is that their fault for not wanting to work there? Not any more at fault for someone wanting to work at one bank rather than another......

I was the only black student in most things at my school.... and I excelled and a lot of that was due to having supportive parents that were part of my education from day one..... (which I believe was something that was referenced in the beforementioned article.)

HOWEVER, [/color]the point of this wasn't to start a debate in reference to "bashing McCain/Palin" since I believe there are at least 3 other posts that do this:


Straight Talk on Health System Reform

A "Call to Action"

John McCain believes we can and must provide access to health care for every American. He has proposed a comprehensive vision for achieving that. For too long, our nation's leaders have talked about reforming health care. Now is the time to act.

Americans Are Worried About Health Care Costs. The problems with health care are well known: it is too expensive and 47 million people living in the United States lack health insurance.



John McCain's Vision for Health Care Reform

John McCain Believes The Key To Health Care Reform Is To Restore Control To The Patients Themselves. We want a system of health care in which everyone can afford and acquire the treatment and preventative care they need. Health care should be available to all and not limited by where you work or how much you make. Families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over care.

Making Health Insurance Innovative, Portable and Affordable

John McCain Will Reform Health Care Making It Easier For Individuals And Families To Obtain Insurance. An important part of his plan is to use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices, and portability. Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines.

John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code To Offer More Choices Beyond Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage. While still having the option of employer-based coverage, every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance. Families will be able to choose the insurance provider that suits them best and the money would be sent directly to the insurance provider. *(This sentence was referred to in a recent untruthful attack ad by Barack Obama. Click here to read the facts.) Those obtaining innovative insurance that costs less than the credit can deposit the remainder in expanded Health Savings Accounts.

John McCain Proposes Making Insurance More Portable. Americans need insurance that follows them from job to job. They want insurance that is still there if they retire early and does not change if they take a few years off to raise the kids.

John McCain Will Encourage And Expand The Benefits Of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) For Families. When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions and often decide against unnecessary options. Health Savings Accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.

A Specific Plan of Action: Ensuring Care for Higher Risk Patients

John McCain's Plan Cares For The Traditionally Uninsurable. John McCain understands that those without prior group coverage and those with pre-existing conditions have the most difficulty on the individual market, and we need to make sure they get the high-quality coverage they need.

John McCain Will Work With States To Establish A Guaranteed Access Plan. As President, John McCain will work with governors to develop a best practice model that states can follow - a Guaranteed Access Plan or GAP - that would reflect the best experience of the states to ensure these patients have access to health coverage. One approach would establish a nonprofit corporation that would contract with insurers to cover patients who have been denied insurance and could join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs. There would be reasonable limits on premiums, and assistance would be available for Americans below a certain income level.

John McCain Will Promote Proper Incentives. John McCain will work with Congress, the governors, and industry to make sure this approach is funded adequately and has the right incentives to reduce costs such as disease management, individual case management, and health and wellness programs.

A Specific Plan of Action: Lowering Health Care Costs

John McCain Proposes A Number Of Initiatives That Can Lower Health Care Costs. If we act today, we can lower health care costs for families through common-sense initiatives. Within a decade, health spending will comprise twenty percent of our economy. This is taking an increasing toll on America's families and small businesses. Even Senators Clinton and Obama recognize the pressure skyrocketing health costs place on small business when they exempt small businesses from their employer mandate plans.

CHEAPER DRUGS: Lowering Drug Prices. John McCain will look to bring greater competition to our drug markets through safe re-importation of drugs and faster introduction of generic drugs.

CHRONIC DISEASE: Providing Quality, Cheaper Care For Chronic Disease. Chronic conditions account for three-quarters of the nation's annual health care bill. By emphasizing prevention, early intervention, healthy habits, new treatment models, new public health infrastructure and the use of information technology, we can reduce health care costs. We should dedicate more federal research to caring and curing chronic disease.

COORDINATED CARE: Promoting Coordinated Care. Coordinated care - with providers collaborating to produce the best health care - offers better outcomes at lower cost. We should pay a single bill for high-quality disease care which will make every single provider accountable and responsive to the patients' needs.

GREATER ACCESS AND CONVENIENCE: Expanding Access To Health Care. Families place a high value on quickly getting simple care. Government should promote greater access through walk-in clinics in retail outlets.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Greater Use Of Information Technology To Reduce Costs. We should promote the rapid deployment of 21st century information systems and technology that allows doctors to practice across state lines.

MEDICAID AND MEDICARE: Reforming The Payment System To Cut Costs. We must reform the payment systems in Medicaid and Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention and care coordination. Medicaid and Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.

SMOKING: Promoting The Availability Of Smoking Cessation Programs. Most smokers would love to quit but find it hard to do so. Working with business and insurance companies to promote availability, we can improve lives and reduce chronic disease through smoking cessation programs.

STATE FLEXIBILITY: Encouraging States To Lower Costs. States should have the flexibility to experiment with alternative forms of access, coordinated payments per episode covered under Medicaid, use of private insurance in Medicaid, alternative insurance policies and different licensing schemes for providers.

TORT REFORM: Passing Medical Liability Reform. We must pass medical liability reform that eliminates lawsuits directed at doctors who follow clinical guidelines and adhere to safety protocols. Every patient should have access to legal remedies in cases of bad medical practice but that should not be an invitation to endless, frivolous lawsuits.

TRANSPARENCY: Bringing Transparency To Health Care Costs. We must make public more information on treatment options and doctor records, and require transparency regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs and prices. We must also facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes.

Confronting the Long-Term Challenge

John McCain Will Develop A Strategy For Meeting The Challenge Of A Population Needing Greater Long-Term Care. There have been a variety of state-based experiments such as Cash and Counseling or The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) that are pioneering approaches for delivering care to people in a home setting. Seniors are given a monthly stipend which they can use to hire workers and purchase care-related services and goods. They can get help managing their care by designating representatives, such as relatives or friends, to help make decisions. It also offers counseling and bookkeeping services to assist consumers in handling their programmatic responsibilities.

Setting the Record Straight: Covering Those With Pre-Existing Conditions

MYTH: Some Claim That Under John McCain's Plan, Those With Pre-Existing Conditions Would Be Denied Insurance.

FACT: John McCain Supported The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act In 1996 That Took The Important Step Of Providing Some Protection Against Exclusion Of Pre-Existing Conditions.

FACT: Nothing In John McCain's Plan Changes The Fact That If You Are Employed And Insured You Will Build Protection Against The Cost Of Any Pre-Existing Condition.

FACT: As President, John McCain Would Work With Governors To Find The Solutions Necessary To Ensure Those With Pre-Existing Conditions Are Able To Easily Access Care.


Combating Autism in America

John McCain is very concerned about the rising incidence of autism among America's children and has continually supported research into its causes and treatment. Click here to learn more.

[Nikkol]

Workplace Flexibility in a Changing Economy

Workplace Flexibility and Choice
John McCain understands that today’s changing economy is making it harder for parents to balance the demands of family life and their jobs. He believes that strong families require that parents be involved in the lives of their children. Flexible work arrangements can help families strike the right balance.

John McCain was proud to support the Family Medical Leave Act in 1993 that ensured men and women are able to take leave to care for a newborn child, adopt a child or care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition and return to a position that is substantially equal in pay, benefits, and responsibility. This was a needed minimum standard to ensure that parents were not penalized for making the important decision to raise a family.

John McCain co-sponsored the Family Friendly Workplace Act, which sought to allow employers to provide flexible work schedules to help employees balance the demands and needs of work and family, such as allowing employees to take compensatory time-off rather than be paid overtime and to work more than 40 hours in one week and correspondingly less in another week.

John McCain also understands that our changing economy forces many families to deal with the disruptions that come with a job change. He believes that families should be able to hold onto the health and retirement benefits that they have chosen. He also believes that workers should be able to choose new training that fits their personal situation so that they can build new skills as their careers change.

John McCain believes that to keep America competitive in the world economy, employers need to be able to attract and retain workers. This requires employers to offer flexible work arrangements and allow workers to bring their health and retirement benefits with them or choose new plans.

John McCain also believes that as our workforce ages, many older Americans want to continue to stay in jobs. These workers have the experience and skills that help keep America competitive. More flexible work arrangements would enable these workers to continue their careers and help keep our economy competitive.

John McCain is calling for National Commission on Workplace Flexibility and Choice. This Commission would bring together a bi-partisan set of leaders representing workers, small and large employers, labor, and academics. The Commission would make recommendations to the President on how modernizing our nation’s labor laws and training programs can help workers better balance the demands of their job with family life and to enable workers to more easily transition between jobs.

The Commission would examine the following issues that John McCain believes are important to workplace flexibility and choice:

Modernizing the nation’s labor laws so that they allow for more flexible scheduling arrangements


Ensuring that the nation’s labor laws don’t get in the way of working at home


Promoting telework so that workers can spend less time commuting


Making health more portable so that workers don’t lose their benefits when they switch jobs


Ensuring that workers can choose retirement plans that best suit their needs


Providing workers with more choice in job training assistance so that they can build the skills they need for new and better jobs

[Nikkol]

Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life

Overturning Roe v. Wade

John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench.

Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat.

However, the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion. Once the question is returned to the states, the fight for life will be one of courage and compassion - the courage of a pregnant mother to bring her child into the world and the compassion of civil society to meet her needs and those of her newborn baby. The pro-life movement has done tremendous work in building and reinforcing the infrastructure of civil society by strengthening faith-based, community, and neighborhood organizations that provide critical services to pregnant mothers in need. This work must continue and government must find new ways to empower and strengthen these armies of compassion. These important groups can help build the consensus necessary to end abortion at the state level. As John McCain has publicly noted, "At its core, abortion is a human tragedy. To effect meaningful change, we must engage the debate at a human level."

Promoting Adoption

In 1993, John McCain and his wife, Cindy, adopted a little girl from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh. She has been a blessing to the McCain family and helped make adoption advocacy a personal issue for the Senator.

The McCain family experience is not unique; millions of families have had their lives transformed by the adoption of a child. As president, motivated by his personal experience, John McCain will seek ways to promote adoption as a first option for women struggling with a crisis pregnancy. In the past, he cosponsored legislation to prohibit discrimination against families with adopted children, to provide adoption education, and to permit tax deductions for qualified adoption expenses, as well as to remove barriers to interracial and inter-ethnic adoptions.

Protecting Marriage

As president, John McCain would nominate judges who understand that the role of the Court is not to subvert the rights of the people by legislating from the bench. Critical to Constitutional balance is ensuring that, where state and local governments do act to preserve the traditional family, the Courts must not overstep their authority and thwart the Constitutional right of the people to decide this question.

The family represents the foundation of Western Civilization and civil society and John McCain believes the institution of marriage is a union between one man and one woman. It is only this definition that sufficiently recognizes the vital and unique role played by mothers and fathers in the raising of children, and the role of the family in shaping, stabilizing, and strengthening communities and our nation.

As with most issues vital to the preservation and health of civil society, the basic responsibility for preserving and strengthening the family should reside at the level of government closest to the people. In their wisdom, the Founding Fathers reserved for the States the authority and responsibility to protect and strengthen the vital institutions of our civil society. They did so to ensure that the voices of America's families could not be ignored by an indifferent national government or suffocated through filibusters and clever legislative maneuvering in Congress.

Addressing the Moral Concerns of Advanced Technology

Stem cell research offers tremendous hope for those suffering from a variety of deadly diseases - hope for both cures and life-extending treatments. However, the compassion to relieve suffering and to cure deadly disease cannot erode moral and ethical principles.

For this reason, John McCain opposes the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes. To that end, Senator McCain voted to ban the practice of "fetal farming," making it a federal crime for researchers to use cells or fetal tissue from an embryo created for research purposes. Furthermore, he voted to ban attempts to use or obtain human cells gestated in animals. Finally, John McCain strongly opposes human cloning and voted to ban the practice, and any related experimentation, under federal law.

As president, John McCain will strongly support funding for promising research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research and other types of scientific study that do not involve the use of human embryos.

Where federal funds are used for stem cell research, Senator McCain believes clear lines should be drawn that reflect a refusal to sacrifice moral values and ethical principles for the sake of scientific progress, and that any such research should be subject to strict federal guidelines.

Protecting Children from Internet Pornography

John McCain believes the Internet offers tremendous promise in terms of freedom of expression, information sharing, and the spread of knowledge and commerce. It represents the greatest innovation of the modern era in terms of the democratization of free speech and access to information. From human rights groups in China to bloggers here in the United States, the Internet has opened a global dialogue that has propelled the world into an exciting new century of connectivity and communication.

However, there is a darker side to the Internet. Along with the access and anonymity of the Internet have come those who would use it to peddle child pornography and other sexually explicit material and to prey upon children.

John McCain has been a leader in pushing legislation through Congress that requires all schools and libraries receiving federal subsidies for Internet connectivity to utilize technology to restrict access to sexually explicit material by children using such computers. While the first line of defense for children will always be strong and involved parents, when they send their child to school or drop their child off at the library, parents have the right to feel safe that someone is going to be looking out for their children.

Protecting Children from Online Predators

America's most precious asset is its children. The innocence of childhood provides hope for the future and refreshes and restores the ideals of this great country. However, there are those who prey upon this innocence and the Internet offers these predators unprecedented, often anonymous, access to children. John McCain has taken a hard line against pedophiles that would use the Internet to prey upon children by proposing the first-of-its-kind national online registry for persons who have been convicted of sex crimes against children. Senator McCain's legislation requires that sex offenders register all online accounts in a national database that can be used by law enforcement to investigate crimes against children. If these predators fail to register they would be sent to prison for ten years. The legislation also makes use of the Internet an "aggravating factor" in sex crimes against children, adding an additional ten years to any conviction. It is the responsibility of government to do all that can be done to protect children from predators who lurk on the Internet.

The Greatest Honor is to Serve the Cause of Human Dignity

There is no greater nobility than to sacrifice for a great cause and no cause greater than protection of human dignity. Decency, human compassion, self-sacrifice and the defense of innocent life are at the core of John McCain's value system and will be the guiding principles of a McCain Presidency.

"To sacrifice for a cause greater than yourself, and to sacrifice your life to the eminence of that cause, is the noblest activity of all."

John McCain is the son and grandson of military officers. He served as a Navy pilot, honored to live in the company of heroes as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and is a beloved husband and father. Senator McCain has enjoyed the quiet blessings found in serving others.

[kitty]

Nikkol,
I too was a Black child in a majority white private school... I could write a book on the different forms of racism that I experienced...

It was ugly...

Kitty

[Nikkol]

Oct 6, 2008 13:24:30 GMT -5 kitty said:

Nikkol,
I too was a Black child in a majority white private school... I could write a book on the different forms of racism that I experienced...

It was ugly...

Kitty

By the same token, you have some black students at all black schools that have gone through racism....it's just as ugly..... I'd almost say that that's worse.....

But I think what makes the difference is your foundation...

[kitty]

All kids go through something at school... teasing can't be avoided...

But there is a difference between someone joking about you hair and clothes... and someone trying to kill you ie hanging a noose around a tree you sit at... Or of Obama at a local so called Christian college...

And agin I ask you Nikkol...

The McCain's education policy... Does it line up with scripture about how we are supposed to treat the poor and down trodden?

Kitty

[Rachel2]

Oct 6, 2008 13:03:10 GMT -5 Nikkol said:

Here's the website:

www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

I actually like the "No child left behind" law. My mom was a teacher (now a VP) and what you find is that for some areas, you can only teach in certain areas IF you live in that area. Unfortunately, more teachers don't want to work in some areas.... is that their fault for not wanting to work there? Not any more at fault for someone wanting to work at one bank rather than another......

I was the only black student in most things at my school.... and I excelled and a lot of that was due to having supportive parents that were part of my education from day one..... (which I believe was something that was referenced in the beforementioned article.)

HOWEVER,

[/color]the point of this wasn't to start a debate in reference to "bashing McCain/Palin" since I believe there are at least 3 other posts that do this:

[/quote]

Neither is it my intent to BASH mccain/palin. I was simply stating the facts. I was always an involved parent in my daughter's education just as she is involved in my grandson's education. But that still does not negate the fact that Black children, no matter how involved their parents are in their education, are often discriminated against and treated badly in these 99.5% white schools.

Of course, if we had chosen to send my grandson to this school we definitely would have been involved. But, we would not have been present with him in the classroom on a daily basis to defend him against racism from the faculty and other white students.

Not to mention, how many white parents would bus their 6 year old child 30 miles from home to school everyday? The answer is probably zero among the parents who actually care. So what would happen in this case is that the government would purposely funnel money into their community and work overtime to eliminate crime so that schools in their community would attract the best teachers. Therefore, eliminating the need for their children to be bused period.

[Nikkol]

Main Point: I do believe that it is the states job to individually deal with the schooling in their state.


I think that one thing that we're missing is the question of HOW do these other areas get money? A LOT I believe is based on real estate taxes. However, in many of your cities, they have many buldings, which although look nice are NON-TAXABLE. You have many churches, Non profit organizations, universities and hospitals. That alone is a LOT of revenue lost. You also look at the real estate taxes in some of these cities in comparison to the suburbs. For some of these areas, the amount that they are paying in taxes (a MONTH) alone is MORE than my Mortgage.

Additionally, when you have a teacher, 9 times out of 10, you (as a teacher) would prefer to teach in a BETTER school district with better-behaved kids. I can speak specifically about Philly. Philadelphia has a large group of kids that are unbehaved and therefore it's going to be hard to get the "best" teachers to come to Philly. Teachers getting hit by students; teachers getting in trouble for disciplining students; kids shooting teachers; students hitting teachers with bocks; teachers no longer able to show love to students (non-sexual)... not even a hug.... I know a teacher now who says that although my kids are very good in her class, some of the other kids act up and it makes it difficult to help the ones that really want to learn.

And so for parents, like me, you try to prepare them so that they can go to a magnet school.


So do I think that what's going on is "unscriptural"... I wouldn't use that word. Rather, I'd say like I said in my first sentence: I do believe that it is the states job to individually deal with the schooling in their state....and honestly, if they would start taxing all of these areas that aren't paying taxes, the schools would have more money.

[Rachel2]

"kids shooting teachers"

If I am not mistaken, 99.9% of mass murders taking place in schools are being commited by white students with assault weapons in affluent WHITE schools and universities.

Kids in inner city schools are not the only ones with behavioral problems. The difference is when white kids exhibit the same behavior, it is not plastered all over the media and it is simply EXPLAINED away.......Oh, you know her parents are getting a divorce...he's traumatized because his father lost his job and now they have to shop at the goodwill...you know she hasn't been the same since her pet rabbit died....etc.....

"He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing school."

Apparently, mccain disagrees with your view that each state should be responsible for funding their schools. Since he is using federal money that comes from ALL WORKING TAX PAYING CITIZENS, not just the ones in white communities, the inner city certainly has just as much right to the benefits as the white communities.

There are working, productive, tax paying individuals living in the inner city. Here's an eye opener, not everyone is aspiring to live in the suburbs.

[Nikkol]

I don't think that anyone would say that inner cities are the only ones with problems. Although whether or not something is "explained away or not", the final result is still the same...someone is injured or someone has been killed.

Any info that we give will only be based on what we basically personally know. my info would be based on being in Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre. Although from what i read on Obama's plan for education, he seems to discuss specifically creating more charter schools. Did you know that supposedly the worse your school does, the more money they're given and so some schools actually thrive on having kids do worse?? However, the point of this wasn't to go back and forth about what's wrong with the schools....however, feel free to start a separate thread about that. However, this thread was created:

Decided I wanted to start something on the other side in reference to some good things regarding McCain/Palin. I think that it would be better to have more of a balance

But you can feel free that on the other MCCain/Palin threads, you can talk about why this is a bad plan and how Obama's plan in your opinion is better...

Hope that makes sense...