and Part 2:

And in part two, Professor Cole explains “wahabbi,” “jihad,” and other concepts.

The plan:

1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.³
2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won’t go up one dime.⁴
3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.⁵
4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.⁶
5. Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.⁷
6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. ⁸
7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.⁹
8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.¹⁰
9. Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.¹¹
10. Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama’s budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America’s priorities are, what they cost, and how we’re going to pay for them.¹²

This is the change we voted for. President Obama has done his part, now we need to do ours.

Can you pass this on to your personal network and then click here to let us know how many people you told, so we can track our impact together:

http://pol.moveon.org/budget10/?id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=1

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Tanya, Peter, Justin and the rest of the team

P.S. Turns out there are way more than 10 amazing things in Obama’s budget and we couldn’t resist sharing just a few more.

1. Stops unnecessary government subsidies to big banks, health insurance companies and big agribusinesses.^13,14,15
2. Expands access to early childhood education and improves schools by investing in programs that make sure every child has a qualified, strong teacher.¹⁶
3. Negotiates for better prescription drug prices using Medicaid’s tremendous bargaining power.¹⁷
4. Expands access to family planning for low-income women.¹⁸
5. Caps the pollution that causes global warming, and makes polluters pay to support clean energy innovation.¹⁹

Sources:

1. “Climate of Change,” The New York Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27krugman.html?em

2. “Obama Calls His Budget Sweeping, Needed Change,” The New York Times, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51201&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=2

3. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=3

4. “Obama Expects Fight Over $3.55 Trillion Budget Plan,” Bloomberg News, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51203&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=4

5. “Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=5

6. “The Economic Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan,” The New York Times, March 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01glanz.html

7. “Tax Cuts,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

8. “Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=6

9. “Student Loans,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

10. “Obama unveils budget blueprint,” CNN, February 26, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/26/budget/

11. “Obama budget would boost SEC, CFTC, FBI,” Reuters, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51205&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=7

12. “Obama’s budget,” Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51206&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=8

13. “Student Loans,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

14. “Health Insurance Stocks Dive on Medicare Advantage Cuts,” The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51207&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=9

15. “Agriculture,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-agri.html

16. “Investing Wisely in Our Children,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51208&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=10

17. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=11

18. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=12

19. “Setting ‘Green’ Goals,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51209&id=15687-495491-ShbEoZx&t=13

After President Obama’s Address to Congress, the Republican Party’s response was delivered from Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal.  I am loving that Sarah Palin, Michael Steele and Bobby Jindal are the new faces of the Republicans – they are the new Three Stooges!

I wonder if he even bothered to watch the President’s speech? I wonder what planet he’s living on? He’s got an interesting personal story, but his ideas? Just more of the same failed Republican policies that got us into this ridiculous mess to begin with – tax cuts for the rich, abandoning public education. Really, Bobby Jindal? Is that the best the Republicans can do in this time of economic crisis?

Tax cuts will increase the debt but not have an appreciable effect on the economy, except to encourage more borrowing – people will pay off old debts but not buy new stuff. Recent history has shown this to be the case. And while paying off debt is good, it won’t create any jobs right now, which we need.

And charter schools and vouchers? There’s plenty of indication that charter schools do not improve education over traditional public schools – they are essentially a wash.

And getting rid of corruption and increase transparency in Washington, DC?  No one has seen the text of the stimulus package?  I guess he hasn’t seen http://recovery.gov/ yet,  or the other websites the Obama Administration has published to enable the public to see how the money is being spent.

It’s no wonder that the Republican Party is becoming more and more irrelevant, and no longer a national party, but a regional party of the South.  If this is the best they can do, then I say let them fade more and more into obscurity.

But what I want to know is which of the Three Stooges is Jindal?  Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Curly Joe?

The new standards the board ultimately approves — a final vote on the curriculum proposal is not expected until March — will be in place for the next decade. They also will dictate how publishers handle the topic of evolution in textbooks.

Critics of the “weaknesses” language argue that watering down the teaching standards of origin of man is an attempt to promote creationism in public schools.

Federal courts have ruled against forcing the teaching of creationism and intelligent design.

Citizens who value rational thought and science must remain vigilant to keep the separation of church and state strong.

 

And it isn’t just about politics. The division is also between rich and poor, between those with college educations and those without. On average, Republican communities have lower incomes and less education than Democratic communities. And those differences are growing as people migrate.
Just more than 600 counties (of more than 3,100 nationally) voted Republican more heavily in this year’s presidential contest than in 2004. The average per capita yearly income in those counties was about $18,800, according to county income tallies issued each year by the Internal Revenue Service. (Income in this article is determined by the amount of adjusted gross taxable income listed on individual tax returns from 2004-07. Per capita income equals gross income divided by the number of personal exemptions.) By contrast, those living in the 500-plus counties that voted more heavily Democratic this year than in 2004 had average personal incomes of $28,000—nearly 50 percent higher than the communities trending Republican. The most Democratic counties (those where Barack Obama won by more than 20 percentage points) had average per capita incomes of $28,207. Those counties where John McCain won by similar margins had average personal incomes of just $21,308.
 

Ignorant, uneducated people make decisions that are not in their, or the country’s, best interest.  Thomas Jefferson said:

I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.

This is our mission: to educate the public to run the country with wisdom.  Education brings prosperity and peace, and helps people fulfill their pursuit of happiness.  An enlightened populace will throw down tyranny and bring more liberty to all.
Urging President-elect Obama to make affordable, quality public education available to all people should rank very high on the list of tasks for his incoming administration.