The Kids Are Alright

It's possible she was just lucky in addition to being smart. If there are hundreds of thousands of kids who are unsure about three or four questions, odds are a few of them will guess correctly.

sweet!!! love of learning will go a long ways. she just gotta be careful not to drop out of college. happens to the best of us. i mean she's got tremendous potential, but when you do things only because you love doing it, not because you have to spend hours upon hours laboring over it, you don't respond very well to the stress of college. anyhow, way too much talking on my part. let's savor the moment. just cuz Amy's mom was possibly a former teacher of her, i feel i am part of her success.

OT but why is Harold Ford Jr on my Tee Vee quoting David Broder?

Don't pay any attention to Harold. He can't help himself. Like Rainman.

Major health scare right now and what is CNN & Politico doing? Well a CNN anchor with the help of a Politico reporter is talking about how does this play politically. Attempting to rate Obama's handling of a health scare hours after its reported.

More media scholars. Folks this is our press:
.
WALSH: You know, I couldn't disagree more with my friend Chris. This is not a "he said/she said" situation. This is torture. Torture is illegal. We don't sit here, Howie, and say he said murder is illegal, but she said, well, sometimes murder's not so bad. These are clear matters of law.
.
Ronald Reagan signed the 1988 U.N. Convention Against Torture where we committed ourselves to prosecuting people who torture. It's the law. It's super clear. It's not a partisan witch hunt or a "she said/he said" situation.
.
KURTZ: David Frum.
.
FRUM: It's not super clear, because the key piece of information people need, most people need to make a decision, is missing. Look, there's a hard core of civil libertarians who will say, I don't care whether this contributed to the defense of the country. Forget it, we won't do it, even if it means Americans die. And then there are some people who say, I support the president no matter what.
.
But most people want to know, did this contribute to the nation's safety? If so, we'll come to one judgment. If it was wasteful, as it's sometimes alleged, and achieved nothing, then we all condemn it. That's the thing we need to know, and that's the thing we don't know. That's the missing piece in all the reportage.
.
(CROSSTALK)
.
WALSH: No, it's illegal, whether it works or not. It's illegal whether it works or not, David.
.
FRUM: Well, as I said, there's a small minority who would feel like Joan does.
.
WALSH: Oh, really?
.
FRUM: Most people want to know, did it -- and that is the missing or the contradicted piece. We don't have a clear answer to that question.
.
WALSH: It doesn't matter.
.
CILLIZZA: Howie, I just want to...
.
KURTZ: Chris.
.
CILLIZZA: Joan, just real quickly, I just want to point out, in our poll that came our this morning, 49 percent of people said no torture under any circumstances; 48 percent, in some special circumstances, depending on the information. That's not my opinion.
.
(CROSSTALK)
.
WALSH: But Chris, the point is it's illegal. In what instance does it matter that 80 percent of Americans would like to murder Dick Cheney? Does that -- would that make it legal? It's not a matter of opinion. It's law.
.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/joan-walsh-torture-illegal-whether-it-work

Wonder how much we are going to hear about this today?
.
Stimulus bill headed for passage minus pandemic funds.
.
Feb 13, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – With money for pandemic influenza preparedness stripped from a huge economic stimulus bill that appears headed for final congressional approval, public health advocates say they have to look to the regular budgeting process for the next chance to get some pandemic funding.
.
The House of Representatives had included $900 million in pandemic preparedness funds in its version of the massive stimulus package, but it appeared that all but $50 million was removed by the conference committee that ironed out differences between the House and Senate versions, said Richard Hamburg, government relations director for the nonpartisan, nonprofit group Trust for America's Health (TFAH).
.
The House passed the $787 billion compromise bill this afternoon by a vote of 246-183, with no Republican support, the New York Times reported. The story said the Senate was expected to approve the measure this evening.
.
The $50 million left in the bill, listed as a Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, is for improving information technology security at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Hamburg said. The sums removed included $420 million for pandemic flu and $430 million for biomedical advanced research and development, he reported.
.
Now it's back to the regular budget process for those seeking pandemic and other public health preparedness funds, leaders of public health groups say.
.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/feb1309funding.html

Is Smithfield Farms responsible for the swine flu?
.
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-swine-flu-smithfield/

Remember when we needed Time magazine and other MSM outlets to report accurately about the stimulus bill and what was in it, and instead they just handed microphones over to Republicans and allowed them to shape the debate and get stuff pulled from the bill? Remember one of the things that got pulled was funding for pandemic preparedness?
.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/430261
.

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year's emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.
.
Obey and other advocates for the spending argued, correctly, that a pandemic hitting in the midst of an economic downturn could turn a recession into something far worse -- with workers ordered to remain in their homes, workplaces shuttered to avoid the spread of disease, transportation systems grinding to a halt and demand for emergency services and public health interventions skyrocketing. Indeed, they suggested, pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.
.
But former White House political czar Karl Rove and key congressional Republicans -- led by Maine Senator Susan Collins -- aggressively attacked the notion that there was a connection between pandemic preparation and economic recovery.

.
Great phucking job on that one Time magazine. I hope you are ever so proud.

sg-how much you want to bet that since the outbreak seems to have begun in Mexico this turns into another edition of bashing Mexico and illegal aliens. As a bonus the EU has sent out travel warning so they will be labeled as anti American.

Gunny, I was thinking yesterday how much I was looking forward to Lou Dobbs' thoughtful commentary on the MEXICAN flu outbreak.
.
Bigots are nothing if not predictable.

SG-Don't forget Schumer. Another Democrat who can give great "I'm so concerned press conferences" when in reality he can't wait to cave.
.
[Schumer] said the compromise hammered out between Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans - which has enough support to get it past any threat of a filibuster - was far better than that passed by the House on Jan. 29.
.
"All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they're all out," Schumer said.
.
http://web5.nypost.com/seven/02082009/news/nationalnews/angry_gop_lets_off_team_ulus_154056.htm

Pual-I think I will watch Lou tonight. If he is there it should be a load of laughs.

And just when you thought the GOP was going to have to go home this summer with nothing to complain about or at least nothing based in reality, we give them swine flu. Comprehensive immigration is really on the back bench now -- these guys are going to go after Janet Napolitano for her failure to crack down on viruses attempting to cross the border.

gysgt and PNNTO
.
Actually you will get a two fer out of the wingnuts. On the one hand they will call for the border to be closed, on the other hand they will propose that this might be a terrorist attack. I have already seen or heard both since last week. Michael Savage the bigoted racist self hating Jew shock jock radio host proposed that it was a terror strike last week AND said it was our bad immigration policy that made it a possibility in the first place. Rethugs never miss an opportunity to prey on fears.

Dee-illegal alien viruses. Good ole middle of the America viruses are okay.
.
I miss the Golden Girls.
.

gunny that was hilarious, still lol...

Interesting how this thread about a brilliant, well-adjusted kid aced all the achievement tests (good for her - and Amy watch your stereotyping expectations about bright kids) morphed into flu and rule of law, both things a very bright kid would understand but that the repugs clearly can't. On gunny's and sgw's and Dee's comments about th radical right, here's a bit via Sully: The GOP Base Gets More Radical
.
On marriage, immigration and spending, the intensity of the far right is increasing, not decreasing, according to the Politico:
.
"My e-mail overfloweth," said David Overholtzer, a longtime GOP activist in western Iowa's Pottawattamie County. "Amnesty is still very much a hot-button and gay marriage especially is here in Iowa. The view is that we've got to hold our legislators' and governors' feet to the fire."
.
"I've never seen the grass-roots quite as motivated, concerned and angry," said Steve Scheffler, the head of the Iowa Christian Alliance and the state's RNC committeeman.
.
Palin awaits.
.
When, oh when, is the msm going to start paying attention to the fact that Fox propagandists and AM RW radio are whipping up the repuglican base into a frenzy based on lies and distortions about our new, and popularly elected president. Sounds like a story to me. Also sounds like a threat to our democracy.

wvng
.
I see just about every Amy Sullivan post as an open thread. I mean what in the hell are we really supposed to say about this kid aceing their exams other than good job? Would we have this post if it wasn't for Sullivan's personal connection? I think not. KT claims this is a blog for politics only and I don't see where this post fits into that category at all. Much better to transition to serious topics and go from there.

I don't know if this is an attempt to gain credibility for the paranoids, but I did hear in a press conference a female reporter already ask whether it was too early to eliminate the possibility that this was a bio-terrorist attack? Now NBC news Brian Williams asking about the swine flu how did it get here in a very mystery musicy way?
.
Where is the hidden terrorism in a story about a bunch of over indulged, well off teenagers, ignoring cartel danger, headed to drunken fun in the sun in Mexico, do we really expect that they are going to guard against catching the flu or be sober enough to know they are bringing it home?

I'm going to look at this as an opportunity to examine prejudice as a general phenomenon. Amy writes this:
.
What is surprising is that by all accounts Willa is no vocab-memorizing automatron but rather a normal, down-to-earth kid with a playful sense of humor.
.
And no one seems to notice that she's no less guilty of trying to pigeonhole people that someone would be if they made blanket assumptions about hip-hop fans or Muslims.
.
There's a smart kid who's otherwise just like kids everywhere. The only thing surprising is that anyone finds that surprising.

sgw, speaking of serious topics, my morning wingnut thread is up.
.
As I said above, I am deeply concerned that we have major media in this country (Fox) that has descended into pure propaganda designed to inflame opinion about a duly and popularly elected president. People watch that every day, every night. And get madder and madder. I can't tell you how many service businesses have the TeeVee turned to Faux in the waiting room.
.
As bad as Faux was as a Bush booster, they are ten times worse, and more dangerous, now. I wish I knew the remedy, but I can't imagine what it could be.

Dee
.
Thats not the story. Not all of the people who got swine flu and brought it back to the US were "over indulged, well off teenagers". One guy in Kansas was there for business and brought it home to his wife. Besides that its probably not a good idea to put unflattering labels on people who may end up dying from the disease, especially when they may not fit that description anyway.

wvng -- Personally, I've spent way too much energy encouraging Amy to pay attention to the constructive comments trying to help her produce better posts. Apparently, she doesn't find our comments helpful or doesn't read them. In any event, we've given up and rather than waste our time trashing her posts we've skipped to the chase and taken over the space to engage in a more relevant conversation.

SG -- you right I was being a bit too snarky -- I was jus picturing the GOP trying to imply that teenagers home from spring break as bio-terrorists.