Monthly Archives: February 2005

Hillsborough schools achieve goal of resegregation

Predictably, Hillsborough County’s new school choice plan has resulted in a return to the days of separate but ‘equal’ education, with poor and minority students being crammed into schools lacking such basics as bathrooms and books. The number of Hillsborough schools with high concentrations of poor students nearly doubled this year, with some lacking basic

Elite downtown housing displaces working poor

Hmmm… regular folks seem to be waking up to the fact that all of the much ballyhooed housing development in and around downtown Tampa is not designed for them. About 60 young professionals packed a small room at the Tampa Museum of Art on Thursday night to drill city and development officials about why they

Misleading comparisons offer no hope for Schiavo

The right wing extremists who have latched onto Terri Schiavo in a blatant attempt at self-promotion are dredging up medical cases with so few similarities to Terri’s that comparisons are meaningless, but they still insist that a miraculous cure is just a prayer away. In real life, Terri has lost so much brain matter that

Jeb! proposes new pay for pray plan

Jeb! has a new plan to improve public education: shift low performing students into private religious schools that have absolutely no accountability. That way, the students’ low test scores wont drag down the averages of their former classmates, and Jeb! can point to rising test scores and claim to have done something. Oh, and religious

Schiavo: Jeb! scores political points with his base

Yesterday, it was reported that know nothing busybodies were praying to God Jeb! to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case. It seems their prayers have been answered. State officials again tried to step into the legal drama over Terri Schiavo’s life Wednesday by filing an 11th-hour motion to block the removal of her feeding tube.

No surprise: Bush family directly profits from war

Company’s Work in Iraq Profited Bush’s Uncle The Iraq war helped bring record earnings to St. Louis-based defense contractor Engineered Support Systems Inc., and new financial data show that the firm’s war-related profits have trickled down to a familiar family name — Bush. William H.T. “Bucky” Bush, uncle of the president and youngest brother of

Vouchers for Jesus

This is just too good to pass up: a parent whose kids are ineligible to receive vouchers gets them anyway and uses them to help her kids learn songs praising Jesus. Then the kids are held up as model successes of the very program which they have cheated in order to enroll in. For school

Jeb! aims to expand holy welfare

As a Florida Supreme Court fight over the constitutionality of throwing state money at private religious schools looms, Jeb! aims to expand his controversial voucher program. His ultimate goal is the destruction of the public school system, because educating poor people without simultaneously indoctrinating them into a hateful and violent religious creed is not an

Terri may get her wish to die today

As protestors prayed to God Jeb! to intervene, a Judge issued a last minute stay to prevent Michael Schiavo from carrying out Terri’s wishes by allowing her to die. The OK should come soon, though, ending an odyssey started by well intentioned parents years ago and artificially extended by manipulative Christians and supercilious politicians who

ChoicePoint admits to 10,000 FL victims

ChoicePoint was just gonna notify California victims and leave everyone else hanging, but then word got around, and the company is now scrambling to save face. The personal information of more than 10,000 Floridians — things such as birthdays and bank account numbers — was released to identity thieves in a massive security breach. It’s