Who will be criticized more, Bush or Pawlenty?

It's up in the air at this point as to which assinine politician will draw more flak for a boneheaded move. Right now, oddsmakers have Bush as the favorite as a majority with the U.S. House of Representatives preparing to draft legislation calling the proposed Iraq troop buildup "not in the nation's best interest".

While this will be the first challenge Bush has had in his five years as president, he will somehow weasel his way into approving the additional troops because "it's in America's best interest" or some other bullshit that the brainless masses will blindly support. Of course regardless of the outcome of the "augmentation" or "surge" of troops, the death toll will continue to be counted publicly in St. Peter, MN where such a sign is stirring up controversy of its own.

Except here in Minnesota where our re-elected governor Tim Pawlenty, who accepted a position alongside John McCain on one of those presidential exploratory committees, stated his intention to promote "three new Rs" in our state's education system. The pompous governor went as far as to call the current Rs as outdated. Apparently, in 2007, "rigor, relevance and results".

Why do we need to throw reading, writing and arithmetic under the bus in favor of three new terms which should have already been not only expected but demanded by Minnesota's schools. His wet dream, though, includes turning some of our state's high schools into "rigorous academies" which is a fancy term for intense focus and learning.

While I agree that our schools need the more intensive focus on foreign languages, math and technology; it doesn't have to come at the cost of the three traditional if not dated areas of learning. I was taught under the "old system" and did just fine. Fortunately my school offered a great "indusrial arts" department. Plenty of technology, arts and mechanical teachings; some very hands-on stuff that comes in handy not only in day to day life but in actual honest-to-gosh careers. They also were strong on math requirements and foreign languages were almost required if you even thought about attending a four-year college or university.

Sure, we need the adidtional focus but our douchebag governor went ahead and discarded tradition and core values in education today. Not very smart.