Randi mentions the need for an educated electorate

[Fovea]

and Jefferson's public school system.
Right on Randi!

The show is really being rewarded with some amazing callers.

So Randi, will you come out in favor of mandatory free public education to the A.B. level at least?

All Americans need an Associates Degree in the global economy, anyway. So how about it Randi, do you support a higher standard for education in America? The vocational equivalent at least an AB degree would revitalize our industrial economy, as well.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. And a functional news media. And fair elections.

[Johonny]

2. and honest politicians

Oh wait thats probably asking too much.

[BlueEyedSon]

10. LOL!

[punpirate]

3. Jefferson founded...

... the University of Virginia as a free institution--because he believed that the way to ensure the nation's democracy was an informed and educated populace.

What has principally ruined this ideal, particularly for the states, is the failure of the federal government to tax corporations, which in turn affects corporate state tax returns.

The irony here, of course, is that corporations continually lament the lack of education in their employees, and that they depend heavily upon the educational infrastructure for their success--and yet, they have consistently underfunded it through their willing and continued attempts to resist paying taxes and to lobby government for further reductions in their taxes--something that was anathema to their god, Adam Smith.

The further irony is that corporations are the creations of the states--they are an instrument of the states, and yet, the states are now unwilling to rein in corporations, or are instrumental in furthering their aims of removing the wealth of the states.

[Fovea]

6. The greatest irony to me

is how these fools who perform an apotheosis of Adam Smith do not seem to comprehend such ideas as public goods. Pity, because a little consistency goes a long way to providing a lucid argument that public health and public education *are just as essential to modern commerce* as lighthouses and bridges were in Smith's world.

But these clowns are killing Amtrak, go figure.

[Maple]

4. Questions

from a Canuck.

What is an A.B. level?

What is an Associates Degree?

What would be a vocational equivalent to an A.B degree?

[Fovea]

5. a two year degree.

usually in a technical discipline, such as accounting, business, industrial drawing, paralegals, etc.

An equivalent might be something like a certificate for a major database, or operating/networking system like Unix or Oracle(TM).
This would give every American a set of work skills as well as an academic exposure to college level humanities and critical thinking/scholarship.

[BiggJawn]

7. I have an AAS/EET ticket.

My income is, "Adjusted for Inflation", only about 75% of what it was in 1980 with NO degree.

Just having a LITERATE Electorate would go a long way towards correcting this shit we've found ourselves in.

[Fovea]

8. A Literate electorate

is the foundation of democracy. A vigorous, vigilant, and free press is its carpenter.

[BiggJawn]

9. And we have neither.

We have a populace that goes by the pictures on the packages of whatever they buy at Wally-World, and a Press that has gone from "All the news that's fit to print" to "All the News that gives you fits". Pop News. Manufactoring Outrage and Popular Opinion.

What have I heard this AM?..Oh, let's see....The Catholic Church is worried because the Pentecostals are winning converts in South America, so that might give us a Pope from that region...Eric Rudolph was "defiant" at his pleading...Wall Street took a nose-dive yesterday, but that's OK, the Economy's on the rise. It's just around the corner. Seriously.

Oh...I almost forgot the most PRESSING matter on the mind of the Murkan Sheeple today...

Who's gonna get kicked off The Island tonight?