Here is another one Mr. Prez - since Texas is such a big football state and all - maybe you can relate to it better than the Dentist one:

No Child Left Behind --The Football Version

1. All teams must make the state playoffs, and all will win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time and in the same conditions. No exceptions will be made for interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities
or disabilities. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A
PROFICIENT LEVEL.

3. Talented players will be asked to work out on their own without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability, or whose parents don't like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th and 11th games.

5. This will create a New Age of sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind.

=====
I swiped this from a remarkable teacher-blog:

http://teacherwoman.typepad.com/


__________________________________________________

Pardon me if I correct you there but there is NO right of free speech or political incorrectness on this board or any other board because they are privately owned. You are heard ONLY at the pleasure of the owners/operators.

Hey Conan O'Brien just mentioned the Brokeback Mountain deal.

I agree with Mike on this one. I would have had a Title IX question about quotas or something. Bush knows about sports having been an owner for MLB.

Booo on Conan O Brien! Goes from funny to poor taste. Talks about Judge Alito should be confirmed in a greco roman wrestling match and then adds...also known as ranching.

I'm not sure being a minority owner of the Texas Rangers means you are knowledgeable about baseball or sports for that matter.

Hey Sportsfan, did you see him throw the first pitch a few years ago? I think it is well accepted that Bush, like him or not, is a sports fan and quite active. He also served in more than a minor capacity with the Rangers where he was a managing general partner prior to his election in 1994. Also read this link: http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/content/shared/news/nation/stories/08/14BUSH_FITNESS.html where the author states that Bush may be the most physically fit president in the history of the presidency.

Bush knows baseball.

Billy Jack knows smack!

This just in...

The clip featuring former KSU presidential candidate Weremy Barker was on both the Daily Show and Conan O'Brien.

Below is an article from the Topeka Capital Journal...unfortunately, they misspelled Weremy's name.

Kansan in spotlight after asking Bush about movie

By Patrice R. Holderbach
Special to The Capital-Journal

MANHATTAN -- Jeremy Parker and President Bush have at least two things in common -- both have run for president, and neither has watched "Brokeback Mountain," a new movie featuring the love story of two gay ranch hands.

It is the latter of these two insights that has propelled Parker, a December 2005 Kansas State University graduate, into the international media spotlight following Bush's Landon Lecture on Monday at K-State.

During a 53-minute question-and-answer session that included references to Kansas and Texas beef production, Parker asked Bush: "You're a rancher. A lot of us here in Kansas are ranchers. I was just wanting to get your opinion on 'Brokeback Mountain,' if you've seen it."

"I haven't seen it," Bush said. "I'll be glad to talk about ranching, but I haven't seen the movie."

Parker's question, which generated hoots and laughter from the crowd of about 9,400 people, shook up the stream of topics that had primarily focused on foreign policy and in particular the war in Iraq.

"It was two hours of everybody telling him how great he was," Parker said. "And I wanted to see if I could single-handedly end the whole town hall, question-and-answer, folksy-type persona that he's going for now."

As for his own interest in "Brokeback Mountain," Parker said he hasn't seen the film, nor does he plan to anymore.

"It's funnier that way now," he said.

Parker's query has gained attention from such media outlets as the New York Times and the Melbourne Herald Sun, as well as "Inside Edition" and VH1.

Parker, 22, who has a bachelor's degree in music composition, ran for K-State student body president in spring 2005, receiving 0.6 percent of the primary vote before the K-State Student Senate voted unanimously to kick him out of the election for four campaign violations, he said.

Near that time, he also resigned as a columnist for The Kansas State Collegian after writing a campaign-oriented column in which he suggested that "using student fees to build a moon tower would not only boost the university's recognition, but America's reputation as well."

Before he became recognized for his "Brokeback Mountain" question, Parker spent Monday morning walking by a meandering line of students outside Bramlage Coliseum. "Impeach Bush, elect Bo Jackson," he had written on a sign, drawing giggles not just because of the sign but also because of the fake black mustache adhered to his upper lip.

The mustache had disappeared by afternoon when he asked the question.

On Tuesday morning, entertainment show "Inside Edition" sent a black stretch limousine to transport Parker from his Manhattan home to Dole Hall on K-State's campus for a satellite interview that aired Tuesday afternoon.

While on campus, Parker visited his colleagues at Hale Library, where he has worked since May.

"When I heard it on one of the national news shows, there was no shyness, no hesitation -- it was just Jeremy," said Pat Patton, a research specialist in Special Collections who is Parker's supervisor.

"It was a sincere question. I think it was refreshing," Patton said.

After sharing digital photographs of his adventure, Patton said Parker excused himself because his driver was waiting.

"I didn't know that (the limousine) was going to happen, but it was lovely accommodation, I suppose," Parker said, noting that "Inside Edition" didn't compensate him for the interview. "Actually, I'm in the hole, because I had to tip the limo driver $10."

What to say....maybe Andy Warhol's Fifteen minutes of fame lives on...

While our President was general managing partner of the Texas Rangers, Sammy Sosa was traded from the Rangers to the Cubs. Was the Prez-to-be at the bottom of this misbeggoten transaction?

Impeach Bush. Elect Bo Jackson.

Salyer writes, "I know I would not be bragging about a friend or family member showing this type of disrespect to the President."

Salyer what do you think of Fred Phelps?

The question in of all states, Kansas, was really very appropriate.

Is that one of the cowboys?

The ranchers in my community had no clue what the question referred to, but were VERY offended that the young man did not remove his hat when addressing the president.

Lets get one thing straight (pun intended) the guys in this movie are not cowboys. They are sheep herders.

I think normal people around the US wonder what's up with Kansas. I know a book as been published with that title. This stunt was actually a nice boost to Kansas's reputation which has suffered. Kansas usually gets in the news for teaching creationism, Timothy McVeigh, Fred Phelps, BTK, etc. (Phelps is that infamous hate monger from Topeka who probably didn't appreciate the Parker question either.) A little needling of the President about a movie about gay cowboys is pretty funny and good coming from a Kansan. I'm glad it was a guy related to Kansas wrestling legend Prant who's being educated at a liberal college in New York.

For the record, here's a bit on Kansan Fred Phelps and his "church".

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church

About The Westboro Baptist Church
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the funeral of gay murder victim Matthew Shepard, they held up signs reading "No Fags in Heaven" and "God Hates Fags." According to their Web site, they have staged "20,000" protests across the nation and around the world in the last decade.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virulently homophobic, the Westboro Baptist Church has picketed the gay community at hundreds of events nationwide. Many of its fliers emphasize the race or religion of these individuals.

They believe that "God's hatred is one of His holy attributes." They are the congregants of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas.

Incorporated in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization, the virulently homophobic Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) considers itself an "Old School (or, Primitive)" Baptist Church. The Church is led by the septuagenarian Reverend Fred Waldron Phelps Sr., and many WBC congregants are related to Phelps by blood. His wife, several of his children and dozens of his grandchildren frequent the church.

While WBC has picketed the gay community at hundreds of events nationwide, most of the individuals protested by the Church are not homosexual. In fact, WBC most often targets people it mistakenly claims are gay or those it believes to be encouraging homosexuality. Many WBC fliers emphasize the race or religion of these individuals, suggesting that the Church's hate spreads beyond its abhorrence of homosexuality. What appears to be anti-gay rhetoric is often a vehicle for WBC's anti-Semitism, hatred of other Christians, and even racism, though in the 1980s Fred Phelps received awards from the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Blacks in Government and the Bonner Springs branch of the NAACP for his work on behalf of Black clients.

Trained as a lawyer, Fred Phelps was disbarred in 1979 by the Kansas Supreme Court, which asserted that he had "little regard for the ethics of his profession." The formal complaint against Phelps charged that he misrepresented the truth in a motion for a new trial in a case he had brought, and that he held the defendant in the case up to "unnecessary public ridicule for which there is no basis in fact." Following his disbarment from Kansas State courts, Phelps continued to practice law in Federal courts. In 1985, nine Federal court judges filed a disciplinary complaint charging him and six of his family members, all attorneys, with making false accusations against them. The Phelpses fought the complaint but lost. In 1989, Fred Phelps agreed to surrender his license to practice law in Federal court in exchange for the Federal judges allowing the other members of his family to continue practicing in Federal court.

In 1991, WBC staged its first public demonstration, targeting a park in Topeka allegedly frequented by gays. Thousands of protests have followed, and WBC shows no sign of slowing down. In addition to speeches on the picket lines, the Church spreads its hateful message via faxed fliers and "News Releases." These faxed documents also appear at WBC's notorious Web site, Godhatesfags.com, along with photos of Church pickets and a schedule of upcoming demonstrations. A second WBC Web site, Godhatesamerica.com, contends that the United States is "doomed" because it supports gays. According to Fred Phelps, "God invented the Internet for us to preach on."

Look everyone knows Phelps is a nut case. Using him as an examle of what Kansas conservatives are like, is like using NAMBLA as an example of what liberals are like. If you don't know NAMBLA is the North American man boy love association. I could go to thier web site and post wacko stuff. It would not be a true picture of what mainstream liberals believe.

I read this thread as folks being upset about how the Parker question disrespected the President and made Kansas look bad. I saw it a different way. I thought it made Kansas look more likeable.

By the way, here's the book...it's well researched and a good read.

What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (Hardcover)
by Thomas Frank "In the backlash imagination, America is always in the state of quasi-civil war: on one side are the unpretentious millions of authentic Americans; on the..." (more)
SIPs: blue state, red states
CAPs: What's the Matter, Kansas City, Johnson County, Mission Hills, Heart of Redness (more)
(332 customer reviews)

Gut I read parts of this book. I think he is about as reliable as Pat Robertson. He twists facts, takes thing out of context, and in general the book is built on false assumtions.