A Rational Animal

[Mis]Education Secretary Margaret Spelllings went before the house today to defend the administration’s education budget.  And nobody’s happy.

First NM’s own Tom Udall went after her for underfunding (non-funding) the horrifically misnamed No Child Left Behind Act, specifially with regard to public schools on reservations in New Mexico.  I came in as he was getting warmed up, and he was clearly pissed at both the abysmal numbers and her snotty attitude.  He asked her to explain why they were underfunding Native American schools and what they were going to do about it. 

Her response? 

I’m paraphrasing here, but only slightly.  Spellings refused to answer either question, and instead, with a distinctly petulant edge in her voice reminiscent of that of her Dear Leader, declared that NCLB had "done more for non-English-speaking students, and for special education students, than any education initiative in the history of this country."

Got that?

Native American public school students - in 2007 - 1) don’t speak English; 2) are "special ed" students; or 3) both.

Fucking stupid bitch.

A few others weigh in, and then we get to another non-white rep, CA’s Mike Honda.  And in his usual low-key way, Honda mentions that people in his district are particularly upset by one aspect of NCLB:  the one that requires a particular kind of public school teacher certification, to the exclusion of other forms of certification, in order to receive federal funding.  His point was that highly qualified teachers in California, lacking what the Bush administration deems the certification (sort of like Rove’s "the math," with about as much educational merit, undoubtedly), are being shunted to other positions to make way for unqualified hacks less skilled and experienced teachers who happen to possess that particular set of "credentials."

However, Honda’s not done:  Apparently unwilling to give her a chance to respond  with one of her customary non-answers, he segues straight into a discussion of her own credentials.  Noting that, in preparation for today’s hearing, he looked up her bio on the Internet, he asks her what, precisely, in her background qualifies her to determine which forms of teacher certification are appropriate.

Spellings begins her non-answer by noting that her career’s been "in the policy arena."  Apparently finding this less than compelling, Honda interrupts her to ask whether she has any experience in education - you know, experience that would qualify her to make such decisions with regard to education of the nation’s children.  Again, she talks about being "around legislatures," working for "two governors," on behalf of "school boards" (oh, goody!), and again with the "policy arena" bit.

But Honda persists:  Does she have any actual experience as an educator?

Well, yes, she responds; early in her career she was a substitute teacher - and then she’s back on the "policy arena" shit again.  ‘Cause, you know, admitting that she was a "substitute teacher" is so clearly beneath her.

Well, Honda may be low-key, but he’s got a definite taste for the jugular.  He seizes on this admission, with words to the effect of, "So, you were certified to teach, then?"

Spellings is clearly unprepared; taken aback, she blurts out, "No."  Honda grills her again - "You weren’t certified?"

Spellings:  "No, because I was a substitute teacher in Texas, and Texas . . . didn’t . . .[realization begins to dawn] require certification . . . ."

You coulda heard the proverbial pin drop.

And Honda, master of the pregnant pause, knows when to shut up.

What was that I said earlier?

Oh, yeah.  Fucking stupid bitch.

[Oooh, now Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s going after her . . . .] 

Update:  House Appropriations Subcommittee Chair David Obey has gone after her on a number of fronts, including the issue of the department using its "Reading First!" program to force school districts to abandon any reading program except rigid phonics - and to buy specific phonics curriculum materials.

Barbara Lee wants to know why the education department is cutting funds for colleges that serve African-American and Hispanic constituencies (she obviously didn’t get an answer she found adequate).

Back to Udall:  He wants to know whether, at any time, Bush gave her and the department leave to depart from his NCLB directive to fund the NCLB "fully."  As with Honda, she’s on the spot - no choice but to deny it.  <snicker> And Udall felt it necessary to add that he now understands why Rep. Honda was making the point about her professional qualifications.

Now Betty McCollum (D-MN) wants to know about funding for charter schools and whether any of them are for-profit:  "Why would I vote for something that undermines the Minnesota constitution [i.e., forbidding funding non-public schools]?"  Spellings argues that charter schools are public schools.  McCollum’s not buying:  She wants to know where the offset is in the department’s budget for MN taxpayers who want adequate funding for their true public schools.  "Why would we expand into charter school facilities [i.e., when existing public schools are short of funds]?"  And she closes by reiterating that Spellings admitted that some of these supposedly pubic charter schools are indeed for-profit institutions.

Obey’s off again, this time on unscientific textbooks, grants for favored programs, and reports of the department "vowing to deny funding to those that are not part of the in-crowd."  Now he’s citing e-mails about "beating the [shit] out of" those that don’t comply, and limiting "program-bashing to under the major radar."  He’s got more examples of attempts to force districts to abandon "whole language" programs in favor of "cutting and pasting" from successful grant applications - i.e., those that adopted the Reading First! program (and the materials sold by its curriculum suppliers) wholesale.

Spine! 

So then-Army Secretary Francis Harvey throws General George W. Weightman - the one official who was demonstrably not responsible for the Walter Reed scandal - under the bus.  When the Bush maladministration realizes that the public will not be appeased by cutting loose a guy who’s been at Walter Reed a mere six months, it then throws Harvey under the bus. 

And who comes out on top?  Why, that’s absolutely right, children:  Kevin Kiley, Army Surgeon General and one of the chief architects of the Walter Reed abomination.

No more. 

The A.P. is reporting that "[t]he Army forced its surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, to retire." Of course, Kiley’s spinning this as voluntary:

"I submitted my retirement because I think it is in the best interest of the Army," Kiley was quoted as saying in Monday’s Army statement.

Kiley said he wanted to allow officials to "focus completely on the way ahead."

However, Acting Army Secretary Pete Geren apparently didn’t present it as an option:  "Geren asked Kiley to retire, a senior defense official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record."

About damn time.

This is the asshole who, according to Harvey himself, called Dana Priest’s reporting "yellow journalism":

"He called me and said, ‘I’m willing to defend myself. . . . I want to have an opportunity to defend myself, and it was wrong and it was yellow journalism at its worst, and I plan on doing it. Trust me.’ " Harvey said. "I said, ‘Okay, Kevin.’ "

[Ed. note:  "’Okay, Kevin’"??!!!  WTF kind of response is that??!!!]

This is the asshole who said, of the sqalid patient conditions at Walter Reed, that the problems "weren’t serious, and there weren’t a lot of them."

This is the asshole who had known directly of the problems for months - and had heard complaints from patients’ families for years - and did nothing.

This is undoubtedly the asshole - in conjunction with a number of other Pentagon and administration assholes - who punished wounded soldiers with dawn inspections and gag orders for being so disloyal, so treasonous as to tell a reporter that their hospital rooms were infested with rodent shit and cockroaches, that they were left to lie in their own waste, that they were being fucked over by the same government that put them there in the first place.

And this is the asshole who whitewashed the military’s official "report" on treatment of detainees, finding no evidence of torture or abuse.  ‘Cause, you know, it’s kindof hard to find evidence that a detainee has been tortured when you refuse even to talk to a single detainee.

It couldn’t happen to a more deserving asshole.

Of course, what he really deserves is a few months in in Gitmo, complete with sensory deprivation and waterboarding, followed by R&R in the worst room in Walter Reed’s Building 18.  Strapped to the bed, no access to the bathroom, and no one answering his call light as the rats and roaches skitter across his face.  Of course, he’d have broken completely long before that; bullies are always the weakest psychologically.  But it would still be gratifying.