Margaret Spellings, the education secretary in the latter years of the Bush administration, said that before No Child Left Behind, when federal laws had few strings attached, many states showed little progress raising student achievement, especially for poor and minority students. “We tried that for 40 years,” she said. “The results were far from stellar.”

For his part, Mr. Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, which has long had the nation’s top public schools, at first resisted the education law, but he came to embrace it. More recently, he has praised Mr. Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, for promoting “school choice” and tying teacher evaluations to student test scores.

But Mr. Romney is clearly feeling the hot breath of Tea Party anti-federalism. In a debate last month, when Mr. Perry accused him of being a Race to the Top fan, Mr. Romney responded, “I don’t support any particular program that he’s describing.” In fact, Mr. Romney had praised Race to the Top the day before.

Closing the Education Department has long been a talking point of some Republicans, though it was ignored in practice. As a presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan campaigned to close it in 1980, the year it was created. But he found no Congressional takers and, as president, ended up expanding its budget and ambitions.

It is unclear whether the current field of candidates favors not just shrinking a Washington bureaucracy, but also eliminating the department’s entire $68 billion budget. Most funds support broadly popular programs: classroom enrichment for poor students, local aid for students with disabilities and Pell grants for low-income college students, often the first in their families to go to college.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/wall-street-protest-moves-to-washington-sq/?hp

WASHINGTON: Republican presidential contenders are courting evangelical Christians, a crucial voting bloc in the party's primaries, free of competition from Sarah Palin.

A ''Values Voter Summit'' in Washington is giving front runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney a chance to make their pitches, along with Michele Bachmann, who is sliding in opinion polls, and a rising Herman Cain. It's largely an opening for Republicans seeking an alternative to Mr Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, now that Mrs Palin, the party's 2008 vice-presidential nominee, has decided against joining the 2012 race.

''There should not be a single policy coming out of Washington, DC, that interferes with decisions best made by the families,'' Mr Perry told summit attendees. ''The demise of the family is the demise of any great society.''

The annual gathering focuses on efforts to ''champion traditional values'', limit government and cut federal spending. This year's Republican contest elevates the significance of this and similar events for candidates seeking support from the evangelical movement, a major force within the party since it helped promote Ronald Reagan's presidency.

Mr Cain drew standing ovations as he stressed his opposition to abortion rights, pledged to simplify the tax code and chastised those protesting against Wall Street. He said the demonstrators were ''anti-capitalism'' and ''anti-free market''.

Is a religious war breaking out in the Republican Party?

On Friday, Pastor Robert Jeffress of the 10,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas took the podium at the Values Voter Summit to introduce and endorse Rick Perry.

Gov. Perry, said Pastor Jeffress, is a leader with “a strong commitment to biblical values” who defunded Planned Parenthood, that “slaughterhouse for the unborn.” He contrasted Perry with an unnamed rival.

“Do we want a candidate who is a conservative out of convenience or one who is a conservative out of deep conviction? Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person or one who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?”

Perry thanked Jeffress for this “very powerful introduction” and congratulated him for having “hit it out of the park.”

By then, however, the pastor, having rounded the bases, was expatiating to an attentive press corps.

“Mormonism is not Christianity,” Pastor Jeffress asserted. Rather, Mormonism is a “cult.” The Mormons “embraced another gospel, the Book of Mormon, and that is why they have never been considered by evangelical Christians to be part of the Christian family.” In essence, Romney may be a good man, but he is not a Christian.

Saturday, Bill Bennett appeared. “Do not give voice to bigotry,” said Bennett. “I would say to Pastor Jeffress: You stepped on and obscured the words of Perry. … You did Perry no good.”

Romney took the podium to speak of America’s “heritage of religious faith and tolerance” and denounced those who would inject “poisonous language” into the political debate.

“Speaking of hitting it out of the park,” Romney began, “how about that Bill Bennett?”

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2011/10/10/the-religion-card-is-turned-face-up/

The stone-clad building stands on a busy intersection in the heart of Manhattan's Upper West Side. There is little to distinguish it from any other modern place of worship in New York: it has a simple design, subtly decorated windows and a modest spire – one topped by a golden statue of a trumpet-wielding angel. And that is the difference: the angel, unfamiliar to most Christians, is called Moroni.

The building is the Manhattan temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, better known around the world as the Mormons. There are other temples scattered throughout New York, serving a growing community in the city of one of the world's youngest but fastest-spreading faiths. Normally associated with the desert mountains of Utah, where it has its headquarters, the church's 6 million-plus members are rapidly rising to prominence in America's consciousness: two Mormons are running for the Republican presidential nomination. Indeed, Mitt Romney is a frontrunner in that race and by 2013 the US could have a Mormon president.

There are already 15 Mormons in Congress, including Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid. Rightwing media firebrand Glenn Beck is a Mormon. So is rock star Brandon Flowers, lead singer of the Killers, and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, contending with Romney for the Republican nomination. Mormons run businesses such as hotel chain Marriott International, and shows about them – such as the HBO drama Big Love – are television hits. For a faith that has often been persecuted, Mormonism, it seems, has never been more American.

"I am not only a New Yorker and a Mormon, but I am proud to be so. I have raised a family here," says David Buckner, a business consultant who worships at the Manhattan temple. For Buckner, 48, who has called New York home since 1995, the city and Mormonism are a perfect fit. "There is a deep respect for different religions here in New York. People are respectful of our mores and values."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/16/romney-leads-charge-mormonism-american-mainstream

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Sorry full of faith folks rack off... I am not in your cheering squad.

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From Wikipedia...

The LDS Church has produced a number of official doctrinal statements on the "origin of man." These statements generally adopt the position, as a church-approved encyclopedia entry[1] states, "[t]he scriptures tell why man was created, but they do not tell how, though the Lord has promised that he will tell that when he comes again."[2]

The first official statement on the issue of evolution was in 1909, which marked the centennial of Charles Darwin's birth and the 50th anniversary of his On the Origin of Species. In that year, the First Presidency, led by Joseph F. Smith as President, issued a statement declaring that "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity."[3] This teaching regarding the origin of man differs from traditional Christianity's doctrine of creation, referred to by some as "creationism", which comprises belief in a fiat creation. In addition, the statement declares human evolution as one of the "theories of men," but fall short of explicitly declaring it untrue or evil. They said:

All [men] who have inhabited the earth since Adam have taken bodies and become souls in like manner. It is held by some that Adam was not the first man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories of men. The word of the Lord declares that Adam was 'the first man of all men' (Moses 1:34), and we are therefore in duty bound to regard him as the primal parent of the race... all men were created in the beginning after the image of God; and whether we take this to mean the spirit or the body, or both, it commits us to the same conclusion: Man began life as a human being, in the likeness of our heavenly Father. True it is that the body of man enters upon its career as a tiny germ or embryo, which becomes an infant, quickened at a certain stage by the spirit whose tabernacle it is, and the child, after being born, develops into a man. There is nothing in this, however, to indicate that the original man the first of our race, began life as anything less than a man, or less than the human germ or embryo that becomes a man.[4]

The statement did not define the origins of animals other than humans, nor did it venture into any more specifics regarding the origin of man.

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No matter what, or who in the republican outfit, takes the cake and candles in the end, one has to be very frightened by the revival of bigotry in the "leadership of the world"...

I am not — unlike all [men] in this fancy story — a deity, part thereof, not am I created in the image of a deity nor of in the likeness of a heavenly father...

I am a clever monkey — AND I like it that way.

And, by the way, having a solid knowledge of the scriptures, the paragraph that says "[t]he scriptures tell why man was created, but they do not tell how" is a lot of selective scripture bull.. amongst a lot of bull within the full of crap scriptures.

Liberty University’s Johnnie Moore speaks the language of young evangelicals

By Michelle Boorstein, Sunday, October 16, 10:20 AM

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m., more than 10,000 students pour into the Vines Center at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., to hear top-line musical worship performances and talks by the likes of Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and the Rev. Rick Warren, all recent speakers.

Liberty’s “convocation” is the largest regular gathering of young evangelicals in the country.

And the guy who picks who speaks is Johnnie Moore, a charismatic campus preacher and Liberty vice president who at 28 is becoming a heavy-hitter in the world of conservative Christianity. At a time when young white evangelicals are pushing back against the marriage of their faith with the GOP, Moore looks like he might be a key to the future, espousing a Christianity that is at once orthodox and social justice-minded. He is the go-to adviser for some conservative leaders trying to understand what the heck is going on.

They got a wake-up call in 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama captured 33 percent of young white evangelical voters, nearly triple the percentage John Kerry received four years earlier. Moore agrees with many experts who say he did this by tapping into their disaffection with politics and instead inviting them in their own language to be part of a movement.

While Moore says he would “never call myself a Republican,” he has already counseled five Republican presidential candidates and speaks in hip, Millennial ways about his own conservative political agenda that is pro-small government and anti-Obamacare.

“Johnny very well may be a significant part of the bridge that may save conservative Christianity. He’s a saving thread because he’s cool, relevant, not a fanatic,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, leader of the country’s largest Latino evangelical group.

During a recent visit on campus, Moore demurred when his striking Brazilian wife called him a politics junkie.

He is, he says, ambivalent about the mixing of religion and politics and stays away from the biggest young evangelical conferences, saying he’s wary about “what’s in.” He has also pulled back from blogging too much, freaked out by the harsh tone of the blogosphere.

As such, he seems the perfect envoy for young evangelicals in flux.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/liberty-universitys-johnnie-moore-speaks-the-language-of-young-evangelicals/2011/09/26/gIQAvWC3mL_print.html

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There is nothing that an old atheist like me can do to arrest this fantasy-inspired stupidity — and in the young people of all mongrels... Except I can mention time and time again the ludicrousness of the bigot proposition in relation to the universe — versus our accidental evolutionary place in it. Sure these narrow-minded people call themselves "evangelicals" (important toady title), but they still are ignoramuses of random reality, while bathing in moronic faith with which they plan to screw this world even more.

What can I do? What can we do?... Their strength is not so much in their screwed faith but the money they make out of this gigantic delusion....... and did I mention their numbers, as they breed like cockcroaches.

2000 years ago, the Romans could not manage to eradicate this plague when it was only affecting a small group...

What chance do I have?

...

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is a demon-worshipping cultist, according to the official dogma of the Rev. Robert Jeffress, who lately has been appearing with Gov. Rick Perry, or anywhere really,  to spread the Word that it would be un-Christian to vote for anyone but an unadulterated Christian (except for, of course, that Obama devil). The Reverend’s buddy Perry has done little but grin in response.

A cynic might suggest neither Bachmann nor Perry believe what they are saying or tacitly approving, and are following the latest version of Nixon’s Southern Strategy, pandering to the worst instincts of our weakest minds. After all, a dumb nut’s vote counts the same as anybody else’s, and dumb nuts do vote.

But I prefer to take the long view, which is that it won’t matter in three days anyway. The world will end on Oct. 21, 2011, according to Harold Camping, taking mulligans on his unfulfilling Raptures of May 21, 2011,  September 6, 1994 and May 21, 1988. And this time everybody gets to go. “There will be no pain suffered by anyone because of their rebellion against God,” Camping says. “He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”

How Christian of Him.

23 October 2011. 09:41:06 (EST)

There has been speculation over whether Mitt Romney's Mormon religion could be a factor in the US presidential race.

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Well I hope it will be a hindrance should he get the republican nod to contest the cherry.

As far as the US are concerned I would not worry too much about the colour of his underpants...

But for the rest of the world I feel and know it would be a turn-back to the nineteeth century in a twenty-first century moment...

Humanity's understanding of the planet would sink below par and we would suffer from a new wave of door-to-door salesmen of naive faith, in white shirt and tie... Time to let the crows out of their cages...

...

Even so, the payoff to the new rules is huge: up to $90 billion a year in benefits compared with around $10 billion a year of costs in the form of slightly higher electricity prices. This is, as David Roberts of Grist says, a very big deal.

And it’s a deal Republicans very much want to kill.

With everything else that has been going on in U.S. politics recently, the G.O.P.’s radical anti-environmental turn hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. But something remarkable has happened on this front. Only a few years ago, it seemed possible to be both a Republican in good standing and a serious environmentalist; during the 2008 campaign John McCain warned of the dangers of global warming and proposed a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions. Today, however, the party line is that we must not only avoid any new environmental regulations but roll back the protection we already have.

And I’m not exaggerating: during the fight over the debt ceiling, Republicans tried to attach riders that, as Time magazine put it, would essentially have blocked the E.P.A. and the Interior Department from doing their jobs.

Oh, by the way, you may have heard reports to the effect that Jon Huntsman is different. And he did indeed once say: “Conservation is conservative. I’m not ashamed to be a conservationist.” Never mind: he, too, has been assimilated by the anti-environmental Borg, denouncing the E.P.A.’s “regulatory reign of terror,” and predicting that the new rules will cause blackouts by next summer, which would be a neat trick considering that the rules won’t even have taken effect yet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/opinion/krugman-springtime-for-toxics.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

A former investment manager alleges in a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post.

The confidential document, received by the IRS on Nov. 21, accuses church leaders of misleading members — and possibly breaching federal tax rules — by stockpiling their surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works. It also accuses church leaders of using the tax-exempt donations to prop up a pair of businesses.

A spokesman for the church did not respond to detailed questions from The Post about the complaint. “The Church does not provide information about specific transactions or financial decisions,” spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement.

The complaint provides a window into the closely held finances of one of the nation’s most visible religious organizations, based in Salt Lake City. It details a church fortune far exceeding past estimates and encompassing stocks, bonds and cash.

The complaint was filed by David A. Nielsen, a 41-year-old Mormon who worked until September as a senior portfolio manager at the church’s investment division, a company named Ensign Peak Advisors that is based near the church’s headquarters. 

Nonprofit organizations, including religious groups, are exempted in the United States from paying taxes on their income. Ensign is registered with authorities as a supporting organization and integrated auxiliary of the Mormon Church. This permits it to operate as a nonprofit and to make money largely free from U.S. taxes.

Read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/mormon-church-has-misled-members-on-100-billion-tax-exempt-investment-fund-whistleblower-alleges/2019/12/16/

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