We also hear doubts that democracy is a realistic goal for the greater Middle East, where freedom is rare. Yet it is mistaken, and condescending, to assume that whole cultures and great religions are incompatible with liberty and self-government.

Which is why Bush is desperately trying not to allow full and free elections there, but rather a caucus form which would keep the majority from ruling.

As long as the Middle East remains a place of tyranny, despair and anger, it will continue to produce men and movements that threaten the safety of America and our friends.

Though Bush is too scared to say the name “Saudi Arabia.”

America acts in this cause with friends and allies at our side, yet we understand our special calling: This great Republic will lead the cause of freedom.

Despite the fact that we consistently cuddle up to dictators and do not install Democracies except rarely. We “freed” Kuwait, but it is a hereditary monarchy. We befriended Pakistan because of 9/11, but it is a country where a duly elected leader was ousted in a military coup. And let’s not get started on Saudi Arabia. Just a few example of many.

Americans took those dollars and put them to work, driving this economy forward. The pace of economic growth in the third quarter of 2003 was the fastest in nearly 20 years. New home construction: the highest in almost 20 years. Home ownership rates: the highest ever. Manufacturing activity is increasing. Inflation is low. Interest rates are low. Exports are growing. Productivity is high. And jobs are on the rise.

Home ownership is up after years of interest rates being at all-time lows, from way back in the Clinton years (as have inflation rates). This year’s home construction is high for the same reason–but it is a side effect, not a save-all solution. Home sales are not high because more people are employed or that more people are successful, which is usually why high home sales are a good sign. It’s just a good time to finance, so the indicator is false. Look at big-ticket item sales–that fell in November and was flat in December. Not so good.

And interest rates are being held low to try to encourage a shift to the stock market from bonds and savings (not always working, though), and the Fed has indicated that it will keep the rates low until the job market improves, but that’s spurring fears because other parts of the economy may overheat, causing other problems.

And speaking of the job market, that’s the biggest hole in this mixed recovery: the jobs are not coming back. Thanks to the mindset of Bush and others like him (businesses are important, people are secondary), there is a hemorrhage of jobs from this country. In the recession of the 90’s, all the jobs lost were recovered within three years. Well, it’s been three years since Bush oversaw his recession, and we’re still down three million jobs. He says “jobs are on the rise,” but (as I noted in a previous segment) only 1,000 new jobs were created last month, not the 250,000 Bush needed; unemployment figures dipped slightly, but only because tens of thousands took their names off the unemployment rolls despite not having a job. And the jobs that are created are, more and more, the kind of McJobs that don’t pay well or have good benefits. Productivity is higher because of the Dilbert Factor (pointy-haired boss: I fired one guy and added all his work to another guy’s load–I doubled productivity!”), and though exports may be up, we still have a $38 billion trade deficit.

In other words, Bush is trying to talk up the economy now as hard as he was trying to talk it down when he wanted to win an election and sell his tax cuts for the rich.

By passing the No Child Left Behind Act, you have made the expectation of literacy the law of our country. We are providing more funding for our schools — a 36 percent increase since 2001. We are requiring higher standards.

Can you say “unfunded mandate”? Whether or not Bush’s numbers are bogus, one thing is certain: Bush is not providing nearly as much money as the law calls for, and as a result, local school districts are paying for it, even though their finances are as tight as everyone else’s.

We are regularly testing every child on the fundamentals.

Standardized and more prolific testing is an easy way for politicians to pretend that they’re doing something (“we’re testing!”), but as an educator, I can tell you that’s it’s full of s***. They do that in Japan–test the hell out of everyone and make the tests supreme–and as a result, you have a nation full of Japanese people who tested very high in English Language for six years in junior and senior high, and yet most still can’t make a complete sentence in speech or on paper. It’s called “teaching to the test”–if the test is paramount, then it–and not actual learning–becomes the end goal of the school. We have to teach our children how to think and learn, not how to pass tests better.

On top of which, this test-oriented bent is causing more and more schools to cheat, either by giving out answers or persuading poor students to stay home on test days–as evidenced by massive corruption in Texas, by no small coincidence.

There are no easy answers to the problems education faces today–a lot more money, a lot more respect for school teachers, and a lot more faith in all teachers to do the jobs they’ve been trained to do (get the administrators and politicians out of the classrooms, thank you) are a good start. But Bush wants none of those things.

So tonight I propose a series of measures called Jobs for the 21st Century. This program will provide extra help to middle and high school students who fall behind in reading and math, expand advanced placement programs in low-income schools, and invite math and science professionals from the private sector to teach part-time in our high schools.

Oh, an invitation! That’ll work! And naturally, there are so, so many “math professionals” out there! And scientists working at high-paying jobs for pharmaceutical companies will surely swarm to take a cut in pay so they can become substitute teachers at high schools! And of what private sector professionals that would be willing to do this, of course all have high qualifications and certifications for teaching kids, right? Oh, my aching head! How about paying people who are trained to be Math and Science teachers a decent wage and paying to improve the schools so that they at least rate minimum, and then maybe there won’t be a shortage of Math and Science teachers!

Why is throwing money always the answer to helping rich people, fixing the military or hiring executives, but when it comes to Education, somehow money is not even part of the answer? Where is Bush’s pledge for billions to help the schools? The same place all the money went for AIDS in Africa or “no child left behind,” and the same place the money for the Mars mission will go after politicians have no use for it anymore.

Ah, too much for tonight. All of this is touching off what remains of my stomach flu. But rest assured, I will be back to continue.