I didn't vote for you in the Primary, and I won't vote for you in the General.

This diary is part of a series leading up to an education panel discussion at Yearly Kos. It follows several diaries on the history of education and a diary on curriculum. This diary focuses on the students. In the coming weeks, Mi Corazon will have diaries about teachers.

Summary of Recommendations in this diary:

• Structure schools to encourage personal relationships
• Get more from assessment
• Provide a safe and positive environment
• Meet the physical needs of students
• Increase funding of Title One and return its focus to helping students
• Provide more help to students before they enter and after they leave elementary and secondary school
• Fund IDEA (for students with disabilities)

This diary is part of the YKOS Education UpRising Project, which has been introduced in a few diaries by teacherken such as Ed/Up Education UpRising - Educating for Democracy (Yearlykos).

This could be viewed as a break from our more formal work. It involves several of us sharing the most important lessons we learned in school.

Over the past year, a debate between Liberals and Conservatives has gone on as to whether Iraq is currently in a Civil War.

According to today's Washington Post (http://tinyurl.com/...), the description is beyond horrible. Calling it a Civil War is no longer accurate. We are looking at Ethnic Cleansing and could soon see Genocide.

Many diaries have already mentioned the upcoming guilty verdict against Saddam Hussein. A recommended diary on the subject is here. The Nation blog has a post talking about its meaning here.

I want to make sure everybody understands the importance of this issue and give you some ways to counteract the November Surprise.

Some Torture Bill likely will be voted on in the next few days, and an important election is coming up in the next few weeks. Should our community be taking a stand, or should we be observers?

Are you prepared to punish Democrats who support torture?

Scholastic hopefully is in the process of eliminating or fixing its study guide for "The Path To 911".

I think that we at kos can have some fun creating our own study guide. My suggestions are below.

There is a good diary on the recommended list describing how Conservatives get their policies into the mainstream over time. My diary will explain one way that Republicans win elections--they focus on Democrats. The proposed solution is that we focus on Republicans.

The biggest story of the year is that we have wasted another year. When I say `We', I mean the Left, and I include myself.

We need a way of getting on television, on the radio, and in the newspaper. We have not found it. Air America is the slowest growing network in the history of growing networks. Some of their stations have changed more than once per year, and some require the listener to be within 20 feet of the transmitter. Our favorite television shows, The Daily Show and Countdown, offer balance, make a joke out of everything, and do not break stories. I don't want some experimental junk like what Gore is starting--I want a news station.

I know that the issue has already been raised on the main page, but I still don't think it has gotten the attention it deserves.

http://hrw.org/reports/2005/us0905/
We are still torturing innocent people in Iraq

"After Abu Ghraib things toned down.  We still did it but we were careful.  It is still going on now the same way, I am sure.  Maybe not as blatant but it is how we do things."

I was wondering if the front page entry reflected the views of the majority here. Hence this poll.

Of course, the main focus for Democrats now should be raising money and lining up candidates. That will change in about nine months. This poll is looking ahead nine months.

The traditional issues line is for people who think the #1 issue should be the environment, social security, health insurance, equality, education, and those sorts of things or some combination thereof.

Of course, no campaign should only focus on just one of these things, but if you had to pick one...

Also, I would love to read some justifications.

Since journalism is so difficult, we should do the press a favor and suggest questions for them to ask Scott McClellan.

Below are some of my ideas. I would love to hear some more.

Sorry for the insult in the title. You know the reference.

We have been watching the Republicans do their great spin for years, but we have not learned anything from it.

The important part of the Rove/Plame story is not whether or not Rove gets fired. It's the pattern of lies from the Bush Administration.

Continuing...