Here's a nice little story about Duvall County in Florida, where 54% of their 10th graders couldn't read well enough to pass a standardized test.  Parents are pissed!

This Ribault High School sophomore - is about as quiet as a teenage girl can get. She barely speaks. But the tears streaming down her face say a lot.

"I am not going to be successful," says the 17 year old student.

She thinks that – because she can't read well enough to pass the 10th grade FCATS.

"I was sad. It made me feel like I'm dumb,” she says.

Her score is as low as it can get – a 1 out of a possible 5. All that says is she's at least two years behind in reading comprehension. If she can't catch up and pass the FCAT - she may not graduate high school. That's news to her grandmother Eunice – who's become guardian of her education.

"They were going to wait until we thought she was getting ready to march across the stage to tell us?" says Eunice.

[...]

"I want heads to roll. I want someone to be held accountable for what they have done to this child," says Eunice.

Uh, if your 17-year-old student can't read and you haven't even invested enough time in her education to know that before the tenth grade, then that's your own fault!  Yes, it's obviously an awful school district (open enrollment and vouchers anybody?), but the government can't even balance a budget... why in the world would you make them the sole trustee of your child's education?

A Jordanian man who converted from Islam to Christianity is about to lose everything, including custody of his children, as punishment for his "apostasy."

ISTANBUL, April 24 (Compass Direct News) – On trial for converting from Islam to Christianity, a Jordanian man may lose legal custody of his children and have his marriage annulled if found guilty of “apostasy.” Mohammad Abbad, 40, fled Jordan last month after Muslims violently attacked him and his 10-year-old son in their home and his father sued him on charges of apostasy, or leaving Islam. “I can’t win this case as long as I insist that I converted from Islam to Christianity,” Abbad wrote from the safety of a nearby country. “The court will annul my marriage, I will be deprived of my kids, I will be with no ID or passport, and my properties will be confiscated,” said the father of two, referring to a previous Jordanian apostasy verdict. In a separate November 2004 ruling, an Amman Sharia Court headed by Judge Suleiman Abdullah Abu Yahya convicted a Muslim convert to Christianity of apostasy. Stripped of all his legal rights, the convert and his family fled Jordan to escape the verdict.

According to presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill), children are a form of punishment:

I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby.  I don't want them punished with an STD...

Certainly an unwanted pregnancy is a consequence of irresponsible sexual promiscuity, but calling a child a punishment in the same league as an STD?  How can that come from the mouth of a father?

As bloggers in Iowa, we try to keep our finger on the pulse of state politics as well as the national scene.  It is in that vein that we would like to encourage Bob Vander Plaats to run for Governor in 2010.  It's not too early to get started!

Mr. Vander Plaats has been a high school business teacher, basketball coach, and principal.  He has real solutions to bring to the Iowa education system which has been in decline over the last decade of Democrat rule, which has seen special interest groups given priority over our kids.

Though he has not held public office before, Mr. Vander Plaats has abundant experience as an executive, and not only as a principal.  He has also served as President and CEO of Opportunities Unlimited, a non-profit health care organization that specializes in helping young adults with brain and spinal cord injuries, and he now runs his own successful consulting business.  Bob served as state chairman on Mike Huckabee's Iowa campaign for president as well.  It's no accident that the former Arkansas governor went from a virtual unknown to the winner of the first-in-the-nation Caucuses seemingly overnight. 

Though there has been a great deal of speculation that Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) will resign in the wake of a prostitution scandal, I wonder if he has received a pep talk from the Clintons recently, encouraging him to hold on.  We keep hearing that he has already drafted a letter of resignation, but he did not announce it yesterday and we're told he has no plans to do so today.

If indeed the Clintons are at work here (as I suspect they are), we may see Spitzer attempt to hold on to the office at their behest (despite the fact that it will tear the state apart... believe me, the Clintons don't care).  And if Spitzer does decide to fight it, don't be surprised to see Bill mobilized to Albany.