SAT Scores - How important are they in the Grand Scheme of Things?

College
There isn't much I usually agree on with David Brooks, but this might be the exception. I can't find a whole lot to disagree with in this article. Worth a read and some reflection if you're one of those poised on the brink of "collegehood". Since the admissions process has gone totally insane, it's worth reminding yourself that this is not a particularly important moment in your life. You are being judged according to criteria that you would never use to judge another person and which will never again be applied to you once you leave higher ed.

Kerry starting to trail?
The latest CNN poll had Kerry falling behind Bush. The Bush "money" juggernaut is beginning to roll. Time to gear up for that $25 donation to the Democratic party! I still continue to find it amazing what the appeal is to those 50%+ of Americans who voted for Bush and would vote for him no matter if he annihilated every country on earth, let the planet sizzle from overheating, and even drove a big Caddie around with a mini oil derrick as a hood ornament. Do they think that represents "values"??? How can one continue to listen to the litany of lies and still keep the faith? Is it because he claims to be religious? How important does that need to be in the running of our country? It certainly hasn't prompted him to be compassionate (wasn't that anywhere in the Bible?). Nothing worse than a hypocrite. Or is it that he just promises not to raise taxes (while he gives every fat cat a huge tax break and runs our country into trillion dollar deficits)? Seems like this country did pretty well under Clinton - no deficits and a rip-roaring economy. But then the puritans were out in force back then making sure that the ONLY issue in America that mattered was what your sex life was like and frowning disaprovingly while doing God knows what in their own bedrooms (or someone else's). Check out Krugman's article today - This Isn't America

Last week an opinion piece in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about the killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin said, "This isn't America; the government did not invent intelligence material nor exaggerate the description of the threat to justify their attack."
So even in Israel, George Bush's America has become a byword for deception and abuse of power.