"Meanwhile our public schools continue to churn out largely uneducated students who sure know their rights but haven't a clue about their responsibilities."

Might be worth mentioning that our public schools are controlled by local school boards. Most of the money to pay for our schools comes from local taxing districts (usually through property taxes, which guarantees inequity between the education kids receive in poorer tax districts compared to those from higher tax districts. But I digress.)  The educational direction comes from the states' departments of education.The amount of money funneled by the federal Dept .of Education is quite small in comparison. As for your latter point in that sentence -- and as much as our schools need to improve -- it sounds to me that you have spent little time reading widely on the subject; and not just  those with whom you agree. I'd suggest starting with the four books in Theodore Sizer's Horace series. Very readable. I can suggest a few more or some subject names you could Google. Just because things need to be improved urgently and as quickly as we can doesn't mean the situation is abysmal. I wish you could talk to seniors of different backgrounds from a number of high schools. Most of them might not meet your expectations, but I think you'd find the experience enlightening and even hopeful. 

I take issue with your seriously capitalized sentence about Obamacare. It all depends on how the question is phrased and how well the services and protections are understood. If the latter is out there, most Americans do want the health plan. But I guess this is for another day.

@ drifter 51 First, I notice you carefully ignored everything I said and have not answered my question. Next, I notice you have not offered a shred of proof of your statements. Instead, you only want to lecture and express your hate of Obama. You also ignore that "Obamacare" is entirely based upon "Romneycare". That's one of my objections to it. Not enough effort was put into examining other plans from other countries.

Brazil, for example, has a viable health care plan for all of its legal residents. It also has inexpensive private insurance plans for anyone that wants it. Medical care, especially in chronic conditions is better here than in the USA. Even more serious conditions are better treated here. For example, several years ago I had a bulging disk that was pressing upon the sciatic nerve. They had a procedure available invented in Brazil called Nuceloplasty that was not available in the USA. It was non-invasive and took 20 minutes to perform in the hospital. 12 hours later, I was home in my own bed.

Brazil nor any other country with health care for all has not had to bankrupt future generations to provide this. You can see my video about health care at: http://vimeo.com/6799683

Your uninformed opinions about education, which I agree is in pitiful condition in the USA, ignores that the problem has nothing to do with Obama but started long before he took office. You also ignore the fact that BHO could be the chosen successor to "W". He has changed very little. We're still in two counter-productive wars, the prison at Guantanamo Bay is still operating, the "Patriot" Act has not been repealed, and BHO did not stop the bail-out ( nee robbery) planned during the Bush administration.

The only bail out started by Obama was for GM. That one was repaid early with interest, resulting in a profit for the government. Those are all facts. Perhaps you should present one for your case if you want it to be taken seriously.

I don't think Brazil has 20 million undocumented aliens feeding off the health care system and all of the other public services are we do here in America. One of the major problems we face here in America as the result of the fact that our government steadfastly refuses to protect our borders is the ridiculously high cost of education. Bi-lingual education is incredibly expensive and so are many of the other federally-mandated programs that our local school boards are forced to adopt. You have made a number of points that I will try to respond to as time permits.  As to your point about publicly-financed sports stadiums and arenas I am strongly opposed.  Too many so-called capitalists are all too happy to accept government money to build their facilities.  I say let them sink or swim on their own.  

I don't think the USA has 20 million undocumented aliens on the health care system either. Perhaps you would like to give citations for that number?

Bi-lingual education is expensive? I wonder how countries like Denmark, Holland, and even Brazil can afford it then? Exactly what federally-mandated programs are local school boards forced to adopt?

I agree completely with you about the capitalists accepting government welfare. If their businesses were such great investments why aren't private funds available? Maybe the tax money is cheaper so we're subsidizing them twice?  Sink or swim?  I had always thought that was what capitalism was about.  Have a product people want at a price they are willing to pay, and you succeed.  Fall away from that and you fail.  Was I wrong?

That is definitely the way it is supposed to work. From where I sit altogether too many so-called capitalists want to reap the profits when times are good and they make the right decisions but want the rest of us to bail them out when things go awry. As for the bailout of the auto companies, I was steadfastly opposed to it. I would have let both Chrysler and GM fail. Out of the ashes at least one new company would have emerged that would have been able to compete without all of the baggage of the bloated union contracts. Add $1500 to the price of each GM car for union benefits. Ridiculous!  In Barack Obama's America if you do not work for the government or are a client of the government or a member of a favored union you lose.  it's just that simple!   BTW, most of the big unions who support Obama have been exempted from Obamacare>  I wonder why?