Flakes Around the World

The thing that bothers me the most about the student loan modification bill was that it was hidden inside the bigger Health Care Bill. It had been voted down before.

"The deal would bundle the bill into an expedited budget package along with the Democratic health care legislation, which would allow for both measures to be passed by the Senate on a simple majority vote. Without the deal, the student loan bill would have been unlikely to pass because it lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster."

"The idea that the White House put pressure on Pelosi and Reid to throw this in at the same time is really an effort to circumvent large arguments about how many jobs it will cost because of the shrinkage in terms of the student loan industry.

And so whereas people haven't been paying attention, this wasn't part of the bill for most of its life, all of a sudden now this is just the tag-along. I think most people aren't aware of it. The administration says it will mean more money for Pell grants for low-income students. But the argument and the debate about it hasn't taken place because everyone is talking health care.

That was sneaky. What else was hidden in this health care bill.

Justin

Alexander: Obama's 'Soviet-Style' Takeover of Student Loans [Robert Costa]


Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), the U.S. secretary of education from 1991 to 1993, tells National Review Online that President Obama’s revamping of the federal student-loan program is “truly brazen” and the “most underreported big-Washington takeover in history.”

“As Americans find out what it really does, they’ll be really unhappy,” Alexander predicts. “The first really unhappy people will be the 19 million students who, after July 1, will have no choice but to go to federal call centers to get their student loans. They’ll become even unhappier when they find out that the government is charging 2.8 percent to borrow the money and 6.8 percent to lend it to the students, and spending the difference on the new health-care bill and other programs. In other words, the government will be overcharging 19 million students.” The overcharge is “significant,” Alexander adds, because “on a $25,000 student loan, which is an average loan, the amount the government will overcharge will average between $1,700 and $1,800.”

“Up to now, 15 out of 19 million student loans were private loans, backed by the government,” Alexander says. “Now we’re going to borrow half-a-trillion from China to pay for billions in new loans. Not only will this add to the debt, but in the middle of a recession, this will throw 31,000 Americans working at community banks and non-profit lenders out of work.”

Alexander, a former University of Tennessee president, says the effects of Obama’s policy could be felt for decades. “When I was education secretary, one of my major objections to turning it all over to the government was that I didn’t think the government could manage it,” he says. “This is going to be too big and too congested, and makes getting your student loan about as attractive as lining up to get your driver’s license in some states.”

“It changes the kind of country we live in more than it changes American education,” Alexander concludes. “The American system of higher education has become the best in the world because of choice and competition. Unlike K-12, we give money to students and let them choose among schools, having the choice of private lenders or government lenders. That’s been the case for 20 years. Having no choice, and the government running it all, looks more like a Soviet-style, European, and even Asian higher-education model where the government manages everything. In most of those countries, they’ve been falling over themselves to reject their state-controlled authoritarian universities, which are much worse than ours, and move toward the American model which emphasizes choice, competition, and peer-reviewed research. In that sense, we’re now stepping back from our choice-competition culture, which has given us not just some of the best universities in the world, but almost all of them.”

Oliver before the wave got him
and after.













the u.s.s missouri, the battle ship where the surrender documents were signed by the Japanese, ending WWII.

Hanauma Bay...loved the snorkeling

The beach right next to Allyson's in Laie
























Cutest boy!

 
 
 
 

I hope all the riding of Milky Way makes his meat more tender and juicy! Yum Yum! Let's all remember that boy is for eating.

Here is Leah and her Easter Bunny. From the girl who a few months ago screamed and yelled at stuffed animals and freaked out when I tried to make her touch one - this is BIG progress. She loves it. Yes, it's not Easter yet, but she doesn't know that.

Those pictures are awesome. We will want to get some copies for our walls. Unbelievable! Anyone who has been to Hawaii will relive it for a moment looking at them. You are an amazing photographer. Layne and Jana