George Bush Postures On Literacy - The Irony Is Almost Too Much

George ‘Nukular’ Bush is obviously misunderestimating things again.

At a speech today in New York for the White House Conference on Global Literacy, our semi-literate President told the world that "The simple act of teaching a child to read or an adult to read has the capacity to transform nations and yield the peace we all want. You can't realize the blessings of liberty if you can't read a ballot."

That’s rich, coming from a President who is proposing a 3.8% cut in education funding for the 2007 budget. (Source - Committee for Education Funding) It’s a sad fact that Bush’s administration continues to cut education funding, especially when compared to the continuing rise in federal spending on other priorities (read: toys for the army).

This could be why the United States lags behind in literacy rates. Behind which countries, I hear you ask, scornfully. Sweden? Denmark? All those semi-socialist welfare states where you pay 60% tax? Well, obviously!

Actually, yes. We do trail Sweden. And Denmark. In fact, all developed European countries. But we also trail Estonia, Barbados, Latvia, Slovenia, Belarus, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tonga, Kyrgyzstan, Samoa, Mongolia, Uruguay, South Korea, Argentina and many, many other countries. (Source – Wikipedia.)

It’s a national disgrace.

As is the man posturing at the podium, whose sole contribution to literature appears to have been to publicize The Pet Goat.