Factchecking the State of the Union
Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Nabulsi freely admitted to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that much of Hezbollah's funding comes from Iran. Iran did offer $50 million in aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority after the U.S. and Europe withdrew funding when Hamas refused to recognize Israel. And according to the State Department's most recent report on state sponsors of terrorism, Iran has continued to offer funding to Hamas and Hezbollah and has, moreover, "provided guidance and training to select Iraqi Shia political groups, and weapons and training to Shia militant groups to enable anti-Coalition attacks."
Bush is right that Iran continues to develop long-range ballistic missiles. In fact, on Nov. 27, 2007, Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced the development of a missile that could reach the entire Middle East as well as southern Europe. And the National Intelligence Council's National Intelligence Estimate on Iran reported that Iran's civilian uranium enrichment program was continuing and noted that those technical capabilities could be applied to creating nuclear weapons.
It is worth noting, however, that a civilian enrichment program is not equivalent to a weapons program. And that same NIE reported that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and had not restarted it as of mid-2007.
Passing Grades
The president was mostly correct in describing the results of math and reading tests since enactment of his education legislation, omitting only some recent backsliding in reading scores:
Bush: Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and today no one can deny its results. Last year, 4th and 8th graders achieved the highest math scores on record. Reading scores are on the rise. African-American and Hispanic students posted all-time highs.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also called the Nation's Report Card, the president is correct that scores, generally, have gone up since the enactment of No Child Left Behind.
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Member Comments
Posted By: ETerrell @ 02/14/2008 12:41:49 PM
Comment: The National Taxpayers Union Foundation also published a study on the State of the Union on the spending that would be incurred from the projects mentioned. A release on the study is available at http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=990&org_name=NTUF . The entire break down is available at :http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=143 .
Posted By: DUMPLIN @ 01/31/2008 4:46:17 PM
Comment: YOU FOLKS IN THE MEDIA SHOULD BE REALLY PROUD OF YOURSELVES. YOU HAVE MANAGED TO TWIST AND ACTUALLY LIE TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO MAKE SO MANY BELIEVE THAT THINGS ARE SO BAD IN AMERICA BECAUSE OF REPUBLICAN POLICIES. WHY DO HATE AMERICA SO MUCH?
Posted By: alwaysAlabama @ 01/30/2008 10:36:30 PM
Comment: Recession is a nicer word for the term depression. It is quite obvious when the average people are unable to maintain a decent standard of living on a continous basis there are problems the government has not resolved. The war of Iraq, and talk of the threat of Iran should not be of the agenda of America. Bank loans are out of reach, school loans are declining, evidence of apparent hunger in this country, jobs are fewer and prices continue to rise no amount of tough talk from the president of USA can by any means apply reasoning to a nation that has not seen any prosperity under his administration. If I was able to show President George W. Bush appreciation for his services he would walk back to Texas.