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And we can still watch "Friends" and "The Sopranos."

I know thse are highly rated shows, but even so, the majority of the population of this country doesn't watch these shows or any show.

"Does the Constitution include the following statement about the proper role of government: 'From each according to this ability, to each according to his needs'?" 35 percent of Americans said yes...

Now that is scary. Do Americans only read the Constitution once in their senoir year of high school?

Having kids in public school and a firm believer in "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it", I home school history every summer.

I'm sad to say that I really thought Waterloo was in northern France. Back to the books. How embarrassing.

I've really given this a lot of thought over the years. There's been a systematic push to destroy the educational system, "dumbing down" American students. Especially in history classes, and I believe that this is a prime motive in the balkanization of America.

It seems to me that by dividing everyone into groups, there are a number of goals to be reached. 1) Each group can be declared a victim, and as such, is deserving of some sort of compensation. 2) By subdividing everyone into groups, you minimize individual rights and responsibilities. No single white person is responsible for slavery, and no single surviving black person was ever a slave. However, by associating the evils of slavery with ALL whites, and the victimization of slavery with ALL blacks, then reparations is more likely. 3) It increases the social dynamics for people to conform to expectations: i.e. All whites are racist. All blacks are liberal. Step outside those expectations, and prepare to take all sorts of flack: Look at Ward Conerlly or Justice Thomas! 4) Groups are far easier to control by the government, for reasons expressed in the previous reason.

Mark

Seventy-eight percent of today's college seniors knew that the purple heart is the decoration awarded to those wounded in combat

Interesting side note...

we are still using the Purple Hearts that were ordered for the end of WWII...

it seems the Manhattan Project was so secret, we couldn't not bother to make the 1,000,000 Purple Hearts expected to be needed for the invasion of Japan!!

Waterloo was an amazing battle! The Duke of Wellington chose the battlefield because he was familiar with the battlefield from a previous campaign. At a crucial point in the battle, Napoleon sent his Imperial Cavalry on a charge in the fog over a 12 foot cliff, a mistake which eventually cost him the battle!

Author Mona Charen says: "...32 percent of Americans believe that 'the president may suspend the Bill of Rights in wartime'."

So what's wrong with that answer, Mona? The Constitution provides for suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus, which is the mechanism by which the Bill of Rights can be suspended. While technically that power can be exercised only "in cases of rebellion or invasion", wartime quite often includes invasion (as in the present case of the War on Terror) or at least the imminent threat of invasion. And as for the president taking such action, Art.I, Sec.9, cl.2 vests the power to the government generally and does not reserve the authority to suspend Habeas Corpus solely to congress.

--Boot Hill