Well, things have slowed down over turkey weekend. However, interesting articles of Give Up-related content have continued to surface.

For instance, Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi has asserted that the U.S. Occupation is as repressive and abusive as Saddam's government. Ouch. This means that the Iraqis are now saying that Saddam treated them just about the same as Bush or better. Now, that's cold.

There is also a beautiful give up story on education and testing. Surprise surprise, red states are fudging their state tests so that they comply with No Child Left Behind, but when an independent tester (the federal government) comes in an administers a test, the results are off by as much as 400%. Ha!

After Tennessee tested its eighth-grade students in math this year, state officials at a jubilant news conference called the results a "cause for celebration." Eighty-seven percent of students performed at or above the proficiency level.

But when the federal government made public the findings of its own tests last month, the results were startlingly different: only 21 percent of Tennessee's eighth graders were considered proficient in math.
...
In Mississippi, 89 percent of fourth graders performed at or above proficiency on state reading tests, while only 18 percent of fourth graders demonstrated proficiency on the federal test. Oklahoma, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Alaska, Texas and more than a dozen other states all showed students doing far better on their own reading and math tests than on the federal one.

It just goes to show, there are only a few real metrics of educational success. They include functional literacy, high school graduation rate (although many states like Texas still fudge this) and college matriculation rate. Tests are for the birds, they are a cynical political scam that make do-nothing legislators look like they care, but depending on how they are formulated and implemented can show whatever you want from year to year.