With everything else the president is doing I don't believe it's fair to blame him or his children for this voucher problem. The only thing I can see wrong at all with the Obama administration is the fact that there are not enough leaders to delegate tasks to; especially ones that have paid their taxes.

Thank God for Senator Graham, he needs to be President Obama's right hand man. God give him the strength to keep going.

Dear Rick, just wanted to say its ashame that our kids pay the price either now or down the road. As a parent of a 5 year old I wonder what the world holds for him? big Deficits, global warming, resessions, Depressions or worse ???? it makes a parent very scared . thanks for your great show I love watching you everyday.

chris chapin

I feel sorry for those kids who may not get voucher but there are many people, who take advantage of the system. Parents has money to buy
nice cloths,funiture and jewelary. We need to look into this more and then feel sorry for those kids

I believe in public education and do not agree with vouchers. We need to put all the improving public schools.

Rick, it's always great to ask a question like this. We need to know what will happen to these kids and we need to help them every way we can, but I have a question for you. What about the other kids, the ones in DC public schools, the schools that don't get enough funding because of low test scores. How will pulling the high scorers out of the system help them? We can't just focus on the kids who are already successful we need to help the school system as a whole, the system that Superintendent Rhee is trying to reform. In the interest of all the students in the District we need to end the voucher program.

Rick,

Have you noticed how much Madoff resembles Geo Washington?
Compare their profiles. It is amazing!!!

RICK,MR PRESIDENT SAID THE AMERICAN CARS ARE THE BEST ?,SO WHY AMERICANS DON'T DRIVE AMERICAN CARS ?

Commenting on the presidents opinions is one thing discosing what school his daughters attend is irresponsible and should be illegal

i think the government cares more about gm more than those kids education.

In one-size –fits-all attempts to address social inadequacy, there are always those who are hurt by the system that is trying to help. Why can’t we allow vouchers and invest in improving our classrooms?

I hate those vouchers for schools. I resent the fact I pay taxes for public schools for my child which is substandard. Then I have to pay more tax dollars to upgrade certain students for private schools. I am close to being too poor but not poor enough to qualify and my kid deserves a good education too. I can't afford private schools so why don't we invest that money and make the school systems better like Obama wants.

Perhaps teachers don't support vouchers is because they would like to see funding, support and commitment to public schools where all students receive a quality eduacation. What makes The Friends school so good? Can't that same process be applied to failing schools? Is it because the students are more committed in these schools? While public schools languish with students whose parents don't commit to their education and get a voucher. There should be no failing schools!!!

if mccain won we wouldnt be in the mess were are in now.

I believe it's moraly wrong to withold money from the children, but the government keeps giving companies big bail outs. I would like to believe that while I serve in the military I fight to protect all citizens not just the rich ones. I believe the government needs to adjust their plans

Rick,
I couldn't agree more about school vouchers. I believe that we need to break up this government monopoly on education nationwide by allowing school vouchers. By claiming to care about poor or average people, but denying them the ability to attend the same schools as wealthy children, politicians show their loyalty to teachers' unions above what's best for students. Plus, the annual cost of private school tuition is typically far less than the amount that the government allocates for each student in public schools. Its time we make the same educational opportunities open to everyone.

Rick, vouchers are not for poor kids- they are for rich kids whose parents want to send them to private sc hools, with the help of a taxpayer financed subsidey. Poor families cannot afford to send their kids to a private school because even with a subside, they don't have the money.

We need to improve public education for all, not siphon away money for the privileged few.

Rick:
Please Correct the record . You were never an under privileged kid because being a cuban inmigrant you had more breks than any other inmigrant and some citizens. Can you say that your family did not benefit from the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act of 1970.

You have made it and I am glad for you but you were born on third base you did not bat a triple. Dont put yourself in the same position with those kids;otherwise I agre with your assessment:

Bendiciones,

Jose A Cotto
210-837-1105

Rick,
This is about GM and not the schools.
I do agree that Wagener probably should step down, but it should never be the government doing it. That is a no no no no!!!!!! The stochholders of the company are the ones to do it or the board members. The automobile industry is really taking a terrible hit (american) when the truth is the housing market is the enemy -going
back to Carter.
We all know between the government- -banks- -and mortgage companies, they all allowed this and turned a blind eye to it all. These people need to be held accountable. Why would the government punish the mortgage companies and banks when they would have to include themselves. Just remember one can only do bad things for so long. It will come back and bite ya.

The voucher issue should be re-examined. Charter schools are private schools funded by the taxpayers, and many of these schools teach a fundamentalist Christian curriculum. If the churches want to teach only their own beliefs, then they should be providing the vouchers, not the taxpayers.

Also, charter schools are exempt from regulation by the local school boards, which is just another example of how deregulation is giving dishonest people free rein to line their pockets with taxpayers' money.

We hear so much rhetoric about how the government should not interfere in our lives, but it's these same people who also say that their enterprises should be funded by the taxpayers! And while we are arguing about all this, our children are being used as pawns. Enough already!

Vouchers help only a small number of children escape their bad curcumstances. What about the kids unable to use the vouchers? The ones that don't have the finances or scholarships needed?

We need to fix all of our schools instead of sending a few kids to better ones. For one thing, let's change the way we finance our schools so all schools in a state are equally funded, no more rich districts and poor districts.

We need to make sure that all of our children have an equal chance to a quality education.

Here's an idea, instead of having a system of a small percentage of really good schools that only a select few have access to and a majority of crappy schools where everyone else goes, how about we make our public schools better?

I grew up in the Caribbean and I got a better education there. How is that possible! Countries that most would consider third world, have a better education systems than the most powerful country in the world! By the time I was in what you'd call the third grade, I could speak two foreign languages, do long division and agricultural science, and read at a fifth grade reading level. I was so bored in class that my teacher told my mother I must have ADD and actually prescribed medication instead of just asking me or my parents what my education experience was! Imagine if my mom would have listened!

Seriously, we need to step up our education system and give every child in America a chance to lead fulfilling lives. It's embarrassing what they don't know or learn. Other countries are laughing at us.

This program was the first step to give private school public school dollars. The next step was charter schools. The outsourcing of public education does not improve years mismanagement. If charters and vouchers are so good, close public schools and let charters and voucher do the job. We did welfare and public schools and we did not go to jail. My kids had the parents they need for supports. If any program needs help it is the college aid program, where if you finish high school in DC you may get 10,000.00 per year for college.

Public schools in poor areas are ALWAYS left out! I live in the LAUSD public school district and instead have to find a way to pay for my child to go to a Catholic School because the schools in our district fail our kids. My sister works for the LAUSD and she has 5th grade students who cannot read or write at grade level. They've been passed because it is easier to pass a failing kid than it is to hold him back because of all the paper work and road blocks in place if the teacher and parent decide to hold him back(read cheaper!!) Sure the public schools in affluent areas succeed but we don't all get to live in Beverly Hills and if a voucher is going to help a child get a better education then I'm all for it! I pay taxes and my girls don't get any of that money because I would much rather pay $400 a month at a Catholic School where I can assure myself my child will learn to read and have an actual book to use in the class! The government needs to put our kids first and give them all the same advantages and opportunities to get an education! Forget GM & AIG, give the poor schools the 700billion and buy them books and give them pencils!!!

I hope vouchers succeed and I hope public schools succeed too. The problem for me is, I'm a grandmother who is caregiver to my mother who happens to be a retired teacher (English). Under current education practices disguised as "no child left behind", I'm afraid of my six (6) grandchildren, 2 have been left behind. It's not that they don't have parents who care, they have 3 generations of care, love, discipline and help with their homework. Their problem, an array of teachers who don't care enough to take the time to be sure each child understands and has someone or something available to work with them until they "get it." I understand why they don't get it (the child/student), the teacher has too many students, instead of making the learning process exciting and easily understood, new uncaring teachers do it in rote, They do not create an environment or exhibit a character that makes a child want to learn. I raised 2 daughters and they knew their teachers cared, they knew their parents cared and their community cared. When we get education back to the basics and encourage children to dream and reach for the stars and provide creative and innovative ways to ensure learning, we'll make it, voucher and public. At least with the voucher system, no child is left behind except those who attend public schools that leave them behind.

We hear the outrage over AIG bonuses. Yet I hear nobody complaining about an even more egregious situation….TARP fund recipients making political contributions to TARP fund administrators.
Where is the outrage?

Man they need 2 give them kids what they need see they should worry bout jobs and edgucation first they need 2 break jobs down in catagories and take it from there based on what da world need most

The gentleman you had on at the end of today's broadcast and with whom you seemed to agree regarding the flag pole incident., knew he was buying into a PUD (Planned Unit Development with an association and property rules) and therefore knew he was doing something wrong when he erected the pole. Please do not wave the flag and call it his right. It was his decision to buy into a development with rules and therefore follows them or gets rid of what is in error. Flag or trellis, makes no difference. Want to do your own thing...then do not buy into a PUD. Period!
Also, please tell me where, in the Constitution, it sets out rules for flying the flag?

Dear Rick:

I find it extremely unprofessional of you to introduce the daughters of President Barack Obama into your report on school vouchers today. Correspondent Ed Henry did the same thing last week at the White House Press Conference. Carol Costello did a "hit" piece on Malia Obama last summer by stating that she was "too" grown according to the persons she interviewed. Is CNN attempting to undermine the popularity of Malia and Sasha Obama or of their father? Is CNN attempting to get these two children targeted for violence? I have reported CNN to the FCC, Media Matters, and to the NAACP in terms of these two children. As a psychotherapist and teacher, I think that it is reprehensible that CNN has sunk beneath Fox News in terms of journalistic integrity and in its coverage of these two minor children. You have lost a viewer and apparently your ratings too. Best wishes.

Rick,
First off, I do not appreciate you uttering the names of President Obama's children–Sasha and Malia in the context of educational vouchers, as if, they must answer to other children. How dare you?

Stick with the right wing Republicans...EL SICKO.

Vouchers are NOT the answer, although I do agree that to take students who are already in the voucher program and dump them back into the cesspool of public education (especially in DC) would be criminal

The United States is pretty far down the list of educational standards among the countries of the world. We should be (according to our status in the world) at the top of the list. So, how to fix this problem?

First, STOP, BREATHE, and take a good look at whatever country IS in number ONE. Look at their entire educational system. Their curriculum, their teachers, their method of certifying those teachers, the physical plants, the community involvement, and the expectations of their citizens.

Then, simply COPY those aspects of their system that will most help us. How are their children taught? Are they on a "pass the test" track, or do they LEARN the material? Do they subscribe to the idea of "No Child Left Behind" or do they believe that every child can LEARN, but that some learn at different rates, some may need a lot more time to grasp a concept.

Do they innundate their students with proficiency tests, or do they really teach the subject as a whole, with periodic tests to evaluate levels of understanding?

We MUST change our methods and system if we hope to survive in the future world! We cannot compete if we become a nation of marginally educated citizens!

We need to have the nerve to get rid of some dead wood in our schools. Start with the "administrators" of which there are way too many, and also get rid of teachers who cannot teach. Every school has them. Every school district has them. And we do not need them.

Put discipline back in the schools. And I don't mean with security guards, but with conduct standards that the kids can understand, and that their parents commit to. Maybe it would be a help if teachers started dressing like TEACHERS again, instead of like just another one of the kids! Getting rid of the pedophiles would be a help, too.

Get kids interested in LEARNING, not simply learning enough to get by. That's why we are in this sorry state now! A good teacher can do that. A bad teacher never can. Why pay for bad teachers? Maybe if the system really was geared to turning out EDUCATED kids more GOOD teachers would be attracted to teach!

Try paying teachers a little more. After all they have the future of our nation in their hands. I recently saw an ad for a school ADMINISTRATOR, salary around $140,000 a year, in a district that is laying off TEACHERS! What the devil is that about?

Part of the problem is that those in charge came through this same horrible system! That should give us all an idea of what we will be getting to run our country in the future if nothing is changed!

People need to think. The children who are being cheated of a good education now, who are not prepared to function on a very productive level, are the people who in the future will be rinning the government. Doesn't that scare anyone except me?

Why don't we spend money in fixing all the schools rather than making children and their parents choose the "good" schools?

TOBACCO TAX, wow, what a way to fleece the poor even more! I`m 39 and have smoked about a pack a day since I was 16. I currently live in Michigan where a pack of Marlboro will soon cost $7.20 or so. I called my Dad who lives in Missouri and you can buy that same pack for about $3.25. This tells me that over 50% of the cost for a pack of cigs in Michigan is tax, is this fair????? How about surcharging the fat person in the buffet line twice what the average person pays, would this be fair? Well I beat you anyways, I quit and will save $2,500 year doing it! I just hope thousands more follow so the rich guy finally will have to ante up!

Hey Judy, wake up you own GM now, why should the stock holders make that decision, they are partly at fault for GM`s mess, they are the ones who encouraged GM`s CEO`s to keep on making the gas guzzlers because they had the highest profit margine! Wkae up..... we have just given GM more money on loan than the whole company is worth!

hey j franklin, your a pea brain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO

HEY RICK DON'T HATE THE PREZ FOR SENDING HIS CHILDREN TO A GOOD SCHOOL TOO BAD YOUR PARENTS COULD NOT DO THE SAME FOR YOU THATS NOT RIGHT FOR YOU TO CALL OUT HE CHILDRENS NAME CALL OUT YOUR OWN KIDS NAME IF YOU HAVE SOME YOU GOT THEM IN A GOOD SCHOOL

Hello Rick, with todays technolgy and the need for jobs I feel it would be a great way to make best uses of our resources. We have terrible flooding in some parts of the country and severe droughts in others. It is possible to build aquaduct systems and resevoirs to handle the flows. This could be done and it could save lives, prevent property damages and create jobs. The water could perform a great number of tasks for us. Generate power, provide drinking water, recreation, etc. and all would create more JOBS. This is America and stuff like this should be able to be done without it being to difficult. We have some smart people that surely could make a project like this work.
Thank You, Bill Wood
El Centro, CA

First of all Rick I want to congratulate you on all you achievements unitl now. Why is President Barack Hussein Obama wanting to convert the USA into a socialist country. During campaign trail he was slick willy because once he became president his true agenda started showing. With regard to voucher system, there are many circumstances as to why that system is successful. Personally to do well in the educational system you need assistance from parents. Reviewing homework, controlling TV time, explaining over and over that school is a mean to an end. Our son is Senior Engineer in one of NASA's laboratories. Was educating him easy by no means. This country was not built in socialism but individual capitalism.

The rest of the G20 better help because were all in this together.

It is a tough decision to make. However, the voucher system in itself is unfair. This money could go to improving tthe school system with better teachers and improved technologies.

IMPROVE the system, do not take away the good kids and send them to Sidwell when the best school systems thrive on good students and strong parental involvement!

Rick, I love your show but you just don't like the president because you always try to bash him for the problems we are having, he is doing well just for 70 days, the way you talk I think that all of you to include wolf/john and others on this crusade to destroy him should've joined his team or joined his cabinet, you all know so much, and another thing you and the other news casters never says president obama, it is always Obama wow dude it has only been 43 white presidents so don't hate because he is the president, so to you and the others get a real job like secretary of the fcc and maybe you can see how it really is, he is our president get over it and say some good things about him, by the way I am white and I love my president

Rick- Why do you swear so much on your program. Can't let the kids watch anymore!!!!

now we have sadam Hussan of United State in Dick Chany. Dick should be punish for war criminal.
Military are covering up for Dick.

Rick I am so sick and tired of lazy journalism. Do your homework first before acussing someone like Mr Cheney. If you spent more time following the real news instead of the constant barage of accusations towards the last administration. I find it low class and not journalism at all.
Listening to news these days is such a joke. What ever happened to reporting the new without bias. The journalism students of the past were taught to find words that were unbias, for some reason that no longer applies to journalist if you want to call yourself that.

Shame. Shame, Shame

Just tired of listening to you guys control the minds of the masses, worries me, reminds me of Farenheight 151.
Blind followers forced to jump off a cliff

THE COP DID NOTHING WRONG – The driver was at fault and should have stopped for a police officer. HE DID NOT. HE BLEW THROUGH A TRAFFIC LIGHT AND 3 STOP SIGNS. [Chief] Kunckle needs to resign. Kunkle is a hypocrit and a fraud.
THE DRIVER IS WRONG

Hi, Rick: I enjoy your show....Our education and health system has been in chaos since I was born (40) years ago and nothing has changed? Why? We have more illiterate people, more kids with learning disabilites not being treated adequately and the two are a must in this country and have not been handled with urgency. We have a plethora of unhealthy and uneducated people that are supposed to compete with other countires in the near future? What about now? I don't think so. We need to do something Now and Education is a PRIORITY! Healthcare is a PRIORITY! and our ECONOMY is a PRIORITY and if we don't do somehting soon we will all will have failed!

Rick, I enjoy your show as I do most shows on cnn. Today, I heard the lady talking about it`s not feasible to send the ill-legals back to where they came from. I take personal exception to that. I am Cherokee (American Indian), have you ever heard of the "trail of tears"? President Andy Jackson decided he would solve the indian problem in Tennessee once and for all so he sent troops into Tennessee and captured 10,000 Cherokee and forced marched without adequate food or clothing, 1/2 of my ancestors either froze to death or starved to death on their way from Tennessee to Oklahoma, this was 200 years ago. Another thing, the key word here for real Americans is "ILLEGAL"!!! Since when have we allowed criminals to come into our country and demand their rights. I have nothing against Hispanics that are here legally, just the ones who broke our laws and are here to take our jobs, and lower the wages of what jobs are left. I am a life-long Democrat!!! If we do not obey the law of this country, why should we obey any laws of our country??? I suffered great agony while the "right-wingers" were in office, namely King George and Tricky Dick Cheney, but I am equally against the far leftist in the Democratic Party.

Given the state of US publis education, those of you defending it have forfeited your right todo so.
*Obama lies about this issue. He didn't send his kids to a crappy, NEA-run public school, but to the toniest school in DC. Yet he denies other kids that option!
* A tax break for these folks who qualify for these vouchers doesn't take away from public school moneys, as they still pay their state/county/fed taxes.
* If you folks want to keep the kids from fleeing to private schools, make the public schools competitive.
*Don't cry about not having any money. There is plenty of money, the public school districts allied with the unions waste it all.

hi you doing love the show you no what were out of control the rich get rich still and the poor get poor still if we dont change that the people around the world wont change we might as well start dying

I appreciate you being concerned about the voices of the people. World leaders surely don't care what we think. We do not want bigger government. G-20 is only creating a bigger government- one that will oversee the world within the next 10 years. New World Order? I don't know, China's calling for a global currency. No one at G-20 seems to hate the idea.

Why have people who have become disabled since September 2008 not elibible for the COBRA Subsidy even though they have been paying exorbitant COBRA premiums for months and will continue to do so. Disability would seem to fit that It's certainly an "involuntary" job loss situation and also a "reduction in hours" (to zero). I've been told the recently disabled are not included in the COBRA Subsidy plan. It just seems so wrong, discriminatory and unamerican.

Rick; the problem is that the babyie boomers are starting to die off and there are less people in the world and with the computer every ones is taken back one step. The computer is the real blame for what is happening.

Dale

I don't blame the protesters...i would join them...what else can we do when banks walk off with our money...giver us predatory mortgage loans and reap profits in the millions. Politicians don't listen to us..there is no way else to show how unfair the banks are to usl. I have a predatory loan...the worst type..a negative amortization loan with arms and the bank can raise my rate basically anytime it wants to..."at specified intervals" it states...it is a fraudulent loan..done by a large bank in Florida, Bank United, that the Govt evifently has no power over because they are blackmailing me for a loan modification. They won't give me a modification until I pay them $10,000 which i don't have. Who to complain to? Nobody cvares? Yes, I would protest too.

Hi Rick just to sound off about some issues alot in the media do not cover is solutions, solutions to our border is to have employment for the homecoming veterans and disabled veterans a job along our border with mexico would be a help to the country and to the veteran after all veterans are already trained in security matters, so little training would be needed. also rick have you ever checked out the cost of applying for a green card its like $5000 total with all the form costs maybe someone in washington could have a lightbulb go off in their brain and think border security and illegal immegration could be cost affective lowering the application fees to be legal instead of illegal, and the returning veteran would not mind a job its better than sleeping under a bridge.

Rick:

Before golf was invented how did we measure hail ???

Like the rest of the dinasours, Rush needs to get out to pastuer; after he is properly nuetered of course.

I think that more money needs to go to Public School education to give teachers what they need to help the children. Private schools don't need more money. Public schools need to be more fair for all the children to get a great education. Parent education would be a great idea as well. In fact all of us could use training on how to handle our anger and frustrations so we don't go around killing each other. so that's my 2 cents. Love Gramma Shirah

This is real simple. He's caving in to the teachers union which was one of his biggest campaign contributors.

Thank you...Simonsays....you hit on the nail...pay for play for teacher's union....that has been his method operation since he walked into office....

They should keep the vouchers, because there's a lot of low income kids who should have the right the go to school. Rich people don't seem to care because they all live in a bubble.

Then your not looking for problems very hard. President Obama stated that he was for education and would back school vouchers while running for president, and sense his election has supported nothing. This is a problem. The future of this nation is in education and if our president does not put education first then why is he president ? On top of that, Vouchers do not cost the government money, it is just a redirection of money already budgeted for education. So why cut the program? Are they cutting D.C. public school funding?

I wish you CNN, MSNBC, and Fox "journalists" would just disclose your political leanings because you are all complete failure to be impartial. You were completely unfair to President Bush. Even Mr. Sell out, McClellan, confessed that President Bush was behind the scenes, low keyed, and not blustering during an analogous hostage situation in 2001 involving the Chinese and the spy plane. Stop with beating up on our former President. President Obama is the now in charge, and despite your fawning all over him, he is NOT the Messiah. Start apply some critical analysis to his policies instead of the constant cheerleading. For instance, what plans did the Obama administration have in effect to prevent piracy? Why didn't the Obama administration authorize deadly force immediately upon the taking of an American hostage instead of conditioning the use of force on an "imminent threat to the captain?" Why didn't our "allies" take any part in this operation?

Gosh! Is he really that bad at 89 years old!..Where is the compassion that this nation seems to always talk about.

We dont need to send more ships . The shipping companies need to hire there own security forces this is another waste of U.S funds

The issue on piracy is out of hand. In my a opinion a simple fix would be allowing the shipping companies to train or outfit themselves with security. These pirates hijack ships because they are easy targets and they know they are unarmed and unprotected. If I planned on hijacking a ship I would think twice if I knew I had to deal with armed and trained security on a ship.

I don"t blame illeagals for coming to the states. They are trying to achieve the same thing as I am, a better life for thier family.
There is a simple solution to the imigration problem, quit giving them jobs and they will quit coming. Fine these companies that employ these folks, and if that dose not remedy the problem, start shutting the doors forever.
Prices will rise however it will all level out and everyone will then make exactly what tgey are worth.

I think that Phil Spector deserves to do hard time just for the bad hair that he's had over the years.

would you please explained to me about Polish Death Camps

As I was watching CNN a few minutes ago, Rick said that CUBA was
Known as the Pearl of the ANTILLAS, I think that title was given to HAITI. please Verify this fact and correct the mistake. I am from HAITI, I should know.

Dear Rick, I think you are the most level headed, intelligent person on television today. Thank you for speaking the truth and for letting the right wing freaks have it.....meaning you speak the truth even if the right wingers won't admit it. Thank you and keep up the great work...

Dear Rick, with regards to Mr. Kutcher's dare with CNN, I would like to impart that good & bad publicity is still good publicity. This is the reason that I'm not watching any shows of Mr. Kutcher because he talks like a moron, acts like a moron, and all because he is a moron. Do you mean that marrying your mom, Demi, oopps.., gives you the license to act like a brat? Watching the broadcast really sez all the things about Mr. Kutcher. A moron! Oh...there you go...you have this publicity going on...

Well, i'm giving one vote to CNN.