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In Fact...

This article appeared in the March 15, 2004 edition of The Nation.

February 26, 2004

OFF THE PAIGE

"Terrorist" is surely the blackest epithet in the Bush Administration's lexicon, so it would seem that Education Secretary Rod Paige owes the NEA more than just an apology for calling it a "terrorist organization." Especially, one would think, when the union's only sin was exercising its right of free speech to criticize aspects of the fancifully titled "No Child Left Behind" Act. Perhaps Paige is following the John Ashcroft model of branding critics of the Patriot Act pro-terrorist. Paige has been under fire in many states that say the Administration hasn't put enough money behind the act. So he needed a scapegoat. Who better than that old antiunion-GOP reliable--the NEA? Paige should go.

STOP THE COMCAST-DISNEY MERGER

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