I apologize for the short-ish diary, but I thought this was too important to just put in the comments somewhere.
Just when you thought they couldn't stoop any lower--the new Bush budget completely cuts funding for the Reading Is Fundamental program, which provides books to low income children and families:
http://www.rif.org/
Founded in 1966, RIF is the oldest and largest children's and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books and literacy resources each year.
It is a very low-cost program to run--the amount of funding Bush cut was 25.5 million, and that covers the annual costs of distributing the books to the kids and families that need them most.
How typical that the Bush administration would cut funding for something that helps foster a lifelong love of books to those in the country that have limited resources? As a librarian I really take issue with this--an educated and knowledgable society benefits everyone. But as we've seen so many times before, governments such as Bush's only see educated people as a threat, not as a benefit.
Take action here to let the President, VP and Congress know how you feel.
Thanks, and if this has been diaried before let me know and I will delete.