Thoughts after a morning at our local Flea Market

Every Sunday morning-from mid April to the end of October- I go to a little local flea market. A gathering - a community- of people that are in stark contrast to the daily gatherings of shoppers just 10 miles away at one of Central Ohio's biggest malls (and in the many other malls that crowd central Ohio). Here are people buying everything from fresh produce to antiques using cash, bargaining as they buy and sell, not a charge card in sight, not a single person tossing away their hard earned money for overpriced items- filling the pockets of big corporations. This morning as always, there was as much conversation as bargaining going on and the general tone of the conversations were angry and stunned. I talked to a 70+ year old farmer who was ready to participate in an armed take over of the government. Amazing- the level of anger and frustration at/with the government is incredible. I live in a traditionally overwhelmingly Republican area and if you weren't one you pretty much kept it quiet. Not any more. Lots of very loud and animated protest going on. Lots of people finally seeing what level of care the government has for the common people.
Because I don't go to malls, won't thow my money at corporations, I don't know what the talk is there. Someone let me know please. But I do know what the talk is amoung teachers- we are well aware of the twisted trap that has been set for the public schools. When you really look at the way school success is measured in NCLB you see that within the next 9 years all schools will be in the failing category. It is impossible - can't happen statistically- to have 100% of children performing at or above average. Impossible. I don't think states and local governments will allow this (labeling every school failing) to actually happen- but didn't the authors of NCLB have the destruction of the public school system in mind when they wrote this? Seems the only logical conclusion.