Rick Santorum attends sermon by evangelical Rev. Dennis Terry

No worry about political correctness at this meeting.. Terry intones: "We don't worship Buddha" So how about American Buddhists? "We don't worship Mohammad". So what about American Muslims? "We don't worship Allah. We worship God." I thought Allah was God the one and only God both in Christianity and Islam. " We worship God's Son Jesus Christ" So what about American Jews?

Rev. Terry goes on about abortion, gay marriage etc. At the end of the evening he prays over Rick Santorum saying: "God, have favor on Rick Santorum." I have included a video of part of Rev. Terry's speech. . No doubt not all old time religion was of this sort. However this type of evangelical exclusionist fervour is no doubt prevalent in parts of the U.S. right now as the Reverend Terry shows us. Terry also thinks that Christians are the key to turning the U.S. economy around. No doubt these are Christian entrepreneurs looking for new markets in China, Malaysia, and India etc.

U.S. presidential campaign very expensive

Reuters has posted a partial list of money raised and expenditures up to Feb. 29 during the U.S. presidential primaries and campaign. See this article.

The information is taken from Federal Election Commission filings. The data also contain information on the Super PAC's that can raise and spend unlimited amounts. Here are a few of the dollar figures.

Barack Obama raised 120.1 million. He spent 135.4 million. However , he still has 42 million on hand with oustanding debt just over 30,000 dollars.

The second place Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum raised 15.6 million while spending 13.1 million. He has 2.6 million on hand. No doubt he will need to go up against Mitt Romney. He has outstanding debt approaching one million.

Among the Super PACs Restore Our Future which supports front running Republican candidate Mitt Romney raised 43.2 million while spending 32.7 million so far. In contrast Endorse Liberty a Super PAC supporting Ron Paul raised only 3.7 million and spent 3.5. For more see the full article. U.S. election cost big bucks and no doubt big contributors expect a return on their investment through policies friendly to their cause. As someone--I forget who-- said: "The U.S. has the best democracy money can buy.""

Paul Krugman: Ignorance is Strength

That is the title of his article on U.S. education in his New York Times blog. Krugman notes that historically the U.S. has strongly supported education. However Krugman says Republicans have turned against more support for education at least education that most Americans could afford.

Krugman maintains that a new hostility to education seems common in both the social and economic conservative wings of the Republican Party as evident in the views of Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney.

Santorum claimed that Obama wanted to raise college enrollments as the colleges are indoctrination mills which among other things destroy religious faith. I wonder what wall the faith based colleges think about that! Krugman thinks the Romney the economic conservative has views that are even more detrimental to educational development.

In answer to a question from a high school student about high cost of college Romney said: "Don't just go to one that has the highest price. Go to one that has a little lower price where you can get a good education. And, hopefully, you'll find that. And don't expect the government to forgive the debt that you take on."

In other words aid will be replaced by loans. Even the less expensive route of going to a public university rather than a private one is becoming more and more expensive and the debt load more onerous.

Public universities have been under siege in terms of their budgets and in response have increased tuition fees in order to gain more revenue. State support for higher education has been falling Krugman notes. Over the last five years it declined 12 per cent but in some states such as California the fall is much steeper. Support in California is down 20 percent.

Tuition increases at public colleges over the last decade adjusted for inflation are above 70 percent. Even the lower priced college may be beyond the reach of many students. Krugman does not compare the U.S. with countries such as Finland which has no fees for post-secondary education. Finland has no special riches or resources just a political culture that considers education at all levels as a right that must be made a priority. The complete article can be read here.