OK...I am nowhere near as well-informed as everyone here, especially since I don't live in the You-Ess-Eh (my dad's mom was born in 'Warshington' state, though)...but is one address by the President and several days work on his speech really going to brainwash kids for life?

I would hope that some kids, especially if their parents didn't vote for Obama, would create some interesting "discussions" in the classroom.

Even if misguided, it seems to me part of this is to encourage young people to be a part of the solution - national citizen teamwork was something Obama mentioned in his Inaugural speech.

On the other hand - Canada has not had to face first-hand real fears and threats such as the Bay of Pigs, and refugees from Cuba. I can see that anything that smacks remotely of the government taking charge would cause great concern - because no one wants to live in Cuba or Russia!

Canadians have a similar thing going right now - and hope to boot the dictatorial Harper out at the next election (this fall?). Except - there are a lot of cattle that follow the promised decrease in our national sales tax and say that Harper is a good guy. Better look under the carpet of that tax decrease, my fellow Canucks...lot of crap there.

That's it for me.