mr. speaker , i used this analogy last week , and i can not help but repeating it again .  soon after the invasion of iraq , the u.s. invasion , a couple of our republican colleagues went over there .  maybe it was within 6 months of the u.s. invasion .  it was in september of the year after .  they had just come back , the republican colleagues had just come back from iraq , and they had been there on the first day of school .  i will never forget because i was on the floor waiting to do a special order , and three or four of my republican colleagues , they brought back with them the book bags and the pencils .  they had these book bags that were in blue , and they had emblazoned on them the seal of the united states with the eagle .  they were so proud of the fact that every iraqi school child on the opening day of school had received a book bag with the seal of the u.s. , pencils , pads , all kinds of things , free of charge .  i had just come back from approximately the first day of school here in the u.s. , and i had just been to a teacher event at one of my local schools , and the teachers were complaining that the pencils and paper were not provided there , and they had to actually go out , the teachers , and buy pencils and paper and pads and crayons for the children because they were not provided at our public school in my district .  the pride that was on the faces of my republican colleagues for all the wonderful things we were doing in iraq , and i kept saying that was very nice , but we do not have those things here in my district .  it is not right .  it is not fair .  i am not saying again that we should not be helping the iraqis , but it is just not fair that they get this help and we do not .  