Turkey Vulture's comments

Mar 31st 2010 7:31 GMT

They don't serve the kids alcohol, and don't serve it while school is in session. Somehow we manage to allow kids to sit at the same table in a restaurant as an adult enjoying some alcohol, but it's a bad idea to let them eat lunch in a room where alcohol is served only at times when none of them are in the building? Our poor corrupted children.

Get rid of tenure, and up the salary. The question should be: how do we give the best education possible at a cost we are willing to pay? Not: how do we assure a large segment of people a secure government job?

Most importantly, allow districts to experiment. We do not know what works in teaching children. That should be obvious.

Mar 30th 2010 4:12 GMT

God willing.

Mar 30th 2010 3:59 GMT

Wasn't the 8 hour workday/40 hour work-week a big accomplishment? How is a 10 hour school day a step forward? Sounds like Hell.

Mar 29th 2010 8:24 GMT

Wait, wrong one:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XAXRoazFvvU/SVkk-qzujtI/AAAAAAAAAJE/EUBITfU7SE...

That's why he says it's "already quite progressive."

Mar 29th 2010 8:22 GMT

"The effective (meaning the tax rate adjusted for benefits received in retirement) Social Security tax rate is already quite progressive."

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XAXRoazFvvU/SVkk_urrntI/AAAAAAAAAJc/I3tMBbyIfW...

Mar 29th 2010 1:01 GMT

I think I am okay with MSCitylessMcSparkleby's repeated discussion of Israel. We can influence Israel policy moreso than we can that of any other nation (due to the military aid and the whole there-are-more-Jews-in-America-than-Israel thing), and its policy has a large impact on our own foreign relations.

Plus, since Cityless is Jewish, when someone comes along and calls him an anti-Semite for honestly assessing the situation, we can laugh.

Mar 29th 2010 12:55 GMT

Jarrow got pwned.

Mar 26th 2010 11:29 GMT

But at least you can have up to an ounce of pot here and it's just a $100 fine. Clearly 28g of Percocet is a serious danger to the Commonwealth.

Please excuse the missing words.

M.S. Cityless sparkleby,
"And these objections are piled on top of what I still consider the basic deficit of democratic legitimacy of the Senate due to the extreme population disparities between the states."

"In fact, let me add to that: one of the reasons why voting rates are low in America is that there are few elections in which people can vote with any prospect that their vote will make a difference."

The democratic legitimacy arguments support State and Local Government power. You simply cannot create an electoral system in a nation of over 300 million people in which an individual's vote matters.

More specifically, the current US population is estimated at 309 million, 435 Representatives, and there are therefore 710,000 people for every representative. Individual voters cannot have any power at the national level (and if there were an election decided by a single vote, that doesn't seem like a good thing).

Yes, State Legislatures may be more corrupt because people pay less attention to them, but, if anything, wouldn't that mean that by giving them the (possibility) of exercising the power to appoint Senators, they might end up being less corrupt after people start to pay more attention?

But really my point is that if what you're after is democratic legitimacy, then local elections and local power are the way to go.

Mar 23rd 2010 4:07 GMT

If she or Reid were any good at organization I feel like this post would have been dated "Mar 23rd 2009."

Mar 23rd 2010 3:39 GMT

When I run for Senate, my campaign page will show me engulfed in flames, just to preempt any opponent who might come up with a similarly clever theme.

At least they don't just have a big picture of her with a Hitler mustache waving a Soviet flag. Though seeing such an image on the GOP's website would give me great joy.

ACORN Runs Nazi Abortion Death Panels. Barack Hussein StalinObama!

Mar 22nd 2010 2:48 GMT

"...that the overhaul uses deficit savings to extend coverage rather than address the long-run budget picture..."

Alright, I've decided to lead a Crusade against calling this "savings." I see it referred to as "savings" in many places, especially by Timothy Noah over at Slate. He doesn't even call it "deficit savings," just "savings." Clearly this is meant to give the impression that the Bill actually reduces costs, when it does not.

Again, the bill does not reduce costs. It increases taxes by a larger amount than it increases expenditures, thereby decreasing the deficit. That is not what is commonly understood as "savings," and the continual use of the word "savings" is for the purpose of manipulating the debate by producing the illusion of cost control.

Mar 21st 2010 10:16 GMT

"She has presided over one of the most effective sessions in the history of the House"

I'd like a little comparative evidence for such a statement. It doesn't feel accurate to me.

"To a significant extent, Ms Pelosi is viewed negatively because Americans think of her as a loser."

I don't understand how you came to this conclusion based upon the graphical polling you show. If you could at least tell us the favorable ratings of the other graphed entities, the comparison might mean something. But even then, it would be at best a rough correlation. There is no way you can base any conclusion about why Ms. Pelosi is viewed negatively on this data.

Mar 20th 2010 1:56 GMT

I don't know about that bampbs. They have a lot of stuff in the ground over there that we have chosen to base our way of life around.

Mar 19th 2010 5:04 GMT

"U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion"

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_economy_grinds_to_halt_as

Same is true of gold.

Mar 18th 2010 9:27 GMT

I was just in a bar and MSNBC was on one of the TVs, muted. They had a "Prison Consultant" on to talk about Madoff being beaten up in jail. A "Prison Consultant."

I'm happy that I get my news from the internet and Comedy Central.

Mar 18th 2010 4:44 GMT

"The volume of mail that comes in to a magazine or a newspaper or a radio station is no index of anything, except that you happen to attract a lot of idiots, because most people that write letters to newspapers are fools. Intelligent people seldom do it - they do it sometimes, but not often. I used to, in my days of running a column - I welcomed the letters that came in, and, in fact, edited them. I was in charge of the letter column, and always let anyone in who denounced me violently get in - because I believe that people like to read abuse." - H.L. Mencken

People like to listen to abuse too.

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