On Apr 2, 3:33*am, "
wrote:
On Fri, 1 Apr 2011 10:30:59 -0700 (PDT), harry wrote:
On Apr 1, 2:05*pm, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
*"Robert Green" wrote:

*But the teachers are an easy target and brought a lot of this down on
themselves. Fighting against most reforms despite the fact schools are
routinely graduated undereducated people. Yelling that it is everyone's
fault BUT theirs (which of course is the other side of the coin that is
now showing up), fighting any attempt to bring in performance measures
(espcially galling to many who go through such things in THEIR jobs).

Having close friends who are teachers, they would counter and say that
"performance based" ratings often end up really being "you've been here a
while and are too expensive to keep" sorts of games. *It's not very easy to
fairly rate a teacher because each year they get a new crop of kids with
varying degrees of intellectual competence.

* * Having friends that are teachers I would say, sounds like BS. I am
daily evaluated on what I do, why shouldn't they be? I never have
understood why teachers are so deathly afraid of having their work
evaluated.

* * Yeah, although the corps get the hate, the money going to
individuals is much greater. We can no more balance the budget by
cutting breaks for the corps as we can taxing the rich, there just isn't
enough money there. Now, I am not at all saying that we shouldn't look
at the corp tax structure to see if there are things to cut. But to make
them the boogie man in this is simplistic and I don't like simplistic
answers.
* * *Especially since in tax law, healthcare and many other government
functions, the Pogo Principle is invoked: "We have met the enemy and he
is us."

I agree. Everyone wants to see someone else's ox get gored. *Means testing
for SS and Medicare would reclaim a lot of money. *Just try passing such
laws in the face of special interest groups like the AARP. *They've learned
from the NRA that being able to focus their member's ire on a particular law
or candidate is a very effective way of being an elephant in a jungle full
of lions. *Yes, occasionally a lion will attack an elephant calf, but the
outcomes are always always bad for the lions.

* * Not only that, but the Dems are assured that the only thing keeping
SS in business is that the rich support it, too, because they get their
cut. Never have understood the reasoning, but I guess it could be a
concern.

Maybe not because one day we may come to that crossroads again at a time
when the Feds are so deep in the hole that they *can't* bail them out
without disastrous consequences, far worse that what we've already seen.

* My guess would be the next time. And there will be a next time.

needs help, but I wonder if the NYT is doing things the right way. *At $195,
people have pointed out that if all the other sites did the same, you could
end up paying $2,000 a year to surf multiple news sites, something that most
of us already do.

* Or we could pay nothin' and have no sites to surf to.

Yes, I wanted to burn my J degree when I saw the extent to which news
outlets were fueling the spec bubble in housing. *I came across a stash of
newspapers from 2007 when cleaning up and the number of stories about "you
can't lose in real estate" just floored me.

* *You just have to look between the lines sometimes. I was thinking
about buying a house in FL when I read an article in one of the papers
when I was in Boca. They were talking about how even the Realtors in the
area wished they did not have so many houses to sell and would be happy
if things cooled off for awhile. When a bunch of money-grubbers like
your average Realtor start wishing for less business, you know the end
is near (grin).

--
"Even I realized that money was to politicians what the ecalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to crap on."
*---PJ O'Rourke- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Most teachers have a problem. They have never been in the real world.
They go from school to university to school and then to another
school.
But being intellectuals they think they can deduce things from zero
experience with their great intellects. *They talk to one another and
come up with weird ideas. Because they never talk to normal people
they never find this out. *They just get further and further off beam.

Rather like Obummer, and company.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Exactly so. Many politicians have never had a proper job.