USA Politics Thread - *No gun debate*

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]Nothing on the border happens but just illegals crossing to find a job or new life...not

Don't remember anyone saying that...

Better not.. It was just a outburst against comments like this...

Quote[/b] ]Andrés Manuel López Obrador, mayor of Mexico City, supported Mr Fox's stance. He said the problem of growing immigration could be “resolved by encouraging development in Mexico and Central America, not by building walls and using the border controlâ€.

This guy is a major threat to Fox in the next presidental election. I guess it runs in the family.

[miles teg 1]

Yeah man...we're getting invaded by ARMED MEXICANS! LOCK AND LOAD! Its like the days of Pancho Villa! Time to send the Marines into Mexico again to civilize those brown savages!

To hell with Iraq. We gotta defend our homeland against the Mexican hordes!!! Since military power solves everything, maybe we should start shooting illegal aliens to make them stay home! Thats what some American ranchers living along the border proposed.

(sarcasm off)

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[billybob2002 0]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I guess you support the Mexican drug cartel(s). Good for you!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anyway, the US cannot help them with their rampant corruption and crappy govt. all the time. They need to stand up on their own two feet and fight it.

[miles teg 1]

Damn!  That's right!  I must be one of THEM!  I forgot that I must be either with with Conservative Right of this country or I must be a terrorist/ commie narco-terrorist supporter!  

Yes go ahead and lump me in with the drug lords.  It must be so obvious now that I support terrorists and drug lords.  Hey I'm even part Colombian and I was born in Iran so it must make perfect sense now eh?  lol!

Ok... sarcasm off.

Serious dude...  its not logical or benefitial to lump people into extremist groups simply because its easier to make sense of the world that way.  That will just make you a much more fearful and paranoid person.

You are painting immigrants as a bunch of drug runners when the fact is that the vast majority of illegal immigrants are coming here to the US for one thing... JOBS.

Yes drugs are being smuggled in and yes sometimes its on foot (but a bunch of it is through commercial shipping).   The new level of violence used by some of these smugglers is new, but still not a huge problem.  The Border Patrol simply needs assistance from National Guard units or their own rapid reaction forces with air support to deal with heavily armed smugglers in the border areas.  Hell even some wheeled APC's would be a good cost effective solution.

In urban areas, it becomes more of a police problem, but again heavily armed criminals are nothing use.  Alot of street gangs have automatic weapons and body armor.   Nothing new there.  These guys coming in from Mexico are more dangerous because they have military training.  But they are still the miniority in drug smuggling.  

Getting tougher on illegal immigrants won't solve that problem at all.  More border patrol agents would help and more resources for them is I think a logical solution.  But unfortunately your precious Bush administration has squandered federal funding for that over in Iraq unless you of coarse want your taxes raised...oh wait...no easier to cut more social services and other bleeding heart liberal big government programs right?

Then we can better defend America from evil! (nevermind the growing evil within).

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[IsthatyouJohnWayne 0]

billybob2002-

Quote[/b] ]me-Actually it wasnt quite so simple. If i recall correctly from my Cambridge History of the British Empire, the upper classes (the establishment ) were mostly cheering for the confederates but the working classes (the majority) were great supporters of the Unionists.

English govt. supported them (not all did)...better?

No, due to the act of union there was no existing english government at the time (and still isnt- neither is there an English national anthem) . The British government only cheered from the sidelines (no military aid).

---

Quote[/b] ]I guess you support the Mexican drug cartel(s). Good for you!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anyway, the US cannot help them with their rampant corruption and crappy govt. all the time. They need to stand up on their own two feet and fight it.

It could help by bringing the drug problem in the US under control no? I mean where does this narcotic route across central america lead to? American drug users support the Mexican drug cartels. Whose problem is that?

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]No, due to the act of union there was no existing english government at the time (and still isnt- neither is there an English national anthem) . The British government only cheered from the sidelines (no military aid).

I always when talking about Great Britian (United Kingdom, now...) use the term, English govt or England...it's an bad habit. Anyway, the Eng...British govt. allowed British merchants to trade with the Confedency including the trading weapons for cotton (George Alfred Trenholm). Something is wrong if you allow guns to be traded for cotton and you can get cotton from your Empire. Yeah, they cheered and sat by, but allowed the CSS Alabama to built in one of their port(s). Also, almost declared war against the US because of the Trent Affair until the US said sorry. There was some economic ties at play with the Confedency and Great Britian, and this in turn, in the eyes of many people, seemed that the british govt. passively supported the Confedency.

Quote[/b] ]It could help by bringing the drug problem in the US under control no? I mean where does this narcotic route across central america lead to? American drug users support the Mexican drug cartels. Whose problem is that?

The United States gives tons of money to Mexico & co. to combat the drug cartels. Also, on trade, the National Black Farmers Association (before Fox comments) has tried to step things up to help both each other and Mexico has not replied back. In my opinion, the United States, now, cannot help those country in which the US has to do everything.

[miles teg 1]

Thats a pretty arrogant statement. If you knew anything about agricultural trade between Mexico and the United States, there are HUGE numbers of farmers in Mexico that DO NOT WANT more subsidized American agricultural products pushed into Mexico. That's probably why Fox hasn't responded to that black farmers association. He has the people of his country to stand up for and does not in any way have to kiss the ass of the United States. He doesn't even have to accept money from the US to battle drug lords in Mexico either. But he does so because he wants good economic and political relations with the US as that is in the best interest of both countries. But NO country likes to be bossed around by more powerful countries.

Do you think Mexicans HAVE NOT been trying to help themselves. For Godsake, go read up on current Mexican political and labor movements. Mexicans are extremely politically active but corruption cripples them at every level of government and guess what happens when you protest too loudly? You get killed.

Mexico is NOT America where the police will protect people's rights to protest as long as they are peaceful (and its not the Republican convention).

If you think its so easy to fight corruption in Mexico, please enlighten us with your solutions.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]He has the people of his country to stand up for and does not in any way have to kiss the ass of the United States.  He doesn't even have to accept money from the US to battle drug lords in Mexico either.  But he does so because he wants good economic and political relations with the US as that is in the best interest of both countries.  But NO country likes to be bossed around by more powerful countries.

Yeah, you tell me! Who gives a damn that Mexico passively supports illegal immigration! They do not have to kiss the US ass on this issue. Anyway, you think the Mexican govt, without outside assistance in training and etc, can battle the cartel(s) alone?

Quote[/b] ]

Do you think Mexicans HAVE NOT been trying to help themselves.  For Godsake, go read up on current Mexican political and labor movements.  Mexicans are extremely politically active but corruption cripples them at every level of government and guess what happens when you protest too loudly?  You get killed. Mexico is NOT America where the police will protect people's rights to protest as long as they are peaceful (and its not the Republican convention).  

If you think its so easy to fight corruption in Mexico, please enlighten us with your solutions.

Why don't you enlighten on me what the solutions are since I'm an arrogrant brown hating american? They are savages to me! Anyway, where did I said fighting corruption is easy in my post or they haven't done anything? However, I did said the US cannot help countries, now, in which the US has to do everything. Corruption has gotten to point in the Mexican govt. that it's entrenched and a outside source or somebody within, with pull, has to deal with it. The US can't do that now.

Illegal immigration in Spain...who would of thought..It seems they are facing the same "problem".

Quote[/b] ]MAY 30, 2005

EUROPEAN BUSINESS

These Open Arms Are Raising EU Eyebrows

Like thousands of Ecuadorians, Olga Cando was quick to find a job after she arrived in Madrid four years ago. Her two brothers worked at a Spanish construction company and knew a friendly family who needed a live-in maid. But it wasn't until this year that the 37-year-old Cando had any hope of legalizing her situation. During a three-month period ending May 7, Cando along with almost 700,000 of Spain's illegal immigrants, applied for national working papers as part of one of the most ambitious-ever amnesties in Europe. "I'm so relieved my papers are on their way," says Cando, who with help from her employers had applied twice before and been rejected both times. She hopes to visit her parents in Ecuador for the first time in four years.

Indeed, for Cando, the amnesty has opened the door to a new life. For an aging Spain, the move holds out the promise of enormous economic benefits from a young, low-cost workforce. But for Spain's biggest opposition party and many European Union nations the move to legalize so many unskilled workers poses a great threat. They fear it will encourage millions more of the world's poor to try for a better life in Europe.

The massive inflow of immigrants already has changed Spain. Over the past seven years the country's fast-growing economy has attracted 3 million newcomers, mainly from Latin America, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The total number of immigrants today approaches 4 million, or 9% of the Spanish population, compared with less than 1.6% in 1998.

The inflow has helped rejuvenate a country with one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Poor foreigners have been willing to tackle low-skilled jobs in construction, domestic services, agriculture, and restaurants that Spaniards no longer want. Unlike the locals, who are reluctant to relocate in search of work, immigrants move to wherever there are jobs. "A large part of the Spanish miracle is due to immigration," says Manuel Balmaseda, an economist at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

But the wave of immigrants has also caught Spain off guard. Despite five amnesties since 1985, the country had about 1.5 million illegal workers by the time the government began its latest legalization process. This time around, the government linked residency papers to proof of employment. Only immigrants who could prove they had arrived in the country before August 8, 2004 were eligible to apply. Once they receive their papers, immigrants, even maids like Cando, will be required to pay Social Security. That's a crucial step, the government says, towards eliminating Spain's flourishing underground economy.

Even so, just about everyone worries that the amnesty will encourage more immigration to Europe. "This regularization goes completely against other EU members' immigration policy," says Ana Pastor, the executive secretary of social policy for Spain's center-right Popular Party. The Spanish government argues Spanish working papers aren't valid elsewhere in Europe. And it pledges to crack down on employers who hire illegal workers and to tighten police control along its borders.

It won't be easy. "The moment somebody from the Ivory Coast touches shore on the Canary Islands, his life expectancy rises from 40 to 75 years," says Luis de Sebastián, an economist at ESADE Business School in Barcelona. Until the developed world offers other solutions to these countries, he says, "the inflow of immigration will be unstoppable."

By Carlta Vitzthum in Madrid

[miles teg 1]

Quote[/b] ]

Yeah, you tell me! Who gives a damn that Mexico passively supports illegal immigration! They do not have to kiss the US ass on this issue. Anyway, you think the Mexican govt, without outside assistance in training and etc, can battle the cartel(s) alone?

Thats because for them immigration is NOT a problem. It puts much needed US dollars back into their economy.  The nature of capitalism is that labor goes to where the jobs are.  Are you anti-capitalist?  And..yeah they can easily handle the cartels by themselves.  They can just ignore them and let it be a US problem.  Who says they even have to fight the cartels?  The cartels are perfectly happy to stay out of politics as long as they're allowed to do their business unhindered.

Quote[/b] ]

Why don't you enlighten on me what the solutions are since I'm an arrogrant brown hating american? They are savages to me!

There ya go. Finally you admit it!  That's it, let it all out!

I think I already mentioned some solutions to illegal immigration in the past but I don't think you were paying attention.  One solution to illegal immigration is getting more funding to our border patrol.  For illegal drug smuggling restarting the "Just Say No to Drugs" campaign that Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr. started. It was proven to be effective.  I think it was Clinton who cut its funding.  This will help reduce the percieved popularity of using drugs.  

Encouraging US corporations in Mexico to pay a living wage and decent wages/benifits is another way to get them to stay in Mexico.  If the US corporations do that, Mexican corporations may follow.

Corruption is a more difficult challenge.  There are no easy general answers to combatting corruption.  Each case has to be looked at.  When most of your law enforcement is corrupt you have a major problem.  Paying Mexican police a good wage with good benefits will help somewhat.  Better federal oversight of state and local police (much as the FBI does in this country) is another option.   But I am not a specialist on the matter and really would have to spend time with and around Mexican police to learn their mentality about their jobs and how they view corruption.  Somethings when they're done for so long become culturally ingrained.  It then becomes a lot tougher to root out and you have to develop programs to change that culture.   The FBI has this problem as it is very very slow in shedding its old J.Edgar Hoover Cold War mentality.   On the political level, UN monitoring of elections is one step.  UN investigations of alleged corruption is another because often such charges are simply used by the political opposition to delegitimize another candidate.  So its very hard to tell sometimes when someone is just crying wolf.  

One solution is new legislation to make the finances of politicians more transparent.  But we don't even have that in this country so that probably wouldn't fly.

But honestly I don't really know because I don't know enough about the internal structure of the Mexican government and whether they have any real checks and balances  or truly independent branches of government that can keep an eye on the other branches.    So I'm not going to bullshit you and give you solutions.  The truth of the matter is that it is highly complicated and you really need to be an expert on Mexico to give it a good analysis and to come up with realistic do-able solutions.

Quote[/b] ]

Anyway, where did I said fighting corruption is easy in my post or they haven't done anything? However, I did said the US cannot help countries, now, in which the US has to do everything. Corruption has gotten to point in the Mexican govt. that it's entrenched and a outside source or somebody within, with pull, has to deal with it. The US can't do that now.

Help them do what?  Immigration is not their problem.  Its a US problem.  They also never have asked the US to help them with corruption.  They would NOT WANT American troops to enter their country and occupy it.  That again shows your colonialist arrogant mentality.   Look how wonderfully occupation has gone in Iraq.  Yes the natives love us!

Quote[/b] ]

Illegal immigration in Spain...who would of thought..It seems they are facing the same "problem".

Yeah well that's Spain.  All of Europe is facing immigration problems.   But thats for the European politics thread and this is the US politics thread.  

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]Help them do what?  Immigration is not their problem.  Its a US problem.  They also never have asked the US to help them with corruption.  They would NOT WANT American troops to enter their country and occupy it.  That again shows your colonialist arrogant mentality.   Look how wonderfully occupation has gone in Iraq.  Yes the natives love us!

Where did I say something about occupation? The chance of occpuation was missed after the Mexican war. I said the United States could use it pull to combat corruption inside of Mexico.

Quote[/b] ]There ya go. Finally you admit it!  That's it, let it all out!

Here's a picture of me...

White Power!!!

Quote[/b] ]

The nature of capitalism is that labor goes to where the jobs are.  Are you anti-capitalist?  And..yeah they can easily handle the cartels by themselves.  

Now, I'm anti-capitalist because I believe illegal immigration is wrong. Let me ask you this then, are you an anarchist?

Quote[/b] ]Who says they even have to fight the cartels?

I want to be so nice in a reply but I can't..

Quote[/b] ]Yeah well that's Spain.  All of Europe is facing immigration problems.   But thats for the European politics thread and this is the US politics thread.  

Maybe they had a solution to the problem that the US can use. I guess amnesty does not work.

Quote[/b] ]I think I already mentioned some solutions to illegal immigration in the past but I don't think you were paying attention.

I was talking about corruption and not illegal immigration. On illegal immigration, I believe in more funding to our border patrol (like you) and usage of the state's national guards. Contrary to popular belief, not everybody in the NG is in Iraq. They would not be armed like they are going to fight a nation but armed enough to protect themselves. Also, they can learn more discipline. They would of been a task they originally suppose to be doing.

Quote[/b] ]

.....

If the US corporations do that, Mexican corporations may follow.

 

That's fine and all but the Mexican govt. needs to stop passively supporting illegal immigration. They need to stop giving info to illegals about getting licenses and etc. Their senting a mix message to illegals by telling them it's all right.

[Akira 0]

Since you know its comin' from Ralphie...

Quote[/b] ]Here's a picture of me...

Quote[/b] ]§5)No posting of explicit images

No posting of pictures containing porn, real killing, mutilations, wounds, carnage, and other disgusting/explicit images.

[billybob2002 0]

Since you know its comin' from Ralphie...

Quote[/b] ]Here's a picture of me...

Quote[/b] ]§5)No posting of explicit images

No posting of pictures containing porn, real killing, mutilations, wounds, carnage,  and other disgusting/explicit images.

Listen here, brother, them pinko-commie liberals in Austin should be fed to them dirty mexicans! Everybody knows the real capital of Texas is San Antonio. Aaahhh... White Power!!!

Anyway, 81 senators voted to end the filibuster against Priscilla Owen after the compromise. What the hell is the democrats platform? They seemed to block Bush's ideas but what the hell are their ideas? They think their going to win the White House back with what they are doing now? I think not.

[Akira 0]

Quote[/b] ]Listen here, brother, them pinko-commie liberals in Austin should be fed to them dirty mexicans! Everybody knows the real capital of Texas is San Antonio. Aaahhh... White Power!!!

Haven't been to S.A. have ya?

Quote[/b] ]They seemed to block Bush's ideas but what the hell are their ideas?

Simple. The Right want judges that agree with them to legislate from the bench (despite their crying about "activist judges"), and the Left wants to block those judges (switch the Right and Left part for what the Left also wants).

As far as "platforms" I assume you mean national political agenda. Well, there is social programs, pro-choice, and no religious based rhetoric.

[miles teg 1]

lol!  

Yeah plus Austin isn't a real Mexican name to match the state name of Tejas! but San Antonio on the other hand...  Eso Si!!!

As for the democracts on the fillibuster...I have no clue but its the President's job to appoint those judges.  However it would be nice if they proposed some alternative appointees cuz even alot of Republicans weren't thrilled about some of Bush's picks.   Priscilla Owens...  geeze...I saw some of the hearings where they grilled her and that lady is the very definition of an activist judge who in the past made legal rulings based on her Christian beliefs and not on anything based on the word of the law. Even Bush's own attorney general called her an activist judge and didn't like her.  She also had some other really flaky beliefs on not protecting elderly people against discrimination by saying something to the effect that they technically don't fall under the definition of descrimination or something like that... don't quote me on that.  But she just comes off to me as not being particurly bright and being guided more by her faith then by the law.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[EiZei 0]

Not to mention that a record low percentage of chimperor's appointees have been blocked. Does'nt anybody find it little worrying when a ruling party starts changing the playing rules all of the sudden with no apparent reason?

[miles teg 1]

No...there is a reason. This aggreement they made is going to fall apart REAL quick. You can guarantee that they're going to take away the fillibuster when it comes to nominating a new Supreme Court Justice as Bush is just about guaranteed to appoint a highly contravercial fundamentalist rightwing activist judge to the Supreme Court. Its then that for certain the Republicans will vote away the fillibuster as both sides will fight tooth and nail to get the Bush nominee in their.

So this agreement reached I think is nothing but a feel good agreement that will not last very long.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Akira 0]

What I see is the Republicans getting complacent and taking for granted the fact they are in power, and basically hold all the power. Unless they plan to legislate the end of the two-party system, they are fogetting that their power will not last forever. If they end the filibuster that will come back to bite them in the ass. And guess who will be crying about a "level playing field" then?

And on my homefront,

In a stunning victory for the Republican majority in the Texas House, a viable school finance plan still has failed to come about. However, that did not stop the GOP from successfully shooting down every school finance bill the Democrats have offered. Luckily though, the Republican majority did manage to do away with health care for bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, etc.

And in an ideological victory, the Governor (Chief Big Hair) has announced he is not worried if a plan comes out this session, as they plan to let the courts (ie "activist judges") come up with a plan for them. He also assured the members that no special session would be called to deal with the school finance crisis (though 3 were called previously to deal with that sticky problem of re-districting).

Yes. The priorities for the Republicans have become all too clear during this session. No healthcare for school workers (and possibly teachers), no budgetary plan or financing plan for schools, no provisions to look at tax breaks given to companies (some of which date from the 1950s), possibly no competition bill for cable and telecommunications companies (yeah monopolies!), and an iffy appropriations bil. But damned if that ban on gay marriage didn't get pushed through and put on the ballot for statewide constitutional amendment referendum.

One of the more humorous (in a sad way) moments came during the late term abortion debate. One of the members offered an amendment that would allow doctors to perform a late term abortion should the baby prove to have a defective or non-working "vital" organ (ie heart, liver, etc...the bill already stated that a doctor could if the baby had a "non-viable" brain). The original author of the bill rejected and went to debate over the amendment, arguing that a baby could be healthy without any of those organs, but it needed a brain, therefore his bill didn't need amending. A number of Republican members came up and questioned the author extensively, asking if a baby needed a heart. All the author would say is "All you need is a brain." Well I guess he proved that wrong, eh?

[miles teg 1]

Holy crap! I didn't know they did away with health care coverage for school workers! That is really messed up. My brother was going to apply for a janitorial job at his wife's school where she teaches so he could get health care coverage. That's really messed up.

God forbid they cut down on the number of administrators in schools or... (gulp) raise taxes!!!

Teachers health care benefits they won't cut I don't think simply because they would then face a crisis getting new teachers. Its an extremely tough job and with no health care coverage it simply wouldn't be worth it. But janitors and bus drivers are a dime a dozen.

Thats very sad.

Chris G.

[Akira 0]

Healthcare may be reinstated in the Conference Committee Report, which I believe is currently meeting. However, presently it was removed by the House. It depends on how the bill leaves the Conference Committee. It is starting to look like the CC will not even bother to concur or release a report, and let the courts take care of it. As for teachers, I don't know. A number of benefits have been axed I believe, and pay raises have been axed for sure. Healthcare for teachers was definitly being cut back, though not entirely (I believe it went to CC as a healthcare "credit"...ie teachers get $1000 dollars a year...after that they pay).

It was somewhat funny that just before session began, and it was well known they were going to try to tackle school finance, the number of field trips to the capital jumped dramaticly. Everyday the capitol was filled with teachers trailing students, and every time they would ask "Where is Rep So and Sos office?" or "Where is Senator So-and-So?" I was of course all to pleased to point them the right direction. One time I passed the office of a Rep (who looked uncomfortable) when the teacher asked "Can you explain to the children how the state funds schools?" Man I about cracked up.

[chops 111]

I saw a very disturbing report on CNN (international) about the "High stakes testing" that was introduced in Texas a few years ago. Some politician (black guy, forget his name) was credited with miraculously raising the standards of learning. What had actually happened was he'd pegged District Supervisors' and school Principals' salaries to the students' results in these tests. Of course the teachers were under immense pressure to produce the results (or else lose their jobs), so the students were basically given all the answers to the tests (forced to cheat). THe report said that this "miracle" was going to be the model across the whole country.

[Akira 0]

Academic standards have been slipping nationwide. I don't know how many articles I've read about standards being dumbed down because students were unable to pass required tests. Well gee. How is the answer catering to idiocy, and not overhauling the educational system these students suffer through? Texas ties student performance to the amount of money a school recieves. Students don't do good...the school gets little money. As you stated, this lead to a number of abuses.

Texas has kept the 10% rule, despite Republican grumbling. This rule allows the top 10% of every high school to be automatically accepted into any state college (like UT) if they want. This has lead to many accusations of reverse discrimination (and was featured on 60 Minutes). For example a student at Westlake High here in Austin will be compared evenly to a student at a lesser school though Westlake is one of the most competitve highest ranked high schools in the state. A student at Westlake may have a straight A average and still not be in the top 10%, where as a student from a poorer or smaller high school may have a B average and be in the top 10%. Its a difficult and thorny question, however my personal feelings are that it gives minority children the chance to attend college, and that is a good thing.

[billybob2002 0]

I saw a very disturbing report on CNN (international) about the "High stakes testing" that was introduced in Texas a few years ago. Some politician (black guy, forget his name) was credited with  miraculously raising the standards of learning. What had actually happened was he'd pegged District Supervisors' and school Principals' salaries to the students' results in these tests. Of course the teachers were under immense pressure to produce the results (or else lose their jobs), so the students were basically given all the answers to the tests (forced to cheat). THe report said that this "miracle" was going to be the model across the whole country.

 

The education systems has changed for the worse in the last couple of decades. It does not matter who is in control of office, health care is being cut. The D.C. teacher union was so horrible in paying coverage to the dentist I used, the dentist office, which she worked at, does not want to do anymore work with them. Now, there are a select few of dentists they use and I'm not covered no more. Anyway, dumping tons of money does not solve everything in teaching students. Yeah, give money to the school but they need to be teaching parents in being parents also. My county still had horrible test scores in the 90s when the education system was receiving tons of money. The democrats education plan of the 90s is one of the reasons why Maryland has budget problems. Furthermore, their plan did not declassify Maryland has being segregated by the Department of Education in higher education and Maryland is still classified segregated to this day. Anyway, just give them enough to function.

edit:sp...            

[miles teg 1]

I agree Billybob that its more then just about money. But at the very least, teachers and I would hope workers as well would get some type of health care coverage. Its pretty scary when the trend throughout the nation in not only private industry, but also government jobs, is to cut health care. I'm afraid its going to eventually get to a point where there is a crisis in health care because everyone is scared shitless of health care reform and God forbid, government regulation on industries like the pharmaceutical industry...who are beyond a doubt price gouging Americans. But regulation is a dirty word to Republicans.

At any rate, as for school reform, yeah I agree parents need to be taught how to freak'n parent. But then many Republicans and Libertarians cry fall saying that big government needs to stay out of the house. But I don't see whats wrong with simply offering parenting classes with some kind of incentive perhaps. But with that said, a simple parenting class won't correct generations of disfunctionality in a family. Parents in my experience with child psychology, DO NOT like being told that they are primary cause of their children's misbehavior or social/academic problems. The answer today is simply to load up kids with anti-depression and anti-anxiety drugs. It is SHOCKING how doped up our kids are these days.

As for improving scores...here's a thought... how about TELLING STUDENTS that the top 10% of students will get into state universities for FREE! I was not aware of that and I guarantee you that if you asked most high school students in Texas about that, that they wouldn't know that.

This I think would motivate them alot especially if you combine that with more tours of universities for high school students and more college mentoring programs where you have college students spend a few hours tutoring high school students at their high schools for college credits.

The charter school I'm a board member on is planning on doing this but often public schools (and charter schools) do not fully utilize this resource.

As far as dropping academic progress... I believe each school needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. One of the problems is too much reliance on statistical testing data. That tells you that your students are doing well or not doing well, however it does not do a good job of telling you WHY they are not doing well.

I have NEVER seen anyone going around interviewing students at a high school in order to determine why there are problems in academic achievement. A BIG BIG problem why there is often massive problems is because schools develop a culture of failure where students only want to go to school to socialise and could really care less about academics except for the fact that they HAVE to be there. They need to see the cause and effect relationship that their scores have on their future. Nobody EVER showed me that in high school. My goal was just to graduate and I had no clue about what to do after that and no clue about what GPA meant for my chances of getting into colleges. I was just expected to get a job.

Some students do get the message, but at schools in poorer areas of the country, the culture of the school is that these students are not going to be rocket scientists.

I am a firm believe that what high school students (and middle school) need is simple motivation. They need to be able to see that their future can be MUCH more then just working at Walmart, McDonalds, or doing telemarketing their whole lives. Peer tutoring programs, (where honor role students are required to tutor underachieving students) and in some classes a more college oriented seminar style enviornment (such as for some English and Social Studies classes) would be good changes as well as much more hands on applications of knowledge. I felt such sympathy for my high school algebra teachers. They tried so hard, but they just weren't trained on how to make Algebra interesting to students. Hell, even college algebra was brutal and uterly boring. But I had a teacher at a missionary school in Indonesia would taught geometry and physics and he would show us cool stuff like basic Quantum Mechanics and we'd do hands on small scale engineering projects to see how math is applied. In those classes students did extremely well.

But in public schools all that costs more $$. Which is in VERY short supply these days and the situation is only getting worse especially with the long term prospects of many more years of war in Iraq and possibly eventually in Iran and Syria (and even North Korea).

So while $$ isn't the total solution, it certainly would help for school districts that are really struggling along with well organized professional trouble shooting teams who go into a school and really do a good analysis of the school's strong areas and weak points based on not only quantitative test scores but also extensive interviews and focus group studies with both faculty and students at the school. Such teams could also have accountants who could help audit the school and look at areas in which costs could be cut as well as areas where they needed critical funding increases.

There are a few schools that do hire outside consultants but again, these consulting agencies generally rely almost exclusively on quantitative analysis....something schools could (and usually do) do themselves.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[SFWanabe 0]

Stem Cell Research. I support it and I beileve that we can save more lives by doing it than just letting them be born. Plus we already have enough kids. What does everyone else think?

[red oct 2]

im glad U.S. House of Reps decided to okay the bill. i hope more states legallize this. i also wish these so called "Pro Life" idiots would just stfu already. especially Bush and Delay. nevermind that george didn't let his pro life values get in the way when it came to carrying out carrying out the most executions nation wide when he was governor of Texas or rushing off to war. after all most of the cures and treatments we have today were a results of human testing and having to cut open people in order find these cures and treatments in the first place.