08:21 – Barbara is taking the day off work to take Colin to his annual vet checkup, run errands, and catch up on some stuff at home. I’m still filling bottles, hundreds and hundreds of them, for science kits.
The morning paper reports that the results of the nationwide assessment of 12th graders has only three-eighths of them proficient or better in reading and about a quarter proficient or better in math. Those figures are bad enough, but what goes unmentioned is that the bar for “proficient” is set extremely low. By any reasonable yardstick, the sorry truth is that probably at most 5% to 10% perform at what would historically have been considered a 12th grade level. Is it any wonder that private schools and homeschooling are booming?
On a related note, I see that fast-food employees are planning protests in 150 cities on 15 May to demand an increase in the minimum wage to $15/hour. Give me a break. The vast majority of them aren’t even worth the $9/hour that they currently average.
As the articles always point out, $9/hour is about $18,000/year, which is $4,500/year below the poverty line for a family of four. The articles never point out that if both parents in that family of four flip burgers at McDonalds, the family income is $36,000/year, which is $13,500 above the poverty line. Apparently, we’re supposed to think that Ozzie should be able to support his family flipping burgers while Harriet is a stay-at-home mom.
The thing you’re missing is the biggest effect of LBJ’s war on poverty. From 1960 to 1970 the percentage of children not living with both parents doubled. My wife has a friend who was a single mother. The best thing that ever happened to her son is that he got a stepfather. I have no idea how much government assistance the formerly single mother lost when that happened. They’re now a working class family.
If you graduate high school, get married and hold any job for a year, even a minimum wage one, you’re on the way out of poverty. Our culture of government benefits discourages all three.
It would be nice if everyone could see how the cost of everything is related. If fast food workers make $15/hr then a burrito at Taco Bell is going to cost $2.50 instead of $1.25. So, those workers will be making twice as much, but a dollar will only buy half of what it used to.
[sarcasm]Heck, why not just set Federal Minimum Wage at $50/hour that way everyone in America can be upper middle class. Better yet, $480/hour and we can all be millionaires. I don’t know why someone didn’t think of this sooner![/sarcasm]
It’s sort of like the concept of “there is no corporate tax.” Any attempt to tax a company will simply be passed on to the customers in the form of increased prices or reduced quality/service. Or, it will be passed on to that company’s employees in the form of layoffs, reduced wages/benefits, and so forth. The only people who pay when a company’s taxes are increased are its customers and employees. That doesn’t stop the left from wanting to tax the hell out of corporate America.
Part of me thinks we should just let them do it and then rub their faces in it 10 years down the line, but it would never work out that way. They’d blame the increased cost of everything on corporate greed and demand another increase in their minimum wage. They’ll never see the correlation.
Sadly, 50% of American have a below average IQ and many of them vote.
I’d like to see a new system where everyone who wants to vote has to pay to do so. For example, the cost/vote could be set initially at $100. If you want to vote at the local level, you pay $100 times however many votes you want to be able to cast. Same thing at the state and federal level. And that vote money takes the place of all taxes at all levels.
That would be so much fairer than what we have now.
Regarding public education: Common Core is not the Silver Bullet. Actually, test scores of the minority students will decrease after implementation.
For fast food fabricators, the current minimum wage is far better than those who remain south of the violated fences could earn.
What do you guys do for canine dental care? I’ve heard so many differing opinions. Some people say to NEVER brush a dogs teeth (even using that special “doggy tooth paste”). Some people have the vet do it. Some people do absolutely nothing and never need to. Last time our dogs were boarded the vet told us that the one has a moderate tartar problem (probably from the human food she shouldn’t be eating).
Regarding the reports of public school failings, I will offer the following from personal experience gained in the immediate past. I assist my daughter as a volunteer in the second grade classroom in which she teaches. The students are characterized as “English learners” in politically correct vernacular. The math and reading levels as reported are not overestimated.
I will note that it has nothing to do with the local school district. Her children, attending a different school in the same district, are at the 95+ % level in accomplishment.
Barbara gives Colin a dentastix each day, which seems to work. Those things smell delicious. I’ve often considered eating one myself.
It has become unacceptable to acknowledge that the cognitive abilities of students differ, and particularly that those differences correlate to race or other unmentionable factors. The unquestioned and unquestionable solution, of course, is to hire more teachers and to pay them more. There was an article in the paper this morning about the governor (who is accused constantly by opponents of slashing “education” spending) plans to increase base salaries for first-year teachers to $35,000/year. Teachers with more experience can make up to $75,000/year or so. And that doesn’t count local supplements. Our school system, for example, pays many thousands per year per teacher in supplemental pay.
I think even $35,000/year is grossly excessive for someone with a degree in education, no matter what their experience. I’d cap total teacher salaries at, say, $25,000 per year, other than math and science teachers. I’d require them to have undergraduate degrees in the field they teach or a closely related one, and I’d pay extra for a masters degree in a rigorous discipline.
I’d like to see a new system where everyone who wants to vote has to pay to do so.
We’ve already done that here in the USA, a poll tax:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_tax_%28United_States%29
I think that you should own land in the USA as a condition of voting. The amount of land would be subject to some minimum (obviously greater than one square foot). In other words, you should bring a property tax paid certificate in order to vote.
I think that you should own land in the USA as a condition of voting.
That would exclude many of the military who do not want to own land because of the change of duty station every few years. Also many are able to obtain base housing. There is little value to a military person to own a piece of land somewhere that they may never see again.
I do understand what you are advocating. A person voting has to have some stake in the system. Those that live in public housing on welfare should receive no votes. Unless they are paying income tax or property tax they get no vote. It is much too tempting to vote yourself more benefits, as in taking money from others and doing nothing except breeding to receive the benefits.
The problem isn’t minimum wage, but the fact that there is no maximum wage, which I would cap at 25 times the lowest paid employee of any company/organization. If a CEO wants his $5 million a year, he’s going to have to pay the bottom grunts $200K a year.
I’ve always been a fan of Heinlein’s take on votes. Every citizen gets one. Property owners get another. Same with veterans of the armed forces, college or university degree holders and business owners to a maximum of five votes.
One of my favorite Heinlein quotes (which is sure to fall on deaf ears here): “If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for … but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”
My mantra for the next election(s) is “Incumbents OUT!” It is time for new brooms.
I’ve always been a fan of Heinlein’s take on votes. Every citizen gets one. Property owners get another. Same with veterans of the armed forces, college or university degree holders and business owners to a maximum of five votes.
I am not familiar with which story this is. My familiarity is with Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” in which you had to have two years of military service in order to vote.
I think Heinlein would change his advice if he were alive today. Every Democrat and Republican candidate on the ballot in November will pretty much stand for the same thing: larger, costlier, more intrusive government. The differences are cosmetic. We basically have a choice of voting for one of two pretty much identical candidates. Sure, if a Republican wins, he might spend a bit less money, but only a bit. And if a Democrat wins, he might have a bit more respect for our civil liberties, but only a bit.
All of these guys are bad guys, and to pretend there’s any difference is deluding yourself. There are good guys out there, sure, but they pretty much have no chance of being elected, with very, very few exceptions.
Unless they are paying income tax or property tax they get no vote
I can live with this.
One of my favorite Heinlein quotes (which is sure to fall on deaf ears here): “If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for … but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”
I follow this also. But here in the Great State of Texas, I like most of our politicians who are 80% Republicans. I actually live in fear of losing our governor, Rick Perry, next year as he steps down and runs for Prez again. He has been the adult in the room for state government for many years now and is willing to viciously say “NO!”. The democrats in the state capitol, Austin, are actually trying to indict him for using his line item veto. Not gonna happen.
Doggie dental care: We give them a rawhide stick to chew on in the evenings, and about 2/3 of their diet is dry dog food. They never get sweets, of course. That seems to be sufficient – both our dogs are now 11, and neither has any sort of serious dental problems. Some of their teeth are a bit discolored, but that’s it.
“I think even $35,000/year is grossly excessive for someone with a degree in education”
Well, it shouldn’t be, and wouldn’t be, if the teachers were the cream of the crop. However, no offence to CowboySlim’s daughter, most of them are on the lower end of the intellectual scale, and should really be flipping hamburgers.
We are getting rain today (light rain so far) for the first time since March 25 here in the Land of Sugar (currently 77 F). You could pull a 100 ft plume on my gravel roads yesterday. Especially with the three truckloads of gravel we put down last week.
I’d get five votes but they’d all be a waste of time and effort as the system here is currently constituted. Throwing out incumbents and replacing them with more of the same is not gonna help us at all. One way or another, this system/regime is going to fail and fail badly, probably in our lifetimes, and a complete formatting and rebooting with a somewhat different operating system will be necessary. I hope we can avoid a lot of pain and suffering but fear that will be facing us anyway; too many brain-dead lumpenproletariat who will end up in mass die-off and a long tradition of violence as a solution and half a billion to a billion firearms.
After the mayhem dies down it would be useful to break up the country into a loose confederacy connected to our brother/sister provinces in Canada. Reduce the Fed Leviathan to very thin bone marrow. Get rid of the Senate entirely. Reduce the proportion of lawyers to their proportion in the general population. Term limits. Qualified voting. Dump the entire public education system and winnow down the colleges and universities to about fifty or so, total.
Reorganize armed and trained state and regional militias with existing National Guard infrastructures. Close just about all the overseas bases and installations and bring all those troops home and cut DOD by 2/3. Stay out of foreign entanglements.
Rebuild regional transportation, food and water infrastructures, ditto communications, and renovate passenger and freight railroad lines and the canals and seaports. All privately, of course.
The mayhem, however, may get so bad and last for so long, as to render any of these pretty scenarios null and void and we may be at Mad Max Road Warrior Stage or worse. If that happens, all bets are off.
There have always been and probably always will be some public school teachers who are competent, devoted to their students, and in some cases exceptional. Unfortunately nowadays more and more of them are being driven out as a result of the Race to the Bottom(TM).
But the truth is that if one understands something, one can teach it. Granted, some will be better at teaching than others, even if both have equal understanding of the subject matter, but in general teaching, especially at the elementary level, does not require high intelligence or much knowledge. Hell, a lot of kids learn to read and do basic math on their own. The upshot is that elementary school teachers need be no brighter than or have more knowledge than an average babysitter, and should probably be paid about the same. As the curriculum gets into more serious math and science in middle school and high school, you need brighter people to teach it. That’s why I think STEM teachers in MS/JHS and up should be required to have an undergrad degree in their subjects, or closely related ones.
“I am not familiar with which story this is. My familiarity is with Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” in which you had to have two years of military service in order to vote.”
It wasn’t from a story but a collection of stories and essays he did called “Expanded Universe”. I would look up the chapter and verse reference but I’m too lazy.
Every once in a while the libtards astonish even me; OK, there are problems with capital punishment and the way it’s been done is fraught with error and bad faith and bad calls and prosecutorial misconduct at best. So they pick a guy like this as their poster boy?
http://www.dailykos.com/blog/tom%20tomorrow
“Tom Tomorrow” is actually a dude named Dan Perkins, and he’s been around quite a while, most frequently online at the Maoist rag Salon; he often is an equal-opportunity offender but usually treads the same ol’ libtard line, as here.
Here’s the dude everyone is crying and whining about:
http://www.humanevents.com/2014/05/07/lockett-and-load/
This is one possible reason for believing in Hell, or hoping there is one, anyway, ’cause he sure didn’t get justice or punishment here on Earth. Until that last few minutes, anyway, which still was nowhere near what he put his victims through.
Being a strict constructionist, I take the Constitutional prohibition of “cruel AND unusual” punishments literally. A punishment is acceptable if it’s neither cruel nor unusual, if it’s cruel but not unusual, or if it’s unusual but not cruel.
On that basic, keelhauling, drawing & quartering, tying people in front of a cannon muzzle and then firing it, and so on are all Constitutionally acceptable.
I suppose that one I’ve proposed–dropping them into a tank of piranha–wouldn’t pass muster.
But wait, there’s more…..
There have been major efforts recently to preclude drop outs in the, particularly minority, high schools. These efforts have been somewhat successful; consequently, more “I could care less” students are taking the test with the corresponding drop in scores.
Well, then it gets worse. 2/3 of the junior college courses here are of remedial level. As the junior colleges must accept those with high school diplomas, it is obvious that the diplomas are worthless frauds. If one were a bona fide graduate with a valid diploma, why would one need remedial course material in junior college?
Regarding the capabilities, intellectual and other, of the teachers, yes, I agree in principle that such should be very important. OTOH, when it is mandated that the subject material to be taught is PC drivel, does it really matter?
I agree, if everyone currently on death row were dispensed with in the remainder of this year, how would it be “unusual”. Furthermore, if they were by firing squad, how could the swiftness of it be considered “cruel.”
I think the Chinese do it right: take the guy out of his cell as though it’s a routine transfer and shoot him in the back of the head as he walks down the corridor.
“cruel and unusual” always struck me as a very strange thing to say. I mean, you can come up with the weirdest way of abusing someone, but if you make it common it will no longer be “unusual”.
Anyhow, although he’s an idiot on lots of things, I have to agree with the guy in Arizona who puts prisoners in tents, denies them coffee, etc.. Prison should be unpleasant. Let prisoners earn a few luxuries by exerting themselves with education or work opportunities.
I also don’t get the apparent tolerance for prison rape and other crimes within the walls. Any serious misbehavior, including crimes against other prisoners, should be heavily punished.
The people who wrote that document spoke English fluently, so I assume that they meant what they wrote.
Actually, I’ve always wondered why they didn’t just pump carbon monoxide into the condemned prisoners’ cells. Nothing cruel about it, and death by CO is certainly not unusual.
On education, diplomas and degrees; I learned a long time ago that most of it was worthless, and no more so than when I was myself a grad student and teaching assistant or an instructor at four Northeast universities. And that was over twenty years ago; half my time was spent on focusing on remedial English, even for regular Murkan citizens, who had, at best, 8th-grade-level ability. And the other half was for ESL kidz, from all over the planet, but mainly the Middle East and South Asia. I think I had maybe a couple of Asian kids total, from Vietnam, in all that time. The other Asian students were long gone past all that crap and into advanced STEM areas. I was amused by some from Japan, however, who were heavy into Old English/Anglo-Saxon epics like “Beowulf.” And my thesis adviser for medieval studies back in the day was Korean-American and had taken ten years to get her PhD at U.Chicago and knew half a dozen languages fluently; a ball-buster, too.
On the death penalty; I’m in favor of it for those cases where we are 100% sure we have the right person for the right crime. Otherwise, life at hard labor for violent criminals and empty the prisons of the non-violent people, immediately. Close down the gigantic prison-state industry in this country. Since methods of execution are always popular, I support the reintroduction of the guillotine, one invention of the French we can applaud, done in public at the scene of the crime or as near to it as possible.
Capital offenses? Murder, rape, child molestation, and treason that results in death for citizens.
But let’s make sure we get the right mofos.
Since methods of execution are always popular, I support the reintroduction of the guillotine, one invention of the French we can applaud, done in public at the scene of the crime or as near to it as possible.
I vote that we let the guillotinee sharpen the blade beforehand, if they want to. Apparently that device just doesn’t work too well unless the blade is ultra sharp.
On the death penalty; I’m in favor of it for those cases where we are 100% sure we have the right person for the right crime.
Definitely. We seem to have a small, very small, problem with this in Texas.
BTW, what happen to the old chain gangs that were so prevalent when I was a kid?
Oh yeah, another factoid in school testing, we have no zero. We score some tests as 1 through 4. So, 19 out of 20 is a four while 0 out of 20 is a 1. Go figure, but your figuring cannot include a zero.
Yeah, the blade should be razor-shahp and heavy. And bring back the chain gangs; plenty of road and bridge work to be done. Labor battalions!
Zero? Hadji invention anyway. Good riddance. I dig that idea of getting credit for doing nothin’. The Murkan Way. Gotta be a way to weed out and punish the smaht kidz, too.
When the class is 90% children of illegal aliens, neither of which parent speaks English or has completed their equivalent of grammar school, never have read a Dr. Seuss book to them in English prior to retiring for the night with nine other people in a two car garage, does it really matter how intelligent the teacher is.
Our rulers, media and academia and churches would have us take in all these illegal aliens, let them speak whatever dialect of Spanish they wish, hire teachers to teach them in that language, and provide jobs and housing for their families. To the tune of, what, the fifteen-million already here that the rulers admit to? More likely twice that?
And our rulers have now made it nearly impossible to fix this situation; how would we send these millions back? How could we afford to bring them up to speed with the Murkan working and middle classes? And meanwhile we have the spectacle of alleged Repub political candidate-saviors telling us that it’s ‘an act of love’ for those families to roll on over our borders (how many other countries allow this shit?) and so we should fall to our knees, genuflect and whoop hallelujahs. Oh, and ‘they do the jobs that Murkans just won’t do’ and other malarkey. Plus they’re wonderful hard-working peeps!
That may all be, but no country in history has the ability to take in ten-percent of its population of an alien group and in the space of a few years or decades assimilate them completely into the larger society. We have only to look at contemporary Europe and the UK to see how swell that’s been working out.
When the class is 90% children of illegal aliens, neither of which parent speaks English or has completed their equivalent of grammar school, never have read a Dr. Seuss book to them in English prior to retiring for the night with nine other people in a two car garage, does it really matter how intelligent the teacher is.
When we first moved to Houston in 1971, we lived in a “transitional” neighborhood. My buddy Pete lived next door in a two bedroom, one bathroom home with 16 other family members. At least three generations.
Pete was the fourth or fifth kid. He was also the designated English speaker for the family as his parents did not speak English and neither did his older brothers. He was born in the USA and actually did learn English at some point, as good or better than me. We were in the 7th grade and his grades were very good, almost as good as mine.
I have no idea how he learned English as that was before the vaunted Headstart program. Of course, back then, the ESL kids just got thrown into the classes using the sink or swim XXXX immersion method. Seemed to work for Pete but I have no idea how well it works in general.
The thing you’re missing is the biggest effect of LBJ’s war on poverty. From 1960 to 1970 the percentage of children not living with both parents doubled. My wife has a friend who was a single mother. The best thing that ever happened to her son is that he got a stepfather. I have no idea how much government assistance the formerly single mother lost when that happened. They’re now a working class family.
If you graduate high school, get married and hold any job for a year, even a minimum wage one, you’re on the way out of poverty. Our culture of government benefits discourages all three.
I have no idea how to fix this without the loudest weeping and gnashing of teeth you have ever heard. Our welfare laws should encourage the woman to get a man into the household and marry him. Instead, current welfare laws seem to say that the woman should start by kicking the man out of the “home”.
Barbara gives Colin a dentastix each day, which seems to work. Those things smell delicious. I’ve often considered eating one myself.,
I used to love Milk Bones as a wee tot and my mother had no qualms about giving them to me.
I wish I could hear what her friends thought…
Speaking of teeth, I almost never drink Coke or other fizzy drinks, yet had one last night. DAMN do to they cause plaque to form on your teeth almost instantly!
I think that you should own land in the USA as a condition of voting.
In Texas there used to be a requirement that you be a property owner to vote in bond and property tax elections, the theory being that since the bonds were backed by property taxes, and often an increase was baked in to the bond election, you should have some skin in the game to vote. It was challenged in court and ruled unconstitutional. (I agree in part – if you rent, you pay property tax in the same way that buyers pay a company’s income taxes.) As I recall, while the lawsuit was working its way through the state and federal courts, there were a couple of elections where there were separate voting machines for property owners and non-owners. There was no significant difference in the voting results from the two pools.
Been done.
Instead, current welfare laws seem to say that the woman should start by kicking the man out of the “home”.
And have lots of kids as those little rug rats are worth about $1k a month.
I have told my wife that if I ever become whacko from dementia she should divorce me immediately. That way she can keep half of the assets as the state will soon come for their part when I go into a nursing home. If that is not done the state will take everything and run her into poverty. She will be forced to live on less than $1,000 a month while the fat assed loser with 5 kids by 13 different fathers and who is too lazy to work will be awarded about $5K a month.
Hmmmm….just got a phone call from a Fed investigator…wanted me to give out Ray’s addy and phone #….gonna be charged with a ‘hate crime’ I think….lessee here…mention of “rug rats”=derogatory, probably rayciss. Ditto the comment about different daddies and laziness. Uh-oh, another charge on the comment “whacko” which denigrates peeps wid ‘mental health issues” who may be “differently abled,” and improper use of the word “dementia” as it was coupled with “whacko.” Snarky comment about the state really tears it; this will probably get him a “tenner.” Maybe even a “quarter.”
Hopefully the gate guards will let him receive care packages from his buds here. Got a preference for smokes and candy bars, homes?
Hopefully the gate guards will let him receive care packages from his buds here. Got a preference for smokes and candy bars, homes?
The Mooch will be setting the dietary requirements for the re-education camps. There will be no smokes and candies allowed!
loser with 5 kids by 13 different fathers
I think that there is a math problem here? Or did she use the milkshake from “Twins”?
If she got pregnant at a gang bang and all of the possible fathers had jobs, the state would have no problem determining that each was the father for purposes of assessing child support.
Not a joke. There was a case like that some years ago, before DNA testing for paternity. Several men (three?) were determined to have been possible fathers and several others were ruled out because of blood type. All of the possible fathers were ordered to pay support. The case made the news because one of them protested on grounds of absurdity.
(No, I wasn’t able to find it or anything like it in a couple of web searches. On a somewhat related note, Google results for searches including “gang bang” without the quotes mostly relate to gang violence. Google results for searches including “gang bang” with the quotes … weren’t porn. There were links to books and movies, gang violence, and -gasp- one about child support where the kid’s father’s identity was uncertain, but that was not the case I was looking for.)
Got a preference for smokes and candy bars, homes?
Nah, but I could probably use a good lubricant.
I think that there is a math problem here? Or did she use the milkshake from “Twins”?
No mistake. Basically stating she has no idea who is the sperm donor for all the little curtain climbers, rug rats and house apes.
“… I could probably use a good lubricant.”
Well then, a can of either WD-40 or Break-Free with every visitation day, your choice!
Our host once suggested that people get votes in proportion to the tax they pay. I could live with that.
No mistake. Basically stating she has no idea who is the sperm donor for all the little curtain climbers, rug rats and house apes.
I see a “double tenner” in your future Mr. Ray. King Zodbama and his court buffoon Holder are on your case.
Our host once suggested that people get votes in proportion to the tax they pay. I could live with that.
Not me. Pay taxes, get a vote. Don’t pay taxes, don’t get a vote would work for me.
Mr. OFD, you throw those tenners around like candy. So, who is going to be left around to do all the work?
Tenners once did get tossed around like candy; we aim to bring those days back! And a big shout out to MrAtoz who reminds us of the famous “double-tenners.” My favorite is when you finish a tenner and are let out to be-bop around via internal exile to some dump, they pick you up after a few weeks or months or even years and slap you with another tenner. They do that with some guys on their last day of a tenner, too, for even more boffo laffs as you’re going out the gate with your pitiful little bag of personal crap.
Who is around to do the work? That’s a very good question. The usual hordes of drones who cower in fear and trembling most of their days as they fret that they may also get a tenner or worse, but who sometimes bravely summon a little black humor like “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us,” which tends to lead to shoddy work practices and products, of course. They’ll also dime each other out to avoid getting a tenner or worse, so you have that extra bit of frisson 7×24 as you wonder who you can and can’t trust.
Remember: if you see something, say something. LOL.