New work place rules....

[1slo_camaro]

POLITICS SUCK!!!!!!!! i work for the government and i hate all the BS going on personally thats all i think it is, is two people lieing to the states it really comes down to whose a better liar!!1

[Joshu]

The other problem is that school "brass" put way too much money towards sports when they should focus on academics. Every school has a huge gym and a huge football field and etc. They also have tiny libraries and even smaller rooms.

you nailed it brother

[3800_Firebird]

you nailed it brother

+1

It's funny. When my dad was in school, they were really plain buildings, high schools were. Very functional. Now a lot are quite beautiful but not functional and come with state-of-the-art athletic facilities.

It costs $5 a head just to see the team play!

I could rant about public schools and how off-base they are but I'll save the server.

[ConElite]

I agree with you on the poor conditions our schools are in. People have forgotten over the years that teachers cannot teach alone. Parents should play more of a role in the education process but, like you said, they don't care enough.

You know My parents came to this country with poor education as far as english is concerned. My brother graduated with a 4.00+ GPA, I graduated with about a 3.82GPA from HS with just about NO help from our parents.This is in a drug infested, gang territory area. 70% of my old friends all did/do drugs. I or my brother never or sisters have ever tried anything. I think the biggest issue is "POOR PARENTING." To many idiots now a days are having childeren way to young with absolutely no skills or preperation to raise a child and people still look down on abortions? Im a very strong supporter of them. You know you can rank and rave and blame hispanics for having the highest reprocreation rate or anything but all you Republicans, Let me tell you your girl Palin is a perfect example of what happens when parents dont take care of their young. My Brother is 26, No kids, Im 22 almost 23, No Kids, My sister is 18, No Kids. None of us have ever had even the slightest thought about having kids anytime soon. Our Parents never even told us, we should wait and blah blah blah. We were simply raise with old school morols, thats what most oh these young immature idiots lack! Then they have parents that support the situation? They should be the first people dragging them to the clinic and turning on the vacuum cleaner!

Im not going to say I agree with everything Obama is saying/Claiming but the fact of the matter is we do need a change. Bush as put us in the worse situation ever. 10million+ dollars a week to fight this war? That money could of Paved all the streets in the US, Provided Health care for everyone in the country and helped boost the economy instead of having the Stock market drops like they have these last couple days and doubling our gas prices. Yes I know everyone is going to jump on the issue that Government has no Influence on the prices, save your breath.

I give you guys a task and see if you can be a bit open minded. Put all religious differences aside, We would be in a totally different state of mind right now!

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

You know My parents came to this country with poor education as far as english is concerned. My brother graduated with a 4.00+ GPA, I graduated with about a 3.82GPA from HS with just about NO help from our parents.This is in a drug infested, gang territory area. 70% of my old friends all did/do drugs. I or my brother never or sisters have ever tried anything. I think the biggest issue is "POOR PARENTING." To many idiots now a days are having childeren way to young with absolutely no skills or preperation to raise a child and people still look down on abortions? Im a very strong supporter of them. You know you can rank and rave and blame hispanics for having the highest reprocreation rate or anything but all you Republicans, Let me tell you your girl Palin is a perfect example of what happens when parents dont take care of their young. My Brother is 26, No kids, Im 22 almost 23, No Kids, My sister is 18, No Kids. None of us have ever had even the slightest thought about having kids anytime soon. Our Parents never even told us, we should wait and blah blah blah. We were simply raise with old school morols, thats what most oh these young immature idiots lack! Then they have parents that support the situation? They should be the first people dragging them to the clinic and turning on the vacuum cleaner!

Im not going to say I agree with everything Obama is saying/Claiming but the fact of the matter is we do need a change. Bush as put us in the worse situation ever. 10million+ dollars a week to fight this war? That money could of Paved all the streets in the US, Provided Health care for everyone in the country and helped boost the economy instead of having the Stock market drops like they have these last couple days and doubling our gas prices. Yes I know everyone is going to jump on the issue that Government has no Influence on the prices, save your breath.

I give you guys a task and see if you can be a bit open minded. Put all religious differences aside, We would be in a totally different state of mind right now!

Conelite,
I have to say that your position on abortion apalls me. "Dragging them to the clinic and turning on the vacuum cleaner." That is a pretty heartless way to talk about killing a human life. Whatever your beliefs on whether or not an embryo is life, talking about turning on the vacuum cleaner is just a bit over the line. Also, the way you stated your position insiuated that Republicans are all for having children out of wedlock and at a young age. Correct me if I am wrong, but Republicans tend to be a little more old fashioned and conservative in their beliefs about that sort of thing. Democrats tend to have the liberal approach of letting people do whatever they feel is right and hey, if you make a mistake...go on down to the clinic and turn on the vacuum cleaner. I am a conservative, I guess you could call me a Republican, although I hate to have to play into the political labels, and I was a virgin till I was married at 26. As was my wife who was 23 at the time. Neither of us smoke, drink, or do drugs, either...and never have. So, apparently we don't fit into your model of the early child bearing Republicans.

I do agree that we need a change. Frankly, I am not excited about the choices we have been given. I would rather be able to vote for someone else, but our choices have been given to us and we have to make do. I just know that out of the two evils, McCain seems to be the lesser. He'll get my vote.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

The no Child Left Behind Act hasn’t ruined education. Political correctness has. Don’t get me wrong. The no child left behind act hasn’t helped. I call it the no child gets ahead act. My step daughter was going to private school up until 2nd grade. They wanted her to skip 2nd and go to 3rd grade. She started 3rd grade and was there about 2 weeks when my now wife’s divorce was finalized and due to the judge going to the same church as her x-husbands parents he gave custody of the kids to the father. (What a HUGE mistake that has turned out to be for the kids.) He immediately (as in that day) took them out of the private school and put them in public school. Without even know her daughter they felt she did not need to skip 2nd grade so they put her back in 2nd. Idiots.

The no child left behind act means they can not single out kids that are a little slower and put them in a class better suited for them. As a result the class moves forward at the speed of the slowest learner. This is so bad they even put kids in the main classes that are immigrants and don’t even understand English. Now how in the hell is a kid going to learn that can’t understand the teacher. This slows the class to a crawl. I have seen it firsthand.

The problem with the school system will not be solved by either party because they are too afraid to do what is necessary to fix it in fear of being demonized. No 2 kids are alike and no 2 kids have the same learning speed. Some kids excel at math and struggle with English. Others struggle with English and excel at math. Put these 2 kids together and their education moves at turtle speed.

As for the forbidden subject of abortion, there is no right answer. Period. Government cannot rule absolute either way and have it fit every persons situation. I do believe there is room to make some rules to stop suffering but I also believe that the government cannot say ok now that you are pregnant you no longer have any rights to your own body. That just goes against everything freedom stands for. You can make arguments on both sides and I understand all of them. We as a country need to get past this and get on to more important things. This one subject is the reason for the decline in the republican party. My solution to this is a compromise. Split it down the middle. Abortions are legal up to 4 ½ months and illegal after. After that get over it and move on. I don’t want to hear any arguments for one side or the other. Compromise and move on.

Everybody has their pet subject that they are passionate about but there are some many issues that to make a decision on who to vote for on 1 of them alone is cutting yourself and your country short.

It’s funny how many people are saying they are voting on the 1 subject of the economy. A year ago the hot button topic was illegal immigration.

The choice of who is going to be president is too important to let your emotions cloud your judgment. Emotion has become too much a part of this election. People’s hatred of Bush and they are projecting that unfairly on McCain. McCain is no G.W.Bush. And this crap about him voting with Bush 90% of time is just that, crap. That is so wrong any many levels. First of all Bush doesn’t have a vote in the senate. That alone renders the statement foolish. Second if you look at it Obama voted with McCain something like 85% of the time. That is because most of the votes in the senate are unanimous because they are voting on stupid stuff like renaming a post office or making a holiday for watermelons. Don’t listen to the crap campaign adds you see on TV. The only way you can truthfully tell what kind of person they will be in office is look at their past. That is a 2 step process. The first is easy and that is to look at their voting record. The second is harder and that is to look at a person character. For that you have to look at their past. This election I have been hearing something totally stupid by the left saying not to look at Obama’s past, that we need to be looking to the future. That is very ignorant to think that. The only reason they are saying that is to try and get the people to not look at his past because they know it isn’t good and doesn’t even compare to McCain.

[99Firebird3800]

I do agree that we need a change. Frankly, I am not excited about the choices we have been given. I would rather be able to vote for someone else, but our choices have been given to us and we have to make do. I just know that out of the two evils, McCain seems to be the lesser. He'll get my vote.

^^ There's other parties besides Republican and Democrat. Check your ballet this November, you'll find 3 or 4 others on there. Not saying they're really any better, but you should at least look into them. Centrists, Libertarians, Green. There's also commies who still try to run, but most don't get on the ballot.

Anyway, I don't particularly like either of the major candidates. I would have preferred Ron Paul (look him up, he had some darn good ideas). There wasn't another Republican candidate I could support. I'm having a hard time deciding which I would rather have in there, since neither of them are worth a darn (oh, btw, to the guy who said he can't vote for Obama because he's a crook - All politicians are). I'm trying to figure out who would be better for me personally, and I'm leaning toward Obama, I have to admit.

My issues are that McCain wants to continue trickle-down economics which simply don't work. However, he does understand the military a little better and would be better suited there. I also can't stand listening to his running mate (though she's not bad to look at - she giggles and winks too much). Obama has a good economic team put together (he plans to have Warren Buffet among his economic advisors - good call there) but I worry about his stance on personal firearms and my 2nd amendment rights. I'm also concerned about 'universal' health care - it should be available for children (well, it sorta is in the form of Medicaid), but not for 'everyone.' That'll just raise the cost to those of us who have/can afford our own. I can't say I like the idea of deregulating healthcare further than it currently is, either, as McCain wants to do with 'allowing' people to look for plans outside their home state. This is going to open the door for the healthcare industry to lure people to one or two companies, then jack up the rates higher than they are now.

I honestly don't think we need tax cuts right now. We don't need them raised, either, but we certainly shouldn't cut them. I'd rather our Congress quit sending pork-laden, unfunded bills through.

In fact, here's some things I'd like to see. I'd like to see politicians ALL OF THEM) lose their pension and get a 401K like the rest of us. I'd like to see them have to pay for their own healthcare. I want them to listen to their constituents, not ignore them. They SERVE us, we don't serve them. I'd like to see our tax code re-written such that there are no loopholes, no tax shelters, nothing (other than contributions to a retirement account), and all persons taxed at a flat 15-20% of income (regardless of where it comes from - investments, payroll, etc). I'd like to see welfare reformed to a system that doesn't tolerate abuse. For example, if a person/family is on welfare, any kids they have should be sent to live with another family member who can afford to care for them for a short time while the parent(s) attempt to find jobs/training to get back on their feet. If this cannot be accomplished in 12-18 months, they are signed up for the military. They serve a 4 year stint, gaining free training and skills they can actually use in the civilian world. After those 4 years, they have the option of re-upping and making a career, or being discharged to find other employment. They can have their kids back once they enter the military, since they will have steady income they can count on.

That just scratches the surface on my opinions. The system we have now is junk. I'd love to be able to scrap it and start over.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

My issues are that McCain wants to continue trickle-down economics which simply don't work.

Can you explain why you feel that way? Reagan proved trickle down economy works. We have tried trickle up economy several times like with Carter and it proved to not work at all.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

My adivse is to sit down and make a pros and cons list. Make it truthfuly without reteric. Then add up the score.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

In fact, here's some things I'd like to see. I'd like to see politicians ALL OF THEM) lose their pension and get a 401K like the rest of us. I'd like to see them have to pay for their own healthcare. I want them to listen to their constituents, not ignore them. They SERVE us, we don't serve them. I'd like to see our tax code re-written such that there are no loopholes, no tax shelters, nothing (other than contributions to a retirement account), and all persons taxed at a flat 15-20% of income (regardless of where it comes from - investments, payroll, etc). I'd like to see welfare reformed to a system that doesn't tolerate abuse. For example, if a person/family is on welfare, any kids they have should be sent to live with another family member who can afford to care for them for a short time while the parent(s) attempt to find jobs/training to get back on their feet. If this cannot be accomplished in 12-18 months, they are signed up for the military. They serve a 4 year stint, gaining free training and skills they can actually use in the civilian world. After those 4 years, they have the option of re-upping and making a career, or being discharged to find other employment. They can have their kids back once they enter the military, since they will have steady income they can count on.

I can go along with just about all of that. Politicians have gotten so arrogant that they feel they are smarter than us. They are doing things to make it better for themselves and to help themselves get elected rather than what is best for the country.

[99Firebird3800]

The no Child Left Behind Act hasn’t ruined education. Political correctness has. Don’t get me wrong. The no child left behind act hasn’t helped. I call it the no child gets ahead act. My step daughter was going to private school up until 2nd grade. They wanted her to skip 2nd and go to 3rd grade. She started 3rd grade and was there about 2 weeks when my now wife’s divorce was finalized and due to the judge going to the same church as her x-husbands parents he gave custody of the kids to the father. (What a HUGE mistake that has turned out to be for the kids.) He immediately (as in that day) took them out of the private school and put them in public school. Without even know her daughter they felt she did not need to skip 2nd grade so they put her back in 2nd. Idiots.

The no child left behind act means they can not single out kids that are a little slower and put them in a class better suited for them. As a result the class moves forward at the speed of the slowest learner. This is so bad they even put kids in the main classes that are immigrants and don’t even understand English. Now how in the hell is a kid going to learn that can’t understand the teacher. This slows the class to a crawl. I have seen it firsthand.

The problem with the school system will not be solved by either party because they are too afraid to do what is necessary to fix it in fear of being demonized. No 2 kids are alike and no 2 kids have the same learning speed. Some kids excel at math and struggle with English. Others struggle with English and excel at math. Put these 2 kids together and their education moves at turtle speed.

I cut out the rest of your post because I don't think it's worth arguing over (in fact, I agree that compromises need to be reached and bullcrap campaigning needs to stop).

But as a staunch supporter of public schools, I can't say that what they did was wrong. The school she was sent to didn't know she was smart enough to move ahead a grade. That fault lies squarely on the father who should have known better than to just dump her off. Her class records should have been transferred and gone over, and the decision made there. It's his fault for not understanding that.

My personal opinion is that kids shouldn't skip grades anyway. It ruins their childhood by moving them along too fast. Why can't kids be kids and play? It's part of how they learn. Academics isn't the only answer. Phys ed and other activities should still be a part of the curriculum. If they need to expand the school day by an hour, I'm sure that wouldn't upset most parents who are working later anyway. It'd save them on the babysitter bill.

I don't know about your area, but frankly, around here private schools aren't what they're cracked up to be. Most people I've met who graduated from one had a harder time understanding simple concepts and lacked quite a bit of common sense (I'd know, I'm a bit short on it myself - too much engineering background). Private schools around here stress their beliefs much more than public schools - this is most prevalent on a topic such as evolution.

I think I've said my piece. I try to stay out of threads like this, but I just can't stand it when people bash the public schools. I came out of one just fine, as did my entire family (and that of my wife's). We all turned out fine. I fail to see the reasoning people have for paying to send their kid to a private school when they could let their tax dollars work to send them to a public one.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I feel that the "fair tax" www.fairtax.org would fix about half the problems we have with our government. It would take the money out of politics. I would even go along with a flat tax of 15% as long as it had not exceptions, no clauses, no deductions, no exemptions, no refundable credits, just a one line tax code that says 15% and CONGRASS CAN NEVER CHANGE IT.

[99Firebird3800]

Can you explain why you feel that way? Reagan proved trickle down economy works. We have tried trickle up economy several times like with Carter and it proved to not work at all.

Tax cuts for all, but the largest for the highest earners. Yet median household income has fallen (which states that more people are getting poorer than richer). Trickle-down economics would indicate that everyone gets richer.

Besides, what wealthy person do you know who got a tax cut and actually put more money back into the economy? They didn't get rich by spreading their own money around, they got rich by being greedy. Sure, there's some who came into it, and I'm not saying the greedy ones didn't work hard for it. I'm sure they did. But the motivation for working hard wasn't necessarily a love of the job. More often than not, it was for a love of money. Why you need more than you could possibly use is beyond me.

Would I also like to be rich? Sure. Coming from a middle-class background, though, I'd probably just end up spending it. That's what the poor and middle class DO. It's what they truly excel at. Spending money. Putting money into the economy. Driving it forward. Wealthy individuals don't.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I cut out the rest of your post because I don't think it's worth arguing over (in fact, I agree that compromises need to be reached and bullcrap campaigning needs to stop).

But as a staunch supporter of public schools, I can't say that what they did was wrong. The school she was sent to didn't know she was smart enough to move ahead a grade. That fault lies squarely on the father who should have known better than to just dump her off. Her class records should have been transferred and gone over, and the decision made there. It's his fault for not understanding that.

My personal opinion is that kids shouldn't skip grades anyway. It ruins their childhood by moving them along too fast. Why can't kids be kids and play? It's part of how they learn. Academics isn't the only answer. Phys ed and other activities should still be a part of the curriculum. If they need to expand the school day by an hour, I'm sure that wouldn't upset most parents who are working later anyway. It'd save them on the babysitter bill.

I don't know about your area, but frankly, around here private schools aren't what they're cracked up to be. Most people I've met who graduated from one had a harder time understanding simple concepts and lacked quite a bit of common sense (I'd know, I'm a bit short on it myself - too much engineering background). Private schools around here stress their beliefs much more than public schools - this is most prevalent on a topic such as evolution.

I think I've said my piece. I try to stay out of threads like this, but I just can't stand it when people bash the public schools. I came out of one just fine, as did my entire family (and that of my wife's). We all turned out fine. I fail to see the reasoning people have for paying to send their kid to a private school when they could let their tax dollars work to send them to a public one.

The bad thing is the records were transferred. The thing is she had gone to pre k and k at the private school. Her first grade at the private school was equal to the second grade at the public school. (private schools do not have to follow the same curriculum as the public school system.) she was ready for the 3rd grade at the public school and since she didn’t know anybody at the public school there were no social reasons to hold her back not to mention she was the size of a 5th grader. So saying skipping a grade is a misconception of what was really going on. The public school had a policy and by God they were not going to break it. Zero tolerance really means zero thinking. FYI now she is in 10th grade and taking AP classes.

And yes I am a product of the government school system and I am not too bad. I could have been better. But I can tell you the school systems are NOT even close to the same as they were when I was in school.

[99Firebird3800]

I feel that the "fair tax" www.fairtax.org would fix about half the problems we have with our government. It would take the money out of politics. I would even go along with a flat tax of 15% as long as it had not exceptions, no clauses, no deductions, no exemptions, no refundable credits, just a one line tax code that says 15% and CONGRASS CAN NEVER CHANGE IT.

The last half of your statement I agree with.

The 'fair tax' is another stupid scheme cooked up by greed. Especially when it still gives you a 'rebate' every month for 'necessities'. Besides that, it would be a HUGE income cut for our government (which isn't necessarily bad, but all at once would be completely stupid) as people shifted away from large purchases to cheaper alternatives (good-bye 48"+ plasma TVs, hello 12" CRT TVs) to try to keep some cash in their pockets. People will shift to smaller, less-expensive vehicles to avoid the tax on the more expensive ones. Goodbye Caddilac/Lexus. It will also drive up the cost of these cheaper cars, as demand skyrockets.

People attempt to AVOID taxes at all costs. Simply putting a 'sales tax' (for that's what it really is) on everything will open up a whole new ballgame for tax evasion and deal a crippling blow to our economy. I'd rather have a chunk of money taken away up front and be able to do what I please with the rest than worry about buying ANYTHING because a large chunk of the cost is going to the government, and to decrease my taxes I would need to purchase a less-expensive (possibly lower-quality) item.

Make sense?