Weekend Open Comments Thread
by David Benzion · 10/15/2005 8:43 amGo ‘Stros!
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25 Responses to “Weekend Open Comments Thread”Search
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Remember Ward Churchill? Welllllhellllll it seems that South Korea has their own version of WC.
If you did not know Kim Il-sung is the daddy of the current leader Kim Jong Il the hand grenade with a really bad haircut. Take a look the great leaders of the world the good professor compared Kim Il-sung too.
Ward Churchill does not know how lucky he is to be here in the United States.
No One Blames FISD Teachers!
I am a candidate for FISD School Board (Pos. 3) who values improving education, spending carefully, and facing problems (to keep them from getting bigger). Whenever I state that the FISD test scores, on the SAT and the TAKS, need improvement, FISD Board members and Administrators complain that I’m attacking the teachers. That couldn’t be further from the truth! I admire and respect teachers. I believe teachers need more support, better curriculum to use, and more authority in the classroom.
The Board and the Administration are not providing enough support for teachers. They should be supplying mentors sooner, to students who have minimal help at home. Additional SAT and TAKS prep courses should be made available to all students. Remedial summer courses should be made available (not just the two hectic vacation weeks before school starts). Parents should be provided the information they need to obtain help for struggling and striving students.
Placing blame, attacking the messenger, and making excuses will not help FISD move forward. Now is the time for change! I am the candidate for Position 3 willing to work toward solutions, for teachers, parents, and students. I’m supporting Deborah Winters Chaney, candidate for Position 4 who is like-minded.
We need your vote November 8 at the FISD Administration Bldg.
–Kathy Rogers, Candidate for FISD Position 3
The Astros Won!
w00t
Woo-hoo! Go, ’stros!!!
The MSM and Houston Comical must be “reporting” the conduct and outcome of the Iraqi election through gritted teeth and with clenched fingers on their keyboards. Not the story y’all wanted to report no matter how ya spin it. Foiled again. Bravo, bravissimo to the Iraqis.
Anyone want to know the score of the Astros vs. Cards game today before it starts?
Here you go! 0-0
Now that the Iraqis have a government and a constitution, can we please leave?
sure, gregg, that’s it. Just leave now. Forget about it, right? A pretty amazing thing is taking place, albeit with difficulty, and you just want to forget about it and be done with it.
What’s so funny is that if B.J. Clinton had formed a new country with a democratically elected leader, with a constitutional charter, etc., you’d want to name him president for life. You’d want to change the name of Iraq to ClintonLand. And on and on.
Just watch all the libs put this on the back burner and try to get us all to forget about it as soon as possible.
Cameraguy,
Ok lets stay in Iraq for maybe another 30 years. Your great grandkids can help guard the Syrian border. BTW I am conservative. Nice try throwing the Clinton thing out. Thats just too easy. Its like the blacks throwing the race card.
What’s good for the goose……….
KRogers said…
Whenever I state that the FISD test scores, on the SAT and the TAKS, need improvement, FISD Board members and Administrators complain that I’m attacking the teachers.
Sounds a lot like Gregg’s…
Thats just too easy. Its like the blacks throwing the race card.
Both are great examples of attacks on the source rather than evaluating the worthiness of the argument. Is it any wonder people are so skeptical about edu-crats? PC-based arguments are destructive to progress in society. Appeals to emotion over logic are simply propaganda. That’s why conservatives (and I include Gregg in that category, Cameraguy) get so upset about them.
I think you have the right idea, Kathy. I don’t live in FISD, but if I did, you could count on my support for you and Ms. Chaney. Best of luck to you both. If either or both of you get elected, please continue to value facts and logic over the politically correct nonsense that is all to evident in education today.
Oops, last sentence should have read “too evident”, not “to evident”. I should have paid more attention in class!
gregg
We are still in Germany 60 years after WWII. The United States does not run or govern that country. I find it funny that even though Germany’s government gripes about the United States when the question of removing the troops currently stationed their arises the cry of, “Please don’t leave” rings loud and clear. We did not leave Japan till their government asked us to leave, same with the Philippines. In all three cases the United States did not dictate the type of democracy installed they assisted in the formation of their respective governments.
I agree that the United States should leave at the earliest possible moment, but now is not the time and the existing government has requested that the US not leave “yet”. The Iraqi people and government know that their survival depends on our presence at this moment. I believe that the Iraqi government will make that determination for us when the time is right. If the people decide to vote in a theocracy after we leave so be it. We gave them the best chance to govern themselves as they see fit and that is all we can do.
Our prescence in Germany kept the Russians out that country during the 1950s and into the 1960s. I think the principle applies here. If the US was to leave now, I think Iran and Syria (possibly Turkey) would move right in. Civil war is always a possibility and that is part of the gambit. At the very least as I said the Iraqis now have a “fighting” chance for self determination.
gregg
BTW I was my Grandpa’s grandkid that helped keep Germany free in 1976-1980.
What does it say about these countries when the USA leaves they go back to fighting. Is forced peace really peace?
Yeah, that’s right, gregg. And what about our troops protecting South Korea from the evil communists from North Korea? Oh, that’s right, you believe that we live in a PERFECT WORLD! Oh, okay, well then yes, you are right. We should bring all of troops home from around the world. Nothing bad will happen. Evil dictators and evil communists won’t take advantage. Because in your perfect little world, everything will be alright.
Geez, man. What world DO you live in?
Why do we have to be the rent a cop to all these countries? Let them get and pay for their own damn armies. I am sure we would be willing to sell them arms. Hell, we sold them to Saddam and Osama and every other dictator thug.
Little pissant Israel can protect itself buying arms from us why cant S. Korea after 40 years. We have millions of Mexicans coming across our borders like roaches in a trailer park kitchen every year. How bout protecting our own borders instead of Germany’s? Germany wants us out and pisses on the US every chance it gets. Screw them.
Its time to put America first. We dont need these bases all over the world with the new class of weapons we have. We can strike anywhere anytime.
We dont have the money or the young men and women to keep pissing away year after year.
Astros 2-1 Win!
Woooooooohhhhhhhhhoooooooo!!!!
gregg,
Most of us, you and I included, don’t wanna say this, there is a strategic reason for this action that has gone unsaid and I think oil is it. Iraq the country is right smooth in the middle of where we buy what 40%? Seems like a legitamate strategic opportunity to me.
Why is the states called upon so much to be the worlds policeman? Cuase we are the biggest. I find it interesting the criticism we receive for being “wolrd cops” from other countries, yet every damn time someone gets there thing in a sling who do they call. The UN can’t do what we do. Look at their track record. Fact of the matter is the UN has caused the US more problems than they have solved world wide. BTW the UN has not solved nothing.
On a happier note GO STROS.
Yeh, Go stros. Anyway, You said it bro. Oil. Black Gold,Texas tea. Well the first thing ya know ol Jeds a millionaire!!
Why go all the way over there for the stuff. We got plenty here. And Canada, Mexico have a shootload of it. Would be a lot easier to get than to risk our lives for those camel huggers.I was going to use a bad word but Owen will throw my arse out!
Why not use all our farms and grow gazillion tons of corn to make fuel? Its big oil. They have ol GW by the short hairs. Well, gotta go watch the Texans get their asses kicked.c-ya tomorrow.
Hey try to be pithy on your comments. There are a bunch of amature novelists writing in.
#21. It takes more BTU’s to create Ethanol than it generates. Thats why we don’t grow “gazillion tons of corn”. If it was proffitable someone would be doing it.
The old war-for-oil thing. Well, I guess there is some validity to that view of why we’re there. But how about the Saudis? Aren’t they the ones who really have us over a barrel (pardon the pun) when it comes to oil? Are they less of a Muslim theocracy than Iran? Maybe to some degree they are… at least they hide it better than Saddam did. Where did the majority of the 9/11 hijackers come from?
I tend to believe that the real reason we’re there has less to do with actual oil than it does with the geographic placement of Iraq. Establish a military presence there, and we sort of split the Muslim world down the middle, no? After all, a large amount of oil could be extracted from South America and Russia as well. Even if oil was the only reason, something that is as large a part of our economy as oil is bound to be a good motivator for war.
To address the issue of big oil, well, you know, they are we. You can thank big oil for the city you live in. Yes we could extract quite a bit more oil right here at home, but there would be major opposition from environmental groups. That opposition leads to higher expense if you can drill at all. Being an oil-patch type myself, I can give you a little first-hand perspective on this.
Most big drilling companies now have zero-discharge rules when you are on their wellsite. Think about that. Your truck can not leak a single drop of anything on the ground. Not engine oil, transmission fluid, coolant, anything. This doesn’t even begin to address the challenges in the offshore world. That of course drives up the cost of production. Workers wages are higher here than in other parts of the world (not that I’m complaining). That also drives up production costs. We also have more worker protection laws here than in other places: yet another factor in higher production costs. You think gas prices are high now? Imagine what they would be like with nothing but domestic product.
All of that said, it would be great if somebody could suddenly throw the switch one day and switch us from petroleum to fuel cell technology (or some other alternative). But it won’t happen that quickly. In fact, if it happens in the next twenty years I’ll be surprised. Ethanol in and of itself is not a viable alternative in the near future either. I think we could all agree that oil is a very large part of our way of life. Is our way of life not worthy of a fight?
Sorry for the long rant, but I find it to be a subject that many don’t fully consider before throwing out the war-for-oil card.
Whoa Mike Martin,
I did not throw out the war-for-oil card for any other reason that I believe it makes good security sense. I am in no way being criticical if that is indeed amongst the miriad of reason why we are there. You made my point with your geographic statement btw. Very good of you too.
gregg asks a very good question, condensed down the reason why we do not get the oil here from home, and yes we do have the capacity not the capability is simple, NOT IN MY BACKYARD mentality. Even now our problem is not oil capacity but refinery capacity. The total oil flow has not been reduced at all, refining capacity has been. Lack of political will by republicans and democrats alike have combined to create that shortage. What’s it been, 30 years since the last refinery has been built? Do the math. There is groups of oil in Colorado, Montana off the various coasts of the US but try getting permission to drill for it.
Did you know it takes an estimated 10 years just to get the paperwork through the courts etc to build a refinery? What company wants to mess with that.
As for the Saudis, yes they have us over a barrel. The reasons why are for another debate. Rest assured I have considered the war for oil argument and my argument is pro-President Bush.
Thank you for that, Squawk. I agree with the pro-Bush sentiment. While there are a few things I don’t like about his presidency, the above topic isn’t one of them.