Good Morning! If no one runs against her from the party, yes. Unless people just decide to stay home, and a dem is elected. I’m not sure she has any ability to fire up the base. She’s more like a fire extinguisher.
Have said this many times before, KBH and her staff are the only people who have totally disregarded my (PC, polite and professional)communications or else they responded inappropriately in a form letter which did not even address the original subject.
Think you aren’t being heard now? Vote her in as gov and find out what it is really like to be totally ignored.
#4, you are correct on that! I never can tell which query she is answering when I get something from her office. I think they just generate some boilerplate every month or so, and send that to anybody who has asked a question, suggested a position, or advocated for or against anything.
This is rumor only…….. but if you are curious about who McCain is leaning towards as VP….. here is a guesstimate. Just speculation from someone who says a top 5 list has been seen. Take it with a grain of salt.
Joe Lieberman, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn are the top choices.
Haley Barbour has been a good governor of MS, but he’s also up there in age. Some in MS aren’t happy with him for letting the casinos rebuild on the land instead of being on the water. Yet, he did do a lot better job w/ hurricanes than NOLA did.
Archive this somewhere. I have a feeling this is not entirely true.
During a fundraiser at Jerry and Glenda Kane’s Hewit Drive home Wednesday night, Perry addressed the rumors that he wants to move up from the state Capitol to the U.S. Capitol.
“I don’t want to go to Washington, D.C., in any form or fashion and I won’t,” he said.
Talking about his objectives for 2009, the governor left the door open to running for re-election. There are no gubernatorial term limits in Texas.
I didn’t think McCain would get shoved down our throats either. It depends on what the conspirators in the background want and how she plays the game for them. She and they know if she’s up against a liberal Democrat then people will vote for the lesser of the two evils just like they are going to do with McCain.
luv2 boy i really think your right but i wont vote for the lesser of evils in any race for awhile.
it has got us in the financial mess we are now in.
these politicians are doing everything to not speak to what is going on with the economy which they helped create. gimme some of that there 4 dollar corngas its a commin.
Good point Luv2. Are we allowed to question why we are having difficulties getting educated recruits? Do you think dangerous drug cartels, and dangerous federal prosecutors would be a deterrent?
Strike two, have I been banned? Irregardless, you guys should be all over the content of my post. The Comical buried what Colin Powell calls a “national catastrophe”. This should be front page headlines.
Not sure what is happening this morning. HAL is very hungry today. LST Moderator
Conservatives need to get involved in the Republican Party and take back control. As you and several others are doing. We are not alone. My entire precinct delegation felt the way we do.
Houston urban school districts are “bringing it home” with a 54% graduation rate, or a 46% dropout rate. Dallas urban school districts are setting the bar to a new low of a 44% graduation rate, or 56% dropout rate. The national average is 70% graduation rate. I’m so proud of Texas urban school performance and you should be too. It warms my heart that my tax dollars are resulting in such peak efficiency. If only we could pay phenomenally more in school taxes, I’m sure we could equal the national average within the next decade or two. Anybody with any sense knows that our embarrassing underperformance to the national average is because a few greedy property taxpayers refuse to pay their fair share. What an injustice, what a travesty. Please, Houston area urban school districts - give us 25,30,50 or even 100% tax increases. We all know that will right this grievous wrong being perpetrated on you.
Paying exorbitant property taxes and private school tuition as well. Not only am I paying my freight, I’m giving the public schools a pass on the costs of their statutory requirement to educate my children. Done it for going on twelve years now and have three more to go. Haven’t regretted a single dollar of the tuition - resented the school taxes from day one of my oldest child’s eligibilty. I think I’m doing plenty, how about you?
This is one of the reasons I don’t understand why the Hispanics voted for the HISD school bond referendum. I guess they just like to sit in pretty building even if nothing is going into their heads.
Lawrence, so you are helping your kids, that is definitely good. Personally, I was a high school teacher, I still tutor kids when I can find them, I am working on a financial basics series of lesson plans to take into my local district to assist the teachers ( I will teach it for them if they let me). Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you went to a school board meeting?
Since we’ve swung to govt school costs and failures, and vouchers per se, aside from bringing more regs, will not pass the lege in any form close to being effective tools for improvement, let’s spend some time convincing our gods/goddesses in Austinopolis to pass tax credits against property taxes for those like Lawrence C. who choose to use alternative education entities (include home schoolers here).
Last month, but it wasn’t a public school board. I freely give of my time, talent and treasure to the private school of my choice. I am currently serving as an officer on the Board of a private high school. Plenty of my treasure is confiscated in the interest of free public education. I don’t choose to freely supplement what is resentfully confiscated from me. How about you?
Lawrence, what I mean is, how can you affect change in your local school district without somehow being involved in it? We all know there is a problem and we all complain about it. If then chose to not act, we are no better than the do nothing representatives we all complain about.
Moose, I’m doing plenty - a lot more than I will divulge here. Your beef is - I don’t choose to work where you think I should. No “do-nothings” at this (IP) address. As far as being involved, I certainly qualify for the taxation part. Every year, it “feels” like I’m really involved.
Moose, Can’t the current school board members read the same information I am. What is their response? What about the teacher’s unions? What do they have to say? What about the school administrators? What say they?
Lawrence, my “beef” is that you are complaining about the public school system, but when asked what you are doing about changing the public school system you say you are active in private schools. I’m not saying you are not involved in your children’s education, I’m saying Conservatives need to learn to work with the system we have to create positive changes.
#29 bob42 - Not a shock to me. You seem pragmatic, especially for a Rombie I am interested in what led you to that decision. You did hear that RP is probably going to endorse Bob Barr if he is the Libertarian candidate, right?
This is a subject close to my heart. Do you know that we have adult students at the school where I teach who are not US citizens and who get the PELL grant, which is a federal grant (no pay back required) plus other federal grants to go to school?
One student from the Dominican Republic told me that she didn’t want me to find a job for her after she finished my program, because she was getting housing from our housing department and she was getting PELL grant which paid for her total tuition and books, plus money left over.
She was looking into WAIT which gives students a CREDIT CARD for gas to come to school, and into CARIBE which is a special program (check it out - I did) for immigrants and it pays for child care and all sorts of needs while they go to school or training. The one student I just mentioned told me she was not going to be a US Citizen because
she plans to return to the Dominican Republic someday and that she ‘loves HER country.’
I asked her if she felt guilty taking what the US is giving her and then not even bothering to become a citizen and she told me that it doesn’t bother her, because that is what the money is there for!
I asked the CARIBE administration about their program and if you ARE a US Citizen, you don’t qualify for their program. And all the while, I am working a full day, my son-in-law works more than 60 hours a week, and everyone in my family works and pays for our education.
Something is wrong here. I am sorry but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough. Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other language because of immigration. It was written by Francis Scott Key and should be sung word for word the way it was written. The news broadcasts even gave the translation — not even close. Sorry if this offends anyone but this is MY COUNTRY.
Moose, I hear what you’re saying and to some degree you’re right. I consider private schools part of “the system we have” and funding public schools via property taxes some form of “involvement” in that environment. I also believe paying public school property taxes funds my privilege to complain.
Lawrence, You have every right to complain as a US citizen. However, to affect change you have to do more than complain. The way things are currently set up, nothing done in private schools will cause changes in public schools.
Good morning all. Still mugly, mugly, mugly and 72 at 5:30, humidity reads 99% on our little weather station gizmo. Spouse had to move the weather vane/anemometer to a different spot since it was apparently barely in range of the brain box and periodically stopped sending info. Today’s kind of info I could do without. However, I’ll take it in preference to what my chum in St. Paul experienced yesterday–8″ of snow. Eeekkk.
The Sun and Moon are presumably in their accustomed places today, just not visible. The avian telegraph has but few transmissions thus far, and surely the birds are no happier with conditions than we are.
Stock up on allergy meds soon, the ligustrum blossoms are close to opening. There will be a snow of blossoms and pollen to bedevil the nose and eyes and keep Kleenex in business. Most of our trees have leaves or are putting them out, though the old native pecans are hanging back, barren.
The mares are vigorously shedding winter coats, the white ones farily make a blizzard when they roll in the pastures. Enterprising birds carry it away to their nests to make a soft lining for their coming babies. Bay Cameo is not shedding as much yet, though her winter coat was finer to begin with.
Valentine and Berry are lounging on the back door mat and searching vainly for their sunbeam. Otherwise their little world is complete. Thank you, Lord.
Barr, who will run as a Libertarian, is also slated to receive the the endorsement of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the only Republican presidential candidate who has yet to cease campaign operations and jump on the McCain bandwagon.
In Milton Friedman’s 1980 series Free to Choose, he visits a school in Harlem, NY that was actually working… But not for long. The public school system doesn’t like competition. It’s amazing that so many of the things he pointed out 27 years ago are still true today, especially when it comes to public education.
Vouchers may sound appealing, but they too will fail unless the schools they fund are allowed to operate independently of the current failed monopolistic system of public education.
The trouble is, the bureaucrats and teachers union do not want to give up any of the power they hold over us and our children. With apologies to HAL, this is my favorite Milton Friedman quote:
Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned
Which describes exactly the mood of the LA County School Czar when parents tried to make their school better, as Drew Carey explains in this more recent report.
Thanks. This proves what we’ve been saying for a long time. Ron Paul isn’t a Republican. He’s just using the party for personal aggrandizement. Not very honorable.
Speaking of April Fool’s Day - I shared this story with the gang at the convention:
I used to work for Andersen Consulting, sister company of Arthur Andersen. We were subcontracted under IBM to run the program to track the divestiture of the foreclosed properties under the Resolution Trust Corporation in the early nineties. AC had all the pieces in one room - the real estate package, the furnishings & fixtures, interfaces, help desk, etc., which made it very easy when there was a problem to get things fixed: “Hey, Joe, check the F&F interface for this problem and get back with the Atlanta regional office, will ya?”
When the lawsuit against Arthur Andersen occurred (a case of going for the deep pockets, though AA had audited Ben Franklin and warned them of the looming problems), government decided that it wouldn’t be right for A Consulting to continue with the contract. We warned them against splitting up the project; if they were going to move it, move it all as one piece. We were ignored, and one piece went to an Indian company, help desk to a small American company, F&F to someone else, etc., all in an effort to give minority companies their piece of the action, etc. We spent February and March training the new people on the language and the system, and moving the documentation.
We were told that on midnight March 31st, our responsibility was over and we were not answer our pagers. Our ops guy, this huge Irishman, got a page about 4:00 am, rolled over and went back to sleep. I arrived about 8:00 am to find the only other employee on the phone with the east coast offices, which could not get into their systems because the nightly batch run was still open. I began making and receiving phone calls. The managers arrived and took over, and the story came out that the first program of the evening had blown repeatedly due to technical issues, and the IBM operator - who only knew “push this button in this order” - kept pushing the button to try to get the program started. Every push incremented the program’s date counter, and by the time he stopped, he was in a time warp about a month ahead of the rest of the world. He finally went home about 5:00 am to take a nap and write his resume. Since there was no communication between the owners of the separate pieces, nobody knew what was going on, and we had been unavailable for help.
Of course, since the problem was on April 1, it took a while for us reassure everyone that it was NOT an April Fool’s prank, and then we had to work to get the system up and running again. Our managing partner had a meeting with our managers, who passed the word along that “it’s not professional to gloat”. It still didn’t stop us!
dowjones, This is about a month old, but it gives some perspective on the mortgage crisis.
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — The percentage of mortgages that were in foreclosure hit a record high in the fourth quarter, while mortgage delinquencies rose to a 23-year high, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. A record 2.04% of U.S. mortgages were somewhere in the foreclosure process at the end of the year, while a record-high 0.83% of loans entered foreclosure in the fourth quarter, the trade group’s quarterly survey found. More homeowners fell behind on payments as well, with 5.82% of loans past due in the quarter. That was the highest delinquency rate since 1983. MBA Chief Economist Doug Duncan said declining home prices were the driving force behind the foreclosure record. End of Story
I see that there are some folks who have commented about KBH and the use of form letters. Dan’s office does the very same thing. I had three people who I know who had written him on a particular issue and received the very same form letter. The funny thing is he thanked them for supporting his budget reduction proposals when in fact they did not! The issue at hand was Dan had a list of items to eliminate from the budget to save money. Unfortunately Dan did not make an informed decision on at least one item. The item in question actually is self-sufficient and actually brings in revenue to the state.
Also FYI, I have heard from several prominent people that reside in Dan’s District that Dan is beginning to turn people off. And this is from a former Dan’s supporter!
yes duhmoose it is certainly bad. they also stated Barbara boxer that 1 in 550 homes in the US have a foreclosure filing on it. that a big number as well.
we have this right now and the layoffs have not even started - wonder what it finally wind up at.
dowjones, if 1 in 550 homes has a foreclosure on it and 2.04% of mortgages are in some part of the foreclosure process, that means only 1 in 11 homes have a mortgage on them. That sounds pretty good to me.
well i dunno about that but 2% is a high percentage. think of the ramifications for taxing authorities etc.
this is really going to be a problem for the real estate market and our economy. once these layoffs hit we will have even more. of course then the auto repossessions will start and put those autos on the market and kill the new car sales.
I heard Dell is closing up shop here in Austin or something to that effect with 800 layoffs. I wonder how this will impact the Austin economy. Dell just needs to do the responsible thing and pack up & move to india or china.
From the site run by the author of RP’s 90s era racist newsletters:
Wow, what an interesting convention this should be! And I think the Ron Paul Revolution might rejuvenate the LP, even if it has been largely rejected by the GOP establishment. As Barr says, “Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of. . . dissatisfaction and. . . awareness” about the troubling status quo, but “unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement.”
I have to ask (rhetorically), what freaking revolution? The guy raised a jillion dollars and never got above 4%. Take away the anti-war leftists, the troofers, and the Nazis and his support drops to 2%.
Rejected by the GOP Establishment??? No, he was rejected by the GOP voters. Despite a well-funded campaign (and a blimp) he did not connect with voters.
dow, auto repossessions are already at record highs, have been for over a year. What I was getting at with the numbers is that if only 1 in 11 homes have a mortgage on them, that is a pretty high rate of paid for housing.
dowjones, yep that darn 5% unemployment sure is showing how we don’t have any jobs left in America, and the fact we are the largest manufacturer in the world just goes to prove that China makes everything.
Dell is under quite a bit of pressure from Wall Street. Desktops & laptops are the old workhorse of the economy, but they are not where future growth will be, except for emerging economies overseas. Dell has to repond to the changes in ways people are using hardware or they are going to end up like IBM did. Desktops and laptops are moving into the commodity category so cost pressure will only increase for that sector.
There are more jobs to be had and lower consistent unemployment rates over the last 5 years than at any time in our history. Some people who do not trust anything the MSM has to say about any other subject will sieze upon any shred of negative information about the economy written by some 28-year-old journalism major who still can’t balance their personal checkbook. It fits the chicken little narrative, don’t you know.
ABC Radio network news came on with a lead hourly headline this week saying very ominously there was bad news on the employment front. The announcer was so somber and alarming, I fully expected to hear 20% of Americans had lost their jobs.
The story was a personnel directors’ survey of American corporations had found that there were serious shortages in teaching, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, nursing, computer engineering, etc. They couldn’t find enough qualified applicants even when they also looked overseas.
It was so absurd, I had to laugh out loud. They tried very hard to characterize this as some kind of failure of the White House.
serious shortages in teaching, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, nursing, computer engineering, etc.
But…but, we were informed by a commenter the other day that such stories are lies, promulgated by evil corporate America seeking tax breaks to bring in foreigners!!! Foreigners with bombs!!
1) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing output reach its all-time peak?
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
2) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing revenue reach its all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
3) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing profits reach their all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
4) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing exports reach their all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
5) Average annual compensation (wages + benefits) for US manufacturing jobs is
a. $36,000 b. $46,0000 c. $56,0000 d. $66,000
6) What are the relative sizes of the US and Chinese manufacturing sectors?
a. China outputs 2.5 times the US b. Equal c. The US outputs 2.5 times China
7) Which country produces the largest share of total world manufacturing output?
a. China b. Japan c. Germany d. France e. US
The man who founded CafeHayek.com is Dr. Don Boudreaux. He is the chairman of the economics department at George Mason University and is Walter Williams’ boss. That is, if Don has the guts to try to tell Walter what to do.
NB: GMU has built one of the finest economics departments in the world in recent years. Look for future Nobels to come from there as they inherit the mantle from the University of Chicago.
Kinky should be governor. The chance to send a loud and clear message has passed.
Most of ya’ll will vote for KBH and Perry again and again. You will be fed the lessor of two evils DELETED and be more than willing to take a huge bite.
My cousin, who is serving in Iraq, just sent out an e-mail to my aunt requesting Bible verses to help his moral and motivation, anyone have any suggestions?
#120 - Ya might ask him if he’s ever corresponded with any of the Patriot Guard folks?
All that’s needed to join PGR is a valid email address - and I’d bet there are PGR folks who’d be happy to have a military pen pal. 133,905 members nationwide can’t be wrong!
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
re 126 - and when you consider that only 40% of voters even bothered to turn out it’s clear that the majority of conservative voters did not vote for Perry.
not from my vote.
Good Morning! If no one runs against her from the party, yes. Unless people just decide to stay home, and a dem is elected. I’m not sure she has any ability to fire up the base. She’s more like a fire extinguisher.
KBH no longer deserves even a dogcatcher job…………nope……….uh uh…………..no freakin WAY
Have said this many times before, KBH and her staff are the only people who have totally disregarded my (PC, polite and professional)communications or else they responded inappropriately in a form letter which did not even address the original subject.
Think you aren’t being heard now? Vote her in as gov and find out what it is really like to be totally ignored.
#4 Liz I hate those form letters she sends out, and not even on topic.
If she runs maybe we should counter with a draft Dan movement.
#4, you are correct on that! I never can tell which query she is answering when I get something from her office. I think they just generate some boilerplate every month or so, and send that to anybody who has asked a question, suggested a position, or advocated for or against anything.
This is rumor only…….. but if you are curious about who McCain is leaning towards as VP….. here is a guesstimate. Just speculation from someone who says a top 5 list has been seen. Take it with a grain of salt.
Joe Lieberman, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn are the top choices.
The Katfish expressed my opinion exatly !!!
Haley Barbour would not be a bad choice .
If we were running a poll, KBH wouldn’t get one vote. 100% against. In my ramblings around H town, I haven’t met one supporter.
#8 - Haley Barbour would be GREAT! (heck I’d rather have HIM than McCain runnin for Prez!)
Haley Barbour has been a good governor of MS, but he’s also up there in age. Some in MS aren’t happy with him for letting the casinos rebuild on the land instead of being on the water. Yet, he did do a lot better job w/ hurricanes than NOLA did.
Archive this somewhere. I have a feeling this is not entirely true.
During a fundraiser at Jerry and Glenda Kane’s Hewit Drive home Wednesday night, Perry addressed the rumors that he wants to move up from the state Capitol to the U.S. Capitol.
“I don’t want to go to Washington, D.C., in any form or fashion and I won’t,” he said.
Talking about his objectives for 2009, the governor left the door open to running for re-election. There are no gubernatorial term limits in Texas.
If we get her as Governor I am relocating to a neighboring state. It’s not going to happen. Texans are above that.
Now can ya’ll tell me if I run the red light at Spring Cypress and 249 on the way to work can I plead “April Fools” and get away with it ? Mornin all.
#13. Dov
I didn’t think McCain would get shoved down our throats either. It depends on what the conspirators in the background want and how she plays the game for them. She and they know if she’s up against a liberal Democrat then people will vote for the lesser of the two evils just like they are going to do with McCain.
dov is there a camera there?
luv2 boy i really think your right but i wont vote for the lesser of evils in any race for awhile.
it has got us in the financial mess we are now in.
these politicians are doing everything to not speak to what is going on with the economy which they helped create. gimme some of that there 4 dollar corngas its a commin.
Check out this article buried in today’s Comical on page A10
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5663794.html
Now tell me how those school property tax dollars are being spent.
Now tell me about 3+ BILLION in recently approved bond issues by area school districts including HISD.
Now tell me why I should welcome continued double digit appraisal increases.
Now tell me where is our favorite bubble gum liberal/socialist Lisa Falkenberg.
Can someone tell me, please?
I don’t know why the critics are worried.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5663913.html
They wont be allowed to arrest and deport anyone.
What happened to my post about Texas graduation rates in urban school districts?
I wonder if we should forget about planting beans and just go all corn? hehe. No, we rotate.
I don’t know why the critics are worried.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5663913.html
They wont be allowed to arrest anyone.
I think HAL ate this post.
Check out this article buried in todays Comical on page A10:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5663794.html
Now tell me how effectively those school property tax dollars are spent.
Now tell me about 3+ BILLION in school bonds recently approved by Houston area school districts including HISD.
Now tell me how I should welcome with open arms those continuous double digit appraisal value increases.
Now tell me where is our favorite bubble gum liberal/socialist Lisa Falkenberg.
Can someone pulllleeeeaaasssee, tell me?
Good point Luv2. Are we allowed to question why we are having difficulties getting educated recruits? Do you think dangerous drug cartels, and dangerous federal prosecutors would be a deterrent?
Strike two, have I been banned? Irregardless, you guys should be all over the content of my post. The Comical buried what Colin Powell calls a “national catastrophe”. This should be front page headlines.
Not sure what is happening this morning. HAL is very hungry today. LST Moderator
I see it up there now. Thanks.
lawrence we need the dept. of education to get involved. maybe they can hire sloan for advice.
#24 AW
Conservatives need to get involved in the Republican Party and take back control. As you and several others are doing. We are not alone. My entire precinct delegation felt the way we do.
Barring that we should just start a new one.
This may come as a shock to some (but not to others…) I’ve decided to hang my chad for McCain.
Houston urban school districts are “bringing it home” with a 54% graduation rate, or a 46% dropout rate. Dallas urban school districts are setting the bar to a new low of a 44% graduation rate, or 56% dropout rate. The national average is 70% graduation rate. I’m so proud of Texas urban school performance and you should be too. It warms my heart that my tax dollars are resulting in such peak efficiency. If only we could pay phenomenally more in school taxes, I’m sure we could equal the national average within the next decade or two. Anybody with any sense knows that our embarrassing underperformance to the national average is because a few greedy property taxpayers refuse to pay their fair share. What an injustice, what a travesty. Please, Houston area urban school districts - give us 25,30,50 or even 100% tax increases. We all know that will right this grievous wrong being perpetrated on you.
Lawrence, so what are you doing to support your local schools and keep students from dropping out?
Paying exorbitant property taxes and private school tuition as well. Not only am I paying my freight, I’m giving the public schools a pass on the costs of their statutory requirement to educate my children. Done it for going on twelve years now and have three more to go. Haven’t regretted a single dollar of the tuition - resented the school taxes from day one of my oldest child’s eligibilty. I think I’m doing plenty, how about you?
This is one of the reasons I don’t understand why the Hispanics voted for the HISD school bond referendum. I guess they just like to sit in pretty building even if nothing is going into their heads.
Texas has more than the national average of Hispanics in our school systems and that is bringing down the graduating rates.
Lawrence, so you are helping your kids, that is definitely good. Personally, I was a high school teacher, I still tutor kids when I can find them, I am working on a financial basics series of lesson plans to take into my local district to assist the teachers ( I will teach it for them if they let me). Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you went to a school board meeting?
Moose, there’s a grievous wrong being perpetrated here, alright - multiple perpetrators and multiple victims. I will leave it at that.
Since we’ve swung to govt school costs and failures, and vouchers per se, aside from bringing more regs, will not pass the lege in any form close to being effective tools for improvement, let’s spend some time convincing our gods/goddesses in Austinopolis to pass tax credits against property taxes for those like Lawrence C. who choose to use alternative education entities (include home schoolers here).
Last month, but it wasn’t a public school board. I freely give of my time, talent and treasure to the private school of my choice. I am currently serving as an officer on the Board of a private high school. Plenty of my treasure is confiscated in the interest of free public education. I don’t choose to freely supplement what is resentfully confiscated from me. How about you?
Mornin all, another day that God has given to us.™
Lawrence, what I mean is, how can you affect change in your local school district without somehow being involved in it? We all know there is a problem and we all complain about it. If then chose to not act, we are no better than the do nothing representatives we all complain about.
This one was a tough one but here goes. This is my “Top Ten” list of captions for this picture:
1) You want my autograph, do you even know who I am?
2) April Fool, I’ll sign it, “Love, HELLary”.
3) We, women, have to stick together. That’s why I will sign your petition endorsing HELLary.
4) Now, take this nasty note over to the “BO” campaign.
5) Don’t worry I’ll just wash it out when I get home.
6) I’m KBH and I approve this ad on your back.
7) I’ll sign any petition that will get me your vote.
9) Are you sure you want my autograph, I’m not Meryl Streep?
10) Is endorsing yourself like voting for yourself?
Well, this was the best I could do, given the subject matter.
RE photo: What a waste of a perfectly good shirt.
Happy Atheist Day!/un-officially of course!
Moose, I’m doing plenty - a lot more than I will divulge here. Your beef is - I don’t choose to work where you think I should. No “do-nothings” at this (IP) address. As far as being involved, I certainly qualify for the taxation part. Every year, it “feels” like I’m really involved.
Moose, Can’t the current school board members read the same information I am. What is their response? What about the teacher’s unions? What do they have to say? What about the school administrators? What say they?
Even though it is April Fools day I like my photo over the KBH photo.
http://www.hammergallery.com/images/peoplepictures/MPH%2056,%20Human%20Statue%20of%20Liberty.jpg
Here are the rest of the human photos, they are amazing.
http://www.hammergallery.com/images/peoplepictures/people%20pictures.htm
#25 Lawrence
My pet peeve. Irregardless=Regardless. No offense intended
LOL
http://www.neandernews.com/wp-content/themes/images/obama1080i.jpg
Lawrence, my “beef” is that you are complaining about the public school system, but when asked what you are doing about changing the public school system you say you are active in private schools. I’m not saying you are not involved in your children’s education, I’m saying Conservatives need to learn to work with the system we have to create positive changes.
#29 bob42 - Not a shock to me. You seem pragmatic, especially for a Rombie
I am interested in what led you to that decision. You did hear that RP is probably going to endorse Bob Barr if he is the Libertarian candidate, right?
Our Tax Dollars at work.
Letter by a Florida teacher…………… A teacher speaks
This is a subject close to my heart. Do you know that we have adult students at the school where I teach who are not US citizens and who get the PELL grant, which is a federal grant (no pay back required) plus other federal grants to go to school?
One student from the Dominican Republic told me that she didn’t want me to find a job for her after she finished my program, because she was getting housing from our housing department and she was getting PELL grant which paid for her total tuition and books, plus money left over.
She was looking into WAIT which gives students a CREDIT CARD for gas to come to school, and into CARIBE which is a special program (check it out - I did) for immigrants and it pays for child care and all sorts of needs while they go to school or training. The one student I just mentioned told me she was not going to be a US Citizen because
she plans to return to the Dominican Republic someday and that she ‘loves HER country.’
I asked her if she felt guilty taking what the US is giving her and then not even bothering to become a citizen and she told me that it doesn’t bother her, because that is what the money is there for!
I asked the CARIBE administration about their program and if you ARE a US Citizen, you don’t qualify for their program. And all the while, I am working a full day, my son-in-law works more than 60 hours a week, and everyone in my family works and pays for our education.
Something is wrong here. I am sorry but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough. Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other language because of immigration. It was written by Francis Scott Key and should be sung word for word the way it was written. The news broadcasts even gave the translation — not even close. Sorry if this offends anyone but this is MY COUNTRY.
I’m clueless just where these went - but I’m still in favor of V O U C H E R S!!
Anyone please show me any industry or endeavor where initiating competition hasn’t helped produce better products or services?
Blackgirl, I think that email has been debunked as false. I’ll see if I can find the link…
hamous, the email maybe false, but the CARIBE Program is real.
Just in case anyone is interested, it looks like this is the official “Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure”
http://www.treas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/regulatory-blueprint/
52 Katfish
Vouchers disappeared with the rest of the conservative agenda. They are in a museum somewhere.
Moose, I hear what you’re saying and to some degree you’re right. I consider private schools part of “the system we have” and funding public schools via property taxes some form of “involvement” in that environment. I also believe paying public school property taxes funds my privilege to complain.
Lawrence, You have every right to complain as a US citizen. However, to affect change you have to do more than complain. The way things are currently set up, nothing done in private schools will cause changes in public schools.
blackgirl - yes the CARIBE program is real, although not as described in the email. There are many other inaccuracies as well.
Here’s the snopes link:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/pellgrant.asp
hamous
Bob Barr? WTF?
That has to be a joke.
Whats pragmatic about being bent over a barrell and told to like it?
Ok hamous, don’t tell thin gravy about this!
Good morning all. Still mugly, mugly, mugly and 72 at 5:30, humidity reads 99% on our little weather station gizmo. Spouse had to move the weather vane/anemometer to a different spot since it was apparently barely in range of the brain box and periodically stopped sending info. Today’s kind of info I could do without. However, I’ll take it in preference to what my chum in St. Paul experienced yesterday–8″ of snow. Eeekkk.
The Sun and Moon are presumably in their accustomed places today, just not visible. The avian telegraph has but few transmissions thus far, and surely the birds are no happier with conditions than we are.
Stock up on allergy meds soon, the ligustrum blossoms are close to opening. There will be a snow of blossoms and pollen to bedevil the nose and eyes and keep Kleenex in business. Most of our trees have leaves or are putting them out, though the old native pecans are hanging back, barren.
The mares are vigorously shedding winter coats, the white ones farily make a blizzard when they roll in the pastures. Enterprising birds carry it away to their nests to make a soft lining for their coming babies. Bay Cameo is not shedding as much yet, though her winter coat was finer to begin with.
Valentine and Berry are lounging on the back door mat and searching vainly for their sunbeam. Otherwise their little world is complete. Thank you, Lord.
# 61
Sitting here waiting til TG logs in
Patiently, /foot tapping
#50 Sorry hamous… I guess I’m more practical joker than pragmatic. Happy April 1st.
/off to look for cigarette loads and whoopee cushion
Daniel:
http://www.fitsnews.com/2008/03/31/barr-to-announce-presidential-bid-next-week/
#64 - ya got me!
#61 blackgirl - we probably don’t have to worry about Thin Gravy. I think he’s off somewhere teaching unsuspecting teenagers his version of “history”.
http://firstfriday.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/obama.jpg
#68 But…does he speak of the pompatus of love?
In Milton Friedman’s 1980 series Free to Choose, he visits a school in Harlem, NY that was actually working… But not for long. The public school system doesn’t like competition. It’s amazing that so many of the things he pointed out 27 years ago are still true today, especially when it comes to public education.
Vouchers may sound appealing, but they too will fail unless the schools they fund are allowed to operate independently of the current failed monopolistic system of public education.
The trouble is, the bureaucrats and teachers union do not want to give up any of the power they hold over us and our children. With apologies to HAL, this is my favorite Milton Friedman quote:
Which describes exactly the mood of the LA County School Czar when parents tried to make their school better, as Drew Carey explains in this more recent report.
65. hamous
Thanks. This proves what we’ve been saying for a long time. Ron Paul isn’t a Republican. He’s just using the party for personal aggrandizement. Not very honorable.
66.
Me too! For a moment, I had hope.
Speaking of April Fool’s Day - I shared this story with the gang at the convention:
I used to work for Andersen Consulting, sister company of Arthur Andersen. We were subcontracted under IBM to run the program to track the divestiture of the foreclosed properties under the Resolution Trust Corporation in the early nineties. AC had all the pieces in one room - the real estate package, the furnishings & fixtures, interfaces, help desk, etc., which made it very easy when there was a problem to get things fixed: “Hey, Joe, check the F&F interface for this problem and get back with the Atlanta regional office, will ya?”
When the lawsuit against Arthur Andersen occurred (a case of going for the deep pockets, though AA had audited Ben Franklin and warned them of the looming problems), government decided that it wouldn’t be right for A Consulting to continue with the contract. We warned them against splitting up the project; if they were going to move it, move it all as one piece. We were ignored, and one piece went to an Indian company, help desk to a small American company, F&F to someone else, etc., all in an effort to give minority companies their piece of the action, etc. We spent February and March training the new people on the language and the system, and moving the documentation.
We were told that on midnight March 31st, our responsibility was over and we were not answer our pagers. Our ops guy, this huge Irishman, got a page about 4:00 am, rolled over and went back to sleep. I arrived about 8:00 am to find the only other employee on the phone with the east coast offices, which could not get into their systems because the nightly batch run was still open. I began making and receiving phone calls. The managers arrived and took over, and the story came out that the first program of the evening had blown repeatedly due to technical issues, and the IBM operator - who only knew “push this button in this order” - kept pushing the button to try to get the program started. Every push incremented the program’s date counter, and by the time he stopped, he was in a time warp about a month ahead of the rest of the world. He finally went home about 5:00 am to take a nap and write his resume. Since there was no communication between the owners of the separate pieces, nobody knew what was going on, and we had been unavailable for help.
Of course, since the problem was on April 1, it took a while for us reassure everyone that it was NOT an April Fool’s prank, and then we had to work to get the system up and running again. Our managing partner had a meeting with our managers, who passed the word along that “it’s not professional to gloat”. It still didn’t stop us!
there are now 8000 foreclosures a day in the US.
#69
hamous
If OBamBam even tried to speak these words,
I would have to slap him silly,and when he realized what happened to him, his clothes would be out of style. ROFL.
dowjones, do you know what percentage of total mortgages that is?
Rick
You may be correct but as I see it there isnt much honor left in the republican party anyways.
I am more than disappointed by the Barr endorsement!
76 duhmoose no i do not - it was stated in the senate cspan coverage. chris dodd said it in a floor speach.
dowjones, This is about a month old, but it gives some perspective on the mortgage crisis.
Chris Dodd - now there is a reliable source for information.
I see that there are some folks who have commented about KBH and the use of form letters. Dan’s office does the very same thing. I had three people who I know who had written him on a particular issue and received the very same form letter. The funny thing is he thanked them for supporting his budget reduction proposals when in fact they did not! The issue at hand was Dan had a list of items to eliminate from the budget to save money. Unfortunately Dan did not make an informed decision on at least one item. The item in question actually is self-sufficient and actually brings in revenue to the state.
Also FYI, I have heard from several prominent people that reside in Dan’s District that Dan is beginning to turn people off. And this is from a former Dan’s supporter!
#77 DJ, RP endorsing Barr is still just a rumor. It was probably started by the Barr campaign.
I’d be surprised if an official endorsement happens. A suggestion perhaps. But not an endorsement.
#80 Texpat, ditto. I think that would also cover mundane stuff like is it raining out?
yes duhmoose it is certainly bad. they also stated Barbara boxer that 1 in 550 homes in the US have a foreclosure filing on it. that a big number as well.
we have this right now and the layoffs have not even started - wonder what it finally wind up at.
dowjones, if 1 in 550 homes has a foreclosure on it and 2.04% of mortgages are in some part of the foreclosure process, that means only 1 in 11 homes have a mortgage on them. That sounds pretty good to me.
That is unless there are quite a few homes in foreclosure for reasons other than mortgage problems.
well i dunno about that but 2% is a high percentage. think of the ramifications for taxing authorities etc.
this is really going to be a problem for the real estate market and our economy. once these layoffs hit we will have even more. of course then the auto repossessions will start and put those autos on the market and kill the new car sales.
I heard Dell is closing up shop here in Austin or something to that effect with 800 layoffs. I wonder how this will impact the Austin economy. Dell just needs to do the responsible thing and pack up & move to india or china.
Bob
Yes sir.
2% is giant considering most are in specific areas and not spread out. Those communities will be greatly impacted.
From the site run by the author of RP’s 90s era racist newsletters:
I have to ask (rhetorically), what freaking revolution? The guy raised a jillion dollars and never got above 4%. Take away the anti-war leftists, the troofers, and the Nazis and his support drops to 2%.
Rejected by the GOP Establishment??? No, he was rejected by the GOP voters. Despite a well-funded campaign (and a blimp) he did not connect with voters.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/020262.html
dow, auto repossessions are already at record highs, have been for over a year. What I was getting at with the numbers is that if only 1 in 11 homes have a mortgage on them, that is a pretty high rate of paid for housing.
duhmoose i just bought a new hp laptop - made in china. i guess that is where all of our compact manufacturing went. maybe dell will follow.
pretty soon the only jobs left will be greeters at wal mart and fast food work or retail jobs.
maybe some of us could go to mowing lawns and displace some of the illegals.
#88 Looks like it is true.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/040108dnbusdell.1be6ad8c.html
dowjones, yep that darn 5% unemployment sure is showing how we don’t have any jobs left in America, and the fact we are the largest manufacturer in the world just goes to prove that China makes everything.
#93 hamous
Dell is under quite a bit of pressure from Wall Street. Desktops & laptops are the old workhorse of the economy, but they are not where future growth will be, except for emerging economies overseas. Dell has to repond to the changes in ways people are using hardware or they are going to end up like IBM did. Desktops and laptops are moving into the commodity category so cost pressure will only increase for that sector.
#94 duhmoose
There are more jobs to be had and lower consistent unemployment rates over the last 5 years than at any time in our history. Some people who do not trust anything the MSM has to say about any other subject will sieze upon any shred of negative information about the economy written by some 28-year-old journalism major who still can’t balance their personal checkbook. It fits the chicken little narrative, don’t you know.
Irony, thy name is dowjones4k.
97 LOL
ABC Radio network news came on with a lead hourly headline this week saying very ominously there was bad news on the employment front. The announcer was so somber and alarming, I fully expected to hear 20% of Americans had lost their jobs.
The story was a personnel directors’ survey of American corporations had found that there were serious shortages in teaching, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, nursing, computer engineering, etc. They couldn’t find enough qualified applicants even when they also looked overseas.
It was so absurd, I had to laugh out loud. They tried very hard to characterize this as some kind of failure of the White House.
But…but, we were informed by a commenter the other day that such stories are lies, promulgated by evil corporate America seeking tax breaks to bring in foreigners!!! Foreigners with bombs!!
shannon true if your a teacher and know spanish you get a bonus as well.
1) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing output reach its all-time peak?
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
2) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing revenue reach its all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
3) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing profits reach their all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
4) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing exports reach their all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
5) Average annual compensation (wages + benefits) for US manufacturing jobs is
a. $36,000 b. $46,0000 c. $56,0000 d. $66,000
6) What are the relative sizes of the US and Chinese manufacturing sectors?
a. China outputs 2.5 times the US b. Equal c. The US outputs 2.5 times China
7) Which country produces the largest share of total world manufacturing output?
a. China b. Japan c. Germany d. France e. US
hamous, I believe the answer to all the questions is “WalMart is evil and is selling our country to the Chinese.”
“The latest figures show that there is one foreclosure filing for every 656 households”
http://efinancedirectory.com/articles/Mass_Foreclosures_Threaten_the_U.S..html
Answers:
1) e. 2006 (Source: Economic Report of the President, 2007)
2) e. 2006 (Source: Bureau of the Census)
3) e. 2006 (Source: Bureau of the Census)
4) a. 2006 (Source: U.S. International Trade Commission)
5) d. $66,414 (Source: National Association of Manufacturers)
6) c. The U.S. output is 2.5 times as much as China (Source: U.N. Industrial Development Org.)
7) e. U.S. manufacturing output is 21 percent of world total (Source: U,N. Industrial Development Org.)
http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2007/09/the-state-of-ma.html
#103 duhmoose - Or, those are “government” numbers so you cannot trust them. It’s all a ruse. Bend over!
Whom here is on the government payroll? Who is the mole?
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/report-recruit.html
#105 hamous
The man who founded CafeHayek.com is Dr. Don Boudreaux. He is the chairman of the economics department at George Mason University and is Walter Williams’ boss. That is, if Don has the guts to try to tell Walter what to do.
NB: GMU has built one of the finest economics departments in the world in recent years. Look for future Nobels to come from there as they inherit the mantle from the University of Chicago.
If you like David Dewhurst, you’re just gonna LOVE KBH as governor. DON’T DO IT!!! RUN DAN RUN!!
#107 If we told you we’d have to kill you
Can you imagine? Dewhurst or Perry in Washington with KBH as Governor?
Glad I haven’t eaten yet.
DJ has to be the government mole, the whole Anarchy baby routine is just to throw us off.
hamous yes there was very little inflation so says the government.
Shannon
Kinky should be governor. The chance to send a loud and clear message has passed.
Most of ya’ll will vote for KBH and Perry again and again. You will be fed the lessor of two evils DELETED and be more than willing to take a huge bite.
#70 - GREAT post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dow, you’re the Scotch drinker, right? Can you recommend a nice Islay? I’m making a trip down to Specs tonight and want to try something different.
By my count, very few of us voted for Perry in 2006.
And don’t think McCain’s handlers haven’t taken note that Perry received less than 40% of the vote. A message WAS sent loud and clear.
#114 -
Cmon DJ tell us true - WTF are ya smokin bubba?
(Geez at LEAST puff n pass man!)
My cousin, who is serving in Iraq, just sent out an e-mail to my aunt requesting Bible verses to help his moral and motivation, anyone have any suggestions?
#120 - Duhmoose my Bama Belle Barb has a few (not verses though - whole books!)suggestions…….
Ecclesiastes
Pslams
Proverbs
OR
Ephesians
Peter 1 & 2
#120 - Ya might ask him if he’s ever corresponded with any of the Patriot Guard folks?
All that’s needed to join PGR is a valid email address - and I’d bet there are PGR folks who’d be happy to have a military pen pal. 133,905 members nationwide can’t be wrong!
McCains handlers have taken notes alright. They noted that most of ya’ll will vote for him.
40% as opposed to 52% which is about what a win would be. 12% of the conservative voters did not vote for Perry.
What am I missing?
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Let’s please have a show of hands of all those that voted for Rick Perry in the last election.
/my hand is not up
Actually, 36% of conservative voters and 75% of moderate voters did not vote for Perry.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006//pages/results/states/TX/G/00/epolls.0.html
#125 Mine is down also.
#120 Duhmoose: Go to a Christian bookstore. There are plenty of books with great scripture passages. Comfort, peace, strength, etc….
#125 Shannon: Most everyone here knows that I wanted to get Kinky in the governor’s mansion!
re 126 - and when you consider that only 40% of voters even bothered to turn out it’s clear that the majority of conservative voters did not vote for Perry.
ST wants to get kinky in the Governor’s mansion ? I hope you don’t get caught !
Shannon
No self respecting conservative here will admit that mistake now. You so funny.
What about jimb? Hes busy getting his kids chipped so i’ll ask him later.