dajafi wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:I wonder if, given that Doc Smooth solved healthcare and that thread's dead, we couldn't have an education policy thread breakout.

If you do a search, you'll find that I started one a year or two ago. It didn't go real well.

There's a right time for everything. Maybe now is the right time for an education thread. If we reach any consensus/conclusion I'll be happy to pass along to my niece, who is a Senate aide specializing in education.

dajafi wrote:He's such a $#@! boob.

NOBODY VOTED FOR YOU, asshat. NOBODY WANTED YOU IN THAT OFFICE. NOT EVEN YOU. GO. THE. $#@!. AWAY.

If he really wanted Clinton's Senate seat, he should have appointed himself, consequences be damned.

lethal wrote:

dajafi wrote:He's such a $#@! boob.

NOBODY VOTED FOR YOU, asshat. NOBODY WANTED YOU IN THAT OFFICE. NOT EVEN YOU. GO. THE. $#@!. AWAY.

If he really wanted Clinton's Senate seat, he should have appointed himself, consequences be damned.

Unfortunately, the consequences would have included leaving the state without a governor. Remember, we didn't have a lieutenant governor; it would have fallen, I think, to Malcolm Smith, who'd just become the Senate Majority Leader and who, to be fair, makes Paterson look like some kind of exalted cross between Lincoln and God.

Our state is just fucked.

Meanwhile, the "Teabaggers = New Left" theory gains credence:

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

This is a well-funded temper tantrum peopled by morons who evidently don't grasp how democracy works. Do they not understand that the 70 percent or so of even a shrunken midterm electorate is more inclined toward people who seem serious about governance than in who can most slavishly kiss up to the exalted dimwits Beck and Palin?

Harpua wrote:I'm no expert, so I'm open to other perspectives, but I wonder if teacher you are depends on if you can find a kind of niche and have fr. For instance (anecdotal evidence alert), my mom was once a preschool teacher and very good at it; creative, effective, etc. She cared about it, and there weren't any signs of burnout. Now, because it didn't pay very much as a small private outfit, she had to take another preschool-ish type job that sucked because of all sorts of regulations that made it much, much harder to actually do the job. And now she's in a public high school and $#@! hates it, because of the same regulatory roadblocks, though she still tries and (hopefully) has some effect. I'm not sure where all this fits into the teacher union debate, or merit pay, but I've been thinking of that while reading the last few pages.

I think there is a lot of truth in that. If the teaching staff, particularly of a smaller school, get along well with each other and with their principal, the school does well and the teachers are happy. Change up a thing or two, add a different principal with a different philosophy, such as less trusting more hands on micromanaging of teachers or wants to have reading taught a different way, and suddenly the idyllic school atmosphere is no more and the teachers don't enjoy their jobs. Or add one very vocal jealous teacher unhappy with her class assignment and the pot sours. My sister is still a super-enthusiastic kindergarden teacher, but her moods have swung quite a bit due to staffing and especially administrative changes. I think the thing that had the greatest negative impact over the years was NCLB and all the overly specific, picayune requirements that the district imposed along with it, many of which she viewed as nonsense.

On finding your niche, I've observed many teachers who were tuned to a very specific grade level. My 9th grade biology teacher, who was interesting but pretty quirky, did great on that level, but didn't relate at all to the kids when he moved to the high school. He ended up as a Superintendent in another district, which struck me as odd, because although very bright, I didn't think he related well with adults. Also, an 8th grade teacher who commuted to junior high school with my Dad for many years got along really well with her 7th graders, adopting a super mothering approach. Over the course of a couple years, the maturity, as in worldy wisdom not self control, changed dramatically and she was totally lost and hated teaching.

Sometimes stepping out of your niche is the re-energizer, though. There probably comes an age where mental inertia and a slower pace of learning new things rules this out. I watched my Dad go from super-enthusiastic to pretty much burnt out over about 40 years. He had a lot of variety and demands in the first half of his career, teaching chemistry, physics, and at least one math subject at a very small HS at the beginnning of his career. He then moved to Jr High in the city and was asked to learn to teach biology along with algebra and general math. Eventually, he had to teach one class of world history for a year, before settling into just teaching math. He certainly worked the hardest outside the school day/calendar, but also seemed happiest during this period of quite a bit of change and was a great teacher. He seemed to be burning out on just teaching math, but then re-energized again doing part-time guidance counseling and then moving completely from teaching to counseling. After almost two decades of counseling and battles with administration, he was very burned out and working the absolute minimum hours. Not sure how typical a case his is, since I think he bores unusually easily.

dajafi wrote:Meanwhile, the "Teabaggers = New Left" theory gains credence:

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

This is a well-funded temper tantrum peopled by morons who evidently don't grasp how democracy works. Do they not understand that the 70 percent or so of even a shrunken midterm electorate is more inclined toward people who seem serious about governance than in who can most slavishly kiss up to the exalted dimwits Beck and Palin?

I've made this new left=tea party for awhile now. But now I wonder how many tea baggers were at woodstock? I bet a lot.

I really really really hope no one ever clues them in on what "teabagging" is slang for.

dajafi wrote:Meanwhile, the "Teabaggers = New Left" theory gains credence:

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

This is a well-funded temper tantrum peopled by morons who evidently don't grasp how democracy works. Do they not understand that the 70 percent or so of even a shrunken midterm electorate is more inclined toward people who seem serious about governance than in who can most slavishly kiss up to the exalted dimwits Beck and Palin?

I'd probably vote for Rubio against Crist. I think Rubio could still win the seat, and Crist is a self-serving, egotistical tool who would be using a senate term as a brief cameo before running for the White House. Rubio was the state house speaker, he's not some lunatic, no talent right win nutjob. The Dems are running a liberal black congressman. I think we're favored win the seat either way.

Running against Simmons or Kirk from the right in those states is so profoundly stupid. Kirk is the only Republican in the state that can even make it competitive. Simmons is our best hope to beat Dodd.

Phan In Phlorida wrote:I really really really hope no one ever clues them in on what "teabagging" is slang for.

I don't think they call themselves teabaggers, do they?

TenuredVulture wrote:

dajafi wrote:Meanwhile, the "Teabaggers = New Left" theory gains credence:

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

This is a well-funded temper tantrum peopled by morons who evidently don't grasp how democracy works. Do they not understand that the 70 percent or so of even a shrunken midterm electorate is more inclined toward people who seem serious about governance than in who can most slavishly kiss up to the exalted dimwits Beck and Palin?

I've made this new left=tea party for awhile now. But now I wonder how many tea baggers were at woodstock? I bet a lot.

I seriously doubt many Woodstockers are tea baggers, a group largely peopled by social conservatives of the Bachman/Palin brigades.

allentown wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:

dajafi wrote:Meanwhile, the "Teabaggers = New Left" theory gains credence:

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

This is a well-funded temper tantrum peopled by morons who evidently don't grasp how democracy works. Do they not understand that the 70 percent or so of even a shrunken midterm electorate is more inclined toward people who seem serious about governance than in who can most slavishly kiss up to the exalted dimwits Beck and Palin?

I've made this new left=tea party for awhile now. But now I wonder how many tea baggers were at woodstock? I bet a lot.

I seriously doubt many Woodstockers are tea baggers, a group largely peopled by social conservatives of the Bachman/Palin brigades.

They're a bunch of self-indulgent babies. All of 'em. They whined in the 60s that despite being the most privilege generation even in world history that they were oppressed, and today they run around citing gramsci, alinsky, as well as beck and limbaugh and whine about Obama taking their country away. They have questionable hygiene.

jerseyhoya wrote:I'd probably vote for Rubio against Crist. I think Rubio could still win the seat, and Crist is a self-serving, egotistical tool who would be using a senate term as a brief cameo before running for the White House. Rubio was the state house speaker, he's not some lunatic, no talent right win nutjob. The Dems are running a liberal black congressman. I think we're favored win the seat either way.

Running against Simmons or Kirk from the right in those states is so profoundly stupid. Kirk is the only Republican in the state that can even make it competitive. Simmons is our best hope to beat Dodd.

I think that's a fair distinction between the challenge to Crist and the other two. Granted that Rubio seems more like a smart guy who happens to be very, very conservative--sort of a Jindal with sharper elbows but (AFAIK) no experience as an exorcist--than a Bachmann type psycho.

jerseyhoya wrote:

dajafi wrote:Meanwhile, the "Teabaggers = New Left" theory gains credence:

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

This is a well-funded temper tantrum peopled by morons who evidently don't grasp how democracy works. Do they not understand that the 70 percent or so of even a shrunken midterm electorate is more inclined toward people who seem serious about governance than in who can most slavishly kiss up to the exalted dimwits Beck and Palin?

I'd probably vote for Rubio against Crist. I think Rubio could still win the seat, and Crist is a self-serving, egotistical tool who would be using a senate term as a brief cameo before running for the White House. Rubio was the state house speaker, he's not some lunatic, no talent right win nutjob. The Dems are running a liberal black congressman. I think we're favored win the seat either way.

Running against Simmons or Kirk from the right in those states is so profoundly stupid. Kirk is the only Republican in the state that can even make it competitive. Simmons is our best hope to beat Dodd.

This is Republicans going through their own equivalent of the Dems McCarthy/McGovern period. Like the Republican far right, the Dem far left who drove those two campaigns had the attitude that if we couldn't get 100% of what we wanted, we would take our ball and go home. 'Dump the Hump' and the conceit that their wasn't an ounce of difference between Humphrey and Nixon was not a good thing for Dems.

The saving grace for Republicans is that a lot of the expanded Dem vote brought out by Obama seems very close to the old take my ball and go home crowd, with the added change that they want 100% of what they want in the first year.

We may be seeing the fracturing of both parties.

TenuredVulture wrote:

allentown wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:

dajafi wrote:Meanwhile, the "Teabaggers = New Left" theory gains credence:

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

This is a well-funded temper tantrum peopled by morons who evidently don't grasp how democracy works. Do they not understand that the 70 percent or so of even a shrunken midterm electorate is more inclined toward people who seem serious about governance than in who can most slavishly kiss up to the exalted dimwits Beck and Palin?

I've made this new left=tea party for awhile now. But now I wonder how many tea baggers were at woodstock? I bet a lot.

I seriously doubt many Woodstockers are tea baggers, a group largely peopled by social conservatives of the Bachman/Palin brigades.

They're a bunch of self-indulgent babies. All of 'em. They whined in the 60s that despite being the most privilege generation even in world history that they were oppressed, and today they run around citing gramsci, alinsky, as well as beck and limbaugh and whine about Obama taking their country away. They have questionable hygiene.

Yeah, but these are whiny babies from the other end of the political and social spectrum. They and their dads were the guys beating up Woodstockers and peace marchers.

TenuredVulture wrote:

Phan In Phlorida wrote:I really really really hope no one ever clues them in on what "teabagging" is slang for.

I don't think they call themselves teabaggers, do they?

Maybe not anymore (dammit), but I recall that they did early on.

I think it may have originated from the left media (Olbermann, et al), but I've seen/heard is used by the right as well. One example, containing this seemingly physically impossible inference...

Those who bagged the baggers now bagged themselves.

pacino wrote:Why do we, as a society, continue to bully people? It really ends well with some individuals, doesn't it?

Is this a Locke vs. Hobbes kind of thing?

Tea party activists racist or not?

You decide.

It's not possible to do a characterture of a black person and not find someone who will call you a racist for it. Look at all the Condolezza ones.

Vox, what is your opinion of the specific placard I posted? Do you not think it emphasizes stereotypes (rather than exaggerating say his ears?)

Compare the placard above to this one:

Is big teeth a black stereotype?

You learn something new every day.