Things the wackjob right wants to get rid of

[Avorysuds]

The Dept of Education provides only about 10% of the funding for our childrens education. The rest is provided at the state and local level. Curriculum, textbooks, teacher hiring and standards are decided at the state and local level

The US has a hodgepodge of school systems with differing standards. Don't like our schools blame states rights

If that's the case then what the **** does it actually DO for it's $77 billion?

Almost 2/3 are for Pell Grants. The rest is for aid and incentives to local districts

http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/history/edhistory.pdf

No matter how you slice it, it ain't the Governments job to create a college bubble... But that won't stop people like you from demanding it, even as that bubble bursts. Good intensions are not better than good ideas, the Founding Fathers had a good idea, you have the good intensions.


If college was that important, then why with more people graduating than ever before in the history of the world has our economy taken a dump on a global scale only comparable to that of the great depression?

 

[Harry Dresden]

The Post Office is hemorrhaging money. Mostly due to outrageous Union benefits.

As for "not giving a rat's ass about the constitution", Obama's sure proven lately that he doesn't give a fig about it.

bullshit.....

It's mostly due to the massive inefficiencies, and terrible methodology created by monopoly that is proving to be obsolete and outperformed by private providers.

it is not out performed since no one else delivers the mail.....and if you knew how many mistakes the private guys make in their deliveries you may not say that AND the PO delivers a lot of Parcels for Fed X and UPS....

 

[Harry Dresden]

Giant money pit...You cannot deny that.

its just terribly managed....i mean the Post Master general started out as a clerk .....and this guy is controlling a multi-billion Dollar agency.....the guy could not run a 7/11.....

It's a monopoly and a borderline anachronism...The only reason it's still in business is the feds propping them up,

really?.....i have been there 32 years and it seems the ones propping up the PO is the mass mailing businesses...it seems to us working there that we are propping up the Feds by supplying them with money...and it should be a monopoly.....how many people do you want sticking their hands in your mail box?.....

 

[Harry Dresden]

The founders wanted to PAY for the post office.


why do you want to kill it?

Because it is helping bankrupting the country. If all these unions did not expect unrealistic benefits it might still be ok but the money that we have to pay out in pensions is crazy

how is the PO helping to bankrupt the Country?...and you dont pay jack shit for the Postal pensions....

 

[rightwinger]

If that's the case then what the **** does it actually DO for it's $77 billion?

Almost 2/3 are for Pell Grants. The rest is for aid and incentives to local districts

http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/history/edhistory.pdf

No matter how you slice it, it ain't the Governments job to create a college bubble... But that won't stop people like you from demanding it, even as that bubble bursts. Good intensions are not better than good ideas, the Founding Fathers had a good idea, you have the good intensions.


If college was that important, then why with more people graduating than ever before in the history of the world has our economy taken a dump on a global scale only comparable to that of the great depression?

It is Governments job
County Governments provide Community Colleges
State Government provides State Universities
Federal Government provides funding for needy students

College is not for everybody, but should be accessible to everyone.

 

[bripat9643]

its just terribly managed....i mean the Post Master general started out as a clerk .....and this guy is controlling a multi-billion Dollar agency.....the guy could not run a 7/11.....

It's a monopoly and a borderline anachronism...The only reason it's still in business is the feds propping them up,

really?.....i have been there 32 years and it seems the ones propping up the PO is the mass mailing businesses...it seems to us working there that we are propping up the Feds by supplying them with money...and it should be a monopoly.....how many people do you want sticking their hands in your mail box?.....

Allowing competition to deliver the mail doesn't require anymore than one person to stick his hands in your mail box. Futhermore, mailboxes can be designed so that no one but you can stick his hands in it.

 

[bripat9643]

The founders wanted to PAY for the post office.


why do you want to kill it?

Because it is helping bankrupting the country. If all these unions did not expect unrealistic benefits it might still be ok but the money that we have to pay out in pensions is crazy

how is the PO helping to bankrupt the Country?...and you dont pay jack shit for the Postal pensions....

Of course we pay for Postal pensions. We pay every time we buy a stamp.

 

[Harry Dresden]

It's a monopoly and a borderline anachronism...The only reason it's still in business is the feds propping them up,

really?.....i have been there 32 years and it seems the ones propping up the PO is the mass mailing businesses...it seems to us working there that we are propping up the Feds by supplying them with money...and it should be a monopoly.....how many people do you want sticking their hands in your mail box?.....

Allowing competition to deliver the mail doesn't require anymore than one person to stick his hands in your mail box. Futhermore, mailboxes can be designed so that no one but you can stick his hands in it.

how do you figure that?.....if you have 5 different companies delivering mail you will have five different sets of hands opening that box....UNLESS you have a lock on it......and 90% of residential people do not have locks.....BUT gang boxes are not set up that way.....they open up and that person would have access to multiple boxes....i deliver to aprox 900 residences in 3 different Condo complexes all with Gang type boxes.....it would be no problem to slip a tiny parcel in my Lunch bag, my pocket, whatever and if different people were at that box.....who would you blame?.....

 

[bripat9643]

how do you figure that?.....if you have 5 different companies delivering mail you will have five different sets of hands opening that box....UNLESS you have a lock on it......and 90% of residential people do not have locks.....BUT gang boxes are not set up that way.....they open up and that person would have access to multiple boxes....i deliver to aprox 900 residences in 3

You have so little imagination.

Only one company would deliver mail to your door. Mail coming from other postal companies addressed to you would be turned over to your postal company and they would make the final delivery.

Furthermore, the way things are setup now are based on the existence of a postal monopoly. If the business model changed, then postal boxes can easily be changed to accomodate the new one.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Because it is helping bankrupting the country. If all these unions did not expect unrealistic benefits it might still be ok but the money that we have to pay out in pensions is crazy

how is the PO helping to bankrupt the Country?...and you dont pay jack shit for the Postal pensions....

Of course we pay for Postal pensions. We pay every time we buy a stamp.

i believe that individual was talking like tax dollars pay for it.....

 

[Harry Dresden]

how do you figure that?.....if you have 5 different companies delivering mail you will have five different sets of hands opening that box....UNLESS you have a lock on it......and 90% of residential people do not have locks.....BUT gang boxes are not set up that way.....they open up and that person would have access to multiple boxes....i deliver to aprox 900 residences in 3

You have so little imagination.

Only one company would deliver mail to your door. Mail coming from other postal companies addressed to you would be turned over to your postal company and they would make the final delivery.

Furthermore, the way things are setup now are based on the existence of a postal monopoly. If the business model changed, then postal boxes can easily be changed to accomodate the new one.

i think your the guy with little imagination Bri....thats not the way privatization works....if so why does UPS AND Fed-X still have drivers out there?......just give us the deliveries and get rid of your drivers and think of the money saved.....and if everyone gave the PO all their stuff to deliver the PO would be racking in money like never before....and then the question would be.....since they are delivering the dam thing,why not just go with them from the start?.....and postal boxes are not cheap at complexes,one that has 10 addresses is approx 1500 bucks......you going to pay for the change of them?....

 

[Navy1960]

According to the OCED. the top 3 nations in Education, China, Finland, and Korea all have something in common and that is they are all state funded, and mandatory. The United States currently ranks 17th and in 2011 we climbed to 14th. If this nation ever hopes to compete in the Global economy in the future, we will need to educate our young people in math and science and invest in them. It would seem to me that this sort of investment is the best sort of tax investment our nation could make for the long term future of our nation. If we as a nation retract from this and raise the white flag to nations such as China, then we have already left our young people with a dim future and one they do not deserve.

From the inception of the Dept of Ed, our children's education has deteriorated, not improved.

Then rather than advocate for education's demise in this nation because of poor management of a Dept. perhaps the best thing to do is actually fix the Dept. itself so that it's main focus is to see to it young people are educated to the point where they can help this nation compete in the future. I fail to see where 50 different standards as opposed to one standard. The other thing to consider is this, the budget impact of the Dept. of Education should it be gone would be less than 10% of the entire DOD Budget and little or no impact on the deficit. The point is, if the Department is poorly ran, and I tend to agree with that, in that the main focus is not education it is teacher numbers, then fix the Department so that we can compete with the other 14 to 16 nations who currently spend less and out perform this nation in education as well as many other areas as a result.

 

[Oddball]

Then rather than advocate for education's demise in this nation because of poor management of a Dept. perhaps the best thing to do is actually fix the Dept. itself so that it's main focus is to see to it young people are educated to the point where they can help this nation compete in the future. I fail to see where 50 different standards as opposed to one standard. The other thing to consider is this, the budget impact of the Dept. of Education should it be gone would be less than 10% of the entire DOD Budget and little or no impact on the deficit. The point is, if the Department is poorly ran, and I tend to agree with that, in that the main focus is not education it is teacher numbers, then fix the Department so that we can compete with the other 14 to 16 nations who currently spend less and out perform this nation in education as well as many other areas as a result.

Ya can't polish a turd, dude.

 

[Navy1960]

Yeah, we just don't spend enough money on education compared to those countries....not.

Uh, last time I checked the TOP universities in the world mostly reside in the USA, not Finland, China, South Korea, etc. Those countries send their students in mass to our country, not the other way around.

Oh, you need to work on your education because there isn't a country called Korea. No wonder we're so bad in education.....

So we don't compete in the Global Economy right now? People around the world don't use Macs, Iphones, Microsoft, our airplanes, our cars, etc.....what planet do you live on?

According to the OCED. the top 3 nations in Education, China, Finland, and Korea all have something in common and that is they are all state funded, and mandatory. The United States currently ranks 17th and in 2011 we climbed to 14th. If this nation ever hopes to compete in the Global economy in the future, we will need to educate our young people in math and science and invest in them. It would seem to me that this sort of investment is the best sort of tax investment our nation could make for the long term future of our nation. If we as a nation retract from this and raise the white flag to nations such as China, then we have already left our young people with a dim future and one they do not deserve.

Let's see, Mac's are made in China as are iPod's by Foxconn, Our Aircraft if your speaking of companies like Boeing, take the 787 and the 777 for example, those aircraft as well as the 737 and many others are produced all over the world and assembled here in the United States. In fact, up until it was cancelled, the new Presidential helicopter was produced overseas by an Italian company. Microsoft is no different where do you think they produce a vast majority of their products? Take a guess, it's not the United States. As for our car's the same thing applies, your just as likely to buy American driving a Toyota Tundra built in San Antonio, Texas as you are a Ford F-150 as they both have the same domestic parts content.

One more thing of note here, you mentioned that our Universities are the top in the world while its true our nation ranks very high in the world in it's Universities, that is an indication of the institution not our young people and my posting is focused on our young people not the institutions.

Between 1995 and 2008, for example, the United States slipped from ranking second in college graduation rates to 13th, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Paris-based organization that develops and administers the PISA exam. Of 34 OECD countries, only 8 have a lower high school graduation rate.
In ranking, U.S. students trail global leaders - USATODAY.com

The whole point of my posting is this, if this nation hopes to keep it's status as a global economic power then it starts with education, from that comes innovation, if we as a nation continue the track we are on then we will continue to claim that the iPhones, Macs, and things that we buy are American, only because an American company owns them, even though not one single American made them. I for one would prefer to buy an iPhone made in this nation, by Americans, exported to other nations rather than the other way around. In order to do those kinds if things, it takes a skilled and educated work force and at the moment give the sad state of our educational system those skilled workers will be fewer and fewer here and we will soon find ourselves importing them as well.

One more comment, on the Korea issue, as I do tend to read history perhaps more so than you as it appears, Korea was divided at the end of WW2 and as as a result you now have two nations one called N. Korea and one called S. Korea. I would suggest you pick up a history book every once in a while and read it, then you might not be prone to making comments you cannot back up with facts.

 

[GuyPinestra]

Yeah, we just don't spend enough money on education compared to those countries....not.

Uh, last time I checked the TOP universities in the world mostly reside in the USA, not Finland, China, South Korea, etc. Those countries send their students in mass to our country, not the other way around.

Oh, you need to work on your education because there isn't a country called Korea. No wonder we're so bad in education.....

So we don't compete in the Global Economy right now? People around the world don't use Macs, Iphones, Microsoft, our airplanes, our cars, etc.....what planet do you live on?

According to the OCED. the top 3 nations in Education, China, Finland, and Korea all have something in common and that is they are all state funded, and mandatory. The United States currently ranks 17th and in 2011 we climbed to 14th. If this nation ever hopes to compete in the Global economy in the future, we will need to educate our young people in math and science and invest in them. It would seem to me that this sort of investment is the best sort of tax investment our nation could make for the long term future of our nation. If we as a nation retract from this and raise the white flag to nations such as China, then we have already left our young people with a dim future and one they do not deserve.

Let's see, Mac's are made in China as are iPod's by Foxconn, Our Aircraft if your speaking of companies like Boeing, take the 787 and the 777 for example, those aircraft as well as the 737 and many others are produced all over the world and assembled here in the United States. In fact, up until it was cancelled, the new Presidential helicopter was produced overseas by an Italian company. Microsoft is no different where do you think they produce a vast majority of their products? Take a guess, it's not the United States. As for our car's the same thing applies, your just as likely to buy American driving a Toyota Tundra built in San Antonio, Texas as you are a Ford F-150 as they both have the same domestic parts content.

One more thing of note here, you mentioned that our Universities are the top in the world while its true our nation ranks very high in the world in it's Universities, that is an indication of the institution not our young people and my posting is focused on our young people not the institutions.

Between 1995 and 2008, for example, the United States slipped from ranking second in college graduation rates to 13th, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Paris-based organization that develops and administers the PISA exam. Of 34 OECD countries, only 8 have a lower high school graduation rate.
In ranking, U.S. students trail global leaders - USATODAY.com

The whole point of my posting is this, if this nation hopes to keep it's status as a global economic power then it starts with education, from that comes innovation, if we as a nation continue the track we are on then we will continue to claim that the iPhones, Macs, and things that we buy are American, only because an American company owns them, even though not one single American made them. I for one would prefer to buy an iPhone made in this nation, by Americans, exported to other nations rather than the other way around. In order to do those kinds if things, it takes a skilled and educated work force and at the moment give the sad state of our educational system those skilled workers will be fewer and fewer here and we will soon find ourselves importing them as well.

Prior to the formation of the Dept. of Education America ranked at or near the top in almost EVERY field of study, our educational success was the envy of the world.

What changed?

 

[alan1]

they want the post office dead too.

its in the constitution.

that proves they dont give a rats ass about the constitution.


they want what gorver wants.

USA lying dead in the tub with its lungs full of water and its heart motionless

we don't have to want the post office dead, it already is..but hey, lets just let us taxpayers keep throwing money at it...it brings all your junk mail

Why do they keep delivering my mortgage note every month?

Because you can't remember to pay your mortgage without a reminder.
So far, that doesn't make you look intelligent.

 

[Navy1960]

According to the OCED. the top 3 nations in Education, China, Finland, and Korea all have something in common and that is they are all state funded, and mandatory.

The ones at the bottom of the list also have those same exact things in common.

So then what does that say? to me it say's that the Dept. is perhaps poorly managed and unfocused on what it needs to be focused on and that is educating young people in math, science, history, etc.. rather than worrying about how many teachers are employed? One other issue I tend to see the Department of Education not really putting much focus on as well as and that is actual school construction, the sheer state of some of the schools in this nation are terrible. Forgive me, but this Department does not need to be doone away with, more so it needs to be re-focused and to be honest like I mentioned in another post, even if done away with it has little or no impact on Federal spending at all.

 

[Navy1960]

Then rather than advocate for education's demise in this nation because of poor management of a Dept. perhaps the best thing to do is actually fix the Dept. itself so that it's main focus is to see to it young people are educated to the point where they can help this nation compete in the future. I fail to see where 50 different standards as opposed to one standard. The other thing to consider is this, the budget impact of the Dept. of Education should it be gone would be less than 10% of the entire DOD Budget and little or no impact on the deficit. The point is, if the Department is poorly ran, and I tend to agree with that, in that the main focus is not education it is teacher numbers, then fix the Department so that we can compete with the other 14 to 16 nations who currently spend less and out perform this nation in education as well as many other areas as a result.

Ya can't polish a turd, dude.

First Oddball, a Me-262? in your Avatar? it looks like one, I wasn't aware any were in flying condition. Anyway, this whole Department of Education issue at least in my opinion seems to be a management issue rather than one of the overall reasoning for having the Department itself. I still believe that having a national focus and national management of eduction that at least see's minimum standards followed has nothing but benefits. I do tend to agree with those who say the Dept. has been more focused on the needs of teachers rather than education and students where it should be.

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

we don't have to want the post office dead, it already is..but hey, lets just let us taxpayers keep throwing money at it...it brings all your junk mail

Why do they keep delivering my mortgage note every month?

Because you can't remember to pay your mortgage without a reminder.
So far, that doesn't make you look intelligent.

Must be why I always pay it before the bill comes.

But it is nice to know my principal balance, interest paid, escrow payments - complicated stuff that would bore you.

 

[Moonglow]

oh cry us a river

those evil whack job people want to cut back on the Government who is booting it's boots on the necks of the people in this country.

unless the right wants governmental interfferrence to piss test my child to play sports.