2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

So just to shed a bit of light on this education issue. Pretty depressing overview from Texas state education website:

#46 state on per-pupil public school state funding, school year 2003 ($3,255)
#50 Percent of Texans with a high school diploma
Texas is #49 state in verbal SAT scores in the nation (493) and #46 state in average math SAT scores (502).
Out of Texas’ 145 public and private higher education institutions, only one private institution, Rice University, ranked among the nation’s top 50.
From fiscal years 1999 to 2006, average tuition and fees at public universities have increased 95.5%.
#35 state on Percentage of population 25 years or older with a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2004 (24.5%)

Texas State Window on Government
.................

...and going forward?...from Utah's Deseret News...

Texas school cuts to be felt in ways big and small
Published: Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011 10:05 a.m. Deseret News

DALLAS — As students return to school next week, the impact of cuts made by the Texas Legislature to education funding will be felt in ways big and small.

Some students will notice larger classes, others will miss out on field trips. Districts have eliminated teaching jobs and administrative positions.

The Legislature has cut $4 billion over the next two years in funding for school districts. Lawmakers also cut $1.3 billion in grants for programs that included full-day pre-kindergarten.

In the fast-growing district of Leander, two new schools will sit empty this year because there's no money for teachers. Cuts in the Keller school district mean students who want to take the bus will have to pay $185 a semester for the ride.
....................

...what about public opinion?...

Poll shows strong support for school spending
Houston Cronicle Blog

A new poll shows consistent results from previous polling of Texans when it comes to public school funding: A vast majority support more money for public education.

A Texas Poll conducted last month for the Texas Association of School Boards showed 90 percent of the public agreeing that public schools need more state funding.

This number remains consistent from a year ago, when 88 percent said the state should provide more funding to public education. The poll, conducted in July, focused on funding for public schools and the Texas Legislature’s response to the issue.

Most Texans – 85 percent – say the Legislature did not make education a priority in the state budget for 2012-13, and 75 percent believe lawmakers should not have cut public school funding. Only 4 percent believe funding cuts of $4 billion were necessary, and 12 percent say reductions were needed but the Legislature cut too much money from public schools.

A majority of the state’s 1,039 school districts has adopted resolutions urging state lawmakers to make education a priority. Because of severe budget problems, state lawmakers cut the basic school funding system by $4 billion – if existing law had not been changed. They also cut $1.3 billion from discretionary education spending for programs such as drop out prevention, full-day Pre K and teacher incentive awards.

The July 2011 Texas Poll surveyed 1,000 adult Texans by telephone in a random sample of active telephone exchanges statewide. Margin of error for whole sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points and slightly larger for subgroups. Responses are given in percentages, rounded to the nearest whole number.

Yup, Texas is hell. And stupid hell, to boot. I wonder why all those stupid folks are moving there? Oh, I know, for the JOBS. Remember, when you're reading those "random" statistics, bring the tissue.

 

[Foxton]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

Yup, Texas is hell. And stupid hell, to boot. I wonder why all those stupid folks are moving there? Oh, I know, for the JOBS. Remember, when you're reading those "random" statistics, bring the tissue.

Those minimum wage or gov't jobs? Something like 47% of the gov't jobs added in 07-10 were from Texas. Link And I'm sure he balances the budget with jeebus' help. At his big xtian closet gay abortion insert social conservative talking point here rally. And he didn't do it by raking in the dough from the federal gov't. Wait, he did? So it's like his bridge to nowhere?

The state won't replace any of the federal stimulus funds with its own revenues, said Rep. Jim Pitts, who is writing the budget bill for the Texas House. It doesn't have the money. The state comptroller estimated that revenues will be $15 billion less in fiscal 2012-2013 than the previous two-year period.

Gone are the $4.3 billion in stimulus funds for Medicaid and $3.25 billion for public education. The resulting cuts outlined in the budget means schools would likely close and class sizes would get bigger. And because the budget proposes a 10% cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates for doctors, physicians will likely leave the system, making it harder for the poor to get health care.

**** texas.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

Texas sucks for one reason all men of good will should agree on.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

Texas sucks for one reason all men of good will should agree on.

In spades. I must not have been paying attention when they had the referendum to determine who "America's team" is.

 

[Priceless]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

I'm sure he'll be invited to speak again real soon

And minutes before Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and parent of a child with Down syndrome, made her much-anticipated speech in Iowa, Los Angles-based comedian Eric Golub told a joke that compared liberal political ideology to “special needs children.”

After commending Palin on raising her son Trig while balancing other responsibilities, Golub made the analogy.

“For that reason alone, the left should worship Sarah Palin and adopt her as one of their own,” Golub said. “Because the leftist haters are an entire political ideology of special needs children.”

In February 2010, Palin called for Rahm Emanuel, then-White House chief of staff, to be fired after he called liberal groups thinking of running ads against Democratic lawmakers “retarded.”

When an episode of Fox’s “Family Guy” mocked Trig that same month, Palin wrote in a post to her Facebook followers that it felt like “a kick in the gut.”

She also included a response to the "Family Guy" episode from her daughter, Bristol Palin.

“As a culture, shouldn’t we be more compassionate to innocent people – especially those who are less fortunate,” Bristol wrote. “Shouldn’t we be willing to say that some things just are not funny?”

 

[Foxton]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

I always get a kick out of Andrea Friedman's response to Palin's outrage over family guy.

My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

I'm sure he'll be invited to speak again real soon

creep

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

I always get a kick out of Andrea Friedman's response to Palin's outrage over family guy.

double creep.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

What kind of person finds the struggles of a handicapped child amusing? And what kind of person finds in political opposition to a handicapped child's parent, justification for using that child to attack the parent? Libtards love to quote Joseph Welch, well this time let me: "Have you no sense of decency? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"



Welch played the judge in "Anatomy of a Murder." If you've never seen it, make it your business to do so, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Priceless]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

At the college football game....
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7lyFU5zbnHE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

At the college football game....
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7lyFU5zbnHE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The "MOB" is a Houston treasure. On one occasion, they did a half time show dedicated to UT, the ultra terrestrial. One time with Arkansas playing in Houston, the stadium announcer opened their show by saying: "Ladies, gentlemen and livestock." And when "Like a Virgin" was a big hit, they had a kid dressed in a volcano costume running away from and wanting no part of the Madonna "virgin" character chasing him. This is a band that regularly features a kid playing a base violin. It's always fun to watch the "MOB"

 

[Tundra]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

Libtards love to quote Joseph Welch, well this time let me: "Have you no sense of decency? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

may be a stronger message with civility?

There seems to be a disconnect with our policy makers and people on the ground. It was made crystal clear when one of the soldiers on the ground were showing the picture of burning WTC and asking everyone he met about 911 and not one village elder, afghan troops knew about it except for the division commander.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-must-stay-afghanistan-risk-more-attacks-envoy-143032127.html

The United States must keep fighting the Taliban or risk more attacks like those of September 11, 2001,

Ryan Crocker, a career diplomat who was ambassador in Iraq
What we have to do is I think demonstrate the strategic patience that is necessary to win a long war," he told Reuters, in an interview ahead of the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

"It is going to require more resources, its going to require time.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20023451-503543.html

in its report that 92 percent of 1,000 Afghan men surveyed in the intense fighting areas of Helmand and Kandahar provinces were unaware of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the Reuters news agency reported.

"The lack of awareness of why we are there contributes to the high levels of negativity toward the NATO military operations and made the job of the Taliban easier,"

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

may be a stronger message with civility?

There seems to be a disconnect with our policy makers and people on the ground. It was made crystal clear when one of the soldiers on the ground were showing the picture of burning WTC and asking everyone he met about 911 and not one village elder, afghan troops knew about it except for the division commander.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-must-stay-afghanistan-risk-more-attacks-envoy-143032127.html


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20023451-503543.html

Perhaps. But when you're dealing with people for whom a handicapped child is a source of amusement, you can't be sure.

 

[Foxton]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

Perhaps. But when you're dealing with people for whom a handicapped child is a source of amusement, you can't be sure.

The really sad part about this, is that you don't realize that it's the parent that is the amusement.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

The really sad part about this, is that you don't realize that it's the parent that is the amusement.

Cur, liar, coward

 

[Kepler]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

As disgusting as Palin's crass manipulation of her (or whoever's) son is, it probably isn't the best Karma to respond with retard jokes.

The main point is Saint Sarah is a complete fool. We have ample material (exhibits A through X, her own words) to demonstrate that without alluding to what is after all, despite the apparent utter lack of morality of the parents, a family tragedy.

 

[Priceless]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

As disgusting as Palin's crass manipulation of her (or whoever's) son is, it probably isn't the best Karma to respond with retard jokes.

The main point is Saint Sarah is a complete fool. We have ample material (exhibits A through X, her own words) to demonstrate that without alluding to what is after all, despite the apparent utter lack of morality of the parents, a family tragedy.

And this was from the guy introducing her! I imagine she really lit into him during her speech.

But as CNN reports, after Golub’s remark, Palin was mum. Her defensive stance of children and individuals with disabilities is quite selective: When Rush Limbaugh used the “r-word” shortly after Emanuel did, Palin rose to Limbaugh’s defense.

A closer look at Golub’s remarks shows that there was a lot Palin could and should have questioned him about, if she genuinely wishes to be an advocate for individuals with disabilities:

After commending Palin on raising her son Trig while balancing other responsibilities, Golub made the analogy.

“

For that reason alone, the left should worship Sarah Palin and adopt her as one of their own,” Golub said. “Because the leftist haters are an entire political ideology of special needs children.”

Golub continued by saying that liberals are needy and feel entitled.

“And unlike Trig, they aren’t very lovable,” Golub said. “All you hear from them is give me, give me, I need, I need, I want, I deserve, I’m entitled – no you don’t.”

With the exception of “lovable” Trig, Golub suggests that special needs children are not only “needy” but “needy” in special ways, such that they feel “entitled.” Being “special needs,” says Golub, is all about wanting and demanding and asking for, as it were, handouts.

Oh, I guess not.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

When someone else's money is available, a stunningly high percentage of people feel entitled to take advantage of it for their own ends regardless of political ideology. Whether it's a specific state or federal program or a tax write-off (denying the treasury money means it must come from someone/something else), we're all greedy self entitled *** holes.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

As disgusting as Palin's crass manipulation of her (or whoever's) son is, it probably isn't the best Karma to respond with retard jokes.

The main point is Saint Sarah is a complete fool. We have ample material (exhibits A through X, her own words) to demonstrate that without alluding to what is after all, despite the apparent utter lack of morality of the parents, a family tragedy.

There now, that didn't hurt, did it? Here's hoping Peeless takes the hint and stops his Jesuitical justifications for making a 3 year old part of his attacks on the kid's mother. It's indecent. Joseph Welsh would definitely not appprove.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel

Rick Perry steps in it again.

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-QVMan7Mgy4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

My favorite factoid of the day.

One-fifth of the 50 richest members of Congress are freshman House Republicans sent to Washington last year with strong Tea Party support, according to The Hill’s 50 Wealthiest for 2011.

Can you say oxymoron?