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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 05:29 PM) One monetary factor that does seem to work out very well and hold strongly in the stats is that if the majority of the kids in a school come from low income households, then it tends to drag down the whole school. More discussion in the article. Basically, the more you can spread out the low income kids, the less you concentrate the high income family kids, the better everyone does. The problem is, when you go in to places like New York, Chicago, L.A., the big urban centers, the schools that are the biggest problems, the ones where we're leaving children behind, you're running in to something like 80-90% or more of the population of that school coming from low income, poverty line type families. At that point it's basically endemic. If you give everyone a voucher, it doesn't work, because all the schools in the area are the same thing, the only thing you can do is bus every student 2 hours out in to the suburbs, and no one's going to pay for that. Absolutely. Like I said I don't know the answer. But it seems clear the most important moment in education is k-5, so if we can lower class sizes to 15 in inner cities and get pre-K education perhaps we can start seeing improvement in reading levels. ANd to do this we need teachers and schools and money.

how about his immigration stance and torture stance. those irk me to no end.

www.talkingpointsmemo.com/electioncentral Man Denied DOJ Job Because of Wife's Democrat Ties Is Identified By Kate Klonick - July 29, 2008, 10:31AM Among our coverage yesterday of the OIG report, was the specific case of an "experienced terrorism prosecutor" who was denied a DOJ promotion because Monica Goodling discovered that his wife was a longtime Democrat. That man has now been identified by The Buffalo News as William J. Hochul Jr., a career federal prosecutor from Western New York, whose wife, Kathleen Hochul, was a longtime Democrat: The report does not name that attorney, but sources told The Buffalo News that it was William J. Hochul Jr., a winner of the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service -- and the husband of Kathleen C. Hochul, a longtime Democratic activist and former Hamburg Town Board member who was elected Erie County clerk in 2007. The Justice Department's liaison to the Bush White House, Monica M. Goodling, blocked Hochul's appointment to the counterterrorism post, sources said. "As a result, a much less experienced, but politically acceptable, attorney was assigned this important responsibility," says the report, issued by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General. The Buffalo News also identifies another Western New York federal prosecutor mentioned in the report, who was also nixed by Goodling for a promotion to Main Justice: Similarly, although Michael A. Battle -- former U. S. attorney in Western New York -- headed the Executive Office of U. S. Attorneys from 2005 to 2007, Goodling blocked his choice for his own top assistant. Goodling viewed Battle's pick as a "political infant" who had not proved himself to the Republican Party, Battle told investigators. Sources identified the failed nominee as John Kelly of the U. S. attorney's office in Rochester.

Clean air Act of 1990: Acid Rain A two-phase, market-based system will reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions from power plants by more than half. By the year 2000, total annual emissions are to be capped at 8.9 million tons, a reductions of 10 million tons from 1980 levels. Plants will be issued allowances based on fixed emission rates set in the law and on their previous fossil-fuel use. They will pay penalties if emissions exceed the allowances they hold. Allowances can be banked or traded. In Phase I, large, high-emission plants, located in eastern and midwestern states, will achieve reductions by 1995. In Phase II, which commences on January 1, 2000, emission limits will be imposed on smaller, cleaner plants and tightened on Phase I plants. All sources will install continuous emission monitors to assure compliance. Nitrogen-oxide reductions will also be achieved, but through performance standards set by EPA. I was under the impression this greatly lowered our SO2 and I was under the impression this was cap and trade. Certainly worked better than CAA of 77 no?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:22 PM) School funding is one of the great political conundrums of our time. Who has an answer? Not me. Especially after I studied amt. of $ spent on students and things like grad rates, and they weren't necessarily positively correlated. It was all over the place. There are so many factors. Right now I'm interested in a few options. Tennessee STAR program has shown that smaller class sizes in elementary ages proved to make them better students ALL the way through H.S. graduation. Also, I think I am going to support pre-K education, I believe that will make a big difference. Maybe year round schooling is a good idea. It can solve overcrowding and that loss of knowledge in summer. On vouchers I have no idea. I see studies with completely different results all the time. I'm willing to see how NCLB works, but, after it's done I'd favor taking the federal gov't back out or national restrictions and maybe use revenue sharing to help out state education.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:38 PM) Technology. One of the major expenses in schools is textbooks. Keeping up to date text is an expensive chore. Most here have gone to college, we know the worse costs of textbooks, and the cost to schools ain't that much better. The cheapest route would be either a Kindle style device, but they would be stolen or lost and the people who need them the most are the very ones who could not afford to replace them. IMHO, and the teacher unions would go nuts. We need lower education requirements for the younger grades. Private schools are not required to hire teachers with teaching certificates or even college degrees in Texas. The result at one private, religion based school I know of are lower salaries, but 10-12 kids in a classroom. I believe some high school grads can teach second grade with the proper supervision and a little training. There is a crossover point, perhaps 5th grade or so, where advanced training is required, but looking at some of the home schooling data and some of the schools I see here, smaller class size and more individualized instruction is important. The only way to afford that is lowering salaries. To lower salaries, we would need to create another group of teachers. Can I ask you a question, Tex? (i'm going to ask it before a response) I was recently reading about NCLB, and in it they allow states to make their own test or they could use the national test. In Missouri, they tested kids with both and the MAP test was harder and the kids did slightly better on the national test. 25% passed. In Texas, 24% passed the national test, but on their state test, 90% passed. Now, I am well aware of the huge variations mere wording can have on a similar question for kids from different cultures. And so maybe Texas nailed it. But, did they just give out a completely fluff test?

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 06:10 AM) John Mayer sux every ass. One of the most over rated musicians of any era. And by the way, why the f is he always trying so hard to be funny and failing at that even worse than at music? It really bugs me that he will copy solos from stevie ray vaughan live but never credit him. Technically, the guy is sound, but (and this is the heart of my music beliefs) talent means absolutely s*** in music. There've been some that have been blessed with talent and something to say, but if I had the choice to choose among a great technical guitarist and one who can make a product of his life and feelings, it's the latter every time. And when people give credit to mayer as a positive when he says he only makes pop songs for money but his real heart is in the john mayer trio, it just makes me cringe.

I'm glad the definitive report finally came out. I'm shocked at how little people know about the U.S. Attorney scandal. You know Iraq fatigue? I believe there is Bush fatigue. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...bian_rumors.php In Gonzales' DOJ, Lesbian Rumors Could Cost You Your Job By Kate Klonick - July 28, 2008, 10:29PM It wasn't just Democrats who Monica Goodling was trying to rid the Justice Department of. If you were gay -- or even rumored to be gay -- your career was in jeopardy. Today's IG report offers new details in the case of Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Hagen, whose tenure at Main Justice came to an end because Monica Goodling picked up on rumors that Hagen was gay and had an allegedly romantic relationship with her supervisor, the then-U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Margaret Chiara. Hagen, whose case was first reported by NPR in April, is not identified by name in the IG's report. However, her attorney confirmed to TPMmuckraker this afternoon that Hagen is the unnamed, allegedly lesbian, AUSA detailed in the report. "I think the report vindicates what she has been saying all along," said Lisa Banks of Katz, Marshall and Banks LLP. "That she was the victim of pernicious discrimination from Monica Goodling." Hagen had worked as a federal prosecutor for Chiara in Michigan before being detailed to DOJ headquarters in Washington, where she she worked in the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA). When it was time to renew Hagen's detail to the EOUSA, Goodling blocked it, and prevented her from obtaining other details within DOJ as well. Calling Goodling's actions "wholly inappropriate," the report concluded that Goodling broke federal law in discriminating based on sexual orientation. The ostensible reason for the actions taken against Hagen were rumors that she had improperly benefited financially from the purported relationship with Chiara, in the form of large bonuses and trips with Chiara at government expense. The report concludes, however, that Goodling never substantiated the allegations of financial improprieties and that Hagen's rumored sexual orientation was the reason she was not allowed to remain at Main Justice. One of the witnesses cited in the report is Mary Beth Buchanan, the former executive director of the EOUSA who remains the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh: Buchanan said that Goodling told her that the AUSA and the U.S. Attorney were involved in a relationship, and that it would not be appropriate for the Department to do anything to further that relationship, such as employing them in the same geographic area. According to Buchanan, at that time the U.S. Attorney was trying to find a position in the Washington, D.C. area. Buchanan said she understood that Goodling was telling her not to select the AUSA because it would look like the Department was sanctioning the homosexual relationship. As to the veracity of the rumors that surrounded Hagen and Chiara, Hagen's attorney described them as "completely false" in the interview with TPMmuckraker. "There was nothing to verify that my client was gay -- she never identified as such," Banks said. "The supposed relationship between her and the U.S. attorney was completely false, and nothing more than co-workers and friends. There was no improper relationship. No improper government trips. No improper bonuses." Calls to Chiara's office were not immediately returned. It's not clear what, if any, light the Hagen episode shines on the firing of Chiara as U.S. attorney. The professed reasons for the firings of the eight U.S. attorneys have never been very clear, but the circumstances surrounding Chiara's removal have been especially murky. Appointed U.S. attorney in 2001, she was asked to resign by Michael Elston, the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, in November 2006. That was more than a month before the seven other U.S. attorneys were fired, in calls from Michael Battle, who had succeeded Buchanan as the executive director of the EOUSA. Chiara's resignation was effective March 16, 2007. The official, albeit vague, reasons for Chiara's firing were "poor management issues" and a "loss of confidence by career individuals," according to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in testimony to the Senate. But there was scant documentation within DOJ of Chiara's alleged problems. In the absence of a more substantial explanation from the justice Department for Chiara's firing, it's not unreasonable to wonder if the rumors of her lesbian relationship with Hagen led to Chiara's downfall, too. As a Republican source told NPR, "To some people, that's even worse than being a Democrat."

I'm coming home for the weekend, I might catch Hollywood Holt at the empty bottle. Might I see anyone else there?

google has so much cool stuff it's hard to even keep track of. what are your web sites athomeboy

I guarantee you, despite them breaking federal laws, they won't have anything happen to them.

going the way of some other things... is that implying it's going to the graveyard? Cap and trade has been the only thing that works. Unless they can show something else that will work better I don't know how you can disagree with it. (unless you are from WV)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/107795...k072808.article This might have something to do with that accident last week. I wish him the best and hopefully the tests come back benign.

heh. Could've come in handy last week for me. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na...99.story?page=1 ON THE MEDIA In study, evidence of liberal-bias bias Cable talking heads accuse broadcast networks of liberal bias -- but a think tank finds that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Barack Obama than on John McCain in recent weeks. By JAMES RAINEY, ON THE MEDIA July 27, 2008 Haters of the mainstream media reheated a bit of conventional wisdom last week. Barack Obama, they said, was getting a free ride from those insufferable liberals. Challenges await Barack Obama at home John McCain supports expansion of Americans With Disabilities Act John McCain slams Barack Obama for canceling on the troops Such pronouncements, sorry to say, tend to be wrong since they describe a monolithic media that no longer exists. Information today cascades from countless outlets and channels, from the Huffington Post to Politico.com to CBS News and beyond. But now there's additional evidence that casts doubt on the bias claims aimed -- with particular venom -- at three broadcast networks. The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign. You read it right: tougher on the Democrat. During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative. Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center. Conservatives have been snarling about the grotesque disparity revealed by another study, the online Tyndall Report, which showed Obama receiving more than twice as much network air time as McCain in the last month and a half. Obama got 166 minutes of coverage in the seven weeks after the end of the primary season, compared with 67 minutes for McCain, according to longtime network-news observer Andrew Tyndall. I wrote last week that the networks should do more to better balance the air time. But I also suggested that much of the attention to Obama was far from glowing. That earned a spasm of e-mails that described me as irrational, unpatriotic and . . . somehow . . . French. But the center's director, RobertLichter, who has won conservative hearts with several of his previous studies, told me the facts were the facts. "This information should blow away this silly assumption that more coverage is always better coverage," he said. Here's a bit more on the research, so you'll understand how the communications professor and his researchers arrived at their conclusions. The center reviews and "codes" statements on the evening news as positive or negative toward the candidates. For example, when NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell said in June that Obama "has problems" with white men and suburban women, the media center deemed that a negative. The positive and negative remarks about each candidate are then totaled to calculate the percentages that cut for and against them. Visual images and other more subjective cues are not assessed. But the tracking applies a measure of analytical rigor to a field rife with seat-of-the-pants fulminations. The media center's most recent batch of data covers nightly newscasts beginning June 8, the day after Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination, ushering in the start of the general-election campaign. The data ran through Monday, as Obama began his overseas trip. Most on-air statements during that time could not be classified as positive or negative, Lichter said. The study found, on average, less than two opinion statements per night on the candidates on all three networks combined -- not exactly embracing or pummeling Obama or McCain. But when a point of view did emerge, it tended to tilt against Obama. That was a reversal of the trend during the primaries, when the same researchers found that 64% of statements about Obama -- new to the political spotlight -- were positive, but just 43% of statements about McCain were positive. (there is more, read link)

QUOTE (Maxwell @ Jul 28, 2008 -> 02:48 AM) Does anyone read vanity fair? I don't and I'm curious if the title of the magazine is meant to be sarcastic or if its about all things vain. It doesn't really pertain to the cover. Eh I always thought it was a literary reference to the satirical novel but I never read it so I don't know. It's just a fashion, culture, essay magazine. Had the huge article on the torture memos and U.S.

This site especially of all the sites I've been on argues the media's lack of coverage on an issue. And it always cracks me up that as evidence they'll use web sites like abcnews.com, the washington post and other major news outlets as examples. And the national review one of "taking the eye off the ball" was just dumb commentary. Is someone seriously going to argue we took our eye off the ball when major groups that planned 9/11 have taken back parts in Afghanistan while we have most of our troops committed to Iraq?

I'm a Gates man myself.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 26, 2008 -> 05:15 AM) Will you at least agree that Tim Reynolds is currently one of the best guitarist out there? I'd put Reynolds above John Mayer who is also a very talented guitarist. he uses a lot of loops and that's all nice and well. John Mayer can imitate it but he doesn't have the soul.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 26, 2008 -> 02:45 PM) And I don't think it works like it was intended, it's become a big boondoggle. I don't think they could've predicted the huge population boom that is putting it in crisis right now. BUt even so, social security only needs a temp fix. Once the baby boomers are gone, it will be back to affordability. And I do think it works as intended. Our elderly class went from one of the most likely to be in poverty to one of the least. What a thank you to them for helping build our economy and sustain our democracy.

thanks

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 26, 2008 -> 04:29 AM) Social Security. exactly what I was going to say.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 26, 2008 -> 04:19 AM) yea. some things are not meant to be impeded on. Prayer is one of those things. Ones health is another. (although, i would argue that if you are running to be president, the people have right to know you can do the job). but prayer is not something we need to know. I also want to be clear that the only reason I posed this was because "the cat was out of the bag" already. no offense, but you are sort of perpetuating the righteousness of the paper by posting it again. It proves that people want to know what he said despite private privileges. And I'll acknowledge right now that righteousness is not the word I'm looking for.

QUOTE (Shadows @ Jul 26, 2008 -> 02:13 AM) A couple of things.. 1.) Flash, your Ledger jokes serious made me LOL.. that was good, cant believe no one else laughed at it. 2.) 3.) Spoiler tags are seriously gayer than aids. If you don't want to know about the f***ing movie, don't come into this thread. If you haven't seen TDK why are you reading this thread to begin with? And don't f***ing lie, you know you highlight and read some of it anyways. 4.) Anyone who is complaining about NCFOM being spoiled by this thread needs to STFU. As stated earlier its been out forever and if it mattered that much to you, you would have seen it by now. No, I don't. Some people would probably want to see reactions to this movie without actually seeing the plot or storyline discussed. Things talking about performances or general reactions are left out of the spoiler tags. But, that gayer than aids line, really classy. And sorry, I don't live in Chicago and I don't have a lot of money. There's no video rental place round me I know of and I can't afford netflix. So STFU.

Dave Matthews is not the greatest guitarist of our generation in any way shape or form. He's not even top ... he's not mentioned.

for the record, it was given to a number of Israeli papers and only one decided to post it. Unfortunately, it seems that paper is only getting rewarded now that it's being picked up by a bunch of people. A student grabbed it out of the wall after Obama placed it in there. edited for clarification.