StrangeSox

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 06:57 PM) Now it's used in a number of technological applications. Yeah but that's not what its value is based on.

btw the "gold standard" always seemed kind of silly to me. Why does a shiny metal have so much intrinsic value?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 12:58 PM) 6 of the Republican Candidates are scheduled to address a "Gold Standard Bus Tour" in Iowa next week. Pawlenty, Santorum, Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Johnson. That "gold standard" stuff is really taking off. Works on both the populist and libertarian parts of the tea party.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 01:02 PM) Yeah i posted that a few weeks ago, pretty disgusting. How about the leaders of the school? How does common sense not come into play there? Texas+stand-out athlete+sexism=fail.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 12:08 PM) And where exactly does this policy leave us here in this great state of Illinois? Essentially "big" companies have the state by the balls - they can merely threaten to leave and they'll be thrown tax breaks left and right. They've managed the storm of the recession, and now get an even bigger break just for being a big employer. Hey why are you making such great arguments against Republican plans for a "race to the bottom"?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 08:40 AM) As it is for any of the other religions mentioned in that story. Jews do not have a hell. But my point wasn't to attack Christianity, but to point out that this statement doesn't represent some sort of fanatical cult ideology but it a widely held belief in this country. I have philosophical problems with that belief, so I can understand how that could come across. Here's the wiki that describes all sorts of "hells" for various religion. I believe the balance do not envision hell as a place of suffering and punishment for sins, at least eternally. I think Christianity and Islam are pretty unique in that view.

Cheerleader must compensate school after refusing to cheer for player who raped her http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/am...st-2278522.html WTF is wrong with this country/Texas/the superintendent/5th circuit?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 07:28 PM) If he did that the press would call him on it. Plans that either push to -1% unemployment or involve $8 trillion in tax cuts are serious. Because they're cutting taxes on the media members. I don't think it's so much about media owners controlling the message as the MSM being so f***ing paranoid of being called "liberal" or "biased" that they bend over backward to handle Republicans with kid-gloves and give them a pass for their terribleness. Oh, and also that journalism is dead, reporting is now just repeating quotes or statements verbatim without an analysis of the validity of what was said.

Timothy Geithner is taking a beating in liberal blogs this week. Many are pointing to him as the main charge from within the White House to focus on the deficit instead of unemployment. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/eco...CSLH_print.html

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 07:19 PM) Was that also the post where Ezra pointed out that 5% growth for a decade would also likely wind up pushing unemployment to -1%? LOL, maybe. But this is the start of Serious Discussions by Very Serious People, just like the Ryan plan! These economic policies are objectively absurd, contradictory, delusional and fantastical and yet they're playing a role in framing our national narrative on government.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 07:16 PM) How many times have I said that in this thread? I know, and I said it as well a few weeks ago but backed off. I took the "LeBron doesn't work hard" route, which by all accounts really isn't true. But his lack of an inside game, given his physical size and athleticism, still seems inexplicable.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 06:57 PM) LOL a decade of 5% GDP growth. Read that really terrible WSJ editorial. "Oh, sure, he was wrong, it's never been done. In fact, the closest was a couple of years of near-5% under Reagan and Clinton. But it's an admirable goal!" Yeah, so is ending poverty world-wide and lasting global peace. That doesn't mean it's an actual policy, and it certainly doesn't mean your ridiculous ideas of gutting the government in favor of the incredibly wealthy will actually get you there. edit: that'd be a 62% GDP increase in 10 years. I don't think Pawlenty understands compound interest. Ezra Klein

Slideshow of all the Palin "GOTCHA!" questions the lamestream media has sprung on her. http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/06/sarah...l#photo=1x00006 Such tough, hard-hitting questions. They just don't treat her fair.

Pawlenty's plan is even more fantastical and absurd than Ryan's (really Heritage's) "2.8% Unemployment!!!" crap that Very Serious People take Very Seriously as a Serious starting point for a Serious discussion. He proposes tax cuts that would be triple the Bush cuts. A complete elimination of capital gains and estate taxes (the investor-class can now live tax-free!) And a decade of sustained 5% GDP growth. Republican economics are now a religion. And not a long, storied one like Judaism or Hinduism, but the crazy cult upstart that is bats*** crazy by any rational observation, like Scientology. Of course, it's being received warmly in the WSJ editorial pages instead of being derided for the nonsense that it is. "Tim Pawlenty claims to be an economic sorcerer, capable of performing literal magic, this is a Serious Candidate. Obama, take note!"

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 6, 2011 -> 11:47 AM) If you like documentaries like that, there was another one I thought was just as good as the Planet Earth series from BBC (but different - less science, more history)... its the Ken Burns documentary "National Parks: The nation's best idea". Also ran on PBS, a while back. Fantastic stuff. Ken Burns' stuff is always hard for me to get into. Not because it isn't fantastic work, but because I know it's a 10-20 hour time commitment to get through it.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 06:17 PM) You're missing the point entirely. Read the rest of the thread. Never.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 11:49 AM) So that thing I said about the US government being pretty lax on student loans....not so much I guess: http://www.news10.net/news/article/141072/...ckton-mans-door FWIW this is a criminal investigation, not for defaulting on loans. But this still seems like another example of the militarization of police forces across the country.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 08:33 AM) Except that the whole point of Baltas thread was that all of these economic issues could have been fixed if these two people had been appointed. No one ever said that but you.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 05:44 PM) Oh right, so there aren't any cultural differences? Sure, but then the issue is "cultural differences," not access to technology and video games or having a high standard of living where there's food on the table every day (also, not true for millions of Americans).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 05:28 PM) I wasn't arguing a direct correlation between global SOL and education. But you can't explain America's slipping educational performance by standard of living or technology-induced laziness, because the countries that out-perform us have the same stuff and are generally ranked higher overall.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 09:45 AM) The answer to that isn't "Stop shooting entirely"...it's "Get your tail into the lane and either force layups or create contact". Bill Simmons:

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) yeah IMO it's one of the biggest problems facing this country. I agree that children of parents who divorce can be just as dysfunctional. It's more about a fatherless home than anything. Only data I can find is this from 2009, "41% of children born in the USA were born to unmarried mothers (up from 5% a half-century ago). That includes 73% of non-Hispanic black children, 53% of Hispanic children and 29% of non-Hispanic white children." So take that 41% and add in the children of divorce and it's probably more than half of US homes without fathers. Here's some statistics on children from fatherless homes...some are old, but I doubt things are improving. http://fatherhood.about.com/od/fathersrigh...ss_children.htm So for me it all comes back to that....I figure this is understood, but I'll add it here anyway....I'm not saying some children don't overcome...just odds are stacked against them. A big thing is even if the father isn't in the home...he needs to be very active in their life. But I think a lot of our problems can be traced back to family upbringing. Symptom or ailment? Or both? Strong family and community support is definitely very important, but I don't think the family crumbled first, then the rest came.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 01:01 PM) I'm not sure, as to tex's part. Throwing them out certainly would probably improve the rest in the classroom, but it also creates a huge barrier for that student. To be fair this is actually how a lot of other countries run their secondary schools. Kids get tracked early on into college or vocational.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 08:02 AM) Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that the last few generations of American children (mine included), have had a soft, easy lifestyle for the most part due to a higher standard of living than the rest of the world and has failed to develop a work ethic. Pretty sure the SOL in many countries that beat US in education is on par or better than the US average.

This statement is non-controversial. It's one of the basic tenants of Christianity.