LowerCaseRepublican

If the government has evidence, bring them to trial and go forward with the damn thing. Same for all the 'preventative detentions' we've got all over the place with suspected terrorists that we haven't charged with any crime. The government figures that they've gotten away with the doctrine of preventative detention before, why not use it now as well since the majority hasn't really raised a peep condemning the doctrine.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 14, 2006 -> 01:42 AM) My mistake, it's an ex-employee who has a chip on his shoulder. ( How dare I dispute the accuracy of him! ) Even if that did end up being true I couldn't care less. The fact that he treats criminals like scum instead of coddling them alone makes me a fan of his. Also, if he's so horrible then why is it that he keeps on getting re-elected every time? His popularity is decreasing. But the mentality is "the fact that he treats criminals like scum" is appealing to some voters -- no matter how much the facts clearly show that this treatment does nothing to lower the rate of recitivism into their prison system. It's Truthiness at its finest to believe in what the Sheriff is selling -- it may not be true, but it certainly feels true. And it isn't just liberals who are pissed at him. A lot of conservatives are angry that he is nothing but a jackbooted ass (you know, the conservatives that still care about the Constitution and civil liberties) As an example, I give you something straight from the idiot's mouth: "Freedom to make our choice... freedom to make our choice... that's garbage!" --Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Penn & Teller's Bulls*** discussing the "War On Drugs" And oh yeah, he may very well be a kiddie porn maker (from 2001): Sheriff Joe and his posse webcasting a jail netcam showing female inmates use the toilet - assistant attorney general Thackeray asked Arpaio to shut the site (crime.com) down after getting complaints from activists who have condemned Jailcam as a violation of privacy rights of people who have not been charged with a crime. - Complaints about the site were collected by Donna Hamm, head of Middle Ground, an inmate rights group. Because some of the women in the holding cell could be juveniles, "I think he's potentially an international child pornographer," Hamm said. ... She has requested a federal civil rights investigation. Wouldn't a citizen go to jail for doing this?

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 14, 2006 -> 01:33 AM) LOL!!! Did he really get on you about copying info from extremist websites?! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Except that I cited the source in my post...Oh yeah, then it becomes a citation. And I'm pretty sure that it is not a liberal extremist who runs the site. Arpaio.com was developed in 1998 by Lieutenant Roy Reyer, who is now retired. In 1997, Roy was assigned to the Community Services section of the Sheriff's Office and was directly involved in "setting up" the first "Joe Shows" under the direction of David Hendershott. Roy became concerned and wrote a memorandum outlining problems he observed to Chief Roe, then the Chief Deputy under Sheriff Arpaio. -- It's a person who worked with him that can't stand him. But that still doesn't change the fact that Arpaio's treatment of criminals does nothing to lesson the recitivism rate at his prison.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 13, 2006 -> 09:53 PM) You do this every day? Your students must hate you , having to turn in a 3-page paper every day. And don't you prepare the basics of your lesson plan earlier than the day before you need it? And what are the actual hours you are working at the school? My older kids classes run from 7:45 until 2:15pm. That's 6.5 hours. That includes 'lunch', and 'study hall'. I work almost twice that every day. I guess it is your turn for the small violin to play. I usually give homework every day except for test day (or if they already have a project to write) so almost every day I'm grading an assignment of some sort. Sometimes it is short answer questions, sometimes projects, etc. My professional hours are 7:45-3:15 pm Mon-Fri. (that's not counting if I had to hand out class detentions which would make me stay longer as I'd be watching those detentions myself) After that is food, grading (even the short answer stuff can take a while to grade because you have to run through 90+ papers, write comments, make sure they hit the major topics/points, etc.), the paperwork of the formal lesson plan which takes a long time merely because I have to look up the very malleable state standards and see how I could get them to apply (they're either incredibly specific or obnoxiously vague) and write out what I want to do for that lesson. Then it is finding the supplements, getting them ready for copying (sometimes this means typing them up, other times getting them out of books -- Reasoning With Democratic Values kicks major league ass as a resource) If you're using music, you gotta edit dirty words out and check it before hand. Same thing with screening movies beforehand. I have the basics of what I want to do for the whole unit planned out to start with -- it is the nuts and bolts of making the individual lessons that becomes the tricky part because each individual class during the day may have different styles of 'getting' information so you have to accomodate for that. It really gets time consuming really fast.

They shouldn't ban the book. They should put her on TV with the 9/11 wives and let them own Ann (I accidentally typed Ass instead of Ann originally -- Freudian slip? ) in a public debate where they get to show the world she is a factless, baseless vitriolic momo who spews s*** for the sake of pandering to morons who don't do fact-checking.

QUOTE(minors @ Jun 13, 2006 -> 11:50 PM) You took the words right out of my mouth if I have nothing to hide then I could give a s***. This guy treats the murdering thugs like they should be treated like scum. No TV and no what ever food they want, no exercise equipment and no nicely cooled cells. It is time we stop cuddling and babying these thugs and maybe then we can win the war on crime. The precedent is not "If I have nothing to hide," the legal precedent is that they must get a probable cause. Personal privacy is one of the key liberties enshrined in the Constitution. Concerns about abuses against civil liberties are met with "Why should I worry? Government has never abused its authority before and I've got nothing to hide!" Except for the Palmer Raids, McCarthyism, the Red Scare and COINTELPRO, you'd be right. True to form, the government has abused their new powers on numerous occasions. Let's not forget that the Federal Intelligence Court of Appeals stated that the Patriot Act's seizure policies may not meet Fourth Amendment guidelines but they "almost certainly come close". We must be willing to distinguish between the necessary powers to catch terrorists and overkill that poses a threat to innocent citizens. And let's get philosophical -- no person can lose their status as a human being. Only we can choose to view them as 'less than human'. In doing so, we become less than human in our treatment. The guy has an irrational hard-on for authority and has taken a s*** all over the Constitution and the civil liberties enshrined in the document. A site detailing the guy's numerous moronic ideas: http://www.arpaio.com/index.htm Taken from the site: 1:With Arpaio, real law enforcement takes a backseat to publicity stunts. As an example in one of Arpaio's latest stunts, and at a time when there were 12 unsolved execution-style murders in the county, he staged a massive prostitution round-up publicity stunt. This two month "sting operation" involved over 350 deputies that were pulled off other investigative details and patrol that resulted in 80 cases that have all been declined for prosecution by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. Nicholas Hentoff of Phoenix wrote in a letter to the Editor of the Arizona Republic" If Joe Arpaio continues to spend the county's scarce law enforcement dollars on chasing consenting adults engaged in private sexual activity, while child murders and sexual assaults remain unsolved, he should be the one to explain to the next grieving mother why her child's killer has not been caught, prosecuted and put in prison. And the taxpayers should send him a message by electing a new sheriff who doesn't treat public funds as his private public relations piggybank." 2: He lives in a fantasy world of self-importance. His claims of arresting Elvis Presley, breaking the French Connection, and being in weekly shoot-outs suggest a serious mental problem. Some of his other claims include: Arpaio: Invented the idea of housing inmates in tents. Truth: This is untrue, the Arizona Department of Correction has used tents for decades. Facilities in other states also used tents before Arpaio. Arpaio: Claims credit for feeding green bologna (surplus food) to inmates Truth: Jails and prisons here in Arizona and all over the country feed surplus food to inmates and done so for many years. For more of Joe Arpaio's outrageous claims, see our "Truth" page 3: Millions of tax dollars have been wasted on lawsuits Lawsuits brought against Arpaio by employees, former employees, inmates, and the families of dead inmates have cost the county millions and Arpaio has misled the public about the cost to taxpayers of lawsuits. The case of Scott Norberg, who died in jail, is a good example. Arpaio has frequently said the $8.25 million settlement cost the county nothing and was covered by insurance. What he does not say is that, at the time of the settlement, the county had a $1 million deductible. Because of these lawsuits, the deductible for the sheriff's office insurance coverage has increase from $1 million to $5 million per incident. 4: He is responsible for a critical and dangerous shortage of personnel in both the jails and patrol. This condition is unsafe for the officers, the inmates, and the public. This situation leads to more lawsuits which results in more millions of tax dollars wasted. Arpaio has created a critical and dangerous shortage of deputy sheriffs needed to perform fundamental law enforcement services in the unincorporated areas of the County. Deputies that could be assigned to patrol, are assigned instead as personal bodyguards for Sheriff Arpaio. Detention officers, desperately needed in the jails, are assigned to the labor-intensive, publicity-producing chain gangs in order to get Arpaio on more TV news programs. Projects that bolster Arpaio's ego, satisfy his need for publicity, and insure his personal safety are all fully staffed. Unfortunately, at the same time on the streets and in the jails of the county, lives are placed at risk by Arpaio's self-serving abuse of authority . Also Sheriff Arpaio has the largest executive staff of any police agency in Arizona and perhaps the United States . By comparison, the Los Angles County Sheriff's Department, the nation's largest, has half as many on the executive staff. The millions spend on excess executive positions should be used to hire employees that could be assigned where really needed. 5: Hundreds of current sheriff's office employees, represented by a number of employee organizations, have expressed a vote of no confidence in Sheriff Arpaio. Police officers associations throughout the State of Arizona have voted "no confidence" in Joe Arpaio as Sheriff! These include; State of Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge Five, Maricopa County Deputies Association, Arizona Cops. If the police officers in the State of Arizona have no confidence in Joe, why should you? 6: The self proclaimed "Toughest Sheriff in America " is too fearful to debate other candidates. There have been several debates scheduled this year between the candidates that are running for the Office of Sheriff. All the candidates have appeared minus one, Joe Arpaio. Why is Joe so afraid to debate his policies in public with the other candidates? Could it be that he couldn't read from his "scripted" speech that he has given hundreds of times before other public gatherings where he makes his outlandish claims to fame. Several years ago Sheriff Arpaio visited the outlying patrol districts of the Sheriff's Office to what was suppose to be a "question and answer" meeting between his employees. Instead at each of these four meetings he started out with his canned political speech telling the deputies how important he was and that they depended upon him for their jobs. At District's Two and Three, he was politely asked by Patrol Sergeant's in attendance if he could answer questions from the deputies. He hesitantly stated that he wasn't prepared to answer any questions but would try. He was then asked basic questions that involved officer safety issues, the lack of training, and pay issues. Arpaio fumbled trying to answer, and on several occasions sidestepped the question entirely. Weeks after these meetings, the deputies and sergeants that asked these questions to Sheriff Arpaio were transferred to newly created positions within the office. One assignment was being stationed in the basement of the main jail on graveyard to answer a telephone that never rang, and another to the property room, inventorying items in storage. 7: Arpaio routinely abuses his authority for personal, political, and vindictive reasons. Two Republicans and an Independent running against Arpaio have all alleged abuses of power on the part of Sheriff Arpaio. In 2002, the county settled a lawsuit out of court with former employee Steve Barnes for wrongful termination after he blew the whistle on questionable tactics by the sheriff's office. Barnes claimed that Arpaio's office wiretapped former Arpaio aide Tom Bearup and that it had targeted County Attorney Rick Romley for surveillance. Bearup, W. Steven Martin and Dan Saban, all running for sheriff against Arpaio this year, have also reported that they have been followed and harassed by sheriff's deputies. Another example would also be the arrest of Nick Tarr, otherwise known as "Joe Arizona". In 2020 there were three hot propositions involving Indian gaming in Arizona, Nick's "Joe Arizona" character supported racetracks having slot machines, Sheriff Joe was supporting a proposition that kept Indian gaming on Indian land. For Halloween Nick decided to campaign in downtown Phoenix dressed as an officer. He went into his prop closet can came out with an old uniform shirt from DPS, his trademark "I Love Arizona" t-shirt, and a pair of Arpaio's pink boxer shorts. Dave Hendersott, chief Deputy of the Sheriff's Office spotted Nick and he called DPS twice to have them come out and give Nick a citation. DPS officers came out and decided there was no crime. Undaunted, Hendershott then ordered his own deputies to arrest Tarr of impersonating an officer. The charges against Tarr we later dropped and Tarr now has a lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office. 8: Many community leaders and concerned organizations have looked beyond the smokescreen to see the corruption and incompetence of the Arpaio administration. Sheriff Joe used to boast of 80% approval ratings amongst the voters of Maricopa County . But as the truth gets out about how he really runs one of the nations largest Sheriff's Offices, his popularity is taking a nose dive! Currently the O'Neal survey lists his approval rating at only 35% As an example, the Son's of Italy dropped Arpaio as being a "Top Cop" cited controversy over allegations of people dying or being seriously injured while being held in Arpaio's jails. "I just believe that law enforcement officers, like Caesar's wife, must be above suspicion," De Sanctis said, making reference to William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." "There's too much controversy right now for us to include Sheriff Arpaio in our report," she said. He lies about his personal history, the cost of lawsuits, the effectiveness of his programs, and the money he claims to have saved taxpayers. He takes false credit for posses, chain gangs, tent jails, feeding surplus food to inmates, and pink underwear. There are numerous examples that we can find where Sheriff Joe has outright lied to the public. As an example, Arpaio spent over $10,000 in tax payer money to have Arizona State University study recidivism in his jail system. ASU found that there was no change in the rate at which inmates returned to the jail. Joe has discounted this study as false and continues to claim that his jail program has reduced crime in the valley. Another claim is that Sheriff Joe has saved county tax payers millions of dollars because of his innovative programs. Then why can't he control his budget? Why was he $7 million dollars in the hole in 1999/2000/2001 and where did the money go? Why was Loretta Barkell put into the Finance Director with a title of Deputy Chief? Because the BOS put her there and told Chief Hendershott that if he got a handle on the budget he would get his raise. 10: Arpaio's self-serving and ego-driven actions have severely damaged relations between the sheriff's office and other government organizations. Joe Arpaio filed a law suit against the BOS over the money and he hired outside attorneys to represent him. Joe and County Attorney Richard Romley have never got along in any way. He has never advised the City of Phoenix P.D. of his "Joe Shows" or asked if they wanted help and just moved in. -- The guy is a liar and a jackbooted thug. My favorite part of all this was the ASU study that showed there was no change in the rate at which inmates returned to the jail after he paid them $10,000 to study it.

QUOTE(My Dixie Normus @ Jun 13, 2006 -> 02:16 AM) First off, don't get me wrong. I am not anti-teacher. My sister is an assistant prinicple at my second oldest school. It is part of the system that is broken beyond repair. I have not ignored all the data. I have read the article and many like it that are written by the teachers unions and the NEA. I just consider the source. The IFT is hardly an unbiased source on the issue. And teachers may work long hours but you know what? So do the rest of us. Most of the working world does spend personal hours doing company business. I am not going to feel sorry for teachers. The average entry level teaching position in this state pulls down $37k (IFT data). Other states pull down over $50k plus. Not bad for 9 months of work. Within a few years on the job they are making pretty damn good coin. That is what is happening now. To blame the current condition on the recommended solution is… well, as you say, moronic. The inner city and rural poor schools are already suffering under THIS system. Every current failure measurement is 20% greater in these areas. The teachers unions do a good job of distributing blame, as do the politicians and administrators. The rich are already getting a good education. It is this system that is f***ing everybody else. The rich will always have nicer schools, teachers with higher degrees and bigger gyms. They also have bigger houses, faster cars and wives with bigger, firmer boobs. That is what money buys you. Better s***. It is what motivates people to get rich in the first place. But that is not the reason that the inner city schools fail. Stop blaming successful people for the failures of everyone else. Public education fails because success is not a component of the mission statement. The mission under a government run education system is equal access. A for profit education system could thrive in the inner cities with money already being spent there. It would produce better results than the 32% success rates we are getting now. They might not be able to play Lacrosse when they graduate but they will be able to read and write. Those skills come in handy when you are filling out your college application and financial aid applications. The average is a poor data set to choose for this argument because certain districts can greatly skew the data comparatively to a district who can't afford to pay as much. And I don't know how equal doing company work at home is to "coming home, grading 95+ 3 page papers, putting those scores in the gradebook, looking over the text for the next lesson, preparing overheads/media (if needed), preparing the lesson plan to appease the state standards, preparing all the supplements you'll need for class discussion/presentation and deciding what their new homework should be". It can easily take 7+ hours to get all that done (excluding 20-30 minutes for food) The system can easily change by not having property taxes being the primary funder of schools. It gives every school the basic common ground to at least start things even compared to schools that can't afford to have science equipment, etc. because their district can't get the proverbial 'blood from the turnip'. Hell, I'm an advocate of the 240 day school year -- with fewer classes being taught per day in smaller classrooms (19-20 students) which allows for more student/teacher interaction on homework, topics, discussion, etc. The idea of a for profit school system is good in theory but it has failed to work since it was first introduced after Brown v Board in 1954. It started as a way for white parents to avoid integrating. Public schools fail poor and minority students for a number of reasons, including the nation's inadequate and savagely unequal structure for distributing public school resources between and among schools and school districts. Voucher programs will worsen that by draining money from the poorest public schools and providing public subsidies to private schools that tend to have middle- and upper-class students over children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. http://www.zmag.org/content/Race/vouchers.cfm -- a lot more info about school vouchers and their failure.

As you may or may not have seen, I changed my sig to my annual summer reading list. Anyway, I'm just wondering what all you SoxTalkers are reading at the current time or are looking to pick up: As for me, A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogations from the Cold War to the War on Terror by Alfred W. McCoy The Way We Never Were by Stephanie Coontz Cash by Johnny Cash Rationale for the Dirty Joke: An Analysis of Sexual Humor by G. Legman Brave New World by Aldous Huxley All the Hunter Thompson books in chronological order of when they were written. There's going to be more later in the summer but that's what I'm looking at to get me started.

Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison, Patton Oswalt, Doug Stanhope, Brian Posehn, Mitch Hedberg, Dave Attell, David Cross, George Carlin and Mack Lindsay

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 13, 2006 -> 01:18 AM) yea hey, i'm sure you and your fellow educators are doing what you think best. no offense was really meant. peace bro Yeah, I know. But Stossel is still an idiot who parades himself around as a supposed Libertarian but in actuality, he plays fast and loose with a lot of his facts + oft times ends up being a major league douche (i.e. when he said it was okay to price gouge supplies in hurricane ravage Katrina areas) I've been around some very burnt out teachers and some teachers that don't want to 'rock the boat' as it were with materials in class. It's where I had the most fun doing that kind of stuff. There's multiple causes for problems with certain schools: 1. FUNDING. The disparity in funding between individual districts is mindboggling. Check out Kozol's Savage Inequalities or Shame of the Nation for further information. 2. Parental involvement (or lack thereof). First the obvious, if parents are not involved -- it gets difficult in getting the kid to learn. Also, if the parent is reinforcing different behaviors, it can be difficult. Example -- during one afternoon, I broke up a fight between two 7th graders and as I was writing them up, one of the kids said "My dad said that it's okay that I did this!" No matter how many times I write the kid up, if it isn't being reinforced at home, it can cause problems -- especially if the parent and I end up disagreeing on when it is and isn't okay to give somebody five across the eyes. 3. Administration. Most of the time, they're good and take in concerns from staff etc., but there are the times where the admin just doesn't have your back in a situation on a consistent basis. That sucks major league ass in getting hung out to dry -- especially if you like to try new things in the classroom that haven't been tried much before. It is a deterrant to some new things being adapted. 4. Labor disputes between administration, community and teachers. Check out the funding stats for teachers across the nation with their wage not rising equally to their professional counterparts with the same educational level, etc. When a community either can't pay (poor district) or does not want to pay any more in taxes (greed, etc.) it causes problems for the whole school. That's not even getting into the crazy insane bulls*** that is charter schools which get to get around many of the labor laws in place to protect teachers. 5. Burnt out teachers/teachers that don't want to try new stuff because of either reprisal from parents or administration. There is a real detriment with the focus on low taxonomy level activities (i.e. check Bloom's Taxonomy) due to the inception of standardized testing being the focal point of the entire school year. It leads to simple memorization and dumping after the test instead of really working with and grasping the concept and being able to play around with it. The tests demand a wide bredth of material, that it demands many districts to cover 'a mile wide and an inch deep'. But there are also the teachers that just don't want to rock the boat. Some of the most fun I had during my student teaching was with my 7th graders. They really liked hip hop music so during the unit on Andrew Jackson, I said that Andrew Jackson was more of a hardcore gangsta than all of their favorite rappers. I talked about his duels, beating a would be assassin senseless with his cane, the party at the White House, doing what he wanted despite what the Supreme Court said, running banks his own way, etc. etc. Since I framed it in that manner regarding hip hop, the kids came in every day ready to hear me add to my case. On the test, I threw the question on there asking for them to discuss how Jackson was so hardcore. You get a lot of people who are afraid of doing controversial contemporary issues/themes in the classroom, even though they apply to the course materials. After covering the Trail of Tears and Jackson's treatment of slaves + Native Americans, I went into a mini-unit on discrimination. I had the students research their ethnicity and their family to see what happened when their family came to the US and what happened to their family + ethnicity in the United States. Then everybody talked about how pretty much every damn ethnicity got harassed, treated poorly etc. It really hit home for them. But in talks with colleagues, some were worried that it would step on toes, etc. That's all I can think of off the top of my head at damn near 2 AM CST.

Holy s***, the Klan is still relevant and people are even remotely paying attention to them? Who knew that the Klan was still making media coverage? And more importantly, if they believe that the media is run by a cabal of dangerous and sneaky Jews, why would they go for media coverage? To them and their beliefs, wouldn't it run through their heads that it may be counterproductive? I know they're not the coldest beers in the cooler, but sweet goddamn. I just thought they spent their time drinking Natty Lite, washing sheets and reading the Turner Diaries instead of actually doing anything now after they've been pretty much dismantled thanks to groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center. And on thread: Yes, they have the right to assembly. Just ignore them and they go away.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 13, 2006 -> 12:49 AM) haha, i've never even heard these John Stossel reports lowercase keeps talking about but they must be accurate if it pisses him off this much No, they're actually very poorly done with lots of fallacious reasoning used behind them + he's been outed as being a hack moron who doesn't know his ass from educational policy in regards to his statements. That's why I'm against them.

QUOTE(My Dixie Normus @ Jun 13, 2006 -> 12:28 AM) So let's recap. Teachers are over worked, underpaid, not given enough support by management and have the cards stacked against them in an unfair system. Would you like some cheese with that whine? Welcome to the working world. I will try to remember how tough teachers have it when I am going to work all summer, when I am stuck in traffic on the Dan Ryan during 'spring break' or plowing through the snow to get to work during the formerly known as Christmas, "holiday" break. You are correct the education system is broken and the politicians, unions and administrators who have perpetuated this broken system for these many years should be held accountable. Private business can do this better regardless of the varying funding levels from school to school. You know why? Failure is not an option in business. If you fail in business, you don't get paid. Stock holders like it when thier companies get paid so they are going to succeed. Only in government work is any where from a 40-67% defective rate acceptable. You ask me if you want cheese with my whine (real creative, btw) and then give me a case where the world's smallest violin should be playing just for you. Yes, way to completely ignore all the data and move with conjecture. You sure convinced me! And actually, teachers do work before their official paying job starts and after their job starts, during the breaks, during the summer etc. It is called lesson planning, unit planning, creation of activities/projects/homework, grading, parent/teacher conferences, workshops, etc. Teachers do more work than many people during hours where we are not paid for it and that is before we can actually go in and do our job for any given day. The idea of putting public schools in a business analogy is inherently moronic. Businesses get to pick which raw materials they want to use. Public schools must take in all students that live in the area, no matter if they are SPED, have an IEP, etc. etc. etc. Privatizing schools is merely code for "let's give the rich a good education and f*** everybody else." The whole idea of school vouchers has been a proven failure wherever it has been introduced (check Jacksonville, FL and the other areas -- not to mention that studies show that there is no statistic significance in achievement levels from voucher students compared to non-voucher students) The glaring differences in school funding per district are seen as the glaring cause of education problems and inequality according to many experts in the educational policy study field. I'll take their analysis and my experience in the classroom over some poster who is parroting John Stossel talking points.

For speed's sake, I'm just going to post my next to last column that ran in the Joliet Herald (after I had some furor in my student teaching with the whole Day of Silence thing and certain homophobes trying to shut it down etc.) I heard something that made me laugh. I was told that homosexuality was a choice. You mean people choose to be physically and emotionally abused, attacked, harassed, denied equal rights and condemned by close minded religious fundamentalists? Let's face facts. Homosexuality is no more a choice than heterosexuality. This is not about special rights for some but merely equal rights for all. Be scared no more, fundamentalists and reactionaries! Like it or not, marriage in the U.S. does not have to take place in a house of worship. Marriage can strictly be a civil institution in the eyes of the government without the injection of religious ideas. It has a multitude of civil and legal benefits afforded to those who enter. Homosexual couples should be guaranteed equal access to these civil benefits as members of the Constitutional republic. Many anti-gay bigots deceptively use the term 'pro-family'. They proclaim that homosexuals cannot marry because their marriage will not produce children. Last time I checked, there is no mandate to have children in the vows of marriage. Countless thousands of couples who do not want or cannot have children are allowed to be married without this vile, despicable harassment from 'pro-family' advocates. "Pro-family" discrimination can also be seen in adoption. Anti-gay advocates proclaim that gays cannot be parents and adopt because they will turn the children gay. If the parents' sexual orientation directly influences the child's, then straight parents must raise only raise straight children, right? Just ask Alan Keyes. The religious overtones against homosexuality really raise my ire. One can thumb through the Bible to find passages to justify slavery and other terrible actions. The Bible also condemns eating pork -- yet Christian fundamentalists are not demanding a Constitutional amendment to enforce that Old Testament edict. One cannot pick and choose which rules to follow merely to justify their biases. A religion based on compassion is cheapened and disrespected by such disgusting behavior. If you don't like gay marriage, don't get one. Don't like consensual homosexual sex between adults? Then I'd suggest you don't engage in the activity. You can have your own perspective on homosexuals, but don't dare codify your biases into laws that infringe on the rights of other Americans. To those who clamor for legislation and Constitutional amendments that will deny homosexuals equal rights, I simply ask that you remember one thing -- the members of our government placed their hands on the Bible to enforce the Constitution. They did not place their hands on the Constitution to enforce the Bible.

QUOTE(minors @ Jun 12, 2006 -> 07:31 PM) I checked the Tennessee book we also have trigger laws and also have a new liecense plate that has support life on it of course it is voluntary and the money raised goes to the choose life organization. And of course the lovely ACLU has an appeal to the Supreme Court which hopefully gets rejected. If the people want to pay money for these plates let them. The ACLU "choose life" furor is because there is no option for people to buy "pro-choice" plates. If they have that, then I wouldn't mind so much. But when the gov't is only allowing for promotion of one POV, then it is bulls***. Plus, think of all the money they could make since 2/3+ of the public agrees with the pro-choice position. /still thinks that a logical and rational discussion with teens via parents and teachers to discuss the risks and benefits of sexual activity + allowing for easy procurement/knowledge of contraceptives is going to do much more to lower the rates of abortion than merely banning a procedure.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jun 12, 2006 -> 06:25 PM) Here's the real story behind this: This kid was a complete loser in school, didn't have any friends and just hated high school all together. So he decided to come out and b**** about the school. Everything he said happens at every single high school. I had plenty of high school friends and I still hated high school. Just because it happens at most every high school doesn't make the stuff he was commenting on right. If it forces the administration to start changing things, then it was worth it because too often the people (taking my high school experience for an example here) who played sports really got carte blanche to do whatever they wanted. Although, that changed a little bit when one of the head jocks got choked out at a retreat we were on (he talked a bunch a s*** to a friend of mine that was there and challenged my friend to put a hold on him. The moron was so sure that he could break out cuz he was a big macho football player + my friend was a lot smaller -- but a black belt) 2 minutes later, the football player is on the floor damn near knocked out. He was a lot more humble to everybody after that)

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 12, 2006 -> 09:27 AM) The thread was about toughness. I am sure there are tough guys in the wrestling circuit. but I also think that its a lot easier to handle scripted, rehearsed, known events (which are designed to reduce the chance of injury), than it is to put yourself on the line in unkown, rough situations. That is why I don't see those wrestlers ever being as tough (in my book) as the tough players in a sport like football, or rugby, etc. They can be scripted but it doesn't make it hurt any less. In the Hell in the Cell vid I posted -- in the end, the match left Foley with a dislocated jaw, a dislocated shoulder, a bruised kidney, 2 broken ribs, one and a half missing teeth, a concussion and 14 stitches for the cut beneath his lip. He took 2 months to fully recover. The 2nd fall in that vid (the chokeslam through the top of the cell to the ring) was not planned for him to fall that far. The cell had given way somewhat and he crashed through unexpectedly. After the 1st throw off the top of the cell (a couple of minutes in), he continued the rest of the match with the separated shoulder (including pulling himself up the top of the 16 ft. cage so he could get dropped through it) Just taking Foley's injuries through his career -- two thirds of his ear ripped off, 8 concussions, 2 broken noses, broken jaw, dislocated left shoulder, 54 stitches in his arm, fractured left shoulder, broken left thumb, 5 broken ribs, bruised kidney, broken toe, 325+ total stitches, torn meniscus, torn abdominal, broken right wrist, bone chips in elbow, 2 herniated discs, second degree burns on arm and shoulder, separated right shoulder, broken cheekbone, four front teeth knocked out...and that isn't even counting the scars from barbed wire, etc. Even if they aren't to the extent of Foley, they're still taking bumps on the mat/floor/crowd/chairs etc. 270+ nights a year with little to no time to relax and really recooperate. They really take a f***ing beating day in and day out -- and can't lose a step because they're constantly on the road with house shows, TV and PPV dates. Even if it has staged plans for spots, etc., the sheer number of nights that they have to consistently go out there and look like they haven't missed a beat is pretty damned impressive.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 12, 2006 -> 02:18 PM) sorry dude, but the educational system in this country isn't working. But it is reassuring knowing a childish hothead such as yourself is an educator. Oh, I don't know anything about learning mathematics (that is what starting your whole rant)? I certainly do, and I know teaching fluff classes instead of sciences is not the way to go about it. Don't give me some bs saying the US focuses on writing, math and legit science enough... if that was the case we wouldn't be so far behind other countries in these areas. Yea, i think public schools teach too much stupid s*** and need to focus on other areas. EDITED LAST LINE "Those that can't do, teach" - HAHAHAHAHAHA, brilliant! Did you come up with that yourself? http://www.taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=13 The educational system in this country is broken but a private system will not fix it. Being from IL, I have somewhat of a detailed background on Illinois schools. Given that property values from area to area, there will always be great disparity in the tax rates. Despite being aware of this disparity, the government of Illinois continues to use property taxes as the premier mechanism of funding the public school system. This institutionalized inequity has led to many of the problems that Illinois' school systems have faced. By using property taxes, the disparities between schools are glaring, with amounts spent per pupil in some districts more than doubling the amounts spent in others. Many of the poorer schools have difficulty providing basic necessities like textbooks. Jonathan Kozol's book "Savage Inequalities" details the inequalities that result from these funding disparities. Another major problem with Illinois education is that many schools in the state are running deficits. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, 17% of Illinois schools have been deemed to be in "dire financial trouble", a 55% increase from 2003. These schools have incredible debt and have been forced to borrow money from banks to pay for daily operating costs. One hundred forty more school districts have been designated as "financial early warnings"; which is the second-worse financial rating. Overall, 33% of school districts have been given these two rankings, and 77% of Illinois schools are running a deficit. The vast majority of Illinois schools are unable to pay for resources and materials to assist in creating an effective, positive learning environment. A third major problem with education in Illinois relates to under-funded legislation like No Child Left Behind. While Congress did increase the amount of federal funding for education, the money was inadequate for states to meet the standardized testing requirements of No Child Left Behind. Moreover, these standardized tests result in low-level achievement in the classroom by focusing only on what it is low-level thought process memorization measurable. Students are cheated out of high level thought, critical thinking and in-depth analysis. Teachers, meanwhile, are essentially strong-armed into keeping test scores up, since the school's funding depends on continued high scores. If scores fail to increase, the federal government will put the school under review and may close the school if scores fail to improve -- all the while keeping funding at a minimum. A final set of problems revolves around teaching, including teacher burnout, a lack of teachers and low teacher wages. A report by the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm?id=1869) shows that weekly wages of teachers have fallen behind those of other workers, with an inflation-adjusted increase of only 0.8%, compared to a 12% weekly wage growth of college graduates and all workers. A comparison of teachers' weekly wages to those of other workers with similar education and experience shows that, since 1993, female teacher wages have fallen behind 13%, with male teacher wages falling 12.5% (11.5% among all teachers). Since 1979, teacher wages relative to workers in other fields have dropped 18.5% among women, 9.3% among men, and 13.1% among both combined. The report also found that: a. A comparison of teachers' wages to those of workers with comparable skill requirements -- including accountants, reporters, registered nurses, computer programmers, clergy, personnel officers, and vocational counselors and inspectors -- shows that teachers earned $116 less per week in 2002, a wage disadvantage of 12.2%. Because teachers worked more hours per week, the hourly wage disadvantage was an even larger 14.1%. b. Teachers' weekly wages have grown far more slowly than those for comparable occupations such as those listed above; teacher wages have deteriorated about 14.8% since 1993 and by 12.0% since 1983, relative to comparable occupations. c. Although teachers usually have somewhat better health and pension benefits than do other professionals, these are offset partly by lower payroll taxes paid by employers (since some teachers are not in the Social Security system). Teachers have less premium pay (overtime and shift pay, for example), less paid leave, and fewer wage bonuses than do other professionals. Teacher benefits have not improved relative to other professionals since 1994 (the earliest data available), so the growth in the teacher wage disadvantage has not been offset by improved benefits. If you want quality teachers, you have to pay to those districts that are having funding problems. And also, the average is not a good statistic for school funding per student because schools like New Trier etc. can really throw off the average since they have an insanely high per student expenditure. Privatizing the school system will just lead to private schools excluding students that they do not want (because they have the legal right to do so) and it allows the affluent students to get a quality education at the expense of their fellow students and community members. I think that the US could be more effective creating an educational style like Japan and most of Europe -- 240 days a year with a smaller amount of classes taught per day (which allows for more student/teacher interaction) and smaller class sizes. If you want increased scores, equalizing funding and making at least a level playing field for every school would be an excellent start. Parts of the system have problems but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. (an interesting read on school funding equality in Illinois: http://www.aplusillinois.org/issues/facts.asp)

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 12, 2006 -> 02:45 PM) so you think MLB should just allow steroid/hgh use? People are enthralled by the long ball. The vast majority of the people crying about how they were 'cheated' by watching these overgrown men hit homers 500+ feet on a regular basis over 60 times in a season were the same people who casually kept the thought of steroids/cheating out of their mind from 1998 until the BALCO scandal. People came to see huge line drives and home runs fly over their heads. They loved every second of it. It seems cheap and tawdry to decry it now, especially when they got so much enjoyment out of the HR's (not caring how the guy got the power to do it) Joe Q. Public sat back in relaxation watching men taking it to the extremes for bigger contracts + for the crowd's enjoyment but now we want to act like we were cheated by these steroid using players. We encourage players to smash into walls, dive all over the place, run hard into bases etc. -- all at the hazard of their own body, yet we decry them using materials (that they know the risks and benefits of) that will also harm their own body in the name of them getting better financial security + hitting more home runs to make the game more exciting for the fans (to keep asses in the seats). If fans didn't overvalue the home run, steroids would likely not be as much of a problem as it has become. Mark McGwire put it best in an episode of the Simpsons when he said "Do you want to know the awful truth or do you want to see me swat some dingers?" America has wanted and still wants dingers...and they've shown that they really don't care how they get them.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 12, 2006 -> 01:51 AM) /guarantees he's forgotten more about mathematics than you'll ever know //graduated from the University of Illinois with Master of Science in computer science (top 5 cs program in the country, lots of math) ///also loves slashes haha, totally Graduating from a school that doesn't deal with educational policy does not make you an expert on educational policy. Just because you went to school doesn't make you an expert about schools. I'm still waiting to see how your Masters in CS has any bearing on your claim that there are tons of diversity classes in mathematics in high school. If it doesn't have any bearing on the topic then you've got another baseless claim out there because I'm waiting for some evidence that classes don't teach math. I've sat in on plenty of math courses and know numerous teachers in IL that teach a variety of subjects (math included) that would greatly differ with your rash babbling about 'diversity classes' and the non-teaching of math. But who needs to have facts when you have right wing tinged babbling about public schools? Right Mr. Genius?

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 11, 2006 -> 10:14 PM) that or actually teach them math rather than have a bunch of worthless "diversity" classes. Says John Stossel and the let's protect the rich kids via privatized school system mouthpieces that you parrot. Really, when you have no idea what the f*** you're talking about, you should really stay quiet instead of opening your mouth and removing all doubt that you're not intelligent about the topic. /is a teacher //knows you're bulls***ting and is calling you on it ///loves slashies

"Kyle's speech was a sophomoric attempt to voice his personal feelings. It was not intended to help the senior class, offer guidance or instill nostalgia, and it distracted from the dignity of the commencement ceremony," Libby wrote in an op-ed to her local newspaper, the Sarasota Herald Tribune." Yeah, and the rampant drug use, cheating and douchebaggery you and your friends participated in was totally dignified, right? GMAFB. And he did offer guidance -- he called them all out on being f***ing idiots.

From "The Henry Rollins Show", Henry Rollins writes a letter to Ann Coulter: NSFW http://images.worshiptheglitch.com/EP3LettersFromHenry.swf

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 10, 2006 -> 12:35 AM) As far as wrestlers go, there's Terry Funk, Sabu and Mick Foley. Let's not bulls*** ourselves, though: Foley was hardcore, especially in Japan. So was Terry Funk, though he had a LOT of nasty matches in ECW, too. Sabu had them everywhere. (Foley was hardcore in ECW, too, but much of his time there was spent on his "Sick of being Hardcore" storyline.) Foley, however, had different incidents that are well known. Foley is primarily known for being thrown off the hell in a cell, and I tend to think that he's the toughest for it. The man was thrown sixteen feet of the hell in a cell, through a table onto the ground, and then climbed right back up the cell to get thrown through the cell and have a chair hit his face only to continue the match and be tombstoned on thumbtacks. Funk was a beast from what we're saying, too, but bleeding is a much different thing than being slammed. Which is worse, and takes a tougher man? I'm not sure. I've had gashes and cuts -- big nasty ones -- before, and I've had tendons torn. It's rough, but there's nothing quite like a blow to your body's structure -- to your very core. Foley and Funk in Japan definitely did have their hardcore matches in Japan, and Foley especially with the infamous Hell in the Cell in Pittsburgh against the Undertaker. Sabu vs Funk (Born to be Wired -- WARNING NSFW AND GRAPHIC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYRbsrmzi3I&search=sabu Foley in Hell in the Cell that was referenced Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_83gn8AQyU...0cell%20mankind Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l4BtJjEHqA...0cell%20mankind Foley was amazing in that match. I still can't believe that he asked to be thrown off the top of the cell. And lest we forget, losing an ear in Germany after getting stuck in the ropes + then deciding to go to the PPV and win the belts instead of surgery to attempt to get it attached. The powerbomb on concrete. There's so many instances to choose from there. And that's not to give the Funker short shrift. He's put his body through Hell to entertain fans and was one of the first gaijins to be popular in Japan. His doctors even told him that he shouldn't even be able to walk without intense pain from all the bleeding and bumps he's taken.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 10, 2006 -> 01:10 PM) Come on LCR. Even for you, that's just bull s***. I was just taking his philosophy to its extreme end. The entire idea was that we're telling them that bombing non-military targets is wrong yet during 'Shock and Awe' the US bombed refrigeration plants, power plants, etc. to make the peoples' lives miserable and that was deemed okay. Hell, the World Health Organization believed that up to a half million Iraqis would be maimed or killed. It is a double standard to flout to demand that people don't bomb non-military targets to eradicate our way of life when it has become 'acceptable collateral damage' when the US performs such actions.