heights wrote:
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Monroe wrote:
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SilveryJessica wrote:
as does the Corrado's in North Arlington. I didn't notice if either one specifically had spelt flour in stock but if you call either one they might order it for you.

I checked yesterday at Corrado's in NA they didn't have it with the other Bob's Red Mill stuff. But I did get 10 jars of marinated artichoke hearts at $1 each!

Corrado's has a nice variety of stock but you have to check the expiration dates on their perishable items though. I wish they would get an Italian bread supplier for thier daily fresh bread section. Their fruits and vegetables are pretty good and reasonably priced.

YouniqPilates wrote:
Whatever we do, it is a tradition that we have better night-outs during a random weekend in a year:)

jc73 wrote:
Seems to me this administration is no different than the last. I thought Fulop wasn't going to run his administration this way, guess he lied too.

dtjcview wrote:
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Monroe wrote:
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If you're taking a poor shot at me-I'm just trying to figure out how we can improve our own inner city kids education. Most of the countries that send millions of their citizens to be educated, fed, housed, and have their medical problems fixed on our tax dollars are much less likely to do the same with illegals who visit THEIR country.

Suggesting that our own children get a better education is a bad thing AND xenophobic? Why don't you support the children of the USA; black, brown, white, red, and yellow?

It's a pretty insular view. It's a little disingenuous to bar immigrants from working and contributing, then argue their kids shouldn't be educated in the US because their parents don't contribute.

Alternatively the Americas could extend NAFTA to include EU-style freedom of movement/flexible labor agreements. Jobs are already moving out of the US at an alarming rate. Moving the borders to Canada and Mexico would likely save more in border patrol costs alone, than what is spent educating immigrants. Not to mention the extra billions of revenue generated from the immigrants.

And that way US parents could send their kids to Canada to get a decent education.

Br6dR wrote:
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Monroe wrote:
Guess who's fleeing from the Democratic Party now in droves? Women.

If you don't have a case just make shit up. It's the Republican way.

dojan wrote:
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dtjcview wrote:
The "spending per student" includes immigrants, so the spending itself is still high, so dilution probably isn't the issue. As far as welfare goes, there might be something to that, but it's tough to imagine other countries don't have the same issue.

From reading various sources, it seems that money is being wasted on items not directed at improving education. Smaller class sizes doesn't seem to corrrelate to education improvements. The US has an extremely high spending on non-education items like Sports. The US does invest in early childhood education, but that program doesn't seem to reaped dividends as it has in other countries.

I think some of the things that are broken are:
- Little fiscal accountability. The billions of dollars of spend is managed by locally elected moms and pops. Local government isn't the right way to run a multi-billion dollar industry.
- No competition for teaching jobs. It seems there is little initial and ongoing standardized teacher training and assessment, performance incentives, career development, etc. The teaching industry seems geared to attract and retain the worst. Paying teachers more, but removing obstacles such as tenure might be the way to go.
- Misdirected parental participation - according to authors such as Amanda Ripley, parents in the US engage as much other countries in ed-related activities, but it's not directed to helping the kids learn. Cheering the school team at the weekend doesn't help the kid count.
- Bar is set too low. Lessons, homework, tests don't challenge the students to think critically, and are more designed to "learn-by-rote".

The focus should be on education and the educators, and not the excuses. Standardized student testing and more competition and choice provided by charter schools are steps in the right direction.

Great post. It's amazing a lot of people in this country whine about healthcare (which is valid) while at the same time deny that US education is in bad shape overall and find all kinds of excuses, like xenophobias blaming everything on immigrants.

Stormalong13 wrote:
Monroe,

Congratulations, you can put down the kook-aid sippy cup; you've drunk your fill. You truly have no deep understanding of American history, it's politics and the human condition. You are the classic fool; a baboon spouting the stupidity of the Conservative party's daily phrases, it's actually funny to watch when you see it happen on every news interview through the day. You are the person that jeopardizes the society because of what you believe. You do have some good points on accountability, but it's time to put away your young boy toys and grow up... But that would be asking too much.

~Storm

Vigilante wrote:
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Br6dR wrote:
Yes, they're very charming on television.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ0F6FyCQDE

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user1111 wrote:
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Br6dR wrote:
Great job? Then why did she leave before her term was up?

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Hello!!!!! Reality TV called and it was time to cash in.

The Palin Family is garbage.

Bill463 wrote:
I think it is fine to 'go after' ( discuss) one's kids when one's kids are used as props to assist in getting elected. I found his ads rather silly and I found the daughter's You Tube video rather sickening as the soft piano music played in the background.

Pebble wrote:
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Monroe wrote:
Fail. 'Nobody that had any real national audience'-does one of the biggest TV personalities, on CBS, not count?

David Letterman apologized to the Palin family for his disgusting 'jokes' about their daughters.

Myth? Nope, truth.

David Letterman is a newsman now...?

moobycow wrote:
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dtjcview wrote:
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Pebble wrote:
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There are very few nations with better education results. Many of those countries, Japan, China, etc, do not factor in special needs children, like we do.

...

US education is at best average, despite being near top in spending...

From: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/PISA-2012-results-US.pdf

Seems to me the difference is probably made up in social programs that help alleviate poverty and income instability. When a child's home-life is full of violence, income instability and stress it doesn't matter what you spend on educating them.

Yvonne wrote:
I know some teachers in the JC public school system. They constantly are telling me of the crime that goes on in the public schools, especially the high schools. Children are afraid to use the restrooms. If you are not in a safe environment, it will affect test scores. The crime stats in schools should be published along with test scores.

Wishful_Thinking wrote:
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Monroe wrote:
You're linking the Daily Kos to support an argument, lol?

The Daily Kos piece does link you directly to the ARB report (warning - PDF). I've provided several links to articles that cover/analyze the Benghazi attack to provide food for thought. I'm open to hearing/reading other people's sources, but all I'm seeing from you is the same old conspiracy talking points.

VanVorster wrote:
Yes interesting family. Could be wrong but think that female sexuality might be more fluid or susceptible to nuance than men who tend to be more visually hard wired? anecdotally there were several women in my undergrad who were gay who are now married with kids etc. and there were a couple of women who were supposedly straight who are now gay. They seem like a nice family

Wishful_Thinking wrote:
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VanVorster wrote:
Yes a lot of rich people vote Democrat and Obama also won a lot of the affluent educated voting segment (people like myself and my friends) despite the meme/fiction that only poor or working class people voted for him because they are so-called "takers." What I was saying is that the GOP seems to be comprised largely of the rapacious rich (Sheldon Adelson, Koch Brothers who only think about money and not other things that impact society) and xenophobic working class Christian gun toting whites.

See this. http://www.cnbc.com/id/49726054

Not to mention a LOT of working/getting-by educated voters like myself, my family, and friends - not all of whom are completely comfortable with, or committed to, the liberal party line, but are dismayed by the Republican party's complete capitulation to Adelson, Koch et al, and their whole-sale selling out of the American middle class.

P.S. - I'm game for some face-to-face political discussion and dialogue, too. Keep me posted!

SilveryJessica wrote:
Spelt is readily available at most health food stores with bulk grains. Bob's Red Mill makes several spelt flours. The Pathmark on Grand carries a lot of the BRM products, as does the Corrado's in North Arlington. I didn't notice if either one specifically had spelt flour in stock but if you call either one they might order it for you. Fairway has a lot of bulk grains and flours but I don't remember if the one in Woodland Park had it. I don't think I'm being that helpful but at the very least you can order it from BRM online.

Pebble wrote:
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Monroe wrote:
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Pebble wrote:
Given the relative income range of people along with population size, it absolutely should be expected that the state assist in the spending. It's silly to suggest otherwise.

In regards to which is better... the difference is negligible. It is something that absolutely must improve if you are to get more families here.

It's silly, of course, that it's court mandated by an activist NJ State Supreme Court, but has proven to be almost worthless in its results.

I'll repeat; 2.5 billion dollars spent just in one year on just these ten schools with such poor graduation rates. It's not the state's fault, the taxpayers either-because no amount of money will improve these numbers. I'm not going to research how much more money went towards the 21 other Abbott schools, or how many billions and billions have been wasted since 1985 when this became a court ordered mandate but the number surely is staggering.

Yes, "activist judge" also known as "Judge that rules the way you personally don't want them to rule."

The military has an expression: You are only as strong as your weakest link.

There a lot of people that can learn from that...

hero69 wrote:
i guess it toook courage for ms deb to admit her shortcomings and hopefuully she will find a solution to these issues...but honestly, do i really care? not my business since she probablyy will have no impact on her father's decisions

Crazy_Chester wrote:
Sarah Palin is not smart. She is stupid. A true idiot. I won't even waste my time debating this fact. She may or may not have been a good governor. I don't know and I don't care. But I do know that is is a lot easier to govern a state which sits on lucrative oil fields and receives a hell of a lot more from the federal coffers than it pays in. There's some messiness in her past as a politician, but that is probably true of every politician.

There were a lot of vile things said and suggested about her family, especially regarding her son, Trig. But a lot of commentary was accurately pointing out how hypocritical she was regarding abstinence, birth control, etc.

The liberal media does not have a monopoly on yellow journalism. There are plenty of liberal AND right-wing media outlets (or do Fox, the NY Post, Rush Limbaugh, the Wall Street Journal, Glenn Beck, the National Review, and the rest not exist?). They both throw a lot of irrelevant crap around regarding public figures they don't side with. It just makes for a giant partisan pissing contest which distracts from real issues.