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Re: Systematic Cheating On Test Scores Is Found In Public School System
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Here is something from Cato institute: "Has Federal Involvement Improved America's Schools?"
A graph from the article (click to see larger scale):  By the way, we need to get our terminology right here. Some people call the money we spend there an "investment". However, "investment" implies that we can reasonably expect a so called "return". This picture indicates that the term "waste" is more appropriate.
Posted on: 2011/7/6 22:52
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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Cool. So, let's review. 1 poster about Browining. 1 poster comparing Obama with Hitler. And a cross-posted, cross-referenced libel about someone screaming racial slurs toward Clyburn and Lewis, - unfortunately, without one single confirmation. Hundreds of videocameras recording, - and somehow not one of them caught the words. Damn. And the last link? What, you threw in something random?
Posted on: 2011/7/6 4:59
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Re: Any chance to enhance educational opportunity lost
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If we fail to educate impressionable kids, - why do you think we will succeed in educating their parents? How about we go back to what used to work before? How about we stop trying to "educate" and start with "holding responsible"? And, as a part of that, - introduce the voucher system, that will put a lot more in the hands of the parents, - and out of the hands of the bureaucrats and unions.
Posted on: 2011/7/6 4:36
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Re: Hudson County Register's son arrested for marijuana possession, Jersey City police say
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Quote:
Nope. Already answered. So, if you need any help with reading it, - you only need to explain which part was unclear, and I will gladly explain it to you. But if you do not read what I write, - why would I bother repeating it?
Posted on: 2011/7/6 3:46
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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Quote:
And the word you are looking for is... ELECTIONS. You have nobody to blame other than yourselves. You want change, - stop voting for the same people you vote! How's that for a solution?
Posted on: 2011/7/5 12:09
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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Quote:
This sounds like 5th grade. "I can totally defeat you, but I promised my mom I would play nice". Quote: borisp, Without getting into any policies and politics, don't you feel those who deny that the tea party has some individuals who are crazy and hateful are lacking "logical rationality"? Don't try to change the claim. My opponent did not claim that "some individuals" in the Tea Party are crazy and hateful. He said: "bunch of lunatics who will physically assault anyone who do not agree with their positions. The far left in NJ has become just as crazy as tea party that we see across America." Basically, he made a claim against the Tea Party as a whole. So, I want my examples, - how the Tea Party is a bunch of lunatics, - across America. Quote: I want to go back to the topic at hand (Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.) Fine by me. I did not want to distract from that subject, - I merely asked for a confirmation for a certain claim that was made by another commenter. If there is none, - by all means, let's not discuss this issue anymore.
Posted on: 2011/7/5 12:06
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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Look, this is not going to work. You claimed that on the Tea Party, "across America", are a "bunch of lunatics who will physically assault anyone who do not agree with their positions" After we are done, we can change the subject and discuss that "bitter hatred of Obama" you mentioned. But before we do, - please, give me examples to support your first statement.
Posted on: 2011/7/5 11:52
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Re: Hudson County Register's son arrested for marijuana possession, Jersey City police say
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Quote:
Already answered.
Posted on: 2011/7/5 3:05
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Re: Any chance to enhance educational opportunity lost
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If they were aiming at increased choices, - they would have made it a full-blown voucher program.
The government collects money from us and it has a duty to not waste it. And the idea to waste it - but then give a tax break to someone else who would pay for kids education, - is not it. And the idea to create a special fund for innovative programs, - and give it to the chronically lagging schools - as long as they are lagging, - well, that sounds super-smart! My prediction: schools that are failing will never ever try to cross back into "not failing", and schools who are not far from failing, - will now prefer to be failing.
Posted on: 2011/7/5 3:01
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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I take it, you are a rational logical human being, - just as I am, - and you do not like it when people spew hatred and hurl baseless accusations and threats instead of a logical and rational argument. Good. What I am going to ask now, is - in this spirit of logical rationality, - would you care to provide some convincing factual examples to support your accusations about the Tea Party? That is, - I understand you are against their politics, which is fine. But you also accused them of being "just as crazy" as people who threaten physical violence. Do you have anything to support THAT accusation?
Posted on: 2011/7/5 0:18
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Re: Hudson County Register's son arrested for marijuana possession, Jersey City police say
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I never claimed that I or anyone else have the right to anything free. It is somewhat puzzling how you read things that are not there. I mean, - I wrote nothing at all that can be interpreted this way, even when really stretching it.
As for the "right" to free things, - a "right" like this implies that a person has a "right" to force another person to work for him. And this is something that is 100% incompatible with the rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. P.S. Given you propensity to read things I did not write, - note, that I do NOT claim that there is something wrong with getting things for free, or with other people working for you. What I say is - it is wrong to FORCE other people to work for you. "Force" is the key word here.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 20:17
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Re: Any chance to enhance educational opportunity lost
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I know why educators insist that the only way to improve education for the children is to increase the funding. What I do not know is why we, the CUSTOMERS of the system, believe them.
All the experience tells us, - it is not the case. The funding has been growing for a long time, - and education levels never matched that growth. So, adding more money is not an "investment" like some people call it, - for an "investment" implies some "return". It is just a gift. IF our goal is to better lives of the educators - by all means, we should go on. If our goal is to get better education for our children, than we should take a look at the experiments that DID WORK from THAT point of view. Here: Stossel Show - Education! P.S. Of course, if party loyalty is more important, we should dismiss anything that comes from the damn FOX channel, and just support the unions.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 20:08
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Re: 3/7/2011: Jersey City mayor: 2011 tax rate will be 'stable' - Did your taxes go up in 3rd quarter?
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So, the ancient art of "thinking and making conclusions" is lost forever?
Posted on: 2011/7/4 16:25
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Re: Hudson County Register's son arrested for marijuana possession, Jersey City police say
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Quote:
And I did not find that "or" to add anything. One doesn't need any conditions to insist on his rights. Quote: It sure sounds like you're supporting a right to healthcare you haven't paid for, that's a "taking from other people" isn't it? I reread my text, and I did not find anything that would support this statement. Care to quote something that I said and explain how you derive the aforementioned conclusion? Quote: I don't deny that personal risk reduction is a damn slippery slope from helmets to healthy eating. But we can do things like stopping subsidizing unhealthy food industries. Ok. You do not "deny" the "damn slippery slope". So, you intend to walk it with the full knowledge where it leads. Accepted. Well, my approach is very different. I respect people's rights and - if some law violates them, - I intend to do what i can to make those laws be gone, and the power of the government be brought back to the Constitutional limits.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 16:20
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Re: New Jersey & Gay Marriage
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Quote:
Don't know much about history, huh? First, Declaration of Independence has nothing at all to do with laws about voting and slavery. It was a general Declaration of Principles on which the new State is founded. Second, the 3/5 rule in the Constitution, - do you know that this counting was at the insistence of the ANTI-slavery candidates? Slaves did not vote, and counting them meant that the slave-owners will be using those extra votes. Pro-slavery delegates wanted to count slaves 1 for 1. Anti-slavery delegates wanted to count free man only, - in order not to reward slavery with extra votes. BTW, states did not recognize voting rights for women at the same time. So, here is the trivia question: which states were the first? P.S. The people who signed the Declaration of Independence did not chose the "slow way that people can adapt to". They plunged into it, head first - Quote: And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 14:59
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Re: New Jersey & Gay Marriage
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Basically, the exact same argument that Mr. Dickinson used 235 years ago against signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 14:45
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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Really? "Better late than never"? You confirm that THIS is what you expect from your elected representative? THIS? No alternative proposal of the non-deficit budget. Cursing and violent threats - in response to the democratic procedure that didn't go your way. Well, ok. I mean, if you decided that this is what represents your political position the best - who am I to argue? Duly noted. P.S. As I noted before, - all those talks about "violent rhetoric" from the right, and all talks about yearning of the left for the "civilized dialogue", - that was just a bunch of bull. As we see, the reality is quite different.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 14:40
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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I am puzzled. They told me that it were Republicans who draw targets on the map with their political opponents and that those targets symbolize rifle cross-hairs and that this is trade mark right-wing violent rhetoric, - while the lefties yearn, YEARN for the new, civilized tone of discussion. So... they lied, huh?
Posted on: 2011/7/4 14:32
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Re: Hudson County Register's son arrested for marijuana possession, Jersey City police say
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This is like a totalitarian MO : 1. Announce that you are going to provide some benefit, - at the expense of other people, of course. 2. Announce that since you now provide this benefit at the expense of other people, you just have to protect those other people, - and force them to behave "safely". Every new program is used as a justification for the next one, - and always in order to "protect" us, - from the harm of the first program. Somehow an idea that if the first program is harmful, we need to dismantle it, - is never considered. It is always used as a justification for the next step. And the next step. And the next step. Ok, I have a question: where do you stop? I mean, would you use the same logic to justify a law that would mandate: A. Wearing warm clothes in winter? B. Eating only Government-approved meals? C. Washing hands regularly? D. Doing Government-approved set of exercises? Note, I do not argue that these are good, healthy things. I agree that they are. I am asking - are you going to FORCE us to do them, - based on the same reasoning that you just announced? If not, - why not? Is there a difference a principle and logic? Or is the difference only in that you want to move slowly, encroaching on our freedom step-by-step? What's your plan?
Posted on: 2011/7/4 14:21
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Re: 3/7/2011: Jersey City mayor: 2011 tax rate will be 'stable' - Did your taxes go up in 3rd quarter?
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Simple, - because this is U.S.of A. and not Soviet Russia. There governors are appointed by the President, mayors are appointed by the Governor, and a police chief in a small town reports to the police general of the district and that in turn reports to the Ministry of the Internal Affairs. That system is built to ensure that the power, the whole power is concentrated in one place, up above, and is unreachable to the citizens. US system is the opposite. The idea is to keep the power as low as possible, - with two goals: (1) reduce un-freedoms. THis way if people of Jersey City want to have street cleaning on Mondays, and people of Hoboken prefer Tuesdays, - they do not need to march in lockstep. (2) when we directly elect people who get to execute the local power, - WE control that power, not someone in Washington. You idea is very counter-cultural to that. If we do not like what local government does, we need to throw them away, and elect someone else. What we should NOT do, is we should NOT federalize City governance, for if we do, we are screwed, - USSR-style. P.S. The big problem here is - many people tend to vote along the party line, - as a form of showing party loyalty, - instead of voting "who will not bankrupt this city" line.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 14:04
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Re: New Jersey & Gay Marriage
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This is what puzzles me immensely. If you already decided to fight for a change in the current laws, - why not fight for the RIGHT change? And, as someone who immigrated here from Soviet Russia, - boy, am I puzzled by the attitude "oh, it is light years away from happening". Look, if all people thought this way, - what would we be celebrating tomorrow?
Posted on: 2011/7/4 2:30
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Re: New Jersey & Gay Marriage
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That I noticed. The problem is, - you notice that reality sucks, but you chooses a very wrong way to right the wrong. Quote: Whether it is right or not, and whether you like it or not, neither a living will nor your notarized piece of paper will give your selected non spousal ... Look, if we are to adopt a notion "oh, this is the reality of the current law so this is how it shall stay", than we should stop talking about gay marriage altogether. I thought we discuss what should be changed in those "current laws". We are here because many people do want to change those current laws. And what I keep telling you, is that their approach to "what to change" is all wrong. If the current law creates a preferred class of citizens who are granted something that others are denied, - a correct solution is to do away with that law! To do away with the privileges! To kick the government out of people's private lives and decisions! What is being discussed on this board, and everywhere else, - is how to get some people included in that privileged class. And this is a very wrong goal in my opinion.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 2:25
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Re: 3/7/2011: Jersey City mayor: 2011 tax rate will be 'stable' - Did your taxes go up in 3rd quarter?
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Never did I propose such a nonsense. What I proposed is to fire the people who can't do the job of the City governance properly and vote for someone else.
Posted on: 2011/7/4 2:15
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Re: New Jersey & Gay Marriage
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You can't argue TWO sides at the same time.
Either you acknowledge that any person has a right to decide who makes medical decision for him, who visits him in a hospital or prison, and so on. In this case all the first part of your comment loses any meaning. Or you deny that, and pronounce that only The Government has the power to decide who to allow in each case. If this is the former than stop explaining the difference between "living will" and notarized piece of paper, - since THERE IS NONE. If it is the right of a person to make this decision, than it matters not how that person calls the piece of paper they are written on. As I said, - if you hear something like "only the baptized can buy houses", the right thing to do is to demolish that law. And not to demand that everyone was government-baptized.
Posted on: 2011/7/3 20:07
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Re: 3/7/2011: Jersey City mayor: 2011 tax rate will be 'stable' - Did your taxes go up in 3rd quarter?
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Don't you think it is really weird that we need to complain about OUR OWN EMPLOYEE? Why not just fire him?
Posted on: 2011/7/3 19:46
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Re: Hudson County Register's son arrested for marijuana possession, Jersey City police say
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Quote:
My question was not limited to my body, but accepted.
Posted on: 2011/7/3 16:58
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Re: 3/7/2011: Jersey City mayor: 2011 tax rate will be 'stable' - Did your taxes go up in 3rd quarter?
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Here is an idea, - if we want different, we need to vote.
When we chose who to vote for, the qualifying question should be "does he know how to manage the money". And not "does he support our favorite National Political Party?"
Posted on: 2011/7/3 16:00
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Re: Hudson County Register's son arrested for marijuana possession, Jersey City police say
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Why not debate? My question was simple - is it only about minor drugs for you, or is it about everything? Would you argue against any law that regulates what people do even when there is no victim, - like "not wearing a seat-belt", - or just this one? Basically, is it a matter of principle, or do you just favor specifically marijuana smoking?
Posted on: 2011/7/3 15:52
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Re: With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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Nope, wrong. No banker can possibly forcibly extract one dollar from a taxpayer. The people who do that are called "elected officials". And they work for a so-called "government" Do you know WHY bankers and investment fund managers and others are coming to those politicians and exchanging favors with them? No? Let me tell you. It is YOU. Not you personally, of course, - but everyone who wants the Government to get involved in the economy. You want it, and you vote for it, - and the government is always very willing to expand its powers. And then you have a situation where consumer no longer decides which company thrives, which survives, and which goes belly-up. No more it is you and your dollars. Nope. Now, the Government makes the decision, - more than you. Why are you surprised that business caters to the government more than it caters to you? If for a business an investment of $1 in lobbying gives more profit than an investment in R&D, or making the products cheaper, or better, or improving service and so on, - a business will invest in lobbying. Plain and simple. Remember, when the GM was about to fail? Why was that? I can tell you - it was because YOU were not buying their cars. So, the Government intervened and said, - "if you refuse to buy their cars voluntarily, we will force you to give them money without getting car in exchange - for nothing!" And they took your money and gave to GM. And you thought "oh, that is a good decision! I will vote for them again!" Good luck with that.
Posted on: 2011/7/3 15:42
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Re: New Jersey & Gay Marriage
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There is nothing to study, - let's say, for the sake of the argument, that you are right. Let's say that I am mistaken and there is no such thing as "Living Will". Let's assume that in some state there is a law that denies people a right to appoint a "health care proxy", and says that only a spouse can play this role. Now to me, that means we need to tell the State that this law violates people rights. How to explain it... Ok, here is a hypothetical: imagine that in some State there is a law that says "only baptized citizens are allowed to buy houses, everyone else must rent". Now, to me it is clear that we should fight against this law. And your argument in this analogy would go like this: "since the law prohibit to buy houses to those who are not baptized, we must demand that the government provided baptism to everyone!" No, really? You see that the problem was created by the Government getting involved, - and you conclude that the solution is in involving the Government some more. Instead of telling it to back off, and reverting the harm it is done? WHY?
Posted on: 2011/7/3 14:53
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