Defending the Truth

Well said!

Every year we spend more and more money, yet the problems do not get fixed. Money is not the answer, that much is obvious, for it were the answer, the Six Trillion dollars that have been spent since the inception of Johnson's Great Society in the 1960's would have accomplished the dream of eliminating poverty. It has not.

We have developed a culture of entitlement, the idea that the government owes us something. We subsidize those who are underachievers by taxing those who are overacheivers. Life shouldn't be easy, there needs to be some challenge to surviving, it is part of man's nature. The things in my life that I am the most proud of are those that I worked my tail off to accomplish. I gave up going out to party or to drink, spending time watching television or listening to the radio, and even going out on dates to accomplish the tasks that I needed to accomplish to gain what it was I wanted. Today we punish hard work. The harder you work to make more money the more money the government takes from you to give to those who do less work, if they even work at all. Enough is enough, its a grand idea to have a social safety net, but ours has grown too large, to encompass entirely too many people. A little bit of hard work and self-sacrifice has never killed anyone, but rather only ensured their need to work even harder.

Once we have abdicated those who receive entitlements from any responsibility, why should they bother to care. They know the basic requirements that they need to accomplish to keep receiving entitlements, and that is exactly what they do.

The programs didn't work, it must have been the money. Perhaps it was the people. Perhaps they didn't work hard enough, or more importantly perhaps they assumed that the government will just do more for them. It is time we start holding people accountable for the actions, responsibility sucks, but with rights comes duties, and duties assume responsiblity.

dmk

But the real question: Are you happy?

I don't think the good Sergeant has been happy for a long long time...

We've only spent 6 tril since the 1960s? Suprising, to say the least. I have no problem with social programs, as long as the money isn't being shat around like monkeys throwing poo. My personal favourite is Mass. car insurance. In downtown Boston, and other heavily urban areas in the state, insurance premiums are capped. This means that the insurance companies can't charge adequately for the risk, and that now the companies pass the added costs onto their suburban and rural customers. I hate this with such a passion it's unbelievable. Couple that with the fact that a damn Camry is a high-risk car, and I'm paying literally 3 grand / year for my insurance. Not only am I paying for my OWN high risk, I'm paying for other people's?!?! We're one of the only states that still does that.
Boston has PLENTY of public transportation; every damn 16 and 17 year-old doesn't need a 1992-93 civic with boatloads of stolen parts on it. I abhor that so much. You can't spend 10 grand upgrading your car and then complain you don't have money for basic necessities. Plus then your car just looks like a spaceship and one wonders why they get pulled over every other block. Doing that to the car ALSO means the risk is higher, and thus adds to everyone else's premiums. [/rant]

It really is backward though that we still pay for that stuff, though. People living in Boston have T-Lines up the arse; there's no need for a car since you're walking basically 1/2 mile at most to the next train station. It's cheaper than buying a gallon of gas, nevermind buying a car and complimentary insurance.

Why wouldn't I be happy?? I like my job, and I get a sense of pride and accomplishment out of working hard. I am more than content and happy with what I do. My attitude does not reflect my unhappiness, but rather my disdain for what is so basically obvious.

In the private sector a company fails or succeeds based on the product or service the company offers. The government has no such standard. No matter how much any program has failed to accomplish its primary goals, it is rewarded with more money. If only the real world worked that way.

dmk

I completely agree. Competition is the key to progress. If your income is garunteed why strive to excel and improve?

I like the poll results

They look like a phallace.

We live in a country were education is placed first and foremost at the bottom of the list. Do I agree with you that Math teachers should have a Math degree and vice versa? yes I do (a lot of them do). Let's use MA as an example. This is the reason why the MCAS test was designed in the first place. The state government gives the public school system money for supplies, book, and resources in return for progress on the exams that show a significant improvement that the child is learning and not being "dicked" through the system. MCAS was a walking-nightmare at first until it was redesigned and improved. The Reason teachers oppose testing or at least I believe in this state for instance is, beacause it's extremely difficult to get certified! one of the hardest states in the country. Can you imagine going through all of that and having to put in the amount of time you do only to get less than adequate starting salary? My friend teachers in public schools don't get payed enough to do what they do.

http://edworkforce.house.gov/press/p...cost021004.htm

There is the case against the NCLA were one can argue it's overfunded.

http://www.americanprogress.org/site...RJ8OVF&b=44515

Here we can see why liberals scream that it's "underfunded".

Anyway what it basically I am trying to get at is if you can't fund public school system and face the problems that surround them Charters Schools aren't going to do anything to help the problem. Neoconservatives don't have to worry about that, because I am sure a lot of them send their children to private schools with their own personal finances.

"Across all sectors, more than 40 percent of full-time teachers reported participating in professional development activities that focused on in-depth study of content in their main teaching field in the last 12 months. Among full-time traditional public school teachers, 59.3 percent participated in such professional development activities, compared with 55.2 percent of full-time public charter school teachers and 43.1 percent of full-time private school teachers." -SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2002).

Using these statistics I don't think we can say that public school teachers don't necessarily know what they are teaching, especially since at lot of them are taking part in professional development activities.

I agree with you on that note. It really is ashame that we have all of this public transportation and we don't make effective of use of it including a Commuter Rail! then they wonder why there is so much goddamn traffic and congestion coming downtown into the city. We also stastically have some of the worst drivers in the country. That's why the damn insurance rates are so high.