The Obama Administration thread

[IzzyDutch]

I just returned from a 3,5 week worktrip from the USA (New Mexico / Texas) and a few times my collegue and I had that Fox News tv channel on for a while, my God what a load of crap is shown on there! Unreal, people are twisting stuff up displaying it as a truth. Seemed it was like some kind of playground, with the most ridiculous statements.. that thanks to Obama the USA was now not being seen anymore as a superpower, Russia had taken over that job, but was instead seen of weak thanks to Obama LOL. And they invited some English BBC hostess which tried to explain the view from Europe on these comments, but the idiots wouldn't even let her finish her words. I find it strange people even watch that channel, talking about getting brainwashed man..

This is just my European view, coming from the Netherlands voting on the kind of -right- parties our government is now being led by. I think those Fox people and followers need to actually visit one or more countries in Europe instead of talking about it and it's (world) views.

Anyways, I saw this this morning:



Thought it was funny

[Jdog0830]

People lie to your face and they still support them. One day she is gonna be called out on all her bs and it's not gonna be a good sight to see.


Why the fuck to we put people like that in positions of power is beyond me.



Joe

[polluxlm]

People lie to your face and they still support them. One day she is gonna be called out on all her bs and it's not gonna be a good sight to see.

No she isn't.

Why the fuck to we put people like that in positions of power is beyond me.



Joe

Because we're fucking stupid!

[Jdog0830]

People lie to your face and they still support them. One day she is gonna be called out on all her bs and it's not gonna be a good sight to see.

No she isn't.

Why the fuck to we put people like that in positions of power is beyond me.



Joe

Because we're fucking stupid!

If that's true then why the hell hasn't there been a WW3 if America is so stupid.
And by a WW3 I mean just the countries fighting each other not the radical groups useing terrorism.


Joe

[polluxlm]

If the public could vote on the use of nukes we probably would have.

[Jdog0830]

If the public could vote on the use of nukes we probably would have.

I gotta doubt that. But if Pailin was the president we would all be fucked!!!


Joe

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Anyone notice that today 3 people in the FCC decided to grant the government power to regulate the internet?

[Axl4Prez2004]

If the public could vote on the use of nukes we probably would have.

I gotta doubt that. But if Pailin was the president we would all be fucked!!!
Joe

If it's sex and Palin's doling it out...count me in. 
 
...and yes Izzydutch, FauxNews didn't get that name without good reason. 

Now, to keep things fair, the teachers' unions have to come around.  I know I'm usually left of center on my politics, but the unions in this country, especially the teachers union, needs to make some concessions. 
Chris Christy of Jersey made some good points on 60 Minutes this past weekend. 
Both sides (Dems and Repubs) need to meet in the middle, but doing so will have each of them pissing off their bases a bit.

[freedom78]

If the public could vote on the use of nukes we probably would have.

I gotta doubt that. But if Pailin was the president we would all be fucked!!!
Joe

If it's sex and Palin's doling it out...count me in. 
 
...and yes Izzydutch, FauxNews didn't get that name without good reason. 

Now, to keep things fair, the teachers' unions have to come around.  I know I'm usually left of center on my politics, but the unions in this country, especially the teachers union, needs to make some concessions. 
Chris Christy of Jersey made some good points on 60 Minutes this past weekend. 
Both sides (Dems and Repubs) need to meet in the middle, but doing so will have each of them pissing off their bases a bit.

Agreed on the unions.  The problem, and you can pose this as a union or a ownership/management problem depending on perspective, is that both of these interests go hard in opposite directions.  Think of it this way...the teachers unions in most states insulate policies (tenure at worst, salary by seniority very commonly) that most would deem counterproductive to the goals of developing a world class education system.  In spite of my more leftie views on many things, I agree with the premise that this is a bad thing.  On the other hand, what can we say about teachers?  They're grossly underpaid.  You WILL NOT attract the caliber of people that you need as long as you pay them so poorly (oh, you'll get some, but not nearly enough).  So, if the teacher's unions are a problem and we get rid of them, then what happens?  We get rid of the negatives that THEY cause, but do nothing to address the negatives that are caused by our failure to reward them with decent pay.  I didn't hear the Christy interview but I hope he didn't do the usual GOP recipe for improving schools...vouchers and some mythical problem solving "test" by which we'll judge teacher performance (as if the tests of NCLB haven't proven that sort of policy a massive failure).  Furthermore, in my state the dick governor and his douche State Superintendent want to actually LOWER the standards required to become a teacher.  HOW WILL THIS HELP ANYTHING?!?!?!?!  And then, after destroying public education, they'll explain how bad public education is and why we need to privatize (I'm fairly certain this is part of a long standing Republican plot to put in place bad policies and high deficits so that they can then complain about intrusive bad policies and high deficits; see: CONSPIRACY  ).  Privatization is not the answer.  At least in Indiana where I live, teachers at private schools don't have to meet the same standards as in public schools --- in other words, they have LESS training --- and the pay is no better (contrary to popular belief). 

So, yes, we need to get some concessions from the teacher's unions.  I think a common sense solution is to have some combination of cost of living salary increases, the ability to fire teachers who are bad at their jobs, and performance based raises that are NOT contingent on stupid tests put in place by ideologues in state governments, but are instead based in educators in local communities (i.e. principals, primarily, but also with higher administration) evaluating teacher performance.  And this should NOT be done nationally.  The educational needs are not universal and shouldn't be treated as such.