Curious?

Curious?

A man who states repeatedly in front of millions of people that he's not going to negotiate with himself described as curious?

LOL!

That's a hoot.

Since when is being a nihilist "inteliigent"? LOL.

"intelligent" LOL

"... there's always a book on his nightstand."
Yeah, but it's the same coloring book.

"He's one of the most intelligent, curious, intellectually tough people I know....

Jeezus, Karl! You've GOT to get out more.

I read in yesterday's major Sacramento newspaper, that the high school graduation rate in CA is 60%.

EGAD.

60%?

White and Asian-American kids graduate high school at an 80% clip. The inner-city schools are hit the hardest, probably due to socio-economic conditions and other lifestyle choices youth make. (Join gangs, etc.)

60% is pretty pathetic. Yet, the numbers were inflated for so long by the CA education system so that they could maximize their education $$$. But, now we know.

I just have a hard time justifying spending more on education, when only 60% of kids are graduating. When we spend more on education, we're spending it on White and Asian-American kids. The money doesn't help the folks who need it most.

Muckdog, I'm not being sarcastic here just curious, what is your solution then?? I agree, that's a problem, and money certainly wont solve the problem by itself.

Whoever said that must not know a lot of people.

I wonder if Mark Hanna said that about William McKinley.

I read in yesterday's major Sacramento newspaper, that the high school graduation rate in CA is 60%.

I suggest giving CA back to Mexico. Let them deal with it since no one here wants to. Hell, don't they already have half the Mexican population in CA anyway!?

As an American Roman Catholic of German extraction I wish I could get excited about Pope Benedict XVI. But I can't. First impressions are important to me and the guy looks like the kind of Catholic that would put people in thumb screws. My gut tells me he is not going to be good for the church. I'm rather melancholy.

Zero tolerance on gangs. If a kid joins a gang, they'll eventually end up dead or in jail.

First papal edict:

The Popemobile is now officially known as the "Papal Panzer".

Thank God. I'm getting tired of the Pope news coverage. Back to thing that really matter, like Britney's pregnancy and TV series summer cliffhangers.

Zero tolerance on gangs. If a kid joins a gang, they'll eventually end up dead or in jail.

Zero tolerance on drugs. If a kid uses drugs, they'll eventually end up dead or in jail.

Again the question is what do you propose as an alternate muck.

You've got millions of kids who get out of school, if they go to school, and have nothing else to do but hang around with their homeys. Gangs and drugs are constant temptation. Not to mention sex. I think we determined that "Just say no!" isn't gonna cut it.

The most effective way to end gangs and gang violence would be a good paying jobs program.

The most effective way to end gangs and gang violence would be a good paying jobs program.

Absolutely. Most kids who join gangs do so because there are no other alternatives. They figure they are going to be dead by the time they are 20 anyway, so what's the point. Plus, a lot of the males want to have kids so they are leaving something in the world when their short lives are over.

But you still need some way of defanging the gangs and getting rid of their corrosive influence in the communities where they hold sway.

My impression matches muckcat's.

My quick ameturish review of entries for Benedict suggest that Ratzinger will not stress on the social aspects of faith, but rather continue his work in the Doctrine of The Faith - he will be a reactionary reformer of theological & bureaucratic issues. He also delivered the homily of the Mass before the conclave which has been described as a subtle campaign speech, strongly decrying Relativism. You can also see Ratzinger's hand in the last few years of John Paul's reign when JP issued more theological and doctrinal scripts that were quite conservative.

Gays and progressive women probably shouldn't even apply.

W? Fucking W? Curious? Jeeeeeezzus, who the fuck is he kidding?

Job training program.....sounds pricey to me....we have a model here in Chicago, Gallery 37 and After School Matters. Definitely worth it, though. You know, we used to have things like that in school (shop, home ec) but now, all they have time for is studying for the standardized tests. They also cut PE programs because of money and because they need time to study for those tests and now we have na obesity problem among children.

Bigdog noted earlier that joining the armed forces was a great job training program among many benefits. Seems to me that mandatory service for two years out of high school (no exceptions for rich kids) would be the most beneficial thing our country could experience. If Jenna and Barbara would have had to serve, would Bush have gone to war against Iraq?

The only curiosity that dipshit has is to see if he can get to the next level on his fucking games that he plays for a couple hours a day.

Ann, yep, he would have. The fucker is such a total psychopath he just doesn't give a flying rat's ass about anything but his own damned comfort. Hell, he thought it was more important to go fishing than to be with his daughter during her emergency surgery.

Seems to me that mandatory service for two years out of high school (no exceptions for rich kids) would be the most beneficial thing our country could experience.

Talk about expensive! Yoweeee!

Anyone got a lead on how many million 18-20 year olds that would put in the military every year?

Muck,

Federal or State money has no bearing on education at all. Until the parents are forced to get involved in the lives of their children...no amount of money will ever fix it.

All you have to do is take a look at private school graduation rates to funding compared to public school graduation rates to the amount of funding.

The answer is clear...Parental Involvment!

But you still need some way of defanging the gangs and getting rid of their corrosive influence in the communities where they hold sway

Public executions? Works well in the Middle East. Consider it our new way of joining our two cultures.

Cities should do the same as West Sacramento has done in attempting to curb gang activity. Can't join a gang, if the gang doesn't exist. This has been kind of interesting to follow.

Link

The West Sacramento Police Department and Yolo County District Attorney announced that they had succeeded in acquiring a "Gang Injunction" from the Superior Court. The Injunction is designed to eliminate all gang related activity by preventing labeled gang members from "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing, anywhere in public view or any place accessible to the public” (2005, Gibson). Furthermore, the court has imposed a strict 10pm to sunrise curfew on the members.

According to the latest census data there are almost 21 million 20 to 24 year olds in the US. If you take half of that number that's an additional 10 million full time soldiers in the service every year if you institute compulory military service.

Considering that we have about 1.5 million active duty military right now you'd be looking at quite a budget increase for the DoD.

A police state!

Are they going to rename West Sacramento, West Baghdad?

Crimmees! Is that your answer? We're going to prevent gangs by preventing people from freely associating with each other in public?

Why the hell won't Bush do something about our Borders? What's his incentive for leaving them undermanned and unguarded? He can't run again so why not do the what the majority of us want? The Minute Men have proved how easy it is to patrol our borders and stop the drug smugglers and illegals from crossing our borders. If he can spend billions on an "opps!" in Iraq why not spend it here to guard our borders?

I'm beginning to think this idiot has switched sides on us!

We may need that many soldiers to fight for oil in the future, since nobody seems interested in conservation and nuclear energy. Although I read (december 2004 science i think) that oil replenishes itself, and that the oil fields that we thought would decline actually have more in reserve now than they did when we started drilling. Maybe oil is a renewable energy source after all. LOL.

Do provide a link, muck! I'd love to read that article!

Ann,

You are correct...that is exactly what I said and I honestly think it would be the best possible thing for our nation as a whole. As far as the costs go, I would say (and probably the only time i'd say this)who cares. This would be a true investment into the future of our country. The skills that each of the branches can offer a student is absolutly astonishing and becoming more and more high-tech everyday.

Oh, one of the most intelligent people he knows. Now we know that Rove surrounds himself with idiots.

But don't doubt that "intellectually tough" means "dumb as a bag of hammers and hellbent on staying that way."

bigdog,

What percentage of the military do you figure receives specialized training?

Are we going to spend one year training them and have them around for one year and them let them go back into private life?

Why not just send every kid in the country to a decent technical college?

1. Physical Fitness - should help with health care problem
2. Any person in the military that wants to have specialized training can (ASVAB score required) Their is less infantry than you probably think
3. I think you migh be surprised how many would re-up and stay in, possibly making it a career.
4. Respect for your country...after getting out of the military you have a different look at everything in your country.
5. It will shock the hell out of the spoiled that think their shit don't stink.

bigdog,

1) emphasis on physical fitness needs to begin well before college age.

2)Are they going to specially train 10 million 18-20 year olds every year?

3)Even more soldiers to pay! Great.

4) That's a pretty subjective benefit.

5) Yeah. They'll spend two yearson the tax payer's dime pretty much counting days. Whoopy!

Right Coaster,

Bush has not switched sides. He has always been on the side of big business and the cheap labor conservatives. Lots of illegals flooding our country is good for business because it drives down labor costs.

Rest assured that Bush couldn't care less about people who make a living off of a paycheck.

bigdog,

You do realize that what you are proposing would amount to the largest, most expensive social services program in the nations history.

Right?

All this from a guy who complains about Welfare hitting him in his paycheck.

Marketwatch is reporting:
"There has been a real shift in sentiment in recent days," Woolfolk said. "Not that long ago the market view was pro-dollar due to the belief that rates would rise. But the market is now negative on the dollar because of growth worries."

There is even speculation that the Fed could slow down its current pace of incremental, quarter-point rate increases if enough tepid economic reports surface, he said.

Is this a catch 22 or what?

Bush running rings around you nimrods, so what does that make you?

Ridiculous? At least.

Bush running rings around you nimrods, so what does that make you?

Ridiculous? At least.

No no no Hindu.

You've got it all wrong.

We're the people that realized he's an idiot. It's the 60 million who voted for him that are ridiculous.

May you come back as Bush's dog in your next life.

Hindu:

Yeah, that Social Security thingie and those 44% approval ratings sure are impressive to a guy like you, aren't they?

The abiotic oil debate and "peak oil"

Link

(couldn't find the science mag story, i just heard it mentioned on a radio talk show)

Regarding gang discussions, we're not talking about an old ladies knitting club here. These are groups who participate in drug dealing, drive by shootings, robberies/burglaries, vandalizing, etc. They should be dealt with. Unless you don't have a problem with one of your kids joining such an organization.

These are groups who participate in drug dealing, drive by shootings, robberies/burglaries, vandalizing, etc.

And any such crimes should be dealt with accordingly.

But what happens when someone from your social club goes out and commits a crime? Do the police come and close down the establishment? Do they prevent people from congregating with one another because they associated with someone who commited a crime? Not a pretty picture. This is not a solution. It's a stop gap measure.

Unless you don't have a problem with one of your kids joining such an organization.

Who said that? I don't want my kids randomly branded as memebers of a dangerous mob just for congregating with their friends by some high in the saddle local hot shot badge with a chip on his shoulder and a supposed mandate to clean up the town either.

Funny, I can't find 'misunderestimated' in the dickionary or the saurus.

And any such crimes should be dealt with accordingly.

Yes, and the organizations that exist soley to conduct such crimes should be dealt with, too.

Hey, what happened to Lauri Bush dealing with gangs in America?

Guess he figures that if the country bought the WMD and when they didn't surface it was all the fault of the Intell community that we'll buy anything.

Yes, and the organizations that exist soley to conduct such crimes should be dealt with, too.

This is great in theory, and sounds like such a strong thing to say. Putting it into practice is quite hard. It is far more likely to be the case that taking out one gang will just create a power vacuum which another gang will form (or expand into) to fill.

The bigger issue is eliminating the conditions which make the gangs a popular option.

Bush at 44%. The trolls are having difficulty dealing with the fact that they now represent a declining, bitter minority in this country. Please, don't cut them any slack. Their world is a sad and dark one. Lets help them darken it further.

Laura Bush's "gang initiative" was simply a matter of "pointing." In the interview she did with Jim on The News Hour, he kept asking her six ways to Sunday what she intented to actually do, and every time she simply said, "Well, I will point ________."

shamelss plug.

I've got a new blog imisanthrope or simply misanthrope. Enjoy.

misanthrope

Well, why would you be concerned about the borders when big business recruits their workforce from Mexico. Tyson Chicken, for one, is known as a big recruiter in Mexico.

I don't care about the cost if the program benefits the person that is using it. This would not be another enabler of laziness.

There is more to do in the military than High Tech Jobs also. However, that is where the private sector is heading and it is good for kids to know a high tech job. There is also a lot of jobs that are not so high tech that can provide for a great life after the military.

As far as the counting the days comment...on monday when you get to work are you not looking forward to the weekend and time with your family? That is something that comes with every job.

I don't care about the cost if the program benefits the person that is using it.

I'll hold you to that.