Looks like the unions in Ohio finally got their shit together: Live feed of protest in the Ohio Capitol Building.
Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats
- Thread starter GasBandit
- Start date
And just like I said I was worried about: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/22/indiana-democrats-flee-st_n_826739.html
Go-go democracy.
Go-go democracy.
It doesn't look like the Ohio Dems will flee, but I think that's mainly because the Police and Fire Departments weren't excluded like in some of the other proposals. You can't make something like this work without rescue services on board, because if the cops go on strike, all hell breaks loose.
Good, I was wondering where to post about this.
Without going into how stupid my boss is, I just want you all to know one thing:
This whole situation sucks rocks.
We can't compromise if he (Walker) won't negotiate.
This is the result of "partisan politics" - no middle ground on anything.
Without going into how stupid my boss is, I just want you all to know one thing:
This whole situation sucks rocks.
We can't compromise if he (Walker) won't negotiate.
This is the result of "partisan politics" - no middle ground on anything.
Which is still a victory for the Unions and the people they protect. The ball is entirely in Walker's court right now: He can ether accept the concessions already given (and potentially get more) in exchange for the right to collectively bargain... or he can have nothing and destroy the political process.
Walker was a Tea Party supported candidate, right? Well it's high time the Tea Party learns how politics works.
I'm not sure either side here is exactly a shining beacon of a well oiled democracy.
That being said Walker is an idiot for not compromising here but really what you better hope is that all those Tea Party repubs don't look at all those dems running away when they don't like a bill and go "hmmm... interesting strategy...".
Except the Tea Party Republicans are a minority of another party. We're talking maybe 2-3 per a state, tops. If they leave, it's not a huge deal.
Oh come on, it's almost like you are saying people are ok with things as long as it helps their agenda. Thats just crazy, this is politics.
G
Gopher Rube
Hey everybody, just wanted to get this out there, in the name of accuracy:
It wasn't the Republicans who fled Texas.
It wasn't the Republicans who fled Texas.
As you were.
When they flee as much as we saw filibusters in the last Congress, then I'll take your complaint to heart. I think this once we can make an exception.
I do have to ask, though. Is there anything that Democrats could do, if they were in power, that you would support this type of action for? Be honest with yourself.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see this type of action over something silly like tax cuts or something of that nature.
T
TheBrew
Also fleeing actually requires some sacrifice and personal effort. It is such a strain on the legislators that I doubt that it would be used except in the most dire of circumstance (like now). Unlike the filibuster in the Senate, which the GOP liked to trot out on days ending in -y.
GasBandit
Staff member
If you are a producer, these numbers will be particularly hard for you to stomach:
Have you been saving your pennies? Good, because you are going to need it with the price of gasoline about the skyrocket.
Jonah Goldberg: Public sector unions gotta go.
How is the Media handling Wisconsin? You're kidding me, right?
Why I Changed My Mind About Unions. Read it. It'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy about unions.
The daunting tower of national, state and local debt in the US will reach a level this year unmatched just after World War II and already exceeds the size of the entire economy.
So what happens if no one breaks the standoff in Wisconsin? The governor will have to lay off 1,500 government employees.
The latest column from George Will ... Wisconsin as ground zero: Governor serene amid storm.
Thomas Sowell says that nothing more clearly illustrates the utter irresponsibility of Barack Obama than his advocacy of "high-speed rail."
Finally we got a response out of Jesse Jackson on this situation in Wisconsin and it's exactly what you would expect: Assault on unions is an attack on basic civil rights.
Wisconsin Unions vs. The Tea Party: A Classic Double Standard.
Here's a look at what else may be fueling the protests in Wisconsin.
Harry Reid says that the time has come ... to outlaw prostitution in Nevada. Doesn't this guy have bigger issues to deal with? Yeah, like the budget. Yesterday he announced that he will introduce a measure to keep the federal government running for 30 days at current funding levels.
The Cato Institute puts $61 billion in budget cuts in perspective.
Home prices in a majority of major U.S. cities tracked by a private trade group have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst.
A bill proposed in Texas would allow any law enforcement agency that has custody of an illegal immigrant to take the illegal to 'the office of a U.S. Senator or Representative' and leave them there.
An 11-year-old boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in his government school - something his therapist told him to do.
Have you been saving your pennies? Good, because you are going to need it with the price of gasoline about the skyrocket.
Jonah Goldberg: Public sector unions gotta go.
How is the Media handling Wisconsin? You're kidding me, right?
Why I Changed My Mind About Unions. Read it. It'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy about unions.
The daunting tower of national, state and local debt in the US will reach a level this year unmatched just after World War II and already exceeds the size of the entire economy.
So what happens if no one breaks the standoff in Wisconsin? The governor will have to lay off 1,500 government employees.
The latest column from George Will ... Wisconsin as ground zero: Governor serene amid storm.
Thomas Sowell says that nothing more clearly illustrates the utter irresponsibility of Barack Obama than his advocacy of "high-speed rail."
Finally we got a response out of Jesse Jackson on this situation in Wisconsin and it's exactly what you would expect: Assault on unions is an attack on basic civil rights.
Wisconsin Unions vs. The Tea Party: A Classic Double Standard.
Here's a look at what else may be fueling the protests in Wisconsin.
Harry Reid says that the time has come ... to outlaw prostitution in Nevada. Doesn't this guy have bigger issues to deal with? Yeah, like the budget. Yesterday he announced that he will introduce a measure to keep the federal government running for 30 days at current funding levels.
The Cato Institute puts $61 billion in budget cuts in perspective.
Home prices in a majority of major U.S. cities tracked by a private trade group have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst.
A bill proposed in Texas would allow any law enforcement agency that has custody of an illegal immigrant to take the illegal to 'the office of a U.S. Senator or Representative' and leave them there.
An 11-year-old boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in his government school - something his therapist told him to do.
Considering Providence, RI. just laid off all (nearly 2,000) of the teachers in their district to meet a "budget shortfall", I wouldn't be surprised if he did it. He'd also be just as stupid if he did.
When the fuck did we become the root of all problems?
I know you're all up in the "government school" schtick, but I would blame the police a lot more than the school after reading this story.
GasBandit
Staff member
Police don't have doodle sensing radar. Some EduBureaucratorial Commissar had to call them in to haul the dangerous preteen away.
That said, yes, the police should not have done what they did either.
I'll field that one, as Gas.
::transforms into a can of beans::
Private schools perform better than public schools. People don't have a right to education and many illegal immigrants are a drain on our school systems. *insert links all over to corporate funded sites which would love education to be put into the for profit sector*
::transforms back::
OOhh, that hurt me.
::transforms into a can of beans::
Private schools perform better than public schools. People don't have a right to education and many illegal immigrants are a drain on our school systems. *insert links all over to corporate funded sites which would love education to be put into the for profit sector*
::transforms back::
OOhh, that hurt me.
GasBandit
Staff member
As with most things, there's a very effective middle ground here. Education funding is calculated on a per-student basis. The easy way here to get the best of both worlds (the improvement in service and cost via competition from the private sector with the progressive funding of the public sector) is to issue education vouchers and open up the education service industry to private competition. Make the money follow the student and let the parents decide where their child's education is best served. That way, even the poor poor pitiful poor can afford to send their children to private school. See, the cost per pupil in 2005 was an average of $8,700. Do you think you could find a pretty good education for a kid for $8700 per year?
Ironically there are actually some (commie socialist!) European countries who do this already, and are getting staggeringly better educational results while simultaneously spending a great deal less per student.
But the teachers union will never. Ever. EVAR. stand by and let vouchers become a reality in the united states. There was actually a voucher program that was showing success in Washington DC in getting decent education at private schools for underprivileged children... until Democrats killed it off.
But wouldn't that program (and pardon me for the ignorance) still leave the students who don't meet private school admissions standards in the cold, with their public school hemorrhaging funding as the top students get the (incredibly finite) spots in private schools? And, I must say, the results there weren't as dramatic as they make them out to be. Basically, parents were happier and 12% more kids graduated, but there was no evidence from test schore that the education they received was of any more impactful than it would have been at public schools.
^ This. The only reason private schools have better students is because they are allowed to cherry pick them well before they enter their doors. Public schools don't get that option; they have to take all comers. What you really should be proposing, Gas, is for all schools to have the ability to test and measure their students before they attend... which would result in a vast under class of people no school will take.
No, no, no. He's saying let the public schools compete with the private schools. So we'll end up with an underclass of people whom did graduate from a high school that barely had any funding and was therefore left in the dust, rendering their diploma worth even less than usual.
GasBandit
Staff member
Putting aside for the moment that you both just acknowledged private schools are that much better than public schools...
What is described above won't be a persistent phenomenon any more than legalizing marijuana would mean that every american would spend the rest of their life stoned and useless. Not every private school tests their incoming students (I know the Montessori school I went to for a few years instead of public grade school didn't give me any aptitude tests, for example). Also, you make the mistaken assumption that the number and configuration of schools will remain static. The influx of potential capital into the private education market would spur the opening of more private/charter schools, competing with the existing ones and each other. There is nothing a federal bureaucracy can do that the private sector can't do better for lest cost, and where there is a demand the private sector LOVES to fill it. So if it does create a large number of students with vouchers in hand who can't get into upper echelon "exclusive" private schools, entrepreneurs will definitely create schools to cater to them as well. Schools that provide good education will flourish, schools that can't trim bureaucracy or fire bad teachers (IE, public schools with unionized teachers) will wither, and the American student will benefit.
This system is in place in other countries and has been shown to produce quantifiable results.
Added at: 12:50
Today's links -
Why did it take so long for Obama to comment on the situation in Libya? A "scheduling issue."
When it comes to budget battles, this ain't Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's first rodeo.
To keep the government from shutting down (at least temporarily), House Republicans plan to pass a two-week stopgap spending bill that would keep the government running past March 4 at reduced levels.
Here's how the GOP can supposedly win the battle of the budget.
Government unions have been a 50-year mistake.
Arizona is at it again with a Senate committee approving a sweeping bill that would target illegal immigrants in public housing, public benefits and the workplace.
Congressman Keith Ellison says that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker "is basically taking up the posture of a dictator."
Indiana backs down as Republicans (yes, Republicans) in the state senate killed a proposed "right-to-work" bill that would have reduced the power of unions in the state.
The Department of Health and Human Services has used $650 million in stimulus funds to pay for an anti-obesity program.
The SEIU has come up with a song for the protesters in Wisconsin.
How would you like to be subject to arrest for having a miscarriage?
Wisconsin loves irony. The Senate majority leader's wife is apparently one of the people who got preliminary pink slips. She works as a counselor at Hustisford school district and is married to Republican Senator Scott Fitzgerald.
T
TheBrew
The day the first student could not pass a standardized test.
Just face it you are an overpaid liberal, with great benefits, who is just sucking off the government's teat.
Let's not try to fix the reasons that kids don't learn. Let's fire these dilettantes that are in the teaching racket just to make a lot of money. /teabagger-homeschooler
Did I do that right?
... Are you joking?
I can think of a few examples; mail for one.
Right, our mail service is quite competent. Even with out any competition, they still do it better.