Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

GasBandit

Staff member
Between 50-60k + benefits for someone with a Masters degree doesn't seem excessive. Also, I'd like to see that woman-in-the-video's actual numbers. And the standard deviation. And whether the "per capita" income number in that video included, as it usually does, children, the elderly, and the unemployed.
Masters degrees, from what I read, are not required to be a teacher in Wisconsin. Some special positions do require them, such as speech pathologist, social worker, psychologist, counselor or administrators.
 
They aren't required but many teachers do get them because it grants them a boost in pay. I imagine the upper echelon of teachers all have master's degrees. Is it more than half? Beats me.
 
So why is it totally cool for someone who goes to school for 6 years to get 100k or more when they go into the business/financial sector, but when that person goes into teaching they should earn less?
 
Side note: I can't believe that GB and the GOP have got me arguing on the side of teachers unions. I live by NYC, for Dave's sake. I actually do think we need to fire a significant portion of teachers in the area, along with most of the administrations of most districts.
 
A judge in Tampa chooses to proceed on a case "under Ecclesiastical Islamic Law"?
I still find it odd that everyone seems to be up in arms about Sharia tenets being used to judge members of the Islamic faith when everyone involved agrees to it, but have no problem with a Beth Din doing the same to members of the Jewish faith. But then again, I suppose that's because the Muslims are the bogey men of the moment. I wonder who's going to be next, Buddhists?
 
The average milwaukee schoolteacher gets a +$100k compensation package. 55k in salary, 45k in benefits.

But if you want to talk about paying people what they're worth, I'm all for that - unions are NOT.
You know, those numbers sounded familiar to me. Those numbers don't go into affect until July of this year. No one disagrees that Milwaukee has a problem, though. Punishing the entire state because of Milwaukee's problem is really stupid. It's cutting off your head because your nose is crooked. The states average compensation to teachers is $75,141. The lowest is $55k in Lake Geneva and the highest, get this, is in Milwaukee at $103k. So you see, cherry picking Milwaukee to whine about teacher unions just makes you look uninformed.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
You know, those numbers sounded familiar to me. Those numbers don't go into affect until July of this year. No one disagrees that Milwaukee has a problem, though. Punishing the entire state because of Milwaukee's problem is really stupid. It's cutting off your head because your nose is crooked. The states average compensation to teachers is $75,141. The lowest is $55k in Lake Geneva and the highest, get this, is in Milwaukee at $103k. So you see, cherry picking Milwaukee to whine about teacher unions just makes you look uninformed.
Are all those figures including benefits? Also - what's different in Lake Geneva from Milwaukee?


Links for the day -

Fred Karger, a retired political consultant from California, announced on his official website that he will be in DC today to officially file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, making him the first to announce his commitment to Presidential candidacy — and the first openly gay Republican ever to do so.

So Hillary Clinton joins the ranks of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and the Media ..... all of these people hammered the idea in 2007 of military action without congressional approval.

Have Republicans and Democrats reached a deal on the budget for this fiscal year?

If you think Republicans are being tough on Democrats for their refusal to get serious about spending, think again.

In order to help grow their economy, Great Britain is cutting fuel and corporate taxes.

Ron Paul says that officials at the Department of Education are trying to "indoctrinate" our children.

The Illinois government teacher pension system is in the hole $40 billion.

If you are looking for a six-figure job, look no further than our federal government.

Have you been following the story of the Arizona substitute teacher that has really stirred the illegal immigration puddin'?

Here are 27 depressing facts about our housing crisis.

Newt Gingrich, for action against Libya before he was against it.
 
Fred Karger, a retired political consultant from California, announced on his official website that he will be in DC today to officially file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, making him the first to announce his commitment to Presidential candidacy — and the first openly gay Republican ever to do so.
This could be an interesting development for the Republicans if he actually gets the nomination (though I doubt he will). The Democrats have been dragging their feet for years to push through the gay rights legislation that we all known they deserve, but the gay community has been forced to support them none the less due to open hostility from most of the Right Wing. Having an openly gay candidate for the presidency would probably divide, if not just plain steal, the gay vote... which would seriously hurt the Democrats in the upcoming election.

Hell, I'd be tempted to vote for him, if only to watch the Republicans self destruct when he tries to push through gay rights legislation.
 
Dunno what his policy views are, but good for him. Something needs to light a fire under the Dems when it comes to their shameful hand-waving away of gay rights legislation.
 
I was watching Chinese news while on the subway and the Chinese media was harping on Obama for skipping the tornado disaster area and heading west to raise money for his campaign, noting some lack of leadership on his part for doing so. Naturally, it was contrast to the Chinese leaderships own rapid action during natural disasters in China.
 
I was watching Chinese news while on the subway and the Chinese media was harping on Obama for skipping the tornado disaster area and heading west to raise money for his campaign, noting some lack of leadership on his part for doing so. Naturally, it was contrast to the Chinese leaderships own rapid action during natural disasters in China.
Tornadoes are a fact of life in the United States. We have a huge swath of the country referred to as Tornado Alley because of the powerful, destructive tornadoes they get every year. Every state, county, and town in this area has tornado sirens that get tested on a weekly basis (or at least they are in my area) because of how often we get them. We even do Tornado Drills in our schools. In fact, they are so common that we have people who drive around, looking for them during storms so they can videotape them as a hobby (or to sell the tape to a TV station).

It's not even close to the kinds of disasters that were the China Earthquakes, the Japanese Earthquakes/Tsunami, or Hurricane Katrina and it's dishonest to portray them as such.
 
As long as he's on top of an appropriate federal response, and makes a few televised speeches for emotional support, I couldn't care less if he doesn't actually go to those areas.

What could he possibly do that emergency response units, disaster relief organizations, and locals who know the area couldn't do much, much better?

Unless a governor completely drops the ball and needs his or her ass kicked, he should be content with leading from afar, for now (he can visit once the damage is fixed).
 
As long as he's on top of an appropriate federal response, and makes a few televised speeches for emotional support, I couldn't care less if he doesn't actually go to those areas.

What could he possibly do that emergency response units, disaster relief organizations, and locals who know the area couldn't do much, much better?

Unless a governor completely drops the ball and needs his or her ass kicked, he should be content with leading from afar, for now (he can visit once the damage is fixed).
That's very different, from what I was hearing a few years ago.

Has there been a lot of national coverage of the tornadoes? I honestly haven't been paying attention.
 
From me?

I know a lot of lefties called out Bush for not going immediately to Katrina, but I don't recall being one of them.
nah, just in general.

I always find it interesting watching people switch stances every 4-8 years. The song stays the same, but the singers take turns.
 
I'd much rather see the disaster relief departments involved (and actually working, not fucking up) than the President. With security and all the crap that needs to be done to ensure the President's safety, it's silly to expect them to go to every disaster site.
 
I'm pretty sure he's asking how, as the President of the United States, Obama is able to deal with people from other countries judging him for actions that America takes that appear to be done exclusively out of self interest (or as an ulterior motive), and how is able to do it when it's his own country men.

To which I would respond "All countries do things exclusively out of self interest, but not all things. If believing everything the US does is somehow malevolent makes you feel better about your own country, go ahead. We're a little too busy feeding the hungry in 3rd world countries, being the sword of the UN, trying to keep the global economy running, and looking inward to find our nation's identity in the coming years to care what you think anymore. "
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Alright, let's do this.

A hidden tax increase in Barack Obama’s budget proposal? Shocking!

Newt Gingrich says he's an outsider: 'I'm the people's candidate.' ... HA ha ha ha... /tear

Obama's re-election campaign is trying to dig up dirt on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The budget: How we got here.

Will Obama's Israel stance really cost him Jewish support? Prolly not.

Who finally won the state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, which became a referendum on Scott Walker’s controversial union law? Hint: Not the union candidate!

Socialized medicine: Two patients died after being left waiting in ambulances outside an over-stretched hospital in the UK.

Here’s an example of what politicians do in order to justify their existence … come up with asinine laws like this one to make it look like they are doing something in their community.

Want another reason as to why the U.N. is a joke? Its latest Human Rights Council has fewer “free” countries than ever and has more than one-third of the seats held by members of the Islamic bloc.

The British have chosen 'Chalaque' translating to 'smart alec' as Barack Obama’s code name while visiting their country.

Hey ladies, this Republican in Kansas thinks you need to plan ahead for rape because he has a spare tire on his car.
 
Will Obama's Israel stance really cost him Jewish support? Prolly not.
I've gotta agree. Jewish folk outside of Israel have long seen how the wind is blowing and would be more than willing to give up the gains if it meant the attacks would stop on their homeland. They want a safe and secure country. The only ones who truly care about the gained lands are the people IN Israel and they aren't exactly US Voters.

The British have chosen 'Chalaque' translating to 'smart alec' as Barack Obama’s code name while visiting their country.
I thought the most accurate translation was "One who is too smart for his own good"?

Want another reason as to why the U.N. is a joke? Its latest Human Rights Council has fewer “free” countries than ever and has more than one-third of the seats held by members of the Islamic bloc.
The Human Rights Council has always served as the baseline for whether the UN considers a country "worth keeping an eye on". It's sort of like the freshman table at lunch: Your existence is acknowledged, but your nowhere near important enough to sit with the varsity team that is the UN Security Council.
 
Christ, like the Obama campaign needs to dig far for dirt on Christie.

Almost clicked the hidden tax increase thing and then realized it was Newsbusters.
 
P

Philosopher B.

I didn't vote for Christie, but neither did I vote against him; I abstained.

I feel like I'm what's wrong with this country. :-(
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Here's a couple for ya, Gas.

Reagan's budget manager says the GOP has destroyed the US economy. Not "can destroy" or "might destroy". HAS destroyed.
FTA:
Today, professional economists are no more than hired guns for politicians with myopic ideologies and huge bankrolls that make it easy to justify lying, cheating and stealing from investors, workers, consumers, savers and taxpayers. Capitalism has morphed into a monopoly ruled by politicians who are serving a wealthy elite. Competition is a joke. Democracy is a farce. “We the People” no longer exists.
Well, I could have told you that. But notice the above paragraph doesn't cite a party. It's not just the GOP, it's both major parties beating the economy to death... though I guess you can blame the republicans more because they're supposed to actually be FOR capitalism... but we haven't seen actual capitalism in our macroeconomy in decades, if not generations.

His main points:

1. Politicians are addicts, can’t stop spending America’s future

2. Cutting taxes: a cruel joke, defers big tax burden onto kids

3. Social Security is a myth: Forget 2036, there’s no money today

4. Reaganomics loves war: Military spending is off the table

5. Gross leadership failure: clueless ex-Goldman CEO at Treasury

6. Bank bailouts: Bad economics now accelerating America’s decline

7. In a “free market,” Wall Street banks must be free to fail

8. Today’s “crony capitalism” is destroying our faith in America

9. Derivatives speculation: Wall Street gambles in shady casinos

10. Too-greedy-to-fail banks are creating another bigger meltdown

No argument with 1. Definitely true.

For 2, it depends on what side of the bell curve taxes are. What the joke REALLY is is that we're still using industrial-revolution era taxation policies in the post-information age.

3's what I've been saying for years.

4 is well known to be a GOP sacred cow, and while I'm not adverse to a powerful military, there's a lot of fat that could be trimmed.

Everything from 5 on is also correct. The way our federal government does business should be a crime, so far as any true believer in capitalism should be concerned.

In politics, it's not who's a criminal, it's just who's getting caught.
 
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