As a “Former” Marine myself, i guess Hackett was lucky not to be referred to, as we Marines refer to “OFFICE” staffers as POGIES ( a stinky, slimey fish)

To constantly hear Democrats refer to our military as “LOSERS”=Dean, “Murderers”=Murtha, “Stupid”=Kerry, “Nazi’s”=Kerry, “Terrorists”=Biden(dunno how to spell his name), “LIARS”=Hillary Clinton

I do not have a problem with the Federal government establishing basic standards of performance in specific subjects and accounting/financial rules for school districts.

But why would it ever stop there?
1) The Federal bureaucrats and politicians wouldn’t want it to, and
2) The States would say “If you’re going to measure us, you must give us the money to measure up with”
And we’ll end up back at the federalization / micromanagement which exists today. My evidence: The history of education in the U.S. over the last 40 years.

I do not have a problem with the Federal government establishing basic standards of performance in specific subjects and accounting/financial rules for school districts. That is because parents should be able to compare how well schools are performing in both respects regardless of geography or location.

I do not have a problem with the state government possessing the power of intervention when schools break either of the latter. If your students are consistently failing to perform up to standards, you need help and change

What I DO have a problem with is attempts to micromanage schools at the Federal or state level. As long as your students are meeting the performance standards and your school the financial standards, I don’t care how they’re doing it; you know the situation and how to manage it better than the Federal government does.

The problem, though, is this; there are entirely too many situations in which “local control” is used as an excuse for “local incompetence”. Our local public high school had an algebra teacher who was singularly incompetent to teach, but he had friends on the school board and he was a popular individual in the community. Year after year, good students would flunk and bad students would pass, only to go off to college and be forced into remedial algebra, but nothing happened.

ILC also has the right idea. Public schools should always be the cheapest option, but there should be nothing stopping parents from requesting that their local contribution to schools be applied to the school of choice to which they wish to send their children. Furthermore, I believe that childless folks like myself should be allowed to decide to which school we want our contribution going.

It is really not about Rush and what he said or didn’t say…it IS about free speech and the agenda of George Soros funded groups to restrict speech to whatever THEY deem…

And, it is about the Democrats being total losers and not having anything else to do.

Seriously – One radio host said “phony soldiers”, and seconds later (or no more than a minute or two), made it crystal that he was talking about a real phony soldier (if you will pardon the expression). Don’t the Democrats in Congress have anything better to do?

With them it’s all distract, distract, distract. Distracting from what? From their enthusiasm for the “Betray Us” ad – which was a real affront, a true disgrace – and more broadly, from the fact that for close to 4 now, they have been actively trying to make the United States lose in Iraq.

I am teaching in California. I once asked a district supervisor where is all the money going. He ask me if I had a spare couple of years so he could explain it to me. The whole system is so bloated and convoluted. I disagree with NDT. The Dept of Ed. needs to be abolished and the Feds need to get out of the education process, as Reagan tried to do, and that goes the same for much of the control Sacramento has on education. Education should be controlled most at the local level. The whole system needs to be blown up and rebuilt from scratch.

The transcript of the removed portion of the show reveals no deception on Limbaugh’s part.

What’s not going to work is the Soros-funded Thought Gestapo’s attempt to slander Rush Limbaugh.

And I’m sure you share my disgust at the Teachers’ Unions’ VICIOUS attacks on the idea of even having a dialogue about vouchers. Their opposition to providing choice to parents proves everything that we already know–they will not allow the concept of competition to be introduced into the system because it means that there might be some consequence for a failure to get real results. How’s that for putting the kids first?

I like the banning of contingency fee arrangements idea, but of course that might “chill” a multiple murderer’s constitutional right to seek redress of grievances in the courts for being deprived TWO helpings of Jell-o at Folsom Prison, clearly a DRACONIAN violation of the 8th Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

Of all the great things we did bring over and borrow from England’s legal system, guess which rule we decided to leave on the other side of the pond? LOSER ALWAYS PAYS THE ATTORNEYS’ FEES.

Given your HR background, you are obviously aware (and as bitter as I am) over the fact that especially in California, any useless terminated employee can file with the DFEH (lose), then file in court alleging the whole bag of horrors (discrimination, harassment, retaliation,…) with little more than their mere membership in a protected class and the termination to support the allegations that the law was broken. From there it can typically cost anywhere from $50000 to $100000 to take depositions, etc. and marshall the evidence to file a motion to dismiss the case before trial. Even assuming that the employer WINS and the frivolous suit is thrown out, the employer will NEVER get that money back. Attorneys’ fees awards to the employer and against the employee are virtually unheard of (and uncollectable anyway). And if you go to TRIAL and win, that could be another 50-75K that the employee will similarly have no obligation to pay.

One thing I do like about the out-of-control availability of contingency fee arrangements? No liberal can ever argue again that any poor, single mom thrown out by her MEAN EVIL employer does not have equal or better access to representation than the employer. $500 per hour attorneys routinely take employment discrimination cases for the most impoverished in our society because if they win, they win everything–compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, etc. If they lose? Employee walks away. Employer is out 100k to 250K for WINNING THE CASE.

However, I have to concede that some of the very things about California employment law I find so paternalistic, actually ensure that I have a job. ; )

Most of it, simply put, evaporates.

My rule is simple; not another penny on education until national education standards with teeth are rammed down teachers’ unions throats.

Not another penny on healthcare until contingency-fee arrangements for lawyers are outlawed as champerty (as they are in numerous other countries) and until the losing side in a lawsuit is mandated to pay all legal costs for the winning side.

Great point. Because even without the hypothetical you proposed, they still regard every dollar that goes to the military as having been essentially “stolen” from some other, more “legitimate” program or intended purpose. I mean, how often have we heard those same, tired words: “just think of what a wonderful world this would be if only that money had gone to education or healthcare.” They view every dollar as having been “stolen” from the public schools or indigent medical programs. It doesn’t occur to them that the military can exist in the U.S. without public schools or universal healthcare. However, it cannot be said that the opposite is true.

cricket………………..cricket……………….cricket

Harry Reid and some Democratic leaders are sending a letter to to the president of Clear Channel Radio, the parent of Rush Limbaugh´s station requesting that he have Rush repudiate his statement…

Indeed, Rush should absolutely repudiate Harry Reid’s corrupt, distorted version of his statement.

I get the feeling this is another LOM (Left Outrage Myth) in the making. Every once in a while, the Left needs to reassure itself spastically of its weak patriotism and to create a new myth of how outrageous those righty opponents are. Fuel for the fund-raising machines, I guess.

This isn’t the first time Sorocrats have tried to intimidate a broadcaster. Remember when Reid and other Sorocrats threatened ABC’s broadcast license for criticizing Bill Clinton in ‘The Path to 9-11′ (Where’s the DVD?)?

When Chavez shut down opposition media, the left cheered. Now, we see why.