Lucky...

Well then, it should be easy to get it close to 100% then. My pont was that ALL people should demand health benefits from their employers, and form unions and strike if denied. Um, yeah... let us know how that works out for you. OMG Mike, another icky socialist. I was having a lovely conversation with a blue-collar genius, hammerring social medicine and then asked him if I put a 7-year old girl in front of him who needed surgery to save her life, her falimly could not afford it but she wasn't deathly ill at the time so she couldn't qualify for emergency care and by then it would be too late. OF course he said he would want state funds to pay for her. It's the sams response I get when I ask people if they would rob a bank if it were legal, put a face to it and it chages everything. Some of these evil, greedy Republicans would be different if they actually saw the faces they want to deny needed servces to.

See, the ACLU defends the Republicans too: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/onion_acludefends.html

I would disagree with your characterization. I fully support about one-half of the ACLU's stances, i.e., search and seizure, etc. I DO have a problem with the other half of what the stand for... saying that he is representative of what the ACLU stands for is like saying Foley is what the Republican Party stands for - ridiculous... Exactly, only 1/2 of the Repubs are like Foley Naw, I agree, the ACLU is good but goes too far at times.

Bush has the political drive to do things too. http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=86486 Monday, February 06, 2006 Bush budget cuts education President Bush proposed shrinking federal spending on education by more $3 billion in his new budget proposal released Feb. 6, but he also wants to launch new initiatives to strengthen math and science achievement and reform America's high schools. The largest source of federal education aid to states, the $12.7 billion Title I program for low-income students, would receive no new funding under the president's proposed budget for fiscal year 2007, which begins Oct. 1. Title I accounts for about half of federal spending to implement the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which aims to close achievement gaps and get all students to read and do math at grade level by 2014. Bush proposed a 4.6 percent increase -- about $1 billion -- for new NCLB programs, including $200 million in school improvement grants to help states meet NCLB goals. The new money also would fund initiatives aimed at boosting America's international competitiveness in math and science and extending NCLB requirements into high school. Last week Bush announced in his State of the Union address his intentions to focus on math and science achievement by creating the "American Competitiveness Initiative." The initiative includes $250 million for elementary school programs intended to boost math achievement and $90 million to train 70,000 additional teachers for math, science and foreign language "advanced placement," or AP, courses that help high school students qualify for college credits. "This budget request will enable us to continue to deliver results for all children under No Child Left Behind, and it tackles our vital priority to improve our global competitiveness by targeting achievement in math and science,” U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in a telephone news conference. The overall federal education budget would be cut by $3.1 billion, or 5.5 percent from 2006 levels. Much of the cuts would come from scrapping 42 education programs totaling $3.5 billion, including: - programs for the arts, - state grants for vocational education, - Perkins loans for low-income college students and the - Even Start literacy program for poor families. However, Congress rejected cutting most of these programs when Bush requested their elimination last year. Congress cut only five of the 48 programs Bush slated for elimination in last year's budget proposal. Bush also asked for $100 million to offer expanded tutoring and vouchers to attend private schools for students in chronically failing schools, an iniative that Congress rejected in 2001. Congress also rejected a similar proposal by Bush last year to extend NCLB testing requirements into high school last year. “I’m frustrated to see education proposals that the Senate rejected 99-0 last year,” said former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise (D), president of Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that advocates tougher education standards. The gap between what states are expected to achieve under NCLB and what the federal government is willing to fund would increase if Congress were to approve Bush's budget, said Jack Jennings, president of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy (CEP) in Washington D.C., which has done extensive studies on NCLB. In a recent analysis of Title I allocations, CEP found that the growing number of school districts that are failing under NCLB has resulted in less Title I money getting to the nation's neediest school districts. "At a time when expectations for states and school districts are at their highest under the No Child Left Behind Act, the President’s investment in education is headed in the opposite direction," Jennings contended. *Article arrangement modified for clarity, but not content.

Just becuase we point things out doesn't mean we advocate them. Personally, I'm tired of USA being the "super power" Let someone else nanny the world. Which is exactly how I feel. The starving kids in _________. The fighting between the ___________ and the _____________. I just don't care. This war of futility has cost us > 1/2 trillion and out debt is 8.7 trillion, that is substantial. We are supposedly there to liberate the Iraqis after we fucked up and invaded their country in error, I don't want to be responsible for every lost lamb, country with an evil dictator or any other poor country.

But in a county jurisdiction don't the ods / evens remain constant? Here the East and SOuth side of the road is odd, it's that way throughout the county. So I disagree, the officer should have known if it's his beat.

I see your point, helping a ca wreck victim is differtn than helping a cancer patient. That makes tons of sense, we eill just let teh latter die becuase they aren't going to die immediately

So you're out of arguments, resorting to typos? Repugnicans seem to say a lot more things that either don't come to fruition or that unfortunately do. I'd say you're the one being aloof, but we can see where you're comming from. Is that what your dentist told you? Better cut down.

Well, some people have….. THE CLINTON LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE FOR EDUCATION: Bills enacted by the 103rd Congress http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/10-1994/legis.html THE GOALS 2000: - EDUCATE AMERICA ACT - THE SAFE SCHOOLS ACT - THE EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, DISSEMINATION AND IMPROVEMENT ACT - THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES ACT - THE IMPROVING AMERICA'S SCHOOLS ACT - THE NATIONAL SERVICE TRUST ACT - THE STUDENT LOAN REFORM ACT http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/additional.htmlEducation: Largest Investment in Education in 30 Years - Opening the Doors of College to All Americans. President Clinton proposed and enacted the HOPE Scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits, which in 1999 were claimed by an estimated 10 million American families struggling to pay for college. The HOPE Scholarship helps make the first two years of college universally available by providing a tax credit of up to $1,500 for tuition and fees for the first two years of college. The Lifetime Learning Tax Credit provides a 20 percent tax credit on the first $5,000 of tuition and fees for students beyond the first two years of college, or taking classes part-time (in 2003, this increases to $10,000 of tuition and fees). In his FY 2001 budget, the President has proposed expanding the Lifetime Learning tax credit with a College Opportunity tax cut, which will give families the option of taking a tax deduction or claiming a 28 percent credit for the first $5,000 of college tuition and fees until 2002, and $10,000 thereafter. [Education Department, 4/2/99; Treasury Department; FY 2001 Budget, p. 49] - Expanding Work Study and Pell Grants. One million students can now work their way through college because of the President's expansion of the Work Study Program, and nearly four million students will receive a Pell Grant of up to $3,300, the largest maximum award ever. The maximum award has increased 43 percent under the Clinton-Gore Administration. This year President Clinton proposed a $77 million increase in Work Study to continue to support one million awards, and a $200 increase in the Pell Grant maximum award, to raise it to $3,500. [Education Department, Office of Student Financial Assistance, Interim Performance Objectives, Final Report FY99; FY 2001 Budget, p. 50] - Making College More Affordable. The Clinton-Gore Administration has cut student fees and interest rates on all loans, expanded repayment options including income contingent repayment, and improved service through the Direct Loan Program. Students have saved $8.7 billion since 1993 through the reduction in loan fees and interest rates. [Department of Education, Statement by Secretary Riley, 10/5/99] - More High-Quality Teachers with Smaller Class Sizes. The Clinton-Gore Administration won a second installment of $1.3 billion for the President’s plan to hire an additional 100,000 well-prepared teachers to reduce class size in the early grades, when children learn to read and master the basic skills. Already, 29,000 teachers have been hired through this initiative. This year's budget provides $1.75 billion, a $450 million increase -- enough to fund nearly 49,000 teachers. [Education Department, Local Success Stories - Reducing Class Size, 11/99; FY 2001 Budget, p. 44] - Turning Around Failing Schools. 11 million low-income students in 13,000 school districts now benefit from higher expectations and a challenging curriculum geared to higher standards through Title I-Aid to Disadvantaged Students. The FY 2000 budget provides a $134 million accountability fund to help turn around the worst performing schools through such measures as overhauling curriculum, improving staffing, or even closing schools and reopening them as charter schools. This year, the President is proposing to nearly double investment in this fund to $250 million to help ensure all children receive a quality education. [Education Department, Challenging the Status Quo: The Education Record, 1993-2000, 4/00; FY 2001 budget, p. 42] - Providing Safe After-School Opportunities for 850,000 Students Each Year. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program will provide enriching after-school and summer school opportunities for 850,000 school-age children in rural and urban communities in FY 2000. Extended learning time has not only been shown to increase achievement in reading and math, but to decrease youth violence and drug use. Funding for this program more than doubled from FY 1999 to FY 2000. For FY 2001, the President's budget calls on Congress to invest $1 billion in 21st Century Community Learning Centers and to ensure that all children in failing schools have access to quality after-school and summer school opportunities. This proposal will double funding and triple the number of students served to 2.5 million. [FY 2001 Budget, p.44] - Expanding Choice and Accountability in Public Schools. The Clinton-Gore Administration has worked to expand public school choice and support the growth of public charter schools, which have increased from one public charter school in the nation when the President was first elected to 2,000 today. More than 250,000 students nationwide are now enrolled in charter schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The President won $145 million in FY 2000 -- and has proposed $175 million in his FY 2001 budget -- to continue working toward his goal of establishing 3,000 quality charter schools by 2002. [Education Department Press Release, 8/28/99; FY 2001 Budget, p. 47] - Teaching Every Child to Read. The President challenged Americans to commit to the effort to ensure that every child can read well and independently by the third grade -- 1,400 colleges and universities took up his challenge, and 26,700 college work-study students now serve as reading tutors to help every child learn to read. [Education Department, Challenging the Status Quo: The Education Record, 1993-2000, 4/00] - Expanding Access to Technology. With the Vice President's leadership, the Clinton-Gore Administration has made increasing access to technology a top priority. The President and Vice President created the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund to help connect every school to the Internet, increase the number of multimedia computers in the classroom and provide technology training for teachers. They increased overall investments in educational technology from $23 million in 1993 to $769 million in FY 2000, and tripled funding for Community Technology Centers to reach at least 120 low-income communities. Through the E-rate program, they secured low-cost connections to the Internet for schools, libraries, rural health clinics and hospitals, benefiting more than 80 percent of America's public schools. They also increased investment in education research to ensure all children benefit from educational technology. In 1999, 95 percent of public schools were connected to the Internet -- up from just 35 percent in 1994. [FY 2000 Budget, p. 67; National Center for Education Statistics, Stats in Brief NCES 2000-086, 2/00] - Supporting Local Education Reform Efforts. The President signed the Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999 (Ed-Flex) into law in April 1999, giving all states greater flexibility in the use of federal education funds in exchange for greater accountability for helping all students reach high academic standards. [PL 106-25, 4/29/99] - Established the GEAR UP Mentoring Program for Middle School Children. President Clinton and Vice President Gore created and expanded GEAR UP, a nationwide mentoring initiative, to help over 750,000 low-income middle school children finish school and prepare for college. The President's FY 2001 budget would expand services to 1.4 million students. [Education Department; FY 2001 Budget, p. 237] - Providing Early Education to Nearly 900,000 Children with Head Start. The President and Vice President have expanded Head Start funding by 90 percent since 1993. Head Start will reach approximately 880,000 low-income children in FY 2000 and, with the President's proposed increase for the program, will be on the way to reaching the President's goal of serving 1 million children and their families by the year 2002. The Administration also created Early Head Start, bringing Head Start's successful comprehensive services to families with children ages zero to three, and set high quality standards for both programs. [HHS, Administration of Children and Families]

A little more than half of all workers in the private sector receive healthcare benefits. The rest either pay for it themselves (at a rate typically much higher that corporations are charged), go without or get what they can through the government.. http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost Great start, now put the data together and make an argument. I mean this w/o sarcasm, what is your argument?

Well, we try talk those subjects and all we get is rhetoric, so we think that starting small and working up might help.

Just becuase we point things out doesn't mean we advocate them.

In reviewing this thread, at least he tried to address the thread issue, you ad nothing. Go address the proposition by Bush.

quote]Cal me fiscally conservative and for individual rights and responsibilities - Yes, that is the Repub platform, so tehy say, but look at the last 18 years of Republicans directly responsible for over 70% of the entire debt and we can safely call it lip service. Yes they both say it, but no, the Repubs don't do it, the Dems have - need proof? So that's the spin now, the Dems fighting the war cost and now they are the overspenders, yet they are somehow culpable? Nice, even tho Clinton stopped the debt increase, his predecessors both slammed it hard and so has his successor, but the dems are responsible somehow. Perhaps you can explain how: http://www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm Just skim over, of course you will. If you would have read and cited the statement you would see this: Perhaps go draw me a picture of your utopian concept that the church will solve all of societies ills by way of the tithing tray The Libertarians think the church can handle the multi-billion$ task of resolving all of the medical ills of the country, so I ask as I ask all Libertarians to tell me how that can work. You really don’t understand your own party’s platform.

Versus Kelpdiver calling me stupid w/o citations or a reasonable argument. I just rarely read a citation from the RWingers.

Yep, it's a simple tax increase for the middle and lower classes, plain and simple. The people who get healthcare are those who work for people, the middle and lower classes. The people who buy their own are business owners and the rich and they can write off what they pay. So this yet another redundant cut for the rich and increase for teh poor. Please, no story about your neighbor, etc, etc, etc..... the masses will pay more tax or be forced to abandon their healthcare. And I think most of what I read from you is also stupid, but I post data and cites to support my assertions rather than exclusively rhetoric.

Wrong, to believe in the rights of individuals you must have representation, at least that's what that little Constitution thing says. I'm guessing you believe in the executing people, even tho there are mistakes. A real believer in teh rights of individuals rather than the whole. Sophomire level? Yea, all Ido is to post facts, data, etc, all I see here is rhetoric. Go address some of teh mountain of evidence. Won't happen. Dems and Reps inneffective? I see, so other than teh whig party, we have always been Dem or Rep and we are inneffective. Perhaps go draw me a picture of your utopian concept that the church will solve all of societies ills by way of the tithing tray.....assumng you are advocating the Libertarian Party. I've never had anyine give me a framework of how that is supposed to work, the church care for all of the disabled people. Well, she married you didn't she? Don't be evasive, the Boeings, 3M's,etc are the big corps that suck, not the privateer. Can you understand this argument at all? Libertarians are disgruntled Repubs, just as Greenies are disgruntled Dems. Save it man, your ideologies parallel teh Repubs, not that it matters either way to answer teh thread question and ultimatley the 3 questions which you guys insist on ducking.

If you can't see anyone gaining from this change, you need to open your eyes. Last year I worked for a contracting agency that offered medical. They paid 75% of the $300/mo premium. I paid $75/mo pretax, which ended up costing me about $40 in post tax income. Then I switched jobs and agencies to one that does not provide medical access. Since I'm still recovering from a major current condition, that means COBRA time. $300/mo in post tax dollars. If I were working 1099, it would be deductable. But any W2 (or unemployed for that matter) - you're paying 100%. You tell me how that is equitable. If Bush wants to make it taxable induction with a deduction of 7500/yr, I have absolutely no objection. Individual policy holders and COBRA participants should have the same tax advantages as anyone else. So you're making the argument based upon the unemployed or transitional workers who go to jobs w/o medical coverage. Could we be a little more obscure? And you must be single with those premiums, how about larger families? How about familes of 4? Let's look at the maggot we call PIC and his intent. He obviously wants to remove employers from the burden of insuring employees and he wants to do so with baby steps. 1) Throw out a large deduction to entice workers to self-insure, and a penalty to workers who refuse to. 2) Get most people transitioned away from employer-paid insurance via infeasability, and then lower the deduction. He's aware the voters are Nazi'd out for a while and the Dems will be holding power in the near future, so he knows the Dems will be raising taxes accross the board, so he feels that this diversion from employer-paid medical is a good thing that will be cut by the Dems. The front-end motive of this legislation is to entice/penalize workers away from employer-paid medical coverage. Anyone unable to see the slipery slope is intentionally doing so. We have 1 of 6 American citizens w/o any coverage anyway, this will certainly widen teh spread. Furthermore, you conveniently avoided the question about the indigent funds and how they are paid, care to addess that one?

Michael Steele - "Oreo" Colin Powell - "house nigger" Condoleza Rice - "Aunt Jemima"? Make a guess as to which party those attacks came from? (I'll give you a hint - it didn't start with an "R") How about an "N?" Cite them with url and make your point.

Thx for the input, that was so insighful. Answer the 3 questions.

I was writing generally. I avoid using absolutes, but may by acident, don't think I was there. I think that generally the company is out for cheap, cheap, cheap, tehunion must have their guy working in order to make money, so they tend to care about descent pay and safety - the stats fully support that. Me too, and individual rights are defended by what? REPRESENTATION. Under the 6th Amendment you have a right to counsel if charged with a crime, that is how individual rights are defended. Do you think a group of blue-collars have a chance as individuals against a corp? Fuck no, you want them to stand alone unrepresented. Let me guess, are you also a company owner? And a company can fix an election. Why the secrecy? Oh yea, you are a fan of this admin, my bad. Fortunately for you the Repubs are tough guys with solid character who are men's men and they wear their toughness om their sleeve, unlike those sissy liberals who run and hide what they're about. Answer the 3 questions.

1) You act as I'm defending the Chinese government. I'm saying they are one of the worst, so I can only agree with you as you are trying to dig a point against me. Mike, the 3 questions; answer them. 2) I dislike Communism and can hardly make an argument for them, I am a Socialist, a far cry from Communism, altho not to you I understand. And when your Nazi in Chief tells workers on several occassions that if they strike he will void their contract, well, the free just left free mrket. This isn't an argument over apprentice workers receiving journeyman pay, just answer the 3 questions and quit the duck-n-run. Also, in non-RTW states, the laws are different and teh company must allow for the collective bargaining or attempt to throw out the union. You consider it that Right, certain concessions hurt the company, other hurt the worker. The idea of collective bargaining is that the workers speak as one voice. Pro-company individuals don't care that an individual is far more succesptable to being screwed by the company rather than ating as a part of a group.

But yet, you HOWL about CEO pay - a bit of hypocrisy there, don't you think? 1) Several million $ as compared to far, far less - same thing. 2) The context of that statement was that union leadership shouldn't be receiving huge py in light of strikes. I'm saying that I agree, I don't defend them getting pay either, so your micrcosm of a point is out of context once again. Don't you have the sack to answer the 3 questions I have posted for pages now? Hmmm, guess not, just keep picking statements out of context and making a million microcosmic arguments and resisting the bigger ones.

Did no one else notice the obvious; the addresses end in unlike odd/even numbers, so the genius was on the wrong side of the street. Ok, it's dark, to be a few houses down is one thing, but the other side of the road? Is this Reno 911? I'm guessing the lawyer for the injured will have noticed that as quickly as I did.

If you've ever dealt with teh police, they tend to rewrite history to benefit themselves.