US Politics

[Mister Jack]

[TheMightyEthan]

[Battra92]

I take it that's from Bedtime for Bonzo. Stupid movie and really stupid caption there.

 

To turn this to a positive, my favorite Ronald Reagan movie would be The Girl From Jones Beach. It's also one of my favorite Virginia Mayo films, though it's hard to top The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

[TheMightyEthan]

I don't know that I've ever seen a Ronald Reagan movie. I think the closest I've gotten is in BttF when Doc asks who's president in 1985, Marty says it's Ronald Reagan and Doc goes, "The actor?" and refuses to believe him.

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/8/3068342/prosper-scamworld-internet-marketing-boiler-room-joe-vitale-mitt-romney

[TheMightyEthan]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/politics/senate-farm-bill/index.html

 

So the Senate passed a bill that overhauls farm supports. I only know what's in that article, but in principle replacing direct subsidies with crop insurance seems like a good way to go, and $24 billion in savings is nothing to sneeze at. I wish it had elaborated more on the changes to food stamps though.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

If it means they won't be shipping out so much subsidised grain to Africa crippling that continents farmers then it sounds like a good idea.

[Mal]

http://www.ag.senate...ssues/farm-bill

You can read a summary of the bill or the entire Farm Bill there. A thousand pages but the fonts are huge so its only really like 500 pages...

 

If it means they won't be shipping out so much subsidised grain to Africa crippling that continents farmers then it sounds like a good idea.

Looking at the summary for Title III of the Farm Bill... I think its still in there. I'll have to take a look at the full bill to know for sure.

 

Edit: Regarding Gerbil's post... see bold part.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdamediafb?contentid=2012/06/0206.xml&printable=true&contentidonly=true

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2012– Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the following statement on the U.S. Senate's approval of the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act:

 

"I'm very pleased that the Senate acted in bipartisan spirit today to approve the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act. I am grateful for the Senate's progress toward providing a reformed safety net for producers in times of need, supporting agricultural research and trade promotion, honoring World Trade Organization commitments, furthering the bio-based economy, conserving our natural resources, strengthening local and regional food systems, and promoting job growth in rural America. As the legislative process moves forward, the Administration will continue to seek policy solutions and savings consistent with the President's Budget, and we are hopeful that the House of Representatives will produce a bill with those same goals in mind. Swift action is needed so that American farmers and ranchers and our rural communities have the certainty they need to continue strengthening the rural and national economy."

 

So yeah, I don't think so.

Edited June 21, 2012 by MaliciousH

[TheMightyEthan]

I do worry what it might do to food prices.

[deanb]

http://www.rawstory....t-being-a-dick/

 

Via friend on FB.

[Mal]

Oh teens who think they knows exactly what they wants and know everything there is there to know. How cute.

[Mercurial]

I read that in Skwisgaar Skwigelf's voice as soon as I saw "they wants."

On a more related note political talk show hosts are terrible people.

[Battra92]

If anyone knows about being a dick, it's Bill Maher. Seriously, the guy has zero credibility as a human being let alone the astute political philosopher he tries to pass himself off as. Hell, he's not even funny so he fails at being a comedian. Of course there's always a big market for angry liberals ...

 

On a more related note political talk show hosts are terrible people.

 

I'd like to think that some are decent people off the mike. I mean, we have a local guy in the Albany area who talks politics on his show and from what I've heard he's just an average decent guy. The problem is there are too many asshats like Bill Maher, Michael Savage, Ed Shultz etc. that poison the airwaves.

 

EDIT: Why the hell did I say water?

Edited June 25, 2012 by Battra92

[Mercurial]

Maybe you're a sleeper agent that is secretly poisoning our water and you had a mental slip.

[TheMightyEthan]

Of course there's always a big market for angry liberals ...

 

I was going to say there's a big market for angry political commentators on both sides, but then I saw you threw Michael Savage in your list of bad talk show hosts, so instead I'll just mention Rush Limbaugh and like your comment.

Edited June 25, 2012 by TheMightyEthan

[Mercurial]

But Rush Limbaugh speaks the truth! /sarcasm

[Luftwaffles]

You and I rarely agree, Battra, but I'm with you 100% on Maher. Not sure if you've ever seen Religilous, but it's complete trash. It's Bill Maher going around basically being a dick to everyone and everybody for an hour and a half and then a 30 minute rant at the end where he talks about how religion is the root of all evil. I'm not religious myself, but it's the type of movie I cringe watching.

 

It's a shame that he has to poke his nose in everythig too, because I think Maher is a pretty funny guy when he's not talking about religion or political issues.

[CorgiShinobi]

I'll never forget when Maher defended SOPA simply because "if it weren't for the pirates, my movie 'Religilous' would have been successful!"

 

Obviously paraphrasing there, but the point being he went on a rant about how his financial success was more important than the rights of "people with no lives" online.

[Battra92]

Of course there's always a big market for angry liberals ...

 

I was going to say there's a big market for angry political commentators on both sides, but then I saw you threw Michael Savage in your list of bad talk show hosts, so instead I'll just mention Rush Limbaugh and like your comment.

 

Yeah the angry liberals thing was just poking at Maher. Michael Savage is perhaps the absolute worst radio host of all time. He just sounds like the crazy man who lives down the block that you suspect is building bombs.

 

Where Rush succeeds where everyone else fails is that no matter what, he's entertaining. Seriously, I know people who are hardcore libs who listen to him for three hours a day: the reason being is that he's entertaining.

 

But if I had to pick a guy who was the most interesting and made the best debates it would be Andrew Wilkow on Sirius XM.

 

By the way, does anyone listen to Mr. Circular Logic (Glenn Beck) any more or have his 15 minutes and OVER 9000 books passed by? I don't hear anything about him any more.

[Mister Jack]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/louisiana-students-loch-ness-monster-disprove-evolution_n_1624643.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D173126

 

Seriously?

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

I, too, hate Maher. He's smug as hell.

[deanb]

How does curriculum work in the US? Is it just whatever the school sets, or state by state, county by county, or is there a National Curriculum, just feel free to not pay attention to it? How the hell does the myth of the Loch Ness monster get taught as a science subject? A genetics class looking at centaurs, chimera and griffins.

[Battra92]

How does curriculum work in the US? Is it just whatever the school sets, or state by state, county by county, or is there a National Curriculum, just feel free to not pay attention to it? How the hell does the myth of the Loch Ness monster get taught as a science subject? A genetics class looking at centaurs, chimera and griffins.

 

The schools are largely controlled by the states although there have been a couple attempts of the Federal government to get control through mandating things with the threat of witholding Federal grant money. Depending on the state there may be state requirements (such as in NY you have the Regents Exam or in Massachusetts you have the MCAS. ) However much of the actual day to day curriculum is usually set by the school board in the local areas, as it should be.

 

There are also private schools that do not follow the curriculum of the local public schools and are left with more leeway to decide what they wish to teach and what they do not. This could mean anything from a Catholic school to a Vocational school.

 

TL;DR we don't have a national educational curriculum, which is good as "One Size Fits All" doesn't usually work.

[TheMightyEthan]

AFAIK in most if not all states private schools have to get approved by the state before they can be a "school", though I'm not sure what get approved entails. For the most part though as long as your students can pass the state tests I think you're good to teach whatever.

 

TL;DR we don't have a national educational curriculum, which is good as "One Size Fits All" doesn't usually work.

 

I disagree but that's a value judgment and is neither here nor there.

[deanb]

Surely having no national level curriculum can leave certain areas disadvantaged? I understand things like health care aren't a one size fits all solution, some regions may have more elderly care than paediatrics and so on, but all knowledge is equal. I'd be a tad upset if my child was to be taught one thing cos local education authority decided that's all they needed to know, but a friends kid a state over is being taught much more due to their LEAs policies.

 

And also surely makes it a PITA for employees/employers finding out of state work if all the CVs have different examination results on them. If you're taking on a lab assistant then the prospective employee may have a grade B in science, but were they taught their acids from alkalis, or that H20 can be converted into a bunch of complex hydrocarbons? Sure in Biology you might touch upon cryptozoology, but not "Loch Ness is real" kind of sense.