Welcome to Atlanta, Mr. President. Now about pre-k . . .

States are corrupt dysfunctional political institutions that may occasionally stumble upon “pilot programs” that are worthy of extension. But 50 states with 50 bureaucracies and 50 sets of rules is no way to administer anything of value.

Kyle’s mistrust of federal administration is a deeply embedded prejudice, not a well thought out observation. Improving education for America’s children, especially for those in third-world states like Alabama and South Carolina, can only be done by the national government.

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Aynie Sue, a glaring example of the increasing inept education system…

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Aesop, Pinko??? Save us from people who still use these terms.

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I doubt Kyle will reprimand Stephenson for his personal post at Sue. Kyle is such a snarky lad. Name on federal program that republicans have ended? The control the executive and legislative branches of government during W’s pain, I mean reign. How did they limit the size of government?

Did Saxby introduce one bill to this effect?

Wingfield has nothing left but to complain about anything Obama does, period. Just like his party, no solutions just complain like old, white men do about how their country USED to be.

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I am glad that President Obama has placed value and focus, nationally, on the importance of pre-k education for all students. That program is a primary way in which to create more educational parity among students.

President Obama complimented Georgia in regard to its pre-k program in national, and perhaps even worldwide, broadcasts of his State of the Union Address. Georgia’s politicians should, as the President rightly stated, place priority upon the national interests more than upon partisan interests. It would be helpful to students, and to Georgia’s citizens as a whole, if Georgia’s Republican politicians would stop resisting almost every program which the President initiates. To obstruct his intiatives, in behalf of all Americans, for partisan reasons appears to be petty, and even destructive, in the eyes of many.

Welcome to Georgia, Mr. President. Thank you for highlighting the need for pre-k programs in Georgia and throughout our nation.

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Intereesting Kyle that you don’t link to the study itself. Your links are to an article by the very conservative Cato Institute, and Joe Klein?

You expected an actual link to the study? BWAH! Kyle doesn’t want melted brains all over his blog.

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I guess these libs don’t know how to open Kyle’s link, so I help them -

Even the best-intentioned programs are allowed to languish in waste and incompetence. Take, for example, the famed early-education program called Head Start.

These results were so shocking that the HHS team sat on them for several years, according to Russ Whitehurst of the Brookings Institution, who said, “I guess they were trying to rerun the data to see if they could come up with anything positive. They couldn’t.” – Time Magazine

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take the federal pre-k dollars and devote all lottery revenues to college students?

BINGO! We have a winner. Speaking as someone with a 14 year old.

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Just another example of Obama’s big government mentality. This is the most radical minded president since FDR.

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kyle

How can pre-k be turned sour by any type of funding? I mean really, talk about an argument that has clay feet. A young mind of only 48 months or so being exposed to reading, writing, alphabet how is money going to corrupt that? Ridiculous.

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I can think only of reasons a federal preschool program is a bad idea.
————————-

A blasphemy against Dear Leader and liberal fascism!

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there’s no such thing as “free money” from the feds

Well, not if you’re a prole. If you’re a bankster, there is plenty of it.

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If you’re a bankster, there is plenty of it.
—————-

One difference: the banksters (well, except GM’s financial arm) paid theirs back. The Obozo receptacle “takers” never do.

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The Obozo receptacle “takers”

Please ride that fabulous talking point to victory in 2014 and 2016, GOP. It is a winner.

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By the way, phone guy, those “takers” do this thing called “working,” or “labor,” if you like–generally for lousy, artificially depressed wages. I don’t expect you to be able to do the kind of math required to understand that the banksters benefit from that, along with all their lovely fluffy free money.

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the banksters benefit from that
———————–

The banksters also PAY for the resources they use. The Obozo receptacle takers do not.

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Kyle

While I can see your point about the President being pro-government, we know that already. The Republican party is as well. There is no real dichotomy between the two parties when it comes to big government solutions.

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Washington this year is projected to borrow $7 billion (almost the annual cost of Head Start) every three days. Yet, Democrats and some Republicans are wringing their hands about the so-called sequester budget cuts that would trim that figure by barely one-tenth. So, you’d think this is exactly the wrong time for the feds to take on yet another role the states have proven themselves capable of handling.

Well you would, if you believed the Beltway nonsense that there is some kind of “deficit crisis” — that, blessedly, the rest of the country appears to be rejecting.

I think you guys who continue to do this hand-wringing (and I include Dems here, including the skinny black guy in the White House, don’t get me wrong) have worked that long con long enough. We are not going broke. Pay for stuff we need and get people working again, and educated properly, for crying out loud.

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The federal government can’t balance a checkbook, make a budget, and spends twice as much as it takes in, do you see a problem there?

In what world do you live? We appear to still be the top dog on the world stage. I don’t see a problem.

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By the way, phone guy, those “takers” do this thing called “working,” or “labor,” if you like

Phone guy just has no respect for our military personnel, the elderly, the young, the mentally retarded, etc.

Just me me me me me me me me me me me…..

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So tell me again why we should trust the federal government?

If you can’t trust or respect your own government, why do you continue to live here? Surely there is another country more to your liking?

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Based on how Georgia keeps sinking in the educational rankings, has the pre-K program been a success? Have there been any studies that show it has done any better than Head Start? I knew idealistic people who worked in Head Start in the 70s who thought it was a collosal failure. It just takes the government a long time to figure things out.

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There is no real dichotomy between the two parties when it comes to big government solutions.
——————-

Which part of the federal government are Republicans currently working to expand?

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I think the questions we should all be asking is, ” Does Lil Barry have a job? Or a life? Or is Kyle really Lil Barry?” I’ve never seen the two of them together. Kyle obviously agrees with the hate Barry spews here every day and Barry obviously thinks trolling the AJC blog is his job so….. This inquiring mind would like to know.

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A country’s leadership that truly cared for the future would spare no expense in caring for its most precious asset, children.

As much as is possible, every child would get good parenting, schools, healthcare and safety.

College and trade schools would be avaliable, at no cost, to every high school graduate.

This would, as much as possible, insure that every child could grow up to be all they can be.

Because selfishness and greed rule in America’s ruling circles, you may be sure the above will never happen.

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Actually, federal involvement in our education system has been WILDLY successful…………for Washington.
Hence the election of Obama-types.
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Don’t be fooled by Obama’s “official” reason for visiting Georgia.
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Georgia is one of the top Libertarian voting states in the union. That frightens TPTB.
He’s only doing damage control.Must………get………….to…….even…….YOUNGER…..livestock…..children.
The younger the mind ………..the easier to mold into little democrats or controlled opposition republicans.
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lol

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The seminal study of the minimum wage, done by economists David Card and Alan Krueger, found that job creation was actually strengthened by an increase in the minimum wage. This result has been found time and time again. So Rubio and Ryan have the history exactly backwards: raising the minimum wage results in higher wages and more purchasing power for workers, not job losses.

http://davidcard.berkeley.edu/papers/njmin-aer.pdf

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You should immediately ban any of these people

Not hard to show the Cons don’t really care about anyone’s FREEDOM but their own.

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Third Grade Follow-up to the Head Start Impact Study

Key Findings

Looking across the full study period, from the beginning of Head Start through 3rd grade, the evidence is clear that access to Head Start improved children’s preschool outcomes across developmental domains, but <b<had few impacts on children in kindergarten through 3rd grade. Providing access to Head Start was found to have a positive impact on the types and quality of preschool programs that children attended, with the study finding statistically significant differences between the Head Start group and the control group on every measure of children’s preschool experiences in the first year of the study. In contrast, there was little evidence of systematic differences in children’s elementary school experiences through 3rd grade, between children provided access to Head Start and their counterparts in the control group.
In terms of children’s well-being, there is also clear evidence that access to Head Start had an impact on children’s language and literacy development while children were in Head Start. These effects, albeit modest in magnitude, were found for both age cohorts during their first year of admission to the Head Start program. However, these early effects rapidly dissipated in elementary school, with only a single impact remaining at the end of 3rd grade for children in each age cohort.
With regard to children’s social-emotional development, the results differed by age cohort and by the person describing the child’s behavior. For children in the 4-year-old cohort, there were no observed impacts through the end of kindergarten but favorable impacts reported by parents and unfavorable impacts reported by teachers emerged at the end of 1st and 3rd grades. One unfavorable impact on the children’s self-report emerged at the end of 3rd grade. In contrast to the 4-year-old cohort, for the 3-year-old cohort there were favorable impacts on parent-reported social emotional outcomes in the early years of the study that continued into early elementary school. However, there were no impacts on teacher-reported measures of social-emotional development for the 3-year-old cohort at any data collection point or on the children’s self-reports in 3rd grade.

Parents like the free babysitting.

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Are you half empty folks always grumpy ?

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Maybe the Federal Govt should just allow parents, neighbors, friends, and anyone who wishes to divert their income tax dollars directly into “scholarships” paid to new privately run for profit out of State commercially backed Pre-K charter schools. GOP would go for that one, right? After all, it’s for the underprivileged minority kids, just like the high school scam, er, scholarship program.

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Wow. Have the bars opened early today in honor of President Incompetent’s visit?

‘Cause the left is unusually vicious in the responses today.

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The latest study I am aware of said that the gains originally made have been reduced and now only last to the 3rd grade. Why?

The actual report HHS did on Head Start is strange, many of the cognitive assessments done in the pre-K years were marked “NA” at the third grade level because they weren’t collected. It appears they only used a couple of measurements in 3rd grade. The types of tests varied by age, which makes some sense but for a comparative assessment of the same kid it seems problematic.

The HHS study has another issue in my book–it was a comparison of Head Start vs. other kinds of programs, not Head Start vs. nothing.

Some of the education-soaked people over in Maureen’s blog might understand the study but I’m not gung-ho enough for a dip in that alphabet soup.

A long-range study done on a group of pre-K’ers (man that’s an awkward handle) in the 1960’s followed them to adulthood. The pre-K group had a lower arrest rate and more HS diplomas and jobs. I personally like those metrics better than some BBQEXS score on the IOKIYAR Comprehensive Assessment of FUBAR.

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OBAMA: “I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”

Translation: You need to work with us. If you don’t, I’ll do it my way. How’s that for compromise the left is always whining about?

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“Have the bars opened early today in honor of President Incompetent’s visit?”

As if your own arrogance equals competency, keep trying.

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The federal government the last time i looked was 16.5 trillion in debt and climbing. Georgia has a Pre-K program already that is functioning and funded. We do not need more Federal Govt. control over our state. The Federal Govt. should first fix those programs which are going broke—medicare and social security. Let’s see the Federal Govt. learn to run programs such as those in a financially responsible manner before we give them anymore tax dollars and before we let them take over anymore government programs. Rest assured there is Union money behind Obama’s push for more and more control.

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Typical liberals. Clearly the Head start program DOES NOT WORK. And yet the libs still want to keep wasting money on something that DOES NOT WORK. And they try to justify continuing to waste money on a program that DOES NOT WORK with emotional appeals and comments about a civilized nation educating its children and other rhetoric. And therein lies the problem. We will continue to fund a program that DOES NOT WORK because if you try to end this boondoggle that DOES NOT WORK then the libs will scream that the Rs are anti-child and that the meanie ole Rs hate children and all that nonsense. And so hence we will continue to waste money on a program that DOES NOT WORK- all because libs think with their emotions as opposed to rational, logical thinking.

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In this ObamaNation………..Education is overrated anyhoo.
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If you get free cheese and money from the government, then all you need to know is the letter D.
Vote accordingly.
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Likewise, if you’re still crazy enough to work for a living and then to have the government seize 70% of your paycheck through taxes and inflation…….to pay for above AND to kill brown people 10 thousand miles away, then all you need to know is the letter R.
Vote accordingly.
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KISS.
Keep it Simple Sheeple.

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Yesterday, I read an article in “Time” magazine, December 17th (or 12th), 2012, page 27, by Joe Klein entitled, “Obamacare vs. Medicare” (actually the content described the benefits of combining the two medical programs, making both Democrats and Republicans happy). I copied the following words from Klein’s article because I would like to see educational practices model medical practices in the need for a similar record keeping, diagnostic approach to solving medical or educational problems. Having each student’s precise instructional functioning level, especially in reading and math, placed within computer programs – via standardized test scores – will allow teachers to “pull up” individual score variances among their students, in seconds, and, thereafter, instructionally address effectively the wide range of these instructional variances that will invariably occur within each grade level. This state-of-the-art record keeping will lead to more successful instruction and more successful students. From the “Time” article:

“The nation’s hospitals are discovering that the information culled from electronic record keeping can lead to best practice procedures that save money and provide more effective care.”

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Dear MarkV

Happy Valentine’s day to you,too, my friend. That’s a nice start to a fine day.( I have to leave in a few minutes.)

IN the meantime, Kyle has given us some very straight forward facts. Please consider the fact that Headstart has been pronounced a failure by the agency itself. Three year olds need babysitters if they don’t have parents to raise them. I don’t think the government is constructed or designed to be babysitters. There are bigger things to be managed than teaching little ones how to tie their shoes, etc.

Maybe we should teach kiddies how to “budget” since they aren’t going to have much money on which to live when they are adults and the government is still deep in debt. (You thought I wouldn’t mention THAT. Fooled ya!)

Bye…

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And in addition to Carson history is replete with examples of poverty stricken peoples who rose through society and through education

If you were educated in one of the 20+ nations ahead of us in math and science I probably wouldn’t have to point out the obvious: the plural of anecdotes is not data.

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Thank you Mary Elizabeth! I agree with both your posts. Schools aren’t diploma mills.

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“You seem to have the idea that there is a cause and effect relationship between poverty and poor academic achievement. The evidence doesn’t agree with you.”

Absolutely, positively incorrect!! The evidence sir most certainly does not agree with you and I’m talking empirical evidence not to mention good old common sense!

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“If you were educated in one of the 20+ nations ahead of us in math and science I probably wouldn’t have to point out the obvious: the plural of anecdotes is not data”

Aquagirl,

And if you broke down our educational data by groups you would see that some groups such as Asians, are probably right near the top when compared to those 20 other nations who score higher. In my view it comes down to cultural and values more so than anything else and I think that data would pretty much support my view.

Also if we are spending more on education per person that practically anyone on Earth then why are you folks in favor of just throwing more money at a system that clearly is not working according to the international testing scores that you just presented? Seems that’s the knee jerk liberal solution to everything- more programs and more wasted money. And at a time when we are broke and spending more than ever on education with lesser results.

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The GOP would have children not in pre-k, but in pre-kkk. or pre-k rations, that is, learning how to invade other countries and kill the pre-k’s of any country not involved in 911, as long as they look like they coulda, woulda or shoulda been involved. The GOP is very special-k. Notice all the fruit loops?

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So, where DOES Georgia stand compared to other states when it comes to education? Pretty low, right? So why does this Federal plan to educate our very young stir up so much opposition? Ignorance? An I hate anything Obama proposes mentality? Stupidity? Stubborness?

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Georgia’s Pre kindergarten program: (from the AJC)

NIEER’s report also predicts Georgia’s quality rating will fall next year because of decisions by the governor and Legislature to cut 20 days from the pre-k school year and to increase class sizes by two students for the current school year.

Teachers, who were facing the prospect of 10 percent pay cuts, quit the program in record numbers between the legislative session’s end in spring 2011 and the start of this school year. Gov. Nathan Deal pushed through a proposal in the recent General Assembly session to restore 10 of the 20 days for the next school year.

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sailfish,

Also as for the lack of humor this is the adult table so we do have to behave ourselves. I can’t call Fred a peanut headed ensemble of nature’s carelessness over here and get away with it like I did next door.

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Thulsa, please don;t remind us about Fred. Anything he does is best left unsaid.

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doom

Do you actually read what you say? Asian families? Yes, they have a family and that is the point. Ever visit a place where a child comes home to where the mother is cracked out or they live with an elderly sibling or an old tired out grandmother???
If you really think that a program like head start doesn’t positively help that child, then nothing will break through your concrete ideology.
So you think I represent irony? Maybe thats partially true but I am not monolithic and independent enough to swim against the current.

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Simply fix the fed program.

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Mary Elizabeth,

I took the time to read your essay. Sounds to me like what my sister already does. She breaks her class into several groups and works with the different groups at their particular instructional levels.

“Practically every educational article that I have read has confirmed a strong causal relationship between poverty and the lack of academic success.”

Then you need to broaden your horizons and read articles other than from a left leaning educational perspective. Read some basic history or perhaps some studies of different cultures. History disagrees with you on this subject and the everyday evidence right before our very eyes also disagrees with you.

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“Ever visit a place where a child comes home to where the mother is cracked out or they live with an elderly sibling or an old tired out grandmother???”

Sailfish,

Thank you for making my point. Because your comment there ties right back in with what I was saying about culture.

“If you really think that a program like head start doesn’t positively help that child, then nothing will break through your concrete ideology.”

Speaking of concrete ideology it appears you’re the one who simply dismisses the evidence if it doesn’t fit your pre-conceived narrative. As it plainly states in the article the Health and Human services report itself states very clearly that whatever gains may be made by Head start are wiped out by the 1st grade I think it was. Either you simply chose to ignore that part of the report or you cannot understand a fact when it is presented to you. Fact immunity disorder is what I call it. Its a psychological disorder that liberals have where facts just don’t matter.

If there is no concrete advancement that sticks with the kids through grade school then the reality is what it is. And that reality is that Head start is possibly nothing more than a baby sitting program for parents to lazy to watch after their own kids.

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other than a few parasite, takers, and leeches comments, which you may take as racial,

Well golly, I don’t know why we’d take comments like this as racial:

“it would be nice to see more minorities support the Republican Party. But if the freebies aren’t forthcoming from the R’s (FREE healthcare, FREE smartphones, FREE ID cards, FREE EBT cards) forget it.”

Or would you prefer zeke’s “Blacks and other minorities, IF THEY WOULD ONLY LOOK WITH A LITTLE INTELLIGENCE AT THE DIFFERENCES”

And then there’s the classic “All these so-called minority groups band together to vote Democrat. Each seperate group are self absorbed, entitled zombies.”

Put that in your oh-so-offended pipe and smoke it, Rafe. Y’all got some sewage here and your frantic spraying of Lysol is almost comical.

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Thulsa

To call this the “adult table”, you must certainly ignore the consistent insults and namecalling that is done consistently here by Aesop, Barry and several others.

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Too Big to Jail

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/gangster-bankers-too-big-to-jail-20130214

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This is just another tactic to avoid the main issue that our country is beyond bankrupt. He knows the Federal Gov’t doesn’t have the money to fund these programs, and when they don’t pass he’ll blame the Republicans

Every Speech Obama has ever made: Promise, Blame, Exploit Something, Tax, Spend

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Don’t forget that the lottery continues to shrink also because the good little repub boys and girls were mandated into the legislation that originally was needs based. If there is a program that is meant to help the poor and disadvantaged, the good little repubs will find a way to get their share of those funds-you can count on it.

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Those kids do not stand a chance because they are not wealthy to donate to the gop.

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Mary Elizabeth,

Nope. There is a correlation between poverty and academic success. But there is no direct causal relationship. If that were true then every student including folks like Ben Carson, Thomas Sowell, and millions of others would have been academic failures since they came from poor backgrounds. I myself have 2 degrees and my family was low income until high school.

I think you need to understand the difference between correlation and cause and effect. Poverty in and of itself does not automatically cause poor academic performance. Period.

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Just another chance for the libs to brainwash the children with all their filthy ideas.

It’s truly sicko.

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Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America Back up your statement that most takers(parasites and leeches) are white. You seem to throw out loads of opinions expressed as facts but without any citing. Your opinions, while excellent to you, mean nothing to me. Give us some true facts that did not arise in the bowels of Rush or faux news.

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Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories You are the real sicko here. Why don’t you do something truly useful to society instead of running people down that think differently than you. You really are not worth wasting my breath -.forget I said anything

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“There are too many people in Washington who are entrenched in the idea that if the federal government’s going to be involved in a program, we need to control it. And the way you control it is with money.”

There are too many people in Washington who are entrenched in the idea that the federal government should be in control of everything, period.

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Most leeches and parasites are white, is that more clear for you?

Oh, so the poster complaining minorities won’t vote Republican really meant “white people won’t vote Republican?”

Well, thanks for clearing that up, I’m not sure why I thought “minorities” meant “minorities.” No wonder conservatives and Republicans are so tragically misunderstood.

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getalife, this President wouldn’t know free commerce if it bit him on the backside, which of course would never be allowed to happen because only he is allowed to have people with guns around him for protection.

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“I think the only way to “fix” the gop is for the gop to surrender to our President”

Sorry, Obama isn’t a dictator…yet

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How ironic is it that the “forever” stamp I used to mail a check into my useless state government has the word “Freedom” printed on it . . .

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Hatin’ on the lil’ chee’runs again, I see. Well, they deserve it. They CHOSE to be born into poverty, addiction, abuse, or dysfunction, or worse: working parents who have several part time jobs just to make ends meet. After all, a person needs to make his or her mind up before he or she is enters a womb to be born to a family with values. Good Republican, gubmint-hating values. If the donor vessels in question cannot afford private school (in a state that provides vouchers), nannies, or to have a college-degreed mom stay home and teach the kids herself, then don’t climb into her zygote to be born of her in the first place!

Personal responsibility, people. Who cares if we’re ALL better off when our populace is educated? Enough this this nanny-state education nonsense, already!

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Mary Elizabeth,

Years ago I became a Laubach literacy instructor and worked with adults. It was awesome. I should get back into it.

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doom

Aren’t you the scholar? What’s better something or nothing? Stick to the reports to find your validation but I challenge you to visit and draw your own conclusion.
By the way, there is a huge difference between a family in poverty as opposed to no family at all, the operative word being family. How could it possibly be wrong headed to TRY as opposed to do nothing? I prefer to err on the side of caution.

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Mary Elizabeth,

Sorry that you took it that I was being condescending to you. That was no my intention and I apologize if you felt it was. I was simply making the point that most of your educational articles are probably going to have a liberal bent to them. And that you should read some articles and authors that don’t fit your narrative- and not that’s not meant to be condescending. Just an observation. For example instead of reading Paul Krugman all the time try reading a conservative economist. I read liberal economists like Krugman and Yanis Varoufakis all the time.

And yes. I’ve read Dickens. And if you’re honest with yourself you will note that the U.S. and its treatment of children today vs the 1800s when kids worked in coal mines is completely and wholly different. Most of the kids that my sis teachers get free breakfast, free lunch, their parents get food stamps to help with dinner, many get medicaid so health care is not a concern, Section 8 subsidized housing, welfare and or unemployment, and on and on.

Having lived in real poverty and having witnessed real abject poverty in Central America I think we do about as much as can reasonably be done for children of poor families. And these kids and supposedly poor parents here in the U.S. have absolutely no clue as to what REAL poverty is. There are very few of them that don’t have food, shelter, modern day conveniences, clothes, free education, and other amenities that kids in 3rd world nations can’t even fathom.

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Sailfish,

I never claimed to be a scholar- You did.

“How could it possibly be wrong headed to TRY as opposed to do nothing? I prefer to err on the side of caution.”

Again. If it doesn’t work then it doesn’t work. End of story. You can prefer to err on the side of caution but do it with your own money. To me if the evidence is that its just a waste of money then it is what it is- a waste of money and nothing more than an expensive baby sitting service. Why you can’t wake up and see what is obvious I can’t understand. And since you have your anecdotes let me bring in one. I had spoken with my sis over the Xmas holidays and asked her about things like Head start. She told me that when these kids get to 1st grade they know absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. I asked her to explain. She said they don’t know the most basic things like colors, shapes, etc. In other words they really aren’t being taught hardly anything in head start. It is what it is. And at a time when the nation is going broke we have folks like you who let their emotions get in the way of rational thought. The rational, logical thing to do is to end the program if it does not work. For the 17th time sir- if it doesn’t work then it doesn’t work.

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Let’s review:

The Federal government goes into debt in order to fund a program that doesn’t work, and the liberals want to continue it and enhance it.

The state of Georgia does a better job at the same task, and doesn’t go into debt making it work, and the liberals don’t want to repeat it anywhere.

Questions?

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I agree with you Kyle. I’ve always felt that the education system in this country has gone backwards the more the Feds are involved. Each state, county, and local school districts know what is needed in their area. Lets put it back in their hands.

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“So if I read you right now you are saying that if you believe in the sanctitity of life then you should be responsible for paying for the raising of other people’s kids.”

Actually, Thulsa, if you are going to force people through legislation to have kids they didn’t want, then it is perfectly appropriate for that same government to pick up the tab.

This is a perfect example of “two wrongs don’t make a right”.

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doom

I guess your sis can speak as the qualified expert for every headstart program in the US? The two issues have a connection but I’ll stick to the point and please don’t lecture me or tie this into money because thats always the bottom line with the conned and as far as I’m concerned even if in some cases as your sister witnessed it’s a glorified baby sitting service, so what? There are legitimate, I repeat legitimate poor out there who genuinely need the help and if a minimum of one out of every ten grow up to be a productive citizen it’s worth the cost!

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Typical solution from the left, let’s take some money from the states, pay some middle do nothing employee in the federal ranks to handle the money and ship it back to the states, and watch as we all look on in amazement as to why we are 16 trillion in debt and the economy is sputtering.

How in the world does it make sense to buy something from the government at retail when the states can do it on their own wholesale?

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Is lack of education.. “no problem”

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Democrats can’t start the indoctrination process early enough if they are to succeed in give-away programs aimed at the poorly informed voters. This is tax payer funding too, what a bonus.

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“Thulsa Doom, from your writing, I can tell that you are think ing in generalities and in stereotypes. First, I never used the word “correlation” once today, nor did I compare the word “correlation” with the words “cause and effect.” You must be generalizing about my remarks with the remarks of some other poster with whom you may have had a recent exchange. I said only that there was “a strong causal relationship between poverty and the lack of academic success,” which is true. I did not say that poverty was THE cause of lack of educational success. You are falsely misrepresenting my words.”

I think I can answer for Ms. Doom. Her intention wasn’t to misrepresent what you stated. She was simply pointing out that there is a correlation between poverty and poor academic achievement, not a direct causal relationship. In other words, the two go hand in hand however they are not dependent on one another.

For the record, and I doubt I am alone here, as a fiscal conservative who is critical of the current administration’s policies, despite my moral reservations to the subject, I have no issue with and sincerely hope that abortion remains safe and legal in this country.

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Aquagirl has it right…

“The HHS study has another issue in my book–it was a comparison of Head Start vs. other kinds of programs, not Head Start vs. nothing. ”

The real question is what happens to these kids if they don’t have Head Start…what do you think Kyle should we leave them at home by themselves or ask thier parents to sign up for welfare because they can’t afford the childcare bill?

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I’m truly glad that the Confederacy (the right wing racist rural parts) are quickly becoming an irrelevant minority in this country. Don’t you think it’s time you people seceded again so we can whip your third world butts?

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“That Finn thinks he can accurately define the Constitutional role of the Federal government is simply laughable.”

Actually the laughable or really sad bit depending on your perspective, is that Tiberius really truly BELIEVES that he is the ultimate authority on the Constitution. Mind you that is without any formal education and training on the subject. Tiberius is a “self -taught Constitutionalist”.

It is kind of like defining President’s as historical figures…the folks that have studied for years, received Doctorates and do it for a living are wrong and our very own self- centered taught Tiberius is right.

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md – perhaps we don’t need to have the ability to blow up the world 10x over, and we should consider modernizing and streamlining our bloated military industrial complex that eats up much of our taxes…for failed wars.

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Where do you people want your tax dollars spent? Money spent such that grandma can afford hip surgery and not have to eat cat food to survive, or money spent on more wars?

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Is it just me, or is there some irony in a poster complaining about having real discussions while at the same time contributing to the unnecessary adjectives?

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“md – perhaps we don’t need to have the ability to blow up the world 10x over, and we should consider modernizing and streamlining our bloated military industrial complex that eats up much of our taxes…for failed wars”

Did I miss something? Did I post somewhere where I’m against cutting the defense budget? I must be getting old, I sure don’t recall saying anything on the matter……..

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“Wow, it really, truly is just a couple of wingnut crazy 8th grade Confederates in here that have ruined any chance or real discussion in here.”

And yet you, Steve, keep posting about the people, rather than the topic.

You’re as much to blame as those you vilify.

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“I think the president is perfectly competent;”

At getting elected – absolutely.

At leadership and results?

Not so much.

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Tiberius @12:54

Doomy had it right. Somebody who doesn’t want kids would be wise not to start a pregnancy. I know that some are violently forced into it, but I’ve got to start somewhere. Tell you what. In the spirit of compromise, I’ll volunteer to pay extra tax, if a government will use it to buy pants for the people who don’t want kids. As far as I know, pants have a 100% success rate at preventing pregnancy when used properly. If someone can’t–or won’t–use them as designed, that’s not my problem, or yours, or Doomy’s.

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You’re as much to blame as those you vilify.

Don’t disturb Tiberius, he likes having the sandbox all to himself.

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“So what part is it you find objectionable..the education of children or the diversion of funds equal to about 1/5 of 1% of the federal budget?”

How about the fact that the Federal government is likely to screw up a program that works far more likely than not, and that the odds of it costing far more per person than the state equivalent.

That’s enough for me to be against it. A track record of Federal failure.

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“Don’t disturb Tiberius, he likes having the sandbox all to himself.”

Not so, Aquagirl. I enjoy an intelligent discussion.

Which is why I don’t usually respond to your posts . . . .

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I’m just curious, but how did not wanting to pay to raise other people’s children become the extremist view?

And for the bimbo threatening to “fix the Cons” by making obozo a dictator, what do think we’re waiting for?

Bring it on, punk. The sooner, the better.

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“So what part is it you find objectionable..the education of children or the diversion of funds equal to about 1/5 of 1% of the federal budget?”

Go back to my initial comment, why pay retail when you can pay wholesale for the same product?

The States are quite capable of doing it on their own, or GA wouldn’t have a successful program. Now, you seem to think we need to add a middleman to deliver the same product…….makes no sense.

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The pix are so cute! Mr. President with the little Pre-K’ers. Awwwww!

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The American people do not even bother to listen to the weak and pitiful right any longer in our country.

The right are toast and will probably split divided and conquered.

I tried to help you but now you are stuck without leaders, flailing in the wilderness.

Personal responsibility so don’t blame others for your failures.

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@md…”The States are quite capable of doing it on their own”

The states are capable of doing lots of things on thier own…problem is they mostly don’t (see health insurance). There need to be standards.

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“There need to be standards.”

Yes, Let’s LOWER the standards so that all may comply. That’s what government does.

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” I WAS part of the solution at one time.”

I have a YouTube clip that says you was part of the problem.

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I see that getalife has turned into an internet stalker.

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I see it really hurts your conservative hearts to see President Obama come here and make a special visit to this Decatur school. At least he is trying to find ways to hopefully make a difference in some childs life. What have you repubs done other than be hateful, disrepectful and have tried to blame this man for any and everything under the sun. Georgia’s education system has been on the bottom long before President Obama came on the scene. Who was responsible for that? They certainly did not look like the President. Sometimes if all you got to say is negative and spiteful, try not saying anything at all. Still have not learned anything from the last election.

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tiberius

I hear that charge time and again about this presidents leadership and your opinion is subjective only to your perception; obama’s leadership capabilities are just fine with me, it’s his negotiating skills that are more suspect.

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“What have you repubs done other than be hateful, disrepectful and have tried to blame this man for any and everything under the sun.”

And of course, that never happened with previous Presidents . . . . .

Save your poutrage for the masses, mike.

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Hey, creeper, leave those kids alone!

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released data Wednesday revealing that 20 million new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are diagnosed each year nationwide, costing some $16 billion in taxpayer funds.

Now how in the hell can it cost us 16 billion dollars a year because some nasty lib can’t keep it’s pants on or at least wash itself every once in a while.

I know how we could save some money.

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Wow, some sanity emerges from illinois -

“Sheriffs from across the state of Illinois believe that it is their responsibility and duty to uphold the Constitution including the Second Amendment. Rational law abiding citizens are not the cause of random acts of horrific violence in our communities. The focus should be primarily on the lack of mental health services in our country,” the group just announced.

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@Tiberius…”I’d expect nothing less than to have our per person spending be lower than many countries.”

Doesn’t have anything to do with freedom or responsiblity…it’s more of a level of service thing. I would expect the US the be in the top 1/3 or so…especially given the inordinate amount we spend on the military.

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Some of you sad sacks won’t follow the leader.

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“Doesn’t have anything to do with freedom or responsiblity…it’s more of a level of service thing.”

Not with you it would be about those things, JDW.

Foreign concepts to you.

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for billy ray

First of all, do your own research for a change, a little educational reading is good for you. I know they don’t teach that in Gov schools, but it can be enlightening. But here is what I found on Food stamp recipients by race in 2011.

Whites make up 36.6% of recipients
Blacks 2.28%
Hispanics 9.6%

So, you were wrong to accuse me of making stuff up. Your apology is acceptable.

Aquagirl

I am not a Democrat therefore not a member of any group, organization, movement, or political party, so don’t try to hold me accountable for what someone else posted. I am not my brothers keeper.

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“Can you cons handle reality and living in the real world?”

Who are you to pose such a question?

Your tenuous hold on reality is well documented on this blog.

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“Lindsey Graham and John McCain don’t agree with your answer either,”

And their opinion means about as much to me as yours does, Aquagirl.

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“At least he is trying to find ways to hopefully make a difference in some childs life”

Hussein could make a tremendous difference in many children’s’ lives if only he would. Since a resignation will not be forthcoming from him, he could have brought every large transport aircraft the government owns with him when he came to load up and relocate the mental defectives who voted for and support him. That action alone would make a huge difference in the lives of the remaining children of Georgia and would have won my applause!. That action would also have dramatically reduced the number of parasites in Georgia.

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Aquagirl

So, what was the incorrect statement. I read the bile, just did not notice the substance.

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Rafe, you could save time by simply posting LALALALA CAN’T HEAR YOU. You’re clearly second fiddle to Tiberius’ comic retreat anyhow, so your efforts aren’t worthwhile.

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That Obama is holding up Georgia’s pre-k program as a reason for Washington to get more involved in pre-k, rather than as evidence the states can handle more roles the feds can’t afford, shows just how backward he has it.

And this is the “dear leader” of the party that claims the slogan of FORWARD

Truth is Kyle, we of the conservative persuasion know that obama and his crowd have gone far off the constitutional path since Woodrow Wilson and the swapped roles of the federal government with the role intentionally reserved for the States.

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since Woodrow Wilson and the swapped roles of the federal government with the role intentionally reserved for the States.

MHS–It seems to be one of life’s little ironies that members of the political party which constantly touts “diversity” are never satisfied until we have a centralized, one-size-fits-all solution to every problem that comes down the pike.

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and you put up a fake Lisa Stansfield video with some white chick.

Actually, Aquagirl, it was the only youtube version available which didn’t have one of those annoying 15 second commercials attached. I’m considerate of my blogging buddies that way.

It’s too bad that I can’t refer you to a picture of me receiving a commendation from the military Tuesday night on behalf of my office for our service to the troops. You might like me a little better if you could see it. Unfortunately, too many crazies on the blog to link it for you. Last year, Gov. Deal dropped by to commend us as well. It’s nice to be able to give something back.

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“In 1904 Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie introduced to the world a play entitled: “Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up”. Similar to the central character in that stage production the American left is primarily made up of those who will not grow up. However, unlike the central character in the play, far too many on the left are self-centered, willfully ignorant and lazy.”

“Winston Churchill touched on this subject matter when he said: “If you are not a socialist at 20, you have no heart. And if you are not a capitalist at 40, you have no brains.” Fortunately, he did not live to see the vast bulk of the so-called progressives, of any age, in America of 2013, who are still in their adolescence.”

“Among the traits expected of those in their adolescent years is the conviction that they are always right and the rest of the world is wrong — that they are, in fact, much smarter than those silly and inane adults around them. However, being part of the in-crowd is really, really important thus they must look for guidance to the cool guys to establish what they are supposed to believe in. And, as in the fairy tales relayed to them while in childhood, there will always be some monolithic entity that will be there to rescue them and insure joy and happiness. Therein are the basic personality parameters of the entity known as the modern American left.”

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It came out about the same time as the Lisa Stanfield song:

There was a spate of “she’s WHITE?!?!” singers around then, wasn’t there? Lisa Stansfield, Taylor Dane, Michael Jackson…..

Congrats on the commendation, it’s nice to know some people don’t think “support the troops” is covered by a bumper magnet. And if Gov. Deal was in your office last year I hope you eventually got your wallet back.

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And if Gov. Deal was in your office last year I hope you eventually got your wallet back.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had the chance to meet Gov. Deal, but he definitely has a presence about him, almost like a Mafia don or something. He’s not a very tall fellow, but something about him says “Don’t mess with me”.

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he definitely has a presence about him, almost like a Mafia don or something.

I’ve never met him, but I remember his commercial spots with his grandkids. They looked like somebody was just off-camera with a cue card and their pet hamster as hostage. I’m sure he’s a nice man to his family but I don’t think he plays Santa at the family gatherings.

Ah, time to run, you and the fake white Lisa have a good evening.

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Ah, time to run, you and the fake white Lisa have a good evening.

My left hand thanks you.

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Enter your comments here

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Well, I don’t know whether I can address Bruno what with him getting all kinds of commendations and running around with governors.

Actually,Bruno, I think that was great to get a commendation for serving the troops. Way to go!

I like Gov. Deal, not that I have met him in person. He sounds practical to me . And the Democrats don’t like him. That proves something (and it isn’t bad.).

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“If we’re actually practically broke, why are we still spending billions trying to convert Afghanistan to truth, justice and the American way?”

Might want to ask Obama, he is the one that had the choice to end it 4 years ago…….

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Dear Dusty,

I hope your Valentine’ Day has been as happy as you expected it to be.

I am glad that Kyle has chosen as his subject for today something RELATIVELY less likely to incite furious fighting.

As you might know I am selective in choosing the subjects I comment on. Pre-school education is not one I feel comfortable enough to deal with in any detail, and I bow to your superior knowledge.

Still, I have some lingering doubts after reading you post @10:22 am. One is regarding “the fact that Headstart has been pronounced a failure by the agency itself.” If we fail in something, should be simply give up, or try to do better next time? Or are you fundamentally against the goals of HeadStart?

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Indigo, save your poutrage for someone who actually supported the Afghanistan war. I supported the initial incursion to take out the training camps, but not the extended stay.

And as was pointed out Obama could have shown some leadership and changed the timetable, but chose not to.

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“I don’t get you conservatives… you expect everyone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but you refuse to teach them how. So typical of your “I got mine so screw the rest of you!” mentality.”

cj – do you know the difference between letting the States do it and letting the feds get involved? Some of us understand it and are opposed to that aspect of the situation…..

As for greedy, 50% of tax filers pay zero income tax. We ALL got a tax cut under Bush AND Obama, yet when it came time to give them back the only outcry was for others to give them back……..that sounds like greed to me…….

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curious

My bad, decimal error, should read Blacks 22.8%. Had you gone to the website you would have been able to figure that out. Little knowledge gained in a little amount of time.

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Geez Rafe, and miss out on all that fun in between? You need to remember this is the “I want it and I want it right now” society…….to heck with that turtle pace, we now have a bunch of hares……..

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Off-topic but food for thought.

What worked for privileged, educated women hasn’t worked so well for those at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/views/os-ed-kathleen-parker-021313-20130213,0,1684144.column

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Rafe:

Let me add just a bit more to your response to cj:

Get an alarm clock. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? It is important to get to work EARLY and not just “on time”. Unless sick or attending a genuine family emergency, go to work EVERY day. Being dependable is a highly valuable asset.

Develop and ALWAYS utilize a strong work ethic. Perform your task the very best you possibly can.

Do not be a “clock-watcher”. If it takes you longer than your assigned work time, stay until the job is as near perfect as you can make it. This will pay dividends you can’t begin to imagine!

Don’t be a complainer. Leave that to the true ‘losers’.

Don’t belittle co-workers in an attempt to enhance your position. This is an easily recognizable scam that is nearly always recognized and rewarded accordingly.

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And if you do get a job, remember that no task is beneath you. And always look for things to do, even if it’s not your specialty.

Make yourself invaluable to the person who pays you.

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Yeah CC. That degree in French lit will really take you far, won’t it?

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We could go on all night with how to be successful, but if you follow the three things I said, you will be successful. To be valued and respected as well, follow CC’s steps. I would add one, NO WHINING. If the job is not to your liking, move on to a better one, just don’t whine and complain. You took the job so do it and don’t whine until you can find something else.

Of course, no whining, has to be a learned behavior for the Dems.

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Welcome to Atlanta, Mr. President. Now about pre-k . . .
———————

Doesn’t the fact that Georgia has done pre-k without federal taxpayer help give Obozo a clue about how it should be done?

Oh, forgot, it isn’t a real solution unless it’s a liberal fascist solution…and then it’s a failure.

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Tib:

“Yeah CC. That degree in French lit will really take you far, won’t it?”

French Lit, Urban Life and African Studies offer such a panorama of opportunities!

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Crispy Chris Dorner: He’s toast.

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Kudos to the heroes in San Bernardino who put down that worthless thug and, as a bonus, spared taxpayers the cost of a trial.

I guess the only commendable thing to come out of it all is the story the person told who was carjacked. From what he said, Dorner let him walk away unharmed, even though he didn’t have to. Dorner’s target was law enforcement officials. As someone who has dealt with dirty cops before, I can partly relate.

Quick note to the armchair tough guys here: You’re not impressing anyone.

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“And, wonder why Big Business could not possibly care less for you.”

They are padding your 401k indigo, hope you are participating. That is their job along with keeping their doors open……..unlike Uncle Sugar, when they run out of money they go bye bye…..usually forever. And ironically, Uncle Sugar goes on forever after taking what they could from these mean ole businesses that went bye bye……

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Chris Dorner deserved what he got but he likely had family, who had nothing to do with this and they have to suffer for his actions, too. People forget that when things like this happen. So i’m just happy it’s over with no more evil than had already occurred. No celebratory dancing for me.

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JDW: how else do you explain one of the most corrupt congressmen of all time
——————-

For a minute there I thought JDW was going to go off on Harry Reid, who has made some, shall we say, amazing profits on real estate deals where he had no skin in the game, and has become a multi-millionaire on a Senator’s salary. Scumbag.

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@Aesop…”When Harding died in August 1923, Coolidge had not seen him since March, but the new president, assisted by a splendidly named former congressman, C. Bascom Slemp, continued Harding’s program of cutting taxes, tariffs and expenditures. “I am for economy. After that, I am for more economy,” said the 30th president, whose administration’s pencil policy was to issue one at a time to each bureaucrat, who if he or she did not entirely use it up had to return the stub.

This, of course, returned 13.4% growth and 3.6% unemployment in 67 some months….Better known as the good old days.”

Hummm…now just what is August 1923 plus 67 months…why that would be January 1929…nice strategy the “good old days” lasted until October then we got Depression for 10 years. Kind of like the Duhbya approach…cut taxes, spend like a drunken sailor, fall asleep at the switch all for 8 months of great economy followed by 10 years of Depression/Recession and you idiots want to do it again.

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@LBB…let me know when Harry resigns rather than face the music then fires the ethics oversight in his new job in a stunning bit of deja vu…then we will have an apples to apples comparison. Till then you are comparing apples (of the rotten variety) to seeds.

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@CC…see my 11:04 it applies to you as well.

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JDW:

“Kind of like the Duhbya approach…cut taxes, spend like a drunken sailor”

“spend like a drunken sailor”?

I can’t believe you actually wrote this! You don’t want a comparison of spending between Bush and Hussein! I am also sure that “drubken sailors” resent your remark because they quit spending when they run out of money, unlike your master Hussein.

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Wonder if the Pope has 2nd thoughts?

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/13/lightning-strikes-st-peters-basilica-the-day-pope-benedict-xvi-resigns/

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Well, enough with the sappy songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-S6md3LNgs

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Well, I’ll let the secret out here for the first time cj. Gather everyone around, it is so simple, if you can follow instructions.

3. Save and invest the money you earn. Pay yourself first. Deny yourself things that depreciate quickly.

Rafe–I’m not sure why these Libs seem to think that the path to success is so hard. Obviously, not everyone is going to earn a 6 figure salary, but it’s very possible to live a good life in the US with a little effort and discipline. I understand climbing out of poverty first hand, from my own experiences growing up in a poor family, and from watching others in similar circumstances who didn’t do what was necessary to better themselves. Hint: Even though I’ve earned a few million dollars over the course of my lifetime, I still have a 27″ CRT television and a prepaid cell phone that costs me around $3 per month. Pardon me if I don’t have more sympathy for the “poor” folks with big-screen plasma TVs and $100 per month cell phones.

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There you are
Makin’ it up but you’re sure that it is a star
When all you’ll see
It’s an illusion shining down in front of me
There you’ll say
Even in time we shall control the day
When all you’ll see
Deep inside the day’s controlling you and me

And one peculiar point I see
As one of many ones of me
As truth is gathered, I rearrange
Inside out, outside in
Inside out, outside in
Perpetual change

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI0zkakitMQ

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Barry

You are not administering too many beat downs from a high chair and step stool, but do carry on with the. blah, blah, blahs if that in someway boosts your self esteem and ego

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How did that Russian asteroid miss that cruise ship/train wreck? Did they have a casino on that ship?

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I guess drugs and imaginary deities go together quite well:

Anti-depressants weren’t the only medication being doled out in the most religious states. In fact, a state’s level of religiosity correlates with a state’s overall medication rate. Of the top ten most religious states in the Union, six are also on the list of top-ten most medicated states.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/160415/mississippi-maintains-hold-religious-state.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication

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Prior to the start of the Great Depression, Hoover’s first Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, had proposed and seen enacted, numerous tax cuts, which cut the top income tax rate from 73% to 24% (under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge). When combined with the sharp decline in incomes during the early depression, the result was a serious deficit in the federal budget. Congress, desperate to increase federal revenue, enacted the Revenue Act of 1932, which was the largest peacetime tax increase in history.[120] The Act increased taxes across the board, so that top earners were taxed at 63% on their net income. The 1932 Act also increased the tax on the net income of corporations from 12% to 13.75%.

wikipedia

Sound familiar? Sounds like 2001-2003, don’t it?

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Sounds like 2001-2003, don’t it?
—————–

No, not at all. Our President Bush enacted modest tax cuts for all tax payers, and revenue, growth, and unemployment all improved. And then Democrats stopped paying their mortgages, en masse. Our President Bush enacted TARP, bequeathed a recovery to his successor, and tax revenues returned to pre-recession levels in three years. Unfortunately, during those same three years, Obozo increased spending and deficits to levels not seen since WWII.

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Taking care of number one should be everyone’s top priority. Once you’ve got that mastered, you can start thinking about taking care of others.

The mass of Obozo supporters who take from the makers and contribute nothing to the funding of their country can’t even handle the first part of that.

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Cons don’t need facts:

Georgia congressman Paul Broun claimed after Tuesday’s State of the Union address that “There are more people killed with baseball bats and hammers than are killed with guns.” Explainer readers may remember Broun as the congressman who believes the Earth is 9,000 years old. What about his hammer and baseball bat claim?

He’s wrong again, but he’s getting warmer. According to FBI data, 8,583 people were murdered with firearms in 2011. Only 496 people were killed by blunt objects, a category that includes not just hammers and baseball bats but crowbars, rocks, paving stones, statuettes, and electric guitars. Broun was off by a factor of at least 17 this time, a significant improvement on his estimate of the age of the Earth. The blue planet is 4.54 billion years old, or more than 500,000 times older than Broun believes it to be.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2013/02/paul_broun_says_hammers_and_baseball_bats_kill_more_people_than_guns_is.html

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I’m late to this party. That nasty old work gets in the way, sorta like The Constitution to Progressives and especially little Barry.

Good piece, Kyle. Can you move your desk closer to Bookman so that a little common sense will rub off?

I posted on Bookman’s blog that pre-K has proven to be of no advantage, but was belittled and provided links to pieces by Liberals applauding it. Talk about denial.

When the Feds of all people find no advantage by the third grade, it’s time not to make it bigger, modigy it, or try to do better. It’s time to can it. That’s right. Stop it.

Pre-K is baby sitting paid for by taxpayers. Enough.

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Opps forgot the reference in the prior post…

@CC…”You don’t want a comparison of spending between Bush and Hussein!”

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I posted on Bookman’s blog that pre-K has proven to be of no advantage, but was belittled

You were belittled for an ignorant statement, that’s what happens in life.

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Finn – Coolidge and Hoover were two entirely different presidents. Coolidge left office with the economy roaring at such a pace, as a result of his tax cuts, that he was worried government would take the excess revenue and grow itself.

Enter Hoover -

Hoover expanded civil service coverage of Federal positions, canceled private oil leases on government lands, and by instructing the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service to pursue gangsters for tax evasion, he enabled the prosecution of mobster Al Capone. He appointed a commission that set aside 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) of national parks and 2,300,000 acres of national forests; advocated tax reduction for low-income Americans (not enacted); closed certain tax loopholes for the wealthy; doubled the number of veterans’ hospital facilities; negotiated a treaty on St. Lawrence Seaway (which failed in the U.S. Senate); wrote a Children’s Charter that advocated protection of every child regardless of race or gender; created an antitrust division in the Justice Department; required air mail carriers to adopt stricter safety measures and improve service; proposed federal loans for urban slum clearances (not enacted); organized the Federal Bureau of Prisons; reorganized the Bureau of Indian Affairs; instituted prison reform; proposed a federal Department of Education (not enacted); advocated $50-per-month pensions for Americans over 65 (not enacted); chaired White House conferences on child health, protection, homebuilding and home-ownership; began construction of the Boulder Dam (later renamed Hoover Dam); and signed the Norris – La Guardia Act that limited judicial intervention in labor disputes.[

Big government, no?

The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Black Tuesday[1] and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, began in late October 1929 and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. Economist and author Jude Wanniski later correlated these swings with the prospects for passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which was then being debated in Congress

And then he over reacted and raised taxes, among other mindless progressive principles.

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@Aseop…”And then he over reacted and raised taxes, among other mindless progressive principles.”

Taxes were not rasied until 1932….again well after the train left the station.

“With a $2 billion deficit during annual year 1931, Hoover felt that he had to do something in the next year to combat it. Deficit spending is indeed an evil, but a balanced budget is not necessarily a good, particularly when the “balance” is obtained by increasing revenue and expenditures. If he wanted to balance the budget, Hoover had two choices open to him: to reduce expenditures, and thereby relieve the economy of some of the aggravated burden of government, or to increase that burden further by raising taxes. He chose the latter course. ”

The whole point being that you don’t try to balance the budget DURING the crisis by either means…who is it that can’t seem to understand that.

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indigo, if everyone concentrated on taking care of themselves, we would not be a nation of entitlements.
We have too many people that have decided it is easier to vote for government to give them some of what those who work hard make, so they don’t have to work at all.

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Yep, Bush cut taxes, recession ends. obozo and hoover raise taxes, recession drags on for eva. Some of us can be quite mindless when put our empty heads to it, right, jdw?

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@Md…”If we are going to have the conversation, we need to compare apples to apples…..to do that you also have to compare the Obama numbers to 2001 as you did with Bush.”

No you don’t. The point is that NO ONE Republican or Democrat is going to cut the budget in a meaningful way. You can’t, it is simply too big of a jolt for the economy at large and the time a segment of our government spends pushing an untenable idea is wasted time.

The way you bring in in balance is to grow revenue faster than spending and it takes time, lots more considering how badly Duhbya screwed it up. He changed the dynamic and swung the pendulum, as did Reagan before him, to a state where spending grew really fast and revenue shrunk (tax cuts) and several years later resumed it’s normal path. That creates deficits.

Obama has been able to recreate a situation where revenue is starting to grow faster than spending and that will solve the problem over a long term. Numbers in billions…

2012 deficit -1,326.9
2013 deficit estimate -901.4
2014 deficit estimate -667.8
2015 deficit estimate -609.7
2016 deficit estimate -648.8
2017 deficit estimate -612.4

Personally I would like to see more acceleration by growing revenue a bit faster, tweaking some of the entitlement programs and some targeted spending freezes but given the current dysfunction of the Republicans I don’t see that happening any time soon.

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@Aseop…”Some of us can be quite mindless when put our empty heads”

Indeed you are.

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Here is all you need to know -

You aren’t real smart are you? First off the Smoot-Hawley act was a REPUBLICAN act…they were both Republicans.

Ever notice how liberals are like totally amazed that someone could criticize the wrong headed policies of their own party? That were not all lock step mindless zombies like they are? How much critical thought process do you think they expend, babbling on behalf of rachel maddow?

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2012 deficit -1,326.9
“2013 deficit estimate -901.4
2014 deficit estimate -667.8
2015 deficit estimate -609.7
2016 deficit estimate -648.8
2017 deficit estimate -612.4″

Do I need to put up the Obamacare “estimates” for reference, or do we both know those numbers mean very little…..

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JDW:

It must be exhausting to research and pick various pieces of information to fit your arguments. Why make the simple complex unless your point is to make false claims? Look at the overall spending figures between the Bush and the Obama administration, including the huge payback slush fund laughingly referred to as ’stimulus’. How much is the federal government spending each year through the term of Bush compared to the term of Obama? How much is BORROWED under the Obama administration compared to the Bush administration?

Your game playing does not impress . . .

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Rafe – 9:37

FDR was not contending with a Recession. He was trying to overcome The Great Depression. A Recession is missing a day of work with a cold. A depression is two weeks in the hospital with the flu.

FDR, and the Republicans as well, tried every way possible to recover from the Depression. Nothing really worked. It took WWII to finally get us out of it.

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Rafe,
You are safe
With your wise comments.
While many of us
Do nothing but fuss,
You keep right on making sense.

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@md…”Growth is never guaranteed, and the more we spend the more we take out of the private sector that needs to do the growing. And we just had a negative quarter, so that growth seems to be a mirage……”

O Dear…well by all means lets cut spending by .01% in the next quarter….year on year growth is not as you say “guaranteed” however based on past experinance one can say with complete certainty that over the long term it will in fact happen. In fact out of lets say the last 75 years or so it has in fact happened what…90% of the time. Making the claim that our economy is going to stop growing over the longterm is simply not realistic.

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md

Don’t mind Finn,

He can’t win.

He missed PreK

So that’s to say,

His brain cells neglected

And here that’s reflected.
.
It’s the best he can do, md.

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@CC…”Why make the simple complex unless your point is to make false claims? Look at the overall spending figures between the Bush and the Obama administration, including the huge payback slush fund laughingly referred to as ’stimulus’. How much is the federal government spending each year through the term of Bush compared to the term of Obama?”

O yes by all means lets look at data in a vacuum…

Point is not always what the numbers are…point is how they got there and more importantly how they get back (your remember the surpluses Clinton left Duhbya) which is what I have pointed out. If your mind can’t wrap around such basic concepts then by all means blather on…you will find yourself in a vacuum.

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indigo

Glad you admit that it took WWII to get Roosevelt off the hook. So, everything he tried did not work, none of the regulations, chickens in every pot, make work programs, government stimulus, etc. Obama seems to have missed the part about, it not working.

As Finn points out almost daily, it is demand that drives the economy. No demand, no jobs, no discretionary spending by consumers. Seems to me the only way government can have any positive effect on the economy is to stimulate demand. You can only do that on a temporary basis and hope it is enough to kick start the economy. In my opinion, the best way to temporarily get the economy moving is to let people keep more of the money they earn. They then have a little “extra” for some wants, vice needs, and go out and spend, which creates demand, which creates jobs, which creates revenue for the government.

Obama seems to spin his wheels arguing over how to divide the pie, rather than trying to grow the pie. Just my opinion, I’m not some economic savant, but those who are advising Barry aren’t doing so well either.

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@Rafe….”Thanks for the poem it made my day. Probably made JDW retch however, hah, which in itself might be good.”

Nah that didn’t faze me…however, the continued obstructionism from the Repugnicans in Congress…why that does it everytime.

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“year on year growth is not as you say “guaranteed” however based on past experinance one can say with complete certainty that over the long term it will in fact happen.”

Yep, Japan has been saying the same thing for 2 decades. And I don’t know if you noticed, but the world economy isn’t quite like it has been for the past 75 years. We now have bigger players coming onto the scene and it is and will remain a fact that growth is NOT a guarantee, regardless of past history.

Past and future have 2 totally different definitions……

As for Obamacare being included, that was the point. They missed BIG on ONE program and we are to believe the numbers for ALL the programs put together are going to be right??

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“It’s the best he can do, md.”

Probably, but I try to point it out with a bit of hope that s/he may see the absurdity of that type comment and in which direction that absurdity points.

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Awwwww…you didn’t have to “Right” one for little ole’ me…

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“That tossing of the money into the market is what causes the casino effect we see within several years of any big tax breaks. 1929, after Reagan, after W.”

The tossing of that money into the market is called “capital”, of which is the fuel that runs our economy……….we are dead in the water because that capital has been on the sidelines or offshore (2T). If the dems had a clue, they would do everything in their power to repatriate that offshore capital and run it through OUR system, but alas….they are clueless.

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I guess I could try to go a full day without the needless digs at the Cons but….but….but, what fun is that?

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@md…”The tossing of that money into the market is called “capital”, of which is the fuel that runs our economy”

Nope that is what is called gambling…capital is money that goes directly into companies not markets. As for the repatriation argument, this has become systemic…companies leverage the infrastructure of the US to build products then shelter the profits abroad and wait for folks like you to beg them to repatriate the money. The only way to really fix it is to create a VAT which I think we should do.

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Dear Aquagirl,( our Russian minsk?),

Now worries about Chelyabinsk.

And there is much to worry

Ten flaming tons in a mighty hurry!,

THAT valentine was OVERDONE

A meteorite, heaven’s stun gun!

So our hearts go out to each Russian friend

And hope their sad travail will quickly end.

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“I guess I could try to go a full day without the needless digs at the Cons but”

. . . you’re incapable of doing anything but, Finn.

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however, the continued obstructionism from the Repugnicans in Congress…why that does it everytime.

Well you see JDW, what you call obstructionism, I see as a guard rail. When the car is speeding toward the grand canyon (of debt), a guard rail serves to divert the car and avoid the calamity.
Thank goodness for the GOP House, or our freedoms, economic and otherwise, would be in for a crash landing.

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indigo, even tho you are Finn are liberal blood brothers, you are not going to get far trying to school Finn.

Finn says that Roosevelt had us turned around temporarily by 1936, and permanently by 1941, hope Obama doesn’t take that long, but I see no sign that we are making any progress. 11 years of “recovery” is a long one, but Obama would be pushing to snatch that record if not for the 8 year limitation on his “service”.

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hope Obama doesn’t take that long

this is exactly why Krugman was upset the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was big enough.

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I don’t see anything on the horizon that could turn around all the economies of the world like a WW2.

Maybe we need to attack Canada……?

“Hey, Canuck’s, we don’t need a pipeline. We’ll just take over those fields and set up some refineries right there.”

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JWD twisting cons
into a knot
Lower IQ’s and bluster is
is all they’ve got
Fiction is their
truth,
stupidy is there
creed,
Keep blowing them up
whenever you feel
the need!

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Kyle enjoying that 3 day weekend life of the roving reporter?

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@Sailfish…now that was funny.

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JDW links to a puff opinion piece from Politico with absolutely NO substantiation of what is going on behind closed doors – just PAST random quotes cherry-picked from a few Republicans.

In short (as usual), JDW doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.

No surprise there.

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Ahhhh….the view from Tiberiusville…now that is how I was hoping the Repugnicans would attack thier problem…without even reading the link.

Psssttt….it wasn’t “PAST random quotes cherry-picked from a few Republicans.”

Please do continue to embrace your destiny…as part of the problem

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Kyle must be up in his asteeroid shelter, which must not have the internets.

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JDW,

Your article bears no resemblance to this one. I think this is more accurate.

http://news.yahoo.com/unyielding-gop-politicians-doing-voters-ask-084659707–politics.html

They can do whatever makes them feel is right, but if they are going to become Little Barry Democrat, they can prepare for a primary fight.

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States that have a minimum wage closer to $9 than the current federal minimum don’t have higher rates of unemployment than do states still at the federal minimum.

Blue state dwellers all. Their competition for jobs, all have moved South, for the lower taxes and lower cost of living.

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@Rafe…yeah…good thing most places aren’t like Podunk Utah…I especially like that part about “damaging the GOP brand and pushing the nation repeatedly to the brink of fiscal chaos.”

Well I guess in thier mind they accomplished something…something not very laudable but something.

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Some readers may be interested in the study by Dahl and Lochner (2005) which verifies causal relationship between poverty and academic achievement. Link below:

http://www.nber.org/papers/w14599.pdf

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Finn – 12:47

In fact, the Great Depression of 1929 directly affected Germany and was one of the principal reasons Hitler was able to come to power.

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Mary Elizabeth

Has it ever occured to you, even once, that poor people just might not be as smart as middle class people and may be likely to produce children who are not very bright?

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Finn’s boss must have let him go early today, to grab one of those discounted valentine flower arrangements for his poor wife.

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“Psssttt….it wasn’t “PAST random quotes cherry-picked from a few Republicans.””

Pssssst, it WAS random past quotes cherry-picked from Republicans.

Too bad you read too much into the opinion piece, JDW.

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@Tbieruis…I guess you are struggling with your reading comprehension today…better keep up with your meds…

You must not have caught this part…

“So for the past few days, GOP leaders have met behind closed doors to both craft an agenda that confronts the ghosts of Congresses past and figure out a way to sell it to the American people.”

Please note the part about the “past few days” indicating a current event. Then of course there is this part….

“there are some widely accepted fixes emerging from the weeklong talks.”

Indicating the currency of the material…you may resume blathering now.

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@md…”And it is asinine to expect them to pay double the taxes on it if they want to bring it home.”

But it is not asinine to expect them to allocate the profits accordingly. Software companies in particular transfer the product out a zero cost then book 100% of the revenue as profit abroad.

Now for this part…

“It’s a basic math problem. If they don’t bring it home, we get 0%. We can do a tax holiday, still get the 0% and what is the difference?”

Not really, most likely it will come home eventually anyway and just bringing it home doesn’t force them to spend. Realistically not a single one of those companies is spending a dollar less here than they would anyway…all you are doing is rewarding bad behavior…over and over again.

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Kyle:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/opinion/brooks-crayons-to-college.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

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“NC Students Among Highest Achievers on International Math Assessments, Science Scores National Average. . . .

‘These results offer proof that North Carolina students can be competitive with their peers across the globe, especially in the critical areas of math and science,’ said State Superintendent June Atkinson. ‘Our efforts in early childhood education, providing professional development for teachers, and setting higher expectations for students are paying off, as measured by TIMSS. The fact that our scores were comparable to scores from countries such as Singapore is a tribute to the work underway to remodel public education in this state.’ ”

http://www.hcpress.com/education/nc-students-among-highest-achievers-on-international-math-assessments-science-scores-national-average.html

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