Political Discussion

[msm859]

What do you guys think of the Iowa Straw poll? Sounds like Dr. Paul is getting up there.

I do not understand why anyone cares about the "Iowa" straw poll. My understanding is the candidates wine and dine you and pay your $30 vote fee. The state is not representative of this country -- over 90% white. The winner has sponsored zero significant legislation and most famous line "let's make Obama a one term president" would have been treasonous and unpatriotic 30 years ago -- but I guess that really sells in the super white religious belt way.

[banca rotta]

What a bad joke this corrupt media is.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-15-2011/indecision-2012---corn-polled-edition---ron-paul---the-top-tier

[shark66]

Unfortunately, the joke's on us...

Good luck to us all.

[sguerra923]

Ron Paul has been picking up momentum...

[msm859]

Ron Paul has been picking up momentum...

The only benefit to having Ron Paul would be as commander in chief he would certainly get us out of all the wars -- might be worth it. Some of his other ideas are a bit "radical". Maybe if he could get elected with John Huntsman as vp and then stress out after a year so he has to step down I would go for it -- as long as Obama doesn't extend the Bush tax cuts again that might actually put us on the road to recovery.

[shark66]

Ron Paul has been picking up momentum...

Which will still do absolutely nothing to get him elected.

No one - but *no one* - amongst this country's power brokers would be happy with Dr. Paul as POTUS.

Good luck to us all.

[msm859]

Which will still do absolutely nothing to get him elected.

No one - but *no one* - amongst this country's power brokers would be happy with Dr. Paul as POTUS.

Good luck to us all.

Agreed. Too bad those brokers don't value brains -- might be too hard to manipulate.

[IamOld]

He needs to run with Bernie Sanders or Kucinic. Paul has said he wants to shut FEMA, no funding for public education, etc. That's nonsense. Paul for external affairs Bernie Sanders (or Elizabeth Warren!!!) for internal affairs :-)

BUT as Shark said the reality is not not Paul, nor Sanders, nor Kucinic, etc will ever allowed to be elected...we came close with RFK in 1968...

[msm859]

He needs to run with Bernie Sanders or Kucinic. Paul has said he wants to shut FEMA, no funding for public education, etc. That's nonsense. Paul for external affairs Bernie Sanders (or Elizabeth Warren!!!) for internal affairs :-)

BUT as Shark said the reality is not not Paul, nor Sanders, nor Kucinic, etc will ever allowed to be elected...we came close with RFK in 1968...

If we could that would get my vote!

[sguerra923]

He needs to run with Bernie Sanders or Kucinic. Paul has said he wants to shut FEMA, no funding for public education, etc. That's nonsense. Paul for external affairs Bernie Sanders (or Elizabeth Warren!!!) for internal affairs :-)

BUT as Shark said the reality is not not Paul, nor Sanders, nor Kucinic, etc will ever allowed to be elected...we came close with RFK in 1968...

If you do some research on FEMA and Dept. of Education you'll see how much fraud is going on and FEMA is 20 Billion in debt. If you follow his speeches rather than listening to what the news tells you then you'll look at Dr. Paul in a different light. People are reading and listening to the media (which is proven to manipulate polls and facts) but if you just listen to him on youtube it all makes sense.

If the media tries to hide Dr. Paul, that means that he's trying to do something good which THEY don't want.

Society needs to understand that he's not just trying to get elected but inform people around the world about the FED and foreign policy and how it is having a negative impact on the world. He's the only person fighting for that and why wouldn't we want him to be president to help push the issues.

[IamOld]

Well, actually that's not really true - FEMA is not in "debt' any more than any gov't agency can be in debt. It's interesting that - frankly - a certain network and a certain political party talks about "Fraud" in agencies that actually help people, and not for example, the Pentagon. Please don't just listen to campaign commercials...

If you do some research on FEMA and Dept. of Education you'll see how much fraud is going on and FEMA is 20 Billion in debt. If you follow his speeches rather than listening to what the news tells you then you'll look at Dr. Paul in a different light. People are reading and listening to the media (which is proven to manipulate polls and facts) but if you just listen to him on youtube it all makes sense.

If the media tries to hide Dr. Paul, that means that he's trying to do something good which THEY don't want.

Society needs to understand that he's not just trying to get elected but inform people around the world about the FED and foreign policy and how it is having a negative impact on the world. He's the only person fighting for that and why wouldn't we want him to be president to help push the issues.

[shark66]

The government has done an absolutely horrible job with education in this country, hence I'd have absolutely no problem with de-funding it...

Save your tax $$$ and send the kids to a school of your choice, which is dependent on its funding directly from you and other parents to survive...sounds like a plan to me. I'm one step away from pulling my kids out of public school as it is...

As for waste and abuse...I've worked on numerous projects that involved public schools over the last several years. The level of abuse and corruption is nothing short of stunning.

Then again, I guess I'm just being naive with the statement above...

Good luck to us all.

[IamOld]

SOrry Shark you and I disagree rarely - but I've taught in high school and college - went through public schools myself, kids are in public schools, and there are many many very good ones!

It is the private sector the greed that I fear - that has now enveloped all public sectors to an extent...

[shark66]

SOrry Shark you and I disagree rarely - but I've taught in high school and college - went through public schools myself, kids are in public schools, and there are many many very good ones!

It is the private sector the greed that I fear - that has now enveloped all public sectors to an extent...

Let me put it to you this way:

I'm a product of a combination of Eastern European and British public schools, with a Master's acquired in the U.S. I also hold two unrelated 4-year degrees: one from Eastern Europe (public university) and one from UK (private, gone belly up several years after I had graduated).

My wife is a product of U.S. public school system from yesteryear.

My kids attend public school.

The curriculum my kids are exposed to is nothing but a joke compared to one from the '70s when my wife was their age. Her curriculum was a sorry state of affairs compared to mine, and then some.

As long as we're teaching that social skills are more important than knowledge, we're in a hole.

As long as we allow political correctness to stand in the way of science, there's no hope for us.

As long as we teach kids that education is important solely for the purposes of finding a good job later in life, and not a goal of its own, we won't be able to break the vicious circle of fear, corruption and incompetence.

There's plenty of greed in the current school system. I've seen it with my own eyes, and had witnessed it in many meetings that I had attended. My lucky star is that I'm no more than a contractor who is able to negotiate his own terms. If they don't like the way I do business, I walk.

I've said "no" to numerous offers that implied kickbacks. As bankrupt as I may be, the ability to look at myself in the mirror is priceless...

Sheer math suggests that there are good public schools out there, by American standards... the problem being, those standards are nowhere near the bar that has been set as a norm by the rest of civilized world.

The public school system is downright horrible. It doesn't need fixing. It needs to be burned down and rebuilt from scratch.

My experiences and opinions only...

Good luck to us all.

[IamOld]

I know Shark that I could tell you that the major city near which I live - their schools are...horrible - but why - because of decades of intentional neglect, underfunding, and yes, incompetence.

Yet the school system where I live - and also the largest one in my state - is superb. Now - compared to say Germany (or even perhaps our common Eastern European homeland's schools) yes kids take math later, etc., but and however - my kids are learning subjects, taking classes, etc., that are rigorous and frankly would have been college material when I went to school. I think one of our problems as a nation is that there are HUGE discrepancies between school systems, and instead of pedagogs and yes academics, we look to banksters etc., as the "saviors" of the school system. When you have a committed and involved parent base AND!!! community, you will have great schools - when you don't - you won't.

You also said "As long as we teach kids that education is important solely for the purposes of finding a good job later in life, and not a goal of its own, we won't be able to break the vicious circle of fear, corruption and incompetence." A TRILLION PERCENT TRUE my friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's the thing - the ruling economic class wants to turn out workers, not thinkers!!!