ahegeman

Fewer kids in the public school means that less money is required. Of course, some portion of per pupil expense is fixed, but if enough students use the vouchers then fewer teachers, textbooks, buildings, etc. would be required. Who knows what portion of the per-pupil cost is fixed? But if a school district spends $8K per student, and hands out a $6K voucher, they may not actually end up with less money to spend per student. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

This subsidization of poorer districts could be provided within any state. There are incredibly rich districts and incredibly poor districts inside of, say, California for example. You don't need federal funding to equalize that. The US spends a TON on education. Money isn't the problem. Disinterested and irresponsible parents are the problem, and no amount of money can make up for that. I'm not any smarter than anyone else, I came from a poor, shitty school, but my parents rode my ass from day one about succeeding in school. I went to college and I'm doing pretty well now. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Yeah - totally non-intuitive, but it worked for me, too. I can barely hear my audible without earplugs. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Raptors are funny. They get ticked off when you mess with their dignity. Mine gives me that look pretty much every day. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

So you wouldn't want somebody who digs ditches for a living? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Sorry Kallend, but you got the quote wrong. That should be "misunderestimating".

If you weren't comparing the terrorists to the Israeli soldirs, then, what WAS the point of your first post in this thread? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Fine arguments, but they have absolutely nothing to do with your first post. What was the point of that post, then? 'But the Jews kill Palestinians, too! Should we kill the Jews, too?' Do you think Israeli soldiers accidentally killing a bystander has anything to do with terrorists bombing children in Iraq? Anyway, I'm going skydiving. I'll be back from the dz Sunday night. $15 jumps all weekend! Later. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

The KGB was under Treblinka Square? WTF was Kerry talking about? Treblinka was a Nazi concentration camp. I don't know the name of wherever the KGB is supposed to be, but it sure as hell isn't Treblinka. Edit: Just looked it up on Google. Lubyanka Square. Understandable mistake, I guess, but I'll remember this for the next time I hear a Democrat whining about nukular. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

And of course a logical response is for the insurgents to go blow up a bunch of Iraqi children. That'll show us. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Of course I can't say for sure. But it seems likely. Jenin has a population of less than 30K. NYC is over 7M. But that really wasn't my point. Man, you're all over the place here. This was a thread about how much it sucked that a bunch of kids got blown into little pieces on purpose. Your only response is that Isrealis do it sometimes to Palestinians who happen to be sitting next to a known terrorist. Then you defend that specious comparison by saying the we are also accidentally killing a bunch of Iraqis. So is your agument that unless we are perfect in only killing the actual terrorists who hides themselves and their hide-outs among crowds, kids, suburbs, and schools, then its OK for them to respond by putting car bombs in children's events? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I submit that there is a difference between the collateral killing of a cabbie hauling a known terrorist around (and you can bet he knew who his passenger was) and the intentional slaughter of a large group of civilians including a bunch of children. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Frightening, but Bill hit the nail on the head. Can't blame the campaigns, though. They know what works, and most voters don't respond to the issues the way they respond to the mudslinging. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I went to Harvey Mudd. Claremont's probably a fine place to work, but unless you are a) retired, or b) married with young children, don't live there. Anything worth doing is a drive. About the only thing Claremont has going for it is the Village, which is sorta nice, if you like overpriced crappy food and glorified flea-market merchandise. Claremont is the kind of town than bans fast food joints and tattoo parlors, and the cops have nothing better to do that respond to every whiny noise complaint some old fart makes and write tickets for running broken stoplights. What Tony said - live in Corona. On the plus side, the girls at Scripps College (all womyn's college) are surprisingly easy. Just stay away from the ones with short hair. I wouldn't call it a short drive from the beach. The 10 sucks. While you're there, if you see anyone on a unicycle promise me you'll run over them, and then scream "I got your Gonzo Unicycle Madness right here, bitch!" --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

You're just not any fun, are you? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I'll remember that line next time you're making statements about W's motivation with no direct evidence, such as "he chose to believe the pro-WMD people because that intelligence supported a course of action he wished to pursue." I think everyone posting here is qualified to draw and state their logical inferences from the facts in front of them. That's kinda the point here, isn't it? Hmmm? Here, let me explain my reasoning: 1. The teacher predicted the picture would be rejected due to the zero-tolerance policy on violence. 2. No violence of any type is depicted in the picture, just a kid holding a sporting gun over his shoulder. 3. The administrator confirmed the teacher's opinion, based on the judgement that an image of a gun is a representation of violence. Gun=violence. That is a school administrator forcing a political viewpoint on a student. Of course schools can restrict the rights of students to make sure the school functions. No, they can't recite manifestos in class because that interferes with others' learning. There is no practical reason for this decision. It does not affect the functioning of the school in any way. It is simply a value judgement, and I think its reasonable for parents to expect a value judgement forced on their children to meet a very high bar. You say that "it is the ADULTS, not the students, who are in charge in schools. Students do not have the right to free speech or free expression in school." True, but the school is ultimately accountable to the parents of the students it is teaching. The kid may not have any rights in school, but the parents have a right to have their kid's education be free of political posturing by some jackass principle. They are pursuing their rights through the courts. Do you really think they should back off, and allow the schools to force whatever arbitrary prejudices the administrators might have on their children? Really? Nope. My business, my rules. If they don't like it, they can go to a different daycare. A business is hardly analogous to a public school, paid for with taxpayer dollars, and often the only choice a kid has to go to school. But even if it was a public school, the bumper sticker wasn't the assignment in your example. There was no "assignment" for the senior picture. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Care to explain what a neo-con is? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

We're not saying they MUST include them, regardless of surrounding circumstances. If there had been a shooting at that school, then I'd probably still disagree with banning the pic, but I'd understand. But we're not talking about Columbine High. Nothing happened at Londonberry High. Would you agree that THIS PARTICULAR DECISION is nothing more than naked political bias being enforced by members of a government entity? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Weak comparison. "Fuck" and the finger are offensives words/gestures, and are intended to be so. But singling out pictures of guns as "inappropriate" is not quality control, its exercising a political agenda. That's not what they're being paid to do. Teachers and school administrators are supposed to broaden kids' minds, now force their viewpoints on them. The kid's parents pay the taxes that pay those administrators, and I think they have a stake in making sure that those administrators don't abuse their power to try and convince their kids that guns are somehow "wrong", or "offensive", or "inappropriate". --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

How about if they rejected the shirt because he was wearing a Che Guevara shirt? Or a peace sign? Would that be OK with you? Part of the whole anti-gun campaign is to get every person to mindlessly think "guns are bad, mmmkay?". Here you have a bunch of school administrators thinking that exact thing. Mission accomplished. The school district, a GOVERNMENT entitiy, is forcing a political viewpoint on a student's self expression. Any -real- liberal should be appalled. Yeah, the NRA is going to kick their asses. Good. I just went through my high school yearbook from '93. One of the seniors posed with his shotgun. Nice guy, as I remember. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Keep the faith. Bush may be a motherfucker, but he's going to beat Kerry like a Saturday morning hard-on. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

To interpret the "common welfare" statement that broadly essentially makes it meaningless. What can't be justified under that interpretation? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

It boggles my mind that skydivers, of all people, would advocate free, government provided health care. How close behind do you think rules regulating dangerous behavior would follow in the name of cost-savings? Or do you think that society should bear the responsibility of paying for the broken neck/back/leg/etc that you got swooping the pond? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Oh, come on, Kallend. You're smarter than that. The 10th Amendment isn't gonna help you out on this one. It simply limits the powers of the federal government to those specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Of course, most of the shit the government does nowadays violates that amendment, but who's keeping track? A literal interpretation of the 10th would say that unless the Constitution specifically says the feds have the power to tax and regulate in order to provide free healthcare, then they do not have that power. I don't remember reading about health care in the Federalist Papers anywhere, either. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

No, I was suggesting that the Washington Times is owned by that Moonie guy. If I want to suggest something I'll actually do it. Whenever I am tempted to quote something from the WT, I always look to see if I can find it somewhere else, also. Usually I can't. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry