A Forum for Grinches and Ho-Ho-Hoes

[Replaced_Texan]

If I lived in Virginia, and this were to pass, I'd report every single time I bled vaginally, just in case it was a miscarriage and not just my period.

Fuckers.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Those of us with kids feel differently. Those of you without them have, over time, wrecked a great educational system.

I think those of us with kids had more to do with the wrecking of the system than anyone else.

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Fixing education is not the goal. Fixing the budget is. His proposals had no specificity, but what it sounds like he wants to do is "fix" the pension system for teachers and other state employees, and work some sort of incentive system into school funding.

Explain to me how an incentive system will save budget money. He's fixing the budget by taking away the money he promised to give back to schools when he dipped into their funding last year. (A funding level mandated by a prior ballot initiative, by the way.)

The pension thing is a different (non-education) matter, since it affects all CalPERS employees, including public safety folks. I don't necessarily disagree with it, esp since it will only affect folks going forward. them's the breaksin a tight budget time.

I don't think teachers are underpaid. They work 3/4 of a day and 3/4 of a year. Their salary should reflect that.

I guess this is in keeping with your "fixing education is not the goal" statement.

query whether CA has a republican form of government, given the initiative process.

You got me there, professor.

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by bilmore
Also, we need to pay cops more - risking themselves for our safety.

And firemen. And emergency room nurses and docs. And prison guards.

And those guys who search out weird diseases in the public health sector. And the poor Wal-Mart checkers who hardly get enough to live on. And . . .

Problem is, you can make this case for each and every one of these jobs, and for a whole lot more. You can almost always make a case for "they add so much to our lives, and we pay them peanuts, and they deserve more . . ."

But, looking at the macro view, it doesn't work to do that. If you simply deal with each emotional argument in turn, you end up with . . . well, . . . California.

Did I say any of this? Turn off your bleeding heart autoreply. I'll emote at you about those other public safety employees when the time comes.

The fragment you quoted was my response to someone who said that AS's education "reform" proposals, which amount to taking educ money to plug other holes while putting up a merit-based pay system as a smokescreen, were "bold". I have been on record here, in discussions with you, that I support a merit based teacher pay system, and that I have teacher friends (all at charter schools, so this should be taken with a grain of salt) who support it too. But if we're going to do that I think we need to provide a living wage for those teachers who are getting it done.

I blame Prop 13. It's strangling poorer school districts to the benefit of longtime homeowners, who are already reaping the benefits of an unprecedented rise in home prices. I say this as a childless homeowner, in house I can barely afford and property taxes to match.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
If I lived in Virginia, and this were to pass, I'd report every single time I bled vaginally, just in case it was a miscarriage and not just my period.

Fuckers.

Isn't that what the statute requires, anyways? I wonder if women would be allowed to simply file a projected calendar in advance, and simply report when there is a variance of more than a given number of days?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
If I lived in Virginia, and this were to pass, I'd report every single time I bled vaginally, just in case it was a miscarriage and not just my period.

Fuckers.

Maybe just start mailing your tampons to the guy, you know with "made on" dates?

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
If I lived in Virginia, and this were to pass, I'd report every single time I bled vaginally, just in case it was a miscarriage and not just my period.

Fuckers.

That's a bunch of shit. There's going to be a report filed and record of a person's abortion? That's crap.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by bilmore
I think those of us with kids had more to do with the wrecking of the system than anyone else.

Huh?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
I blame Prop 13. It's strangling poorer school districts to the benefit of longtime homeowners, who are already reaping the benefits of an unprecedented rise in home prices. I say this as a childless homeowner, in house I can barely afford and property taxes to match.

Prop 13 surely distorts the real estate market, making your home more expensive, by discouraging people from selling their homes and incurring additional property taxes.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Huh?

Parents fucked up the public schools. Mostly liberal voting parents. "don't spank my little johnny for being bad- instead bring in specialists so we can get to the root causes." paddles cost $5, specialists 80k/yr.
And look, you just make sure lil Ty quits asking ladies about their boobs before he hits kindergarden or you'll be part of the problem.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Is there any reason to think that Alberto Gonzalez will be a good Attorney General?

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Prop 13 surely distorts the real estate market, making your home more expensive, by discouraging people from selling their homes and incurring additional property taxes.

I don't follow this. You think people are discourage from selling their home (at a gain, in most cases) because their new home, if they buy one, will likely have a higher basis?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I don't follow this. You think people are discourage from selling their home (at a gain, in most cases) because their new home, if they buy one, will likely have a higher basis?

Yes, with the caveat that they likely care about the basis insofar as it affects their property taxes, not any future capital-gains taxes.

Take, for example, a retiree with a larger house and adult children. If s/he's been in the house for a while, it's paid for, and the property taxes are very low. S/he could sell it and move to somewhere smaller, but would then face much greater property taxes. This is a reason to stay.

I've just described my neighbor, per her explanation to me of why she continues to live alone in a 3BR house. Surely there's more too it than that, but it distorts the market to a degree. That house should be on the market so that a family with kids can live in it. She should be moving to a smaller place. And it's absolutely insane that I am subsidizing her public services, etc., by paying property taxes many times greater than hers.

[Adder]

Originally posted by bilmore

Edited 'cause Bilmore is a sneaky bastard.

[Adder]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
Don't do it Hank! I really liked your last Gilligan post (the mine episode). Honest!

S_A_M

Either you have no self respect or he is your sock.