"A black sheriff?!": The Official Topic of Obama and New Era American Politics

[Human Snorenado]

If McCain hadn't been from Arizona, the state could likely be in play after all of the hideously stupid things the state GOP has done there in the past couple of years, but no effort was put into building a good organizing infrastructure there so it's probably not in play.  On the flip side, I could see Obama losing Ohio, Iowa or possibly Pennsylvania among states that he carried in 2008. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Ohio is the centerpiece of the election (again). If Romney can't win it, he has no path to victory. Obama could lose Ohio and still win re-election comfortably but it's not a risk worth taking.

I think PA is safe due to the cities/urban vote. Michigan is going to Obama, no matter what anyone says we're not a swing state. Seems like Virginia will be the other "big" prize; if Obama can take it again (and demographic shifts suggest he can), it's game over

[TakingBackSunday]

I think Obama has Ohio, but not Florida.  But he doesn't really need Florida...and honestly, based on some of the swing states this time around.  All Obama needs is the blue states and NM/CO/NV and Wisconsin.

[Phoenix Dark]

you can play with the map here
http://www.270towin.com/

[recursivelyenumerable]

What is the Congress situation like? Is there any chance of the 2010 reversal being rolled back at all?

[Oblivion]

I most likely won't be saying this again for a good while, but kudos to Romney for not taking Hannity's bait the other day on the dog eating comments.

[Human Snorenado]

What is the Congress situation like? Is there any chance of the 2010 reversal being rolled back at all?

Congress is fucking weird.  In short, the Democrats will likely pick up a smallish number of House seats, but it won't be enough to swap control of the House.  In the Senate, they stand a very real chance of losing control due to the fact that like 22 of the 33 Senate seats up for election this year are controlled by Democrats.  They've got a decent shot of picking up Ted Kennedy's old seat and uh, other than that will probably lose in Virginia, Missouri, whichever of the Dakotas is up, Nebraska, possibly Ohio, etc.  Basically any Dem Senate seat that's up for election in a state that will be close or go for Romney, they're likely to lose.

[Oblivion]

[Joe Molotov]

Killed by a CIA heart attack gun.  :'(

[recursivelyenumerable]

That poster/whatever is a pretty cool design, though. Is it a knock-off of something?

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I most likely won't be saying this again for a good while, but kudos to Romney for not taking Hannity's bait the other day on the dog eating comments.

considering that its Romney's people that put the story out there to begin with, I wouldn't give him too much.

[Himu]

huntsman TRASHES the gop

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/jon-huntsman-trashes-gop-expresses-campaign-regre

[Eric P]

this will certainly end well

http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/Philadelphia-School-District-announces-its-dissolution-.html

“Philadelphia public schools is not the School District,” Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen told a handful of reporters at yesterday's press conference laying out the five-year plan proposed to the School Reform Commission. “There's a redefinition, and we'll get to that later.”

He got to it: talk about “modernization,” “right-sizing,” “entrepreneurialism” and “competition.”

Forty schools would close next year, and six additional schools would be closed every year thereafter until 2017.

"There are other people out there who do these things, if not better, then at least less expensively."

[Mupepe]

Not enough SMH's in the world.  What a ridiculous notion. 

[Great Rumbler]

>Cut education spending year after year
>Lament that the kids of today are unmotivated

[Joe Molotov]

Our public education system is broken, let's fix it by cutting funding and increasing class sizes. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Our public education system is broken, let's fix it by cutting funding and increasing class sizes. Yeah, that's the ticket.

To be fair we already spend a shitload on education and it hasn't done much for us. This isnt an instance were more money means things will be fixed. My GF is a pretty liberal Jr. High teacher and was totally against charter schools... until she interviewed for one.

"You mean the student to teacher ratio is 11:1?" (her biggest class is 30 kids)

She currently teaches at a low income school in a smallish town and always talks about how much the school asks of her and how much emphasis is put on standardized testing and other B.S. Now she is desperately trying to get a job at one.

[Joe Molotov]

It said they're cutting funding to charter schools too.

[Mupepe]

Raising/Cutting funding is only a small part of the problem though.  A restructuring of the entire system is what's needed.  But funding issues are the only issues simple enough to understand for the average idiot voter.

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Raising/Cutting funding is only a small part of the problem though.  A restructuring of the entire system is what's needed.  But funding issues are the only issues simple enough to understand for the average idiot voter.

Which really sucks. I don't know the way the larger education system works in Japan but when I was living there I could tell it was way better. Shit, we had to spend 15 minutes a day sweeping hallways and cleaning the bathrooms. Can you imagine the shit storm parents would do if schools here set up like that? But what that did was we felt personally responsible for the well being of out school. Or so I assume, I just kind of stood around with a broom trying to hit on the chicks.

[Positive Touch]

Our public education system is broken, let's fix it by cutting funding and increasing class sizes. Yeah, that's the ticket.

To be fair we already spend a shitload on education and it hasn't done much for us. This isnt an instance were more money means things will be fixed. My GF is a pretty liberal Jr. High teacher and was totally against charter schools... until she interviewed for one.

"You mean the student to teacher ratio is 11:1?" (her biggest class is 30 kids)

She currently teaches at a low income school in a smallish town and always talks about how much the school asks of her and how much emphasis is put on standardized testing and other B.S. Now she is desperately trying to get a job at one.

well look, you found the problem right there.  one of the biggest reasons "we" as a country do so poorly is because school funding is all over the damn place, leaving us with some well-funded schools and lots of very poorly-funded schools.  if schools can't afford to buy basic materials, can't afford to suspend students due to low census, etc, then of course most students at those schools won't do well.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

One of many reasons why I never want to have children is the piss poor state of education in the US.

[Phoenix Dark]

I have no idea what to do about education. Throwing money at it doesn't seem to work, but then there are schools where they barely have toilet paper and text books.

Maybe moving away from strict academics to also giving kids the option to start learning specific trades.

[Dickie Dee]

[Human Snorenado]

You can start to fix education by making it ok to smack kids upside the head for being fucktards. 

[Van Cruncheon]

ah, an entire generation of dumb, jingoistic unemployables. well, it's GREAT for my hiring prospectus!

[Van Cruncheon]

you can fix education by putting christians in re-education camps and making all the non-millenialist people understand the idea of "INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE".

[Phoenix Dark]

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

ah, an entire generation of dumb, jingoistic unemployables. well, it's GREAT for my hiring prospectus!

Jokes on you, most of that generation won't be capable of doing any type of STEM related work!

[pickle]

Restructure the school system to improve student happiness and performance, based on established academic research and empirical evidence? NOT IN MA COUNTRY!! 

[Phoenix Dark]

or just sexualize everything for boys to close the gender achievement gap. Get an A? Get a blowjob

[Oblivion]

If we reduced teachers' pay, then they'd spend more time teaching our kids instead of sippin' lattes.


Serious question though. What exactly is the Republican plan for edumacation? From what I understand, they want to allow parents to take the portions of their tax dollars that go to public education and instead let them use that money for private schools. But if that were implemented, funding for public schools would be drained substantially. And if that happens, how the hell can they compete?

[brawndolicious]

You can start to fix education by making it ok to smack kids upside the head for being fucktards.

So you're basically saying you want to smack all kids?

[Human Snorenado]

You can start to fix education by making it ok to smack kids upside the head for being fucktards.

So you're basically saying you want to smack all kids?

Yes

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Not really, but fear is a powerful motivator, and if you remove that from the arsenal of someone who is basically trying to herd 30 idiot children towards something resembling an education, it's kind of like showing up to a shootout with a nail file

[close]

[etiolate]

Public Education needs a revamping of post-elementary education. Schools also need to break free from the scholastic book system that lets a few special interests in two states dictate what gets in to the students curricularum. I would wipe out the current public high school system and replace it with something more resembling community colleges.

Early education needs to be less rigid and uniformed. Don't hold back an entire class because of a few students. Allow students to each work at their own pace.

Beyond that, public education is fighting against a pop culture that enforces images that overpower whatever message the kid gets in school. I think to improve American education, you would actually have to start limiting the amount of media in the country. Kids are receiving two different educations at once. In my High School experience, I don't think the kids saw the High School as a place of learning. It was a social training facility if anything. You got to change that mindset.

[Brehvolution]

The school district my wife works for has laid off more than 300 teachers in the past 2 years. Next year, my wife will teach gym, art, and music in addition to the core subjects because they got rid of those teachers.

So you take all that money out of the local economy and then you have to raise taxes to make up for all that lost revenue. IT"S ASS BACKWARDS!

[Joe Molotov]

At least your school still has art, that got cut at our school a long time ago to focus on core subjects (aka whatever is on the standardized tests that determine whether your school gets shutdown by the state for underachieving).

[Mupepe]

I have no idea what to do about education. Throwing money at it doesn't seem to work, but then there are schools where they barely have toilet paper and text books.

Maybe moving away from strict academics to also giving kids the option to start learning specific trades.

I agree with this.  Not every kid needs to or wants to go to college.  There is a shortage of trade work in the US and has been for a long time even though there is decent pay.  It's been pounded into heads for the last generation that going into a trade is lowly.  That kind of mentality needs to stop.  But that's the snobby class culture that's been breeding in this country for a long time.

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Beyond that, public education is fighting against a pop culture that enforces images that overpower whatever message the kid gets in school. I think to improve American education, you would actually have to start limiting the amount of media in the country. Kids are receiving two different educations at once. In my High School experience, I don't think the kids saw the High School as a place of learning. It was a social training facility if anything. You got to change that mindset.

You can change that by not making funding based on attendance. If a student doesn't want to go to school don't make them. Make high school like College.

you can fix education by putting christians in re-education camps and making all the non-millenialist people understand the idea of "INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE".

  Do you read pamphlets or something on how to be a stereotypical liberal? "The country is going downhill because of Christians, I tells ya."

I agree with this.  Not every kid needs to or wants to go to college.  There is a shortage of trade work in the US and has been for a long time even though there is decent pay.  It's been pounded into heads for the last generation that going into a trade is lowly.  That kind of mentality needs to stop.  But that's the snobby class culture that's been breeding in this country for a long time.

Agree with this. lots of trade jobs are pretty well paid. Welders make a ton.

[Joe Molotov]

And then you have crap like this:

http://thinkprogress.org/education/2012/04/13/464154/foxx-tolerance-student-loans/?mobile=nc

FOXX: I went through school, I worked my way through, it took me seven years, I never borrowed a dime of money. He borrowed a little bit because we both were totally on our own when we went to college, totally. [...] I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there’s no reason for that. We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” You don’t have it dumped in your lap.

 

Now tell us about how you had to walk up hill both ways when you went to college in the 1960's, you old bat.

[Great Rumbler]

"You should get a second job to pay for your education."

[Mupepe]

"Your life should have the exact same circumstances as mine!  I don't understand why it doesn't!!!"

[Boogie]

Yeeeah, I don't think you're going to get much support for that social structure, Spence.

In fact, that's pretty much what conservatives think the left wants for society, so good job playing right into their stereotypes.

[Great Rumbler]

The great irony here is that all these "Pulled myself up by my own bootstraps, paid my own way, earned my own money!" politicians sent their kids to private schools and Ivy League universities on their own dime.

[Boogie]

Plus, the opposite is really true.  For the past five years, the welfare state as we have known it for the past sixty years is on life support, and will only get worse as boomers retire, forcing a smaller working-age population to support a larger senior population.

[Phoenix Dark]

Here we go again!

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week but a trend reading rose to its highest since January, the latest sign of a weaker pace of healing in the still-struggling labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised up to 389,000 from the previously reported 386,000.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a closely followed measure of labor market trends, rose 6,250 to 381,750, its highest since the week that ended Jan. 7.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims falling to 375,000 last week.

The reading was the latest example of fizzling momentum in the labor market recovery. New claims fell sharply during early winter but the improvement has largely stalled in recent weeks.

Employers added 120,000 new jobs to their payrolls in March, the least since October, after averaging 246,000 jobs per month over the prior three months.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47186701

Strong early growth followed by stagnation - where have I seen this before. Oh yea, last year.

[Boogie]

I don't think it's going to happen, I don't think it's a popular opinion. But I do think we have the means to automate and efficasize to a point that we don't need to punish those without jobs with the way money is currently used.

I don't think we should punish those who are without jobs due to hard economic times.  But that was not what your initial proposition suggested.   

[Mupepe]

Here we go again!

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week but a trend reading rose to its highest since January, the latest sign of a weaker pace of healing in the still-struggling labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised up to 389,000 from the previously reported 386,000.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a closely followed measure of labor market trends, rose 6,250 to 381,750, its highest since the week that ended Jan. 7.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims falling to 375,000 last week.

The reading was the latest example of fizzling momentum in the labor market recovery. New claims fell sharply during early winter but the improvement has largely stalled in recent weeks.

Employers added 120,000 new jobs to their payrolls in March, the least since October, after averaging 246,000 jobs per month over the prior three months.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47186701

Strong early growth followed by stagnation - where have I seen this before. Oh yea, last year.

And it's the same exact issues that stalled the economy last year too. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Well last year it started with production being stalled due to Japan's tsunami. Now it's production being stalled due to high gas prices and the labor market being flooded.

[Mupepe]

Euro debt crisis didn't help last year either and it's rearing its ugly ass head again.

[Mandark]

Spencer's idea of the economy shifting towards an Asimovian utopia ain't happening because neither technology nor society is near that point.  Efficiency gains aren't really what he seems to think; the biggest strides have been in inventory management, but you still need a ton of physical labor in the form of shipping and warehouse jobs, which can be pretty brutal.  Plus slashing the workforce would involve everyone consuming a lot less and figuring some system to determine who has to keep working and who gets the cushy life, in a way that doesn't cause huge backlash.  Not likely.

FoC's idea of getting rid of mandatory attendance would mean poor and minority kids would be more likely to drop out and gaps in wealth/class/capital access would all get ossified even more.  Whooooooo!  Thankfully there aren't enough super-bitter white people to support this politically.

etiolate's idea of limiting media is just kinda lolwut.

I agree with Mups that not everyone should have to go to college.  There's some creeping credentialism going on.  The trick is providing a useful path for learning trade work without it becoming a way to sift the poor kids out early in their education.

[Phoenix Dark]

I brought up trade work/community colleges first and received no recognition. My role as poli-bore's Rosalind Franklin continues

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

FoC's idea of getting rid of mandatory attendance would mean poor and minority kids would be more likely to drop out and gaps in wealth/class/capital access would all get ossified even more.  Whooooooo!  Thankfully there aren't enough super-bitter white people to support this politically.

You saying poor and minorities are lazy and wont go to school? 

I was mainly talking about High School anyway. The real issue is that people don't value education. If you come from a family that values education you are gonna be fine. I can't really comment on what its like to grow up in a household that does not. It was drilled into my head from an early age that I had to do well in school. Probably because my dad grew up on a farm in upstate NY and "got out" by becoming in engineer.

[Mupepe]

I think he was saying that most poor people are usually faced with the issue of having to help the family or go to school.  And in a society where they don't HAVE to go to school there will probably be a lot more pressure to work full time and less pressure to go to school full time.

I agree with Mups that not everyone should have to go to college.  There's some creeping credentialism going on.  The trick is providing a useful path for learning trade work without it becoming a way to sift the poor kids out early in their education.

Agreed.  I think that could be done by changing the image of trade work.  If people knew that you could make good money as a plumber they might be more inclined to do it regardless of their social class.

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

How do we propose making High Schools into something other than babysitting for some students.

No offense, but for some of the people working for their family is gonna do more for them than being forced to do nothing all day. If they don't want to take advantage of free education than it's their problem. No need to lower the standard of the school for people who want to do better.

[Boogie]

I see the old FoC is slowwwly sneaking back out of his shell...

[Mupepe]

How do we propose making High Schools into something other than babysitting for some students.

No offense, but for some of the people working for their family is gonna do more for them than being forced to do nothing all day. If they don't want to take advantage of free education than it's their problem. No need to lower the standard of the school for people who want to do better.

Education is a necessity.  Unless you plan on bagging groceries for the rest of your life you need to be educated in something.  The solution is to open up our schools to multiple avenues through life, not to just give up on poor performers.  More people being productive is better for everyone in the economy.  We need to change our definition of education when it comes to our public schools. 

[Mandark]

No offense, but for some of the people working for their family is gonna do more for them than being forced to do nothing all day.

Ah, so we'd be changing child labor laws too.  I like where this is going!

[Mr. Gundam]

I wish we had trade programs in the school system. Pushing college on everyone isn't the best idea.

[Great Rumbler]

The current education format is way too rigid and uniform. What's the purpose of the curriculum? To make a good score on a standardized test. It's obsessed with stats and grades, rather than actually trying to teach or find out way to induce kids to actually LEARN.