Astrojanitor

side note: ex-felons are allowed to vote in many states. Some states demand a waiting period, some will only allow those convicted of non-violent crimes. Nevada will allow anyone convicted of everything but treason. http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resourc...sourceID=000286

well if the paranoid right wing "news source" says it's true.... Has nothing to do with Obama Will not make it outside of committee proposals like this pop up every few years or so--always get shot down. But it's fun to read biased news in order to fuel your own self righteous indignation, isn't it?

that totally sounds like something an educated person would think

me too. nothing they could say would be as affective as wondering what they would say

man, I taught at Oklahoma State. While I was there about $700million was spent on the football team and in 3 years I was never given a raise or had a classroom that worked. My last semester they didn't even give me a chair. Add indifferent students. hostile students. outright liars? it's why we burn out and stop caring. In my classes of 22 there would be 4-5 would made effort. breaks you down after a bit. So us college profs do not have a union. we get tenure based on student evaluations and the quality of our research. We also do not have to pass a single student if they don't deserve it. Public schools have a lot of trouble failing students because of issues of federal funding. But that breaks down forces responsibility onto students and parents...there would be a revolution without the scapegoats.

AH HAHAHAHAHAHA

clever kids don't plagiarize. also, if they take research from wikipedia/wherever and don't cite the source it still counts as plagiarism. in my experience the plagiarism is usually kids does a cut and paste job. Whole paper is just the wikipedia page with their name on top. then you get to watch them try and convince you it was all a coincidence. good fun.

post tenure? totally right. pre-tenure? insanely easy to get canned. besides, we love catching plagiarists. it's the only time we can ever take negative action on a bad student

there is actually nothing in the world easier then catching a wikipedia plagiarist. Type a sentence into google and bam...you get to fail a kid.

More like: Buffalo, almost as small as Rochester

best of luck man. I haven't bothered with kicking my addictions (outside of the smokes--which was strangely easy) but I did help a buddy kick heroin a few years ago. I have no real advice outside of finding something to take the drug's place. My buddy decided to teach himself the guitar--every time he wanted to snort he'd play instead. Now he's ridiculously good...so urges I guess. I have always maintained my "addiction" to buying records has kept me from becoming a full blown alcoholic.

all these pundit types need to go away. Shrill fools who accomplish absolutely nothing, People like Coulter and Beck or Michael Moore preach to the converted. They do not open any discourse and they provide no insight. Totally worthless.

I accept most of this. I've always felt higher education should be next to free. I think if it is difficult to stay enrolled (say 2 semesters below 2.0 and you are out) and low cost, kids can be more inspired to actually do work. It cost me $100K to get my masters...right now I can't afford to teach because my debt is so high. Pretty unfair and a total drag. But a lot is on the kids heads too. In 3 years at OSU I probably had 4-5 students I'd trust to have any kind of job at all--let alone a doctor.

outside of the abolishing of Medicare (although I also support a level of regulation) I think I agree with all of this. At this point I wonder who is more cynical. There's no money in your plan, so it'll never go down--I think a lot of your frustration stems from knowing that. As for the current bill I am taking the attitude of pockets getting lined, but some good being done. You are 100% right when it comes to the malpractice issue. My sister is a malpractice attorney and she heps me to some of the cases she has to deal with. If her experience is anything 50% frivolous is a pretty generous number. the government can do very little to inspire kids to become doctors. As a previous (and hopefully future) college prof I assure you parental and cultural indifference has led to widespread borderline illiteracy. Tax credits take you only so far. The overall problem with your plan is it being calm, clearheaded and easy to implement. There is not nearly enough tax raising, panel development, or damning of gays and lesbians/women's health/medical marijuana/existence of evolution....no one has the political cachet to back something like that.

let me ask you this: no attitude at all, I am just very interested in hearing what the other side's goals are. So 70% of the people wanted some kind of health care reform...what would you propose? My ideal bill would be to remove the ability of the insurance companies to kick people off the plans for pre-existing conditions or to raise rates to unreasonable levels. I would also like a low cost, voluntary, public option. what would be your ideal plan for this issue? as a side note: no rhetoric from me--there is nothing in this world I care less about than a republican or democrat. No politician will ever be able to speak for me

could we combine it with my Regal Crown Club and AAA cards? I'm running out of wallet room here. Seriously, we love our surveillance don't we?

what are you complaining about? politicians passed a bill that did not take the interests of the people at heart? shocking. One side wanted to do something, and they did something flawed. Another side wanted to do nothing. It all ends up being a game of inches. this bill gives us a tiny bump into progress, but there are elements that we need to stay vigilant on.

sorry. it's the delusional types that assume democrats were preventing a legislation that would truly look out for "the little guy" that are the problem. this mess has been going on for a year yet the right never once developed an alternate plan for a problem 70% of all americans marked as a serious concern.

here's all I know: I won't get dropped (again) for having a pre existing condition and I don't really care about taxes/money. I stick to my beliefs and give away my disposable income so an extra bit of taxes do not bother me at all. Although, I respect the financial issue for many people and hope it can be dealt with in reasonable/respectful way. I don't buy into the all or nothing attitude since I am fully aware of politicians being pillars of human filth. Now I want huge chunks of this bill undone. Demanding insurance? hate it. Just like helmet laws...totally pointless. You cannot deny the good the bill will do. The rest of it? Just have to stay vigilant and hope someone listens.

that's where we differ: I think the good outweighs the bad; however, the bad must be remembered and dealt with

I never said it was okay. unfortunately the chumps we have chosen to represent our interests are barely human. They are unable to produce anything of any real substance. It's like complaining the tee-ball team I played on in 1982 is not nearly as good as the Mets. This whole thing could be 20 pages long and infinitely better. Forbid some of the more unethical practices and allow a voluntary public option. In dealing with the insurance industry that's all that really needed to be done. But honestly, when was the last time something that fully made sense went down? There's a pile of bs that needs to go, but there is also a pile of regulation that forces the industry to behave ethically. you take the good you take the bad. it's the facts of life. the facts of life.

I know plenty about it, but I'm also not delusional. the entire system is messed up. discourse has reverted to two sides shrieking at each other with neither really listening. To think that any bill of honest substance could ever be developed, not even health care just any kind of bill at all, is naive beyond belief. If the republicans had their way (which they did not too long ago) it would be a disaster (which it was). same with the dems. it would be outstanding if something, anything, could be done right the first go round. yet that's not the world we live in. The problem is this country is radically different from region to region. Elements of this bill have been standard in NY for years...so why do we have to pass legislation for Oklahoma to come up to NY standards? It's an argument for the whole state's right issue. It is literally impossible to create a piece of legislation that satisfies both NY and OK (sidenote: I lived in OK for years--I'm not just randomly picking a backwards state. I picking a state I know is backwards). Do it perfect the first time? Beautiful idea...but fully impossible.

you know man, with anything the government intends to do there is a lot of fat that accomplishes very little. There has never been a trend of purely good policy coming out of washington--this bill is not different. I would argue that half of this bill is 30 years too late and half should never have been done. but it's a start in dealing with an industry that's out of control. but you get a giant pile o'drama queen screaming about how the bill will drop us into a socialist hellscape. it won't. You get a giant pile o'drama queen screaming about how the bill will finally allow equal access to quality health care. it won't. Instead it is a highly flawed step in the right direction.

yeah, I totally agree. But that's the system for you. Nothing ever gets done perfectly (or even half right). The best thing to do is realize half the bill is terrific and half is horrible....and to work on fixing that which is wrong.

yup. just because he has cerebral palsy doesn't mean you should put your hands in my pocket. Tell him to get a job. Cerebral palsy keep you from working in the coal fields? Lazy commie punk. The dude is a douche. This bill has an almost obscene amount of faults, but it is going to do a ridiculous amount of good.