John Adams

Awesome: class warfare between a rich guy and a super-rich guy (or at least a guy who's wife is superrich). Was JFK rich? I forget. Oh you silly Dems. At least you got a quote to play with. See how Wacka fired back with the state-counting quote. That's the kind of dialogue that really solves problems. Keep it up you two. Where's the Crap-throwing Monkey when you need him?

You may find this hard to believe but I don't reply to every post and I have no idea what you're talking about. I also usually don't make it far into your 7 paragraph posts before I roll my eyes and move on.

I expect JP to be a slightly better version of RJ.

I didn't hate Wade. He was an excellent DC and a good guy. We'd all kill for the "failure" of the playoffs these days.

Bingo. If Edwards isn't the guy (and he gets a couple years to prove it), the Bills aren't going back to JP. They'll be moving on to the next one.

You want to start this again?

I didn't say it was wacko to be against abortion. I said that his wacko support is making that topic a litmus test for his VP candidates. And that is stupid. We're facing bigger problems.

He's got to be careful. The wacko part of his base does not want him to pick a pro-choice person, once again elevating that issue above others.

NBC/WSJ has Obama's lead at 3%. It's getting tighter.

You've been posting here long enough for us to understand. It's OK. You can fess up to who your "buddy" really is.

There's a link to the coach's reaction here. http://www.wespeakthetruth.com/2008/08/ric...ault-coach.html

You read me wrong. I don't hate standardized tests. I don't think they tell a ton about future success, but they are an objective measure of some kind of intelligence and for that, they are OK. Further, SATs and PSATs are a different animal than the other types of standardized tests that test history, geography, English literature, etc. My problem is teachers who "teach to" the test, instead of just teaching so that kids learn. When the test--and not the learning--becomes the driver, the system is flawed.

I am absolutely sympathetic to your plight, and your comment above makes schools unbearable for the smart kids--because most teachers teach to the middle. It's one of the hard things about public schools--few kids get what they need.

The bolded part is entirely true. Parents who exhibit this kind of attitude in front of their kids should be shot. My daughter has had some subpar teachers but she didn't hear that from me. Kids can always eff off. A school with a culture of learning (not being pretty and cool), that is supported by both parents and teachers, is good for any kid.

I get that. The best schooling, if you have the brainpower and means to do it well, is probably home/individual-schooling. Second, with the same issue if having the means is some private school. Third is some sort of public combined with tutoring (by parents or professionals). Public school teachers, in many ways, are like prison guards. Their goal is to maintain the status quo for another day. That's why they don't want to fail students, and also why they don't feel like dealing with demanding (read: CARING) parents. That, of course, is not all public school teachers. Just almost all of the ones I know teaching at the suburban public schools near me.

I don't blame myself for public schools. There are lots of problems in society that I don't have time to fix. Public schooling is one of them. I place my vote on election day--based at least in part on someone's view of public schooling. That's my contribution. I also pay my taxes. That's another contribution. And I I choose to send my child to a school of my choosing; one that I think is best suited to provide a good education. By giving a nice big FU to public schools, that's my third contribution. Why'd I choose private? I searched out a school with a good science program. I found a school not afraid to teach religion. I liked the school because it's academically-focused, with a student population where being smart is actually kinda cool, and say what you want about teachers and parents, it's been shown that peer influence trumps both as children age. I could send my child to the local public school system. It's a pretty good one. But it's in the teach-to-the-test vein. The teachers I've met don't advance based on merit, but instead on seniority. There are lots of disinterested teachers, parents, and as a result students. The top students go to good colleges but not great ones. The teaching "method" changes with politics. One year it's teach to test A, another it's teach to test B. There is no bold thinking going on in public schools. Few have the balls to seriously teach about racial, political, or religious issues. Science can be !@#$ed by the whim of a school board to teach something as insane as ID. Count me out. By the way, you can blame me if it makes you feel better.

I'm 100% sure. You can't.

Some Windows Media derivative. I use Macs at home and had to install Windows on dual boot to view it. I'm not familiar with Adobe AIR, but I'm happy not to have to fire up Windows to run it.

I used it last year. It is like most streaming. It works OK but drops out sometimes. A touch better than Youtube vid quality. You need to subscribe to DirecTV and add the NFL and Superfan packages.

My dog licks himself too. Congrats.

Punctuation marks go inside the quotes. And I don't think "guerilla" warfare is gorilla warfare. But I sometimes get confused about guerRilla warfare. I envisioned a beach ceremony, so isle is appropriate.

Do everything you can do to get your children out of public schools.

If he's kite-surfing, he's harnessed to the kite.

I think he picks Kaine (Va. is an important swing state) or Beeyotch (also an important swing state). Biden is a solid choice but Delaware is not important and he comes with a little baggage. I don't think he'll pick Clinton.

I see some value in the liberal arts education but 4 years at 20-40K/year? That's completely unnecessary. Why can't I just take a Princeton class on Chaucer from Dr. Smartypants for a grand. He can just record himself (the best example of this are the Feynman lectures in physics). I get all the value of having a great professor at a fraction of the cost. Or better, I can just read Chaucer and some essays about him online. Then participate in an online discussion group. Do I really need to attend college to learn critical thinking? And do I need 4 years? Of course not. That's a tired argument that I hear all the time about the value of a degree. I am sure many CEOS are liberal arts majors....[gotta run...finish this thought later]