Politics And Current Events

[Tico Rick]

WTF

[Freddy Rumsen]

Japan was a weird place to live for a year.

[columbia]

I just assumed they do it on their ice cream.

[Shyster]

Is the machine next to it for all the dudes that whack it to cartoons like that...?

I believe that's the ice shaver.

[Willie Kool]

Meanwhile, back on the gun thing..........

The mom in Texas that convened a family meeting where she shot her two daughters before being killed by responding police, turns out law enforcement had been called to their house 14 times since 2012, including at least one call because of a 'mental crisis'. The gun used was a family heirloom from the woman's great-grandfather; I don't know how Texas law handles such transfers. Neighbors and friends of the family have called the woman 'toxic', and most that have been interviewed have expressed little in the way of shock that this lady went off the deep end like this.

My position is that I am loathe to muck about with Constitutional rights, and I'm generally unsympathetic to increases in restrictions on legal purchases. But this seems like a solid case where there should be some sort of workable solution to address a volatile cocktail.

IMO, keeping a gun away from her probably wouldn't have been enough. The woman should have been committed to an asylum.

[NTP66]

Source of the post Japan is one of the best thing we have going for us as a planet.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

NSFTif

You can come up with better examples than that:

Edit: As an aside, I don't know what it says about me that I already knew of that particular picture and when I saw NTP's post immediately thought, "Finally. A situation where I can use the anime-girl-peeing sno-cone-machine picture."

lol, we're in the same boat, then, because I've seen a similar photo before and thought about posting it.

[Stinky]

A member of the house of representatives in PA makes 85k a year and no one bats an eye. A teacher with a bachelor's degree, a masters degree and 20+ years of service makes 70k (at least that's what they made where I taught) and everyone (well...just Stinky) loses their minds.

I don't think posting my view that teachers are overpaid (and I clearly stated in my neck of the woods) is losing my mind... But never the less I will address your strawman argument. Yes, I also think my state legislator is overpaid and I do bat an eye. If it were up to me they would be paid less and there would be less of them.

I also don't want to hear the argument from teachers "teach for one month and tell me I am overpaid" crap.. Or "we have long hours with grading papers and lesson plans" JOIN THE CLUB I and many of my coworkers work 50 plus hours a week... I spend a couple weeks a month traveling.....what about business analysts.. "We are so underpaid and we are not appreciated"!!!

[columbia]

Even in the best situations, I would think being a school teacher would be pretty tough. I had great teachers, but I assume they drank a lot in their off hours.

[Guinness]

What in the hell happened in here last night?

I apologize if the fact that I am not offended by a joke makes my faith look fake or illegitimate. I choose to not be offended by things like jokes. Which, honestly, is as Christ-like as one can get when it comes to a joke (since my "Chirst-like-ness" was brought into question).

I don't want to portray myself as humorless (and I can see that when I dial in on a topic it can seem that way), and I agree with you that a sense of humor... a sense of humility... is undoubtedly Christ-like. However, there are things which a Christian should in no way be misunderstood as endorsing. I get that you didn't specifically endorse the humor in that cc tweet, but as a Christian there are things which are outside the pale. There are things which we should wish to see out of the human experience. Alluding to any sense of humor on that matter lessens the grip on the rope, if you will, in my estimation. Im similarly snotty when it comes to war humor, for example. I recall getting dug in on the whole "where's those derned wmd's" joke during one of W's press corps dinners.

Whether or not my reaction to these topics brings people to Christ isn't relevant, in my estimation. There are lines to be not crossed. Many a Christian has been martyred on those terms.

And this is it. This is the reason. Why have my views changed? Because I continued to read the words and works of Jesus Christ and I continued to seek Him instead of the Americanized, bastardized, watered down, prosperity, fake, false hope giving, lying, cheating, greedy, hypocritical gospel that is preached so much in this country. (for the record, I DO NOT think that FRs church falls into that category)

You don't believe there's no other option to you, do you? There's only americanized, bastardized watered down prosperity, fake, false hope giving lying cheating greedy Christianity or this bizarre reading you've latched on to where Christ inexplicably calls the faithful to seize the power of the state and do his bidding?? 'Cause that never-ever turns out badly, right? I'm interested to know where you picked up the idea that coercion and compulsion is an acceptable substitute for charity? The ends in Christian philosophy most certainly do not justify the means... we don't get credit for giving to others if what we give has been stolen in the first place.

@Guinness, if you wish to discuss my faith further I am happy to do so in PM. Thanks brobraham

If you prefer to reply in pm, I'm cool with that. I don't think the questions I'm asking are unreasonable, however.

[MWB]

I also don't want to hear the argument from teachers "teach for one month and tell me I am overpaid" crap.. Or "we have long hours with grading papers and lesson plans" JOIN THE CLUB I and many of my coworkers work 50 plus hours a week... I spend a couple weeks a month traveling.....what about business analysts.. "We are so underpaid and we are not appreciated"!!!

I'm not the one saying that you're overpaid. If you want to make a statement like that, be ready to back it up with something other than anecdotes. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be paid more.... and at no point did I, or anyone else, cite lack of appreciation. There are way too many people that make uninformed arguments about the teaching profession and then say, "They're just overpaid anyway!" Just take a look at the last few pages where people have made statements that are just incorrect. So when I say, "teach for a month," what I really mean is get informed. You obviously don't know what the job entails, so get out of your bubble and become educated on the subject before spouting off about how overpaid people are.

[grunthy]

A member of the house of representatives in PA makes 85k a year and no one bats an eye. A teacher with a bachelor's degree, a masters degree and 20+ years of service makes 70k (at least that's what they made where I taught) and everyone (well...just Stinky) loses their minds.

I don't think posting my view that teachers are overpaid (and I clearly stated in my neck of the woods) is losing my mind... But never the less I will address your strawman argument. Yes, I also think my state legislator is overpaid and I do bat an eye. If it were up to me they would be paid less and there would be less of them.

I also don't want to hear the argument from teachers "teach for one month and tell me I am overpaid" crap.. Or "we have long hours with grading papers and lesson plans" JOIN THE CLUB I and many of my coworkers work 50 plus hours a week... I spend a couple weeks a month traveling.....what about business analysts.. "We are so underpaid and we are not appreciated"!!!

Yeah you have zero clue what teachers do. Id rather do manual labor for 60 hours a week than be a teacher. I was a safety, forklift and GMP instructor for 2.5 years. It was no where near what a full teacher does, I taught/trained people maybe 4 hours a week. That was a giant pain in the rear.

It's obvious you've never actually developed coursework or planning. It's harder than anything I've done in the business world.

[MWB]

Even in the best situations, I would think being a school teacher would be pretty tough. I had great teachers, but I assume they drank a lot in their off hours.

The thing is, I like my job, and while it can be tough at times, it's not that bad. But that doesn't mean I don't think I should be paid more. And whenever a debate about schools comes up, that is going to come up because it is part of the equation, as salary is with any job. But why the hell do teachers get a bad rap for wanting to be paid more? As for the drinking, don't worry, I expense my beer spendings.

[columbia]

lol

[count2infinity]

A member of the house of representatives in PA makes 85k a year and no one bats an eye. A teacher with a bachelor's degree, a masters degree and 20+ years of service makes 70k (at least that's what they made where I taught) and everyone (well...just Stinky) loses their minds.

I don't think posting my view that teachers are overpaid (and I clearly stated in my neck of the woods) is losing my mind... But never the less I will address your strawman argument. Yes, I also think my state legislator is overpaid and I do bat an eye. If it were up to me they would be paid less and there would be less of them.

I also don't want to hear the argument from teachers "teach for one month and tell me I am overpaid" crap.. Or "we have long hours with grading papers and lesson plans" JOIN THE CLUB I and many of my coworkers work 50 plus hours a week... I spend a couple weeks a month traveling.....what about business analysts.. "We are so underpaid and we are not appreciated"!!!

What about business analysts? No one is complaining about your pay except you. I doubt there are very many jobs out there where a person gets paid 30-35 K starting out and people scoff and say they're getting paid way too much. If you have an example of one, I'm all ears.

[grunthy]

I'd be an alcoholic if I was a teacher.

[Tico Rick]

This article on "return on investment" seems apropos of this discussion:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... nt/489233/

[Willie Kool]

I and many of my coworkers work 50 plus hours a week... I spend a couple weeks a month traveling.....what about business analysts.. "We are so underpaid and we are not appreciated"!!!

Maybe you should look into organizing a business analyst union...

[Willie Kool]

There are lines to be not crossed. Many a Christian has been martyred on those terms.

For trying to impose their will on others?

[Willie Kool]

I also would like an honest answer to this.

I oppose abortion as murder. I'm expressing no hate, I'm not closed from anyone in saying so.

Do you love the girl as she walks into the clinic? And when she walks out?

[Factorial]

[shafnutz05]

Oh look, another massive Islamic terror attack. Yawn.

[Freddy Rumsen]

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/747957114476191744

Probably the NRA's fault.

[Stinky]

A member of the house of representatives in PA makes 85k a year and no one bats an eye. A teacher with a bachelor's degree, a masters degree and 20+ years of service makes 70k (at least that's what they made where I taught) and everyone (well...just Stinky) loses their minds.

I don't think posting my view that teachers are overpaid (and I clearly stated in my neck of the woods) is losing my mind... But never the less I will address your strawman argument. Yes, I also think my state legislator is overpaid and I do bat an eye. If it were up to me they would be paid less and there would be less of them.

I also don't want to hear the argument from teachers "teach for one month and tell me I am overpaid" crap.. Or "we have long hours with grading papers and lesson plans" JOIN THE CLUB I and many of my coworkers work 50 plus hours a week... I spend a couple weeks a month traveling.....what about business analysts.. "We are so underpaid and we are not appreciated"!!!

What about business analysts? No one is complaining about your pay except you. I doubt there are very many jobs out there where a person gets paid 30-35 K starting out and people scoff and say they're getting paid way too much. If you have an example of one, I'm all ears.

Actually the quotes were intended to show sarcasm, as there is no unified mantra from the business analyst union (more sarcasm) Frankly I think I am paid just about right, I rarely hear any of my coworkers complain about pay and I certainly don't have the balls to tell people that if you want better business analysts then pony up!

BTW, I think lost in this debate is not just salary, it's the total package, the benies, the days off, the job security (tenure? Really?).

However this, like gun control is a debate that will never sway an opinion. We can both point to studies that would seemingly back our argument. In the end I don't begrudge anyone who leaves home in the morning and puts in an honest days work. I wish the teachers on this board the best of luck and a great summer!

[Kaiser]

The teachers who teach should be paid more. The ones who had out ziplock bags full of busy work shouldnt have jobs.

[count2infinity]

I'm still waiting to hear any position other than teaching that requires a bachelor's degree, certifications AND people complain about them getting paid too much when they start at 35K.