Thinking Right

By RealRep

January 18, 2008 8:05 AM | Link to this

“You don’t like people from outside the state telling you what to do with your flag,” Huckabee told an audience in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. “In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them where to put the pole.”

Mike welcomes the courage of The South to his candidacy.

A vote for Giuliani is a vote for Hillary.

Huckabee ‘08

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. When we first moved to Georgia we were surprised to learn that the state imposed a property tax, which had always been strictly a county function in our former state. Of course, Georgia seemed to tax all sorts of things that were not taxed in our former state, so we adjusted. I am delighted to see movement in eliminating the panoply of state thefts, even if they may be using the left hand eliminations to conceal the right hand impositions. And Jim is right, I cannot imagine any more reason to praise republican tax and spenders than democrat tax and spenders. Are there no true conservatives in the legislature? It’s too bad the libertarians are so isolationist on defense issues; they could be my party of preference.

Daffynition: “statewide trauma network.” A means to compel taxpayers to subsidize the inadequate incomes of medicrats. Also called “corporate welfare.”

I am always sad to see the self-proclaimed “compassionate ones” so rigid in their determination to restrict the denizens of the public school prison system. A point of order, when speaking of government schools, isn’t the term “dysfunctional” redundant?

Now Jim, any time you are talking about employee functions in Fulton County schools, you must remember you are talking about a “make work” jobs program, not any serious or necessary positions.

“State Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta) would allow communities to hold referendums and become limited-authority townships.” Just what we need, another level of dictators to regulate what people do with their own property. Sorta like a government paid neighborhood beautification commission, except with power to truly degrade property rights.

Mark of a scoundrel: “I propose strengthening ethics laws.” Sunshine is all you need.

Nawaz Sharif is the preferred candidate of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Whatever defects we see in Musharraf – and they are considerable – they pale in comparison to Sharif.

I am pleased to hear that the Government Gambling commission has sucked around $600 million more out of poor inner city families than was necessary; good idea to keep the impoverished poor. I mean, if we used that money to fund vouchers and get “those people” (to borrow the phrase of our friend Redneck) a real edumacation, the Gambling commission might die from lack of use.

At risk of making life better for all, isn’t it obvious that the cure for air traffic control is privatization?

By Eric

January 18, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this

“The state should offer every child in Clayton County a voucher that could be spent in any public, private or parochial school inside the county or out.”

This just sounds like another scheme to funnel tax money to church and church-sponsored organizations. I don’t understand how using my tax money to give your child a religious “education” is a responsible use of taxpayer monies.

Public education only works with the economies of scale — the more students there are, the (incrementally) cheaper it is to educate each additional student.

I did not grow up in the South, and the problems Georgia is experiencing with its educational system is unique to the South. I received a high-quality public education that paved the way for a successful college education. Other states have proved that public education can work.

Instead of abandoning its public education system through dispersal of funds through vouchers, Georgia needs to take a long, hard look at what is ailing our educational system and make an appropriate investment to fix it. Perhaps then we won’t be listed as the state with the “49th highest average SAT scores”.

By TW

January 18, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this

The latest count puts Iraqi civilian deaths at 150,000 - significantly lower that the group listing it at 600,000. Republican President George W. Bush said two years ago that the number was around 30,000. Using the conservative number just released, does that mean 60,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in each of the last two years?

By Dennis

January 18, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

By jbmlaw January 18, 2008 8:09 AM writes, “Daffynition: “statewide trauma network.” A means to compel taxpayers to subsidize the inadequate incomes of medicrats. Also called “corporate welfare.”

Ah! You and some of the chicken farmers in a neighboaring country. He thinks paying EMTs $30,000 a year is paying them too much. (Yes, it does come out of local taxes). But if he has a heart attack, and you or a member of your family have a major trauma, you’ll both be thanking your god for “corporate welfare”.

Regarding the “600 million more out of inner city families…” I’m a little surprised at your remark. (Well, no I’m not, either) as it goes along with your view concerning air traffic controlers.

Neither you nor Wooten have yet to understand that the people who are going to be hired by “private enterprise” to do the jobs of education and air safety, are going to be the same people you now have - in the same manner that the Black Hawk (“heros”) are straight out of the military.

C’mon and admit, that particular private enterprise didn’t begin by hiring people off of the street. Your tax money paid for their military trainning.

I will support giving that 600 million to “failing” public schools.

And if Wooten really wants to “Free the Clayton 52,800”, I am waiting to see how many days a week he plans to spend in those schools freeing the students after he retires.

On the other hand, he’s a journalist and journalist do research. Maybe he should go do some personal research of those 52,800, visit their families and their homes, talk to the teachers and administrators and parents, talk to the kids, those who dropped out and those who graduated and get himself a REAL EDUCATION about what educators deal with.

If he’s honest, he’ll be “Thinking Right” when he’s finished.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this

Dear TW @ 9:06, if by Iraqi civilian you mean “terrorists not in uniform,” yes, that is about right.

By JK

January 18, 2008 9:15 AM | Link to this

jbmlaw, as a native, and on behalf of the other natives here, please allow me to extend our earnest invitation for you to return to the great state from whence you invaded. It’s YOUR fault the traffic has become a never-ending nightmare and our lush green vistas have been stripped to provide shoddily- contructed money pits surrounded by the blight of corporate signage only barely visible in summer through the smog. Your work, aka the damage, is done. Please don’t let us keep you any longer!

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 9:16 AM | Link to this

Dear Eric @ 9:06, maybe you are right, we need to make Georgia government schools more like those of the city of Chicago, or Philadelphia, or Detroit, or Washington DC. That’ll inspire confidence. There are many places that throw money at the problem, but extraordinarily few that have any efficacy therein.

By Deborah

January 18, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this

I would prefer the State use some of the $600M to fund transportation improvements sorely needed in the Atlanta Metro area. The $50M in Purdue’s budget is a paltry sum to address the huge problems the area faces with traffic congestion.

I am also finally happy to see someone admit that the Repubs seem to spend just as much as the Demos. The main difference, as I see it, is the Demos raise taxes to cover the spending and the Repubs just run up the deficit. If the money is needed for necessary works, I prefer the former. You have to pay sooner or later, paying with today’s dollars is generally cheaper than tomorrow’s.

Privatization of the air traffic control system would be preferable if money is spent to bring the system up to today’s standards and not something that was developed in the 1960’s.

By getalife

January 18, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

Canada puts U.S., Israel on torture watchlist

The reason why Powell wants to shut down Gitmo is the first thing on the agenda of all diplomatic meetings is torture and Gitmo.

How pathetic.

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this

Dear Dennis @ 9:11, the highest SAT scores in the state are in north Fulton County, an area that votes mostly Republican. The lowest SAT scores in the state are in inner city Fulton County, an area that votes mostly Democrat. Since the school funding within Fulton County is approximately equal from north to south, I would propose curing the problems of inner city Fulton County by compelling the citizenry to vote Republican. (I think the correlations there are higher than with funding.)

Dear JK @ 9:15, thanks, but I feel the missionary’s zeal, to “go and make intellgent citizens of all.”

By TW

January 18, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this

jbmlaw writes - Dear TW @ 9:06, if by Iraqi civilian you mean “terrorists not in uniform,” yes, that is about right.

Thank you for your honesty. You are a glowing example of a Republican. Who needs David Duke when you have jbmlaw?

By Deborah

January 18, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

jbmlaw the last time I checked, the SAT scores of students at Grady HS in the City near Piedmont Park where pretty comparable to those of students in North Fulton. A lot of those students live in my neighborhood of Morningside and Virginia/Highland. I think the bigger issue here is parentel involvement, not voting Republican. And also, too many students taking the SAT that are not college material. GA schools need to go back to having a technical track for students that are not college material and really don’t want to go to college.

By JK

January 18, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

“The missionary’s zeal”: aka, your own brand of social syphillis. Thanks a bunch, dude.

By Watta Load

January 18, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

hey Real Rep,

Huckabilly is a dumba$$ with no leadership skills and even less foreign policy skills. If this country is stupid enough to make him president he’ll get clobbered by every branch of government…think we have a quaqmire now? Go ahead…vote for that hillbilly.

So Jim Wooten?…what’s going on in Iraq these days?

By Truthifier

January 18, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this

jbmlaw @ 9:16, you are cherry picking.

Sure, there are public school systems that are terrible, but as Eric rightly pointed out there are also good public school systems all over the country. I don’t think Eric suggested that Georgia should replicate the educational systems of Chicago, or Philadelphia, or Detroit, or Washington DC.

According to Newsweek’s ranking of the best public school systems in the nation, students are doing just fine at public schools in Dallas TX, Jacksonville FL, Irondale AL, Riviera Beach FL, Tucson AZ, Bloomfield Hills MI, Cypress CA, Buffalo NY, and La Jolla CA.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/39380

By Camus

January 18, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

Overheard from the GA Superintendent of Schools when the national rankings appear:

“Thank God for Louisiana!”

Then again, Georgia lags behind Mississippi. That’s just sad.

Just because the schools in the bottom tier states are generally lousy (and in fact, some are not) does not mean that public education is a de facto failure.

Some would argue that the governments in these states actually intend the education system to be nothing more than a factory for dimbulb worker drones. An educated citizenry asks questions and asserts its rights. Quiescent yahoos typically only complain about inconsequential nonsense like state flags and school prayer. Better for some if the education system stays broken. And this has nothing to do with Rep vs. Dem. It is all about class and power.

By Deborah

January 18, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

Truthifier - thanks for posting the link on the Top 100 public schools in the nation.

Hey jbmlaw - interestingly none of those great schools in North Fulton made the list. LOL….

Sadly, not one school from Georgia made the list in 2007 or 2006. I checked both years for any Georgia schools.

My father sent me and my sister to public schools in Richmond, VA. His brother sent both of his daughters to the best private school. My sister and I have outearned both of our cousins for more than 15 years. We all have college degrees, I have a Master’s.

By Joe

January 18, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this

Anything that would free the school children of Clayton County who by no fault of their own are traped in the worst school situation in the country. Provide them with vouchers and let them become educated

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this

Dear Truthifier @ 9:52, great list, but you are cherry picking. Why should we aspire for the best GOVERNMENT school system? Why not the best system?

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

Eric & Truthifier—

Good morning. Please name one “good public school system”, from among the “many…throughout the country.” The U.S. Office of Education, which became the USDE, was chartered to stimulate local “experiments” in schooling, so that exemplary systems could be reproduced throughout the country.

It would be of the essence, then, to know of such a system. Please give an example of one.

Jim,

I’m very interested in the full story behind your teaser-bullet, the second from last, regarding the Atlanta Housing Authority. Any chance you’d do a column-length treatment?

[Rudy 08]

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 10:23 AM | Link to this

Dear Truthifier @ 9:52, great list, on a second look at that list, all of those except maybe Jacksonville sound like Republican areas? Perhaps the solution is to compel the citizenry to vote Republican? How can we make the students in poor performing areas act more republican?

By GaEducated

January 18, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this

Education. A worthwhile subject indeed. Today, Jim has chosen to focus on the plight of the Clayton — I long for a decent education — County children and their parents. I suppose the Clayton County school system is an appropriate system to focus on. After all, this system has been “in the news” recently, it is obviously failing its students and it makes a great talking point for promoting an alternative — paying the parents to take their children elsewhere.

The viability of a public school system must surely hinge on our ability to provide a system that yields graduates with demonstrated proficiencies in a set of “core” subjects at a minimal cost. Need I say more. Come on. A voucher may well serve a purpose as a short-term patch but it is hardly a fix. If a voucher were the solution, then surely we would be at the point where we could simply “pull the plug”. Why have a voucher at all. Just shut down the schools, eliminate the school portion of the property tax, eliminate any SPLOST for school funding and give everyone the “don’t let the screen door…” SALUTE!

Now at this point, assuming I still have your interest, you might be thinking that I have some vested interest in the school system — even the Clayton County school system. You are right. I do. For one thing, I attended school in Clayton County — 1st-12th. Many years have passed since I last set foot, as a student, in grade school. We didn’t have all the interest at the national level to leave no child behind but we did seem to have a lot of caring teachers and parents. We didn’t have computers or media centers but we did have a library packed full of dog-eared books. My favorites at that time in my life were the books about the World Wars but that’s another story. We did have teachers armed with the ability to discipline and rarely a parent that questioned the teacher’s side of the story. There were the “good, bad and ugly” amongst the students, faculty and parents. Somehow most of us seemed to make it through those years and even make something of ourselves. Times have changed, things have changed, we have changed. Our basic needs have not changed. We need a good education in order to provide for ourselves and maybe even others as the case may be. I don’t know the answers. I do know that you cannot get the answers without asking the questions and listening to the answers.

By Deborah

January 18, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this

Truthifier - thanks for posting the link on the Top 100 public schools in the nation.

Hey jbmlaw - interestingly none of those great schools in North Fulton made the list. LOL….

Sadly, not one school from Georgia made the list in 2007 or 2006. I checked both years for any Georgia schools.

My father sent me and my sister to public schools in Richmond, VA. His brother sent both of his daughters to the best private school. My sister and I have outearned both of our cousins for more than 15 years. We all have college degrees, I have a Master’s.

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this

Camus,

What shall we fight about today?

Just kidding. I thought you’d get a kick out of hearing that in California, when the national (e.g. NAEP) test results were in we used to say, “Thank God for Guam!”

By JK

January 18, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this

The concept that only the education of one’s OWN children matters is even more short-sighted than it is selfish. An economy does not consist of only what you can produce or earn. The children of everyone else in your community will eventually produce, earn, and spend at a certain level. The better that level, the better for everyone, including crotchety old men who’ve alreay raised their kids. What about that simple logic is so incredibly difficult for some of you to grasp?

By jabster

January 18, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this

This whole “super speeder” thing would be hilarious if it wasn’t so stupid.

If the point of “speeding” fines is to discourage “speeding”, shouldn’t the fines be raised to the point where they pose a real financial threat to the average motorist?

But then, if compliance with speed limits increases greatly due to higher fines, the amount of revenue that one should expect to collect would have to go DOWN, due to fewer tickets written

You can’t serve two masters! Either traffic fines are a deterrent—in which case, if they are set high enough compliance should be high—or, they are a revenue source, in which case they should be Laffer-curved to max out the revenue collected. NOT BOTH!

Sounds like the state is trying to collect a TAX under the guise of “quit your whining about paying-you broke the law so you’re gonna pay whatever we say and be glad we don’t double it or throw your butt in jail!”

No wonder people are cynical about traffic law, law enforcement, and traffic courts.

If you don’t believe me, look at what’s going on with tobacco. If tobacco is that bad—why not raise the tax to actually discourage smoking. But then, you’ll get less tobacco tax revenue. What the heck is it that you want? Money or non-smokers?

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this

Dear Deborah @ 10:11, did you read the formula used to determine the best schools? “Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors.” So I have a simple solution: we’ll just have the state fund AP, IB, and Cambridge tests for all of the students in inner city Fulton, then suddenly they’ll be the best schools in the country. They don’t even have to score well, just take the tests!

By TW

January 18, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this

The ten states with the lowest SAT scores in 2004 ALL voted for Bush…nine of the ten states with the lowest high school graduation rates in 2004 voted for Bush. Why would the Republican party want to ‘fix’ education, when to do so would decimate their base?

Got brains?

By Dusty

January 18, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this

Well, Jim Wooten, you really gave us a lot of serious subjects to consider this morning.

I believe that @@ would like vouchers for her private school in Clayton County where she teaches children with disabilities. Maybe she will tell us later.

Money on hand that we don’t know where to spend? Wow! That’s easy with many choices. I just read that some military families were having a hard time with emergencies. I’m always willing to help the families of our troops, when their love ones are often overseas fighting for us.

Then you mentioned Grady. With all its drawbacks, I cannot see Atlanta having adequate medical care without Grady. Set it straight but keep it going. We cannot ignore the poor who becaome ill for no reason of their own.

I like the idea of making our government an example of honesty and justice and all good things. A great goal in our state. (I really don’t think we are too far from that.)

By Deborah

January 18, 2008 10:36 AM | Link to this

TW you hit the nail on the proverbial head. LMAO.

By Where Would Jesus Shove That Flagpole?

January 18, 2008 10:36 AM | Link to this

“You don’t like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag,” Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, told supporters in Myrtle Beach, according to The Associated Press.

“In fact,” he said, “if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole; that’s what we’d do.”

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

Wow, what a lot of intelligent chatter today. I’d have expected a vewitable festival of edulibberish fwom you siwwy wabbits, but no. Very pragmatic, problem-solving-type stuff.

Good going.

By Eric

January 18, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

jbmlaw & Glenn,

I am no expert in our educational system, but I can tell you that simply based on SAT scores, there are 48 states that know how to do it better than us.

I know that Philadelphia, Detriot and D.C. have some of the highest crime rates in the country, yet with the daily distraction of being the victim of a violent crime, these students still participate in a school system that is superior to ours.

Given these examples, it is even more embarrasing that our school system does so poorly, as rarely do the children in our schools have to deal with the problems experienced in D.C., Detriot or Philadelphia.

I’m not very familiar with the situation in Chicago today, but I did grow up in a suburban Chicago community and the educational system of our school and the schools surrounding it was excellent.

By GS Aplenty (yes, that's right)

January 18, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

Truthifer, thanks for the information - it’s always good to have data to support a conclusion. However, it appears that the “index” being used in the ranking of these rug-rat think tanks is defined as “the number of AP, IB & Cambridge tests taken divided by total students.” I’m wondering why the index does not incorporate test results. Or possibly include another index that simply measures test results in upper level vs. students attempting. Some of these schools are “magnet” types which leads to a concentration of college-track students.

The info. is enlightening but to my mind doesn’t fully reflect the quality of instruction at your typical (random student population) HS.

By Jim's a Cherry Picker

January 18, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this

Hi Jim,

Was hoping to see you comment on the new draconian regulations being imposed on the mining industry by big government, or big government’s attempt at “kick-starting” the economy with some tax benefits.

Very interesting, that stuff. You know…coming from those who hate government and all.

By Richard Mitchell

January 18, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this

To TW: Hello. The message you posted at 10:29 this morning contains a common misuse of the term “decimate”, which means to reduce by a tenth. By your reasoning, the Republican Party would be reducing its membership by 90 percent, not 10 percent. (Irrespective of which, your causal reasoning also is ridiculous.)

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this

Eric,

Thanks for the good response. There are several school districts in the suburban Chicago area that are highly reputable. May I ask in which one you attended school?

By OneForTheRoad

January 18, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

Jabster @ 10:27,

If you don’t believe me, look at what’s going on with tobacco. If tobacco is that bad—why not raise the tax to actually discourage smoking. But then, you’ll get less tobacco tax revenue. What the heck is it that you want? Money or non-smokers?

The answer to your last question is Yes.

By getalife

January 18, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this

Did Fratto not realize he’d be called on such a blatant falsehood? Or does the Bush White House simply no longer care?

Another Waxman hearing on another law breaking scandal.

How pathetic.

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this

Dear Eric @ 10:38, forgive my bluster, you sound like a pretty sharp guy. I know less about education than you. Glenn (and a couple of others – Midsouth Philosopher, @@) are our education experts. I just like to stir the cauldron.

By Lily Toad

January 18, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

Why not use the $600 million to give teachers a raise? We were sold on the idea of the lottery by saying proceeds would go solely to education. Since education is so important, let’s use it for that. Or we could spend more on science labs, up-to-date textbooks.

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this

jbm, you old bad liar, you have not been stirring the cauldron. Why, for example at 9:32 you took an Evinrude to the thing.

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this

Lily Toad,

Which teachers?

By Redneck Convert

January 18, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this

Well, I’m late on account of I had to go get my tooth cleaned. Its very important, it holds all the false teeth I have in place. That danged meth.

I’m not for using the Lotto money for any new guvmint program. Lets use it for the Go Fish program and maybe a race track or two. And let Those People keep playing the lottery. They never win. Its always some good old boy that winds up with millions of bucks, and when he’s innervued on TV he says he’s going to buy a new double-wide and a pickup but he’s going to hold on to his job in the factory making sheetrock.

Anyhow, I don’t hold with spending tax money on a bunch of schooling. It don’t get kids nowhere. Just look at jbmlaw. He went thru school and colledge and law school and he never learned to think one bit better than any old redneck. Our ideas are exackly the same. We both hate the guvmint and want to cut guvmint spending and use the Death Penalty and everything. He just uses bigger words to say what he thinks.

Anyhow, its lunkhead in, lunkhead out. A kid don’t stop being a lunkhead just by going to school. We send them there as little rednecks and they come out as big rednecks. Heck, we can get that by keeping them home.

Have a good day everybody.

By jabster

January 18, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

OneForTheRoad @10:29 :

I’d like both, too—and a side of world peace while you’re at it—but the more money you get the fewer non-smokers you get, and vice-versa. In order to raise money by a tobacco tax you have to have smokers.

As I said above, I’m sure there’s a Laffer curve point that maximizes revenue before the number of smokers drops off too quickly. You’ll get fewer smokers, but not NO smokers—and more smokers than if you raised the tax strictly to minimize the number of smokers.

Which, theoretically, would go to zero smokers as the tax goes to infinity, ignoring unintended consequences such as bootlegging and people growing their own.

Slap a $10 a pack tax on cigs and you’ll get a lot of quitters. But your tax revenue will go in the toilet because nobody will pay the tax.

By rma

January 18, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

bulldoze the clayton county edumacation building while the members are in session. they’re a bunch of incompetent dregs. check out the clayton county news daily weekly. more money has done nothing to improve our schools. WE NEED NEW BOARD MEMBERS.

In her first days as Interim Superintendent of the Clayton County School System, Gloria Duncan had the services of a driver and bodyguard paid for by her bosses. The bodyguard, 45-year-old Kenneth Jerome Alexander, of Hampton, was at the time — and is still — under investigation on charges of child molestation.

During the first seven days of Duncan’s tenure, after former superintendent, Barbara Pulliam, resigned abruptly, Alexander worked 48.5 hours as Duncan’s driver and bodyguard and was paid $35 per hour, according to school system documents.

School district officials and school board members said they didn’t know Alexander is facing felony indictments on charges of child molestation, and they didn’t do a background check.

Alexander is a former Jonesboro Police officer, who provided security at Jonesboro Middle School and at school board meetings until 2004, when he was arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on charges of child molestation, enticing a minor to have sex and violating his oath as an officer.

Alexander began providing security at school board meetings after board chairwoman, Nedra Ware, complained about a white officer, alleging racism. Alexander, who is black, replaced the officer and was paid out of the superintendents’ office budget until his firing.

IGNORANCE BEGETS IGNORANCE PEOPLE.

By Sherlock Homie

January 18, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this

Reward people for working? I wish you’d stop rewarding us so much, taxman.

Without paying Musharraf big bucks, we cant supply our army in Afghanistan. Bribery is the lure to ensure his tenure. Gotta end badly. (see all of written history)

Headlines today very weird. Hershel Walker’s multiple ID’s, drunken enticements to tiger maulings, Omar Bin Laden horse racing across africa for peace (take my hand, Omar, I’m your father, Omar, join the dark force, Omar, take my hand, I am your father)

Bobby Fischer dies. (a bishop will lead the funeral mass). Cruelty in chicken plants. (you just know this is about mcnuggets)

By Rone

January 18, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

I was wondering why TFTT hasn’t been heard from lately. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0115082chad1.html

By Shar

January 18, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this

Proceeds from the Georgia Lottery were reserved for three specific purposes: HOPE scholarships, pre-K education and classroom technology. The last two were scaled back (pre-K) or set aside (technology) as funds could not stretch to all, and HOPE was determined to be the most important program among the three. Since the HOPE requirements have been tightened and fewer students qualify, the reserve fund has grown. This is not money for the general fund or for politicians’ pet projects. The law establishing the lottery directs its allocation, and the underfunding of the original programs should be considered and addressed before permitting unrelated interests to glom on.

As far as school performance goes, academic excellence is driven by three interrelated factors: strong schools, motivated students and supportive parents. Few, if any, systems can boast of having all three,but excellence is achievable if two of the three are present. Focussing all effort against one, the strength of the school, will rarely if ever improve student performance in the absence of motivation and support. While distractions such as the clownish Clayton County Board antics are frustrating and annoying, dispersing those 52,000 students via vouchers will produce little. A more holistic approach that addresses all three legs of the stool is needed.

By William

January 18, 2008 11:26 AM | Link to this

In my opnion for public schools to better educate our kids:

Increase salaries for the jobs that pay twice as much up north.

Take special interest out of schools to include transplants belief of God or not in public areas. It is my tax money also and if I want my children to have the opportunity to pray then so be it.

Make new legislation to do away with forcing kids to school. We need tomatoe pickers! I like salads!

Stop saying only with college education can you make it. I work with college educated people and they do not work. Please give me tech graduate or a high school graduated and I will train.

Keep teachers motivated!

Allow voluntary segregation!

By TW

January 18, 2008 11:26 AM | Link to this

Dick Mitchell - Hello to you. No, you accurately interpreted my use of ‘decimate’. Were there a word meaning 98%, it would have been used, as anyone not making over $200k/yr who calls themselves as a Republican falls into the category to which I referred.

By chuck

January 18, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this

Deborah, you made an interesting statement:

I think the bigger issue here is parentel involvement, not voting Republican.

As an educator, I can tell you that parent involvement is one of those educational “buzz word phrases” that really doesn’t mean what most people think that it means.

WHAT IT SHOULD MEAN, is that parents check the class websites to keep up with what’s going on in each class and to be able to check the child’s homework after they have completed it. It should mean that as they keep up with what’s going on in the class, that they make sure their child is doing the reading assignments and that they are studying for tests and not waiting until the last minute to complete a book report or project. It should also mean that the parent participates to the extent that they can in other things going on at the school, like when their children are in band concerts or athletic events. Most of all it should mean that they impress upon their children EVERY DAY how important a good education is and that they EXPECT them to take it seriously and behave and pay attention at school. They should check the “progress reports” that are sent to them electronically to monitor the child’s grades and whether or not they have any missing assignments.

Unfortunately, this is not the kind of parent involvement we get from SOME parents. Some parents think that it means wait until the grading period ends and the kid has failed, then call the school and complain about the teacher. Some parents come to the school for conferences with the teacher and promise that they are going to do the things I outlined in the previous paragraph. They then make vague threats to the student and follow through on NOTHING that they said they would do. It is hard work being a parent and far too many people complete the “fun” part of producing the kid, and then leave everything else to chance. Parenting that way today doesn’t work very well, and frankly, it never has unless the paren lucked up and got a self-motivated kid.

Thank God for good parents and self-motivated kids.

By Lily Toad

January 18, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

Glenn, all of them. With 6 mill. and counting, can’t we give an extra 1% or so? I think the state government sets the percentage rate every year. Why not look at the surplus and pull some out to increase the annual raise?

By GS Aplenty

January 18, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this

There’s an old political adage that says “In government, you get more of what you subsidize.” I think this statement is sage advice & leads me always to agitate for less in the way of government programs. But, while I agree with this political view point in general, and consider myself a “free market” advocate, I am decidely NOT laissez faire when it comes to education.

Fundamentally, I am inclined to favor educating and “baby-sitting”, where necessary, American school kids that would otherwise find themselves completely un-educated by the free market or roaming the streets at an early age because of parental neglect or otherwise. I’m not that much of a capitalist ideologue that I think the free market will provide an education of whatever stripe for all unless the government mandates it (and it has) and funds it.

I think that public education is as necessary, and for similar reasons, as some LIMITED form of Social Security will always be necessary. There are Americans that simply cannot or will not be able to provide for themselves fully. And I can’t bring myself to embrace the kind of social Darwinism that sees the unsuccessful in the educational struggle simply “die off.”

I will repent my evil ways to the great capitalist gods in the sky as they allow me to see the light, but, for now, I’m in favor of government-funded public education as part of our educational choices.

Glenn, jbmlaw, Dusty, Others I stand ready to listen to your well-reasoned thoughts.

Dislaimer: I am not a public employee nor do I have any business interest in nor sell products to the Georgia Dept. of Education

By Amy in the ATL

January 18, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this

Too many Republicans, Wooten included, assume that the elimination or reduction of taxes is a good thing, period. The other side of the equation, however, is that reduction of taxes MUST be accompanied by a reduction in spending. Otherwise we’ll run Georgia into the ground just like Bush and the other credit card Republicans have run the U.S. into the ground, and it will take us generations to dig out of that one! I can’t support any tax reduction proposal which doesn’t include spending cuts, and no clear thinking fiscal conservative should, either.

By Lily Toad

January 18, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this

William, the 19th century called and wants you back.

By DonA

January 18, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this

Leave the Lottery money alone! It is designed in such a way to keep people from siphoning off the funds for a plethora of non-educational purposes. Maybe give the teachers a much-needed pay raise (more than the measly 2.5% on the latest “Sonny-do” list). And while your at it, how about funding the schools completely to make up for the $40 million Sonny trimmed off last year?

Sorry Jim, your view is overly-myopic.

By chuck

January 18, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

Truthifier, those are not school SYSTEMS, they are individual schools. Just thought I’d “truthify” that for you. It makes a difference because MOST sytems have a school or a few schools in their districts that they can showcase to show what a good job they are doing.

If you find a SYSTEM where all of the schools are doing well, I’ll show you a system that is affluent. There of course are a FEW EXCEPTIONS to this generalization.

By Jackie

January 18, 2008 11:42 AM | Link to this

One of the greatest achievements our democracy has accomplished is the free public school system. If we are to believe the folks who think privatization is the only way to adequately educate our populous, take a look at our prisons and the costs associated with that private industry to get an idea. If our schools are as bad as those who have the loudest scream, why is it that most students want to come to our higher education system. Don’t we have to educate Americans in those schools? Did we reach this level of prosperity and national wealth by being without “education?” There are those who are arguing that “they have acquired theirs, you have yours to get!”

By Dusty

January 18, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this

OK, if you want to squabble about who should get ALL the money , just send it to me. Well, it is my birthday.(Sorry, Glenn, just when everything was all pragmatic & sensible!)

Already I have a beautiful bouquet, long distance calls, and other fun things. So excuse my exuberance folks, but I am having a GOOD DAY.

Well, I promise to get back to business before Camus tells me all the qualities I lack. Whoopee! Hope all of you are having happy times, birthday or not.

By Shar

January 18, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

Chuck@11:27, well said. I’d add getting their student(s) to school on time, appropriately rested and fed and reasonably healthy to your list of parental responsibilities.

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this

Dear Glenn @ 11:01, that may have been around the time the cappuccino kicked in. I have a full next couple of hours, so you and the Marshal will have to hold down the fort.

By Lily Toad

January 18, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DUSTY!!!

By jbmlaw

January 18, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this

Dear Dusty @ 11:44, just noticed your note before I fled. Cary Grant, Danny Kaye, Kevin Costner, and Dusty – now we know why Jan 18 is significant. Many happy returns.

By Jackie

January 18, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

Another example of the trauma being inflicted upon our military. “Up to 20 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan may have suffered mild concussions but were unaware of them and did not get treatment, an Army study released Thursday shows.” To make matters worse, the VA system is not treating all those returning with their own stats showing that approximately 200,000 men and women vets are homeless on any one night with more than 400,000 being estimated as the top number.

By Eric

January 18, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

Glenn,

I’ll say that I grew up in a farming community on the outskirts of Chicago. However, we often competed against many of the suburban (and occasionally urban) schools of Chicago in both academics and athletics, and they were always worthwhile competition.

jbm,

I wish I knew more about the academic problems facing the state. I do know that Kathy Cox’s innagural action to try to remove evolution from the state science curriculum isn’t going to help our SAT scores any. It may help her favor within her political base, but it certainly is not helping the education of Georgia’s students. Perhaps she should be more concerned with why our students can’t read, write or do simple mathematics.

Keep stirring the caudron! That’s how things stay interesting around here.

By Curious Observer

January 18, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

In public education, you get what you pay for. The states with the highest academic achievements in elementary and secondary schools are the states that have the highest per capita expenditure on education. In Vermont, for example, the expenditure as a percentage of per capita income is 15.5; in Georgia and most other Southern states, it is 10.0 or less.

If Iowa (14.7)and West Virginia (15.3) view the education of their children as important, why can’t Georgia?

The bottom line is that most of you sit around griping about public education. You want WalMart prices and Bloomingdale’s results. And when your under-funding of Georgia’s public education yields the inevitable results, you dream that somehow vouchers are going to solve all the problems. In other words, you want a top-notch education for your kids, using the voucher money plus your own, but to hell with everybody else’s.

Georgia places little value on education. That attitude is part of the culture of the South. As in the South that Cash wrote about, you want to deride “pointy-headed intellectuals” and “eggheads,” but you want your kids to be intellectuals earning high salaries. At the same time, you don’t want to pay higher taxes, a theme that Wooten incorporates in just about every column.

Given that attitude, you should learn to live with the sub-mediocrity of your public education system. You won’t make it any better by threatening teachers and school systems.

By Tom

January 18, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this

Dick Mitchell has made the laughable error, beloved by pedants everywhere, of conflating the etymology or derivation of a word with its “meaning.” This is known as the “genetic fallacy.”

“Decimate” most emphatically does not mean “reduce by one-tenth,” although that was indeed its original employment hundreds of years ago. It means “reduce by an indeterminate great amount,” just as TW appropriately used it. Even the old-fogy OED calls Dick’s puported meaning “obsolete.”

By Blind Homer

January 18, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

The best way to improve public education with the$600M is to use it to incentivise crack w******* into aborting and being sterilized at the same time. That would have the added advantage of eventually reducing the strain on thee prison system as well.

By chuck

January 18, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this

SHAR@ 11:45…I am in your AMEN corner on that one. I do a survey among my students every year. 2 things have been getting worse. 5 years ago the average bed time was 9:30 p.m. (8th graders) and it is now 11:30 p.m. The other thing is the amount of time spent doing homework/studying/reading. 5 years ago it was 1.5 hours each day. This year it has dropped to 30 minutes each day. 10% reported 0 minutes per day.

By Jackie

January 18, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this

How do you classify someone that is a citizen of their country a “terrorist” when they choose to resist your violent occupation? Does anyone have a cogent explanation?

By Richard Mitchell

January 18, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this

To Tom: The usage to which I had referred was not obsolete as recently as 1945, by which time Adolf Hitler and his henchmen had spent years using it in its intended, Roman sense: the capital punishment of one tenth of a captive town’s population.

It is a ghastly term, and for other than historians, wholly unnecessary. It is in poor taste.

By William

January 18, 2008 12:10 PM | Link to this

Jackie

January 18, 2008 11:42 AM “One of the greatest achievements our democracy has accomplished is the free public school system.” What FREE public schools? LILLY TOAD does not want me to have a free public school and thinks I should be living in the 19th century. So please tell me about FREE public schools. I am interested.

By getalife

January 18, 2008 12:10 PM | Link to this

No Jim,

Stick with Ga. politics because our Indian wingnut gov. started his term with a prayer for NO to recover.

Thanks to Blanco’s offshore oil legislation that is a huge revenue maker, due to the cost of oil, he inherits billion of dollars of surplus.

They need contractors to rebuild NO and spend this surplus so there is work in NO. To sweeten this deal, they are using cheap labor with illegal immigrants.

So, if you need work, come rebuild NO.

By JK

January 18, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this

Good question, Jackie. I imagine the good folks of Kennesaw (mandatory gun ownership) will be branded “insurgents” and “terrorists” when they resist the occupation of the Chinese who come to get factory slaves after the US government and banks default on the gozillion dollars they borrowed.

By Dusty

January 18, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this

Thanks, LilyToad and jbmlaw,

I appreciate your kind wishes. We have a great crowd here (even though I get mad at some of them.)

Hmmm.. we really have a lot of school professionals here. If only current administrators would listen to their advice, things would get better in a hurry.

Jackie@ 12:01 “Terrorists” in Iraq are mostly from other countries or haven’t you noticed. Is this your latest anti-war endeavor?

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this

Eric,

I didn’t mean to pry, only to get the name of just one exemplary school sytem in this country. Evidently there isn’t one.

Anyone? Anyone?

By Jackie

January 18, 2008 12:27 PM | Link to this

@William

The elementary and high schools of this country are without “entrance fees.” Public colleges and universities are in GA are “free” for those that qualify with a 3.0 average maintenance.

@JK, Good point. I hope you noticed that our fearless leader is speaking about “giving” one-time incentive to taxpayers to stave of the economic tidal wave that is threatening to swamp us.

By Gordon

January 18, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this

We were promised that lottery proceeds would be used only for non-recurring public education expenditures and the HOPE scholarship. Of course believing any promise from a politican is rather stupid - stupid me. They just couldn’t stand it. See a dollar find a place to spend it. First day care for 5 year olds, then day care for 4 year olds, and now 3 year olds. Hang on folks, just let them know when your child is born and they’ll be right over to pick him or her up. Got to take care of all those poor children whose parents have more important things to do like paying for all those toys they just have to have. Besides it is their GOD given right to make babies and it is the states responsibility to look after them.

By William

January 18, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this

@jackie I pay taxes for the school and that is not entrance fees? Wow, college educated minds really amaze me. Also, those with the 2.0gpa need more assistance so why do we have such a high standard to educate. I bet college trained minds came up with that. Dont take it personally, I too went to college.

By ray

January 18, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this

my kids went to Walton. i thought it was exemplary.

By Eric

January 18, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Glenn,

Speaking of the state that I grew up in…

Naperville, Ill - Voted Money magazine’s 2006 2nd best place to live in the US. US News and World Report ranked their high school system among the top 3% in the country.

That was an easy one to come up with. I am not prepared to spend the time it would take to come up with an exhaustive list excellent school systems, but you can be assured that few if any are in Georgia.

By Jackie

January 18, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

@Dusty,

Again, you speak of things that you do not know of. All of those that resist our occupation in Iraq are labeled “terrorists.” Al-Qaeda, a group of actual terrorist from outside of Iraq is less than 5% of the fighters in the country, according to the US military. Now, how do you classify the Madr Army and the Sunni insurgents in El-Anbar province and the Kurds(PKK) in the north of Iraq? Please be definitive in your response.

By Shar

January 18, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this

Chuck@ high noon: I once heard Beverly Hall recommend that homework be assigned to total a student’s grade times ten minutes, so a first grader would have ten minutes of homework per day and your eighth graders (you brave soul!) 80.
This makes sense to me, as too much homework discourages a child from trying and too little does not teach him/her responsibility or study skills. Of course, an 80 minute average would be whipped through in 15 by some students and labored over for three hours by others. Could after school sessions or collaborative efforts between teachers and parents address this, do you suppose?

I firmly believe that schools and teachers should be held accountable for delivering quality instruction in the classroom, and when I experienced significant failures for my children or, as a PTA president and board member, for the greater student population I pushed very hard for remediation. It seems both unfair and hypocritical to object to schools and teachers imposing the same kind of standards upon me as a parent. Children should arrive at school ready to learn, which means on time, rested, fed, clean, clothed, and healthy. Their homework (correct or incorrect) should be complete and they should be prepared to behave in a way that allows learning to be achieved.

These are goals that are achievable, although not easy, for every parent regardless of socioeconomic factors. It would be very interesting to see a test program that incented parents to do these things while permitting teachers and administrators to either withdraw or require longer school days for students who are not so prepared. As a teacher, would you expect improved outcomes for your students in such a test?

By Glenn

January 18, 2008 1:01 PM | Link to this

Eric,

Your red herring aside —- as no one asked you to come up with a list of any kind, much less an exhaustive one —- I’ll look into Naperville in the hope, per our Diogenes, of finding an honest school district, and will report my findings.

Thank you for getting the ball rolling. When someone blithely mentions, in a subordinate clause, that there are many excellent school systems in the U.S., my reaction is that there are enough assumptions going into that assertion fill a month of blogstrings.

Too much to unpack, so a snapshot of one exemplary Local Education Agency is far more feasible. I’m approaching this as an historical anthropologist would do, with a certain remove from conventional assumptions. So, a little experiment, Earthling.

By Truthifier

January 18, 2008 1:05 PM | Link to this

Chuck and jbmlaw, you’re right that the schools I listed are individual schools and not school systems. However, my point was that there are good public schools to be found. I was just arguing against the statements being made here that no one can get a good education in a public school. As far as the voting tendencies of the cities I listed, I couldn’t care less. One of the worst school districts, according to everything I can find online today, is Glynn County, GA and I’d be willing to be that it is a Republican county. But that, of course, has nothing to do with how the students there are performing. I know it’s a difficult concept for some on here, but everything in life isn’t determined by one’s party affiliation. There are good schools in Democratic leaning areas and in Republican leaning areas. Just as there are good schools in poor areas and in affluent areas. Life is gray, not black and white.

By TW

January 18, 2008 1:08 PM | Link to this

Accountability is a no brainer. It’s holding people accountable for things they can’t control that is ignorant. Pretending the school/teachers are at fault when the drop out rate in the community is plus 50% is like holding the Dr. accountable for the lung cancer patient who continues to smoke.

By Sherlock Homie

January 18, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this

jbmlaw, you dont have to post every day, you know. (eye roll) And to you self appointed education counselors: you, of all people, should know about the 25-words-or-less rule. A long-winded, cud-chew from an obnoxious swami is what this blog was missing. Thanks. Now all our students will be Einsteins.