I plan on attending. I’ll be sure to take plenty of photos and video. Taxed Enough Already!!

[...] I also notice that building the new middle school is one of the leading projects. I swear if we have to rename CCMS to Obama Middle School because we took Federal funding that would be justification to get out the pitchforks and torches.  /sarcasm

Contemplating the Obama Middle School of Christian county wasn’t a pleasant thought.  The news now is that a school district in Minnesota is considering naming a elementary school after Obama.

The Saint Paul School Board is considering changing Webster Magnet to “Barack And Michelle Obama Service Learning Elementary School”.

Leaders at Webster Magnet School say they want their name change to reflect the school’s renewed focus on teaching students about community service.

One name being considered is the “Barack and Michelle Obama Service Learning Elementary School.” The other option is to call it “Webster Service Learning Elementary.”

The next amazing fact is that if Webster Magnet is renamed to the Obama School it’ll actually be the second school to be renamed. The Obama worship that is happening in contemporary society is very destructive to public debate. Public debate itself has been shaped to maintain a false range of choices. Couple this with the lack of mass education related to economics and history. It makes for a society that will welcome our new overlords.

beanie wrote:
if this model is being used to bridge the gap for all types of students falling behind, then it should not be titled or lead people to believe that it is geared towards just “African American” students. i think that is the problem many of us have with it…it is discriminatory in addressing only the shortcomings and needs of one group while ignoring the need for structure/help for students that are underachieving- of all type.

Informed wrote:
Actually, the district is following a state and national mandate to address the achievement gaps that exist and are identified by “No Child Left Behind” data. If the district does not address the specific gaps – they are out of compliance. The specific gaps in Christian County are Afican American students and Students with Disabilities. The document referred to on this site has two sections – 1. Strategies to address the African American achievement gap and 2. Strategies to address the Students with Disabilities achievement gap. The district is not being discriminatory in addressing the shortcomings of these two students groups – the district is following the law established by NCLB and the federal government.

By law, the district must address the needs of these students in the GAP and try to meet their needs. Be informed before you post on this site.

“The district is not being discriminatory in addressing the shortcomings of these two students groups -”

Given that I am uninformed about the details of NCLB. My impression based on the chatter I read from others is that NCLB is designed to improve the scores of the lowest performing students. So that all students demographic groups, in theory, will reach a designated level of proficiency. Notice that due to Federal and State law the schools are in the business of educating a demographic not students. If your not in this blessed group of needy individuals then your just SOL. From my personal experience as a product of the public school system I know there is a vast group of C-level and B-level students that simply slide through high school with no effort at all. The classroom level teachers typically give copious amounts of extra credit.

“Be informed before you post on this site.”

Simply obnoxious behavior.

Posted by DawgMa

What it Means to be a Democrat

I’m sure that some of you believe we’re hell-bent on raising taxes, killing babies and spending like crazy. Unfortunately for you (a little anticlimatic, perhaps), that is not what the Democrat party is about. Here’s a little something I wrote a while ago, in response to a question from one of my friends about why I was a Democrat:

The question it comes down to with me, as to ‘democrat’ or ‘republican’, is this notion:

Do I believe that America is a family? That we all have stakes in each other, everyone, in our collective future?

Or do I believe that the American dream is individual? That it exists for people to get ahead, that it is Darwinian in nature? That the wealthy should be applauded over and over and the poor should be ignored?

I believe in the former, because that’s how we formed as a nation. And any time I feel myself or the country getting bogged down in technical debates about immigration or abortion of gay marriage, I take a step back and look at things as I would with my own family.

Because it all boils down to the fact that, at the very end of the declaration, all those men in that room pledged “[their] lives, [their] fortunes, and [their] sacred honor” for each other and for the future of the country.

And what kind of country are we to horde our lives, our fortunes, and our honor to ourselves? I think somewhere along the line we kind of lost that sense that we’re all in it together, no matter how much land we occupy or how big our population is, no matter how diverse we all are–we are one people, and we occupy one great land.

Now, I am no socialist sympathizer or great equalizer…
But I’m not apathetic to others, either.

George W. Bush tried to champion something called ‘compassionate conservatism’ …And I believe in that mantra…he just didn’t do a good job of fulfilling that notion…

But whatever you are, conservative or liberal, I believe you should be compassionate above all.

Because you would be nowhere without the person next to you, homeless down the block from you, or with an M-16 slung thousands of miles away.

Yeah, we’re all in it together…and if that makes me a Democrat, then I’m proud to be one.
http://itstands.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-it-means-to-be-democrat.html

Traveler

Very nice, if you were referring to people helping each other. But democrats want government to take that role, and that is where I disagree.

DawgMa

There isn’t enough consistency from the private sector to be called reliable. What about St. Luke’s Free Clinic? What about Aaron McNeil? Those are just two agencies who help the poor, and both go begging.

dixieflyersta

The Great Society, with all ots excesses, burned a generation of Americans with the entire idea of letting the gov’t try to help people. I wish donations to such groups as you mention were healthier, but the donors’ remorse or fatigue continues from the horrendously wasteful programs that simply grow and grow.
Without Lyndon Johnson, there would never have been Ronald Reagan.

Traveler

Dixie, truer words were never spoken. As for Aaron McNeil and St Luke’s I personally have given time and treasure to both, as have many, many others. They do a fantastic job. I think more people would be inclined to help if they didn’t feel overtaxed and taken advantage of when their hard-earned dollars go to those who do not work and do not deserve it. You show me people that are busting their hump to get by and I will help them any way I can. Others, not so much. And I resent having that decision taken away from me. I think people would line up to help if we hadn’t all become so accustomed to letting the government do it. The programs of the Great Society have created resentful givers and ungrateful takers.

Before I started reading HTH I was a shallow liberal. I watched CNN and pretty much accepted what I saw. Three years later, I can say I am pissed off when I see the Feds acting against the will of the people. Paying money we don’t have to undeserving ingrates. The difference is that liberals believe somehow government can be made more efficient. Conservatives believe inefficiency is a fatal characteristic of bloated government. Period.

OODA

Ok, men, here is a question to test your knowledge of military vehicles. This question is worth….uh…well, just answer the question.

What is the name and function of the vertical member mounted on the hood of the vehicle in photo #5?

Armored personnel carrier

Transplanted Hoosier

Ummm, would their nickname be “sitting duck” and their purpose be “look out”?

Transplanted Hoosier

[...] It reminds me of the thingie that sticks out in the front of the black helicopter at the static display. (I told you I’m not military -here’s your proof.) IIRC, that thingie on the helicopter keeps the good guys from getting tangled in power lines. Could this thingie be to keep the good guys from getting “clotheslined” or to get rid of barbwire?

OODA

Ding, ding, ding!

Well done! It’s a Wire-strike Protection System (WSPS). It keeps the guys and the guns from being ripped off the top of the vehicle by low-hanging wires.

Re: McCain Ad on Obama’s Sex Ed in Kindergarten

Obama’s policy decisions are based on the latest public opinion poll. I think you would fit into his cabinet as the Dept of Education director.

This is a mild personal attack against another user on HTH because there are any number of ways to reword this statement without pinning the target in a personal manner. As a general rule, I don’t believe it is ever neccessary to write the word “you” unless the writer has first-person knowledge about the target. Yet I have a bad habit of abusing “you” without enough thought given to what I’m saying. Here is a statement to make the same point without being aggressive.

Obama’s policy decisions are based on the latest public opinion poll. Now tell me why is it a good idea to move in any direction the wind blows.

Here this statement refutes the opposing argument without causing a personal attack.

Gopher wrote

No offense, Frosty, but it’s a bunch of theoretical math with no practical application to reality.

Then Frosty reveals the mad scientist waiting to come out.

Frosty wrote

I don’t know about that. I am trying to create my own universe. Since it creates it’s own space I can keep it in a coffee can. The practical application would be that I get to be the God of a universe.

Leap frogging Global Domination Frosty goes straight to Universal Domination!

Gopher Baroque wrote

Post a picture when you get done. I’ll let the “Men in Black” know about it

Men in Black

Colonel Claus wrote

[...] Frosty when you get yopur univsrse made let me know , I’ll hang it on the collar of me daughters cat.

Hoptownhall has a circle of people who are either active military now or were in the past. So much that HTH gained a dedicated military sub-forum. OODA starts a new thread saying he’s leaving on a mysterious new “thing” happening.

Hey guys,

I’m punchin’ out for a few weeks – getting ready for something early next year. Keep it real and keep up the pressure. I’ll check in when I return.

Later,

OODA

A couple of weeks later OODA is back and lester replies.

Did you get my PMs? All is well here and I will take care of that project for you.

Frosty’s smartaleck reply

What project?

Here comes the punch line from lester

It really isn’t any of your business, but I will give you a sneak peak. Here it is:

lester's project

Now we know why Osama Bin laden hasn’t been found. Lester’s project isn’t completed yet! Gopher Baroque’s comment also bears mentioning.

Frosty, you are acting like a boil on the butt of humanity…

All in all a very entertaining thread. Interesting that Frosty deleted his own comment after Gopher made his. I’ve seen him do that several times for no apparent reason.

Reason wrote

Per the comparison between Batman and Bush, I think Gordon summed it up best at the end of the film when he says that Batman is the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one that we need.

We need Harvey Dent, the law-abiding idealist that shows the light and goodness of Gotham. We need the leader that everyone looks up to and admires. We need the hero that inspires others to be the best they can be by leading by example. But we don’t deserve him. We deserve the criminal vigilante. The one who flaunts breaking the laws and taking matters into his own hands. We deserve the hero that interrogates with torture.

So, if there is a Batman / Bush parallel, it’s that we have him because we don’t deserve any better.

Isn’t it true that the best leaders of today aren’t involved in big game politics at all. The leaders who we would want elected to state and national office are involved in their own projects making a difference in the areas where they have influence. Thus the primary reason for forming a limited Federal government; A limited national government even with the worst leadership doesn’t have the reach to control it’s citizens. Neither doesn’t it have the power to save them from poor personal judgement.

Reason wrote

Are you kidding? Batman breaks dozens of laws. Not to mention the public and private property damage. In the big picture, it might be worth it in the end, but what if your car was one of the dozens that he blew up in that parking garage? How many roofs had to be replaced after he drove that tank over them all in ‘Batman Begins’. I can see why the average Gotham citizen would have bad feelings against him.

As for the Jim Gordons’ of the world, absolutely, we need more of them. If that had been the case, Gotham would never have ended up in the shape that it was in. However, Gordon didn’t go out and try to change anything until Batman showed up. He was an honest cop, sure, but not an instrument of change like Batman or Harvey Dent.

Batman is the hero, but not without a cost.