tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post1586536786741694609..comments2024-02-14T11:00:03.180-05:00Comments on Tom McLaughlin: When Government Unions Win, Everybody Else LosesTom McLaughlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07691546351143209227noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-72056239585203608972010-11-01T14:36:27.451-04:002010-11-01T14:36:27.451-04:00Tom says:
"I used to be though when I was a ...Tom says:<br /><br />"I used to be though when I was a liberal"<br /><br />He probably did a lot things back then that he doesn't do anymore. Like make sense. <br /><br /> Tom obviously had a traumatic experience involving liberals as a young man which left him with irrational anger towards them, and an intense desire to try and irk them at any opportunity. Did a hippie chick with flowers in her hair leave him at the alter? More likely, based on the evidence, the experience involved gay men clad in leather, hence his continual fascination. <br /><br />Whatever it was, he is caught up in trying to “get them back”. His interest in actual political policies seems to match his knowledge in the subject – nil. But who cares, because that bothers the liberals even more, right? Lies and exaggerations will surely irritate those libs, huh? Make the columns as blatantly non-reality based as, say, a Glen Beck or Rush show because Tom knows liberals can’t stand those jokers. Kind of pathetic, really, a Beck/Rush/Hannity/Coulter wannabe, considering how pathetic the originals are to begin with. <br /><br />But I like playing the game with him. It’s fun, always good for a chuckle. Looking forward to his next little election day dig, as if that little roadbump will actually mean anything in the long run.Ralphnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-77613389168683383452010-10-29T10:48:13.363-04:002010-10-29T10:48:13.363-04:00For decades I've been saying CUT ADMINISTRATIO...For decades I've been saying CUT ADMINISTRATION. I live in New Mexico where our Democratic governor of the last 8 years put us 500 million in debt - in a state with a population of 1.5 million people. <br /><br />So what do they do? Here in my small town they fired all the school librarians. Oh, *that's* brilliant in a state where we also already have a high rate of illiteracy. And the local high school has 5 secretaries to take attendance and write passes. <br /><br />It's infuriating. I'm an author and I write novels for elementary/middle school kids with Scholastic and this makes me crazy. Reading is the foundation of all learning as you well know, Tom, and my state is telling kids, once again, that it's not important. Our libraries are now silent tombs with no reading programs and no librarians in them.Kimberley Griffiths Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03269829969442171522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-25240381694786806132010-10-29T09:56:18.898-04:002010-10-29T09:56:18.898-04:00In 2009, the Center for Research on Educational Ou...In 2009, the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) — generally regarded as a pro-school-choice organization — issued a study of charter-school performance in 15 states and the District of Columbia. The study found that 17% of charter schools outperformed local district schools, 46% performed similarly, and 37% performed worse than local district schools.<br /><br /><br />These would seem to be dark days for the school-choice movement, as several early champions of choice have publicly expressed their disillusionment. A few years ago, the Manhattan Institute's Sol Stern — author of Breaking Free: Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice — caused a stir when he backed away from his once-ardent support. Howard Fuller, an architect of Milwaukee's school-voucher plan and the godfather of the school-choice movement, has wryly observed, "I think that any honest assessment would have to say that there hasn't been the deep, wholesale improvement that we would have thought." Earlier this year, historian Diane Ravitch made waves when she retracted her once staunch support for school choice in The Death and Life of the Great American School System. "I just wish that choice proponents would stop promising that charters and vouchers will bring us closer to that date when 100 percent of all children reach proficiency," she opined in her blog. "If evidence mattered, they would tone down their rhetoric." Harvard professor and iconic school-voucher proponent Paul Peterson has characterized the voucher movement as "stalled," in part by the fact that many "new voucher schools were badly run, both fiscally and educationally,"<br /><br />http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/does-school-choice-workAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-13428658903970514112010-10-29T08:35:49.074-04:002010-10-29T08:35:49.074-04:00I find it surprising that you are recommending MOR...I find it surprising that you are recommending MORE outside agencies<br />to deal with a problem that is easy to handle at school. You really suggest that yet another big government agency is a better solution?!? We need outsiders coming into our schools to council and feed our children?!? I wonder what the counselor at your school thinks about your claiming that he/she shouldn't be employed there.Aaron Sanfordnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-77875969755095756922010-10-28T14:36:30.159-04:002010-10-28T14:36:30.159-04:00No. Don't ignore the problem. Refer them out t...No. Don't ignore the problem. Refer them out to non-governmental agencies in the community as we school officials used to. Or, refer them to one of the myriad government agencies which are replacing them - inadequately, I'll add.Tom McLaughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691546351143209227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-36476301536258169662010-10-28T14:18:24.558-04:002010-10-28T14:18:24.558-04:00You avoided the question Tom. What do you want th...You avoided the question Tom. What do you want the schools do with the children I mentioned? Ignore them and their troubles?Aaron Sanfordnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-4595657228048768552010-10-28T13:58:23.711-04:002010-10-28T13:58:23.711-04:00Schools are expected to more and more and people a...Schools are expected to more and more and people are letting them. Schools pretend we're discharging all these new responsibilities adequately and we're not. All the extras are negatively affecting our primary mission, which is to teach.<br /><br />As government takes over more and more aspects of people's lives through schools, social service agencies, housing, food stamps, health care, elder care in nursing homes, and on and on, people do less for themselves. They become infantile and irresponsible - and they vote Democrat.<br /><br />People seldom take care of grammy and grampy in their homes anymore. Instead, they expect government to pay for nursing home care. People are less likely to exercise and live healthy lifestyles if they get free health care, and so on and so on.Tom McLaughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691546351143209227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-45577856650760270172010-10-28T12:25:44.044-04:002010-10-28T12:25:44.044-04:00Tom, what do you want the schools to do with the c...Tom, what do you want the schools to do with the children who show up for school unfed and hungry? <br /><br />What do you want them to do with children who show up to school with rotting teeth and horrendous breath?<br /><br />You are even against COUNSELING for troubled kids??!!?? The schools should ignore children with serious problems happening in their lives?<br /><br /><br />You wo't take your usual tactic of dodging these straight-forward questions, will you?Aaron Sanfordnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-58227549102213375542010-10-28T11:32:15.471-04:002010-10-28T11:32:15.471-04:00No.
I used to be though when I was a liberal, and...No.<br /><br />I used to be though when I was a liberal, and for a little while afterward when various liberal groups were trying to get me fired or get the state to pull my teaching license because of my writing. I thought the union would provide me with legal protection, but then I realized that it was more likely they'd hang me out to dry.<br /><br />They were also giving most of my $400 per year dues to Democrats.Tom McLaughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691546351143209227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-74604339897672256002010-10-28T11:29:32.737-04:002010-10-28T11:29:32.737-04:00No use pointing out all the absurdities of another...No use pointing out all the absurdities of another late-night rambling diatribe by Tom. The spineless chicken will just hide again like the big baby that he is.Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-80310055310282722562010-10-28T11:21:03.527-04:002010-10-28T11:21:03.527-04:00Wow, great one Tom! I laughed so hard when I saw ...Wow, great one Tom! I laughed so hard when I saw that "flipping the bird" picture again! Hee Hee! But than there was ANOTHER one of Pelosi and I thought it couldn't possibly get funnier, but then, oh my god, there was yet ANOTHER one!! I rolled on the floor laughing!! It really looked like they were flipping the bird, hilarious stuff. Your cleverness borders on genius Tom. Keep up the fantastic work!Clarence C. Wallacenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-62525472980939794442010-10-28T11:14:42.621-04:002010-10-28T11:14:42.621-04:00Tom, are you a member of the teachers union?Tom, are you a member of the teachers union?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-69997989064248952792010-10-28T05:23:28.931-04:002010-10-28T05:23:28.931-04:00SEIU has established some very deep roots in our c...SEIU has established some very deep roots in our current governmental systems, and this seems to be a core problem in Maine. Remember in November and we might have a chance to start correcting this problem.Govt2Bighttp://www.MaineTaxpayers.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-68709676279991572362010-10-27T16:26:18.816-04:002010-10-27T16:26:18.816-04:00As usual, you have clarity of the problem, however...As usual, you have clarity of the problem, however, I think there are fewer bad teachers than lousy administrators---and way to many of them!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-84743210798636998352010-10-27T10:28:22.238-04:002010-10-27T10:28:22.238-04:00Its unlikely that it would matter much but these f...Its unlikely that it would matter much but these folks don't even have a voting representative in Congress.<br /><br />Unions have about used up their usefulness but they have been granted extraordinary powers by the government over the years. Its not just the Democrats and liberals that are ultimately at fault.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-25803524669155378072010-10-27T09:43:42.145-04:002010-10-27T09:43:42.145-04:00It is obvious that our education unions are the ma...It is obvious that our education unions are the major cause of the huge cost of education. Until teachers get some backbone and say enough it will always be so. I have no problem with fair salaries for teachers but we cannot continue to fund education at the present rates.Gaffernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-33376520767653427242010-10-27T07:29:00.972-04:002010-10-27T07:29:00.972-04:00You left out one additional suggestion ........ di...You left out one additional suggestion ........ dismantle the Federal Deptartment of Education. Let the states decide what's important which empowers people to experience that their vote makes impact/has affect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com