Gov Scott...

[jbear]

The problem is the far left does not want to cut the government budgets. They want to redistribute the wealth.

In other words, instead of cutting pensions for government employees or reducing the size of government, the liberals would rather we raise taxes on the wealthy. These people want socialism.

So how about an increase to the top income tax rate accompanied with budget cuts? I'm a member of the far left, and I'd sign on to that.

All you're going to do by pushing up the top income tax rate is force more of the wealthy to move somewhere else.  Unless they're wage earners and have to stay but in the case of high wage earners most of you would probably be surprised by how much they already pay.   When you consider that more than half don't pay anything I don't see how much more you can take from the higher end of wage earners. 

One thing that would make me feel better is if they eliminated refundable credits like EIC and had a minimum tax for everybody say $20.00.  Sounds silly but If we just made all taxpayers "taxpayers" a lot of people would feel better about raising taxes on the higher end.

[Runole]

ST. PETERSBURG - The booing began in earnest well before the game even got under way.

But it had nothing to do with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Or the Baltimore Orioles.

It had everything to do with who was throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to kick off the Rays' season – Gov. Rick Scott.

Scott, wearing a No. 45 Rays jersey to mark that he's the 45th governor of the state, took to the mound amid an avalanche of boos and just a smattering of applause.

He smiled and waved to the crowd as he took the mound and again after he threw a pitch that was far better than the one former Gov. Charlie Crist delivered when he was the state's top elected official.

David Pearlman of Tampa called the governor a "scumbag" and a "dirtbag" and gave him the thumbs-down signal as he loudly booed. The boos echoed inside Tropicana Field from fans angry over many moves Scott has made during his short stint as governor.

"I think he's a fraud," Pearlman said. "I think he's a criminal."

The Tampa man doesn't like how Scott rejected billions of federal dollars for high-speed rail and he doesn't like what he is doing to education and teachers.

"I think he's been wrong across the board," he said. "I think he bought the election."

Ruth and Lee Levant of Tampa were on the other side of the aisle – literally and figuratively – from Pearlman.

They applauded the governor as he threw out the first pitch.

"I think he's doing a great job," said Lee Levant. "He's trying not to waste money. I think he ought to run for president."

Hours before the game began, about 100 sign-toting protesters gathered outside the stadium, urging those arriving to unleash their boos on the governor.

They carried signs that said things like "Hey Rick, pick on someone in your own tax bracket" and "Trade Rick Scott to the Yankees."

Ironically, Scott also was booed at a New York Yankees spring training game at Legends Field recently.

Annette Hicks of Tampa has been a school psychologist for 26 years and she has never been this worried about the future of education.

"I have grave concerns about its future," she said. "I did not vote for him and I'm not happy."

For every person who hates him because of his deep cuts, there is a person who respects him for finnally making the hard choices.  Somebody eventually has to cut the fat or the whole system is just going to collapse under it's own weight.

As a former teacher I can state with much conviction that throwing money at education has never been the answer unless that money was actually used for broadening the spectrum of what is available of  being taught.


The real problem is not with the TEACHERS but with an administration that doesn't understand that grade inflation and social promotion does not equal accomplishment.

When a teacher FLUNKS a kid they should be rewarded not condemned and bypassed by social promotion by the administration.

Learning comes from the student not the teacher.   As a student you only get out of education what you put into it.   Blaming the teacher because you don't wish to do anything is entirely the students fault.

[CBWx2]

Troll.

Unfortunately for you, this is the best argument you've made on this board in quite some time.

You seem to have an anger issue. You should talk to someone about that.

I would think if there was an anger issue here Bigg's post would have been all in BOLD, but I'm no psychologist mind you.

Biggs trolls my posts even though he has nothing to add to the conversation other than a trolling remark. He is a bully.  All bullies have anger issues. Maybe he gets beat by his wife or something. I don't know...

[Biggs3535]

Biggs trolls my posts even though he has nothing to add to the conversation other than a trolling remark. He is a bully.  All bullies have anger issues. Maybe he gets beat by his wife or something. I don't know...

Trolls your posts, eh.  This is a message board, Virginia.  If you get all pissy because you get called on your nonsensical posts, you might need to try another medium.  Either that, or buy stock in Vagisil.

Maybe you should throw some more names around just to see if the anger-irony slaps you in the face.

[Morgan]

Biggs trolls my posts even though he has nothing to add to the conversation other than a trolling remark. He is a bully.  All bullies have anger issues.

That's the great thing about PR.com's ignore feature.

[CBWx2]

Biggs trolls my posts even though he has nothing to add to the conversation other than a trolling remark. He is a bully.  All bullies have anger issues. Maybe he gets beat by his wife or something. I don't know...

This is a message board, Virginia.  If you get all pissy because you get called on your nonsensical posts, you might need to try another medium.  Either that, or buy stock in Vagisil.

Maybe you should throw some more names around just to see if the anger-irony slaps you in the face.

Ditto.

[jbear]

Biggs trolls my posts even though he has nothing to add to the conversation other than a trolling remark. He is a bully.  All bullies have anger issues.

That's the great thing about PR.com's ignore feature.

PR.com didn't invent the ignore feature.  It's called self control.  Some of us are born with it Morgan. 

[cyberdude558]

Public high school is a total joke. When I went to college, I learned more in one semester than I did my entire 4 years in high school. Even worse, a lot of the stuff I did learn in high school I later found out was wrong! The public education system in this country is a disaster. High school is nothing today but a social scene that has been taken over by bullies. It is no longer a learning environment.

Countries like India spend 1/4th per child on education than we do. And their kids are kicking the crap out of ours in math and science.

Money is not the problem. The system is seriously flawed. But don't tell a liberal that. If you even suggest reform of public education they will claim you are attacking the kids, the poor, or even pull the race card.

[Morgan]

PR.com didn't invent the ignore feature. 

Who said they did?

[Ladyfan]

When Medicare was first established, the founders didn't conceive of the notion that people would live as long as they do.  That includes Social security too.

Now that we have longer lives, AND baby boomers, the budget is blown.  The solution for this < IMHO, is that in addition to weeding out waste and fraud, some small incremental adjustments should be made to paying for the program.  One is to slowly increase the retirement age for social security and two is to take small incrementally increased amonts of funds out each check in such a way as to not impact people's funds.

Its really not helpful to go back and forth as to who caused what in that interminable useless conversation of conservatives vs. liberals.  A real look at the sources of poverty in this country, of all countries, should be examined.  There does need to be some equalization of wealth as in why 10 of the largest corporations who declared a profit this year paid NO taxes.  And estate taxes for the wealthiest make sense.  Those latter fixes were added to the economic equation when Congress found that money often transfers within a family for many generations without being taxed.  That created hereditary monoplies on wealth and influence that was deemed unamerican.  A strong middle class is what makes america a power house, not a grouping of the wealthy few calling the shots and limiting our options.

With the middle class losing job stability that the lower classes never have, and by classes I mean levels pf wea;th, with their buying power due to salary deflation so abysmal, and with higher education cutting teachers and closing programs resulting in fewer hireable adults for the work force....the attack now, is on the middle incomed by the wealthy.  Is this what the conservative forces want?  Since all power is about controlling the elements that give your group the greatest advantage, I would say YES.

Distilled down to its simpliest issues the battle between the "right" and the "left" seems to be the right wants all the goods, services, assets, etc available to them at their advantage and the left wants to share it more with some of the less fortunate of our society who are unable to take care of their own needs.

If, the human condition inclludes the best and the worst of our most vivid imaginations, it stands to reason that there is a sort of bell curve with the middle incomed and competent members of society repesenting the huge bulge in the middle with the wealthy and the poor on either end.  Since the middle incomed mass pays most of the taxes, it only makes sense that the higher end contribute a bit more to take care of our responsibiites for those who are inept, addicted, birth too many kids, can't work, won't work, are mentally challenged, have cancer, als, etc etc etc.  not to mention poorly educated.  Face it America just as there are only a few talentaed, genius and high incomed people sitting on one end of the bell curve....there are just as few sitting on the other downside of the curve.

Yet 90% of the vitriol in our discussions seems to come from the small percentage of the top end curcifying and refusing as an insult against their very being  the surely almost equal size of population....any social program that attempts to address the problems so many are having.  Add to it the irony of the right claiming more religious virtue, adherence to the bible, and promotion of prayer in public schools, businesses etc.  These two stances by the right really puzzle me as they seem to stand in direct contradiction to each other.

Ideally, but probably unrealistically it seems as if we could fashion an american vision that included care for our citizens as well as fiscal prudence without having to attack the portion of our population least able to take care of itself, the young, the elderly and the ill.

In the current hostile environment it seems hopeless that our leaders would stop their divisive rhetoric long enough to do their jobs and actually find solutions for our country's ills rather than take political potshots at each other.

It makes me want to escape to a farawy part of our country and live in a little cabin away from people....maybe breed dogs, grown my food and avoid all newspapers etc.  It sure is appealing compared to all of this mess.

[dbucfan]

PR.com didn't invent the ignore feature. 

Who said they did?

LMAO - thanks Morgan - started chuckling with the remembrance of 'I know you are but what am I' phrase kids use when they get indignant. 

[CBWx2]

Public high school is a total joke. When I went to college, I learned more in one semester than I did my entire 4 years in high school. Even worse, a lot of the stuff I did learn in high school I later found out was wrong! The public education system in this country is a disaster. High school is nothing today but a social scene that has been taken over by bullies. It is no longer a learning environment.

Countries like India spend 1/4th per child on education than we do. And their kids are kicking the crap out of ours in math and science.

Money is not the problem. The system is seriously flawed. But don't tell a liberal that. If you even suggest reform of public education they will claim you are attacking the kids, the poor, or even pull the race card.

35% of India's population is illiterate. 15% of their students reach high school. 7% graduate. Dare I say, maybe if they spent more on education they would have better outcomes than that? Their system is among the worst in the world, and that is mostly due to a lack of resources, or in other words, funding.

http://theviewspaper.net/education-system-of-india-its-functions-drawbacks-and-its-contribution/

[Morgan]

thanks for drawing his attention to his fallacies clearly showing that his high school education indeed was a total waste of time/money.

[Runole]

Public high school is a total joke. When I went to college, I learned more in one semester than I did my entire 4 years in high school. Even worse, a lot of the stuff I did learn in high school I later found out was wrong! The public education system in this country is a disaster. High school is nothing today but a social scene that has been taken over by bullies. It is no longer a learning environment.

Countries like India spend 1/4th per child on education than we do. And their kids are kicking the crap out of ours in math and science.

Money is not the problem. The system is seriously flawed. But don't tell a liberal that. If you even suggest reform of public education they will claim you are attacking the kids, the poor, or even pull the race card.

Amen!!

[jbear]

Distilled down to its simpliest issues the battle between the "right" and the "left" seems to be the right wants all the goods, services, assets, etc available to them at their advantage and the left wants to share it more with some of the less fortunate of our society who are unable to take care of their own needs.

You know what my Sister in law and loser boyfriend do when they aren't squatting in the rental condo they feel entitled to live in because they found out it was in forclosure?  She buys not one but TWO nintendo Wii's on ebay because the second was slightly cheaper than the first and she somehow couldn't be bothered to at least send one of them back for some kind of refund.  Yeah lets give her more money.   

If, the human condition inclludes the best and the worst of our most vivid imaginations, it stands to reason that there is a sort of bell curve with the middle incomed and competent members of society repesenting the huge bulge in the middle with the wealthy and the poor on either end.  Since the middle incomed mass pays most of the taxes, it only makes sense that the higher end contribute a bit more to take care of our responsibiites for those who are inept, addicted, birth too many kids, can't work, won't work, are mentally challenged, have cancer, als, etc etc etc.  not to mention poorly educated.  Face it America just as there are only a few talentaed, genius and high incomed people sitting on one end of the bell curve....there are just as few sitting on the other downside of the curve.

I don't think it works quite the way you have it here.  Most of the middle class doesnt even pay taxes.  Right now the group that pays the majority of taxes is the Upper middle class and high incomes.  Upper middle class being wage earners earning hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.  Thats most of the tax revenues right there.

Yet 90% of the vitriol in our discussions seems to come from the small percentage of the top end curcifying and refusing as an insult against their very being  the surely almost equal size of population....any social program that attempts to address the problems so many are having.  Add to it the irony of the right claiming more religious virtue, adherence to the bible, and promotion of prayer in public schools, businesses etc.  These two stances by the right really puzzle me as they seem to stand in direct contradiction to each other.Ideally, but probably unrealistically it seems as if we could fashion an american vision that included care for our citizens as well as fiscal prudence without having to attack the portion of our population least able to take care of itself, the young, the elderly and the ill.

In the current hostile environment it seems hopeless that our leaders would stop their divisive rhetoric long enough to do their jobs and actually find solutions for our country's ills rather than take political potshots at each other.

It makes me want to escape to a farawy part of our country and live in a little cabin away from people....maybe breed dogs, grown my food and avoid all newspapers etc.  It sure is appealing compared to all of this mess.

Fiscal conservatisim and social conservatisim are two completely different things.    Everyone has their own take on fiscal conservatisim but mine is that there is a reason for having social programs.  Nobody wants to see mentally ill people or 75 year old grandmothers living in the dumpster outside the office.  That said, this union stuff... a right to a job thing... Thats complete BS.  There are however many jobs the economy can support.  You better work hard and compete if you want one of them.