This is what you have to do...

say NO to merit pay for teachers
say YES to a national heath care
say YES to a quick and safe evacuation of our troops from the mid east
say YES to stricter border control
say YES to guest worker transition to citizenship

1/29/2008 10:55:26 AM

say WHATEVER to economic issues?

1/29/2008 10:57:02 AM

I'm getting to those next. I'm still trying to figure my stand on some of those issues.

1/29/2008 10:59:21 AM

i can agree on 60% of those i believe

1/29/2008 11:00:03 AM

candidates only have to say their stance on an issue, and intentions of following through are just bonus?

You are easy.

1/29/2008 11:00:10 AM

is this list in order of importance?

1/29/2008 11:00:18 AM

Quote :

"say YES to a quick and safe evacuation of our troops from the mid east"

You do realize the current estimate for the minimum number of months required to remove all our assets from Iraq is 20 months, right?

1/29/2008 11:01:39 AM

Well I'm going off the hope that if they say they are going to do something that means they are going to try their best to do it. Although I do know that most politics are a lie.

I totally understand that quick doesn't mean within the month.

Not in list of importance, however, the merit pay for teachers is very high on my list and national health care are very high on my list.



also

say YES to working on a way to become a less oil dependent country
say NO to tax breaks on companies that ship jobs overseas
say YES to balancing a budget NO MORE RECKLESS SPENDING!!!!

[Edited on January 29, 2008 at 11:09 AM. Reason : ]

1/29/2008 11:03:40 AM

why don't you want to reward more effective [public school] teachers with higher pay?

1/29/2008 11:09:14 AM

then you dont reward teachers that work in inner city and struggling school districts.


they should get paid at least as much as a teacher in an upper echelon high school.

1/29/2008 11:10:32 AM

First off, how are you going to judge a teacher's performance?

On the test grades of the students?
What about the students from poverty areas where test grades tend to be lower?
That would mean that teachers wouldn't want to work in those areas so those areas that are already suffering will suffer even more.

If anything like that could be implemented that would actually work it would have to be on a much smaller scale (not even state wide) but county wide or even school system by school system. Have parents and the school board who are much more involved in the classroom determine teachers that deserve merit. Base it off the progress of the students. How will the federal goverment know exactly what is going on in Mrs. Smith's 4th grade classroom in Pleasentville Elementary school?

[Edited on January 29, 2008 at 11:19 AM. Reason : ]

1/29/2008 11:18:00 AM

who said anything about the federal government determining the merit?

is "merit pay for teachers" code for that or something?

1/29/2008 11:29:07 AM

the president implements federal programs



not county shit.

1/29/2008 11:30:58 AM

Quote :

"say YES to a national heath care"

tax me more so i can pay for illegals to get 'free' healthcare!

1/29/2008 11:31:46 AM

Quote :

"You do realize the current estimate for the minimum number of months required to remove all our assets from Iraq is 20 months never, right?"

Seriously though, anyone that thinks we're going to completely leave Iraq is off their rocker. We have military bases pretty much everywhere we've ever sent troops. I don't see Iraq being an exception.

1/29/2008 11:54:15 AM

^yeh, we still have bases in germany

damn 60+ year timetable for withdrawal

1/29/2008 11:56:32 AM

DON'T REMOVE A SINGLE TROOP FROM IRAQ UNTIL THE TROOPS IN GERMANY COME HOME

1/29/2008 12:57:01 PM

I do not see why teachers pay should not be merit based.

They should get paid more based on how much their students learn and how many of them pass. Merit based pay applies to pretty much every industry except government jobs. Teachers jobs are much too important not have the right incentives in place.

1/29/2008 1:02:59 PM

I would be for national health care if the Democrats weren't pandering to people who want something for nothing.

Instead, they should focus their energy on finding ways to decrease the cost so that people can afford it on their own and not increasing spending and taxing.


Poor People are to Democrats what Religious Zealots are to Republicans.

1/29/2008 1:05:08 PM

^^ you've yet to answer how you would judge merit effectively and fairly across the board

[Edited on January 29, 2008 at 1:05 PM. Reason : .]

1/29/2008 1:05:20 PM

Standardized testing for core subjects.

1/29/2008 1:07:34 PM

the problem when arguing for or against merit based pay for teachers is the parents

theres simply no stipulation you can put in writing that factors in for a kid who doesnt give a shit because their parents dont give a shit about them, versus a kid who does want to learn because they have good parents who have raised them right

it seems to me the only fair solution would be merit, based on the same year

basically test everyone when they get to school the first day or first week or whatever in a variety of subjects...test them at the end of the year...see what they've learned...that, to me, seems more fair than comparing test scores from two drastically different schools

1/29/2008 1:08:01 PM

Well the system right now does not reward the teacher who takes the initiative to intervene with the troubled teen vs. the one who just says school is not for everyone and throws them out of class.

If the parents fail that should not give educators a free pass to give up as well.

1/29/2008 1:14:01 PM

ps: fuck voting

1/29/2008 1:16:02 PM

Just ask veterans how nationally supplied healthcare is working out for them.

1/29/2008 1:16:10 PM

Oh and as far as the quick and safe evacuation of our troops...

Well, while I value American lives above others, I think this would be a humanitarian disaster at this point.

The power vacuum left by America just up and leaving would likely be a permission slip for religious genocide in Iraq.

We own that mess now whether or not you agree with the war.

1/29/2008 1:17:24 PM

Glad you have 5 whole issues you care about

1/29/2008 1:17:50 PM

Quote :

"Poor People are to Democrats what Religious Zealots are to Republicans."

Win^

1/29/2008 2:15:36 PM

Quote :

"say NO to merit pay for teachers say YES to a national heath care say YES to a quick and safe evacuation of our troops from the mid east say YES to stricter border control say YES to guest worker transition to citizenship"

So basically you are a twinkle toe,tap dancing communist cocksucker?

1/29/2008 3:05:26 PM

more importantly, why is this in chit chat if he means it to be even marginally serious?

1/29/2008 3:11:57 PM

say NO to merit pay for teachers - idiot
say YES to a national heath care - bigger idiot
say YES to a quick and safe evacuation of our troops from the mid east - eh, more personal but would result in much worse things = idiot but not as big
say YES to stricter border control = see below (idiot)
say YES to guest worker transition to citizenship = see above (idiot)

i'm for either, tight immigration standards that are universally enforced, or open immigration through controlled points like we had before but slightly better. (turning away the criminals, disease ridden etc)

turning the US into a welfare state = very very very bad idea, it's not in the mentality of this country to do this at all, ask not what your country can do for you you moron

say YES to working on a way to become a less oil dependent country - gonna always be oil dependent, btw we are the 3rd biggest oil producer... i do agree to non-fossil fuel electricity generation (nuclear ftw) and do agree to non fossil fuel transit - (switch grass ethanol, and fuel cells)

say NO to tax breaks on companies that ship jobs overseas - actually agree

say YES to balancing a budget NO MORE RECKLESS SPENDING!!!! - guess how you're gonna do that? cut the 'national welfare' idea right the hell out... no SS except as a privatized (your money = your SS slot = your money later + interest = forced 'savings for the moronic') no healthcare no tax cuts for stupid porkbarrel items. sorry the defense budget is NOT on the table to be cut unless you like speaking chinese...

Quote :

"Poor People are to Democrats what Religious Zealots are to Republicans."

exactly

1/29/2008 3:58:12 PM

All you folks that are arguing for merit pay, do you actually understand what it is? I think you folks are the same who think No Child Left Behind is a good idea.

Go take a poll of teachers who actually know what both are and ask if they agree, I promise you there will be a large amount of them who think they are both extremly stupid.

1/29/2008 6:06:30 PM

merit based teacher pay is an awful idea

that's all

1/29/2008 6:09:16 PM

^what he said...any teacher I've talked to hates it.

1/29/2008 6:11:00 PM