Tournament? I’d sort of been hoping that both Duke and NC would go out in the same round, but since that’s no longer an option, I’m stuck with the same thing I was last night–trying to figure out which of these covers is worse.
2.
Laura W
Of course finally a team is playing in some nice green uniforms and of course I did not pick them.
I was right about Obama winning pretty much from the day he declared that he’d run, so I’m just gonna console myself with that little winner-picking victory.
3.
Pooh
Come on Spartans one time! (If one had recently been in Las Vegas, one might have more than a sporting interest here).
Even though Nova totally screwed my brackets, I think I’m kinda rootin’ for ’em. Scrappy team. It’s 1985 all over again!
As far as today goes? As much as it pains me to root for red states, c’mon Oklahoma!
5.
JL
Sometimes cheering for the underdogs is fun. Go MSU.
President Obama’s picks are not doing so well. I guess he’s in the lower 40% and might be competing with Laura for the lower rung.
Snarl. Memphis and yesterday Pitt took me from tied for first in my pool to 32nd. Louisville and UNC better hold up their ends today or I’ll do something awful (unspecified, in order not to be held to that).
"But were [Europeans] to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments, and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it."
-James Madison, Federalist 46
Question: Why did George Washington walk away from power after the Revolution?
Answer: Because he understood that human nature is for human leadership to consolidate power, leading to bad effects for the society as a whole. Consolidated power benefits the leadership, but harms the collective. Washington had lived in a time of consolidated power and wanted to set an example to benefit future generations, including you and me, in my opinion.
The federal and state governments are consolidating power at a rapid and increasing rate, in the name of compassion. But I can prove that they are consolidating power for their own selfish purposes. Most on the left do not understand this.
But I can prove that they are consolidating power for their own selfish purposes. Most on the left do not understand this.
Well BOB, here’s your chance, prove it to us. You have an audience of left-of-you public intellectuals here at Balloon Juice who understand a great many things. Prove it to us sir.
Frankly, you can’t, because its not true. Well, it is true that Washington ceded power voluntarily, as have 41 other men since him. But the debate and process of local versus national power is not new, has been going on since the Republic was found, and hasn’t taken some existential turn for the worse.
I also find it just a tad amusing that you and Beck’s Citizens interpret the Constitution in your own one-sided way, cite *one* of the Founders, usually Madison, and claim everyone else is anti-Constitution. You should read Jefferson or Franklin’s views on Federal power and the distribution of wealth some time. Jefferson wanted to confiscate all estates when someone died to prevent property, and thus power, from being handed from one individual to the next, as was ubiquitous among the aristocracies of the time. How come you don’t cite his view of the Constitution before getting all self-righteous about what the Founders did or did not intend?
@JenJen: I don’t know about you, but my pick is the kiss of death to any team in the tournament. Teams should bribe me not to pick them if they want to make the Final 4. My only hope is a Loo-vill championship and a Tar Heel loss later today. But given that Loo-vill has my kiss of death, they will lose.
This is one thing I do not understand about left-leaning web-sites. An open thread is announced with an item to be discussed. Many people in the modern left have perhaps been conditioned to be controlled.
So, as this is not my forum, and I wish to follow protocol, is it proper to bring up any subject that comes to mind when we are presented with an open thread, with a subject to be discussed? Perhaps there is a Universal Volunteer who could enlighten me on the subject.
@NonWonderDog: Remember that part where Howard Dean as DNC Chair reached out to President Bush, was rebuffed, and then headed right to the media to bitch about it?
Yeah, me neither.
What’s the over/under on Steele these days?
21.
TheHatOnMyCat
is it proper to bring up any subject that comes to mind when we are presented with an open thread
Says the clown prince of the non sequitur blogpost, with spoofass tongue firmly in troll cheek.
Yeah, it’s proper. Are you suddenly unfamiliar with all the BJ traditions, Bill?
@Incertus: If you’ve got HBO On Demand, they have an awesome doc about Nova’s 1985 miraculous upset over Georgetown available. Ed Pinckney was a machine during that game… 16 points and 7 crucial rebounds.
It really was one of the best NCAA Finals ever.
23.
Bootlegger
@Brick Oven Bill: Dude, of course you can. Do you really believe that Leftists are more conformist than Dittoheads or Beck’s doughy Citizens?
There is overwhelming evidence in psychology that people always judge their in-group and primary reference group as more heterogeneous than the out-group who is judged to be homogenous. But conservatives instinct to follow tradition seems to me a strong case for objectively saying conservatives are more conformist-oriented than liberals.
I had to google "orthogonal" when you used it with me earlier.
And having missed that earlier, I had to google it just now!
How many more googles till we reach Kevin Bacon?
32.
Wini
Toast in the main BJ pool & hanging tough in the second chance, but for a chance at victory in yet another, and because they’re Big Ten/underdawgs… go MSU! (plus, Laura likes the green! )
Edit: yes, a 2-seed is not much of an underdog… but still.
33.
TheHatOnMyCat
This is one thing I do not understand about left-leaning web-sites.
Who knew it would turn out to be only one?
BTW, did you know that if you stand behind a left leaning site and draw a face on the back of its head, it appears to be right leaning?
34.
eemom
yet another reason I love this blog……y’all got the cutest trolls.
What’s with the "Brick Oven" though? I don’t usually ask about screen name etiology, but that one kind of stands out.
Oh god, here we go. The life and times of the Brickhead Bill.
37.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JenJen: Since it’s an open thread, I’ll mention I got Gordon Lightfoot tickets for his May performance at the Landmark Theatre, in yer neck of the woods.
38.
Just Some Fuckhead
@TheHatOnMyCat: I was just giving Bootlegger a chance. I believe my anti-fu is stronger than his.
Ya know what so freakin’ funny about that, JenJen? I was just about to post something to JL that I brought up on yesterday’s Tourney Open Thread wherein I admitted it was not quite on topic and she said 4 to 5 degrees of separation close enough.
I then went off to google to try to play the Kevin Bacon game but I had NO luck tying him to basketball (‘cept that one movie he did) and then back to the subject of my post. I was drinking, obviously. Sounded funny, but turned out to be way more brain power than I had at my disposal. (I’m sure you followed all that.)
So Petraeus basically refuted Cheney’s notion of Obama making us less safe on CNN today. You would think that "Petraeus says Cheney’s wrong" would be as big a headline as "Cheney says Obama is making us less safe", but for CNN, not so much.
King kept trying to pin both the General and Holbrooke against Obama. What an asshat that guy is.
I build a pizza oven out of refractory brick, refractory mortar, and other standard cement materials eemom. I used to go by ‘Bill’, but then there were lots of other Bills. And I figured that very few of them would self-identify with their backyard pizza oven. I believe that many here have projected about the whole cremation theme.
The leadership of the left seeks to limit humans to two classes, themselves (High) and everybody else (Low). But this never works because accumulation is a natural human trait, and without an incentive to work, the whole thing falls apart.
@Just Some Fuckhead: The Landmark Theater? I was just about to scream "ZOMG MEET UP!!" But, since when is Virginia not about seven hours from Ohio? Just sayin’ is all.
And you’ll be thrilled to know that I accompanied my sweet mom to the Gordon Lightfoot show at the Belterra Casino in Indiana. She loved it. I was worried she was going to throw her hotel card thing at him, but explained to her that they don’t print the room numbers on them. Things have changed, oh yes they have.
44.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Your traveling out of state to see that dude? I hope you can get a refund on your tickets in case he dies before you depart.
Did I mention I’m getting some Kangoo Jumps yet? 33 verifiable benefits!
Edit: I’m still waiting for the answer on the Loggins & Messina tickets you know.
CNN is in a ratings struggle and getting kicked in the junk by MSNBC and FOX.
They have apparently chosen to employ the "Da Churns, Dey Burns" strategy to get some toehold on the numbers. If they are fomenting some kind of internecine war amongst the cognopoliscenti, how will they attract the eyeballs?
The huddled masses have figured out that they don’t need two hours a day of Woflman Blitzer or Tweetie to understand what is going on with the economy … it’s pretty clear that those guys don’t understand it any better than anybody else, and the coverage doesn’t illuminate anything.
As for the Cheney thing, King wouldn’t want to tamp that down since he is the one that built the fire out of his own waste pellets and stoked it up using his studio hairdryer in the first place.
The leadership of the left seeks to limit humans to two classes, themselves (High) and everybody else (Low).
Now you’re just being silly.
49.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JL: Last year he had an aneurysm while touring so I moved him up to the top of my Must See list.
50.
Wini
@JL: I saw him in Minneapolis a couple of years ago. He wore skinny/tapered jeans and there was a moment or two of what I interpreted to be forgotten lyrics, but it was fun.
51.
Laura W
@JL:
Not sure if this was 2006 cuz I couldn’t google it quickly without missing a 5 point lead in the game! WTF?
52.
TheHatOnMyCat
The leadership of the left
Bill, there are experienced trolls and spoofs here, more tenured and better than you.
If you are going to write telltale spoofass material like that, you are basically saying, "I’m not even trying any more."
At least respect the craft, man.
"The leadership of the left?" Come on.
Don’t tell me that before the day is over you will use the world "ilk?"
Huh? Take a break, get some fu going, and come back and try again.
53.
Josh Hueco
My bracket’s bloodied and battered, so now I get to enjoy actually watching the games. Whoodatunkit?
JL; I am not being silly. The leadership of the left is very jealous of the Central American political model. There is a set price for labor, typically $3/day. This is enough to buy rice and beans for ‘The Low’. ‘The Middle’ is very small. And ‘The High’ consolidates power. It is dangerous to speak out against The High in Central America.
I know of a person who did a radio show that was mildly critical of one of The High. This person received threats and had to hide his furniture so the agents of The High did not come to his house and take his sofa chairs, tables, and shelves. It is not unusual for people to disappear.
I have also met one of The High in Central America. I had to go through several screenings before being granted access. The guards made me sit alone in a large empty room. I was familiar with the methods that this person had used to become one of The High. It was one of the more spooky moments in my life. In this same place, you can just walk in and talk to high government officials.
56.
KRK
I saw Gordon Lightfoot many years ago at…MSU. Go Spartans!
57.
2th&nayle
@JenJen: I’ll gently remind you that Laura W. is not big on pork products….but, she loves sausage! You do the math. Speaking of pork. I’ve got pull for the Sooners to win it all, being that the highlight of the Hawg season was a win over them in Fayettenam. After finishing last in the SECwest, they could at least say "We beat the national champs!" Yeah, mores the pity.
Just Some Fuckhead. A more effective method would be pass laws regulating speech, or send someone over and threaten to take my furniture. Perhaps blowing some the leadership of the Democratic Party might help, I do not know.
Upon reflection, I recommend blowing Barney Frank. I just ask that no pictures be taken. Those images could affect my future performance.
67.
Ash
I don’t know why anyone would have picked Louisville in this game. Sparty never disappoints.
68.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Brick Oven Bill: Ya know how retarded people don’t know they’re retarded Bill? No, you wouldn’t.
OT: Wow, Louisville is out.
69.
demkat620
@Laura W: Yeah, I think the guys in the green uniforms are going to win, Laura.
@Laura W: Wait, Laura, did you really order them? Or are you just messing with me?
71.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Bad Horse’s Filly: She ordered them. She even sent me the post-purchase link.
72.
Laura W
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Oh super serially! See my comment at #6 on yesterday’s thread for the big thank you to you and especially your mention of finding them on eBay. I’m very excited!
@Brick Oven Bill: It’s always so cute when board cons suggest that making fun of commenters amounts to a First Amendment assault on their Free Speech rights.
Don’t start with me… Louisville lost and I’m pretty salty ’bout that.
@Laura W: How did I miss this comment earlier? Were you in Moderation Purgatory, or should I maybe not have cracked the first beer at NCAA tip-off?
77.
Laura W
@Bad Horse’s Filly: I’d love that. I guess I need to find a video or two of various moves, but having done aerobics and step aerobics for so many years, I think I’ll be fine with my own little routines. I will admit they sort of scare me cuz I’m a spaz and I keep thinking I’m gonna fall off of them somehow or trip and break an ankle. I just can’t grok how they stay under your foot consistently, I guess.
If you’ve not read that link I posted to FH above with the 33 benefits…wow. I knew they’d have the same effect as rebounding, which is boring as all hell and I refuse to do it. SO great for lymphatic system. Plus the in shape thing. I know David Letterman is gonna regret that hasty marriage decision he just made and it’ll be time for me to resume my stalking campaign by summer.
78.
JL
I just went to the yahoo links to see how the BJ gamblers were doing and all I can say is what a difference a game makes.
The leadership of the left is very jealous of the Central American political model.
Setting aside for now the hilarity inherent in the concept of some monolithic leadership of the left, whaddaya mean "jealous?" The left is worried that the Central American political model (would love to see the definition of that BTW), is going to leave them for socialism or something?
Pedantry, particularly spoof-pedantry, works better when you know the meaning of the words you’re using. So maybe you meant "envious?"
@Laura W: A friend has a pair and I tried them out, which is when I got the bug. They are so much easier to stay up on than say, roller blades. Once you get your balance, it’s a breeze. He runs in his and says it’s much more aerobic than running w/o. My plan is to turn the music up and dance. Maybe I’ll go out and run, but I’m afraid people will laugh.
@Laura W: Well, the Kangoos look like fun, but in a trendy Rollerblade kind of way. For what it’s worth, I still Rollerblade, and the I’m pretty sure the bikers and skaters on my bike trail are making fun of me. So maybe I’d rent the Kangoos, but not buy them. ;-)
83.
Wini
@JenJen: Laura/BHF: Anyone ever try Nordic walking poles? I bought some a couple of years ago and used them maybe 5 times. I’m sure they work well if you use them consistently (I sold mine), but I did get some mighty strange looks when using them around the lakes.
84.
2th&nayle
@Brick Oven Bill: "Upon reflection, I recommend blowing Barney Frank." Ahh, Bill, just what are you basing that recommendation on? Strange choice of words, if you ask me. Freudian perhaps? Are you trying to tell us something Bill. Is this you coming out of the oven, Bill?
@JenJen: I still have my roller blades, too. I always feel a bit vulnerable on them, maybe because I really like speed and had my share of road rash. Some health clubs offer aerobic classes with Kangoo Jumps, where they provide the boots.
@Wini: never heard of them, I’ll have to google and see what they look like.
"Well BOB, here’s your chance, prove it to us. You have an audience of left-of-you public intellectuals here at Balloon Juice who understand a great many things. Prove it to us sir."
It boils down to caves and shadows Bootlegger. I have pledged to John to lay off the HBD topic so I will limit this explanation to noting that some neighborhoods in Washington DC have higher property values than others. It is necessary to bring this up in order to provide you with this example of the consolidation of power and the establishment of a dual standard for those who would be our ruling class.
I have lived in Washington DC and saw my first dead guy there, shot at the gas station my first day in town. I was pretty naïve back then. There were fluids coming out of the corpse’s head. This was in an area with low property values. Beyond the high crime rates, low property values correspond with trends of poor academic achievement of schoolchildren.
The Washington DC school voucher program was established largely by the right, to allow children from areas with low property values to attend schools with children from areas with high property values, and give them a better shot in the game of life. As power is now consolidated in the Democratic Party, this school voucher program has been cancelled.
As we are a nation of cowards, we have to limit ourselves to questioning whether the reason for the cancellation of the Washington DC school voucher program was because of the teachers’ unions and leave it at that. But this is not the reason.
The reason the voucher program was cancelled is because those with the consolidated power who live in neighborhoods with high property values do not wish to have their children interact with students from neighborhoods with low property values. This includes Attorney General Eric Holder and our President. In this instance, the left is very segregationist and the right is very liberal on the issue of race.
The ideological shift is because in this instance these inter-neighborhood interactions directly affect the families of those of the left with the consolidated power. It is the equivalent of eliminating bussing in the case of public schools. The nature of the left’s leadership is becoming become very fascistic, similar to the Central America model previously described. Isolation is, after all, what protects Orwell’s ‘High’ from Orwell’s ‘Middle’ politically, and from Orwell’s ‘Low’ physically and academically.
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Oh, right on! I can see where the Kangoos would be a hoot in a class at the gym.
I still love to rollerblade. My dogs love it, too. I was never much of a runner. :-)
Good gawd, have I ever had my share of road rash while rollerblading! I’ll never forget a time when a biker on a trail absolutely bowled me over like I was the fuckin’ 10 Pin, with not so much as a "behind you!" friendly. Asshole.
I knew it. I think these sneaky bastards are who attacked my computer yesterday. They prolly stole all my secret documents with plans for world sockalist domination. I was going to send them to Obama, soon as he got time from fixing the economy.
It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room. The investigators say they do not know if this facet has been employed.
At this point it should be the company that makes the damn thing saying "THANKS, John Cole."
92.
Laura W
@Wini: Never tried the poles. I love my power walking to music so much that I like my hands and arms free and loose and those seem like they would slow me down. For all the years I lived in CO snow, I really regret never snowshoeing. I know I would’ve loved it. Lazy ass.
@Bad Horse’s Filly: I am thinking about getting some one or two-pound wrist weights to use while dancing around on my Kangoos. Little upper body sculpting oomph.
OK, the only chance I have to break out of my permanent home at #48 in the BJ pool is with my current state of residence team. Uh oh…white uniforms have not been nice to me. I really regret not going out for more pinot grigio. I might get extry goofy when I finish what’s left and switch over to leftover Inaugural Bubbly. eeeerrrp.
If this is purely the left’s problem (and I will admit you are only implying that at this point), then why was Carter the last President to send his kids to DC Public Schools? And why did the Right resist racial desegregation – aka integration – in the 1960s? Also, what do you make of the religious angle of school vouchers?
We’re long overdue for an Orwell addendum to Godwin’s Law.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved reading Eric Blair’s work as a teenager. But honestly, anybody who invokes "1984" to make a trivial political comparison should automatically lose the argument.
I do realize that many liberals/leftists/progressives would have been penalized by a theoretical Orwell Law during the 2001-2009 Reign of Error. If that’s the price to pay in order to goad people into being reflective instead of reflexive, then so be it. As far as I can tell, Reductio ad Hitlerum is an equal opportunity penalizer. Don’t see why an Orwell addendum shouldn’t work in the same way in the Age of Obama.
@Laura W: I love snow shoeing – better even than xcountry. Weights seem like a good idea. I saw a video of an aerobics class and they add weights for upper body workout. I’m off to power-walk, since the snow has melted (14 inches – speaking of CO snow) but it’s too muddy to ride (I am a fair weather cycler.)
@JenJen: I’ll see if I can remember where I saw the video and link it for you. Otherwise, google: Chicago, kangoos and class, and you’ll probably find it – it was some tv station in Chicago if I remember right.
POTUS Queen of Suckitude might have been onto something with this Tarheels pick.
102.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JenJen: It was gonna be almost impossible for Oklahoma to keep up with UNC anyway. That was before they forgot how to shoot.
103.
Just Some Fuckhead
Mrs. Fuckhead thinks Tyler Hansbro looks like Bert from Sesame Street.
104.
bayville
LA Times’ "columnist" Andrew Klavan loves him some Limbone:
By lifting some typically Rushian piece of outrageous hilarity completely out of context, the distortion gang knows full well it can get you to widen your eyes and open your mouth in the universal sign of Liberal Outrage. Your scrawny chest swelling with a warm sense of completely unearned righteousness, you will turn to your second spouse and say, "I’m not a liberal, I’m a moderate, and I’m tolerant of a wide range of differing views — but this goes too far!"
There is more untruthfulness in that statement than in a speech by President Obama. Even the commas are self-deceiving. You’re not a moderate or you wouldn’t be reading this newspaper. You’re not tolerant of a wide range of views; you are tolerant of a narrow spectrum of variations on your views. And, whatever you claim, you still haven’t listened to Rush Limbaugh.
105.
burnspbesq
Wow. Thirty thousand people showed up at Citi Field and paid five bucks apiece to watch a baseball game between Georgetown and St. John’s.
Naah, we Mets fans aren’t the least bit excited about getting a new crib.
Let me guess at your answer. You don’t need to listen to him. You’ve heard enough to know he’s a) racist, b) hateful, c) stupid, d) merely an outrageous entertainer not to be taken seriously or e) all of the above.
After actually hearing Limbaugh (and having instantly regretted it), I chose E) All of the above. So what was Andrew Klavan’s point again?
As best I can tell, with some notable exceptions, there is little difference between the two political parties. There has instead been the rise of the political class, which consists of members of both parties, as well as civil servants, and the media.
This is why, if say Cincinnati made a proclamation to eliminate some school bussing program, the effort would be skewered in the local and state press and at City Hall, those responsible would have their names and faces on 60 Minutes, on and on. ACORN would do their thing and the Reverends Al and Jesse would be on TV in hysterics. Reverend Wright might get in on the act.
But those in Washington DC can kick the black inner-city kids out of the academically-achieving private classrooms, and send them back to the ghetto where they are considered to belong, one would have to imply, and there is silence. It is another clear example of the dual standard those who would rule us have established. Those with the kids in good private schools most likely live in gated communities.
You been doing well BoB, since your last treatment in the wilderness. Winsome screes on race could be the alcoholics first drink for you. With your drug of choice being what it is.
110.
Mark S.
I listen to Limbaugh every chance I get, and I have never heard the man utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word.
@Comrade Stuck: You do not have anything to say about the men in the crisp white uniforms with the gorgeous powder blue accents and the especially fetching argyle diamond pattern running down the sides and how the uniforms will be responsible for my rocket-ship-like rise from #48 to, um….#38?
While I agree it is regrettable that disadvantaged children can’t go to the best schools in their region, I think there are two issues here:
1st: private vs. public schools
2nd: local school control
I will state my opinion on those issues in reverse order. It seems to me that communities fund their school districts through local property taxes (majority) and state/federal grants (minority). And local school boards control their local schools with some state/national level standards. They guard this control jealously and cry "federalism" any time somebody outside of the local zone wants to influence curriculum, etc. (for example, teaching of evolution — which is ironic b/c secular public schools were established in part to prevent Catholics from indoctrinating Protestant children and making them all "papists"). This is probably a good thing, except when a community’s institutions are generally in failure.
Back to issue #1, again as a liberal, non-religious person, I see school vouchers as generally a religious/conservative dog whistle. That dog whistle being the use of vouchers to send kids to religious, private schools on the public’s dime. This would seem to me to be a violation of the separation of church and state — public funds to support a religious academy. Whenever this comes up with a friend or acquaintance, I always ask them if they’d be comfortable if their neighbor’s child was sent to a Madrassa on a school voucher. Many of them state emphatically this is "not the same" but then demur when I ask them to explain in detail how so. But I am being a bit churlish when I ask that question because it misses the larger point — separation of church and state.
I don’t have a problem with charter schools so long as they meet standards and provide at least equivalent education to traditional public schools. They can be a fresh start for schooling and possibly a source of innovation that could change education in America. But I have a problem when they are woefully inadequate education wise and turn out to just be a greed enterprise. So they need supervision, metrics, regulation. And I don’t think religiously-oriented schools should be included in voucher programs.
I myself am somewhat surprised there are not smaller private, non-religious schools. Maybe the economics only make sense with larger class sizes and institutions. But you’d think some enterprising DFHs (possibly an oxymoron) could do some kick-butt educating in smaller groups.
122.
Laura W
@AhabTRuler: You would not believe the amazing detail that he captures, up close, in motion, and just bursting with the juiciness and vibrancy of life at its most…tumescent?
(At the risk of beating a dead hummer to death, I should prolly stop now, as you suggest.)
I coulda sworn there wuz some folks in here talking about NCAA basketball. But it’s been awhile.
UNC put the stomp on Oklahaoma today. Oklahoma had a decent team, but depended too much on one superstar to get it done, whereas UNC is able to send high-talented players in human waves, sort of like the Chinese did against the US in Korea. Stop or get a few fouls on one, there’s another where he came from and another….
I have thought many times about starting a school. The government pays ~$10,000/kid and I received a decent education in a class of 30 people. This would mean I generate $300k per classroom. I could hire some top teachers as independent contractors for $100k/each, set up ten classrooms, and net $2 million/year, before operating expenses other than teachers’ contracts.
In exchange for their six-figure contract, I would make these teachers clean up their own damn class-rooms and mow the grass on a rotating basis so we would not need a janitor or groundskeeper. Figure other overhead to be $10k/month/school, or $120k/year. I would even take a $1 million per year pay cut, reducing the cost of education to $6,700/kid/year.
My salary would be thus $880,000 per year, and this would be fine by me.
But this school would be excellent, and democracy in our current form is the enemy of excellence. Which is why our system would not allow schools like this to succeed in any number.
In the other tournament – only one #1 seed is going to the frozen four, and my school, Vermont, is going. Maybe they won’t be robbed this time (bad ice, bad call).
@Brick Oven Bill: So your idea is to make almost a million a year, make skilled educators mow your grass, and pay nothing for real estate or capital costs. Sounds like your students’ education would soon be "going Galt" on them.
132.
oclib
hey…..in the real "tournament"…..Tiger is back on top….Augusta next…..
Commercial real estate is going for around $0.80/s.f./month these days for office type spaces. You figure a kid and a desk take up 25 s.f. (desks 5ft apart on center) and then the teacher needs probably 200 s.f. to move around and provide animated education.
So we have 300 students, or 7,500 s.f. of student-space. And ten teachers, or 2,000 s.f. of teacher space. Let’s throw in 5,000 s.f. for miscellaneous crap and toilets. So our building is 14,500 s.f., with an associated rent, assuming no discount for the fact that we are renting a 14,500 s.f. building instead of a 1,000 s.f. office, of $11,600. Figure utilities of $2,000/month and a similar figure for supplies.
So my off-the-cuff estimate was, in fact, $5,600 low per month. This is a $67,200 discrepancy which I will make the taxpayer eat as I will not be satisfied with anything below $880,000. Thus I will only save the government $932,800. Perhaps I will eat further into this sum and buy some used desks and ten white boards.
@BoB
Like all Republicans, Glibertarians, Conservatives etc. you continue to ignore externalities that the real world forces actual people to take into account.
What about insurance? Utilities? Supplies? Textbooks? Other actual costs?
IOW – you’re an idiot.
Incertus
Tournament? I’d sort of been hoping that both Duke and NC would go out in the same round, but since that’s no longer an option, I’m stuck with the same thing I was last night–trying to figure out which of these covers is worse.
Laura W
Of course finally a team is playing in some nice green uniforms and of course I did not pick them.
I was right about Obama winning pretty much from the day he declared that he’d run, so I’m just gonna console myself with that little winner-picking victory.
Pooh
Come on Spartans one time! (If one had recently been in Las Vegas, one might have more than a sporting interest here).
JenJen
Even though Nova totally screwed my brackets, I think I’m kinda rootin’ for ’em. Scrappy team. It’s 1985 all over again!
As far as today goes? As much as it pains me to root for red states, c’mon Oklahoma!
JL
Sometimes cheering for the underdogs is fun. Go MSU.
President Obama’s picks are not doing so well. I guess he’s in the lower 40% and might be competing with Laura for the lower rung.
Linkmeister
Snarl. Memphis and yesterday Pitt took me from tied for first in my pool to 32nd. Louisville and UNC better hold up their ends today or I’ll do something awful (unspecified, in order not to be held to that).
Brick Oven Bill
"But were [Europeans] to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments, and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it."
-James Madison, Federalist 46
Question: Why did George Washington walk away from power after the Revolution?
Answer: Because he understood that human nature is for human leadership to consolidate power, leading to bad effects for the society as a whole. Consolidated power benefits the leadership, but harms the collective. Washington had lived in a time of consolidated power and wanted to set an example to benefit future generations, including you and me, in my opinion.
The federal and state governments are consolidating power at a rapid and increasing rate, in the name of compassion. But I can prove that they are consolidating power for their own selfish purposes. Most on the left do not understand this.
JenJen
@Linkmeister: I feel your pain. :-(
@Brick Oven Bill: I feel your pain, too. But in a much different way.
Pooh
Also, go fucking Sooners.
Bootlegger
@Pooh: Yeah, as a Texan it hurts my sphincter to say this, but Go Sooners!
JenJen
@Bootlegger: Bootlegger, what has become of us? One day, we’re on top of the Bracket World, the next day, we’re fish food. :-(
NonWonderDog
Almost as OT as BOB, but…
Shorter Michael Steele:
My efforts to reach out to the president were thick in the air like locusts.
NonWonderDog
Bah, apparently lists (and hence bullet points) don’t work except in the preview window. And now I don’t have permission to edit it.
Testing…
• Cheapo
• Fake
• List
JL
@NonWonderDog: I read that at Huffington Post. Steele is an important person because he is the head of a losing party. lol
Bootlegger
@Brick Oven Bill:
Well BOB, here’s your chance, prove it to us. You have an audience of left-of-you public intellectuals here at Balloon Juice who understand a great many things. Prove it to us sir.
Frankly, you can’t, because its not true. Well, it is true that Washington ceded power voluntarily, as have 41 other men since him. But the debate and process of local versus national power is not new, has been going on since the Republic was found, and hasn’t taken some existential turn for the worse.
I also find it just a tad amusing that you and Beck’s Citizens interpret the Constitution in your own one-sided way, cite *one* of the Founders, usually Madison, and claim everyone else is anti-Constitution. You should read Jefferson or Franklin’s views on Federal power and the distribution of wealth some time. Jefferson wanted to confiscate all estates when someone died to prevent property, and thus power, from being handed from one individual to the next, as was ubiquitous among the aristocracies of the time. How come you don’t cite his view of the Constitution before getting all self-righteous about what the Founders did or did not intend?
JL
@JenJen: NOVA
Bootlegger
@JenJen: I don’t know about you, but my pick is the kiss of death to any team in the tournament. Teams should bribe me not to pick them if they want to make the Final 4. My only hope is a Loo-vill championship and a Tar Heel loss later today. But given that Loo-vill has my kiss of death, they will lose.
Down 3 at half time. Right on cue.
Incertus
@JenJen: That was such a crazy year–didn’t Villanova shoot something like 70% from the field in the final game?
Brick Oven Bill
NonWonderDog;
This is one thing I do not understand about left-leaning web-sites. An open thread is announced with an item to be discussed. Many people in the modern left have perhaps been conditioned to be controlled.
So, as this is not my forum, and I wish to follow protocol, is it proper to bring up any subject that comes to mind when we are presented with an open thread, with a subject to be discussed? Perhaps there is a Universal Volunteer who could enlighten me on the subject.
JenJen
@NonWonderDog: Remember that part where Howard Dean as DNC Chair reached out to President Bush, was rebuffed, and then headed right to the media to bitch about it?
Yeah, me neither.
What’s the over/under on Steele these days?
TheHatOnMyCat
Says the clown prince of the non sequitur blogpost, with spoofass tongue firmly in troll cheek.
Yeah, it’s proper. Are you suddenly unfamiliar with all the BJ traditions, Bill?
JenJen
@Incertus: If you’ve got HBO On Demand, they have an awesome doc about Nova’s 1985 miraculous upset over Georgetown available. Ed Pinckney was a machine during that game… 16 points and 7 crucial rebounds.
It really was one of the best NCAA Finals ever.
Bootlegger
@Brick Oven Bill: Dude, of course you can. Do you really believe that Leftists are more conformist than Dittoheads or Beck’s doughy Citizens?
There is overwhelming evidence in psychology that people always judge their in-group and primary reference group as more heterogeneous than the out-group who is judged to be homogenous. But conservatives instinct to follow tradition seems to me a strong case for objectively saying conservatives are more conformist-oriented than liberals.
Brick Oven Bill
I thought that was true TheHatOnMyCat. The comment from NonWonderDog made me question my understanding of protocol. Thank you.
Thanks also to Bootlegger for the reinforcement.
JL
@Brick Oven Bill:
You missed the first word.
Ecks
fuckin’ connexticut and their lucky rolls. That’s all I got to say on it.
TheHatOnMyCat
@Brick Oven Bill:
Of course it did, Bill.
Of course it did.
Laura W
@Bootlegger:
I had to google "orthogonal" when you used it with me earlier.
JenJen
@Brick Oven Bill: Hint: It does say "Tournament Open Thread."
But it’s still an open thread. Go for it. Knock yerself out.
Just Some Fuckhead
Louisville is goin’ down!
JenJen
@Laura W:
And having missed that earlier, I had to google it just now!
How many more googles till we reach Kevin Bacon?
Wini
Toast in the main BJ pool & hanging tough in the second chance, but for a chance at victory in yet another, and because they’re Big Ten/underdawgs… go MSU! (plus, Laura likes the green! )
Edit: yes, a 2-seed is not much of an underdog… but still.
TheHatOnMyCat
Who knew it would turn out to be only one?
BTW, did you know that if you stand behind a left leaning site and draw a face on the back of its head, it appears to be right leaning?
eemom
yet another reason I love this blog……y’all got the cutest trolls.
What’s with the "Brick Oven" though? I don’t usually ask about screen name etiology, but that one kind of stands out.
TheHatOnMyCat
@Just Some Fuckhead:
On who?
Or is it whom?
TheHatOnMyCat
@eemom:
Oh god, here we go. The life and times of the Brickhead Bill.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JenJen: Since it’s an open thread, I’ll mention I got Gordon Lightfoot tickets for his May performance at the Landmark Theatre, in yer neck of the woods.
Just Some Fuckhead
@TheHatOnMyCat: I was just giving Bootlegger a chance. I believe my anti-fu is stronger than his.
Laura W
@JenJen:
Ya know what so freakin’ funny about that, JenJen? I was just about to post something to JL that I brought up on yesterday’s Tourney Open Thread wherein I admitted it was not quite on topic and she said 4 to 5 degrees of separation close enough.
I then went off to google to try to play the Kevin Bacon game but I had NO luck tying him to basketball (‘cept that one movie he did) and then back to the subject of my post. I was drinking, obviously. Sounded funny, but turned out to be way more brain power than I had at my disposal. (I’m sure you followed all that.)
So here’s what I was about to post again. I can’t WAIT till they get here. Don’t they look like a blast and a half?
h/t Bad Horse’s Filly
Comrade Jake
So Petraeus basically refuted Cheney’s notion of Obama making us less safe on CNN today. You would think that "Petraeus says Cheney’s wrong" would be as big a headline as "Cheney says Obama is making us less safe", but for CNN, not so much.
King kept trying to pin both the General and Holbrooke against Obama. What an asshat that guy is.
Brick Oven Bill
I build a pizza oven out of refractory brick, refractory mortar, and other standard cement materials eemom. I used to go by ‘Bill’, but then there were lots of other Bills. And I figured that very few of them would self-identify with their backyard pizza oven. I believe that many here have projected about the whole cremation theme.
In the course of human interactions, there emerge three primary societal classes. High class, Middle Class, and Low Class. Orwell lays this out very well in The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism.
The leadership of the left seeks to limit humans to two classes, themselves (High) and everybody else (Low). But this never works because accumulation is a natural human trait, and without an incentive to work, the whole thing falls apart.
KRK
C’mon, MSU – Sparty on!
JenJen
@Just Some Fuckhead: The Landmark Theater? I was just about to scream "ZOMG MEET UP!!" But, since when is Virginia not about seven hours from Ohio? Just sayin’ is all.
And you’ll be thrilled to know that I accompanied my sweet mom to the Gordon Lightfoot show at the Belterra Casino in Indiana. She loved it. I was worried she was going to throw her hotel card thing at him, but explained to her that they don’t print the room numbers on them. Things have changed, oh yes they have.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Your traveling out of state to see that dude? I hope you can get a refund on your tickets in case he dies before you depart.
Did I mention I’m getting some Kangoo Jumps yet? 33 verifiable benefits!
Edit: I’m still waiting for the answer on the Loggins & Messina tickets you know.
TheHatOnMyCat
@Comrade Jake:
CNN is in a ratings struggle and getting kicked in the junk by MSNBC and FOX.
They have apparently chosen to employ the "Da Churns, Dey Burns" strategy to get some toehold on the numbers. If they are fomenting some kind of internecine war amongst the cognopoliscenti, how will they attract the eyeballs?
The huddled masses have figured out that they don’t need two hours a day of Woflman Blitzer or Tweetie to understand what is going on with the economy … it’s pretty clear that those guys don’t understand it any better than anybody else, and the coverage doesn’t illuminate anything.
As for the Cheney thing, King wouldn’t want to tamp that down since he is the one that built the fire out of his own waste pellets and stoked it up using his studio hairdryer in the first place.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Getting my Jens mixed up. Sorry JenJen. Landmark Theater is in Richmond, Virginia. Looks pretty cool too.
JL
@Laura W: Gee, I was just going to mention to him that I got his autograph 35 plus years ago. I had no idea that he still was performing.
JL
@Brick Oven Bill:
Now you’re just being silly.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JL: Last year he had an aneurysm while touring so I moved him up to the top of my Must See list.
Wini
@JL: I saw him in Minneapolis a couple of years ago. He wore skinny/tapered jeans and there was a moment or two of what I interpreted to be forgotten lyrics, but it was fun.
Laura W
@JL:
Not sure if this was 2006 cuz I couldn’t google it quickly without missing a 5 point lead in the game! WTF?
TheHatOnMyCat
Bill, there are experienced trolls and spoofs here, more tenured and better than you.
If you are going to write telltale spoofass material like that, you are basically saying, "I’m not even trying any more."
At least respect the craft, man.
"The leadership of the left?" Come on.
Don’t tell me that before the day is over you will use the world "ilk?"
Huh? Take a break, get some fu going, and come back and try again.
Josh Hueco
My bracket’s bloodied and battered, so now I get to enjoy actually watching the games. Whoodatunkit?
JenJen
WTF WTF WTF Louisville?!
Brick Oven Bill
JL; I am not being silly. The leadership of the left is very jealous of the Central American political model. There is a set price for labor, typically $3/day. This is enough to buy rice and beans for ‘The Low’. ‘The Middle’ is very small. And ‘The High’ consolidates power. It is dangerous to speak out against The High in Central America.
I know of a person who did a radio show that was mildly critical of one of The High. This person received threats and had to hide his furniture so the agents of The High did not come to his house and take his sofa chairs, tables, and shelves. It is not unusual for people to disappear.
I have also met one of The High in Central America. I had to go through several screenings before being granted access. The guards made me sit alone in a large empty room. I was familiar with the methods that this person had used to become one of The High. It was one of the more spooky moments in my life. In this same place, you can just walk in and talk to high government officials.
KRK
I saw Gordon Lightfoot many years ago at…MSU. Go Spartans!
2th&nayle
@JenJen: I’ll gently remind you that Laura W. is not big on pork products….but, she loves sausage! You do the math. Speaking of pork. I’ve got pull for the Sooners to win it all, being that the highlight of the Hawg season was a win over them in Fayettenam. After finishing last in the SECwest, they could at least say "We beat the national champs!" Yeah, mores the pity.
MSU up by 10.
JL
@Laura W: OMG, that is not the person that I saw.
Just Some Fuckhead
BOB, who do we have to blow to disappear you?
Laura W
@2th&nayle:
Ha! Right on!
So I wanna know if ANY team in this damn tournament has scored as many 3-pointers as these beasts in green? Damn they are consistent.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JL: I’m betting you ain’t the person that went and saw him either.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Inflatable Commenter
JL
@Just Some Fuckhead: Unfortunately, it twas me. It had to be the fall of 70 right after that album came out. Of course, I was just a baby then…lol.
burnspbesq
@JenJen:
Word. Boomer Sooner!
Why, yes, my second favorite team is whoever’s playing Carolina. Why do you ask?
JL
This game is shocking. MSU is just teasing them at this point.
Brick Oven Bill
Just Some Fuckhead. A more effective method would be pass laws regulating speech, or send someone over and threaten to take my furniture. Perhaps blowing some the leadership of the Democratic Party might help, I do not know.
Upon reflection, I recommend blowing Barney Frank. I just ask that no pictures be taken. Those images could affect my future performance.
Ash
I don’t know why anyone would have picked Louisville in this game. Sparty never disappoints.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Brick Oven Bill: Ya know how retarded people don’t know they’re retarded Bill? No, you wouldn’t.
OT: Wow, Louisville is out.
demkat620
@Laura W: Yeah, I think the guys in the green uniforms are going to win, Laura.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: Wait, Laura, did you really order them? Or are you just messing with me?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Bad Horse’s Filly: She ordered them. She even sent me the post-purchase link.
Laura W
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Oh super serially!
See my comment at #6 on yesterday’s thread for the big thank you to you and especially your mention of finding them on eBay. I’m very excited!
Bad Horse's Filly
Oh YEAH! We can be dorky together. But damn, we’ll be in fine shape by summer.
JenJen
@Brick Oven Bill: It’s always so cute when board cons suggest that making fun of commenters amounts to a First Amendment assault on their Free Speech rights.
Don’t start with me… Louisville lost and I’m pretty salty ’bout that.
Bad Horse's Filly
Speaking of balls (this is a basketball thread, right?), did you guys know there was a testicle festival???
JenJen
@Laura W: How did I miss this comment earlier? Were you in Moderation Purgatory, or should I maybe not have cracked the first beer at NCAA tip-off?
Laura W
@Bad Horse’s Filly: I’d love that. I guess I need to find a video or two of various moves, but having done aerobics and step aerobics for so many years, I think I’ll be fine with my own little routines. I will admit they sort of scare me cuz I’m a spaz and I keep thinking I’m gonna fall off of them somehow or trip and break an ankle. I just can’t grok how they stay under your foot consistently, I guess.
If you’ve not read that link I posted to FH above with the 33 benefits…wow. I knew they’d have the same effect as rebounding, which is boring as all hell and I refuse to do it. SO great for lymphatic system. Plus the in shape thing. I know David Letterman is gonna regret that hasty marriage decision he just made and it’ll be time for me to resume my stalking campaign by summer.
JL
I just went to the yahoo links to see how the BJ gamblers were doing and all I can say is what a difference a game makes.
Laura W
@JenJen:
You thought it was a long post about me enjoying pie?
cyntax
@Brick Oven Bill:
Setting aside for now the hilarity inherent in the concept of some monolithic leadership of the left, whaddaya mean "jealous?" The left is worried that the Central American political model (would love to see the definition of that BTW), is going to leave them for socialism or something?
Pedantry, particularly spoof-pedantry, works better when you know the meaning of the words you’re using. So maybe you meant "envious?"
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: A friend has a pair and I tried them out, which is when I got the bug. They are so much easier to stay up on than say, roller blades. Once you get your balance, it’s a breeze. He runs in his and says it’s much more aerobic than running w/o. My plan is to turn the music up and dance. Maybe I’ll go out and run, but I’m afraid people will laugh.
JenJen
@Laura W: Well, the Kangoos look like fun, but in a trendy Rollerblade kind of way. For what it’s worth, I still Rollerblade, and the I’m pretty sure the bikers and skaters on my bike trail are making fun of me. So maybe I’d rent the Kangoos, but not buy them. ;-)
Wini
@JenJen: Laura/BHF: Anyone ever try Nordic walking poles? I bought some a couple of years ago and used them maybe 5 times. I’m sure they work well if you use them consistently (I sold mine), but I did get some mighty strange looks when using them around the lakes.
2th&nayle
@Brick Oven Bill: "Upon reflection, I recommend blowing Barney Frank." Ahh, Bill, just what are you basing that recommendation on? Strange choice of words, if you ask me. Freudian perhaps? Are you trying to tell us something Bill. Is this you coming out of the oven, Bill?
Bad Horse's Filly
@JenJen: I still have my roller blades, too. I always feel a bit vulnerable on them, maybe because I really like speed and had my share of road rash. Some health clubs offer aerobic classes with Kangoo Jumps, where they provide the boots.
@Wini: never heard of them, I’ll have to google and see what they look like.
Brick Oven Bill
Bootlegger said:
"Well BOB, here’s your chance, prove it to us. You have an audience of left-of-you public intellectuals here at Balloon Juice who understand a great many things. Prove it to us sir."
It boils down to caves and shadows Bootlegger. I have pledged to John to lay off the HBD topic so I will limit this explanation to noting that some neighborhoods in Washington DC have higher property values than others. It is necessary to bring this up in order to provide you with this example of the consolidation of power and the establishment of a dual standard for those who would be our ruling class.
I have lived in Washington DC and saw my first dead guy there, shot at the gas station my first day in town. I was pretty naïve back then. There were fluids coming out of the corpse’s head. This was in an area with low property values. Beyond the high crime rates, low property values correspond with trends of poor academic achievement of schoolchildren.
The Washington DC school voucher program was established largely by the right, to allow children from areas with low property values to attend schools with children from areas with high property values, and give them a better shot in the game of life. As power is now consolidated in the Democratic Party, this school voucher program has been cancelled.
As we are a nation of cowards, we have to limit ourselves to questioning whether the reason for the cancellation of the Washington DC school voucher program was because of the teachers’ unions and leave it at that. But this is not the reason.
The reason the voucher program was cancelled is because those with the consolidated power who live in neighborhoods with high property values do not wish to have their children interact with students from neighborhoods with low property values. This includes Attorney General Eric Holder and our President. In this instance, the left is very segregationist and the right is very liberal on the issue of race.
The ideological shift is because in this instance these inter-neighborhood interactions directly affect the families of those of the left with the consolidated power. It is the equivalent of eliminating bussing in the case of public schools. The nature of the left’s leadership is becoming become very fascistic, similar to the Central America model previously described. Isolation is, after all, what protects Orwell’s ‘High’ from Orwell’s ‘Middle’ politically, and from Orwell’s ‘Low’ physically and academically.
AhabTRuler
The goggles! They do nothing!
JenJen
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Oh, right on! I can see where the Kangoos would be a hoot in a class at the gym.
I still love to rollerblade. My dogs love it, too. I was never much of a runner. :-)
Good gawd, have I ever had my share of road rash while rollerblading! I’ll never forget a time when a biker on a trail absolutely bowled me over like I was the fuckin’ 10 Pin, with not so much as a "behind you!" friendly. Asshole.
Arachnae
Based solely on John Cole’s recommendation, I bought my cats a furminator. My cats say, "THANKS, John Cole!"
Comrade Stuck
I knew it. I think these sneaky bastards are who attacked my computer yesterday. They prolly stole all my secret documents with plans for world sockalist domination. I was going to send them to Obama, soon as he got time from fixing the economy.
Now that is some heavy duty spy-fu.
AhabTRuler
At this point it should be the company that makes the damn thing saying "THANKS, John Cole."
Laura W
@Wini: Never tried the poles. I love my power walking to music so much that I like my hands and arms free and loose and those seem like they would slow me down. For all the years I lived in CO snow, I really regret never snowshoeing. I know I would’ve loved it. Lazy ass.
@Bad Horse’s Filly: I am thinking about getting some one or two-pound wrist weights to use while dancing around on my Kangoos. Little upper body sculpting oomph.
OK, the only chance I have to break out of my permanent home at #48 in the BJ pool is with my current state of residence team. Uh oh…white uniforms have not been nice to me. I really regret not going out for more pinot grigio. I might get extry goofy when I finish what’s left and switch over to leftover Inaugural Bubbly. eeeerrrp.
JL
@Brick Oven Bill: not worth a comment
N M
@B.O.B:
If this is purely the left’s problem (and I will admit you are only implying that at this point), then why was Carter the last President to send his kids to DC Public Schools? And why did the Right resist racial desegregation – aka integration – in the 1960s? Also, what do you make of the religious angle of school vouchers?
Surreal American
@Brick Oven Bill:
We’re long overdue for an Orwell addendum to Godwin’s Law.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved reading Eric Blair’s work as a teenager. But honestly, anybody who invokes "1984" to make a trivial political comparison should automatically lose the argument.
I do realize that many liberals/leftists/progressives would have been penalized by a theoretical Orwell Law during the 2001-2009 Reign of Error. If that’s the price to pay in order to goad people into being reflective instead of reflexive, then so be it. As far as I can tell, Reductio ad Hitlerum is an equal opportunity penalizer. Don’t see why an Orwell addendum shouldn’t work in the same way in the Age of Obama.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: I love snow shoeing – better even than xcountry. Weights seem like a good idea. I saw a video of an aerobics class and they add weights for upper body workout. I’m off to power-walk, since the snow has melted (14 inches – speaking of CO snow) but it’s too muddy to ride (I am a fair weather cycler.)
@JenJen: I’ll see if I can remember where I saw the video and link it for you. Otherwise, google: Chicago, kangoos and class, and you’ll probably find it – it was some tv station in Chicago if I remember right.
Bad Horse's Filly
Well that was easy – it was #1 in google:
Kangoos in the Gym
Just Some Fuckhead
Oklahome is shooting so poorly no one wants to shoot it anymore. So they’re just passing it around until UNC takes it away from them.
JenJen
@Just Some Fuckhead: Good gawd. OK looks like shit. POTUS might have been onto something with this Tarheels pick.
JL
ot, GM boss Wagoner to quit immediately
Laura W
@JenJen:
Just Some Fuckhead
@JenJen: It was gonna be almost impossible for Oklahoma to keep up with UNC anyway. That was before they forgot how to shoot.
Just Some Fuckhead
Mrs. Fuckhead thinks Tyler Hansbro looks like Bert from Sesame Street.
bayville
LA Times’ "columnist" Andrew Klavan loves him some Limbone:
burnspbesq
Wow. Thirty thousand people showed up at Citi Field and paid five bucks apiece to watch a baseball game between Georgetown and St. John’s.
Naah, we Mets fans aren’t the least bit excited about getting a new crib.
Surreal American
@bayville:
After actually hearing Limbaugh (and having instantly regretted it), I chose E) All of the above. So what was Andrew Klavan’s point again?
Comrade Stuck
And the pool winners is
Zoogz 1st
Libby 2nd
You heard it here first folks
Brick Oven Bill
N M;
As best I can tell, with some notable exceptions, there is little difference between the two political parties. There has instead been the rise of the political class, which consists of members of both parties, as well as civil servants, and the media.
This is why, if say Cincinnati made a proclamation to eliminate some school bussing program, the effort would be skewered in the local and state press and at City Hall, those responsible would have their names and faces on 60 Minutes, on and on. ACORN would do their thing and the Reverends Al and Jesse would be on TV in hysterics. Reverend Wright might get in on the act.
But those in Washington DC can kick the black inner-city kids out of the academically-achieving private classrooms, and send them back to the ghetto where they are considered to belong, one would have to imply, and there is silence. It is another clear example of the dual standard those who would rule us have established. Those with the kids in good private schools most likely live in gated communities.
Comrade Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
You been doing well BoB, since your last treatment in the wilderness. Winsome screes on race could be the alcoholics first drink for you. With your drug of choice being what it is.
Mark S.
So take that bone out of your nose and take the Limbaugh challenge!
Laura W
@Comrade Stuck: You do not have anything to say about the men in the crisp white uniforms with the gorgeous powder blue accents and the especially fetching argyle diamond pattern running down the sides and how the uniforms will be responsible for my rocket-ship-like rise from #48 to, um….#38?
…crickets chirping…
JenJen
@Comrade Stuck: Yeppers.
Sorry about the fierce uniforms, LauraW. ;-)
Surreal American
It helps if you turn the volume up on your radio.
Comrade Stuck
@Laura W:
Rise? Like teh Clown Balloon launch.
Kneedeep Kneedeep
Comrade Stuck
@Comrade Stuck:
Laura
I know, I’m cruel sometimes. Please forgive.
JenJen
Deep Thought: My brackets are not as ill and dope as I once thought.
Laura W
@Comrade Stuck: Forgive you? Shit. I didn’t even understand you!
@JenJen:
HOW MANY MORE MINUTES UNTIL I CAN GO REFRESH MY BRACKET STANDINGS?!
Comrade Stuck
No one does.
Stuck only pawn in game of life
Laura W
@Comrade Stuck:
This is what I listen to when I’m feeling alone and un-got.
Why don’t you link to your gorgeous hummer photos in your handle? They are really extraordinary.
AhabTRuler
You have got to stop saying that!
N M
@B.O.B #108:
While I agree it is regrettable that disadvantaged children can’t go to the best schools in their region, I think there are two issues here:
1st: private vs. public schools
2nd: local school control
I will state my opinion on those issues in reverse order. It seems to me that communities fund their school districts through local property taxes (majority) and state/federal grants (minority). And local school boards control their local schools with some state/national level standards. They guard this control jealously and cry "federalism" any time somebody outside of the local zone wants to influence curriculum, etc. (for example, teaching of evolution — which is ironic b/c secular public schools were established in part to prevent Catholics from indoctrinating Protestant children and making them all "papists"). This is probably a good thing, except when a community’s institutions are generally in failure.
Back to issue #1, again as a liberal, non-religious person, I see school vouchers as generally a religious/conservative dog whistle. That dog whistle being the use of vouchers to send kids to religious, private schools on the public’s dime. This would seem to me to be a violation of the separation of church and state — public funds to support a religious academy. Whenever this comes up with a friend or acquaintance, I always ask them if they’d be comfortable if their neighbor’s child was sent to a Madrassa on a school voucher. Many of them state emphatically this is "not the same" but then demur when I ask them to explain in detail how so. But I am being a bit churlish when I ask that question because it misses the larger point — separation of church and state.
I don’t have a problem with charter schools so long as they meet standards and provide at least equivalent education to traditional public schools. They can be a fresh start for schooling and possibly a source of innovation that could change education in America. But I have a problem when they are woefully inadequate education wise and turn out to just be a greed enterprise. So they need supervision, metrics, regulation. And I don’t think religiously-oriented schools should be included in voucher programs.
I myself am somewhat surprised there are not smaller private, non-religious schools. Maybe the economics only make sense with larger class sizes and institutions. But you’d think some enterprising DFHs (possibly an oxymoron) could do some kick-butt educating in smaller groups.
Laura W
@AhabTRuler: You would not believe the amazing detail that he captures, up close, in motion, and just bursting with the juiciness and vibrancy of life at its most…tumescent?
(At the risk of beating a dead hummer to death, I should prolly stop now, as you suggest.)
TenguPhule
Today’s Dumbest Criminal in the World and possible future Darwin Award.
We need a laugh in these dark times.
cmorenc
I coulda sworn there wuz some folks in here talking about NCAA basketball. But it’s been awhile.
UNC put the stomp on Oklahaoma today. Oklahoma had a decent team, but depended too much on one superstar to get it done, whereas UNC is able to send high-talented players in human waves, sort of like the Chinese did against the US in Korea. Stop or get a few fouls on one, there’s another where he came from and another….
Brick Oven Bill
N M;
I have thought many times about starting a school. The government pays ~$10,000/kid and I received a decent education in a class of 30 people. This would mean I generate $300k per classroom. I could hire some top teachers as independent contractors for $100k/each, set up ten classrooms, and net $2 million/year, before operating expenses other than teachers’ contracts.
In exchange for their six-figure contract, I would make these teachers clean up their own damn class-rooms and mow the grass on a rotating basis so we would not need a janitor or groundskeeper. Figure other overhead to be $10k/month/school, or $120k/year. I would even take a $1 million per year pay cut, reducing the cost of education to $6,700/kid/year.
My salary would be thus $880,000 per year, and this would be fine by me.
But this school would be excellent, and democracy in our current form is the enemy of excellence. Which is why our system would not allow schools like this to succeed in any number.
Corner Stone
God but I love you guys.
/Cartman
AhabTRuler
@Laura W: lulz.
Mary Jane
In the other tournament – only one #1 seed is going to the frozen four, and my school, Vermont, is going. Maybe they won’t be robbed this time (bad ice, bad call).
Cynicor
@Mary Jane: As a former student manager of the Yale team, 1. bite me, and 2. good luck next weekend. (I was there on Friday.)
And the basketball is the other tournament, not the hockey.
Zoogz
Comrade Stuck @107:
Woohoo! I’ll enjoy it while it lasts…
Cynicor
@Brick Oven Bill: So your idea is to make almost a million a year, make skilled educators mow your grass, and pay nothing for real estate or capital costs. Sounds like your students’ education would soon be "going Galt" on them.
oclib
hey…..in the real "tournament"…..Tiger is back on top….Augusta next…..
Mary Jane
@ Cynicor – sorry about that. Those games are fun to watch live, though, aren’t they?
Brick Oven Bill
Cynicor makes a valid point.
Commercial real estate is going for around $0.80/s.f./month these days for office type spaces. You figure a kid and a desk take up 25 s.f. (desks 5ft apart on center) and then the teacher needs probably 200 s.f. to move around and provide animated education.
So we have 300 students, or 7,500 s.f. of student-space. And ten teachers, or 2,000 s.f. of teacher space. Let’s throw in 5,000 s.f. for miscellaneous crap and toilets. So our building is 14,500 s.f., with an associated rent, assuming no discount for the fact that we are renting a 14,500 s.f. building instead of a 1,000 s.f. office, of $11,600. Figure utilities of $2,000/month and a similar figure for supplies.
So my off-the-cuff estimate was, in fact, $5,600 low per month. This is a $67,200 discrepancy which I will make the taxpayer eat as I will not be satisfied with anything below $880,000. Thus I will only save the government $932,800. Perhaps I will eat further into this sum and buy some used desks and ten white boards.
Take that, taxpayer!
Corner Stone
@BoB
Like all Republicans, Glibertarians, Conservatives etc. you continue to ignore externalities that the real world forces actual people to take into account.
What about insurance? Utilities? Supplies? Textbooks? Other actual costs?
IOW – you’re an idiot.
Cynicor
@Mary Jane: Nothing in the world is better than live hockey. And no hockey is better than college hockey.